The Bible and Me. Small Group Leader s Guide

Transcription

1 The Bible and Me Small Group Leader s Guide Timothy Club (P1-3) Year 2 Date: 23/24 May 2015 The Bible and Me: Lesson 5 of 5 God s Word Treasure Hunt Series Overview God has given us the Bible for us to know Him, to know His ways, and for it to be a guide for us to live our lives until we see Him again. We want our GKidz children to embark on a lifelong journey of discovering more about God through reading His Word and living out His truth and commands day by day. Date Lesson Lesson Focus Family Devotion Focus 18/19 April Lesson 1 What s the Bible all about? Share about God s Word in our lives 25/26 April Lesson 2 Knowing God and His Ways by Exploring the Bible Share about what you have learnt about God through reading the Bible 2/3 May Combined Service: 2 May (Sat) EXPO No GKidz this weekend 9/10 May Lesson 3 Exploring the Bible and Doing Mother s Day Devotions 16/17 May Lesson 4 How to Do Devotions Start of 3-week explorer challenge: Day /24 May Lesson 5 God s Word Treasure Hunt Continuation of explorer challenge: Day /31 May Lesson 6 Series Wrap Up / 1 st half 2015 Review Completion of explorer challenge: Day Make a plan for reading the Bible together regularly Memory Verse: God has breathed life into all Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIRV) LEADERS BRIEFING AND PREPARATION Hope that you have been faithfully exploring the book of Mark together with the children. Come to briefing prepared to share one highlight of what you ve discovered through your daily Bible reading. As you prepare for the lesson this week, cover each child in your group in prayer, by name. Copyright 2015 by GKidz, FCBC Page 1

2 Pray that God will meet with them personally during their time of devotion and Bible reading. Pray that they will lean on God through every difficult situation they meet with this week, and that His word will be a light for their path. Pray that they will encounter God during this weekend s GKidz service. CONNECT / ICE-BREAKER ADVERB FRENZY (10 mins) Each number in the table below corresponds to an adverb, and each letter corresponds to an action. Keep the tables below hidden from the children. Ask one volunteer to choose a letter from A to J, without looking at the paper. Announce what the action is. Ask another volunteer to choose a number from 1 to 10. Announce what the adverb is. The entire group must then perform the action indicated according to the adverb for 30 seconds. For example, if the first volunteer chooses the letter C [Run on the spot], and the second volunteer chooses the number 5 [Enthusiastically], then the children will have to enthusiastically run on the spot. Cancel out the numbers and letters that have been chosen and continue until all combinations are acted out. Number Adverb Letter Action 1 Carefully A Jump 2 Joyfully B Swim 3 Slowly C Run on the spot 4 Quickly D March 5 Enthusiastically E Bounce 6 Sleepily F Dance 7 Happily G Scratch all over 8 Gracefully H Wriggle 9 Gently I Do star jumps 10 Wildly J Act like a ninja Transition: Wow in this game, the words that were chosen had great impact about what actions our group did as a whole! My favorite combination was when everyone had to [fill in with the combination that was the funniest/most fun for the kids]. Do you know that God carefully chose that words that appear in the Bible? And these words can have great impact on how we live our lives, if we allow them to. Copyright 2015 by GKidz, FCBC Page 2

3 EXPLORER CHALLENGE RECAP (10 mins) Logistics: Your personal copy of the explorer challenge booklet (leader to do and bring) Leader to say: How is everyone s exploration going so far? How many of you went on your Bible exploration everyday? [allow children to respond] How many went for 6 days? How many went for 5? [Try to find out if any of the children was not able to do their devotion, and find out why. Encourage them to persevere and try their best! If they aren t confident of writing their answers, they can draw too.] Can you flip through your exploration booklets and choose one thing that you discovered or learnt while doing your devotion? [Start by sharing with them how many days you did your devotion. Share one thing that you discovered through your devotion.] GOD S WORD TREASURE HUNT! (40 mins) Logistics: GKidz to provide: Cardboard box (1 per child), treasure box stickers (1 sheet per child), treasure pieces of paper (1 strip of paper per child), shredded crepe paper (1 small handful per child), and scissors (to be shared) Leader to bring: Bible (leader and children to bring) Treasure Hunt Intro Leader to say: Though we are in the middle of our exploration through the Bible, I want to take you on a short detour, to teach you how to dig for treasure! No I don t mean digging your nose! Ew disgusting! I mean how to dig for the treasure, the precious truths in God s Word! How do people find diamonds and rubies and other precious jewels? People have to search for these and mine them. The Bible is like a mine with many precious jewels, but these jewels are better than diamonds or gold, the jewels in the Bible are the precious truths that guide our lives. As you read your Bible everyday, it s as though you are digging in the mine to find treasures for your treasure chest. Make Treasure Chest (Pictures of these items can be found in Appendix A and the separate instruction PDF) Copyright 2015 by GKidz, FCBC Page 3

