Jesus's Earthly Ministry: Jesus Came to Save

BIG IDEA: Jesus came to save.

This free Bible lesson, Jesus’s Earthly Ministry, will teach preschool and elementary students about the time Jesus spent on Earth teaching, loving, and serving.

FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: John 12:44-50

All of the printable activities and digital slides needed for the lesson, as well as a full printable lesson plan for both elementary and preschool are available.

Below is the outline of the free elementary Bible lesson.

PREP & SUPPLIES

printed, trimmed, & hold punched John 14:6 Memory Verse Cards
printed “4 Corners” choices (INK SAVER OPTION INCLUDED)
tape
Bibles for students
printed Bible passage references (option 1)
printed NIrV Bible passages (option 2)
printed “Ministry Reflection” pages (x4) – enough for every student to get a copy of each paper

MEMORY VERSE: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’. John 14:6 (NIrV)

THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE ACTIVITY:

Students will get a new card for their Memory Verse Collection today.
Leaders may choose to:
- allow students to break into tables for 5-10 minutes to decorate their cards and reflect on the memory verse, and then come back to large group
- wait until small group time to pass out memory verse cards and allow students 5-10 minutes to decorate and reflect on the memory verse.
ALTERNATIVELY: Allow students to get into groups and make up motions for the words of the memory verse and then present them to the large group. This should take 5-10 minutes.
Leaders: Remind students and parents to add their card to their ring at home.
If students need to get “caught up” with their collection, please be sure to send home (1) a binder ring, (2) a “title page” cover card, and (3) all of the cards up to this week.

LESSON HOOK ACTIVITY

(SLIDE 3) Today, before we get into our Bible lesson we are going to play a game called “How May I Help You?”.

To play, we will read together a scenario (situation) and two choices. You will decide which choice would be the best way for you to help.

Designate two spots in the room for students to move to as they make their choices. After reading aloud each scenario from the slide, instruct students to move to one of the two spots in the room you have designated. (For example, say: “If you would think choice A is the best way for you to help, move to this wall. If you think choice B is the best way for you to help, move to this wall.”) *You can also change up the locations during the activity to keep students interested.*

(SLIDE 4) Scenario #1:

A kid at your school who is younger than you is having a difficult time understanding a math problem. How should you help?

A: SIT DOWN WITH THE KID AND TEACH HIM HOW TO SOLVE THE MATH PROBLEM.

B: TELL THE KID YOU ARE BUSY PLAYING WITH YOUR FRIENDS, SO THEY SHOULD ASK SOMEONE ELSE.

Discussion:

When you sit down with someone to teach them something that you are good at, what are you giving to them? (your time, your talents/knowledge)
How do you think it makes the person that you are teaching feel? (loved, cared for, more confident)

(SLIDE 5) Scenario #2:

Your teacher tells you that a person that she knows has lost his job and is unable to buy new shoes for his son or daughter.

A: LOOK THROUGH YOUR CLOSET AND FIND SOME SHOES THAT YOU CAN GIVE AWAY.

B: LOOK THROUGH YOUR CLOSET AND DECIDE THAT YOU LIKE ALL OF YOUR SHOES TOO MUCH TO GIVE ANY AWAY.

Discussion:

When you give away something that you own to someone in need, how does it make you feel? (kind, caring, loving, generous)

(SLIDE 6) Scenario #3:

You are really good at basketball and your younger sister asks if you will help her learn to shoot free throws.

A: TELL YOUR SISTER SHE JUST NEEDS TO PRACTICE.

B: GO OUTSIDE AND SHOW YOUR SISTER HOW TO SHOOT FREE THROWS.

Discussion:

Just like the scenario about helping a younger kid with a math problem, when you help someone learn a sport, what are you giving to them? (your time, your talents/knowledge)
You are taking a talent, or a gift, that you have been GIVEN by God and using it to help others.
The person that you are sharing your time and talents with will feel loved and cared for.

(SLIDE 7) Scenario #4:

A friend invites you to come with her to the local homeless shelter to help serve a meal to people who are hungry. Another friend invites you to come over to play video games.

A: YOU LOVE VIDEO GAMES. YOU DECIDE TO GO PLAY WITH YOUR FRIEND.

B: YOU WOULD LOVE TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES, BUT YOU DECIDE TO GO SERVE FOOD.

