Easter 2020 – KIDS! | The Mission Church

Easter 2020 – KIDS!

Themissionhammond April 12, 2020

Introduction

How Xcelerate Works: Welcome to our Xcelerate lesson for the week. This is a special week because we are telling the Easter Story. I want to thank you for taking the time to sit down with your family and continue the lessons that the Xcelerate team have been teaching your child/children.
1. Unit’s Main Focus: We have been discussing Jesus’s 12 disciples and their specific callings into the ministry of God.
  1. Today, we will be looking at the relationship Jesus’s had with the disciples and what transpired during Jesus’s most troubling times.
  2. We want your child to think about and meditate on things like, “what should I be doing as one of His disciples, have I done anything that the disciples did, do I think like that disciple thought?”
2. Big Question: With every unit we have a “Big Questions” that we give your child to get them to think deeper about spiritual matters in their life. With this unit, our big question is, “What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?”
  1. We want your child to be thinking about Jesus, the lives He has changed, and the world He has created. So, we ask them to ask this question every time they read a story about one of Jesus’s disciples.
    1. We do this hoping that they will also tie it into their own lives and realize they too are disciples of Jesus.
  2. We want the children to decern for themselves what it means to be one of His disciples
3. Memory Verse: The main scripture that we have been focusing on is Matthew 28:16-20.
  1. This is known as the Great Commission and is where Jesus gives His now 11 disciples a mission to make more disciples and train them and teach how to obey.
    1. This is after Judas Iscariot has betrayed Jesus and is why only 11 disciples are addressed in this passage of scripture.
  2. Other important scriptures:
    1. Romans 10:17 – Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God
    2. John 20:29 – Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

This Weeks Lesson: I pray that this outline will help you discuss a very important biblical principle to your child/children and helps you easily navigate difficult questions that might arise.
1. Which Disciple: This week’s lesson is about one of Jesus’s disciples that struggled with something we all struggle with, doubt.
  1. We are learning about “Doubting Thomas” and how he wouldn’t believe Jesus had risen until he saw the proof himself.
2. Scripture: It is a good idea to read this story before presenting this lesson to your child/children. It is located in the group of books known as the Gospels
  1. Matthew Chapters 26-28
  2. Mark Chapters 15-16

Luke Chapters 22-24

John Chapters 17-20

Main Points: We generally have 3-5 main points with our lessons. Today’s lesson has 3 main points.
1. Jesus Loves Us All
2. Jesus Wants Us to Server

Jesus is Alive

Feel free to use your own words, ideas, and experiences while you are teaching your child/children this message. In fact, I encourage you to.
1. It is important that families share in spiritual development and it will be a beautiful thing when you can share something personal God showed you about this scripture.
2. From this point on, the lesson will read as if you were presenting to a group of students in the Xcelerate room, but again feel free to change things as you see fit.

Review from Last Week

Review – The 12 Disciples

Hello everyone, it is time to get started, but we can’t start without first knowing where we left off.
1. We have been talking about what is means to be a disciple of Jesus.
2. We have been seeing some incredible story’s about how Jesus called 12 ordinary men to do some amazing things.
  1. Can you name the 12 disciples? (Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Nathanel/Bartholomew, Matthew, another James, Thomas, Simon, Thaddaeus, Judas Iscariot)

We want to know what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, what we are supposed to do as one of His followers.
1. Can you tell me something we are supposed to do?
2. All those answers were so good! But there are 3 specific things we are told to do as disciples.
  1. We see them in the Great Commission. Let’s read the great Commission together. It is in Matthew Chapter 28: 16-20
    1. We are supposed to Make More Disciples
    2. We are supposed to Baptize them in the Holy Spirit
    3. We are supposed to Teach people how to Obey Jesus

In today’s story we are going to see Jesus in His most troubling time
1. We are going to see what the disciples did when Jesus was preparing to be put on the cross and what they did after Jesus died, and what they did when Jesus rose on the third day.
2. You heard me right. Jesus died and came back to life because Jesus is even stronger than death.
  1. Let’s watch our video and see what happens

Bible Story Video (5:29 min) – Discussion (5-8 mins)

