Coach’s Corner
Warm Up
Welcome back! Are you guys ready to find God’s solution to our sin problem? Before we do, we will practice the two hand motions we learned last week. Can anyone remember what they were and show us? (See if anyone can remember and call on a kid to demonstrate.)
That is right, so we first learned that God loves us, and we made a heart with our hands. Then, we learned that sin has separated us from God because of our choices. We show this separation by raising one arm diagonally across our bodies.
By the end of our lesson today, we will have added two more motions. These motions will help you memorize the Gospel and help you tell your friends and family about the solution God gives us to our sin problem.
Alright, let’s jump on in!
Workout
Whenever we have a problem, our goal is to find a solution that helps us return to the state of life we had before the problem entered. For example, if you get injured while playing, you might seek out a doctor and do rehab so you can return to playing like you were before the injury.
When sin separated us from God, He created a solution to help us return to the close relationship humans experienced before we ruined it. Because God loves us so much and desires a close relationship with us, He decided to fight for us and bring us back to Him. How great is it to know that even though we mess up, God still wants us!
But there was still sin that had to be dealt with; someone had to pay the price for our mistakes so that we could be made new and be back with the perfect God. So, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to take our punishment. While Jesus was here on earth, He lived a perfect life and shared God’s love with everyone He met. We are called to live a life like Jesus. Jesus had one main job to do, and that was to be a sacrifice for us and take away our sins. Does anyone know how He did this? (Take a few answers.)
“For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18
Jesus suffered on the cross and died to take away our sins. When we sinned against God, our punishment was death and to be separated from God forever. But instead of us paying the punishment of our sins and never be together with God again, Jesus came to earth to die so that our sins could be washed away and be with God in Heaven someday. Without Jesus dying on the cross, we would have no way to enter Heaven because our sins would keep us away from God. Jesus made a way for us to be with our Father again one day!
Now, I want you to take your arms and form a cross with them as our symbol of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.
Isn’t that great news? Our sin doesn’t have to define us, and we can be set free from our mistakes. We also have the chance to be with God forever.
All this great news is wonderful, but it means nothing if we do not believe it. God desires a relationship with us. And just like any other relationship, both people have to decide if they want to be in it. God has done His part; now it is time for us to do ours.
The last motion we will do is to put both arms up with our palms facing upwards like we are trying to decide on something.
We are making this motion because now you must decide what to do with this good news. God wants us to want a relationship with Him, so we must decide if we believe that Jesus came to die on the cross for us. We must believe He rose again on the third day, defeating death and sin, and is now with God in Heaven. We will be saved if we believe that and give our life to God.
When I say give our life to God, we desire each day to live like Christ, love God, and obey His commands. We look each day to how we can serve God and tell others about this good news we know.
“If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.” Romans 10:9-10
When I say we will be saved, we get to spend forever with God in Heaven. It means our sins are no longer with us, and we have the power of the Holy Spirit inside us. Sounds pretty great if you ask me.
Wrap-Up
- So, what are you going to do? Are you ready to believe that Jesus died for you and God wants a relationship with you?
- If you already have a relationship with Christ, how can you use these FOUR symbols to share with your friends?
Remember to learn more about the FOUR, you can visit thefour.fca.org.
“God, we are so thankful for Your desire to have a relationship with us. Thank You for sending Your Son to die on the cross for me, taking away all my sins. Give me confidence and courage today to start my relationship with You. Help my relationship to grow stronger each day. Amen.”