Leader Guide. group.com/sunday-school

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1 Leader Guide SPRING 2016 Children s Church group.com/sunday-school

2 We know you care about kids We do, too! That s why we attempt to ensure that all crafts, toys, and gizmos meet or exceed national safety standards and are produced by manufacturers that don t use child labor or abuse their labor force. You can order Group resources knowing that in addition to caring for your kids, you re also caring for children elsewhere. Let s keep kids safe! We strive to provide products that are mechanically reliable and hold together during normal, intended usage. Items are also checked for flammability, and both paint and surface coatings are checked for heavy metals including lead. You can help your children stay safe by seeing that toys and gizmos are used as designed, for the purposes designed, and that any broken pieces are disposed of promptly and properly. We value your feedback. If you become aware of a problem affecting the safety of any of our products, please inform us immediately. KidsOwn Worship : FaithWeaver Children s Church, Leader Guide, Spring 2016 Copyright 2001 and 2016 Group Publishing, Inc edition All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher, except where noted in the text and in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, visit group.com/permissions. Visit our website: group.com Current Edition Credits Contributing Authors: Diane Belcher, Janet R. Reeves, Carol Smith, Bonnie Temple, and April I. Thoms Project Manager: Ali Thompson Editors: Scott M. Kinner, Sue Lerdal, Lori Haynes Niles, Beth Robinson, Bonnie Temple, and Dena Twinem Copy Editor: Andrea Zimmerman Chief Creative Officer: Joani Schultz Cover Design and Art Direction: Jeff Spencer Interior Design Team: Shelly Dillon Illustrators: Matt Wood and Dana Regan All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. ISBN Printed in the United States of America.

3 Contents Introduction...4 Staffing Your Children s Church...5 The Sessions Session 1: Jesus Teaches About Good Fruit Luke 6: Week of February 28, 2016 Session 2: Jesus Tells the Parable of the Lost Son Luke 15: Week of March 6, 2016 Session 3: Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet John 13: Week of March 13, 2016 Session 4: Jesus Is Tried and Crucified Luke 19:28-40; 23: Week of March 20, 2016 Session 5: Jesus Appears to Mary John 20: Week of March 27, 2016 Session 6: Apostles Defend Their Faith Acts 5: Week of April 3, 2016 Session 7: Saul Meets Jesus Near Damascus Acts 9: Week of April 10, 2016 Session 8: Peter Raises Tabitha From the Dead Acts 9: Week of April 17, 2016 Session 9: An Angel Frees Peter From Jail Acts 12: Week of April 24, 2016 Session 10: Lydia Is Converted Acts 16: Week of May 1, 2016 Session 11: Paul s Jailer Believes in Jesus Acts 16: Week of May 8, 2016 Session 12: Paul Describes Living by God s Spirit Romans 8: Week of May 15, 2016 Session 13: Paul Describes Genuine Love 1 Corinthians 13: Week of May 22, 2016 Song Lyrics and Motions Table of Contents 3

4 Don t just teach about the Bible. KidsOwn Worship is a resource God will use to change the lives of the children in your church. KidsOwn Worship sessions encourage people to focus on the one most important thing in life: a growing relationship with Jesus. In Luke 10:41-42 (the Martha and Mary story), Jesus said, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Every session in KidsOwn Worship helps students focus on this one thing, a growing relationship with Jesus. Whether they re studying Bible stories from the Old Testament or the New Testament, learners will be challenged to grow closer to Jesus every week. You ll be thrilled at the way KidsOwn Worship encourages learners to weave faith into life. By providing meaningful activities, great discussions, and personal challenges, KidsOwn Worship takes learners past head knowledge of the Bible and into heart- and lifechange. With KidsOwn Worship, students of all ages will experience God s story in fresh, fun, meaningful ways; understand God s Word by doing surprising, fun stuff; discover the adventure of applying God s truth to everyday life; build a forever friendship with Jesus the best friend they could ever have! Change lives! Welcome to KidsOwn Worship: Church for your kids. Children s church is where your preschoolers and elementary children build their worship foundation. It s where they focus on God in a personal way and experience children s worship through uplifting songs and fun, memorable Bible learning. We know you don t want to just teach about the Bible in your children s church; you want to change lives through worship that touches minds and hearts in amazing ways! Thanks to KidsOwn Worship, your preschool and elementary children will experience worship through memorable songs and impactful Bible learning. It s flexible, easy-to-plan and most importantly effective in helping your kids grow a personal relationship with Jesus. While KidsOwn Worship can be used in conjunction with any Sunday school curriculum, it works particularly well with FaithWeaver NOW and FaithWeaver Friends. Together, your families will learn about the same important Bible passages allowing them to grow in faith as families. We re so glad you ve decided to touch the heart of God and change the hearts of your kids with KidsOwn Worship. We know you ll help kids grow closer to God! Thom and Joani Schultz Chairman and Chief Creative Officer Group Publishing, Inc. Weave faith into life! KidsOwn Worship also works hand in hand with FaithWeaver NOW and FaithWeaver Friends. All three of these great programs follow the same Scope & Sequence to help reinforce the Bible message throughout the week. FaithWeaver NOW is available for infants adults.

