Book of Repentance
What is Repentance- How to tell God your sorry
Key Point – Repentance means change! Memory Verse – 2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation…”
Skit – Kids playing with kickball one kid hit another says he’s sorry doesn’t mean is another kid does the same but apologizes and means it. Difference is in their attitude. – Through this skit convey to the kids that you can say something but unless you truly mean it, what you say is just words. We can say the words with our mouth but unless we mean it with our heart it is not true repentance, because God sees our hearts. When we say we are sorry to God and to each other it must come from our heart. If we are truly sorry and it comes from our heart our actions will change we will not do the same thing over and over again.
Lesson #1 Motivation: who benefits from what i do. – The My kids and the team I am apart of. –
Motivation gets tested early –
Need a kingdom mindset. No job in kids ministry is more important than the other – We are all building the kingdom by using the gifts God has given us
That can feel sort of vague but when you understand who you work for Jesus Christ and who benefits from what you do? Your kids, your pastor and ultimately your church. It helps you with your motivation.
Watch for wrong motivations
God and children share a divine quality – They both have the divine ability to destroy ego.
We all have a very active sin nature and can sometimes think more of ourselves than we should but if you and I want to last for the long haul we need to ask ourselves do I have the same attitude as Christ Jesus? What helps me make it for the long haul reading Philippians 2 and asking God to do this in me.
Philippians 2:1-11
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Lesson #2 Maturity: –
If you want to grow as a christian and as a leader you need to learn how to be a self-feeder.
How do you become a self feeder –
1. Read your bible. – Is more than a textbook it’s a guidebook
2. Practice Transparent Faith – TF only takes place in the context of relationship – Find a small group and live transparently.
Do I think we as leaders should talk openly about everything we are dealing with? No. I do think that creating a healthy church environment starts by doing what James tells us to do: confess our sins to each other that we may be healed.
I believe that people who are far from God can identify more with our transparency than they can with our super-spirituality
3. Leverage Collaborative Connections – This is something that was missing from my life up until 5 years ago. I wanted it just didn’t know how to make it happen. – It makes all the difference.
Twitter
Facebook
Your Pastor
Other kids pastors
You may say I’m just a kids pastor why would I bother using twitter to talk to other kids people. You may not but you can talk to other small group leaders in your church and learn from each other. Ask your leaders questions the more you know the more you grow the better it is for you kids, for your leaders and ultimately the church.
[It’s important that you network and ask others for input children’s ministry can be very isolating you need to make sure you don’t get isolated or overwhelmed because that will lead to discouragement.]
Lesson #3 Dealing with discouragement:
A big reason many leaders quit kids ministry is due to prolonged periods of discouragement.
Early warning signs I look for in myself:
1. Irritability
2. Lack of Focus
3. Pessimistic outlook on life
4. Tired
5. Apathetic
6. Frustrated by small things
I look for any of these things starting to creep up in my life if and when I notice them I realize that the clock is ticking and I need to take steps to counter them or it will only get worse. Here are some of the things I do when I start to see signs of discouragement in my life.
1. Ask God for help
2. Talk to accountability partners and close friends about what I am feeling.
3. Make sure I am reading my bible.
4. I am a big music person – Listening to worship music does wonders for me personally
5. Practice Thankfulness – Jim Wideman taught me this one (to be honest if this is all I learned from Brother Jim it would be enough. This his helped me more than anything. When I feel discouraged thanking God helps me with my perspective.)
6. Spend time with friends and family – nothing helps discouragement more than surrounding yourself with people who know your good, bad and ugly and love you any way.
If you want to last for the long haul and leave a legacy
1. Always support your Pastor. If you find yourself in a place when you no longer do, it’s time that you need to find another Pastor who you can support.
2. Make sure you measure success by the right standards. Tools we use do not measure our effectiveness but by life change that results from the tools we may or may not have.
3. Life change is not measured in weeks and months but rather in years and decades.
4. Your family is the best indication of your success in life and ministry.”
You will have short term successes but true success is not measured in weeks or years but in decades. To see fruit that remains in your life and ministry you need to lead for the long haul.
People don’t notice. – Our church is huge on kids ministry and still some people said to me when I transitioned to campus pastor people said how does it feel to finally be a pastor.
My mom said about the applause of man vs. applause of God.
One of the coolest things I’ve experienced In kids ministry happened to me just this week. In teaching kids you get cards and notes from kids some recognizable some not so much. But for pastor appreciation month one of my volunteer staff made a scrap book of notes kids and volunteers wrote tell of the impact I’ve had on them. What was crazy for me was some of those kids who 13 years ago had made squiggly pictures
MemoryVerse – Exodus 20:3 “Do not worship any god except me.”
