LESSON 17: FORGIVENESS
THEME: Zacchaeus’ Sins are Forgiven (Luke 19:1-10)
VOCABULARY: entered, town, find, sinner, said, mistakes, tax collector
STORY: There is a man. His name is Jesus. God sent Jesus to earth to find those who didn’t know God and who were lost. God knew that Jesus could bring many people to live in Heaven forever with Him. One day Jesus was walking and entered the city Jericho. In this town, there lived a man named Zacchaeus. Many people did not like him. They all said that he was a sinner. The interesting thing is that many people in that town were sinners but they did not recognize their own mistakes or the things they shouldn’t be doing. But they all did not like Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a tax collector and he had a lot of money. The problem with Zacchaeus was that he had a lot of money and a big house, and many people thought he had taken some of the tax money. But on the day that Jesus came to Jericho, Zacchaeus went to see him. Jesus told Zacchaeus that He would stay at Zacchaeus’ house that night. Many people were confused because they didn’t understand why Jesus would want to stay with Zacchaeus. The people thought Zacchaeus was a bad man. But that is the important thing about God. He forgives us of our mistakes and sins, just like Jesus was forgiving Zacchaeus. From that moment on, Zacchaeus decided he would repay anyone he had cheated and he would follow God!
ACTIVITIES:
- Review the vocabulary words. Listen to the Vocabulary File for pronunciation. Look up the meaning of any words you don’t know.
- Listen to Audio 1 as you read through the story.
- Listen to Audio 2 – Story with Questions as you read through the story and answer the questions.
- Discussion: Make two columns on the whiteboard. On one side write “SIN,” and on the other side write “FORGIVENESS.” Discuss what sin and forgiveness are. Talk about how we all sin, but God always forgives us.
| SIN
(What are some ways we sin?) -Lying -Cheating -Not listening to parents, etc. |
FORGIVENESS
(What happens when we confess our sins? -God forgives us |