Discussion:

If you chose to play video games instead of serving food, would you have been using your time to help others? (no)
What does it mean to serve others? (spend time to show love to other people and help them in ways that will show them you care)

Instruct students to be seated.

BIBLE LESSON

(SLIDE 8) Raise your hand if you have heard this word, MINISTRY.

What does the word “ministry” mean? (allow responses)

(SLIDE 9) “Ministry” means: “spending time to love, serve, help & teach others”

Think about this:

Spending time – Are there going to be times in your life when you are asked to do something that you don’t really want to do, but you know that you should do? At those times, would you rather be spending your time doing something that YOU want to do? Part of “ministry” is giving up YOUR time to do good things for others.
Loving – Is it always easy to love others? No, but it is possible! We can show love in so many ways. What are some ways you can show love? (giving, teaching, being kind, helping people in need, etc.)
Serving & Helping – What does it mean to “serve” others? (to help others by giving to them or doing something that they need) What are some ways that you can serve or help others? (pick up something that someone dropped, hold a door open, provide a meal for needy, give clothes to needy, help with housework, etc.)
Teaching – What are some skills that you have that you can teach to others? (school subjects, sports, art, music, etc.)
You can use all of your talents and gifts that God has given you to help others!

When you think about spending time loving, serving, helping, and teaching, is there anyone that comes to your mind? (allow responses)

(SLIDE 10) Jesus tells us in the Gospel book of Mark: “Even the Son of Man did not come to be served. Instead, he came to serve others.” [Mark 10:45]

Who is the “Son of Man”? (Jesus)

Does anyone know why Jesus calls Himself the “Son of Man”? (The prophet Daniel wrote in the Old Testament about the coming Savior of the world, and Daniel called the Savior the “Son of Man”. When Jesus called Himself the “Son of Man” He was claiming to everyone that He is the promised Savior!)

This Bible verse says that Jesus “did not come to be served but came to serve others”. Jesus is our KING! Why didn’t He expect for the people to serve Him? (allow responses)

Jesus came to the Earth and led a MINISTRY with His disciples. He SPENT TIME LOVING, SERVING, HELPING, AND TEACHING OTHERS.

(SLIDE 11) During Jesus’s earthly ministry, His time on Earth, He spent time LOVING PEOPLE and showing people the LOVE of God.

(SLIDE 12) He spent time SERVING people while He was on Earth. He performed many miracles and healed many sick people. We can SERVE others, but can we perform miracles like Jesus did when He was serving people on Earth? (No. Only God can perform miracles and heal people. Jesus did give His disciples the power to heal people and perform miracles, but they did not do those things on their own. Their power came from God.)

Jesus performed miracles and healed people so that He could show that He is God.

(SLIDE 13) He spent time TEACHING while He was on Earth. He taught all of His followers many lessons about how to live like Him, how to love others, and about the Kingdom of God.

Jesus did so many amazing things with His time here on Earth, but can anyone tell me the MAIN REASON He came to live on the Earth? (allow responses)

(SLIDE 14) The MAIN REASON Jesus came to Earth was to SAVE US from our sins! Jesus was born on Earth as a baby, He grew and lived a life without any sin, and as a young man He died on the cross, was buried, and then resurrected (rose from the dead) so that He could pay the price for the sins of all the people who believe in Him.

(SLIDE 15) The Bible verse we read earlier today is from the Gospel book of Mark. These are Jesus’s words: “Even the Son of Man did not come to be served. Instead, he came to serve others.” [Mark 10:45]

Guess what? That verse doesn’t stop there!

(SLIDE 16) It continues: “He came to give his life as the price for setting many people free.” [Mark 10:45]

What do you think that means? (allow responses)

Sin weighs us down and holds onto us like we are in jail.

This part of the Bible verse means that Jesus came to the Earth knowing He was going to die (give His life) to pay the price of the sin of the people who believe in Him and choose to follow Him. His gift sets us free! When we believe in Jesus, He frees us from our sin and gives us ETERNAL life!

What does “eternal” mean? (forever and ever; never ending)

(SLIDE 17) Jesus came to Earth to love, serve, and teach.

But the BIGGEST, MOST IMPORTANT part of His MINISTRY on Earth was to live a sinless life, so He could die on the cross, and rise from the dead to SAVE US from our sins!

That is our BIG IDEA this week: Jesus came to SAVE!

Does anyone remember what happened in the Garden of Eden at the very beginning of time? (Adam & Eve disobeyed God, and sin entered the world.)