Skit – What we worship is obvious – Have some friends get together – (some come out with playstation equipment wrapped around his arm, someone else with a baseball glove and hat, someone else with a doll who cries when separated from the doll, lastly have a kid with a bible). Have the kid with the Bible explain that anything we put before God is an idol. The kids will be confused thinking that only things carved from stone are considered idols. An idol is anything we put before God!
ObjectLesson – Have a picture of an Idol from the Bible ask the kids how many would worship this? (allow the kids time to respond) Of course we would never worship a carved out in stone or wood. Then explain that even though we don’t for the most part worship carved out idols we can have things that are more important to us than God. Like Playstation, Barbie, TV, watching movies, being with friends all these things can become modern idols. We must be careful not to let them. An idol is anything we put before God!
ObjectLesson – Serving Idols separates us from God – Have two kids come up and explain that when we worship something other than God we have an Idol, that thing blocks us from having a relationship with God, we can see God we can’t talk to him because something is in the way. (During this time have one kid turn sideways to the crowd but facing the MC have the MC explain how it is easy to see this person talk to them ect.. Then take the other kid place that kid between the MC and the first kid. Explain that an Idol is anything that we place in front of God, anything that keeps us from loving Jesus.) The MC explains that anything we put before God is an Idol. If you play the playstation before you pray it is an idol, if you care more what your friends think than what God thinks they are an idol.
Puppet – Says that his Idol is elmo and barney. The MC explains that the Bible tells us we shouldn’t have idols. The puppet says that the Bible means statues, and the puppet doesn’t have any statues of elmo anywhere in his house. MC asks how many hours he watches elmo and barney? The puppet says 4 hours every day but he would watch all day if his mother would let him. The MC asks if he ever prays or reads his bible? The puppet says that he hates that stuff even though he still loves God. The MC explains that elmo and barney even though they are not statues they are idols because he loves them more than he loves God. The Puppet says that he loves God but his actions show something much different.
Biblestory – Ex. 32:1-29 The golden Calf. –
Tell the story of Israel worshiping the golden calf.
What the children of Israel were saying by worshiping the Golden Calf is the needed a God they could control. They wanted something they could see that they built that could predict what it would do and where it would move. Even though the one true God had rescued them from Egypt they didn’t fully trust God. So they did what they could do and that was trust themselves and so they built a God that would allow them to do whatever they wanted to do.
We have things in our life that we trust more than God. There are things in our lives that consume our thoughts because we think those things will make us truly happy. If we have the newest video game we will be happy or if the coolest kid in our school is our friend or if everyone thinks we have the nicest clothes.
You see idols are not always bad things often its good things that we turn into the most important thing in our life. If we have this or that or if that person likes us we will be happy. We won’t because God created us to be only truly happy when we are in a right relationship with him. God knew that the children of Israel would turn to idols just like he knows you and I would do the same thing. So he sent a rescuer to rescue us. To show us a better way to live. Because no matter how hard we try we can never be perfect we all need God’s help. So God sent us Jesus. Jesus is the only cure for a heart that wants so many other things. We will always want more and never be truly happy in life until our heart rests in Him.
We know that we can trust God with our whole life because God sent his son Jesus to give up his life for you and me. God poured out his heart and gave us Jesus so that our hearts can be filled with a true love that never leaves us love that never stops a love that can only be from God sending us Jesus. In John 3:16 it says for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not die but will live. Jesus wants us to live and not die. We will only truly live when our hearts treasure Jesus more than anything on earth.
Small Group Activity –
To turn to idols you have to turn your back on God. (Have three kids from the cell act out what you are describing) Have one represent God one represent other gods (idols) and the last person represent us. Have the person representing us start of worshiping God
Explain to the kids to turn to one we must turn to the other. The Bible tells that no man can serve two masters, and that a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Questions –
What is an idol?
What do you love more than God?
Why?
How often do you read your Bible?
How often do you pray?
What do you spend most of your time doing? What happens when we put things before God? What can we do to keep from turning our backs on God?
What can you do this week to show God you love Him?
