Zephaniah
– Book of Day of Judgment
One day we will have to stand before God.
Key Point – God sees all we do and don’t do. Put your trust in God.
Memory Verse – 2 Chronicles 16:9”The Lord searches all the earth for people who have given themselves completely to him. He wants to make them strong…”
Skit – Is there enough evidence to prove that you are a Christian? Set chairs up to resemble a courtroom. Have a judge come in and explain the case to the kids. The Judge explains that there is a boy who has been accused of being a Christian we are going to see if there is enough evidence in their life to show that he is a Christian. Have some evidence such as a Bible a picture of someone going to church. A few neighbors come and say things like they have heard him listen to Christian music and have heard him say things about the Bible and Jesus. Finally the boy is called forward and is asked if he is a Christian. The boy explains that even though he does go to church and he does read his bible he believes that being a Christian is much more than doing things for God but it is having a personal relationship with God. It says in the Bible that Jesus is the way the truth or life no man comes to the father except through Him. God sees all that we do and don’t do. The boy is convicted of being a Christian because his life reflects that of Jesus Christ.
Skit – Mini Eternity skit – what gets us into heaven is knowing and loving Jesus. Have someone appear before an angel the angel is reading a book. The person says that he should go to heaven because he is a good person and has done good things for people. The angel says I’m sorry just being a good person is not good enough. The person walks away sad. Another person comes and asks the angel if his name is in the book. The man says I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ I asked him into my life when I went to rockchurch as a boy when I was 7 years old. The angel says well done thou good and faithful servant enter into heaven. The man starts jumping around happy and full of joy.
Object lesson – God’s report card would you receive an Excellent or Satisfactory. (Have a giant S and a giant E made up before hand) Many Christians settle for being just satisfactory Christians but, God wants us to Excellent Christians. Satisfactory is doing just enough to get by but an excellent Christian goes above and beyond. They care more about what Jesus thinks than their friends. When we are finally judged by God it will be not so much how much did you do but how much did you trust.
Puppet – Puppet comes up confused He heard us talking about how God is a judge he wants to know if he sits on a bench with a curly wig and a black robe – MC explains that God is not a judge like an earthly Judge but he Judges our hearts and motives. The MC explains that the Bible talks about how it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.
Bible Story – Matthew 25:31-46 God will separate sheep from the goats. Sheep follow Goats are those who disobey.
–Small Group—
TIME’S UP!
Choose 5 kids from audience. Show a collection of cups and a table. Explain that they will each get a turn to see how many cups they can stack in the time they are allowed. When time is up, you will count the cups.
The catch: each will draw their time from a bucket. The times will be: 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, and 1 minute! They will think it is unfair – but proceed!
The 1 minute kid will stack the most – but THEN you divide their total cups stacked by the number of seconds they had and find out how many cups (or fraction of cups) they stacked per second. The 1 minute kid many not win – in fact probably won’t because he relaxed more than the others. Often the kid with the least amount of time stacked the most per second – because he realized the urgency of the situation!
THE POINT: We will all live different amounts of time, but God will judge us on what we did with the time He gave us!
Questions
- Is there enough evidence to prove you are a Christian?
- What pieces of evidence would / could be use against you?
- Would the Lord be pleased?
- What gets us into heaven?
- In Matthew 25:31-46 who are the sheep?
- Who are the goats?
- What will happen to the sheep and the goats?
- Who will decide this?
- Where will this decision be made?
- When will this decision be made?
- Is their anything you can do to be a better Christian?
- Does this mean that you trust Him?
Thank you for all your resources for furthering the Kingdom.
I think adults need this lecture as well! The Book of Zephaniah is powerful because you do get a better understanding of Gods judgement!
You are such a blessing to folks like me. Thank you.
I really enjoyed this lesson and the cup activity was big hit! Thank you soooo much-wish you had more on Zephaniah especially on the last portion of the great Hope
Lori thanks so much for the feedback, glad it went well.