When sin entered the world, we were separated from God. But God made a plan! God promised to send a Savior, the Messiah, to save us from our sin so that we are not separated from Him. Who is the Savior that God sent? (Jesus!)

Jesus came to live a life without sin. Then, He died on the cross and rose again defeating sin once and for all people! His gift made a way for us to have a friendship with God and live with Him ETERNALLY! When you trust Jesus and ask Him to save you, He will and then you will live with Him forever!

Jesus was part of God’s plan from the very beginning when sin entered the world through Adam and Eve. People who believe in Jesus and ask Him to forgive their sins will be saved and will live forever with Him!

Dear God,

Thank you for the truth that we find in Your Word, the Bible. We have learned that Jesus came to Earth and led a ministry to love, serve, teach, and most importantly save us from our sins! We thank you for all of the amazing lessons we can learn from the Bible. Please help us to understand when we read and study so that we can grow closer to You every day. We thank You for sending Jesus to die for our sins, and for His free gift of life when we believe in Him.

We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus’ sweet name, Amen.

LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY

PREP: You will need the printed “4 Corners” choice pages (love, serve, teach, and save). Tape each one to the wall in each corner around the room.

You will also need either (1) a Bible & printed passage references, or (2) printed passages.

Option 1: This option will take more time, but will be extremely valuable for students.

Give students a passage reference (printed for you), allow them to look up the passage, and read them aloud to the group. (It would be a good idea to allow students to all look up their passages at the same time and bookmark them so they are not distracted until it is time for them to read their passage.)

Option 2: Using the printed passages, choose students to read them aloud to the group. A leader may also read the passages aloud.

*Keep in mind that younger students may need help looking up passages & reading.

**If you are leading a group of K-5 students, you may consider splitting the groups into different rooms so the younger students can go at their own pace and not get frustrated or distracted by the more experienced readers.

NOTE: PRINTED PASSAGES ARE FROM THE NIrV.

(SLIDE 18) We are going to play a review game called “4 Corners”.

If you look around the room, in each of the corners you will see four choices: LOVE, SERVE, TEACH, & SAVE. These are your answer choices for this review game.

Together, we will read a passage from the Bible about Jesus’s time on Earth during His ministry. Your job is to think about the passage and decide which of the four categories of Jesus’s ministry YOU THINK best fits the passage. SOME OF THE PASSAGES WILL FIT INTO MORE THAN ONE CATEGORY. Once you have decided, go stand in the corner where the ministry category matches your answer.

Does anyone have any questions?

This is a great opportunity to discuss how “following the crowd” isn’t always the best thing to do.

Instruct students to return to a central location as passages are being read aloud.

PASSAGE 1: JOHN 3:16

love (shows God’s love for us; God so loved the world)
save (God sent Jesus to save us and give us eternal life)

PASSAGE 2: MATTHEW 19:13-15

love (Jesus showed His love for the children)
serve (Jesus blessed the children; He showed the children special favor and love)
teach (Jesus taught about the Kingdom of Heaven)
save (Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to people who believe like the children)

PASSAGE 3: JOHN 13:34-35

love (“Just as I have loved you”)
teach (Jesus is teaching a lesson about loving others)

PASSAGE 4: JOHN 13:4-5

love (Jesus showed His disciples that He loved them)
serve (During the Last Supper, Jesus served His disciples by washing their feet)
teach (Jesus was showing His disciples what it means, and how to, serve others)
save (This act demonstrated symbolically how Jesus would wash people clean with His forgiveness and salvation)

PASSAGE 5: MATTHEW 5:1-2

teach (This passage is the beginning of Jesus’s “Sermon on the Mount” when He taught the people, and us, many important lessons)

PASSAGE 6: MARK 1:14-15

teach (Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom of God; He told them the “good news” that He was there to save them; He came to save all people who choose to believe in Him)
save (The “good news” is that Jesus came to save humanity)

PASSAGE 7: MATTHEW 8:1-3

love (Jesus cared for the sick man)
serve (Jesus healed the man with a skin disease; He performed a miracle)

PASSAGE 8: MATTHEW 4:23

serve (Jesus “healed every illness and sickness the people had”)
teach (a “synagogue” is the name for the buildings the people worshipped in; Jesus taught the people all over the area)

