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Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, May 8, 2018
Adapted from “Learning to Play on a Team” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Song: “Who’s the king of the jungle?” Intro and follow-up questions: We’ve been talking about what honor means and how we can show honor to our families. Honor means treating people as special. It also means doing more than what’s expected and having a good attitude. But tell me? Who is your family? How many people do you have in your family? Well today we’re going to talk about how when we work together to love God and follow Jesus, we become part of God’s family. Game: We have a couple of games to play to show the importance of working together. Game 1: Three-legged race while carrying an egg on a spoon -- pair up and work together! Come have a seat on the rug. You did a great job working together. That’s good teamwork. Now, split into two groups for the second challenge. I have two Bible verses cut out from construction paper and you with your group need to place the words in order and recite the verse. Game 2: Place the sections of construction paper in order to make our Bible verses. Work together now. Ready, go! Bible verses: John 1:12 says “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Jesus said: “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:35. Isn’t that amazing that Jesus called us his family? Story/Skit: Today’s Bible story come from Matthew 12:46-50 and talks about how when you follow Jesus, you become more than a team. You become part of God’s family. “One day Jesus was helping a lot of people and the house they were in was crowded. In fact, it was so full that not even one more person could fit inside. Someone leaned over to Jesus and said, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to speak with you.” “Did you know that Jesus had brothers? What would it have been like to be a brother of Jesus growing up? Do you think that Jesus fought with his brothers and sisters? Do you think he yelled or said mean things? Do you think he shared his toys and helped his mom around the house? It’s fun to think about that, isn’t it? Jesus loved his mother and brothers. In fact, when Jesus was on the cross dying, he took time to care for his mother and told his disciple, John, to take care of her. “But on this occasion [when Jesus was helping a lot of people and the house they were in was crowded] Jesus wanted to teach the people something very important.” When people told him his family was outside waiting to speak to him he said, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:48-50) “He wanted to teach [his disciples] that they have a spiritual family of brothers and sisters when they choose to follow him. Did you know that when you trust Jesus as your savior you enter a new family? God is the father and all of the other people who have trusted Jesus Christ are your brothers and sisters. If you’re a Christian and I’m a Christian, what does that make us together? It makes us brother and sister! “Why did Jesus want the people to know that? Because Jesus knew that if people would recognize this truth then they would treat each other differently. A family is a special thing and when we become Christians we join the family of God. That means that we need to learn how to get along with our new brothers and sisters in Christ. It means that we get to know how Heavenly Father. “It’s fun to think about having a big family and getting to know everybody that way. But one of the nicest things is that if you and your parents are Christians then your mom and dad are your brother and sister in Christ. [And your moms become my sisters.] Now, that is a different thought. Isn’t it?” Bible verse: There’s one more Bible verse we need to learn to help us to remember how to work together. Give a few kids the cut up construction paper to assemble the verse and read it: 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” Can you say that with me? How can we work together to encourage one another to love God and follow Jesus? We can treat each other kindly, we can love one another and we can show honor to each other. What is honor? Treating others as special, doing more than what’s expected and having a good attitude. Closing: Let’s review now what we’ve learned today. We learned that when we work together to follow Jesus we become brothers and sisters in Christ. We become a family that can encourage each other. Prayer: Dear God, Teach us to treat each other kindly. Help us to treat parents in kind ways as our brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you for giving us a big family so that we can learn and grow. Amen. Decorate a family photo frame: Hand out a photo of the group as well as an image of a picture frame on cardstock for each child that they can decorate. Encourage them to hang up their photos somewhere in the house where they be reminded of their brothers and sisters in Christ. (Need photo of the group, cardstock, stickers, pens) Parting on the rug: Hand out lollipops as a parting gift to remind us that showing honor is like giving a gift. Remind the kids that honor is: treating others as special, doing more than what’s expected and having a good attitude. Good job, everyone! That’s the end of our honor curriculum!
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Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, April 10, 2018
Adapted from “What Signals Do You Give?” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Song: “Who’s the king of the jungle?” Intro and follow-up questions: We’ve been talking about what honor means and how we can show honor to our families. Honor means treating people as special. It also means doing more than what’s expected and having a good attitude. Today we’re going to talk about how we can show honor in subtle ways. What does “subtle” mean? I’m going to suggest it can mean “sneaky”. So we’re going to talk about ways to honor others that they might not notice at first -- sneaky ways. Put finger on your nose and silently try to get everyone to copy you. When they do: “We did it! How did you know that I wanted you to put your finger on your nose? I want you to be watching me the rest of today. I’m going to put my finger on my nose and we’ll see if we can get everyone to do it without talking about it.” “We all can give cues to people that tell them about what we are like and how we relate to others -- things like making eye contact as well as the tone of your voice and the volume of your voice.” Here’s an example: Have you ever heard someone tell you to listen with both eyeballs? Yes! That may sound funny to listen with both eyeballs, but what it means is looking at someone when they are saying their words. It shows you’re interested and paying attention to what they are saying. That’s a way of treating others as special. It’s a way of showing honor. Game: Here’s another example: How can you tell someone is about to laugh? What cues to they give? Let’s try something and see what happens. I need one volunteer to be “it”. The rest of you have to try to make this person laugh without touching them, and the person who is “it” tries not to laugh. You can make noise, tell jokes, make faces, anything you want except tickling or touching the person. “As you play, see if you can guess when the person is about to lose it. Talk about what signals come before the laughter.” Good! So you’ve learned to look for when someone is about to laugh. Now here’s a question: How will people know that you know Jesus? Jesus himself wanted his disciples to know that others are watching, and as they watch, they are picking up cues that tell a lot about who we are. Jesus told his disciples this, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35) Now who are we supposed to love? Does anyone remember what Jesus said about that? Yes, he said, “Love your the Lord your God, love your neighbor and love your enemies.” So...that’s pretty much everyone! It’s pretty easy to love our friends and love people who are nice to us. But Jesus says we also should love the people who aren’t nice to us. What does this look like? Story/Skit: I’m going to tell you a story today from the book of Acts 16:16-36. (Or read the story from the Illustrated Bible, p.260.) Now this story comes after Jesus died and was raised from the dead and went to heaven. He left his disciples behind to start the first church. Paul was one of the people trying to teach others about Jesus, but some people didn’t like that and put Paul and his friend Silas in jail. The jailer “put chains on their arms and locked the prison doors. Paul and Silas were stuck. I think that jailer had to listen to a lot of complaining and whining from prisoners over the years. I’m sure some prisoners were mad that they were in jail and they took it out on their jailer. But not Paul and Silas. They were different. The jailer could see that they didn’t act like everyone else. “Instead of whining and