5 Staffing Your Children s Church To help make your children s church experience strong, it is important that you have at least one adult helper no matter how many children attend your children s church. In addition, we recommend that you recruit at least one helper for every 15 children. Song Leader You may want to recruit a song leader who can lead your children in a powerful worship experience. Give the CD to the song leader, and let him or her know which songs will be sung each week and what discussion he or she is responsible for. Important Legal Information When you purchase a KidsOwn Worship CD or kit, you also buy the right to use the songs and lyrics as often as you like. The rights you have purchased also grant you permission to use either the PowerPoint presentation on the CD or lyrics transparencies you make from the file on the CD, but not both. Preschool Leader You may decide to keep all the children together during the entire worship time or to separate the preschoolers and elementary students during Let s Learn the Point! If you decide to separate preschoolers for this section, recruit a preschool leader, and make sure there s a room where the preschoolers can meet. Staffing for Your Children s Church Size If your children s church is made up of 30 or fewer children, you ll be able to run an effective children s church program with two leaders one to present material or lead worship songs, the other to gather supplies and help children with their individual needs. If you have more than 30 children in your children s group, we suggest that you use a small-group format, which we call Praise Crews, for discussions. Using Praise Crews will change both the number of volunteers and the kind of volunteers you ll need (see margin box). Each Praise Crew will need a responsible teenager or an adult helper to build relationships and help with individual needs. Involving Older Children If you have older elementary children or preteens who want to be involved in children s church, consider forming a children s worship team. It s a great way to help children learn to serve, and you ll find that many children are eager to participate on a worship team. Hold regular rehearsals to help the worship-team children learn the song lyrics and motions. Be sure to rotate children into the worship team often so that many children get a chance to learn how to serve. What Do Praise Crew Leaders Do? Arrive early and be ready to welcome the kids in your Praise Crews. Worship enthusiastically! If you put your heart into worshipping God, kids will, too! Listen carefully to directions, and help each child participate in the worship activities and the discussion that follows. Gently redirect kids who get off track or start misbehaving. It s your job to help kids have an awesome experience at KidsOwn Worship. Staffing Your Children s Church KidsOwn Worship 5

6 Session 1 Jesus Teaches About Good Fruit Luke 6:43-45 Worship Theme: God helps us grow. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will praise God for helping them grow in knowledge and understanding of him. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing Oh, How I Love Jesus (track 2) Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16) (track 3) Are You Going to Praise the Lord? (track 1) Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) (track 8) Everybody Ought to Know (track 6) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, growth chart, step stool, to-do list, chalkboard, chalk Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) The Right Fruit Learn how God helps people grow to produce good fruit. * Bearing Fruit Paint fruit vines to remember the good fruit God wants them to grow. God Is Helping Me Grow Praise God for helping them grow in many ways. Scissors, masking tape, 1 copy of The Right Fruit (at the end of this session) per child Paint smocks, butcher paper, washable tempera paint, water, paintbrush, sponges, straws, marker, wet wipes 6 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

7 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * Growing Flowers Explore how it s necessary to receive God s help personally in order to grow. * Orchards Watch and discuss the DVD segment. Fruit of the Spirit Design trees that define the fruit of the Spirit. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Crystal Growing Tree Tray KidsOwn Worship Kit: Lesson Videos DVD: Orchards, Crystal Growing Tree DVD player, TV 9 pieces of butcher paper, dictionaries, markers Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Measure the height of their growing offering. Growing Fruit Thank God for growing good fruit in their lives. Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23) Sing a song as a prayer. Glass jar, ruler, transparent tape KidsOwn Worship Kit: Crystal Growing Tree Fruit of the Spirit trees KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23) (track 20) CD player * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 1 KidsOwn Worship 7

8 Bible Background for Leaders Jesus Teaches About Good Fruit Luke 6:43-45 In his references to good and bad trees in this passage, Jesus is obviously drawing an analogy to the fruit that people bear. Notice that the distinction is not between healthy apple trees and diseased apple trees. It is between fruit trees and thorns or briars; it is the kind of tree that makes the difference. Many kinds of trees look good but don t produce fruit. So it is with people. Jesus seems to be saying that a person who is not really a servant of God, no matter how good he or she seems to be, cannot possibly produce fruit for him. Conversely, someone who really is God s servant will automatically produce fruit. In Luke 6:45, Jesus expounds on the principle he introduced in the tree metaphor. What comes out of us through our speech and behavior flows from what is within. If what is inside us is good and God-honoring, our lives will honor God. If what is inside us is evil, our lives will not honor God. No matter how hard we try to make good impressions, no one will be fooled for long if our hearts are deceitful. Devotion for Leaders As we make our relationship with Jesus a priority, we ll find our actions will bear fruit that will please him. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Read aloud Luke 6: What can you do to store good things in your heart? In what circumstances can you bring good things out of the good you ve stored in your heart? If you passionately follow God, the good you ve stored will flow out to a needy world. Ask God to show you someone you can serve in your church who has a need, and then do the good thing and help that person. 8 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

9 Why We Worship for Leaders The Bible tells us that God intends for his people to grow in faith, in character, and in good works. The Bible promises that the righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon (Psalm 92:12). John 15 tells us that, if we abide in Christ and if Christ abides in us, we will grow into the people God wants us to be. God helps us grow. What a mighty God we serve! Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Attach a growth chart or measuring tape to the entrance children will use. Make an average day s to-do list. Growing Flowers Assemble the Crystal Growing Tree, and place it on the tray. Orchards Set up a TV and DVD player. Cue Lesson Videos DVD to segment 1, titled Orchards. You ll want to watch the segment at least once before the worship session. The Offering Tape a ruler to the side of a glass jar. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. Song Lyrics and Motions To make the worship session go more smoothly, tear out the lyrics sheets in the back of the book and keep them in a separate folder. Each week, pull out only the sheets you need for the day s worship session. Skits and Puppets In the KidsOwn Worship Kit, you ll find a collection of skits titled KidsOwn Worship Skits. The skits are designed to be used with Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet during the preschool activities. You can purchase a Theo puppet at your local Christian bookstore. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Greet children by name, and measure each one. When everyone has arrived, have the children stand. Welcome to children s church! Oh, how I love Jesus! When we praise Jesus when we tell others how wonderful he is we show how much we love him. We show the world that Jesus is more important and more wonderful than anyone or anything else! Stand on the step stool. Jesus is Lord of my life. I lift him high right now. Invite children to take turns standing on the step stool and praising Jesus to lift him high. Stand next to the step stool to help children step on and off safely. Now let s lift him high in song. Let s sing Oh, How I Love Jesus. Sing Oh, How I Love Jesus. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 2 Session 1 KidsOwn Worship 9