PASSAGE 9: JOHN 8:12

love (Jesus shows His love by inviting us to follow Him)
teach (Jesus taught the people about how to have eternal life)
save (Jesus said that if we follow Him we will have light and life; This means he saves us from sin; Darkness is a symbol of evil and sin in the Bible)

PASSAGE 10: MATTHEW 8:14-15

love (Jesus loved Peter and his family)
serve (Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever and sickness miraculously)

PASSAGE 11: JOHN 6:37-40

love (Jesus shows that He cares for those who love Him; “I will never send away anyone who comes to me”)
teach (Jesus is teaching about how God sent Him from Heaven to Earth to save us)
save (When Jesus said “raise them up on the last day”, He was talking about taking the people who believe in Him to Heaven to live forever; Jesus says that all who “believe in him” will “have eternal life”)

PASSAGE 12: LUKE 4:16-17

teach (a “synagogue” is the name for the buildings the people worshipped in; Jesus “stood up to read” from one of the scrolls; At that time, the Old Testament was written and kept on “scrolls”, or large pieces of paper that can be rolled up and stored)
- You may want to mention that right after this verse, a prophecy is recorded from the scroll of Isaiah that tells of Jesus coming to SAVE.
- Luke 4:18-19 records Jesus reading Isaiah 61:1-2:
  - “The Spirit of the Lord is on me. He has anointed me to announce the good news to the poor people. He has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners. He has sent me so that blind will see again. He wants to set free those who are treated badly. And he has sent me to announce the year when he will set his people free.”

PASSAGE 13: MATTHEW 9:27-29

love (The men said “have mercy on us” and Jesus did because He loved them)
serve (Jesus performed a miracle and healed the men of their blindness)
teach (Jesus taught the people that they should have faith in Him and believe in Him)

PASSAGE 14: LUKE 19:10

teach (Jesus is teaching about the reason that He came to Earth and how to be saved by Him)
save (He says that the reason He came to Earth is to find and save lost people; Lost people are people who have not yet decided to follow Jesus and be saved from their sin)
- You may want to point out that Jesus calls Himself the “Son of Man” again in this verse – see page 5

What do you notice about all of the Bible books that we have read from during this game? (They are all of the Gospel books; Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)

Why do you think all of the passages came from the Gospel books? (The Gospel books teach us about Jesus’s life on Earth. Today we have learned about Jesus’s ministry while He lived on Earth.)

Does anyone have any questions about any of the passages that we have read about today?

SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY

You will need enough copies of the 4 “Ministry Reflection” pages for every student to get one of each.

(SLIDE 19) Today during our small group time, we are going to reflect, and think about some of the Bible verses we have studied during our lesson. There are 4 different pages available for you. Each page has a different Bible verse at the top.

You can choose which paper you want to start with, and when you get your paper:

Think about the Bible verse and what it means.
Think about what “category(ies)” (love, serve, teach, and save) of Jesus’s Earthly ministry the verse describes.
Draw a picture of something that you learned today below the Bible verse about Jesus’s Earthly ministry.

You can choose to complete one, two, three, or all four pages. These will be a reminder of today’s lesson about Jesus’s Earthly ministry that you can take home with you and be able to share with your family.

BREAK INTO SMALL GROUPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY.

Discussion Prompts for Leaders:

What is a “ministry”? (spending time loving, serving, and teaching others)
Can people have a “ministry”? (yes; we can spend time loving, serving, and teaching others)
What is the MAIN REASON Jesus came to the Earth? (to save us from our sins)
How can you apply today’s lesson to your own life?
What gifts and talents do you have that you can use to serve others?
Can you think of any times when you have served others?
Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?

CLOSING REFLECTION

We learned that Jesus led a ministry when He lived on the Earth. During His ministry, he loved and served people, performed miracles, and taught important lessons. But the MAIN REASON He came to the Earth was to live a life without sin so He could die on the cross and rise from the dead and SAVE US from our sins! Jesus was part of God’s plan from the very beginning when sin entered the world through Adam and Eve. People who believe in Jesus and ask Him to forgive their sins will be saved and will live forever with Him!

Reflection Questions:

What is “ministry”? (spending time loving, serving, & teaching others)
How is Jesus’s service different than how we can serve others? (Jesus performed miracles when He served people. Only God can perform miracles.)
What was the MAIN REASON Jesus came to Earth? (to SAVE us; to live a sinless life, die on the cross, rise from the dead, and save us from our sin)
Does anyone have any questions about today’s lesson?

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