complaining about being in prison, all the other prisoners were quiet, listening to Paul and Silas singing songs to God. In fact, the way that these two men lived seemed very different to the jailer. He had never in his life seen anything like it. He began asking himself, “Who are these men and who is their God?” “About midnight, while Paul and Silas were still singing, there was an earthquake. How would you like to be inside a prison with your arms chained to a wall behind bars during an earthquake? You’d be stuck. You wouldn’t be able to get out. That would be a scary experience, but Paul and Silas trusted God so even when things were scary, they responded differently than others would. The jailer was impressed. “The earthquake shook the ground and the prison doors came loose and the chains came off the prisoners. The jailer was afraid. He knew that if all the prisoners escaped, the authorities would be angry with him and would punish him. He decided to take out his sword and hurt himself. “Just then Paul yelled, “Don’t hurt yourself. We’re all still here.” The jailer couldn’t believe it. Could it be? Why wouldn’t Paul and the other prisoners just run out? But they didn’t. Paul and Silas knew that God wanted to do something special in this jailer’s heart. That evening the jailer accepted Jesus into his life. He wanted to be different than all the rest of the people he knew and he saw that Paul and Silas were different. The jailer wanted Jesus to change him as well. “The jailer brought Paul and Silas out of the prison to his house where he washed their wounds and took care of them the rest of the night. I wonder what they talked about. I’m sure the jailer and his family were eager to grow in their relationships with God. “Several years later, Paul was in another prison in Rome and he thought about the jailer and others who had become Christians in Philippi so he wrote them a letter and in it he said, “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” (Philippians 1:27) “One of the reasons that the Philippian jailer became a Christian is because he saw that the way Paul and Silas lived was different. They gave off cues that said they didn’t act the same as other people did. They didn’t whine or complain about life. They didn’t get angry and say mean things the way others did. All of those actions were little messages that told the jailer that these men were different. Place your finger to your nose and see if you can get everyone else to do it too. “What kind of cues do you give that tell what kind of person you are? Do you whine or complain or argue a lot? Are you kind and think of what would make others feel good? Those little messages you give by your actions tell people a lot about the kind of person you are. “Our Bible verse today gives us some ideas of how we can think of others.” Bible verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Can you say that with me? How do we encourage one another? Let me give you an example. Last week I was making t-shirts for a trip my family is taking next week, and I was disappointed in the way they came out. But when I told my family that, do you know what my son said? He said, “What? They’re perfect!” And those three words made me feel so much better. I was so thankful to him for saying that and building me up. Closing: Let’s review now what we’ve learned today. Today we have talked about how little things we do give others messages about what kind of people we are. And have learned that we can treat others as special through small gestures -- like “listening with both eyeballs” which means looking at someone while they are talking. Prayer: Dear God, Help us see how the small things we do show people what we’re really like. Teach us how to make the small things count so others can see you through our lives. Amen. Decorate and construct an Encouraging Word Chain: “Distribute 5-10 strips of multi-colored construction paper to each child (about 1 inch wide and 8 inches long). Have them write encouraging messages on each strip, things like “Thank you,” “Please,” “I’m sorry”, “Can I help you,” “I like your shirt,” “This is a great dinner,” “I love you,” “You are fun to be with,” etc. Younger children can use encouragement stickers (that says “Good job” and “Well done”, etc). Tape or staple the ends together, interlocking them into a chain. Encourage the children to take the chain home and hang it up somewhere as a reminder to say encouraging things to others.” (Need markers, stickers, paper, staplers) Parting on the rug: Enjoy some gummy candy! Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, March 27, 2018 Adapted from “Responsibility and Privilege” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Song: “Who’s the king of the jungle?” Intro and follow-up questions: We’ve been talking about what honor means and how we can show honor to our families. Honor means treating people as special. It also means doing more than what’s expected and having a good attitude. Today we are going to talk about what Jesus said about responsibility and privilege and how they go together. What is responsibility? You can think of it as taking care of yourself, taking care of others and taking care of the environment around you. What are privileges? Privileges are special treats or rewards for a job well done -- like getting dessert after eating a good dinner, or getting to play with a friend after finishing chores like cleaning up your toys, or enjoying a nice environment -- whether that’s inside a clean house or outside at the park. Poster: Does anyone know the name of this bridge? It’s the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Sydney, Australia. I’m using this picture to show how responsibility and privilege are connected -- just as these towers are connected by the bridge. Can you name some responsibilities you have? And some privileges? (Place ideas for responsibilities and privilege under the headings on the poster and talk about how they go hand in hand.) My suggestions:  Demo: Can I have a volunteer throw this napkin away for me? Now...let’s make it harder… Bible verse: Matthew 25:23 says, “You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” Can you say that with me? Volunteer 2: Carry this basketball and throw away the napkin. Volunteer 3: Wear your coat and backpack on your front and carry the basketball and throw away the napkin. Volunteer 4: Wear your coat and backpack on your front and carry the basketball and three books and wear a blindfold and throw away the napkin. Story/Skit: Who will help me act out this story? (Need the company owner and three workers) From Matthew 25:14-30: “One day a man went on a trip but he needed some people to take care of his business while he was away. He chose three people and gave them each a different job and different amounts of money to keep track of. To the first man he gave five talents. A talent was a lot of money. He gave two talents to the second man and one talent to the third. (Hand each worker a bag and fill each with five, two or one of an item representing the talents.) The reason the workers received different amounts of money was because they had different abilities and could only handle what was given to them. While the man was away on his trip the workers were supposed to use the money they were given to make more money. When the man came back from his trip he checked on the workers to see how they had done. The first worker who had received five talents had gone to work right away and now had five more talents to give to the man. He had done a good job. The second man also did well. He worked with the money he had received and earned two more talents. The owner was very pleased. He had given them jobs, and the workers were responsible with the jobs. The owner decided to reward them by giving them more privileges. He said, “Because you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things.” (have child echo) Jesus doesn’t tell us what kind of work they did, but here’s an example. Say a neighbor of yours is going on vacation. Your neighbor might ask you to take care of his mail and water his plants or take care of his pets while he’s gone. If you do what he asks then the neighbor says he’ll pay you for the job. You agree, and the neighbor goes away on vacation. You do the job. When the neighbor returns and sees the good work you’ve done, he rewards you by paying you for the job, but then he says since you did such a good job he wants to give you another opportunity to earn more money -- a job like shoveling snow or weeding the garden. Privileges like earning money and being asked to do jobs come to people who are responsible. Privilege and responsibility go together. Now there’s a third part of the story we were telling. It is the one sad part. Here it is: “The third worker wasn’t responsible. In fact, he was lazy and didn’t do anything with the talent he was given. In fact, all he could do was give excuses instead of being responsible. So, he lost privileges and his privileges were given to someone else. (Take that worker’s bag and hand it to one of the other workers.) That’s what happens in life too. If you aren’t responsible with what you have now, you will lose privileges.” “Our Bible verse for today talks about the importance of being faithful with the responsibilities we have.” Can you say it with me one more time? “You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” Matthew 25:23 Closing: Let’s review now what we’ve learned today. Today we have talked about how responsibilities and privileges go together. If we are responsible, we earn more privileges. Prayer: Dear God, Teach us how to be faithful with the responsibilities we have already. Help us to see the privileges we enjoy instead of taking them for granted. Give us the ability to be responsible with the things you’ve given to us. Amen. Build your own bridge: I have paper plates and cups you can decorate and put together to make your own bridge that connects responsibility and privilege. There is also a coloring page. On the back there is a place where you can make lists of your own responsibilities and privileges. Parting on the rug: Enjoy some gummy candy!  Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, January 23, 2018 Adapted from “Not Having to be First All the Time” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Song: A mom's suggestion based on Mark 10:43-45: “Whoever wants to become GREAT among you must be your servant, And whoever wants to be FIRST must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, And to give his life as a ransom for many.” Intro and follow-up questions: We’ve been talking about what honor means and how we can show honor to our families. Honor means treating people as special. It also means doing more than what’s expected and having a good attitude. Today we are going to talk about selfishness and how we can honor others by looking for ways to serve them. What is selfishness? Putting your needs and wants ahead of others. Demo: I want to demonstrate this with a bow and arrow. Has anyone played with an archery set before? You can see I have a bow and an arrow, and there’s a target taped up over there. What should I try to do with these things? Hit the target with the arrow? Like this? (Attempt to shoot the arrow without pulling back on the string.) Wait, what happened? What should I do instead? Oh! I need to pull back on the arrow and string in order to make the arrow fly! (Try again, pulling back on the bow string to shoot the arrow.) I want to suggest that pulling back on the arrow and string is like holding yourself back when you feel like doing something selfish. And what happens? When we put others ahead of ourselves, it builds character that allows us to handle more responsibility in the future. Jesus taught this -- that in putting others first, we will go farther in life. When we hold ourselves back (demonstrate again with the arrow), we will go farther. Story/Skit: Who will help me act out this story? (Need a mom, two sons, Jesus) From Matthew 20:20-28: One day a mom brought her two sons to Jesus. Her sons were both grown-up men. She had a request. She asked that Jesus give her sons the best seats when he started his kingdom. She wanted one son to sit at Jesus’s left and the other to sit at Jesus’s right. I think she wanted her sons to help Jesus rule his kingdom. “What’s your favorite seat in the car? Do you have one at the table? Or on the couch? It seems like a lot of people fight to get the best seat or toy. Others fight because they want to be first. They want to be first to receive a cookie or first to be picked in a game, or first to choose an activity. Why do you think people tend to want to be first? It’s usually because of selfishness. “How would you answer someone who came to you and wanted the best seat? Would you give it to him? Why or why not? What happens to a child who always gets what he wants?” That child might only think about what he wants and never learn to think about what others need. He might never learn how to take care of other people. Now, do you think Jesus liked having the sons next to him? Yes! He loved it when people came to him. He wanted to spend time with them. He wanted to laugh with them. He wanted to help them. And he also wanted to teach them. So when the mom and her sons came to Jesus, he could seek their hearts and he “knew that the request for the best seat came from selfishness.” He didn’t think that was good! “Jesus knew that being the best means having more responsibility. The person in charge, or the person who gets the most now has a greater ability to help others. Jesus knew that if these guys got the best seat without having the character to go with that responsibility, they would end up hurting others instead of helping them. “So, Jesus taught this family a very important lesson about life. He told them, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” That was an important lesson for the entire family to learn. What does it mean to be a servant? If two people both want to play on the same swing at the park, how does a servant handle it? If they both want to go down the slide and they run fast to get to the ladder, how does a servant respond? “Does anything good happen to the person who lets someone else have the best seat or the first turn? Sometimes the only benefit is knowing in your heart that you know you did the right thing. But other times, people notice. And sometimes, people might even praise you for doing the right thing. Our Bible verse for today tells us what Jesus says about this: Bible verse: Mark 9:35 says, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Can you say that with me? Skits: How do people serve each other around you to make things work? Can you think of people at school who work to make the school run smoothly? Maybe you thought of the principal, teachers, cook, cafeteria workers, crossing guards, janitors. What would happen without those people? “Each of those people does a valuable thing for the school. They all make it run smoothly. The same thing is true in a family. When each person adds to family life, then things go much better.” Or how about this example? My daughter and I are reading the same book about an astronaut who spent an entire year in space on the International Space Station. Actually, my daughter is already done with the book and I am almost finished with it. The astronaut’s name is Scott Kelly, and he went to space a few times before spending a year on the space station. But -- he never went alone. He always went with a crew of astronauts, and he takes the time in his book to describe how each person he flew with contributed in some way to the teamwork needed to make the missions work well. The astronauts listened to each other. They shared their food and supplies. They were from different countries and spoke different languages, so they learned other languages so they could understand each other. They helped each other with science experiments and repairing equipment on the space station. When we work together as a team we go farther -- and what’s farther than a rocket going to outer space? Now, some of you might want to train as astronauts some day, and here are some ways you can learn to serve each other right now in your own homes (from Say Goodbye to Whining by Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, pages 126-128):
Today we’ve talked about how selfishness can make us want to be first or have the best of something. And we’ve learned that Jesus wants us to learn to be servants first. Putting others first is a way to honor others. And when we do that we will find that putting others first does even more than honor others. Remember when we pulled back on that arrow and string? That’s like holding yourself back when you feel like doing something selfish. And what happens? When we put others ahead of ourselves, it builds character that allows us to handle more responsibility in the future. Jesus taught this -- that in putting others first, we will go farther in life. When we hold ourselves back (demonstrate again with the arrow), we will go farther. Prayer: Dear God, Teach us to serve others. Help us be willing to make others feel good instead of just wanting the biggest or best for ourselves. Teach us how to show honor to others. Amen. Decorate An Encouragement Arrow Picture Frame: I have picture frames featuring our theme for today. Like arrows that need to be pulled back before they can soar, so too can we act as servants towards one another, putting others first. Doing so produces perseverance which builds character and, in turn, creates hope. Use the feathers, glue and stickers to decorate your picture frame, and take home a reminder of this important message! Image of picture frame insert:  Parting on the rug: One way we can serve each other is with our words. We can say kind things to each other. Pass out Valentine’s Day heart candies with words of encouragements as suggested phrases of how to encourage one another.
Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, January 9, 2018
Adapted from “Dealing with Anger” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Song: “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands” -- I have been thinking about how the members of our group come from all over the world, or have grandparents or ancestors who came from all over the world. We have heritage in but exclusively in: Korea, Iran, Eritrea, United Kingdom, Sweden, Costa Rica, Mexico, Alabama and other parts of the United States. And God has us all in his hands. Intro and follow-up questions: We’ve been talking about what honor means and how we can show honor to our families. Honor means treating people as special. It also means doing more than what’s expected and having a good attitude. Did you find ways to treat others as special over winter break? Did anyone treat you as special? Today we are going to talk about anger and how we can honor others by keeping our anger under control and by acting as peacemakers. Demo: Today we are going to build a small volcano to demonstrate how anger can erupt and spill all over. Pour ⅓ cup vinegar into a clear cup. (Bring plate, glass, vinegar, baking soda, measuring cup and tablespoon.) “Let’s say this cup of vinegar is a person who gets easily irritated. Whenever he doesn’t get what he wants, he gets angry. Or whenever Mom says “no”, he becomes mean. Talk about how bad it smells. When someone is angry, others can tell. How can you tell that anger is growing? What might you see on someone’s face or hear in their voice? You might notice:
When someone is getting angry you might notice some of these changes -- just like we can notice the bad smell of the vinegar. Now let’s add something to the cup and see what happens. When Mom says “no” or Dad asks him to do something, then this happens.” Add 1 Tbsp baking soda. What happened? What does it look like when anger erupts and spills out all over? Okay, now, “everyone close your eyes for just a moment. I’m going to start a sentence and I want you to finish it. See if you can think of an answer: “One thing that makes me angry is ______________.” “One time I got really angry was ______________.” Now open your eyes. Would anyone like to raise their hand to share what makes them angry? The Bible has a lot to say on controlling anger and how to be a peacemaker. James 1:19 says, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” How can we do this?
Now that’s a good start to controlling our anger. But the Bible wants us to do something after that. Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” What does it mean to be a peacemaker? I’m going to give you each a necklace that says “I am a peacemaker.” The string is olive green because olive green is the color of peace. Does anyone know why? Who remembers the story of Noah? And the dove that brought an olive branch to show that it was okay to leave the ark? God had made peace with the world. Some of you have words written on the backs of your necklaces. Can you read those and share what a peacemaker does? A peacemaker:
I want to read you a Bible story today about some brothers who were very angry with each other but how in the end, they learned to be peacemakers. Story: “The Forgiving Prince” from the Jesus Storybook Bible, p. 76-83, adapted from the story of Joseph and his brothers found in Genesis, chapters 37-46. Who was angry in this story? Joseph’s brothers. Could you see their anger growing? How could you tell? First, we learn the brothers are jealous of Joseph’s robe -- maybe we could say they are frustrated. Then, after they hear Joseph’s dreams, it says the brothers hated him and wanted to kill him. That sounds like a volcano boiling over! How did the brothers react to their anger? They tore Joseph’s robe and sold him. After Joseph was made a prince in Egypt and saw his brothers again, how did he choose to be a peacemaker? He loved them. He forgave them. He rescued them by bringing them to Egypt where there was more food to eat. Bible verse: Proverbs 29:11 says, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.” Can you say that with me? That means that a wise man looks for solutions to manage anger. Closing: Let’s review now what we’ve learned today. Do you remember what the volcano showed us? It shows us that letting your anger boil over creates a big mess and can hurt others. If we can control our own anger, we can become peacemakers. How can we control our anger?