10 Another way to lift Jesus high is to love other people the way Jesus would love them. When we show Jesus love to others, it s like shining a light in the darkness. People see how much Jesus cares for them, and they learn to love him, too. Let s ask God to help us let our lights shine as we love others with Jesus love. Let s sing Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16). Sing Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 3 Consider having actors act out the following story as you tell it. Or bring in a houseplant with some dead leaves and trim the plant as you talk. Listen while I tell you a story from the Bible. There was once a beautiful vine. It produced sweet, wonderful fruit. A wise gardener tended the vine. He cared for it lovingly. Some of the branches of the vine were dry and withered. They didn t produce any fruit at all. The gardener knew that those dry, withered branches were not good for the vine because they pulled energy away from the healthy branches. So the wise gardener cut off the dry, withered branches. The wise gardener didn t stop there. He knew that even the healthy branches of the vine could be better. He trimmed them and cleaned them so they would bear even more fruit. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the vine and God is the gardener that tends the vine. We re like the branches we re connected to Jesus and the fruit we grow is goodness and patience and kindness. God helps us grow to be like Jesus so that we can love others with Jesus love. He helps us grow the way a gardener helps the branches of a vine to grow. The Bible says that Jesus is the vine, God is the gardener, and we are the branches. How does a gardener help the branches of a vine to grow? (By trimming them; by pulling off the dead leaves.) The gardener waters the vine, makes sure it has plenty of sunlight, keeps bugs away, and prunes it. That means he cuts off the dead branches so healthy branches can grow. The vine helps the branches grow by sending water and food to each one. Jesus gives us everything we need to grow healthy and strong, so we can show his love to others. As we grow to be the people he wants us to be, showing Jesus love to others, we bring glory and honor to God. Just as a vine is the source of water and food for its branches, Jesus is the source of our joy as he helps us grow! Let s glorify his name right now by singing Are You Going to Praise the Lord? Sing Are You Going to Praise the Lord? Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 1 10 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

11 God helps us grow. God fills us with love for others. God gives us everything we need to be the people he wants us to be. I love him! Don t you? Let s sing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Sing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 8 Let the children sit down. Show them your to-do list. Sometimes, when I have a lot to do, I make a list. I call this my to-do list because it is a list of things to do. Here is my list. Read the list aloud. Some days, I have so much to do that I know I won t get it all done! On those days, I have to choose the most important things to do. Let s make a to-do list of our own and decide what activities are most important. Have children call out things they might do on an average day. Write their responses on the chalkboard or on newsprint. Then help the children number all answers in order of importance. It can be hard to choose wisely, but homework is more important than TV. Going to school is more important than going to a friend s house. It s nice when we have time to do everything we want to do, but when we don t have time, we have to choose wisely. Keeping our priorities straight helps us grow. Jesus gives everything we need to grow, and he helps our branch of the vine grow more fruit to glorify God s name and bring other people to Jesus. We need to let Jesus lead our lives. Let s sing a song to remind us of the right order of priorities. Sing Confess With Your Mouth (Romans 10:9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 23 God, we love you. You are the greatest of all, and you deserve all honor and praise. Thank you for helping us grow so we can show others Jesus love and bring more people to you. We want to grow good fruit for your kingdom because we love you, Lord! In Jesus name, amen. Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. Session 1 KidsOwn Worship 11

12 Elementary Activities * Growing Flowers Show the children the Crystal Growing Tree from the KidsOwn Worship Kit. What do trees and flowers need to grow? (Sun; water; good dirt.) Let s give this tree some water. Ask a child to pour the packet of liquid into the tray. Have everyone watch the flower for 30 seconds. The directions say to add this liquid. Why do you think the tree isn t growing? (It s not real; it needs sun; it s not alive.) Let s set the tree aside for a while. Then we ll come back to it to see if there have been any changes. Set the tree aside while you do the next activity. There will be a discussion about the tree at the end of the next activity. * Orchards Show DVD segment 1, titled Orchards. What was this DVD clip about? (Apple orchards; where fruit comes from; how apples grow in the orchard and how we grow in the Spirit.) What did you find interesting or surprising about this DVD clip? (If apple trees grow too large, they ll tip over; God takes care of us the way the farmer takes care of the apple orchard.) How does knowing that God is helping you grow the way a farmer takes care of the orchard make you feel? (I m glad God helps me; I think I ll grow well with God watching over me.) Bring out the Crystal Growing Tree from the previous activity. It should just be starting to show the growth of crystals at the ends of the branches. Do you notice anything different about the tree now? (It looks different; there s something new on the branches.) Why do you think it took a while for the tree to start growing? (Growing things takes time; maybe it grows slower without sunshine.) How is the way the tree grew like the way a Christian grows? Why? (Christians need time, too, to learn about God; the tree needed help to grow, and so do Christians.) The tree needed water to grow. What do Christians need to help them grow? (Help from God; help from other people; the Bible.) In what ways is God helping you grow? (I m learning more about God in Sunday school; I read about God in the Bible, and that helps me grow.) 12 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter (continued on page 15)

