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Jesus Is Deliverer

Bible Passage: Matthew 26:14–35 (Last Supper)

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© 2015 David C Cook. TruResources are developed in partnership with ROCKHARBOR Church and a national network of family and children’s ministry leaders. All rights reserved.

REMEMBER VERSESearch me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.Psalm 139:23–24

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© 2015 David C Cook 2

HomeFront Magazine: A Spiritual Parenting Resource This magazine gives families ideas for creating fun, spiritually forming times in their homes—setting aside a sacred space for family in the midst of their active, everyday lives! As the new issue becomes available each month, you may choose to print it for families or encourage them to visit www.HomeFrontMag.com to subscribe to have the magazine sent directly to their inboxes. HomeFront is also available as an app for iPhone, iPad, or Android devices.

Tru Mission StatementTru helps kids and their families connect to God, find their place in His big story,

and respond to Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lesson Path: Seeing the Mission Statement in a Tru Lesson

Connecting leaders to God ... Inspire, Equip, and Support

Connects kids and their families to God … HomeFront WeeklyAnticipate

… His big story … Celebrate

… And invites them to respond to Him … Respond

… Through the power of the Holy Spirit. Bless

Navigating the Bonus LessonBelow you will find additional information to enhance lesson sections as needed.

Anticipate Key Chains ActivityYou’ll need some supplies that aren’t normally used in Tru lessons. These supplies include craft foam, shape stencils (heart, basketball, star, fish, etc.) or die-cut shapes, and key rings (or other rings).

Celebrate Storytelling VideoA storytelling video is available for this lesson. Premium, Unlimited, and Combo users may access it in the Resource Files.Storytelling Communion TableFor this week’s portion of The Big God Story, you’ll be creating a communion table as you storytell. You can make the table as elaborate or simple as you want. Additional ideas include a table runner and candles.

RespondBless

ANTICIPATE | CELEBRATE | RESPOND | BLESS

www.HomeFrontMag.com

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© 2015 David C Cook


Anticipate// 5–10 min.

Option 1: Key Chains (for Younger Kids)SUPPLIES• craft foam or card stock (several sheets)• shape stencils (heart, basketball, star, fish, etc.) or die-cut

shapes• scissors (1 pair for every 2–3 children)• single-hole punch• key rings or other rings (1 per child)• craft glue• yarn or string (6”)

PREPARE AHEADCut the yarn or string into pieces about six inches long. Optional: Cut out shapes from the craft foam or card stock; make one shape for each child.

ENGAGEJesus is the Deliverer and Savior for all people. He died on the cross for our sins and rose again to save us—to deliver us—from our sins. Jesus frees us from the “chains” of sin and death!

Encourage the children to use the supplies to create key chains. Help the kids to trace shapes on the foam or card stock and cut them out. (If you cut out shapes earlier or have die-cut shapes, have each child take one.) Next, have each child punch a hole in the shape near the edge, thread a piece of yarn through the hole, and tie a knot. Finally, have her string the yarn through a key ring and tie it off. If your kids want, they can cut smaller shapes and glue them inside their larger shapes to make them more three-dimensional or artistic.

Option 2: Breaking Free (for Older Kids)ENGAGEJesus is the Deliverer and Savior for all people. He died on the cross for our sins and rose again to save us—to deliver us—from our sins. Through Jesus, we can break free from sin and death!

Have the children stand in a circle. Ask two or three kids to go into the middle of the circle while the rest of the kids hold hands. The children inside the circle must try to “break free” by getting out of the circle—without touching anyone! Those holding hands in the circle cannot move their feet, but they can move their arms.

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Celebrate//35–55 min.

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Welcome & Traditions//

• Take five minutes to open your CELEBRATE time by engaging in Welcome and Traditions.• Quarterly Tradition (optional): Beach Ball Toss: Invite kids to gather in the center of the room. Toss a beach

ball into the air and encourage kids to work together to keep it in the air. (For a large group, use several beach balls.) If the ball touches the floor, the leader will call out a color and toss the ball into the air again. Any child wearing that color must make his way to a wall, tag the wall, and return to the game.