How does a peacemaker help? A peacemaker:
Prayer: Dear God, Teach us how to manage our own anger. Please help us to see anger in others and know how to help. Thank you for forgiving us and loving us even when we do the wrong things. Amen. Create an Anger Thermometer: When I think of anger heating up and getting worse and worse, I think of a thermometer, which is a tool that measures heat. Your mom might use a thermometer to check whether or not you have a fever. And you can use this thermometer to help you manage your anger. This thermometer has three levels on it to describe anger as it gets worse and worse, representing frustration, anger and rage. When we notice we are angry the stop sign reminds us to pause and take a breath. The green circles give us ideas of how to respond to the anger, responses like “talk about it”, “get help” and “slow down and persevere”. One way to slow down is to pray. Find a quiet spot and talk to God about your anger, and ask him to help you solve the problem. Pass out cardstock with thermometer on it. Instruct kids to paste red “Stop” signs and green “Solution” circles onto the paper. Then, thread a loop of red ribbon through the slit at the base of the thermometer. Thread a safety pin through the side slits of the thermometer and the top loop of the ribbon. Use the safety pin to make the temperature rise. Then talk about what to do when you are feeling “frustration”, “anger” and “rage”. Word Search/Create your own cartoon: Use the paper provided to complete a word search. On the other side, design your own cartoon. Draw a picture of a time when you felt angry. Then draw what you could do to be a peacemaker in that situation. Parting on the rug: Pass out Dove heart chocolates to remind us to love others and be peacemakers. Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, December 12, 2018 Adapted from “Reserving a Little to Give Away” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Intro and follow-up questions: Let’s start with a song! To the tune of Jingle Bells: “Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Jesus is the way Jesus is the Saviour You can come to him today, HEY! Jesus saves! Jesus saves! People from their sin You will find forgiveness When you put your trust in Him” Today we’re going to continue talking about honor. We’ve talked about how we can show honor to each other and to our families. And today we’re going to talk about how we can show honor even to people we do not know. Anyone remember the three parts of honor? -Treating people as special -Doing more than what’s expected -Having a good attitude Story and skit: Luke 10:20-37, told in paraphrase (quotes are from the Kids Honor Club curriculum): *For the skit need: 1 Jewish man, 1 priest, 1 Levite, 1 Samaritan, 1 donkey, bandage, blanket, innkeeper, coin purse or money Today’s story comes from Luke, chapter 10, verses 20-37. It’s the story Jesus tells of the Good Samaritan. Some of you may have heard this story before. Who can tell me what a Good Samaritan is? Why did Jesus tell that story? “The story of the Good Samaritan was told by Jesus to help people know what it means to be a good neighbor. A good neighbor doesn’t just think about himself and the things he has to do, but he thinks about others, even people he doesn’t know. He looks for ways to help them. Did you ever help someone you didn’t know?” Do you ever give away clothes that you’ve outgrown? Have you ever raised money to help people have enough to eat? Yes! You did! At the Turkey Trot this year! “In the story, Jesus told about a Jewish man who was traveling on a trip through a dangerous part of the country. He was on his way to a city called Jericho. On his way, some bad men came and robbed him and took his money and beat him up, leaving him hurt on the side of the road. “Pretty soon a priest came by. He was a religious man but when he saw the hurt man, he walked to the other side of the street around the man and kept going. A second man came walking by. He was a Levite, someone who also was chosen by God to work in the temple. He also walked around the man and kept going. Why do you think these men didn’t stop to help? “Maybe they were….too busy, he wasn’t their friend, they were selfish, or they might get dirty. “What do you think the hurt man was feeling? He was probably wishing that someone would stop and help him. Pretty soon another man came by. He was a Samaritan. Now the Jews didn’t really like the Samaritans, but this man didn’t care. This man saw someone who needed help and so he stopped. The Samaritan bandaged up the hurt man’s sores and put him on his own donkey. He then took the hurt man to an inn (like a hotel) where he paid someone to take care of him. Thank you to all of our actors! You can have a seat now. “Jesus was trying to teach the people that we should care about other people, even if we don’t know them. Honor does that. It gives more than what’s expected. It shares with people and brightens their day. “What are some ways that you can show honor to people you don’t know? What about at the store?
“What about at church or school?
“When you give to others like that, what happens? You can know in your heart that you’re doing the right thing, and you can know that God sees what you’re doing. God loves honor. In fact, God loves it when we do more than what’s expected. We may think that no one is watching and that nobody cares, but God does. Every once in awhile, even though you don’t know it, someone may see your kindness. You never know when you will need an act of kindness in your own life. That’s why the Bible encourages us to treat others kindly. Bible verse: Our Bible verse for today is Matthew 7:12. Will someone read it for us? “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” Matthew 7:12 Closing: Now, I want to ask you something. Do you know who the people are who live near you? These are your neighbors. If you live in a building with lots of families in it, they could live down the hall or downstairs or upstairs from you. If you live in a house, they could live in the houses next to you or across the street. Can you think of your neighbors? What do you know about them? Are their kids in those families? Do they have cats or dogs or other pets at home? Could you tell me the color of the car they drive or the bicycle they ride? What else can you tell me about your neighbors? How might you treat your neighbors as special? Sometimes the mailman delivers mail to us that should have gone to our neighbors. My kids like to take those letters and put it in our neighbor's’ mailboxes. I can think of one neighbor who treats our family as special during the winter. His name is Alex and he comes by when it snows to see if we need help shoveling! Prayer: Dear God, “teach us how to give to others, and not just think about ourselves. Help us to see ways that we can demonstrate acts of kindness. Teach us how to give in small ways every day. Amen.” Activity: Today we’re going to make Christmas ornaments. I want each of you to make two of them -- one to keep for yourself and one to give away to a neighbor. You can choose to hand it directly to your neighbor or leave it in their mailbox with a note. Parents, I have a note you can include with it when your child passes it along. Dixie cup jingle bell ornaments: Materials: dixie cup, stickers, crayon, markers, ribbon, jingle bells Print on cardstock (document called “letter to neighbor”): Hello neighbor! We made Christmas ornaments during our Christian after school club -- one to keep and one to give to a neighbor. This is for you! Merry Christmas! When you are finished, join me back on the rug, and we can sing the song we learned at the start “Jesus Saves” and this time we can shake our jingle bell ornaments too!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! See you in the new year! (Hang out candy canes.) Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, November 28, 2018 Adapted from “Problems Contain Hidden Opportunities” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Intro and follow-up questions: Can we try a song again? “For God So Loved the World” -- We tried it in a round! During our lessons this fall we’ve been talking about honor. Anyone remember the three parts of honor? -Treating people as special -Doing more than what’s expected -Having a good attitude Today we're going to learn how to solve problems with honor, and to start I have a few activities for you. Intro games:
** Look for ways to encourage each other, offer words of correction, point out ways to focus on the solution instead of what might go wrong. 2. The Human Knot: Stand in tight circle. Reach right hand in and grab someone’s hand. Grab anyone’s hand except the person next to you. Repeat with left hand. Then, untangle yourselves! You can go over or under arms or through legs. The goal is to end up in a circle again. Today we’re going to learn about ways to solve problems in an honoring way by working together with others. Story and skit: Matthew 14:31-21, told in paraphrase (quotes are from the Kids Honor Club curriculum): Today’s Bible story comes from the book of Matthew, chapter 14:13-21. Jesus had just received some very sad news. His friend John the Baptist had been killed by King Herod. When he heard what had happened Jesus took a boat and went to a quiet place to be by himself. But crowds of people paid attention to where Jesus went, and they followed him on land. They met Jesus when his boat landed at the shore, and when Jesus saw the large crowd “he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14) He “took time to help them. “After working for most of the day, it started to get dark. The disciples thought the people were getting hungry, and they came to Jesus with the problem. The disciples liked to bring problems to Jesus. Sometimes Jesus would go ahead and solve the problem and other times we would give them ideas for solving the problem themselves. “This time he just gave the problem back to try to solve themselves. He said, “You give them something to eat.” “Why do you think Jesus did that? Do you think Jesus could have solved this problem by himself? Then why did he tell the disciples to solve it? He knew the disciples didn’t have any food. “I think Jesus wanted to teach them how to solve problems for themselves. I wonder if there are sometimes in your family when your mom or your dad encourage you to solve your own problem. Can you think of a time when they told you to solve a problem yourself instead of solving it for you? Maybe you lost your shoes and they told you to go find them. Maybe you wanted a drink and they encouraged you to get one yourself. Maybe you wanted to buy something special and your parents said you could earn the money for it. Why do moms and dads do that? Why don’t they just solve the problem for you? “Sometimes the loving thing is for a parent not to solve a problem so that you can learn to solve problems for yourself….Jesus wanted to teach the disciples how to solve problems for themselves and how to trust God in that process. “The disciples looked at each other and then started looking for food. Somehow they found a small boy who had a lunch of five small rolls and two fish. They brought the food to Jesus and he did a miracle. The Bible tells us that he gave thanks to God and then began breaking the bread and the fish. Then the food just kept coming and coming. Pretty soon there was enough food for all the people to have plenty and there was even some left over. “How do you think the disciples felt as they watched all of that happen? What do you think they learned that day? Sometimes we learn things by solving the problem ourselves. Today’s Bible verse can remind “us to be confident even when we find ourselves with tough problems.” Bible verse: Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.” Closing: Today we talked about how try to solve problems ourselves in an honoring way. I’m going to read three problems to you now and ask whether you have ideas of how to solve them.
