LET JESUS ROLL AWAY THE STONE OF SILENCE
As we count down the weeks to Easter, we continue to look at many of the stones Jesus’ life, death and resurrection roll away in our life – clearing a path for us to come back to God and be with Him forever!

For the week of April 5th we’re going to reflect on the stone (barrier) of silence. Jesus says He will roll away the stone of self if we put Him first.

Keys for this lesson:

  • Palm Sunday is the day we remember when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt in fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy (Zechariah 9:9)
  • Jesus didn’t seek earthly power or use earthly ways (politics) to establish His kingdom – His Kingdom is not of this world!
  • Jesus found his joy, not in the applause of man, but in the praises of children, the poor and the lost!
  • Jesus is the One who turns our SILENCE into SINGING!

Preparing in Prayer & Thought:
Please read through the lesson first so you are comfortable with it and can tailor it to your children. Pray with your children before beginning. The world is in a time of turmoil and uncertainty and is looking up to powerful leaders and politicians for safety and deliverance. There are many voices and ways the world is trying to draw us and our children away from our trust and confidence in Jesus alone. Pray for ways to point your kids to trust more in Jesus as their Leader and source of strength and safety.

Scripture Reading: Luke 19:29-40

Up to this time Jesus lived out his earthly mission by humbly working and walking among the common people (like you and me), bringing healing and deliverance to many.

Many times he instructed people and his disciples to keep quiet about his works and not tell anyone about himself. His life goal was not to seek the praise and applause of the powerful or make a public show of all the good he was doing. He only came to seek and to save the lost.

But now it was time for Jesus to go to Jerusalem and show himself as the King of the Jews. But it wasn’t to sit on a royal throne or to take a position of power as a ruler. Riding on a humble donkey, Jesus began his journey to the cross where he would lay down his life so we could have eternal life with Him.

Questions:

How good are you at staying silent or quiet about something someone asks you to keep secret? Like keeping a party or a gift secret so it’s a surprise. Are you tempted to tell or are you able to be trusted to keep it secret?

When you do something good or successful do you need to tell everyone about it? Maybe you got a good grade or your sports team won. Or do you keep it to yourself?

Why do you think Jesus didn’t want anyone to know about his good works or who he was? (it wasn’t time for him to go to the cross so he needed to stay hidden from those who wanted to stop and silence all the good he was doing)

When you think of a king how do you think they would act and live?
What kind of vehicle would they drive?
What kind of home would they live in?
What kind of people would they hang out with?
How was Jesus different?

Who will roll away the stone of SILENCE?

Now that Jesus was heading to the cross He encouraged the praise and adoration of the people! It was time to roll away the stone of SILENCE and replace it with SINGING!

The Pharisees in the crowd were angry that the people were shouting Hosanna! and said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered,

“I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’”

Jesus knew the people would be afraid of the religious leaders and the rulers. And He knows that we also can be afraid of praising and speaking about Jesus.

Why are you afraid to praise and speak about Jesus?

Pray with your Children:
Pray for opportunities to publicly praise the name of Jesus this week.
Jesus is the One who can turn our fear of man from silence into SINGING!

Activities:

Act out the Story: Luke 19: 29-40
Get the family to help find and create things for the Palm Sunday Story. Find some worship music you all like and that will get you moving for Worshiping and Singing. Also, find musical instruments or things you can use as musical instruments.

  • You will recreate the scene of Jesus riding on the donkey up to Jerusalem.
  • Help your kids find props that can make the story come alive.
  • Make or cut palm branches.
  • Find a toy to make a donkey or pick a family member to be the donkey.
  • Dress up someone to play Jesus.
  • This is not limited to just kids – parents can be actors too!
  • Read Luke 19: 29-40 and act it out. Sing “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!” Ask your kids a few questions as you go like these ones:
    • Did you notice that Jesus came on a Donkey? And not on a big horse with fancy riding stuff?
    • Did they notice that Jesus didn’t have a throne to sit on and people didn’t run around serving him? He went about quietly doing God’s work and didn’t say hey look at me I am important.
    • Now we know that sometimes we are silent (quiet) and hard to share our faith: What are some ways we can change from being silent to singing (sharing our faith)?
    • So now that we have talked about being silent (quiet) let’s turn it into singing!! Let’s put on some music, get out our musical instruments and Let’s sing, dance and praise the Lord. Let’s thank Jesus for what he did for us. He died on the cross because he loved us!

If you would like to share any video of your worship and praising the Lord you can send it along to diane@parksidechurch.ca.

Questions? Contact Mrs. Kim (diane@parksidechurch.ca).

Written and developed by Rhonda B. and Diane K.