13 Preschool Activities Jesus Teaches About Good Fruit Session 1 Worship Theme: God helps us grow. Easy Prep for Leaders Luke 6:43-45 The Right Fruit Make one copy of The Right Fruit handout (at the end of this session) for each child. Use scissors or a paper cutter to separate the four sections. Bearing Fruit Dampen one or more sponges, and put a different fruit-colored washable tempera on each sponge. If you d like, you can add a bit of fruit-scented extract to the paint. You ll also need green washable tempera paint thinned with water to the consistency of light cream. Using Theo Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo lead the song God Is Helping Me Grow. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. The Right Fruit One day, Jesus told a story about trees. He told this story to help us understand how God helps us grow. Jesus said that each tree grows its own kind of fruit. Have the children stand and pretend to be trees. You are all apple trees. You can only grow apples. Have the children pretend to be pear trees. What kind of fruit does a pear tree grow? Continue, having the children pretend to be different kinds of trees. Ask what kind of fruit each tree grows. Then have the children sit down. Jesus said people grow like trees. If there is good in their hearts, they do good things. If there is bad in their hearts, they do bad things. But God helps us grow to do good things. When we let him take care of our hearts, he makes our hearts good, so we can do good things for him. The good we do is called our fruit. Let s be good fruit trees. Have the children stand and pretend to be trees again. Use masking tape loops to hang the fruit from the handout on the children s tree-branch arms. What kind of fruit are you growing? Help the children understand what is happening in each handout picture. Showing love to others, helping our parents, sharing with friends, and talking to God are good things to do. These things are good fruit! Let s ask God to help us grow good fruit. Lord, we want to grow good fruit. Thank you for your help. Help us grow to do the good things you want us to do. We want to grow good because we love you. In Jesus name, amen. Session 1 KidsOwn Worship 13

14 Preschool Activities * Bearing Fruit Have the children sit around tables covered with butcher paper. Give each a paint smock (old shirts worn backward work well as smocks) and a straw. God helps us grow. He gives us everything we need to grow the way he wants us to. He helps us to be the loving people he wants us to be. We re going to do a project to show everyone that we know God helps us to grow and bear good fruit to honor him. Preschool Leader Tip Watch the children carefully to keep them from getting carried away during this activity. They could be tempted to blow paint onto the table or toward each other. If possible, invite extra helpers in for this project. If extra help is not possible, let one or two children work at a time while the others watch. Limit time with the paint and straws so children will be less likely to exercise their creativity in messy ways. Use a paintbrush to put drops of green paint around the edges of the paper. Show the children how to blow on the paint through their straws to make the paint drops grow into long thin lines. If necessary, add paint drops along the children s lines so they can make the lines longer. How did you make the paint lines grow? You gave the paint what it needed by blowing air in a certain direction. What does God give us to help us grow? Let s help these green vines have fruit! Raise your hand to tell me one good thing God can help you do or grow to do. When you tell me something, you can press your thumb on one of the sponges and make thumbprint fruit on a vine. As each child finishes making thumbprints, wipe his or her hands with a wet wipe. Let the children write their names somewhere on the paper. Print God Helps Us Grow on the butcher paper, and display the banner in a prominent place. God Is Helping Me Grow Have the children sit in a circle. God helps you grow. God helps you grow taller. God helps you learn new things. God helps you develop strong muscles. God helps you do good things for other people. God helps you learn to know and love him! God is good! Let s thank him. Teach God Is Helping Me Grow to the tune of I m a Little Tea Pot. God is helping me grow big and strong. I learn new things all the year long. I thank God for helping me grow To do the things that please him so. At the end of the song, ask a child to name something he or she has recently learned. Have the children say, Thank you, God, for helping us grow! Sing the song several times, making sure each child gets a chance to share. 14 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

15 (continued from page 12) God helps us grow in all kinds of ways. And just like this tree, we grow little by little every day. Sometimes we don t even notice because it happens so slowly. But God promises us that he will help us grow until we re exactly what he wants us to be. Set the tree aside again to bring out during the prayer time. Fruit of the Spirit The Bible tells us that Christians grow just like flowers or fruit in a garden. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us what grows in us: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. God s Spirit in our lives grows all these good things. Let s learn more about the fruit of the Spirit. Have kids form nine groups it s OK if only one child is in each group. Give each group a square of butcher paper, and provide several dictionaries. Assign one fruit of the Spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control to each group. If you have fewer than nine children, have the children take more than one fruit each. Have each group look up the definition of its word. Then have the children design trees for their fruit. The designs should include the group s word and its definition. Encourage kids to use their imaginations as they design trees that characterize the fruit of God s Spirit. Display the trees around the room. Have the children sit near their trees. Ask each group to tell an act that might grow from its tree and one that could never grow on their tree. Just as plums grow only on plum trees and apples grow only on apple trees, the trees you designed bear fruit of their own kind. What does that tell you about your actions if God is growing the fruits of the Spirit in you? (We will only bear fruit that looks like God; we ll become more like Jesus.) God helps us grow in these characteristics just as surely as he helps our physical bodies grow. When we are nourished by him, kindness, love, gentleness, peace, and all the other fruit are the things we can show to others. Those things honor and glorify God, our gardener. Let s Pray! The Offering Place the glass jar with the ruler attached on a table at the front of the room. God helps us grow. Let s thank him by giving offerings that will help his kingdom grow. As you give your offerings, we ll measure their growth on the ruler. Session 1 KidsOwn Worship 15

