THE LOST SHEEP
September 12, 2010
Luke 15:1-10
Props: Story of the lost sheep from a children’s Bible story book.
Today’s story is about a lost sheep. I am sure many of you have heard this story before. Jesus used it to help people understand some-thing about God. When the story is done, let’s see if you can tell me what Jesus wanted his listeners to know about God. (Read the story to them.)
What did Jesus want his listeners to know about God? (Time to share ideas. Summarize their answers before moving on.) Who is im-portant to God? (Everyone and everything) Are we important to God? (Very important) Name a child in the group and ask:“Are you important to God?” (Do this two or three times to make your point.) Yes, everyone is important to God. Each one of us! No one is left out; God loves us all!
When the one sheep was lost, what did the shepherd do? (Looked for it and brought it back.) The shepherd made sure the other sheep were safe while he looked for the lost one. That tells us he did not love the lost one better than any of the other sheep.
Sometimes we are like that little lost sheep and we get lost from our shepherd, God. We run away from God every time we do some-thing we shouldn’t do. We call this sin. We sin when we lie or are mean. What are some other ways we sin? (Time to share ideas. Summarize their answers before moving on.) Whenever we sin, or move away from God, God comes looking for us. God worries about us just as our parents or friends worry about us when we behave badly. Our parents and friends love us and so does God. God wants us to come back, to be sorry we did wrong, and to discover how we can stop doing the things which are wrong to do. God will always forgive us and will help us to be better people.
Today’s Children’s Worship Bulletin has many activities to help us think about staying close to God and living as God’s children. The back page has space for drawing faces showing how we look when we forgive each other.
Let’s pray: Thank you, God, for loving us no matter what we do and for helping us show love to one another. Forgive us when we are not loving. Help us to be close to you again. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
