When We See God’s Goodness We Can’t Help But Praise Him!

When We See God’s Goodness We Can’t Help But Praise Him! Hero Image

“Who do you say that I am?”

This question that Jesus asked of Peter in Luke 9:20 is a question we all must answer. It’s a question with eternal consequences yet is relevant to our day to day lives. God longs for us to know Him, not just learn about Him but really know Him and have a relationship with Him. How unbelievably awesome is that?! As we grow closer to Him, God reveals more of Himself to us. When we begin to see God for who He truly is, we can’t help but worship Him!

GOODNESS: A heart that reflects the excellent character of God

MEMORY VERSE: “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” LUKE 6:45 (NIV)

This Week’s Finish Line: The Excellent Character of God Deserves Our Praise!

In Luke 19:28-40, Jesus fulfilled a prophecy made hundreds of years before in Zechariah 9:9 about the coming Messiah. Just one week before He was crucified, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey while being celebrated by the people. The crowd was so excited about Jesus that the Pharisees told Him to make them stop. In Luke 19:40 Jesus said that if they stopped that even the rocks would burst into cheers! Jesus deserved the praise of the people, rocks, trees, and animals because He was God and had created them all.

Family Questions:

  1. How did the people celebrate and praise Jesus in Luke 19:28-40?
  2. What do you learn about Jesus from this story? How would you describe His character?
  3. When you think of God, what words come to mind? How would you describe Him to someone else? What are your favorite things about Him?
  4. Do you ever worry you won’t have the right words to say to God? Do the rocks or trees need words to worship Him? Think of some creative ways you can praise God this week.

Bring It Home: 3 Activities to Help Your Kids See the Goodness of God

1.  Palm Branch Praises

This week the 2-5 graders went home with an activity that you can also do at home with your whole family. Look up the verses with your kids and write what it teaches you about God in the leaf. Think about other verses that tell you more about who God is and why He deserves our praise. Take time to pray and thank God for His excellent character. You can cut out the leaf and use it to celebrate Palm Sunday next week!

2.  A Journey to Easter

Easter will be here before you know it. It’s not too late to start preparing your kids for Good Friday and Easter Sunday so they can see that it’s more than just bunnies, eggs and chocolate. Check out this blog, A Journey to Easter by Focus on the Family, filled with ways to talk about Easter to your kids and activities for all ages to help them see the importance of what God has done, is doing and will do because of His amazing love for us.

3.  Goodies for Goodness

Throughout the month of April, all elementary kids are challenged to memorize Psalm 103:1-12 and tell it word perfect to their leaders or WM Kids staff by April 27. Those who successfully complete the challenge will receive a ticket for them and their parents to attend a DONUT PARTY before their regularly attended service May 11. All kids went home with a copy of the verses in NLT but they can choose to memorize it in any version. Start small and make it your goal to memorize the first 3 verses THIS week!

Prayer

Think about some of your favorite things about God and thank Him for who He is. Ask God to prepare your heart to celebrate Easter this year. Thank Him for all of the ways you have seen Him work in your life recently.

Looking Ahead

Next week we will see that God is always working for our good, even if it doesn’t seem like it at the time. When Jesus died on the cross his disciples didn’t understand and couldn’t see anything good about it. However, we know now that what seemed terrible at the time was the very best thing that has ever happened!