16 Worship Leader Tip If you have a small group, you can make the offering grow higher by using a tall, thin jar. You can also make it grow higher by trading the quarters, nickels, and dimes the children bring for pennies you provide. Thank you, God, for helping us grow. We want to be more like you. Use our offerings now to help others grow and to build your kingdom as only you can do. In Jesus name, amen. Let the children put their offerings in the jar. For fun, tell the children how tall their offering is. You may wish to continue this activity for several weeks as you reinforce the point that God helps us grow. Growing Fruit Point to the Fruit of the Spirit trees, made earlier. God helps us grow on the outside and on the inside. Inside, he grows spiritual fruit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Which fruit do you think God most wants to grow in your life now? Have children stand by the picture that shows their answer. Show the children the Crystal Growing Tree and point out how much it has grown during the worship session. We can count on God to help us grow little by little every day. Let s thank God for growing good fruit in our lives. And let s thank God for being faithful in helping us grow every day. Let volunteers say sentence prayers, thanking God for helping them grow. Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23) Extra Impact To emphasize the worship focus for this session God helps us grow have children write words to a simple song or create a rap to thank the children s ministry staff and volunteers for teaching and celebrating Jesus. Choose a time to present the song or rap, perhaps at an appreciation event for the education ministry volunteers. I want to be like Jesus. Don t you? While on earth, Jesus lived the way God wants all people to live. Jesus bears good fruit! As God helps us grow, he makes us more like Jesus. He gives us hearts that are pure and true. He helps us be kind and loving in all we do. And he gives us mercy toward others. We, too, can grow good fruit in our lives like Jesus! Let s sing Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23) as a prayer. Ask God to help you grow the right fruits so you can be the person he wants you to be. Sing Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 20 Lord, we thank you for helping us grow. Without your help, we d never become the people you want us to be. We d never know you, or grow up in our faith. But you help each step of the way. For all you do, Lord, we praise and worship you. Thank you, gracious Lord. In Jesus name, amen. 16 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

17 The Right Fruit Permission to photocopy this handout from KidsOwn Worship Leader Guide, Spring, granted for local church use. Copyright Group Publishing, Inc. group.com Session 1 KidsOwn Worship 17

18 Session 2 Jesus Tells the Parable of the Lost Son Luke 15:11-32 Worship Theme: God is loving and forgiving. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will praise God for his loving and forgiving nature. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing It Is by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) (track 21) Brotherly Love (Romans 12:10) (track 12) Everybody Ought to Know (track 6) If We Confess (1 John 1:9) (track 17) He Is Good (Nahum 1:7) (track 4) How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13) (track 9) To God Be the Glory (track 5) His Great Love (Romans 5:8) (track 14) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, 2 magnets, rock, box, aluminum foil, poster board, marker Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * Forgiveness Boat Learn that God s love and forgiveness keep us from sinking. Up, Up, and Away Discover that when God forgives us, he doesn t remember the wrong things we did. Warm Fuzzies Hear the Bible story and make warm fuzzies to remind them of God s love. Dishpan, water, rocks, packing peanuts, plastic boat Bubble solution, bubble wand 1 cotton ball per child, construction paper, hole punch, glue 18 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

19 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * Refined by Forgiveness Do an experiment to learn that God s forgiveness purifies us. Prodigal Teacher Watch a DVD that tells the story of the prodigal son. * Party! Party! Celebrate God s love and forgiveness by making fattened calves and eating them. 1 jar with lid, ¼ cup coarse salt, and ½ cup lemon juice per 5 kids; paper towels; 1 old penny per child; basket KidsOwn Worship Kit: Lesson Videos DVD: Prodigal Teacher TV, DVD player KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player; bowls; 3 marsh mallows, 9 mini-marshmallows, and 6 pretzel sticks per child; napkins Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Ask God s forgiveness and offer their gifts to God. Penny Prayers Receive God s forgiveness and a reminder of God s forgiveness. Biblical Dress Up Dress in biblical character traits. Offering bowls, 1 index card per child, pencils Basket of pennies from Refined by Forgiveness Bible * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 19

20 Bible Background for Leaders Jesus Tells the Parable of the Lost Son Luke 15:11-32 Though this is often called the parable of the prodigal son or the lost son, it is really the story of two lost sons. The older, hardworking son is a symbol of a person who tries to obtain righteousness without inner faith. The younger son is a symbol of a person who turns away from God to sin but returns in repentance. The younger son s request for his share of the inheritance shows that his heart was no longer with his father, but on all that freedom had to offer. In Jewish law, the oldest son received two-thirds of the inheritance, and the rest was divided among the other children. Since it appears that there were only two sons, the younger would have been entitled to one-third of the father s holdings. However, Jewish law did not allow a person to sell his father s land inheritance because it had been given by God. So in asking his father to give him the land early, the younger son was maneuvering against the law. Any Jew would have seen what the son was doing and would have refused to buy the land. It was also against the law to sell such land to a Gentile. Since that must have been what the younger son did, the Jews listening to this story would have been appalled. The next part of the story isn t hard to predict. The younger son foolishly spent his inheritance and was left with nothing. At that point, he realized how wrong he had been and decided to return to his father, hoping only that the father would accept him back as a hired hand. He was convinced that he had sacrificed his right to be his father s son. He now decided to do what he knew was right. Because a family would not normally forgive a son for such a sin, Jesus listeners would have been extremely surprised and angry to hear that the man ran out to meet his returning son. The son s actions were so bad that the neighbors would have considered it their duty to kill him if he returned. In fact, by meeting the boy first, his father may have saved him from execution. In addition, wealthy landowners did not go out to meet anyone; servants did that. And a man of stature would not have run anywhere because to do so he would have to lift the bottom of his long robe, improperly exposing his ankles. What Jesus described was a father intent on getting to his son before the neighbors did. And the father s kisses symbolized the forgiveness he offered his son even before the son uttered his confession. Even though the son had turned away, sinned willfully, and disgraced the family name, the father was waiting to forgive his son and save him from the death he deserved. What a wonderful picture of our God, who watchfully waits, ready to forgive us when we return to him in repentance! Devotion for Leaders It probably was no coincidence that the father spotted the son from a distance. More than likely, he was waiting and watching daily for his boy to return. Picture a God anxious to meet you even when you feel ashamed. Know his love for you, and cherish the relationship you have with Jesus. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Who in your life doesn t deserve mercy? They are just out of options. They ve made their bed This change of heart won t last. Reach out to these people in kindness and joy. 20 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