Thanks for brainstorming solutions to these problems! You guys have learned that instead of complaining or whining or fighting for our way, there are honoring ways to work with others to solve problems. I think you guys have learned to see things in a new way so that you can find solutions. Prayer: Dear God, “Thank you for helping us solve problems. Help us to work well together to see new solutions to our problems. Amen.” Activity: Today we’re going to make Problem-Solving Wheels to give us ideas on how to solve problems and to remind us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Directions: 1. On the first wheel use the word bank to label wedges with ideas on how to solve a problem. You could choose to draw a picture of how to solve a problem. Word Bank:
2. Then place the second wheel with the Bible verse on top and attach them in the center using a brad. Closing on rug:
Thank you for coming today! Here is a pair of sunglasses for each of you for you to remember to look for solutions that honor others. Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Adapted from “It’s All In How You Say It” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Intro and follow-up questions: Can we start with a song? “For God So Loved the World” -- We tried it in a round! During our lessons this fall we’ve been talking about honor. Anyone remember the three parts of honor? -Treating people as special -Doing more than what’s expected -Having a good attitude One week we played a game where I read some statements and you said “whoops!” or “ahh!” depending on whether they showed dishonor or honor. Can we try that again just to refresh our memories? Today I’m going to hold up the statements, and we can respond by saying “whoops!” or “ahh!”, and then we’ll need to place the statement with the heart for honoring statements or the garbage can for dishonoring statements. (Get poster board and paste pictures of a heart on one side and a garbage can on the other -- have kids take turns placing the statements on the correct side.) Statements to read aloud: That shirt looks nice. My story is the best! Thank you. Are we there yet? Would you like a piece of my candy? Hey, Gimme my tape now! I like the way you drew that picture. No you can’t have any. They’re all mine. I’m sorry for hurting your feelings. Oh yuck, I hate that dinner. I think it’s your turn to go first. Today we’re doing to talk about the problem with boasting. Does anyone remember the statement “My story is the best!” That is an example of boasting. Boasting happens when people are only thinking of themselves and want to tell others how good they are. When we heard the statement “My story is the best!”, we said “whoops!” and placed it in the garbage can. Why is boasting wrong? Because it doesn’t honor others. We’re going to act out a story today about boasting and then talk about what we can do instead of boasting to honor others by making them feel special. Today’s Bible story is about a man named Haman who was full of pride and wanted everyone to notice him. Story and skit: Esther 5:11-6:12, told in paraphrase (quotes are from the Kids Honor Club curriculum): *For the skit need: 1 Queen Esther - crown, 1 King Xerxes - robe, crown, Haman, Mordecai, horse, crowd to bow down and later to witness Haman leading Mordecai Today’s story comes from the Old Testament, the book of Esther, chapter 5, verse 11 through chapter 6, verse 12. At the time of our story the Israelites who are God’s people are living in Persia under the rule of King Xerxes. The King had made an Israelite woman his queen, called Queen Esther. The king also had a man working for him named Haman who he treated with much honor. But “Haman was a prideful man. He wanted everyone to notice him. If something was going on, he wanted to be right at the center of it.” One day he bragged to his wife that the queen herself invited only two people to a very special dinner -- the king and Haman himself. This made Haman feel very important, so he said to his wife, “I am a very important person.” (actor repeat) “When Haman drove by in his chariot he wanted everyone to bow down low to show respect for him…. (Crowd pretend to bow to Haman riding by.) But Haman had a problem. There was a man in the town who loved the Lord and who wouldn’t bow down to Haman. His name was Mordecai.” Mordecai was a Jew like Esther and had raised Esther as his adopted daughter before she was made queen. “This made Haman very angry. In fact, Haman couldn’t enjoy all the good things that he had because he was angry in his heart toward Mordecai. Every day he would get mad and he wished that he could find a way to get rid of this guy who wouldn’t bow down to him.” He said, “I am so mad! I wish I could get rid of Mordecai!” (actor repeat) “One day the king called for Haman and said”, “Haman, I have someone I want to honor.” (actor repeat) “I need an idea of how to show how valuable this man is to me.” (actor repeat) “Haman thought to himself, “Oh, the king must be talking about me. I’m so important to the king. (actor repeat) He must want to tell everyone in the kingdom how great I am.” So, Haman told the king his idea. “I think you should put him on one of your horses and let him wear one of your robes and put a crown on his head and let someone else lead this man around town and announce to everyone that this person is special to the king.” “As Haman imagined himself on that horse, wearing the king’s robe and a crown on his head, the king said, “Good idea, Haman. I’d like you to be the one to lead the horse.” (actor repeat) “What?” thought Haman in shock. (actor repeat) He was thinking, ‘How can I lead the horse when I am supposed to be the one riding the horse?’ But the king said: “Yes, I want you to do all those nice things to Mordecai.” (actor repeat) “Haman couldn’t believe his ears. He had boasted and been so proud and been so angry with Mordecai every day. This was the worst thing he could ever imagine happening. Now he had to give honor to Mordecai. “This story illustrates something very important about honor. Some people try to build themselves up by boasting and talking about how good they are…. But people who understand honor don’t boast about themselves. They look for ways to build others up. We can do that right now by giving all of our actors a round of applause. Thank you, everyone. Let’s sit for today’s Bible verses and prayer and then I will explain our craft. Bible verse: I have two verses for us today. (Pass out verses.) Can someone read the first verse? “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4, NIV) And how do we do that? Can I have another volunteer to read the second verse? “Kind words are like honey -- sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” (Proverbs 16:24, NLT) Closing: Today we talked about how boasting is not honoring to others. After reading those Bible verses, does anyone have a guess of what we can do to honor others and make them feel special? Yes, we can speak kind words to others. The Bible says kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. Will you pray with me as we ask God to help us to remember this lesson? Prayer: Dear God, “teach us how to honor