Family - Fun - Faith
Je sus sai d, “ L e t th e little ch ildren come to me, an d do n ot h in der the m, f o r the kin gdom of h eaven belon gs to su ch as th ese.� W h en he had pl aced h is h an ds on th em, h e w en t on from th ere.
— M a t t he w 1 9 :1 3 - 1 4
M e m o r y Ve r se :
Matthew 25:21 “His mas te r s ai d to hi m , ‘W el l d o n e , g o o d a nd f a i t h f u l s e r va nt . Y ou ha ve been fa ith f ul o ve r a l i ttl e ; I w i l l s e t yo u o v e r m u c h . E n t e r i n t o t h e j o y o f yo ur m as te r.’ “
Then the man who received the one talent came and told his master, “I know you work hard for your money, so I was afraid to lose any of it. I decided to bury it and keep it safe. Here is your one talent back.”
Wor d s t o R e m e mb er:
The master was not very happy and said, “You lazy servant!”
We ll done , go o d a n d fa i th fu l s erv a n t . Yo u ha ve be e n fa it hful o v er a l i ttl e; I wi l l s et y o u o ve r m u ch . ” ( E n c our age your l i ttl e o n e (s ) t o me mo ri z e Mat t h e w 2 5 : 2 1 t h i s m o n t h . Aft er y o u ’ v e expl o re d thi s l e sso n t o g e t h e r, u s e t h i s ve rs e t o i n s p i r e t h em t h r o u gh o u t t h e day t o l i ve l i k e Je s u s . )
Jesus loved to tell stories to his disciples. He called these stories parables and they were meant to teach very important lessons. Today we are going to talk about a story called the meant a large amount of money in Bible times.
Parable of the Talents.
Then the man with the two talents came and said, “You trusted me with two talents and I earned two more!” His master smiled and replied, “Great job, good and faithful servant!” You are trustworthy with a few things so I will put you in charge of lots of things.Come celebrate with me!
A talent
In this story, God is like the wealthy man and his servants are God’s people (you and me!). The man in this story trusted his servants and believed that they would take care of what was special to him. Jesus wanted to teach his disciples a very important lesson by telling them this parable.
(For the older ones) Can you guess what it is? (For the little ones) Which servant do you think did the right thing? When you show God that He can trust you with a little bit, He will trust you with so much more! It is important to save the money that we earn but when we have the opportunity to use it in a smart way, we should always do that too!
Par able = Story
Talen t = Lo ts o f Mo ney
The parable (story) goes like this: A wealthy man decided to go on a long trip, so he asked his servants to take care of his money for him. The man decided to give one servant five talents of money, to the next he gave two talents and to the last servant he gave one talent. He trusted his servants with all of his money. The man left on his trip and the servants each did something with the money that they received. The man with the five talents went right away and used his money and got five more! The man with the two talents also used his money wisely and gained two more talents. But the man with one talent took his talent and buried it in the ground to keep the money safe, like a dog hiding his bone. He could’ve bought some ingredients to make ice cream and sold it to make more money! Don’t you think this would have made his master happy? After a nice long trip the master came back and wanted to know what his servants did with his money. The first man with the five talents said, “You trusted me with five talents and I earned five more!” His master smiled and replied, “Great job, good and faithful servant!” You are trustworthy with a few things so I will put you in charge of lots of things. Come celebrate with me!
Today you got to practice spending your money to earn even more money. Does it feel rewarding to use your money wisely to earn more money? You also learned how important it is to save some of the money that you earned using your new piggy bank! Do you remember your memory verse? Let’s say this part together “Well done, good and faithful servant” Matthew 25:21 You can practice being faithful with what you are given just like the servants in this story!
Take a minute to pray out loud with your little one(s)
Prayer: “Dear Lord, thank you for taking care of me every day. Thank You for my family and my home and all of the things that You have given me. Help me to remember to be wise with what I have been given so that You will consider me Your good and faithful servant.” Amen Consider practicing this concept with your child(ren) this month. Using real money or the fake money provided in your box, give your child(ren) a small amount, telling them that you trust them with it just like the master did in the parable of the talents. Offer them the opportunity to purchase “goods” (Such as a broom for sweeping or a bucket to collect items. Think of something outside of their normal required tasks) Once they have completed the task, let them know that they have earned more money than they started with because they spent their money wisely. Let them know that you are proud of them just like the master was proud of his servant. You can choose to repeat this activity offering slightly more money.