FREEDOM IN CHRIST MINISTRIES, INC.

VBS 2019 “RESCUE MISSION”

Day 5 - Lesson

4th through 7th Grade

Bible Reference: Matthew 26:31-56, 69-75; 28:16-20

Theme:

God stopped at nothing to rescue His children from sin and it’s destruction. Today we will learn that
God will never stop loving and caring for them. He is always with them. He doesn’t just rescue us,
He keeps us forever.

Story:

Hi everyone! We have been studying God's incredible rescue story this week. It is for each one of us
and truly the best news ever! We have seen how we are all in trouble with God because of our sin
and there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. But God came up with the plan to rescue us and
make us right with Him. It cost God a ton to do that, didn't it? Jesus came to earth as a baby and
died a cruel, horrible death on a cross to purchase our rescue. All we have to do is accept the free
offer. As with any gift from anyone here on earth, a gift does me absolutely no good if I don't accept
it, use it and make it mine. Have you ever wished for something really great on your birthday or
Christmas? Then you see the present with your name marked on the box. It looks like the right size
box to be what you've wished for. The time finally comes when Mom and Dad hand you the
present. What do you have to do next? You have to accept it or take from them and open it up,
right? When you open it, what if you find that it is that special toy or game you have been wanting
so bad. What do you do next? Don't you go play with it? It will do you no good at all if you just leave
it sitting on the floor, will it? Well, the same is true with Jesus. Jesus Christ is the most incredible
gift ever and He is absolutely free to anyone who calls on His name to be rescued. But you have to
accept Him, you can't just know about the offer and leave Him sitting there. So once again, we
encourage you to not leave here today without talking to someone, if you have never received Jesus
as your Rescuer and Master.

We have one last question we want to ask today. Once I accept Jesus, will Jesus ever stop loving
me? To answer that question we're going to look at something that happened while Jesus was on
earth. (Show 1st picture ) Jesus knew His time had come to pay for our rescue. He was spending the
last little bit of time He had with His disciples, telling them what was going to happen. He told them
He was going to have to die to pay for our sins. Some strong men would grab Him and treat Him very
badly. Jesus' disciples would be scared and run away. He said He would meet them in Galilee when
it was all over. Peter boldly said, “Even if everyone else runs away from you Jesus, I will never leave
you.” Jesus told him before the night was over he would tell people he didn't even know Jesus three
times – not just one time or two times. Peter would be so scared he would act like he wasn't Jesus'
friend three times! Peter argued with Jesus and told him He was wrong. He said he would die with
Jesus if that was necessary.

Jesus then took them all to a garden called Gethsemane where He liked to get away and pray to God
His Father. (Show 2nd picture) Jesus asked Peter, James and John to pray with Him because He knew
the time ahead of Him was going to be really, really hard. He knew He could not do it without God
FREEDOM IN CHRIST MINISTRIES, INC.
VBS 2019 “RESCUE MISSION”

the Father's help. The Bible says Jesus was so sad he was sweating drops of blood! Jesus felt way
worse than the saddest time we have ever felt in our lives. He was in major distress and agony. You
know what happened? Peter, James and John all fell asleep! They couldn't even stay awake and
pray with Jesus. Jesus woke them up and asked them again, “Please pray with Me.” Once again
they fell asleep on Jesus. This actually happened a three times, at which point a band of armed
Roman soldiers arrived to arrest and kill Jesus. (Show 3rd picture ) Imagine it! It must have been so
scary to the disciples to see all these strong soldiers with clubs and swords grabbing Jesus in the
middle of the night. Surely there was nothing they could do to protect Jesus. Peter pulled out a
sword and cut off one of the soldiers ears, but Jesus scolded him and healed the soldier's ear. Very
soon after, the disciples all ran away and hid, just like Jesus said they would.

A little later, in the middle of the night, Peter must have felt bad for running away and worked up
the nerve to go find Jesus. He wanted to see what was happening to Him. (Show 4th picture ) Jesus
was tied up in the home of the high priest. Powerful, religious men were busy accusing Jesus of
doing many horrible things. They said He deserved to die for the rotten things He had done. These
men were lying. They were doing this in the middle of the night so that they could kill Jesus. They
knew Jesus had never done the sinful things they were accusing Him of, but this was their only chance
to be done with Him. It was absolutely a terrifying time. As Jesus told Peter earlier, Peter got
really scared. (Show 5th picture ) He loved Jesus and knew Jesus was his very best friend ever, but
three different times he told people that He didn't know Jesus. The last time he even started cursing
and swearing to persuade the people around that he wasn't with Jesus. Imagine how you would feel
if someone you loved did that to you. Say you were in trouble for something you didn't do and your
friend knew it. But they didn't have the guts to stand by you. Wouldn't that hurt BIG time? That's
exactly what Peter did to Jesus, as well as all the other disciples who ran away from Jesus at this
time. How do you think Jesus felt? Do you think Jesus will want to be their friend anymore? Will
Jesus stop loving them?

Jesus still met them in Galilee as He said He would. He didn't decide that seeing they had all run
away from Him in this hard time, He would leave them alone. He also didn't decide He would choose
other men to be His disciples because they had left Him alone. He still wanted them to be His
disciples and friends. He asked them to carry on His great work and spread the Good News. Jesus
said, “And be sure of this; I am with you ALWAYS, even to the end of the age.” Even though they
had left Jesus, Jesus promised NEVER to leave them. He said they could be sure of it! Jesus gives
us the same promise. NOTHING is EVER able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus! Isn't this
awesome? Not only does God love us and come up with the plan to rescue us from the heap of trouble
we got ourselves into, He promises to keep on loving us forever and ever! Jesus will never stop loving
us once we give ourselves to Him.

Memory Verse: Roma 3:22-23

Ang taoʼy itinuturing ng Dios na matuwid sa pamamagitan ng pananampalataya kay Jesu-Cristo. At

walang pinapaboran ang Dios. Kaya ang sinumang sumasampalataya kay Jesu-Cristo ay itinuturing
niyang matuwid. Sapagkat ang lahat ay nagkasala at hindi naging karapat-dapat sa paningin ng Dios.
FREEDOM IN CHRIST MINISTRIES, INC.
VBS 2019 “RESCUE MISSION”
FREEDOM IN CHRIST MINISTRIES, INC.
VBS 2019 “RESCUE MISSION”
FREEDOM IN CHRIST MINISTRIES, INC.
VBS 2019 “RESCUE MISSION”
FREEDOM IN CHRIST MINISTRIES, INC.
VBS 2019 “RESCUE MISSION”
FREEDOM IN CHRIST MINISTRIES, INC.
VBS 2019 “RESCUE MISSION”