The Last Supper: We start out our Easter Story with Jesus and His disciples all gathered around a big table and they are eating a huge feast.
1. It was a special time of year called The Passover. The Jewish people were all celebrating the day Moses saved them from the Egyptian Pharaoh and walked everyone across the Red Sea.
2. But what the disciples didn’t know is that this was going to be their last meal with Jesus.
  1. This was actually a going away party for Jesus and the disciples didn’t even know it.
3. Now before they all started eating, Jesus did something that was kind of crazy and a little nasty. Do you remember what it was?
  1. Jesus took off his robe and started washing the disciple’s feet! Ew!
  2. Have any of you ever had a pedicure before? I bet you never had one from Jesus though!
    1. I don’t know if I could let Jesus, the Son of God, was my stinky feet.
    2. I think I would be like Peter and try to stop Jesus.

Jesus Wants Us to Serve: Jesus told Peter that if He can’t wash Peter’s feet, then Peter could not be one of his disciples.
1. Jesus washed His disciple’s feet because He wanted them to know something very important.
  1. Jesus wanted them to know that, as a disciple, you are a servant and that you are meant to serve.
  2. Even the Son of God had to get down and do a dirty job to please God and to bring Him honor.

Jesus showed just how humble He was by doing the dirtiest, nasties, smelliest job there was to do all because He loves us and He loves God.

As disciples ourselves we have to ask ourselves, “What does it Mean to be a Disciple?”
1. Let’s all say that together, “What does is Mean to be a Disciple?”
  1. Jesus shows us that to be a disciple we have to serve others and humble ourselves

Jesus Loves Us: Soon after that, Jesus was praying in the garden and one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Jesus and brought soldiers to Him so that they could capture Him.
1. One of Jesus best friends betrayed him for some money, but you know what’s even crazier that?
  1. Jesus know Judas was going to betray him.
    1. Jesus still washed Judas’s feet at the Last Supper knowing that Judas was going to betray Him
    2. Jesus still celebrated, ate, and drank with Judas
    3. Jesus still loved Judas even though He know Judas was going to betray him
  2. Jesus wants everyone to love like He loves.
    1. Jesus gave us an example to live like. We are to live like He did.
    2. Our love is supposed to overpower every other desire in our hearts
  3. It is that overwhelming love that sent Jesus to the cross.
    1. Jesus know He had to die on the cross so we could be saved.
    2. Even though He know mankind would betray Him, even though He know some people didn’t believe in Him and will never believe in Him.
      1. Jesus still loves us so much that He choose to die on the cross to save us all.

Jesus is Alive: Jesus was on the cross for 6 hours before He passed away. They brought him to a tomb and placed a giant stone in front of it and sealed it.
1. They even placed guards in front of the tomb so no one would try and steal Jesus’s body.
2. For 3 days nothing happened, and all the disciples thought that it was the end.
  1. But on the third day, the world was changed forever!
  2. An angel came down and rolled the stone away, Jesus was alive, and we were all saved from our sins!
3. Jesus is still alive today.
  1. He might not be walking around but He is inside of us, He lives in our hearts and is still working great miracles in our lives and through our lives.
  2. Jesus gave us authority to do the things He did. He wants us to know that we have the power living inside us, and that power is the Holy Spirit.

It might be hard to believe that, it was hard for the disciples to believe too. Many of them gave up and went back to their old jobs.

Jesus came back to life and restored the faith of His disciples
1. They had all given up and started returning to their old lives.
  1. They started fishing again, doubting again, and some denied even knowing Jesus because they were afraid.
2. But Jesus showed them what love truly is and came back from the grave.
  1. Jesus did not punish them for doubting Him, for denying Him, for going back to their old ways.
  2. Jesus forgave them and showed them what they are supposed to do.
    1. The same thing we are supposed to do
    2. We are to use the power Jesus gives us and do what the Great Commission tells us to do.
      1. Make Disciple, Teach others how to live, and Baptize them in the Holy Spirit

Conclusion: Jesus’s whole life here on Earth was leading up to Easter.
1. God sent His son to Earth to be put to death on the cross so that we all could be saved.
  1. God loves us so much that He sacrifices His son for us.
  2. And God loves us so much and Jesus so much that He brought Jesus back to life after 3 days.
2. Easter is all about the Love that Jesus has for us and the sacrifice He made so we can live with Him forever.
Pray: Let’s pray

Bible Activity

See Jesus Dowel activity sheet for directions on how our Easter activity will go.