21 Why We Worship for Leaders Christianity offers something that no other religion offers the complete cleansing that comes from the forgiveness of sin and the removal of guilt. Because of God s love and this inner cleansing, we can boldly approach God and enter into an intimate relationship with him that is more satisfying than anything the world offers us. Even the youngest child in your children s church has experienced the estrangement that is the natural outcome of sin. Wrong actions fill us with shame and guilt. Sin drives wedges between God and us and between other people and us. But God s perfect love and forgiveness removes the division and brings us close again. The story of the prodigal son shows us what forgiving love is; it s a picture of God s love for his children. Just as the father forgave his son for his foolishness, God is ready to forgive us for anything. All we need to do is humbly ask for forgiveness and turn from our sin. What an awesome God we serve! Let s worship him! Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Collect two magnets, a fist-sized rock, and a small box covered with aluminum foil. Write these words from Nehemiah 9:17 on poster board and include the reference: But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love (Nehemiah 9:17b). Post this where the children will see it. Refined by Forgiveness You ll need paper towels, one small jar with a lid for every five children, and one tarnished penny per child. Combine a quarter-cup of coarse salt and half a cup of lemon juice in each jar. Have a small basket handy. Prodigal Teacher Set up a TV and a DVD player. Cue the Lesson Videos DVD to the segment titled Prodigal Teacher. You ll want to watch the segment at least once before the worship session. Party! Party! Use mini-marshmallows, marshmallows, and pretzel sticks to make a fattened calf. (See the illustration in the margin.) Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Ask a few children to act as greeters. Have them stand near the entrance to the worship area, greet each child by name, and say, Hi! God loves us and forgives us! Welcome to children s church, everyone! We re worshipping God today because he is loving and forgiving. Let s stand and sing It Is by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Sing It Is by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 21 Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 21

22 Great singing, everyone! I can see you enjoy worshipping God with your voices. We can praise God because he loves us so much and forgives us for the wrong and mean things we do. The Bible tells us that everyone has done wrong and mean things. Those actions are called sin. Let s see how sin hurts our friendship with God and others and how forgiveness helps our friendships. Put two magnets on a table to show children how they repel each other. Have you ever played with magnets? Magnets are kind of like friends they re supposed to stick together. But when you put two magnets together the wrong way, they push against each other. That s what happens to our friendships when we do wrong things. We can t get close to God or to each other when the wrong things we do get in the way and push us apart. Think of a time you felt guilty about something you did. (Pause.) Now think about how you felt did you feel close to people or were you crabby? (Pause.) Worship Leader Tip You may need more than one table and set of magnets if you have a large group of children. Enlist one or more helpers to demonstrate the magnet movements as you describe them. Warning This activity uses magnets. Swallowed magnets can attract each other through opposing intestine walls, causing serious infection or even death. Seek immediate medical attention if magnets are swallowed or inhaled. Let s pretend we re magnets that have been put together the wrong way. I ll give you one minute to quietly act like these magnets. Move towards each other, then move quickly away before you touch. Think about the wrong things that get in the way of friendships with others. When I clap my hands, stand still and focus your attention on me. Ready? Go. Have the children move around like repelling magnets. After a minute, clap your hands. Wait until you ve regained everyone s attention. When we don t forgive others, we feel distant from them. Turn the magnets around and inch them forward until they stick together. But when we forgive each other, we feel drawn like magnets that stick. Think about a time you felt forgiven. (Pause.) Now think about how that made you feel toward others. (Pause.) Did you feel closer to people or did you want to push people away? (Pause.) Now let s move around like magnets that stick. See how many people you can safely hug in one minute. To each person you hug, say, God is loving and forgiving! Give children a minute to hug each other, and then clap your hands to regain their attention. Forgiveness is good. It brings us closer to God and closer to each other. It helps us stick together! Look around the room all of us here are friends and part of God s family. Let s sing Brotherly Love (Romans 12:10). Sing Brotherly Love (Romans 12:10). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

23 Let s continue to worship him for loving us and caring for us every day. He ll never leave us, and he ll guide us all the way. That s what our next song says. Sing Everybody Ought to Know. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 6 God is a great God! He is loving and forgiving. The Bible often uses word pictures to help us understand important concepts, including love and forgiveness. The word picture the Bible uses to help us understand forgiveness is the refiner s fire. Show the rock and the box wrapped in foil. Precious metals gold and silver, for example have to be refined before they look shiny and pretty like this. Hold up the foil-covered box. Miners dig deep in the earth to find rocks that contain precious metals. Hold up the rock. Then the rocks are heated in the refiner s fire. The fire is so hot the rocks turn to liquid. The impurities the things that aren t the precious metal are burned away or skimmed off, and what s left is pure. The Bible says that God purifies us with forgiveness. If we confess, God s forgiveness gets rid of our impure thoughts and actions. Let s sing about that. Sing If We Confess (1 John 1:9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 17 No matter what we ve done, God is ready to forgive us. Listen to what Nehemiah 9:17 says. Read the verse aloud that you posted earlier. Repeat the verse as a group. Have the children form three groups. Have the first group read the first phrase (to the first comma); have the second group read the second phrase; and have the third group read the third phrase. Then have all the children read the reference together. Have the children say the verse in this manner several times. The first time, have them whisper the verse. Then have them get louder each time they recite the verse until they re calling out the verse in loud voices. God s love for us abounds! That means there s lots and lots of it. Whenever we need anything, he s the one who s got the answer, whether we need love or forgiveness or a friend! God is good! Let s thank him for his abounding love. Sing He Is Good (Nahum 1:7). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 4 Ask two or three children to share briefly how they ve experienced forgiveness. Why is forgiveness such a wonderful thing? (Because it s a gift; because it shows us how much God loves us.) Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 23

