The Salvation Message

How to Lead a Child to Christ

By Vicki Wiley

What you will need:

You can make your own colored sugar to put in the crosses by coloring regular sugar. Simply buy different colors of paste food coloring, not gel or liquid. This is found at places like Wal-Mart in the cake decorating section. I use Wilson brand. Place 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl. Dip a toothpick into the paste food coloring and rub it around in the sugar. Continue rubbing the coloring into the sugar with the back of a spoon until it is well blended. Add more coloring until it is as dark as you want it.

You can also use Pixie sticks candy. The candy comes in straw-shaped tubes. If the colors aren't bright enough, you can color them with the paste. You may be able to find them in the jumbo-sized sticks. Idea sent in by Narita Roady

Today we are going to learn the very best part of the Bible, the Salvation message. When your tube is filled, it will help you remember what we talk about.

(Pass around YELLOW (or gold) candy.
Instruct children to fill their tube with about 1 inch of candy.)

Those things are very valuable and special. But today the gold is going to represent heaven. The Bible tells us that in heaven, the streets are made of gold. God tells us many other things about his home. No one is ever sick there. No one ever dies. There is no night there. Heaven is a very special place.

There is one thing that can never be in heaven. Does anyone know what that is? (sin)

(Pass around BLACK candy. Instruct children to fill tube with small amount)
Do you know what sin is? The black candy stands for sin.
Sin is anything we think, do, or say that is wrong and that does not please God. God can not live with anything sinful, but it is impossible for us not to sin. Because God wants us to live in heaven and because we sin, God had to think of another plan for us.

(Pass out RED candy. Instruct children to fill about 1 more inch)
God loved us so much and wanted us to be in heaven with him. So God sent his son, Jesus Christ to the world. Jesus lived on earth just like we do, but Jesus never sinned. The Bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross because he was being punished, even though he did nothing wrong. Instead of dying for his sin, he dies for our sin. All the sin we already did and all the sin we will do in our lives. The red candy stands for the blood of Jesus.

(Pass out WHITE candy. Adjoin instruct children to fill about 1 inch)
God wants to forgive your sins and make it so that they never happened at all. No matter how good you are, you still will sin. There is nothing you can do to take away your sin - nothing except one very special thing. You can "receive" Jesus. How do you do that? You tell Jesus that you know that you are a sinner. You tell Jesus that you believe in him and that you want him to be your savior. That's it. That's all you have to do. Then when God looks at you he doesn't see the sin, he only sees the "clean" part of you, that has no sin at all. The white candy will stand for a pure heart.

(Pass out GREEN candy. Instruct children to fill tube to the top and put stopper inside.)
The color green reminds me of things that are growing, like trees, plants and grass. When you are a Christian and have received Christ, you begin to grow too. You learn more and more about Jesus and that means that you are growing in Christ!

Would anyone like to receive Jesus right now? We are going to pray and when we pray let's all bow our heads. I will tell you what to pray and if you want to receive Christ, you can pray along with me, okay?

Dear Jesus,
I know that I am a sinner. But I would like to receive you right now so that you can be the Lord of my life. I love you and I want to follow you. Please forgive me for my sins and come into my life. Thank you God.
Amen

Let's review what the colors mean so you can tell others about Christ! (go back over each color and let the children tell you what they mean)