Remember Verse//

• This week’s Remember Verse focuses on a character trait of God that’s highlighted in today’s portion of The Big God Story.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23–24

Connect// Invite the children to ask one another the following question or one of your own. Encourage them to ask someone they may not know. After a minute or two, ask several children to tell the group their friends’ answers. (For Connect Question and Connect Activity slides, see Resource Files)

QuestionWhat is your favorite meal?

Activity: Meal MomentWhen people share a meal, they often sit together and talk. Invite the children to pair up, sit on the floor for a moment with their partners, and share their answers to the Connect Question. Then the kids can find new partners and repeat. Groups of four or six can also form if they want to pretend that they’re sitting at a group table.

The Big God Story//

SUPPLIES• Bibles (1 per leader and 1 per child)• Timeline slide and animation (see Resource Files)• slides: Bitter Herbs, Flat Bread, Matthew 26:26,

Matthew 26:27–28 (see Resource Files)• table• tablecloth (to fit your table)

SET UPOnstage, set up the table as though it’s a Passover or communion table. Spread out the tablecloth and place the empty cup and one empty plate on it. Place the flat bread on the other plate, and pour the juice into the pitcher. Before storytelling, quietly hand the paintbrush, the plate of flat bread, and the pitcher of juice to a few leaders around the room. Explain that when you “call” for the item, the leader should hand it to a nearby child volunteer to bring forward.

Worship Response//

SUPPLIES• Verse strips (see Resource Files)

SET UPCut the verses into strips, and link the strips by stapling or taping them to form a long chain. Make several chains and tape them up where the kids can reach them. There should be one link for each child.

• paintbrush (about 4” wide)• flat bread (at least 3 pieces)• plates (2, at least 6” wide)• juice (1 L, preferably red or purple)• pitcher with lid (about 1 L)• clear cup

• scissors • stapler or tape

Ponder Point: Jesus Is Deliverer

Find more details for each section in the How It Works document in the Supporting Lesson Resources section of the My Lessons page at tru.davidccook.com.

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The Big God StoryBible Passage: Matthew 26:14–35Storytelling Technique: Props, Volunteers, Actions, Call and Response, and Images

ENGAGEGesture to the communion table onstage. Look at this beautiful table! It looks like something special is about to happen. How many of you celebrate special holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, or birthdays, by having a delicious meal? Allow children to raise their hands. Sharing a meal with people you care about is a wonderful way to celebrate, and it’s something that people have been doing for many, many years. Today we are going to hear about a special meal that Jesus shared with His disciples before His death on the cross. Let’s start by asking the Holy Spirit to speak to us today. Lead children in a Prayer of Release.

Recently we heard about a woman named Mary who poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. Mary loved Jesus so much that she worshipped Him this way in front of everyone there. After Mary did this, it was almost time for Passover. What is Passover? Encourage the kids to answer. Passover is one of the festivals we celebrate during REMEMBER & CELEBRATE weekends. During Passover, God’s people remembered the amazing way that God had delivered them. What does deliver mean? Allow answers. To deliver someone means to save him or to set him free. In sign language, the sign for “deliver” starts with clenching your fists and crossing your arms over your chest. Invite the children to join you by clenching their fists and crossing their arms across their chest. Then, you open your arms into a muscleman pose. Isn’t that neat? Every time you hear me say, “Deliver,” you can join me in making this sign. Lead kids to practice a few more times.

Way back in The Big God Story, God’s people, the Israelites, lived as slaves in Egypt—until God raised up a leader named Moses to help lead them out of Egypt. God sent many plagues on Egypt so Pharaoh would let the Israelites go. What were some of those plagues? Encourage kids to share some answers. The last plague God sent was a very sad one. It was a plague for all the firstborn sons in Egypt to die.

