Scripture:
for
teacher background: Mark 2:1-12
Making
contact:
Play
“Running Red Rover” One child stands in the middle of the hall/field and calls:
“Red Rover, Red Rover I call “…………”
They choose a name. This person tries to
run past.
If not caught the child calls another name.
If caught the 2 children
join hands and the new child selects who is called. Children are added on until
there is a whole chain of children. They catch the rest of the children.
WARNING. This game can be rough.
Or
Have
a discussion of friends who helped when things were rough.
Or
Show
how one piece of wool is not that strong, but 4 pieces are
Exploration:
In
those days, only rich people could afford a doctor, and they didn't have the modern medicine like antibiotics.
Then the people heard
that Jesus could heal every kind of sickness.
Wherever Jesus went, sick people
came to Him and the Bible tells us that He healed them all. He cured the blind,
the deaf the dumb and the lame.
There
was one man who was paralyzed. His friends were so sure that Jesus could heal
him that they carried him to where Jesus was on his bed-mat.
There
were so many people there that they couldn’t get inside, so they went up the
stairs onto the flat roof. They broke through the roof and lowered their friend
right in front of Jesus.
Jesus looked up at the friends and knew what faith
they had. “Your sins are forgiven.” Jesus said to the man.
The teachers of the
law were muttering that only God could forgive sins and who was He to dare? How could He possibly think He was GOD??
Jesus then asked which was easier- to cure a man or forgive his sins?
Jesus
said He had power to do both.....because HE IS GOD!!
He then told the man to pick up his bed and go
home. Everyone praised God when the man was healed.
Application
Our faith is important to God and He notices it and blesses it.
Our faith and our prayers for others can change their lives. There are times when people feel so weak or so unhappy or stressed that they must just ask their friends to pray for them.
Their friends’ faith will carry them through.
Jesus IS God and that is why He can forgive sins and heal people. Many people don’t believe that Jesus is really God. They think He is just a prophet or a good man.
We need to be the kind of friend that can carry people to Jesus, even if it hard work. Those friends had to make a hole in the roof and fix it afterwards!
How far will we go to help a friend?
Challenge to Mission
Bring
a friend or even a stranger or acquaintance to Jesus. How?
First pray about
this person every day. If they are sick or in trouble then pray about that too.
Then think about inviting them to church or an
Alpha course or the Jesus movie, or tell them yourself about what Jesus means
to you and how to ask Jesus into their heart too.
Consolidation
There
is a worksheet with a picture of the man who had been lowered through the roof
by his friends. Another picture of a stretcher has a place for the children to
write the name of whom they would like to bring to Jesus.
Memory verse:
“He
forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.”
Psalm 103:3
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