others instead of just building ourselves up. Help us to think of ways to make others feel special, like using kind words. Thank you for loving us and treating us as special. Amen.” Activity: Today we’re going to make beehives out of Honeycomb cereal, gluing the cereal to a picture of a beehive. You can use markers to color the branch and leaves and add bees around it if you like. Or you can just color a beehive. (If you are finished early you can work on the Seek and Find Puzzle.) Closing on rug: Why is boasting wrong? I’m going to show you. (Prepare dinner plate, large glass of water, shaker of black pepper, a small amount of dish soap in a bowl and a towel for clean up.) “Some people only think about themselves. They boast about how good they are.” Boasting is like adding pepper to a friendship. It makes the friendship unpleasant like this pepper does to the water. Can we fix this? Yes. “I have a secret ingredient that’s going to do something all that pepper.” (Dip your finger in the bowl of soap and then touch it into the water on the edge of the dish. All the pepper will move to the opposite side.) “Today we learned about a secret ingredient in life that works” to make the boasting and all other hurtful words go away. “That secret ingredient is honor,” and today we talked about honoring each other by using kind words to make others feel special. Hand out bags of honeycomb soap and honey candies to remind the kids of the Bible verse: “Kind words are like honey -- sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” (Proverbs 16:24, NLT) *Bonus science lesson* Why does the pepper move away? Answer courtesy of Education.com: “The first question to ask is why the pepper flakes float. Why don’t they sink or dissolve in the water? Well, pepper is hydrophobic, meaning that water is not attracted to it. Because of that, the pepper can't dissolve in the water. But why do the flakes float on top of the water? Water molecules like to stick together. They line up in a certain way that gives the top of the water surface tension. Because pepper flakes are so light, and hydrophobic, the surface tension keeps them floating on top. The next question to think about is why the pepper shoots to the sides when soap touches the water. Soap is able to break down the surface tension of water—that’s part of what makes soap a good cleaner. As the soap moves into the water, and the surface tension changes, the pepper no longer floats on top. But the water molecules still want to keep the surface tension going, so they pull back away from the soap, and carry the pepper along with them.” (https://www.education.com/science-fair/article/pepper-and-soap-experiment/) Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Adapted from “What does your heart look like?” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Intro and follow-up questions: Can we start with a song? “He’s got the whole world in his hands” -- go around in a circle and say kids names in groups of twos. Let’s start by reviewing what we talked about last week. We’ve been talking about honor. Anyone remember the three parts of honor? -Treating people as special -Doing more than what’s expected -Having a good attitude Then last week we talked about what to do when we have a problem with obeying right away. When we have a problem we can be wise like owls and talk our parents and to God in an honoring way and work together to find an answer. Today we’re doing to talk about how important it is to have good hearts and that it’s our good hearts that will help us solve problems in an honoring way. Today’s story is about the prophet Samuel and how God told him to go choose the next king of Israel. In a minute I’d love some volunteers for a skit, but first, I want to show you the crown that Samuel is going to use. “If you saw someone with a crown what would you think about that person? Do you think that person would be a good person or a bad person?” And I want to ask you another question. I have these two presents here. They look like this (one small, wrapped in a newspaper; one large, wrapped in nice Christmas paper). Which do you wish you could have? Why? What might be inside? But you know what? Just like you can’t tell what’s inside the present by looking at the outside, you can’t see what’s inside a king just be looking at the outside. Story and skit: 1 Samuel 16:1-13, told in paraphrase (quotes are from the Kids Honor Club curriculum): *For the skit need: 1 Samuel, 1 Jesse, 8 children of Jesse (David is out in the fields with his sheep), crown Today’s story comes from the Old Testament, the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 16, verses 1-13. The King of Israel at that time was King Saul. “He was tall and handsome and the people liked him, but he wasn’t very good at following instructions…” from God. “Sometimes when God gave Saul a job to do, Saul didn’t obey. He would just do whatever he wanted to do…. That means that he wasn’t a very good leader, so God decided to replace him as king. Now it was Samuel’s job to find someone else. Who would it be this time?” God told Samuel to choose a son from the family of Jesse. Samuel brought an animal sacrifice to offer to God and invited Jesse’s family to a special meal with him. There Samuel got to meet Jesse’s sons. One by one Jesse introduced each of his sons to Samuel who wondered, “Is this the one that God wants to be king?” The first was the oldest. He looked good and he was tall. But God said he wasn’t the one. God said, “Do not consider his appearance or his height…. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Samuel went down the line looking at each son. “Samuel knew God was looking for someone very special to lead the nation, someone who had the right heart. Samuel came to the end of line and asked, “Are these all the sons you have?”” “Jesse did have one other son but he was just a kid and was out taking care of the sheep.” “Send for him,” Samuel said. And they waited until the youngest came to them. (call youngest child over from where his is “tending sheep”) “Then the last boy came. He was young but God told Samuel that he was the right one. His name was David. He had the right heart. God knew that David would listen to him and follow directions.” What did God see in David’s heart? Let’s find out. (Hang signs around David’s head one by one). He saw: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The Bible calls these things the fruit of God’s spirit. “That’s why God gave David the most important job in the whole nation. God chose David to be king.” (Place crown on his head) Thank you -- let’s give everyone a round of applause. The other night at home we were talking about what kinds of job the kids might have when they grow up, and we named many jobs that would be wonderful. I don’t know what jobs you will have when you grow up, but the most important thing you can do to get ready for any job is to have the right kind of heart. “God knows what’s in your heart. He knows when you try to follow directions, show kindness to others, and when you want to do the right thing.” The Bible doesn’t tell us what happened to these other sons, but it does say God has a plan for us. I like to hope that these sons also learned to turn their hearts to God and show kindness, etc to others. (Place signs around the other sons’ necks.) Bible verse: The Bible says: “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7. Closing: So let’s look at our two presents again. Which one of them should we open first? (Nicely wrapped box has shredded newspaper inside. Small box has Smarties candy in it -- distribute to the kids.) What did we learn? “It’s not so much what it looks like on the outside but what’s on the inside that counts.” Prayer: Dear God, “show us the things in our hearts that need to change. Help us to love you with all of our hearts and teach us how to follow directions and do what’s right. We love you and want to serve you. Amen.” Activity: Today we’re going to make people filled with the fruit of God’s spirit in order to remember what God wants us to put in our hearts. (Distribute packets of body parts labeled with the fruit of the Spirit, with brads. Have crayons to decorate.) Activity copied from p.28 of the Kids Honor Club workbook. Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, October 10, 2018 Adapted from “Who Likes a Whiner?” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting Intro and follow-up questions: For snack today we are going to make “Wise Owls” -- like this (photo example). Put two crackers on the plate, layer with spreadable cheese, add raisins for eyes and an apple wedge for the nose. We’re going to talk about how we can act like “wise owls” -- no, we are not going to stay up all night. We are people and we aren’t designed to do that. We need to sleep at night. It’s just how we are made. But -- what does it mean to be wise? It means knowing how to solve problems. Let’s start by reviewing what we talked about last week. We’ve been talking about honor, and last week we said we could show honor to each other by doing more than what is expected. This past week, were there ways you were able to do more than what was expected that added energy to your family? Do you guys remember the skits from last week? When the child had a good attitude she did the task right away. That’s what it means to obey. Obey means “do what someone says, right away, without being reminded.” But what happens when you’re in the middle of an activity -- say you’re reading a book or playing with trains or working on a project and you just don’t want to do the task you’re asked to do, like setting the table or helping out with something. Has anyone ever whined before? “What does whining sound like? What does complaining sound like when you don’t want to clean up the toys? Let’s all whine at the same time!” (Use video recording to capture the whining and then play it back. “Have a fun time laughing at the whining voices.”) Story: Exodus 16-17, told in paraphrase (quotes are from the Kids Honor Club curriculum): Today’s story comes from the Old Testament, the book of Exodus, chapters 16 and 17. God’s people, the Israelites, were on a journey and had traveled a long time. Have you ever traveled on a long trip? Did you ever ask, “Are we there yet?” Well, I bet the Israelites were complaining and whining and wondering when they were going to get to the place God wanted them to go. They might have complained, “I wish I didn’t have to go on this trip...I wish I were back home.” And then, of course, they got hungry. And thirsty. And they were in the desert where there wasn’t any food or water. So they whined and complained about that. (Play the recording of kids whining.) But do you know what happened? God did a miracle. He made flour fall from heaven at night while everyone was sleeping, so when they woke up they gathered it up and baked it into different foods. They called it “manna”. In the evenings God sent quail so they would also have meat to eat. Then, God told Moses who was leading the people to “take his stick and hit it on a large rock. When he did, water started coming out of the rock and everyone had water to drink.” God provided everything they needed. It took the Israelites awhile to learn how to ask God nicely for what they needed and not complain or whine about it. What can we learn from this? “As we grow up, one of the things we learn is not to whine and complain but how to solve problems in honoring ways.” This week when you feel like whining or complaining, I want you to “think of different ways to talk and get when you want without whining or complaining. Then family life will be better and we will be doing what God wants us to do.” “Our Bible verse this week gives us some good advice that the Israelites could have learned too:” Bible verse: The Bible says: “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” Philippians 2:14. Demo: So what does this look like in our lives? We know now what God wants us to do: obey first, right away, but then what? What if we can a problem with what our mom or other grown-up is asking us to do? Let me give you an example. The other night I called everyone in for dinner. And actually everyone came right away! We prayed together thanking God for the meal, and I was so glad everyone had done both of those things. But then, right away, my son asked to be excused. I don’t him no because we hadn’t yet talked about our day with each other -- which is one of the things we try to do together at dinner. And do you know what? He sat right back down in his chair. He obeyed right away. Then he quickly added, “I have to go to the bathroom!” So of course I said, that’s fine, go go go! And when he was finished he returned to the table and joined us for the rest of the meal and conversation. I was so proud of him for obeying right away. And I was proud of him for telling me he had a problem with staying at the table. He didn’t whine or complain. He explained his problem and we solved it together. I want to call what he did “the wise appeal.” The wise appeal has three parts, and it’s a tool you can use if you have trouble with something your grown-up asks you to do. It goes like this:
Using the example I just mentioned it would sound like this:
Skits:
Closing: Let’s review now what we’ve learned today. -We learned that it is important to obey first and then talk about it with our parents. -We learned how to form a Wise Appeal if we have a problem with what a parent is asking us to do. -Can I tell you something? Your parents want to hear about your problems and your concerns. God wants to hear about our problems and concerns too. The Bible tells us that if we are worried about anything we should pray. But we are also taught to obey right away and later talk about it in a way that is honoring to our families and to God. -What was our Bible verse again? “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” Philippians 2:14 Prayer: Dear God, “thank you for providing so many things for us. Thank you for giving the Israelites a leader like Moses and thank you for giving our families leaders like our parents too. Please help us to learn how to solve problems without whining or complaining. Teach us what it means to be unselfish at home. Amen.” Activity: -owl paper bags:  |
Lesson plans
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