But God wanted to save His people from this plague, so He gave them some special instructions. Does anyone here have a paintbrush? At this point, the leader with the paintbrush should give it to a volunteer to bring forward to you. Hold up the paintbrush and gesture with it as you talk. God told them to take the blood of a perfect lamb and paint it on the doorposts of their homes. When the plague came, the homes with the lamb’s blood on them would be “passed over,” and the firstborn sons inside these houses would live. Through this Passover, God revealed to His people that He is the Deliverer (sign language), the One who saves them. He wanted His people to know Him and trust Him.

God’s didn’t want His people to forget how important this was, so He told them to celebrate it every year to remind them of how He had delivered (sign language) them. Every year they ate the same Passover meal. Though they didn’t know it at the time, the Passover meal pointed to a time in the future when Jesus would be our Passover Lamb—the One who saves us from death and invites us to live forever with Him.

So, before Jesus was tried and sent to death on the cross, Jesus and His disciples shared a special Passover meal. Jesus wanted to reveal more of who He was to His disciples by explaining what His death would mean. As they ate, Jesus began to explain that this Passover meal would take on a new meaning. He started by using the different items they were eating. The Passover meal included bitter herbs (Tech: Cue Bitter Herbs slide), which reminded God’s people of how bitter, or how difficult, it had been to be slaves in Egypt. The meal also included unleavened bread, or flat bread without yeast. Tech: Cue Flat Bread slide. This bread reminded the people of how they’d had to leave Egypt so quickly that they didn’t have time for their bread to rise. Does anyone happen to have any flat bread? At this point, the volunteer with the plate of flat bread should give it to a child to bring forward.

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Invite the children to turn in their Bibles to Matthew 26:26 and follow along as you read. Tech: Cue Matthew 26:26 slide. What an interesting thing for Jesus to say! Jesus broke the bread (break flat bread), handed some to the disciples, and told them the bread represented His own body that would soon die. Jesus wanted them to remember Him whenever they ate the bread. Say this with me: We remember You, Jesus. Invite the children to say the phrase with you as you hold up the bread. Then place the broken flat bread on the empty plate.

Invite the children to follow along in their Bibles as you read Matthew 26:27–28. Tech: Cue Matthew 26:27–28 slide. The cup’s contents represented the blood that Jesus would shed on the cross. It’s through Jesus’ blood that we’re saved from sin. Sin is when we disobey God and turn away from Him. Does anyone happen to have some juice? At this point, the volunteer with the pitcher of juice should give it to a child to bring forward. Pour some juice into the empty cup. Jesus was telling His disciples that they could experience true forgiveness from sin through His blood—through His death and resurrection—and to remember this whenever they drank from the cup. Say this with me: We remember you, Jesus. Invite the children to say the phrase with you as you hold up the cup. Then place the cup back on the table.

Jesus changed the focus of the Passover from Israel’s deliverance (sign language) from slavery to a new focus on deliverance (sign language) from sin. The disciples might have thought they were celebrating the Israelites being set free, but they were really celebrating everyone in the future being set free from sin—through the death and resurrection of Jesus! Jesus is the Passover Lamb. As the Lamb of God, Jesus’ blood from His death on the cross would bring freedom—not from slavery to a nation, but from slavery to sin. Jesus would soon be the once-and-for-all sacrifice because He was the perfect Lamb!

This is all really amazing because it still applies to us today. Maybe you’ve eaten the meal Jesus ate with His disciples—the bread that represents His body and the cup of juice that represents His blood. And if you have, you’ve probably heard someone read the instructions from the Bible to eat and drink this meal “in remembrance of [Jesus]” (1 Corinthians 11:24b). You see, we still eat this Passover meal—(point to the objects on the table) bread and wine or juice—to remind us of Jesus’ body being broken and His blood spilt for us on the cross.

When Jesus came to earth and died on the cross, shedding His blood for us, He freed us and delivered (sign language) us from being slaves to sin. He is the Deliverer (sign language) we need. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, He revealed Himself to be the Deliverer (sign language) with the power to free us from our slavery to sin. Jesus did this because He loves us! And He did this so we can choose to be free in Him. Tell a story of a time Jesus delivered you.