Skit – A poor beggar – Asks for money – A pastor won’t help, a rich person won’t help, but a kid who only has $1 does help. – Have a poor beggar walk out on the stage with a cup containing a few quarters. A Christian is witnessing to a rich man the beggar approaches them they assume that he wants some money. The beggar wants to know more about Jesus but before he can even say what he wants the Christian and the rich man dismiss him and tell him that they have no time for him and they have no money so go away and leave us alone. The Christian and rich man freeze the poor beggar walks to the middle of the stage looking very sad a kid notices the sad beggar and asks his mom if he can go over and give the beggar his allowance for that week. The mom agrees she says to her son “We need to love the poor” and allows the kid to give the money as the child is giving the money he says to the beggar Jesus loves you. The beggar gets so excited not so much for the money but also that someone would tell him about Jesus. The beggar asks the mother and child if they can tell him about Jesus the son and mother look at each other smile then turn to the beggar and say that they would love to talk to him about Jesus they all freeze. The end.
Skit – Have someone dressed who looks poor have everyone in the skit treat him badly until they find out he is really rich. Then they treat him much different. We need to treat everyone the same God does. – Have a group of kids waiting in line for a movie they are all excited to see the new Disney movie, they all know that seating is limited. A kid comes up and looks very poor doesn’t have nice clothes on asks if he could move up in line because he is meeting someone inside. Everyone says things like you smell funny, you must be crazy to think that we are going to let you in front of us, you probably don’t have enough money to even get into the movies. All the kids laugh. One kid stops and says hey you look a lot like that rich and famous lead singer of the Christian band “God’s Kids”. All the kids that were making fun are now asking for an autograph, saying things like they were joking that they really think he is cool and they think his clothes are cool too, he really makes a statement. (all freeze, lower heads and walk away)
ObjectLesson – God looks at who we are not what we have. – Have a kid come up give them a $10 bill then ask if they think they are the richest kid in the room. If they say yes then tell them to wait, if they say no then ask why they said no. Have another kid come up and give that kid a $20 bill, ask the same questions. Have another kid come up give them a $50 ask the same questions. This time explain that no matter how much money you have there will always be someone who has more money than you. God doesn’t look to see how much money you have but how big of a heart you have. How much you give to the poor.
ObjectLesson – Ultimate poverty is life without God. – We are never poor as long as we have God in our life. “How many would say that I am poor if I had no money” (allow time for a response) “Alright how many would say that I am poor if I had money but didn’t ever become a Christian, buy asking Jesus into my life.” (allow time for a response). As long as we have Jesus we will never be poor. We need to care for the poor. We need to help them with money but we also need to give them Jesus. “We need to love the poor”
Puppet – Puppet comes up and is confused because he heard in rock church that the beggars in the Bible would say “ARMS for the poor” why didn’t poor people in the Bible have arms? The MC explains they are asking for alms which a form of money. The Bible tells us that we will be blessed if we give to the poor and we will be cursed if we don’t help the poor at all. We live in a church and a country where we are very much blessed we must bless others. We must give to the poor. “We need to love the poor”
Bible story –
2 Samuel 9
David and Mephibosheth
Read the story of David and Mephibosheth –
Explain to the kids the reason that Mephibosheth was afraid was because in that time kings would try to find every surviving family member of the former king so that they could kill them so they would have no claim to the throne.
David didn’t do that he could have killed mephibosheth because he was king Saul’s grandson but he didn’t he showed kindness to him.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
How much we love God is not measured in how nice we are to our friends. But in how nice we are to those people who can do nothing for you. They are the kids at school no one likes. There are people in our country and in other countries who can’t afford to buy a pair of shoes. We need to think of them. We need to think about how can we help what can we do not always about what show we want to watch on TV or what new video game we want to buy.
David showed kindness to someone who didn’t deserve it. But do you know what there was someone better than David that has shown kindness to you and me. Jesus was the better David who came from heaven to rescue you and I from sin and death. Jesus came to us in our poverty, because we have all made mistakes right? He came to forgive us and make a way that we could go to heaven and live with him forever just like David allowed Mephibosheth to live in the palace for the rest of his life.
Romans 5:5-8 God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Jesus went the extra mile for us he showed us what loving people is all about because of what Jesus did for us gives us the power to love others, to do help those who need our help and who ultimately need Jesus.
Small Group
Activity –
Take off you shoes and shoe the kids, ask the kids “Did you know that there is some people in the Dominican Republic can’t even afford shoes?” Explain to them that God gets very mad if people especially Christians treat poor people badly. God also blesses people who care for the poor.
Questions –
In the story what did David do that so unusual?
What can we do to help poor people?
What does God think about poor people?
What does the Bible say about poor people?
Are there poor people in America or only in other countries?
Does Jesus love rich people more than poor people?
Why?
How can you help someone who doesn’t have as much as you this week?
What is something you can do or give to someone else this week?
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