UNIT 8#4 THE COLOSSIAN CHURCH K/1 ST GRADE OPEN DOORS

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1 UNIT 8#4 THE COLOSSIAN CHURCH K/1 ST GRADE CONCEPT God opens doors for the gospel. OPEN DOORS GOAL Christian students will learn the importance of praying for God to provide opportunities to tell people about Him. Non-Christian students will learn that we are born separated from God and that He has opened a door for us to know Him through Christ. PASSAGE: Colossians 4:3 Key verse: "Pray that God will give us open doors to tell others about Jesus." Colossians 4:3 (paraphrase) PLANNING AHEAD Introduction: CD Player Lesson Supplies Any CD (VBS CD or other kids music- preferably something the kids would recognize) Learning Activity #2: Velcro Craft Supplies Activity Station: From Arapesh to Zuni It s a Big, Big World Atlas Paper printed with doors & key verses, 1 door & 1 verse/child Paper printed with globe, 1/child Crayons or Markers Glue sticks Scissors Teachers please note: For clarity, the shaded areas in the Planning Ahead section indicate supplies that are in and should be returned to your classroom SHARED SUPPLY bag. Items followed by an asterisk* are to be supplied by the teaching team. XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, , K/1 st Unit 8#4 Page 1

2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION / TEACHER HELPS "Prayer is not the only thing we do, but it is the first thing we must do if anything else worthwhile is to follow. It leads to strategic involvement By its nature, prayer feeds a new work of God before that effort becomes visible, as a baby is fed in the womb for months before it is pushed out. "In a powerful statement, Sanders says, 'Paul did not regard prayer as supplemental, but fundamental-not something to be added to his work, but the very matrix out of which his work was born. He was a man of action because he was a man of prayer.' "Perhaps we have underestimated the role of prayer both in ministry and in our own personal spiritual growth. The ironic thing is that we often feel we are too busy to pray. This attitude reflects what we deem useful and important. If we are too busy to pray, then we must believe that prayer does not impact the world as much as our frenzied activity. I suppose we would have time to pray if we thought it was a primary ingredient in shaping of lives. Thus, I am suggesting that it is not a denial of the importance of prayer that hurts us, but the lack of a practical prioritized emphasis that prayer receives in the average Christian's life. Are those in positions of leadership in the church stressing and modeling a proper emphasis on prayer? Often the last place we look to explain problems in our service to others is prayer. In Walking in Victory Dennis McCallum addresses this problem: A ministry weak in prayer will tend to be overly strong on human effort. What we cannot accomplish via the power of God, we will try to supply through our own power. As we lose faith in the effectiveness of the prayer, we will succumb to the temptation to use force and compulsion on people in an effort to bend them to our will. " What is even more subtle in the gradual erosion of our prayer life is the fact that it is often due to the attention we give not to wasteful, but noble, goals: Naturally, in striving for a time to pray, there will be arguments concerning our mission, duty, and responsibility. Some people will consider such devotion to prayer as neglecting our mission, forsaking our duty, and impairing our responsibility The enemy will use such matters as duty and mission to create his best arguments for stopping our prayer. "A survey of the life of Christ and Paul reveals the high priority they gave to prayer and modeling how to pray. Mark mentions a common occurrence in Jesus' life: 'And in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there' (Mark 1:35). Luke tracks the prayer life of Jesus as well. He notes Jesus' persistence in prayer before choosing the twelve as His disciples: 'And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God' (Luke 6:12). "Paul taught, as well as modeled the importance of persevering prayer, as these passages illustrate: Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thess. 5:16-18). With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. (Eph. 6:18). For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you (Col. 1:9). We night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith (1 Thess. 3:10). I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day (2 Tim. 1:3). XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, , K/1 st Unit 8#4 Page 2

3 "What amazing statements! How clear the priority of prayer is showing! For Paul it is clear that Christian work extended well beyond the time when he was with people talking to them about God. He also constantly talked to God about them. Probably more time was spent on the latter, since most of his disciples were in other cities. It's natural to think that our talking to others about God weighs more heavily. But what is natural is often not spiritual "Prayer integrates the major areas of the Christian life. It is the place where truth is apprehended and appropriated, power for service is found, hardness of heart is exposed, and direction for ministry begins. It is amazing how many issues are simultaneously addressed when we talk about prayer. The subject of prayer, although usually thought of as one of many Christian tasks, actually touches everything we do, and stands as part of the answer to all the major problems facing the church today. In other words, prayer must not be marginalized to the sphere of 'devotional.' This notion reflects the fragmentation of our times, where a radical split exists between the objective and subjective, between reason and faith." 1 "We lean to our own understanding, or we bank on service and do away with prayer, and consequently by succeeding in the external we fail in the eternal, because in the eternal we succeed only by prevailing prayer." 2 Children are often more diligent than adults in the area of prayer. Whereas we may pray inconsistently with little faith, children pray with amazing trust and consistency. As you prepare this lesson, consider your prayer life. Can ministry effectiveness or ineffectiveness be attributed to prayer? Pray for deep conviction concerning the absolute necessity of prayer in spiritual growth and effectiveness for God. Additional Reading: John 6:44, Philippians 1:19, Ephesians 6:18-20, Revelation 3:20 1 Mark Bair, Mobilized Weakness, unpublished book, 1997, pp Oswald Chambers, The Best From all His Books, Edited by Harry Verploegh, Oliver-Nelson Books, 1987, p XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, , K/1 st Unit 8#4 Page 3

LESSON PLAN SET UP INSTRUCTION/ INCORPORATION 15-20 MIN INTRODUCTION LG GROUP LESSON LG GROUP #1 LG GROUP Instructions: Set up the CD player with the cord obviously draped on or around it (i.e., not plugged in) for the Introduction.