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Worship ResponseENGAGEToday we heard all about how Jesus is the Deliverer with the power to break us free from being slaves to our sin—to the ways we disobey God and turn away from Him. Though we may not be slaves to another country, like the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, we’re slaves to our sins without Jesus.

Jesus wants us to be free from our sin. And He can free us from the burdens we carry, such as our worries and our fears. Jesus wants to break our chains and bring us into a life of freedom in Him—a life in which we don’t have to rely on ourselves anymore because we can rely on Him.

Give the children a chance to talk with God about all of this. Invite them to pray about anything heavy on their hearts. As they pray, remind them that Jesus is the Deliverer, not only of sins but also of all kinds of pains, sorrows, fears, and worries. Encourage the kids to talk about these things with Jesus and pray for freedom in Him.

After the kids have prayed, point out the chains around the room, and explain that the chains represent ways they can be enslaved by their sin. Invite them to break off a chain link, symbolizing their desire for Jesus to deliver them (have a leader stand nearby to help). Show them that each chain link includes a verse that points them to Jesus as their Deliverer. If the kids made key chains earlier, encourage them to add their links to their key chains (help them tape or staple the links to the yarn or string of their key chains when they return to their small groups).

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Respond// 15–20 min.

Reflect: Jesus Is DelivererThe Passover meal reminds us of how God delivered His people from slavery in Egypt. Passover also pointed to the day when Jesus, God’s Son, would deliver people from their sins. Encourage the kids to open their Bibles and read the suggested passages.

Questions for Younger Kids• What did Passover help the Israelites to remember?

Exodus 12:31; 13:3• What did Jesus say the bread and the cup represented?

Matthew 26:26–28• How do we remember the bread and the cup today?• How is Jesus our Deliverer? John 3:16• Besides sin, from what else can Jesus set us free?

Psalm 34:17• When you hear the word “free,” what picture comes to

your mind?

Questions for Older Kids• How did God use Moses to deliver His people from

Egypt? Exodus 12:31–32• How does Passover point to Jesus? 1 Corinthians 5:7• What do the bread and cup of Passover represent?

Exodus 12:7; 13:6–8; Matthew 26:26–28• What is the new covenant between God and His people?

1 Corinthians 11:23–26• How are we like slaves, and what enslaves us?

John 8:33–34; Romans 6:6–7• How is Jesus our Deliverer? Romans 8:1–2• Besides sin, from what else can Jesus set us free?

Psalm 34:17• When you hear the word “free,” what picture comes to

your mind?

Engage: Jailbreak!SUPPLIES• Jail sign (see Resource Files)• soft foam balls (several)• masking tape

PREPARE AHEADPrint the Jail sign.

SET UPTape a line down the center of the room to create two sides. Hang the sign in one corner.

ENGAGESplit the kids into two teams and position them on either side of the tape line. When the leader shouts, “Go,” the teams will throw their foam balls at each other and try to hit someone on the opposing team. Anybody who gets hit goes to “jail.” When a child catches a ball from the other team, he shouts, “Jailbreak!” and all of his teammates who are in jail are set free. When an entire team is in jail, the game ends.

After the game, discuss:

• How did it feel when your team got a jailbreak?• How is a jailbreak similar to the way Jesus delivers us?

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Let’s join together one more time to use the sign language we learned today. Jesus is our Deliverer (sign language)! Wonderful. You can stay in that posture with your arms out wide for as long as you want as I read today’s blessing. I invite you to close your eyes and think of a place where you feel free.

Give the children a few moments, and then open a Bible and read Psalm 18:2:

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Children, may you play and run and jump in the freedom that Jesus has won for you. May your heart rejoice because you know that Jesus is your Deliverer.

Bless// 5 min.

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Be sure to send home the HomeFront Weekly for next week’s lesson! This preteaching tool for parents encourages families to spend time in God’s Word together before children arrive at church.

WEEKLY

jesus is deliverer - clover sitesstorage.cloversites.com/foresthillspresbyterianchurch/...anticipate...

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