Parable of the Lost Sheep & Lost Coin

This is such a fun lesson! I love watching the kids enjoy learning the Bible and they love this one! I like teaching most of the parables, but The Prodigal Son and this one seems to be favorites! There are sheep and coin printables that are scriptures that you can hide or shuffle for the kids to put in order.

We have talked about parables the last couple of weeks. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning that Jesus taught. There were 3 main jobs for men during the time of Jesus. They were shepherds, fishermen and farming. Jesus is going to use a lesson that they will understand.

Jesus told the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the Prodigal son at the same time to these people wanting to listen. We talked about the Prodigal Son last week and we are going to talk about the lost sheep and the lost coin today. We can find the lesson today in Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:1-7 and John 10:1-18.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is the Great Shepherd. Jesus, like shepherds, is always watching over us. Shepherds protect their sheep, and always want to make sure they return home safe.

One of the parables Jesus told was about a lost sheep. Jesus wanted to show that God loves everyone and is happy when anyone repents. God wants everyone to go to Heaven. There were people in the time of Jesus who thought they were better than every else. We have people like that now. When they all came to see Jesus, the Pharisees and the scribes started complaining that Jesus welcomes sinners… He even eats with them!

So, Jesus told a parable about a shepherd. He said that if any man had 100 sheep and he lost one of them, wouldn’t he leave the 99 in the wilderness to go search for the one that is lost until he finds it? For example, if we quit coming to worship and start doing things that God doesn’t like, then we are lost.

When the shepherd finds the lost sheep, wouldn’t he lay the sheep on his shoulders and celebrate that he found it? When he gets home, he would call together his friends and neighbors saying to them “Celebrate with me because I have found my lost sheep!”

Jesus said just like the found sheep, when a sinner repents, there is more joy in heaven than over the 99 who do not need to repent.

Who is the Shepherd? Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11)

Who is watching over us? Jesus

Who is the lost sheep? the ones who are not faithful to Jesus

The Parable of the lost coin is only three verses long, but Jesus makes an important point.

There was a woman that had ten silver coins. But she lost one of the coins!

She lit a lamp, swept the entire house, corners and all, to search carefully for the lost coin.

She looked and looked for the lost coin...

She didn't stop looking until she found that lost coin!

When she finally found it, she called her friends together to celebrate that she had found the coin that was lost! Even though she had 9 other coins, she looked carefully until she found the lost coin.

Jesus wanted the people to understand that for those that are lost, Jesus will welcome you back and rejoices when you return.

 

For today's visual I set up a field (green fabric) with rocks, shepherd and sheep. Put a couple together and one far away looking lost & trapped in rock and shrubs.

Please note: Due to a comment, I redid the Lost Coin posts. In my original notes, I have about the woman’s coins probably would have been kept on her headband, but when I put the lessons online, that was not stated. At least, not clearly. All the probably and maybes that were the habits during the time Jesus told the parable. One of my main points of this Bible website is keeping the lesson to what the Bible says. So, I corrected the lesson, worksheets, etc. and kept it to the facts in the Bible.

For hands on fun, I made 1 ½ inch round circles on grey cardstock (Cricut machine, George, shadow blackout O). I hid these ‘coins’ around the room and let them seek & find the coins. They had so much fun looking for the coins! Really, they love this! 

 These sheep are for the Lost Sheep parable. The scripture is written on each sheep. You can hide the sheep and let the students find them, then put the scripture in order. Or, just scramble the sheep and let them put them in order. I made them plain for easier reading and printing. Click here to print.

Here is the same concept for the Lost Coin parable. The scripture is written on each coin. You can hide the coins and let the students find them, then put the scripture in order. Or, just scramble the coins and let them put them in order. I made them plain for easier reading and printing. Click here to print.

 

Click here to print the worksheet.

Click here to print the Parables of Jesus lapbook.

Bible Verse: John 10:11 

 Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.

Click here to download the lesson.

I set up a display for this lesson. Even the older students would appreciate seeing some hands-on visuals! For the Lost Coin, I have these lamps on the table. I give each student a bag with 9 silver coins and have them count them. Oh, no! They have lost a silver coin! They look until they find the lost silver coin which I hid before class. I have a small broom from Dollar Tree and use the lamp to search around the room for the lost coin that I 'find' while I tell the lesson. Put clay oil lamp in the search bar where you like to purchase items to look for the oil lamps. These are from Amazon to help you get started.    first lamp     middle lamp    last lamp    The lamps are palm size, so don't be surprised by their size when you see them in person.

For the Lost Sheep, I have a sheep 'hiding' on top of the cabinet. I use a shepherd's crook to walk around looking for the lost sheep and explain what the hook on the end was used for. I 'find' the lost sheep and bring it down and lay it on my shoulders and talk about how happy I am to find the lost sheep. Then the students find a lost sheep I have hidden before class. I find the stuffed lambs here and they don't always have the same ones in stock. Put in stuffed lambs in the search bar.

Some visuals for this post are free here and are the copyright of FreeBibleimages.org.
 (Used with permission)