Bible Study “The Lost Sheep and Lost Coin”
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
Can you remember a time when you were very little, and you got lost. Perhaps lost from your mother in a grocery store, maybe lost in a mall, or wandered away at a campsite. If you were never lost, try to imagine what it might feel like to be lost because you had chosen to run away and now you are sorry you did. Today's story has to do with people who were lost and were looking for a way to come back.
Opening Prayer: Thank you God, for always finding for us when we get lost. Amen.
Please open your Bibles to Luke 15:1-10 and read or read the scriptures below.
Luke 15:1-10
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Reflection Questions:
Questions for verses 1-2
• If Jesus were speaking at your school today, who are people that cause trouble at school who might be there to hear Jesus? (Bullies? Tattletales, etc.)
• Who would be the people that would ask: what are THESE people doing here?
Questions for verses 3-7
• Most people in our country do not make their living taking care of sheep. So, if Jesus were telling this story at your school, what do you think he would tell about instead of sheep? Can you help Jesus by telling his story for your school? What might be lost? (Children who do not have a home to live in. Children who do not speak our language?)
• Can you paraphrase the story, setting it at your school, today.
Questions for verses 8-9
• Pretend that Jesus is telling this story of the lost coin to you now. What example might he use for the item that is lost? (My favorite CD? My baseball glove, the book I checked out from the library?)
• Can you paraphrase the story, setting it in your town, today.
Questions for verse 10
• How would you define the word "sinner?" (Someone who has ignored God or turned away from God.)
• How would you define the word "repent?" (To turn around, change your mind, decide to change your behavior.)
• If we do something wrong, and we are sorry, what does this verse tell us about God's reaction? (Even the angels will be happy.)
Jesus told these two stories to demonstrate God’s love for us. We are God’s children, but sometimes we get lost. When that happens God doesn’t give up on us. He searches for us and He won’t stop until we are found. In fact, the Bible tells us that God sent his son, Jesus, to seek and save the lost. And just as the people in the story rejoiced when they found what was lost, Jesus said, “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Click here for the young learner’s lesson
Videos (Click the url)
The Gospel of Luke 15:1-10 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGs9bwUJLlk
Activities:
Coin Etching – Take a pencil and a piece of white paper. Slip a coin (penny, nickel, dime or quarter) under the paper and etch with the side of the pencil (if pressed hard enough with the side of the pencil, the etching will show the coin). Title the paper Luke 15:10 as a remembrance of today’s lesson, or write Rejoice With Me – I Have Found My Lost Coin!
Journal: (Try and keep a journal for each Sunday for a year) write a letter to yourself, from Jesus, in which Jesus tells you that something you are not proud of is forgiven and you don't have to do that anymore or worry about it anymore. Write or sketch in you journals.
Getting Closure: Thinking about your sin and come up with strategies next time you are tempted to do something bad.
• What might the first step be? (Could be stop and notice. Say Oops.)
• What can you do once you noticed you have blown it? (Tell God you are sorry and mean it.)
• Then what could you do? (Celebrate! You have been forgiven.)
• And then? (Be on the lookout to try to keep it from happening again.)
God’s Lost & Found Crossword: https://sermons4kids.com/gods_lost_and_found_crossword.htm?fromSermonId=639
God’s Lost & Found Decoder: https://sermons4kids.com/gods_lost_and_found_decoder.htm?fromSermonId=639
Word Search: https://thewordsearch.com/puzzle/4022402/the-lost-sheep-and-lost-coin/
Prayer: Thank you, God, that you are always ready to forgive us and celebrate that we have come back. You never give up on us when we get lost. In Jesus name we pray Amen.
