The Church -

The Precious Pearl & The Kingdom of God

VIDEO

Worship:

Join Wellie, Jodie and Louise with the actions to ‘Creator God’ by Nick and Becky Drake as we remember that God made everything and is interested in every detail!

Word:

Read/listen to a good retelling of ‘The Parable of the Pearl’ like the one that David reads in our WellKids Video this time - ‘The Precious Pearl’ by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen. Then read Matthew 13:45-46.

Here are some questions to explore this story:

What is a parable?

What did the man in the parable do to get the pearl?

What does the pearl represent?

What is the greatest treasure we could ever receive?

How can we receive the Kingdom of God?

The message of this story and of the whole Bible really is that following Jesus and knowing God is costly (it takes everything) but is worth so much more than anything, any earthly treasure that you or I could imagine! Knowing God is worth more than anything in the whole world!!

Jesus is like the pearl. He is the gateway to receive the Kingdom of God. God wants to take away everything in our lives that keeps us away from Him which can seem hard, but when we remember what God has given us, we will realise there is no price we could ever pay to equal that gift. God wants us to know that the Kingdom of God is worth any price we must pay. It’s worth more than money, more than having lots of friends, more than power and being important. God wants us to have the Kingdom of God and he wants us all to be willing to do anything to receive it.

Challenge yourself - Are there things that you value more than God? Ask God to help you in your heart as you seek to put Him first.

Activity Suggestions:

Under 5’s

Decorate a Biscuit. Use plain biscuits (such as Rich Tea) and make some icing to cover the biscuit. Then decorate with sprinkles of your choice. Add a white iced gem or a white mini-marshmallow to represent the ‘precious pearl’.

5-8’s

Craft Oyster - Using either a paper plate or a section of an egg box create an oyster shell. Cut out and stick on/draw a heart shape inside. Then find something to represent a pearl to place inside eg; imperial mint, mini-marshmallow, bead, cotton wool ball, small pom-pom. You might also want to write Matthew 13:45-46 on the outside of your oyster shell.

8-11’s

Wordsearch - ‘Hidden Treasure and The Pearl’ wordsearch from Sermons 4 Kids.

Click for Wordsearch

Reflection:

Think about something that you own that is special to you, a treasured belonging. Thank God for it. Think about how you feel about your special treasure. Now realise that God loves you EVEN MORE than this!! You are treasured by Father God! Wow!

Here are some words you can pray, if you’re not sure what to say to God…

Father God,

We want to know your love.

We want to know your presence with us today and always.

Thank you that knowing you God is amazing!

We want to say that just like for the man in the story who gave up everything, you are worth everything to us, more than all our stuff and all our earthly treasures.

We treasure knowing you Lord!

We pray that we would know your love, know your friendship and that Holy Spirit will help us to keep putting you first, you as number 1 in our lives.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen.

Sunday 18th October 2020 - The Precious Pearl & The Kingdom of God