Six posterboard signs about 12x16" each with a string tied to two ends long enough so it can hang around someone's neck, large marker, calculator.
We’ve been talking this week about a very important thing - God and us. Today I want to tell you some really wonderful news that I hope you will always remember. We've been talking about sin, and using this bracelet with many colors. Who can tell me about the “dark” color on the bracelets we’ve been using this week?
How many times would you say that you sin in a day? (take a few answers) I probably sin ten times before breakfast! Here’s some ways I sin - I can get impatient, I can say something unloving to my wife, I can...
Nobody is perfect. If you met somebody who only sinned three times in a whole day, they would be the best person you’ve ever met. Nobody’s that good!
How many of you ever have to go to your room when you do something wrong, or spend time in time out? If you were so good that you only sinned three times a day, there are 365 days in a year, and that’s over a thousand sins every year! So if you had an hour of time out for every sin... (calculate) That’s forty-two days of non-stop time out!
Invite up two kids, one adult.
Ask each one how old are they? When you hear their age, Use it to calculate how many sins a year they may have committed, calculating only three sins a day (e.g., a child age 10 = 3 sins a day x 365 days/year x 10 years = 10,950 sins. Write on a sign in large numbers how many sins each one has done as you ask them, begining with youngest to oldest. (Act more and more astonished as you come up with these numbers).
Wow - that's a whole lot of sin, isn't it? Now we know that God is just, and that there always has to be a punishment for sin — not just discipline like time out so you’ll be good, but a real punishment: separation from God. That’s a hard thing to hear, isn’t it?
But here's the thing that i hope you remember from today: God loves us so much, that he found a way for this punishment to be taken away. How? He sent His son Jesus to die for all our sins. When we put our trust in Jesus, something wonderful happens.
When X puts her trust in Jesus, this is what God does for her - (Have each person take off sign with # of sins). This is what it means to be forgiven. (Do this for each person). But where do those sins go?
This is where Jesus is SO important! We know Jesus never sinned. Just like this clean page (hold up sign that is clean), Jesus is totally clean. No sin, not even one time. When His mom told Him to do something, He did it. Yesterday you learned some of the horrible things people did to Jesus - When somebody spit on Him, He forgave them and loved them. When somebody hit Him, He didn't hit back. So what would Jesus' sign look like? Would it be like our 3 people here?
No - it would look like this
(put 3 clean signs around your neck)
When He died on the cross, he didn't have any sins of his own that needed to be punished. He was innocent. (take off 3 clean signs) But this is what he did (take all the signs with the # of sins and slowly put all of them on your own neck). Jesus took all of our sins away - the sins of everybody in this whole room and the sins of all the world, and he paid the punishment for them — that is what Jesus did when he died for us for us!
But that's not all. Not only does Jesus take away all our sins, but to each one of us (go up to each of your three volunteers one by one, put a clean sign on him/her), Jesus gave His own good deeds.) So when God looks at _(name)_, He doesn’t see the wrongs she's done but He sees the goodness of Jesus — it’s just like _(name)_ did all the many good things Jesus did.
When we are forgiven, God doesn't see 8000 sins — He sees _(name), child of God_. He doesn't see 9000 sins — He sees _(name), child of God_. He sees _(name), child of God. But how could He do this?
You're learned two verses that tell us this: 2 Cor. 5:21 or 1 Peter 2:24. I sometimes call this God's wonderful switch. Our sins to Jesus and His goodness to us.
Boys and girls - we love doing AWANA each year, because it’s lots of fun. But the number 1 reason we do it is to tell as many boys and girls as we can about the love of God that can take all our sins away and make us a child of God.
If you have never asked Jesus to forgive your sins, I urge you to do it today. Maybe you’re not sure how to do it, so I’m going to pray a very simple prayer now, and you can pray along with me silently.
God, this is such good news. You love us so much that even when we sin, you love us and sent your son, Jesus to die for all those things we have done wrong. Thank you!
Today we’re asking you to forgive us for all those things we’ve done wrong - not because we’re pretty good most of the time but because all our sins were put on the cross and taken away.
God, I pray many boys and girls here would put their trust in you today.
This is an awesome lesson. I love the visual of the sin signs. I hope to use it as a template for me to set the stage for why we needed Jesus to be born.
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just came across your lessons in search of counsel time lessons for this year. i'm planning out our AWANA year. Thankful to find your blog! thank you for this amazing resource! god bless..
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