Luke 15 v 11 – 32

Lesson Aim

To understand that God loves those who repent

Hook 1: Monopoly money, son, pictures of wealthy goods

Have a son who acts out the part. He can ask his father for his share of his father’s money and the father can give lots of Monopoly money to the son. Different friends can then come to the son with pictures of expensive objects. The son can give money in exchange for the pictures until he runs out of money.

It would add to the story if the son was then dressed in rags with only a bowl of dried dog food to eat. When the son returns to his father, the son and the father need to accurately state the Biblical words (rehearsal is necessary here).

Whether or not you act out the second half of the story about the older brother is up to you but it is part of the original story and has a lot to teach us about people’s attitude towards repentance.

Hook 2: Pictures

If you do not wish to act out the story (Hook 1) you can use the same props to tell the story or have pictures of the objects on PowerPoint.

Hook 3: Questions

Have you ever lost a person? Perhaps it was a younger brother or sister. Perhaps it was an older relation. How did you feel when you realised that they were lost? Did your feelings change when they were found? Today’s Bible story is a story that Jesus told about a lost person, a son.

Application

In this story Jesus said that the father rejoiced and had a party when his son was found. In the same way God rejoices when lost people are found, when lost people repent and ask for God’s forgiveness for all the wrong things in their lives.