4 Give one cardboard box to each child Cut off the flaps on the top cover Guide them to fold the cardboard into a box Give them the A4 sticker sheet and instruct them to cut out the rectangles, and paste them onto the box. Give them a small handful of shredded crepe paper to place at the bottom of their box. Give them one strip of the jewels each and tell them to wait for further instructions. Word Treasure Hunt Ask the children to turn to Matthew 6 and follow along in their Bibles silently as you read the chapter out loud Pray before you start reading the chapter. Ask God to give all of you wisdom and revelation as you read, so that you can spot the treasure! Ask God to open your minds to understand His Word. Tell the children that we are going to let God teach us. Tell them that any of them can call out I see some treasure! when they spot: o Something that seems important for their own lives, or a friend or their family o Something that seems important for Singapore or the world o Something that they never knew the Bible said and it makes them wonder about God Read Matthew 6 [please use the NIrV version which is more easily understood by children. This is available in Appendix B for your reference] o Stop whenever anyone says I see some treasure! o Ask the child to explain why it s a treasure to them, based on the three criteria above. o Tell the child and anyone else thinks it s a treasure to copy the bible reference on one of the treasure pieces of paper given to them. This is a treasure that he/she has mined from the Bible today. They can cut/tear the piece from the strip given to them. They only need to cut out a rectangle with a white background around the jewel, and can cut it out nicely at home if they want. o You can also shout I see some treasure! once or twice to give them an example of a verse that has meaning for you. Do not feel that you have to finish reading the entire chapter. The more important thing is for the children to understand what finding treasure in God s word is all about. It should be fun! When you have finished reading, ask the children to mention some of the treasure they copied down, which are the things that God taught them today. If some children have not copied any bible verse references down, ask them to choose one or two that the other children mined and write them on the treasure pieces of paper. Leader to say: We found so much treasure from that one short passage! We can continue to dig for treasure at home too. Whenever you come across a verse that God is really speaking to you about, write it down and put it in your treasure chest and cherish it! Share Copyright 2015 by GKidz, FCBC Page 4

5 Timothy Club (P1-3) Year 2 one of these treasures that you found today with your parents at home. REVIEW MEMORY VERSE (10 mins) Memory Verse: God has breathed life into all Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIRV) Review the memory verse with the actions that your group chose together last week. Try not to refer to the verse, by getting the children to do this a second time while closing their eyes. References 1. Foundations Curriculum: Studying the Bible by Karyn Henley APPENDIX A Treasure pieces of paper Treasure chest stickers Copyright 2015 by GKidz, FCBC Page 5

6 APPENDIX B MATTHEW 6 (NIRV) Giving to Needy People 6 Be careful not to do good deeds in front of other people. Don t do those deeds to be seen by others. If you do, your Father in heaven will not reward you. 2 When you give to needy people, do not announce it by having trumpets blown. Do not be like those who only pretend to be holy. They announce what they do in the synagogues and on the streets. They want to be honored by other people. What I m about to tell you is true. They have received their complete reward. 3 When you give to needy people, don t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Then your giving will be done secretly. Your Father will reward you, because he sees what you do secretly. Prayer 5 When you pray, do not be like those who only pretend to be holy. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners. They want to be seen by other people. What I m about to tell you is true. They have received their complete reward. 6 When you pray, go into your room. Close the door and pray to your Father, who can t be seen. Your Father will reward you, because he sees what you do secretly. 7 When you pray, do not keep talking on and on. That is what ungodly people do. They think they will be heard because they talk a lot. 8 Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need even before you ask him. 9 This is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored. 10 May your kingdom come. May what you want to happen be done on earth as it is done in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our sins, just as we also have forgiven those who sin against us. 13 Keep us from sinning when we are tempted. Save us from the evil one. 14 Forgive other people when they sin against you. If you do, your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive the sins of other people, your Father will not forgive your sins. Fasting 16 When you go without eating, do not look gloomy like those who only pretend to be holy. They make their faces look very sad. They want to show people they are fasting. What I m about to tell you is true. They have received their complete reward. 17 But when you go without eating, put olive oil on your head. Wash your face. 18 Then others will not know that you are Copyright 2015 by GKidz, FCBC Page 6

7 fasting. Only your Father, who can t be seen, will know it. Your Father will reward you, because he sees what you do secretly. Gather Riches in Heaven 19 Do not gather for yourselves riches on earth. Moths and rats can destroy them. Thieves can break in and steal them. 20 Instead, gather for yourselves riches in heaven. There, moths and rats do not destroy them. There, thieves do not break in and steal them. 21 Your heart will be where your riches are. 22 The eye is like a lamp for the body. Suppose your eyes are healthy. Then your whole body will be full of light. 23 But suppose your eyes can t see well. Then your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light inside you is darkness, then it is very dark! 24 No one can serve two masters at the same time. You will hate one of them and love the other. Or you will be faithful to one and dislike the other. You can t serve God and money at the same time. Do Not Worry 25 I tell you, do not worry. Don t worry about your life and what you will eat or drink. And don t worry about your body and what you will wear. Isn t there more to life than eating? Aren t there more important things for the body than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air. They don t plant or gather crops. They don t put away crops in storerooms. But your Father who is in heaven feeds them. Aren t you worth much more than they are? 27 Can you add even one hour to your life by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the wild flowers grow. They don t work or make clothing. 29 But here is what I tell you. Not even Solomon in all his royal robes was dressed like one of these flowers. 30 If that is how God dresses the wild grass, won t he dress you even better? Your faith is so small! After all, the grass is here only today. Tomorrow it is thrown into the fire. 31 So don t worry. Don t say, What will we eat? Or, What will we drink? Or, What will we wear? 32 People who are ungodly run after all those things. Your Father who is in heaven knows that you need them. 33 But put God s kingdom first. Do what he wants you to do. Then all those things will also be given to you. 34 So don t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Copyright 2015 by GKidz, FCBC Page 7