4 LESSON PLAN SET UP INSTRUCTION/ INCORPORATION MIN INTRODUCTION LG GROUP LESSON LG GROUP #1 LG GROUP Instructions: Set up the CD player with the cord obviously draped on or around it (i.e., not plugged in) for the Introduction. Make sure CD is in the player ahead of lesson. Activity Stations: Prayer Instructions: Choose a people group from From Arapesh to Zuni, find the location of their nation in the It's a Big, Big World Atlas and pray for them. Craft Open Door Instructions: Give each child a door, key verse and paper with a printed globe. Cut out the door and fold along the dotted line. Glue the folded edge wherever desired on the globe. Cut out key verse and fold like a fan. Draw a picture of someone who is not a Christian (either themselves or a person they would like to tell about Jesus) on the globe inside the door. Glue one end of the verse to the door and the other end to the globe with the verse facing out. Missions Prayer Instructions: Talk about and pray for Oasis Giving campaign and adopted missionary child. Object Lesson Our key verse this week is, "Pray that God will give us open doors to tell others about Jesus Christ" (Colossians 4:3). How does this verse tell us to get open doors? (allow kids to answer) I wonder what's wrong with this? It won't turn on. Maybe there s no CD in it? Would someone see if they could find the CD for this? Instructions: Because it is obvious, the children should notice that it is not plugged in and will try to tell you. But ignore them and keep trying to figure it out. Tap it on the side, flip the switch again, etc. Finally, ask one of the children if they can help you. By now everyone should be well aware that it's not plugged in. Well, I guess this CD player won t work unless it's plugged into a power source, will it? Now that I have plugged it in, it works and we can listen to music! Allow the kids to listen to a song- it can be a VBS or Oasis song, etc. Paul told the believers to "Devote yourselves to prayer." What do you think it means to devote yourself to something? (It's more than something you do only once in a while; you are very committed, diligent.) He also said, "pray without ceasing." Obviously Paul understood the importance of prayer. Prayer is like the cord on the CD player. Just like we have to plug in the CD player to make it work, we plug into God through prayer for the opportunities and power to tell others about Him. (Have the kids name other things that need plugged in to work, i.e. TVs, refrigerators, etc.) God is the one with all the power. He knows exactly what people need and He convinces them of His love. He gets people s hearts ready and wants to work through us to tell people about Jesus. He knows when others are ready to hear about Jesus and if we ask Him, God will give us chances or opportunities to tell people about Him. What is our key verse? "Pray that God will give us open doors to tell others about Jesus Christ" (Colossians 4:3). We've talked a lot about open doors. This verse says to pray that God will give us open doors to tell others about Jesus. Who has an idea what it means to ask God to give us open doors? "Open doors" means chances or opportunities to tell other people about Jesus and what he has done for us. DRAMA "Knock? Knock!" skit presented by Drama Team Music "Knock, Knock, Knock" (OASIS songbook); "Around the Corner, Around the World" XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, , K/1 st Unit 8#4 Page 4

5 TRANSITION 2 MIN #2 LG GROUP TRANSITION 2 MIN #3 SM GROUPS OPTIONAL ACTIVITY In our skit, Tim wanted to tell Peggy about Jesus; Steve told him he needed to pray to God for an open door. GOOD NEWS In the skit, Steve told Tim he needed to ask God to open the door so he could talk to Peggy about someone. Does anyone remember who that was? (Jesus.) What do you think he was going to tell Peggy about Jesus? We are born separated from God, so we aren t plugged into Him. We make bad choices called sin. But God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to take the punishment we deserve for our sin. He died in our place. When we tell God we know we sin, and want Him to forgive us we become God s children Christians. Then we can talk to God all the time. When we know Jesus we want to run out like Tim did to tell others about Him. Let's play a game to practice being leaders who tell others about Jesus. Game -- "Open the Door, Please" (similar to "Mother May I") Instructions: Divide kids into groups. Choose a leader for each group. The group will line up side by side about 10' away, facing the leader. The leader will ask each child in turn, "Danny, take four baby steps (giant steps, regular steps, etc.) to my house." Child must reply, "Open the door, please" or return to the starting line. The leaders will make up the instructions until one child reaches and taps the leader. Play a few times so several children get to be the leader. We had fun playing the game. What were the words you had to use to move forward? (Open the door, please.) Let's get in our small groups to talk about the doors God opens for us. What is our key verse? What does it mean? Can anyone tell me how prayer is like this plugged-in CD player? Can you think of some open doors or opportunities you have had to tell your friends about Jesus? (Teachers should share an experience they've had with an opportunity God has provided as a result of prayer.) Has anyone ever asked you to tell them about Jesus? Let's pray that God would open doors to help us share Jesus with others in our neighborhood, school and family. And let's pray for Christians around the world to have opportunities to share Jesus with their neighbors and friends. If you haven't asked Jesus to forgive your sins, you can do that as we pray. Play "Open the Door, Please" again. p XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, , K/1 st Unit 8#4 Page 5

UNIT DESCRIPTION THE EPHESIAN CHURCH

UNIT DESCRIPTION THE EPHESIAN CHURCH UNIT #6 THE EPHESIAN CHURCH UNIT DESCRIPTION Paul, the author of the book of Ephesians, wrote this letter while he was in prison in Rome. The great theme of this book is God's eternal purpose to establish