Kids can and should praise Jesus

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Bible study for February 27 - March 5, 2000

This week's Scripture: “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’ ?” Matthew 21: 16

Main Point: Kids can and should praise and worship Jesus.

This scripture comes from a great chapter in the Bible. In Matthew 21 Jesus is a huge hero. He's bigger than Hulk Hogan, Brittany Spears and Pikachu all rolled into one. He rolled into town on a borrowed donkey. People lined the streets throwing their coats and branches of trees on the road so that the donkey's feet wouldn't have to touch the ground! The people were all shouting how great Jesus was. I imagine that if he were coming into town today everyone would be yelling " go Jesus, wooop, wooop, go Jesus."

Then he went to church where there were guys selling animals for sacrifices. Jesus kicked them all out! That made the preachers of the day mad. Then sick people came up to Jesus. Since he hadn't broken a good sweat throwing out the selling guys, he healed all the blind and crippled. Of course the kids thought this was cool. They started yelling "Hosanna to the Son of David!" That was the same as saying he was the next great Jewish king. Well now, this really ticked off the preachers and elders. Kids weren't supposed to talk in church, much less get loud, about anything, much less this guy who was creating a disturbance and costing them money.

When they started telling the kids to hush, Jesus got onto them. He even knocked their socks by doing something they didn't expect...

He quoted Psalms 8:2! Yep, he said “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’ ?” That shut them up for a short time. But they thought they won. You see, 5 days later they hung Jesus on a cross and killed him. We'll get to that in later lessons.

What about this "ordained praise" stuff? There are a couple of definitions for ordain. Made holy, decreed by God, that kind of thing. Basically God wants us to, and makes a kid's praise of him special. Would you be one of the guys in that church yelling for Jesus, or would you have been in the parking lot trading Pokemon cards? When you are in church you need to sing, praise, and worship like the adults do. God expects you to. Your praise for him is special. Feel foolish? Practice at home. I do it while I'm driving. Take what I call a "praise break." Take 10 seconds and scream to the top of your lungs stuff like "I love you Jesus!" After you get used to it, it's fun! You'll enjoy it and God loves it!

This weeks prayer

Lord Jesus,

Please help me to remember to praise you every day. I do love you and want to be closer to you. Help create in me a desire to be like one of those kids in that church that were yelling praises to you.

Amen

Story for week February 27 - March 5, 2000

This story includes Tex, Elder Everett, Singin' Sam, Crazy Larry, Joey, and Katie

What's That Yelling?

The kids from Kids4God were standing in the church parking lot just talking about school and stuff. Then Singin' Sam came along.

"Hi guys!" Singin' Sam called.

"Hello Mr. Sam" replied Katie. Crazy Larry mumbled something under his breath about the guy with a stupid guitar and Joey told him to hush.

" Watcha doin'?" asked Singin' Sam.

"Running from ugly people" said Crazy Larry, "but we didn't see you coming!"

Katie tries to save the day, "Don't listen to him Mr. Sam. What are you doing?"

"Just getting ready to take a praise break" replied Singin' Sam.

"What's that?" asked Joey.

"That's when I just let loose with my voice and praise God. Most of the time I sing, but sometimes I just yell out praises."

"That sounds cool!" said Joey.

"That sounds like you could get in trouble" said Katie.

"That sounds dumb" said Crazy Larry with a smirk on his face.

"You should try it. Don't you know that Jesus said 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'? You should try it with me." With that Singin Sam started singing a praise song really loud. Katie started singing loud with him, but kept looking around to see if any adults were watching. Joey went nuts and just started yelling to Jesus. Crazy Larry stood shocked for a second, and then started laughing at them.

Close by, Tex was giving his trusty horse Alpo some water. When he heard all of the yelling, he thought there was trouble. He hopped on his trusty horse Alpo and headed for the church parking lot. By the time he got there the praise break was over.

At the same time, Elder Everett was in the church. He heard the commotion and went running outside to the parking lot.

Tex arrived first. "What in Sam's hill is a goin' on a here? Somebody been bit by a rattler?"

Joey answered first, "No, we were taking a praise break."

"It sounded like a coyote backed into a fire!" said Tex. Alpo nodded his head in approval.

About that time Elder Everett arrived. "What's all this noise about? Don't you know this is church property? You have to be quiet."

"Aw, now pardner. They were just giving a yell or two to Jesus. Thar ain't nuthin' wrong with that!" answered Tex. Alpo nodded again.

"What did you say about a yellow tutu?" asked Elder Everett with a look of confusion on his face.

"I SAID A YELL OR TWO! TURN UP YOUR HEARING AID!" yelled Tex. " I swany, he's as deaf as a lizard wearing a duct tape hat."

Katie jumps in, "Elder Everett, Singin' Sam was just teaching us to take a praise break. I hope we weren't making too much noise."

"Now don't worry yer purty little head about it, pardner. My praise break goes like this, YYYEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAA! I LUVYA LUVYA LUVYA JEEEEEESUUUUUUUS!" Alpo stamps his hooves like he's joining in, too.

"Well, to tell you the truth, me and my wife Gladys like to take a little praise break every once in a while. We just don't get quite so loud."

"I still think it's dumb." mumbled Crazy Larry.

"Not me." said Joey. "It made me feel good. I think Jesus liked it."

"I'm glad" said Singin' Sam with a smile on his face. "Ya'll want to do it again?"

"Why not?" replied Elder Everett.

Then he led them all in another 10 second praise break. The only one that didn't join in was Crazy Larry. He walked off kicking rocks. He's also the only one that didn't get a great feeling in his heart. When is he going to learn that Jesus gives us a better life? When is he going to realize that Jesus created fun, and that the best way to have fun is when we have Jesus in our heart?

Have you taken a praise break today? Try it, it's fun! Tell your parents first. It will probably scare them if they don't know what's going on. Maybe they will join you!

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