3-5s
Theme: Jesus is getting places ready for us in
heaven
Aim: Love Him and others now as we wait
Intro
Going away – what would
you take with you? Pack a bag together.
How would we feel if x was
going away? Sad? Would we want to go with them?
Teaching:
Remember Jesus was having
a meal with His followers [hold up picture]
Can you remember what He
had just done for them? [hold up picture of footwashing]
Jesus told His friends
that He was going away. The next day He would die on a cross, which was
wonderful and sad, [hold up picture of a cross] but then He would be going back
to Father God. Read 13v33
This made them really sad.
[hold up sad face and get them to copy]. Read 13v36-38. Simon Peter really
wanted to go with Him because he loved Jesus so much. But He couldn’t, not yet.
So why was Jesus going
away? Well, Jesus’ death on the cross means we can now be friends with God
again. And so Jesus had to go and get things ready for us to come to Him. Read
John 14:1-4. [Could play John 14:1-4 from Remember the Lord here. Hold up a
picture of a house.] Jesus says heaven is a little bit like a great big house
and He’s gone to get the rooms ready for us.
So, although it was sad
for Jesus’ friends it was wonderful because one day they would go and be with
Him forever. And so will we if we trust Jesus. What a wonderful promise!
But Jesus also tells His
friends what they are to do while they wait. Read 13:34-35. They are to love
each other.
How can we do this? [Give
them some practical ideas]
Activities:
- Stick windows on a big house with their names on
- Big sheet – ‘Love one another’ in the middle. Stick pictures of practical examples around and colour in.
Songs:
John 14:1-4 from Remember
the Lord
5-11s
Theme: Jesus is getting places ready for us in
heaven
Aim: Love Him and others now as we wait
Intro
Bag packing – relay race
to pack a bag for going on a journey. Imagine x was going away. How would you
feel? Sad?
Teaching
[You’ll
need a long sheet of wallpaper]
Can you remember what we
looked at last week? Where was Jesus? What had He just done?
And can you remember what
was going to happen to Jesus the next day? [He’d be killed on a cross. Hold up
a picture of a cross. Get them to stick it on at far left of picture]
This
is our time-line. The next day Jesus would be killed and here’s what He says
about it. Read 13:31-32. Jesus says that dying on the cross will bring glory to
God the Father. That means it will show how wonderful God is in bringing us
forgiveness.
But
then Jesus would leave His followers. [Get one of them to draw an arrow up from
the cross]. That would make Jesus’ followers really sad. Their best friend
would leave them.
This
led Simon Peter to ask Jesus a question. Read 13:36-38. Jesus was going back to
the Father in heaven and Simon Peter couldn’t follow Him.
So
what was Jesus going to be doing there? Read John 14:1-4. [Draw a horizontal
line across the top of the paper and stick on a picture of a house.] What is
Jesus doing now? He’s getting rooms in heaven ready for those who trust Him.
[Start putting some names on the windows in the house].
Isn’t
that amazing? Now that we can be friends with God because of Jesus’ death on
the cross, if we trust Him we will go there to be with Him forever. And Jesus
is preparing it for you.
[Get
them to draw another line along the bottom and a downward line at the end to
represent Jesus’ return.] So we’re here. [Put a mark on somewhere towards the
end]. We’re waiting for Jesus to have those rooms ready for us. So how should we
live now?
Read
13:34-35. [Take answers] We’re to love each other following Jesus’ wonderful
example of love. So how can we love each other? [Help them to make practical
suggestions].
Sum
up: 2 things to remember – Jesus is getting heaven ready for us. We should love
each other as we wait.
Table time
Younger ones – Father’s
house on one side: they colour and put names in the windows. On the other side
they stick pictures of practically loving each other.
Older ones – take them
outside and get them to wash someone’s car?
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