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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.
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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:  Tigers Christian Club -- Lesson for Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Adapted from “Are you a drain or a fountain?” from Kids Honor Club from Biblical Parenting 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 this week? Did anyone treat you as special? Demo: Blow up a balloon and explain that “a family is like this balloon. It takes a certain amount of air to make things work smoothly.” When we leave messes or hurt each other we drain the air and energy out of our families. But when we do extra things to make the family better, that shows honor and adds energy to the family -- things like cleaning up messes, talking nicely to each other, helping each other, talking through problems, and smiling. Remember the example last week of the perfume? When we are kind to each other then the whole family benefits. Things that let the air out: whining, complaining, arguing, being mean, having a bad attitude Things that fill the balloon: cleaning up messes, talking nicely to each other, helping each other, talking through problems, sharing, cleaning up your toys and smiling Skits:
We’ve talked about many examples of showing honor. “God loves honor and even rewards those who give it to others.” And sometimes God is the only one who sees what we do. Let’s do one more skit.
Story: 2 Kings 5, told in paraphrase (quotes are from the Kids Honor Club curriculum): Now I want to tell you a Bible story about a child who showed honor. Today’s story is from the Old Testament in the book of 2 Kings, chapter 5. It starts by describing a man named Naaman who was the general of a big army. He won many battles, but he was sick with leprosy. This was sad because there was no way for him to get rid of the leprosy and be well again. “Naaman’s wife had a servant girl who worked for her...doing chores around the house. She knew Naaman was sick and worried that he wouldn’t get well. This girl also knew about a prophet named Elisha who could heal people. The servant girl knew that if Naaman went to Elisha, God would do something great. “What should she do? Should she just do her chores and think about the things she needed to do around the house, or should she help Naaman? “Well, the girl decided she would help. It was a very important decision. She went to Naaman’s wife and told her about Elisha the prophet and how God could heal Naaman. When Naaman heard this good news, he went to...talk with Elisha. ...He was excited because he thought Elisha would heal him. But it didn’t happen the way he thought it would. “Elisha gave Naaman a dirty job to do. He told Naaman to go and wash himself in the dirty Jordan River.” Naaman didn’t want to do that. He was already sick. He didn’t want to dip himself in dirty water! Naaman’s servants encouraged him to go though, and he finally did. In fact, he washed himself seven times in the river as Elisha asked. When he came out of the water the last time his leprosy was gone. God had done a miracle, and Naaman was happy. And I’ll bet he was happy the servant girl told him about Elisha. She did more than what was expected of her and God used her in an exciting way. And Naaman listened to God’s instruction even though he didn’t want to do something messy like wash in a dirty river! What about the time when we do things show honor to our family and nobody even notices? We need to remember that God notices.” Bible verse: The Bible says: “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them...Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Those are verses from Matthew 6:1,4. Can you say that with me? Closing: Let’s review now what we’ve learned today. --Do you remember what the balloon showed us? It reminds us that we can add energy to our homes and families by doing more than what is expected and having a good attitude. --This week I want to challenge you to look for extra things at home that you could help with. Even if no one notices, God does, and he loves honor. --Let’s pray and then there are two activities you can do. Prayer: Dear God, Thank you for the story of the servant girl who helped Naaman. Help us to be like the little servant girl and do more than what’s expected. Amen. Create a goody bag for your family: Balloons remind me of a party, so today we are going to create honor goody bags. On the pieces of paper I want you to write one nice thing about each person in your family. You can write more than that if you want. If you can’t write yet you can draw small pictures of your family. Notes might say “I like my family”, “My family is special,” or “Our family makes a great team.” Honor means doing more than what’s expected. And showing honor to each other adds energy to our family balloon and delights everyone. I want you to see how you delight others, so in addition to your wonderful notes I’m going to put candies in your bags, one for each person in your family. When your mom says it’s okay, I want you to give your gifts to your family when everyone is together -- for example, maybe just after dinner. To encourage you to wait to share your honor goody bag I’m going to staple the top of it closed when you are finished adding your notes. Balloon volleyball activity: Use a blanket to divide the area in two. Encourage kids to bop the balloons back and forth. Look for honoring comments and actions on part of the children and point out ways they can help others have fun, making it fun for everyone (I.e., using encouraging words, sharing, fetching balloons that go astray…). |
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