24 What would life be like if people didn t forgive each other? (Lonely, because people might stay mad at each other; hard.) What would life be like if God didn t forgive us? (Scary; sad.) The Lord s Prayer, which is found in Matthew 6, talks about forgiveness we are to forgive others as God forgives us. Close your eyes for a moment, and think about anyone you might need to forgive right now. (Pause.) As we sing How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13), forgive that person. Jesus will help you. Sing How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 9 Let s continue to worship God and thank him for being loving and forgiving. Sing To God Be the Glory. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 5 Isn t it great to know that we live in a world where people can love and forgive each other? God will help us! We can always count on God s love and forgiveness because we are his children. His great love has no bounds. Sing His Great Love (Romans 5:8). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 14 God, we praise and worship you today because you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. We know that no matter what we do wrong and no matter how bad our sins are, you love us and are ready to forgive us. Thank you for being loving and forgiving. Thank you for always restoring our relationship with you. In Jesus name, amen. Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. (continued on page 27) 24 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

25 Preschool Activities Jesus Tells the Parable of the Lost Son Luke 15:11-32 Worship Theme: Using Theo Session 2 God is loving and forgiving. Easy Prep for Leaders Forgiveness Boat You ll need a dishpan of water, several small rocks, plastic-foam packing peanuts, and an empty plastic boat or dish. Warm Fuzzies Use a paper punch to punch out two constructionpaper circles per child. Have at least one cotton ball for each child. For extra fun, use colored cotton balls. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo help blow bubbles for Up, Up, and Away. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. * Forgiveness Boat Hello, preschoolers! We re going to have lots of fun learning about God s love and forgiveness today. This boat is going to show us what happens when we re forgiven. Put the boat on the water. Let s pretend that we re like this boat that floats. These rocks are like the wrong things we do. What are some wrong things you do sometimes? For each thing children mention, add a rock to the boat. If they need prompting, ask them questions such as, Have you ever hit your brother when you re mad? or Do you always obey? Add rocks until the boat sinks. Oh, look what happened to our boat! It got filled up with wrong things and sank. How sad! But we don t have to stay sad, because Jesus loves us. He wants to take away all the wrong things we ve done. God wants to hear us say, I m sorry. Lead children in saying, We re sorry, God. Then remove the boat from the water, and take out the rocks. Set the boat afloat again. When we tell God we re sorry, he forgives us and fills our hearts with good things. Fill the boat with packing peanuts. Look. When I put good things in our boat, it doesn t sink! God s love and forgiveness are like that. They keep us from sinking. Let s thank God for being loving and forgiving. Offer a short prayer of thanksgiving. Up, Up, and Away God is loving and forgiving. Tell me some ways that God loves you. Give children time to answer. If they need help, prompt them with ideas such as He gave me my family, He sent Jesus to us, or He made animals for us to enjoy. I m going to blow some bubbles. Let s pop them and thank God for loving us. Blow bubbles, and encourage children to pop them, saying, Thank you, Jesus, as each one breaks. After blowing a few batches of bubbles, have everyone stop and sit in a circle. God loves us, and he forgives us when we re sorry for wrong things we do. The wrong things we do disappear when God forgives us, just like the bubbles disappear when they pop. Ask the children to mention some of the wrong things they do, such as disobeying their parents or taking toys from children who are playing with them. Then blow more bubbles, and encourage children to pop them. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 25

26 Preschool Activities Up, Up, and Away (continued) When God forgives your wrongs, they disappear, just like our bubbles popped and disappeared. God doesn t remember them anymore. Let s thank God for forgiving the wrong things we do. Allow each child to take a turn blowing bubbles. After each child blows bubbles, lead the group in saying, Thank you, God, for being loving and forgiving. Warm Fuzzies Let s hear a Bible story about love and forgiveness. There was a dad who had two sons. The dad had lots of money to give his sons when they grew up. But the youngest son didn t want to wait. He said, Dad, give me the money now. The dad was sad that his son wouldn t wait, but he gave him the money anyway. What do you think the son did with the money? He spent all the money on fun things. He spent it on parties and food and his friends anything that was fun. Pretty soon all his money was gone. He couldn t pay for food or a house to live in. He was sorry about wasting his dad s money. He wanted to go home. What do you think the father did when the son came home? The dad wasn t mad. He was happy to see his son! He knew the boy was sorry, and he forgave his son. The dad gave his son a great big party to celebrate and invited all his friends. This is how God feels about you and me. When we do wrong things and we re sorry, he loves us and forgives us. Tell us about a time you were forgiven. How did you feel inside when you were forgiven? It feels good to be forgiven. Sometimes we call that feeling a warm fuzzy because we feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Let s make some warm fuzzies to remind us how God s forgiveness makes us feel. Hand each child a cotton ball. Help children glue paper eyes to the cotton balls to make little creatures called warm fuzzies. Remind the children that God s love and forgiveness are like a warm fuzzy; they make us feel good and warm inside. When each child has made one or two warm fuzzies, have the children form a circle. Let them take turns around the circle tossing one of their fuzzies in the air. As children catch their fuzzies, encourage them to say, God s forgiveness is like a warm fuzzy. 26 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

27 (continued from page 24) Elementary Activities * Refined by Forgiveness Set the jars of salt and lemon juice on chairs or tables or on the floor around the perimeter of the room. Earlier we talked about what it means to be refined or purified. Let s talk about that some more. Hold up a tarnished penny. How is this tarnished penny like our lives when we do and say wrong things? (We get unclean, too; we don t shine like we re supposed to.) Worship Leader Tip It s helpful in this activity to have one adult or teenage helper for every 10 to 15 children. Have your helpers work with two or three small groups to help them get organized and stay on task. What are things that make us tarnished like this penny is? (Being mean to people; using bad words; throwing a temper tantrum.) Sometimes we get trapped in sin, and that makes us tarnished. It s as if our lives are dirty and unclean. We need someone to polish us and make us new. Let s see what the Bible says about being made new. Have a volunteer read 2 Corinthians 5:17. Who s the only one who can forgive us and make us new? (Jesus; God the Father.) How does Jesus make us new? (By dying for our sins; by taking our punishment on himself.) Worship Leader Tip Have children who don t have cuts on their hands remove the pennies from the jars. The solution will sting cut hands! Jesus is the only one who can make us clean and pure. He s our refiner. Let s refine our pennies and make them clean to remind us how Jesus love and forgiveness change us. I ve placed refining solution in jars around the room. When I say Go, find one of the jars and stand by it but don t touch it until I tell you. Up to five people can stand at each jar. Have children gather around the jars in groups of five or fewer. Give each child a penny. Have the children drop the pennies into the jars and screw on the lids. Then have each group pass the jar around so each person can shake the jar vigorously for several seconds. While the children are shaking, have them think about the sins they d like to be forgiven for. When all the children have shaken the jar, have them remove the pennies and wipe them dry with paper towels. What happened to your pennies? (They cleaned up; they got shiny.) How is that like God s love and forgiveness in our lives? (Knowing Jesus makes us shiny; being forgiven makes us clean.) Just as these pennies became new and shiny, God s love and forgiveness make us clean and new. Let s put all the pennies in this basket right now. We ll use them again before we go home. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 27

