Message Theme & Verses: The man who didn’t have any friends: Luke 19
Memory Verse: Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Zacchaeus was a mean little guy who stole from people. He worked for the government collecting taxes. There were many temptations for him to steal more money than the people owed and Zacchaeus became very rich from his stealing. No one liked Zacchaeus. He did not have any friends. One day, Jesus was coming to town and Zacchaeus wanted to see him. He was a tiny man, so he climbed up a tree to look at Jesus. Zacchaeus saw Jesus. Jesus saw Zacchaeus too! Jesus told Zacchaeus to come down because Jesus would eat at Zacchaeus’ house. Wow! Jesus was willing to go to eat with the most hated man in town. The people were so mad, but Jesus was showing that He came to be with sinners. Jesus is like a doctor for our souls and doctors visit sick people. The Holy Spirit changed Zacchaeus’ heart right then. He confessed to Jesus that he was a sinner and had been stealing from people. He wanted forgiveness and God gave him faith to believe that Jesus could forgive him. Zacchaeus’ heart changed from thief to giver. He gave away to the poor, half of everything he owned and to everyone from whom he stole, he returned four times as much. This is how powerful our God is. Jesus saved Zacchaeus from his sin and gave him a new heart. He can do that for you too. No sin is too big for Jesus!
Barkadang Questions
1. Do you have a lot of friends? How many can you name right now, all at once?!
2. How would you feel if no one liked you?
3. Would you trade in your friends for a lot of money? Like 1 million pesos?
4. Why do you think friends are so important? (The Bible says that it is important to have Christian friends. They can help us when we have temptations and they can encourage us to do good. Christians should look out for one another and do good things together. Sometimes, we want to do bad things and it is only when God gives us new hearts that we can choose to do good.)
5. Do you think Jesus would come to your house for dinner?
6. What would you eat if Jesus came for dinner?
7. Are you ever ashamed to be around some people because of what they do, how they look, or how they act? (We don’t like to be around people who are shameful. Their shame might get on us. Of course, it is not good to hang out with people who are sinning if we start sinning too. But, we can be friends with people who are sinning and encourage them to follow Jesus. When we help people learn from the Bible who Jesus is and how we should live, it is called making disciples. God commands all Christians to do this.)
8. People were really mad at Jesus for talking to Zacchaeus and going to his house. Why were they so mad? (They people were so mad because Zacchaeus had sinned against them. He stole from them. They thought that he was bad and they were good. They thought that their sins were not as bad as Zacchaeus’ sins. They thought that God should forgive their sins and punish the sins of Zacchaeus. They forgot that God commands us to never sin and so if you have 1 million sins or only 1 sin, you still deserve to be punished. The people were proud. Zacchaeus was proud too, but when Jesus met him, Zacchaeus became humble. He confessed his sin to Jesus and repented. He stopped doing bad and started doing good. This was because the Holy Spirit changed his heart and God gave him faith. Once he believed Jesus is the Savior, he had salvation and then changed his ways.)
9. Can you be a friend to someone that other people don’t like? How could you do that?
10. What is something that you would like God to change in your heart?
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