AWANA
– Year 1 – Repentance
We have talked in the first few
weeks about sin, and the horrible things sin brings with it. Three weeks ago we talked about God’s help
when he sent Jesus as the sin crusher, and the death crusher. This story is what we call the Gospel!
In the next few weeks, we are going
to learn about how sins are forgiven.
And today we’re going to learn about Repentance.
So, I want you all to be my
helpers. I need 2 volunteers to come
forward and read what’s on the cards I have.
You out in the seats are going to help by acting at a Sorry Detector. You need to listen to what each person says,
and decide if the person is really sorry or not. You will show you think someone is really
sorry for what they did by giving the “Thumbs up” sign. And if you think they are not being sorry,
give the “Thumbs down” sign. Okay?
Volunteer
#1
Yesterday, I was watching television
when my baby brother came in the
room. I don’t know why. He always annoys me. Anyway, I had been playing with my
Transformers and just for a second, had put them down on the floor. My baby brother grabbed one. He thought he could play with it. Well, he can’t – they are mine. I grabbed it out of his hand – okay, maybe a
little too hard, and what do you know? He falls down and starts to cry and says I
pushed him! Of course, Mom comes in and
of course gets it all wrong. She believes
my little brother and not me! And can
you believe it, she makes me say “I’m sorry.”
So I did – (say I’m sorry in a whiney voice) – I’m sor-r-r-r-y, okay??? Gee.
Okay, audience. What does your Sorry Detector say about his
“I’m sorry”? – thumbs up, or thumbs
down?
Why don’t you believe him? (get answers)
Volunteer
#2
I really, really like Pokemon cards,
and I heard that Barnes and Nobles was giving away free packs of Pokemon cards
if it was your birthday. On Saturday,
Dad said let’s go to a movie together, and so we went to the theater in Market
Fair. In case you don’t know it, Barnes
and Nobles is in the same shopping center.
Anyway, after the movie, Mom asked if we could go to Barnes and Nobles
to look around, so we did. When Mom and
Dad were in the CD section, I went over to the desk. It’s my birthday, I told them, and they gave
me a free pack of cards. Right then my
sister came up behind me and said really loud -
Oh boy – you didn’t tell them it
was your birthday did you?
Oh, I said, like you always tell the
truth! Anyway, you’re not the boss of
me. Leave me alone. Then Dad and Mom came over – oh boy . They asked how I got the Pokemon cards, and I
said I found them lying on the floor and picked them up. Dad didn’t believe me and took them from me
and gave them to one of the people at the registers. On the way home in the car, nobody
talked. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any
more. I’m sorry, okay? I said.
Just leave me alone.
Okay, audience. What does the Sorry Detector say about what
happened here? Up for the truth, or
down?
Why don’t you believe him?
Okay, volunteers, thank you. You may sit down (applause)
What happened to our two volunteers? Why do you think they had trouble saying they
were sorry?
We hate feeling embarrassed or
guilty or bad.
Sometimes we get angry at the people
who tell us we’ve done something wrong
Or we make fun of them, like our
second volunteer did to his sister
Can you think of a time when you
were really sorry you had done something?
Was it hard to say you were sorry?
Open your Bibles to Psalm 51
This psalm was written by King David
when he did a whopper of a sin. God
loved King David so much, and blessed him in so many ways. But even with all these good blessings, David
chose to sin. This sin involved every
horrible thing you can imagine – he tricked others into doing evil with him, he
lied, he stole someone else’s wife
because he thought as king he should have her, and then he made sure the
husband got killed so David could have this woman all for himself. This is a horrible, horrible thing!
For a long time, David believed
nobody knew or cared what he had done.
But finally God sent a prophet to David who let David know that God saw
everything he had done and that God was very angry with him. What could David possibly do? He could say – I’m sor-r-r-r-y, like volunteer #1, or he could
say – oh, and you’re so good? When did
God make you the judge? And maybe David
did want to run away from God.
But that’s not what he did. And in this Psalm, we’ll learn just what we
need to learn of how to say we’re sorry to God – this is called repentance – in
a way that really means it. But that
wasn’t how David was. David had changed,
and wanted to change even more.
4 Index cards? Or handout with the 4 verses on them for each
child:
PART ONE:
Read Psalm 51: 4 - What is David saying? He's saying "God – you’re right." How is David doing now on the Truth
Detector? (Thumbs up)
Do you think this was easy for David
or hard for David? Why? ADMIT
PART TWO:
Read Psalm 51:3 – What is David saying here? (Confess your sins) - Right, he's saying "Yes, I
did it. I know I did it, I admit it And I’ll admit all of it"
PART 3:
Psalm 51:17 – Be sorry for your sins –
David loved God so much that when he understood how evil he had been, his heart
broke. He said – "what have I done? How could I do this evil?"
If you were looking at David, do you
think you could see that he was really sorry?
What might you see?
PART 4:
Psalm 51:10 - Finally, what is David saying now? "God, change me so I don’t do
this ever again."
What did David ask for so that he
couldn’t sin like this again?
A clean heart – what does this mean? What made his old heart dirty?
Boys and girls, don’t fool
yourselves – sometimes we don’t want to repent.
We will blame someone else, we will make any excuse, because we don’t
want to admit we are wrong.
Or we say we’re sorry, but we really
mean, just get off my back.
But God knows what we have done and he tells
us – it’s sin – you need to confess and repent.
Stop running away. Admit,
confess, be sorry, and repent – make up your mind you don’t want to do this any
more! And God will forgive you. And he will always forgive because He is full
of mercy.
Let’s look at one more story and get out your "Sorry Detectors". Let's see
how your sorry detectors do this time:
Hannah loved the gold cross her mom
sometimes wore. One rainy afternoon,
Hannah was looking around for something to do.
She went into her mom and dad’s bedroom and began to look at her mom’s
jewelry. She saw a ring that belonged to
her grandma. She saw some bright gold
earrings. And then she saw the
cross. She picked it up and looked at it
closely. Inside was a tiny diamond
chip. Hannah walked over to the mirror
and held the necklace up to her neck.
She thought it looked really pretty.
Then Hannah put the cross in her pocket and walked out of her mom’s
room.
The next Sunday, everyone was
getting ready for church. Hannah was
getting dressed too and remembered the cross.
She thought – if I wear it, my friend Casey will love it, so Hannah got
it out of her hiding place and put it on just before they went out the
door. After Sunday school, Hannah’s mom
picked Hannah up in her classroom and suddenly she looked at Hannah funny. Her smile disappeared and suddenly Hannah
noticed her mom was looking very sad.
Hannah, her mom said, what’s around your neck? Is that MY cross? Hannah reached for her neck and felt the
cross. Then she looked at her mom’s sad face. Suddenly Hannah knew she had hurt her
mom. And she knew that wearing the cross
to impress Casey was dumb. Oh mom, I’m
so sorry, Hannah said. I never want to
hurt you. I’m sorry. And she took off the cross and gave it to her
mom.
Maybe you have never asked God to
forgive you for the sins you have done.
Don’t wait another day to tell God you’re sorry and to ask God to
forgive you. Clubbers, if you have
already prayed for God to forgive you, keep your heart tender to God and be quick to tell God you're sorry!
PRAYER:
Loving God, you see everything we
do, everything we think, everything we say.
And you are right - each one of us is a sinner. We sin because we want to, not because
anybody makes us. We want to stop making
excuses and tell you we need you to forgive us.
Wash us clean, change us so we
only want to obey you. Thank you for
Jesus Christ, who died to take away all our sins.
Amen
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