Curriculum

Deny Your Selfie

Deny Your Selfie Go to Curriculum multi-week pack

Bible Background

What Kids Will Learn

Jesus came to give us a new way of thinking and living. Instead of focusing on what pleasure we can have right now, we are to fix our eyes on Him and His ways. This world will tempt us in lots of ways, but we can follow Jesus no matter what.

Scripture Summary

As part of His ministry, Jesus and His disciples had spent a significant amount of time together traveling from town to town preaching the good news. As part of His ministry, Jesus and His disciples had become close with each other. And this ministry group had a great following. People were continually wanting to hear more of Jesus’ teaching.

Jesus and His disciples had just traveled to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. Jesus took this opportunity to ask His disciples who people thought He was. The group answered by quoting the crowds, saying Jesus was John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets. Jesus asked who the disciples thought He was. Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

The name “Son of Man” comes directly from Daniel 7:13 and is the most common name Jesus has for Himself. Son of Man is a name directly linked to Jesus as the Messiah, God made flesh. The ultimate purpose for the Son of Man was to suffer greatly, be tortured, and die a criminal’s death for the world’s sins. As Jesus shared what was to come, Peter reacted—not with a mindfulness of God but from a selfish desire to keep Jesus here on earth. Peter was often the brave one speaking on behalf of the disciples. Jesus’ rebuke could have been for Peter specifically, or it might have been for the entire group of disciples.

Unintentionally, the disciples were attempting to prevent Jesus’s death and final purpose of His ministry. In the same way, Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry. Satan’s attempts were pure evil, while the disciples’ attempts were out of love and a desire to spend more time with Jesus.

Jesus was teaching the disciples and the crowds that nothing, not even their own lives, was more important than a relationship with Jesus. It’s not that their lives had no meaning; rather by comparison, a life with Jesus is much grander. Jesus once again turns their way of thinking completely around. Rather than seeking pleasure here on earth, they should be willing to give up their own lives and earthly pleasure for the best life with Jesus.

Why Is This Important

While following Jesus is the best way and the best life, it’s not always the easy way. Jesus wants us to know that, just like He did, we’ll experience hard things in life because of our devotion to Him. But that shouldn’t stop us. We can follow Jesus no matter what.

Teacher Devotion

Scripture

“Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.” (Ephesians 5:16)

Every opportunity.

When I first read this passage, my Type A brain went directly to productivity. One more lesson taught. One more load of laundry. One more mile run. One more article written. One more friend encouraged. One more dollar set aside for retirement. Making the most of every opportunity equals getting more done. Right?

Nope. That’s not God’s best for me.

I love how my friend Tracy shared her thoughts on this very topic.

“God goes to extraordinary lengths to shine the light of His presence into our days. When I take the time to notice and give thanks, it’s music from my soul that becomes worship for His glory.”

Making the most of every opportunity is gazing at our loving God and seeing Him. Praise and thanksgiving will automatically flow.

Take a moment to gaze—that’s much longer than a glance—at God. Whether it’s right now or a little later in your day, set a timer for five minutes and simply gaze at Him. There are quite a few ways to gaze at God. You can consider simply closing your eyes and focusing on His presence, writing down your favorite name of God and staring at that name, or fixing your eyes on something from nature that reminds you of Him.

When the timer goes off, consider your answers to these questions:

  • What did you notice as you were gazing at God?
  • How did you feel during this time of intentional gazing?
  • What things came to mind for which you can express praise and thanksgiving?

Prayer

Dear God, thank You for wanting me to not waste any opportunity. And I’m so thankful that this doesn’t mean attempting to be even more productive than I try to be. Please help me look for and at You throughout today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Get the full Sunday school lesson plan

  • Bible Memory Verse
  • Interactive Bible Experience
  • Animated video with companion questions

Bible Memory Verse

You’ll Need: Bibles, “Person Shape” handouts, Scissors, Markers, Yarn, Glue, Pens or pencils

“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’ ” (Mark 8:34)

Give each child a “Person Shape” handout, and lead kids in these steps:

  • Have kids cut out the person.
  • Invite kids to use the markers, yarn, and glue to decorate their paper person to look like them.
  • Make sure they decorate the side that does not have the Bible memory verse on it.
  • Once kids have finished, explain that they must keep their paper person with them until the next activity.
  • Work on saying the Bible memory verse aloud as a class.

ASK:

  • What do you think it meant when Jesus said we would need to deny ourselves?
  • Based on the verse, what does it look like for you to save your life?

