Puppets: Sharing

Sharing

Mooster: Hello everyone! Boy it sure is hot out today, isn’t it? How I would love an ice cream cone. Doesn’t that sound good? Mmmm…you know the ice cream truck doesn’t come around my neighborhood very often. What’s your favorite flavors? ……  My favorite is Moose Tracks! Hahaha – No surprise, huh? Yep, something cold and sweet would sure help me cool off today…. Hey – what’s that slurping sound I hear? Do you kids hear that?

Moe: (offstage, loudly slurping)

Mooster: Monkey Moe – is that you?

Moe: (Slurping offstage, but then comes onstage with a milkshake cup and slurps away). What? Oh yea, I’m just enjoying this fabulously cold – slllluuuuurrrrrrpppp - and delicious – sluuuuuurrrrrrrppp - banana milkshake! It’s the bomb! (more slurping)

Mooster: Wow! Sounds delicious! Banana, you say? I like banana shakes, too. (Listens to more slurping)…In fact, I sure wish I had one of those right about now.

Moe: Yep, well, that’s too bad for you that you don’t have one, isn’t it?  It’s really good. SLURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP! Burrrrrppp. Mmmmmm. That was deeeee-licious! (Smacks lips.) Ahhhh. So. What’s today’s lesson about, Mooster?

Mooster: (somewhat sarcastically) Sharing.

Moe: Oh that’s a great lesson! I love it when folks share with me!

Mooster: I’m sure you do.  How about when you share with other people?

Moe: Huh? Do what?

Mooster: Do you share with other people?

Moe: Ummm…well….I donated my used tea bags to the missionary box last month. Does that count?

Mooster: It most certainly does NOT! That’s terrible! Why would anyone want your used tea bags?

Moe: Hey now, they were only used ONCE! You could still get another cup of tea out of them. I use tea bags twice myself, so I figured if I only used the bag one time, then the missionary could use it the other time. And I had to carefully put the bags on a rack to dry so they wouldn’t be damp when I donated them.

Mooster: How thoughtful.

Moe: See? That’s what I’m saying!

Mooster: Moe, that is not what I mean at all! Giving someone your only-used-once tea bags is not an example of sharing. Here’s a better example: Sharing is when someone gives you something of value. For instance, if the missionaries needed a box of clothing, it would be nice if you donated things that were either new or in very, very nice condition. You would NOT donate things that needed mending, or were torn or stained or outdated. Items like that have no value. But the nice or new clothes DO have value, and they would be gladly accepted by the people who needed them.

Moe: Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. I guess that does make sense.

Mooster: I have another example for you. You know who the best example ever is of sharing?

Moe: Oh – I bet you are talking about God the Father!

Mooster: That’s right, Moe. God is in the form of three persons – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They all work together and they are all part of God, but it’s like they are three pieces of a whole. So when God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for our sins, that was the best example ever of sharing because God was sharing a part of Himself!

Moe: I know a verse that goes with that! John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” So God wanted to share His home in heaven with all of us, but He couldn’t do it because of our sins. Then Jesus came to pay for our sins, and now all we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and ask God to forgive us of our sins, and we can enjoy heaven with God!

Mooster: That’s right, Moe!

Moe: Can you explain to the kids here why our sins keep us out of heaven and why Jesus had to die?

Mooster: Sure Moe. See, God is a very holy God. He can have nooo sin anywhere near Him. If He allowed sin into heaven, then He wouldn’t be holy anymore, and that just can’t happen. So God said He needed a payment for all the bad things people were doing, called sins. When we lie or cheat or steal – we are committing sins. We needed some way of washing away all those sins.

Moe: So, it’s like saying our heart was black with sin and we needed Someone to wash it clean again, right?

Mooster: That’s exactly it – and Jesus Christ was willing to come to earth and take on the form of a man.

Moe: Oh! That’s when Mary was visited by the angel and the angel told her she was going to have a baby, even though she had never been with a man!

Mooster: That’s right! Mary was still a virgin when the Holy Spirit came to her and Jesus Christ took on the form of a baby within her womb. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas time.

Moe: Yep. Then Mary and her husband, Joseph, raised Jesus and when He was about 30 years old, He started preaching. He had 12 disciples, right?

Mooster: Yes. And He preached and taught the disciples for 3 years. Then the Pharisees decided He had to die – they didn’t like what He was teaching. But that was all in God’s plan. The Bible said Jesus had to die for our sins, so it was in God’s will for those Pharisees to plot Jesus’ death.

Moe: Jesus had to die in order to pay our sin debt and wash our hearts clean. We couldn’t do enough good works to pay our own sin debt. But Jesus was perfect and never sinned so He could pay for our sins! He died a horrible death on the cross, as payment for all of our sins. And then He rose again from the grave after 3 days!

Mooster:  That’s right – that’s why we celebrate Easter! The day Jesus rose again from the grave! He did all these things for us. The only thing He asks in return is that we repent of our sins -- that means ask His forgiveness for our sins and do our best not to do those same bad things again -- and ask Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior. Then God will see the sacrifice of Jesus as payment for our sins, and let us into heaven when we die! And of course, once we are saved, we should want to praise and give glory to God!

Moe: Wow – that is so simple, Mooster. Why do so many people make getting into heaven all hard and complicated? My uncle says God just has a big scale up there, and He’s going to weigh all of our good works and all of our bad works and then hopefully the good works will weigh more and that’s how he plans on getting into heaven.

Mooster: That’s not what the Bible says. And there’s no guarantee of heaven with what your uncle is saying! In 1 John 5:13 the Bible says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” See – the Bible says that if we believe on the Son of God, Jesus Christ, we can know for sure that we will live in Heaven one day.

Moe: Hey, thanks for that verse! I should tell my uncle about that one. He has a Bible, so I’m sure he would read it if I shared it with him.

Mooster: That’s a great idea, Moe! It’s always a good idea to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people who don’t know Him as Saviour. They won’t know how to get to heaven if no one tells them what the Bible says, or if they don’t read the Bible for themselves.

Moe: Well…you really helped me see there are lots of good things to share with people. We need to thank God that Jesus was willing to share Himself and pay for our sins. And we need to share that story with people who don’t know it, so they can be saved and have a home in heaven.

Mooster: Yep – God is definitely the best example of sharing.

Moe: Uh…Mooster?

Mooster: Yes, Moe?

Moe: I have to tell you I’m sorry for earlier. I’ve been thinking about it. I should have offered you some of my banana shake. That was mean of me to finish it off without offering you any, especially since it is so hot and you had just said you would have loved something like that. I’m sorry.

Mooster: That’s okay, Moe. I forgive you.

Moe: And…I won’t be saving anymore used tea bags for the missionaries. From now on, I’ll buy brand new boxes to send them.

Mooster: That’s a great idea, Moe.

Moe: Mooster – Bible story time is about over – would you like to go get a milkshake with me? My treat! You can pick any flavor you want!

Mooster: Oh wow! Thanks, Moe! I would love that. Okay, boys and girls – your memory verse for this week is 1 John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” Work hard on memorizing it! And remember to share with your friends!

Moe and Mooster: Bye!