The GOLD PAGE:
What color is this? It's gold. What does gold remind you of? Jewelery? Yeah! They say in heaven there is a street of gold. Have you heard about heaven before? It's the place where God lives. You may know some things about God. He is the creator of everything; the trees and grass, even all people. He created you and He created me, and He loves us very much. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world," and the world means you and me and every person here at the fair. Did you know that because He loves us He wants us to be with Him and He is preparing a place for us in heaven. Now God is perfect. That means he has never done anything wrong before. So because of that, there is one thing that can never be with Him in heaven. That thing is sin.
[turn to]
The DARK PAGE:
Sin is anything we think, say or do that does not please God. We have all done things that are wrong; I have and you have and everyone here today, has done them. In Romans 3:23 it says, all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We were born that way - did your mom have to teach you how to do what is wrong? No, she had to teach you how to do things right, isn't that true? What are some of the sins that kids your age do? Steal... not obey their parents... yeah, that's right. I did those things too when I was a child. We know what is good and we choose to do what is wrong, don't we? When you choose to do wrong, what happens? Do you get in trouble with your parents? Well the same is true with God, there is a punishment for doing wrong things. The punishment is separation from God, forever. However, God has a wonderful plan so that you and I don't have to punished for our sins.
[turn to]
The RED PAGE:
The Lord Jesus is God the Son. He was perfect while He was a man. He never thought or did anything wrong like we have. That punishment that belonged for us? He willingly took it instead for Himself. He willingly died though He didn't deserve it. He died on the cross. He shed his blood and gave up His life. Hebrews 9:22 says without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sins, but because He did bleed, all our sins are forgiven and the punishment is over with. So He died for us, and after that He was buried and three days later, he came back to life and now He is in heaven, and you can read that in 1 cor 15:3-4. And now because of what the Lord Jesus did for you, you can have your sins forgiven.
[turn to]
The CLEAN PAGE:
John 1:12 says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." That means that if you and I believe in Jesus, God gives you and I the right to become children of God! Isn't that amazing? In a second we're going to have the chance to pray to God about what we have heard about Jesus so that you can become a child of God. You kids remember your ABCs, right? Well we have some ABCs for when we pray to God to become His child. A stands for "admit." [turn back to dark page] That means you admit to God that you are a sinner. Or another words, you agree that you know you have done wrong things, and just tell him about it. B stands for "believe." Believe with all your heart that... what? [turn back to red page] That means you trust on the inside that the Lord Jesus died on the cross for your sins and mine, and rose again. C stands for "call." Receive Jesus as your Savior. Choose to receive Him. You must decide for yourself in your own heart. This is a serious decision between you and God. Would you like to receive the Lord Jesus Christ right now?
Okay! Let's review - why do you need the Lord Jesus? (Because I am a sinner.) What did the Lord Jesus do so you might have your sins forgiven? (He died on the cross and rose again.) What happened to the Lord Jesus three days after they buried Him? (He came alive again.) How can you become a child of God? (By admitting I am a sinner and want God to change me. By receiving the Lord Jesus as my Savior.) Would you like to receive Jesus and become God's child right now?
Let's pray, and you can talk to God in your own words, or if you want you can repeat after me. [Lead him through the ABCs.] [After prayer....] Whose child are you now? Let's read John 1:12 again. But let's put your name in there. "But as many as receive Him, to 'Johnny' He gave the right to become a child of God, to 'Johnny' who believes in His name." Did you know that Hebrews 13:5 says, "I will never leave you"? Practice on your five fingers and then point to yourself: "I will never leave [point to self] 'Johnny'." He also said in Hebrews 13:6 "The Lord is my helper." Practice on your other hand with five fingers and say "The Lord is 'Johnny's' helper."
When you become a child of God, He wants you to get to know Him better.
[turn to]
The GREEN PAGE:
The color green reminds us of things that are growing like grass. When you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior from sin, God wants you to grow to be more like Him. You have His power and strength to do what is right, but when you choose to sin, what should you do?
1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Confess is to tell on yourself. If you mess up, you need to confess up. On this wordless book there are four corners, which remind us to GROW. The G stands for "go to church." Find a place where people are talking about the Lord Jesus and what He did on the cross. If you don't have a place yet I'll talk with your mom and see if you can come to my church. R stands for read your bible and pray. Reading your bible is how God talks to you, and when you pray that is you, talking to God. O stands for obey God's word. You can ask God to help you obey His rules. What are some of God's rules? In Ephesians it says children should obey their parents. The W stands for witness. Find someone you know will be excited for you that you received the Lord Jesus! Share the story with them, and use this wordless book I'll pin on your shirt today to tell others about what Jesus has done. I am going to give you a tract and a mailer so that we can send bible lessons to you in the mail, okay?
Would you like to pray before you go? You can just thank Jesus that today you have become His child. I'll let you say it in your own words. Can I pray for you too before you go? Thank you so much for stopping in today, Johnny; now - off to enjoy the fair you go, I hope to hear from you in the mail!
3 comments:
Readers,
I was told that the gospel presentation above needs to be done in well under fifteen minutes. In fact the times it was demonstrated for us, the demonstrators had to keep watching the clock so they could keep it to their own standard of 10-12 minutes approximately.
I was also told that there is room for flux. When you actually get out there (and this is true of course) you won't remember everything. But this is the whole thing that should be said. The Holy Spirit allows for flux and so we shouldn't worry if we forget a few of these points. God brings the right things up to speak to the right people, so by faith we know we're going to say the truth of the gospel to the kids.
Sanc, I like this lesson. I have difficulty envisioning this presented in such a short period of time as it is suggested here, but I ususally overestimate the timing of my presentations. I struggle with rote, too. :)
Theologically, I would have issue with the idea presented of sin - but only slightly. I see the issue not as sin, specifically, but the condemnation of sin or guilt and that Jesus does not remove sin from our lives, but the condemnation of sin - the guilty verdict - by forgiveness. I think this is a clearer way of understanding that does not leave children (and even adults) the impression that we stop sinning once we are saved.
Does that make sense?
What age group is this targeted towards?
Thanks for commenting and thinking on this Missy.
It's aimed at all ages, I guess. I think if I were talking to a 2 or three year old, I could translate and shorten it into "child-ese."
You said:
I see the issue not as sin, specifically, but the condemnation of sin or guilt and that Jesus does not remove sin from our lives, but the condemnation of sin - the guilty verdict - by forgiveness.
Yeah. I thought that part needed a little better definition too. I came up with something.
Remember that Betty said there is some wiggle room both in planning and execution? Well in this freedom I make some changes. I pause with reverence, and I'll explain the reasons why I do it in a transition post. I hope you will let me know if you find the reasons for these adjustments, compelling.
Thanks for reading.
Post a Comment