Message Theme & Verses: The Friend of Little Children: Matthew 18, 19, Mark 10, Luke 18
Memory Verse: Mark 10:15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
Jesus’ followers were fighting. They each thought they were the most important and wanted everyone to see how important they were. Sometimes, we act like that too. We want people to like us and think that we are important. We want the best things for ourselves. Jesus knows that our hearts sin in this way. He humbled his disciples by telling them that they should not try to be the greatest, but to be like children. There are children everywhere. Every country, every province, every barangay, everywhere there are people, there are children. Some people don’t really like it this way. They say things like “children should be seen and not heard.” They have lots of important adult things to do and they don’t have time to waste on kids. Jesus had the most important adult things to do. He had more adult things to do than anyone. Jesus was healing people and telling everyone that the kingdom of God was coming and they better get ready. They needed to get ready by repenting of their sins and having faith in Jesus. But somehow, Jesus had time for kids. In fact, the Bible said that he liked kids and even told His disciples to be like children. One time some parents wanted their kids to come and meet Jesus. The disciples were mad. “Jesus doesn’t have time for kids! He has important adult things to do!” But the Bible said that Jesus took time to see the children and to “lay his hands on them and blessed them.” Jesus didn’t worry if the kids were dirty or if they had sipon or sticky hands. He was willing to be close with them and hug them. Maybe they even did something like mano po. This is a way to show respect for our elders, of course. But it is also a way for them to give a blessing to us. Jesus was glad to bless the children.
Barkadang Questions
1. Can you name one thing that you are really good at?
2. Can you name one thing that your brother or sister is really good at?
3. Did you ever have a fight with your brothers or sisters? Who is usually the winner?
4. Do you think you are a good person or a bad person? (Compared to other people, we probably think that we are pretty good. We have not killed anyone or done really terrible things. But, if we think about it, we probably do some bad things and have hurt other people. God says that we have to be perfect and none of us are perfect so compared to Jesus, who is perfect, we are actually bad people?)
5. How does it make you feel if someone says that you are bad? (It is called humbling when God shows us how we really are and we understand that even though we think we are good, we can never follow all of God’s rules and so we need help. We need a Savior.)
6. What does it mean to be humble? (It means that we see ourselves for who we really are. We see that we have sin in our hearts and we need Jesus to take our sin and give us His goodness. It means that we don’t think we are better than other people, but we understand that we all need Jesus. It also means that we should treat others good and love them.)
7. What do you think Jesus meant when he told His followers to be like children? (Jesus was not saying that all children are perfect. He was saying that His disciples were acting very proud. They were forgetting that they needed a Savior. Many times, children understand that they need help. When they are really little, they can’t get dressed by themselves or even feed themselves. It’s okay to need help. Jesus wants us to need Him. He knows that we can only please God and be truly happy when we depend on Jesus.)
8. Who do you depend on in your life? Who do you need?
9. What does it mean to depend on Jesus? (It means that we understand that we need help. Not just help because we are good and need to be a little better, but help because the Bible says we are dead in our sin and need to be given new life. When we depend on Jesus, we understand that our way might be a bad way and we read the Bible to find out God’s way. I’m so happy that we have a God who loves us and wants us to depend on Him.)
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