Interactive Bible Experience

You’ll Need: Bibles, Large wooden cross, Music, Paper people from previous activity

Get Ready: Place the large wooden cross in the center of the room.

Follow these instructions for this interactive experience:

  • Have kids each hold tightly to the person they made in the Bible Memory Verse activity.
  • Have kids open their Bibles to Mark 8.
  • Invite a child to read aloud Mark 8:34-38 to the class as the rest of the kids read along.

ASK:

  • Explain whether you think it’s easy or hard to say no to yourself.

SAY: Today we are going to act out a symbol of what it’s like to lay down our lives.

  • Play some music and invite kids to each bring the paper person they made to the cross.
  • Have an adult help the children lay their paper people by the cross.

ASK:

  • Explain whether it was easy or hard for you to give up your mini person to the cross.
  • What are things you can say no to today so you can say yes to Jesus?

SAY: Jesus paid the price for our sin by dying on the cross. It’s already been done. But in this life, we do need to be willing to give up things, including ourselves, to follow Jesus. While it may have been hard

for you to lay down your cute little mini me at the cross, it is a much greater decision to lay your life down for Christ. Jesus wants us to say no to ourselves and yes to Him.

Snack

Cross Snacks

You’ll Need: Paper plates, Plastic knives, Graham crackers, Frosting, Froot Loops cereal

Get Ready: Have kids clean their hands.

Follow these steps to make “Cross Snacks”:

  • Give each child a paper plate, a plastic knife, and a graham cracker.
  • Invite kids to frost their graham crackers.
  • After their crackers are frosted, guide kids to make a cross shape on their crackers with the Froot Loops.
  • Enjoy.

SAY: Great job making a cross snack. In today’s lesson, we learn that Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. Jesus came to earth and gave His life as a payment for our sin. He asks us to also give up everything to follow Him.

Game

Marble Scramble

You’ll Need: Bag of marbles, Resealable sandwich bags

Get Ready: Scatter all the marbles in a designated area in the room. Make sure to hide some so they are harder to find. Assign a point value to each color or kind of marble for scoring. For example, red marbles might be worth 20 points and blue marbles worth 30 points.

Follow these steps to play “Marble Scramble”:

  • Before the game, tell children they will play for keeps, and give each child a sandwich bag.
  • Then have kids scramble to get as many marbles as they can in the time allowed.
  • After the game, have children decide if they want to say “no” to some marbles and give them to others. Allow time for trading.
  • Then tell the children what each color marble is worth, and have them count up their points.

SAY: In today’s game you got to collect marbles. Each marble had a certain point value. You were given the choice to give up some marbles and to gain others. In doing so, some of you scored more points than you would have if you haven’t given your marbles up. When we give up things to follow Jesus, we gain more, too.

Craft

Yarn Cross Crafts

You’ll Need: Yarn in various colors, Large craft sticks, Hot glue gun, Hot glue sticks, Markers

To make the “Yarn Cross Crafts,” have kids follow these steps:

  • Give each child four large craft sticks.
  • Help kids make a frame by hot gluing the corners of the craft sticks together.
  • After the glue has hardened, instruct the kids to wrap several layers of the yarn vertically from the top of the frame to the bottom. They’ll push these strands together to create the vertical part of the cross. Have them tie it off to keep it in place.
  • Then they’ll wrap the yarn horizontally from the left side of the frame to the right side, creating the horizontal part of the cross.
  • After their cross shapes are complete, invite kids to use markers to write “Say Yes to Jesus” on their frames.

SAY: Your cross creations are amazing; you each wrote “Say Yes to Jesus.” Today we learned that our goal is not to gain everything in the world, because we lose ourselves. We are to give our lives to Christ and when we do, we are His forever.

Prayer

People Prayers

You’ll Need: Cross with the mini people nailed to it

  • Explain to the kids that they are going to take time to pray for their friends, asking God to give them the courage to lay down their lives for Jesus.
  • Invite kids to come up to the cross a couple at a time and lay their hands on a mini person that is by the cross.
  • Instruct kids to pray silently for the person the mini person represents.
  • Then when they are finished, ask them to return to their seats and pray silently that they would be courageous enough to say no to themselves and yes to Jesus.

SAY: Following Jesus isn’t always easy. That’s why we need the encouragement and prayers of our friends. If you want to talk more about what it means to deny yourself and follow Jesus, please talk to one of us teachers or another trusted adult. We would love to share more with you.