28 Prodigal Teacher Show the Lesson Videos DVD segment titled Prodigal Teacher. The DVD tells the story of the prodigal son. Worship Leader Tip If you have more than 20 children in your group, consider having the children answer these questions in small groups of two or three children. Why was Sheila so angry about a teacher playing on the playground? (He left his classroom to her; he was acting foolish when he should have been doing his job.) How did the teacher s actions affect others? (His students couldn t count on him; Sheila had to do his work for him.) Why was the principal so ready to accept the teacher after he came in? (Because he was loving; he cared about his staff.) What does this story teach you about God? (That God is loving and forgiving; that we can go to God for help when we need it.) God loves us no matter what we do. He wants to forgive us when we do wrong. He is loving and forgiving, and that s something to celebrate! Let s have a party. * Party! Party! In our Bible story, the father made a feast for his son when he returned home. Let s celebrate the love and forgiveness God gives us by making a feast, too. ALLERGY ALERT Be aware that some children have food allergies that can be dangerous. Know your children, and consult with parents about allergies their children may have. Also be sure to read food labels carefully as hidden ingredients can cause allergy-related problems. Set out bowls of large marshmallows, mini-marshmallows, pretzel sticks, and napkins. If you have more than 20 children in your worship group, set up at least two snack stations. Have each child take three large marshmallows, nine mini-marshmallows, and a small handful of pretzel sticks. Have them use their marshmallows and pretzels to make fattened calves. Set your marshmallow calf next to the snacks so kids can see how to make one. While the children are making their snacks, play music from Songs From FaithWeaver. When the snacks are made, let the children eat them. While the children are eating, encourage them to share examples of God s goodness with each other. 28 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter Let s Pray! The Offering God s love is great. He forgives us and wants us to love and forgive others. Distribute one index card and a pencil or marker to each child. Ask the children to write on their index cards things they d like to ask God s forgiveness for. Beginning writers can either write one word or draw a picture to remind them of their prayer request. Then have a minute of silence, and encourage the children to pray about the prayer requests on their index cards. After the prayer, have volunteers pass the offering bowls. Ask the children to put in their index cards and any other offering they brought.

29 Penny Prayers Set the basket of pennies from Refined by Forgiveness near you. Add pennies for the preschool children, if necessary. When we refined our pennies earlier and when we wrote on the index cards, you were asked to think of things you needed forgiveness for. Let s close our eyes and take a minute to receive God s forgiveness for those things right now. Give children a few moments to pray silently. Thank you, Lord, for your love and forgiveness. You heard each thing that was confessed today. We receive your forgiveness now in Jesus name. Amen. Take a penny from the basket, and hand it to the person next to you. Say, God is loving and forgiving. Then have that person take a penny from the basket to give to the next person until everyone has a penny and has been told, God is loving and forgiving. Put this penny in your pocket, and take it home with you. Let it remind you that God is loving and forgiving. Biblical Dress Up Listen to these words from the Bible. These verses talk about putting on special character traits just as you would put on clothes. As I mention the character traits, pretend to put them on as if they were clothes. Read Colossians 3:12-14 aloud from an easy-to-read version of the Bible. Then, with the children, pretend to put on the clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love. What are some things you can do this week to show that you ve dressed up in these character traits? (I can be nice to my mom; I can be patient with my baby brother.) Worship Leader Tip If you re looking for an easyto-read version of the Bible, try Group s Hands-On Bible. The Hands-On Bible uses the same experience-based learning to communicate God s Word in an active, understandable way. Now take a minute to think of some ways to show a loving and forgiving spirit this week. Tell the people sitting on both sides of you what you ll do this week. Give the children a moment to think of ideas and share them with their neighbors. Then sound an attention-getting signal, and wait until children have stopped talking. God, we thank you and praise you for loving us and forgiving us for the wrong things we do. You are a great God, and we love you. Help us follow your example this week by showing others the same kind of love and forgiveness you show us. In Jesus name, amen. Session 2 KidsOwn Worship 29

30 Session 3 Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet John 13:1-17 Worship Theme: Jesus is a servant. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will worship Jesus for showing us how to be humble servants. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing To God Be the Glory (track 5) Sing Unto the Lord (track 19) He s the King (track 13) Servant of All (Mark 9:35b) (track 22) How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13) (track 9) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, treats Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) A Gentle Game Play a game to practice being gentle. Washing Up Hear the Bible story and wash each other s hands. * Servant Gift Make a gift for the church s custodian. Dustpans, packing peanuts, markers, paper Disinfectant hand gel Bowls, trail-mix ingredients, spoons, tray, towel (or other covering), colored cellophane, 1 large paper cup per 4 or 5 children, construction paper, 1 craft stick per child, markers, glue sticks, yarn, scissors, ribbon 30 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

31 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * If I Were in Charge Imagine what it would be like to change the world. * The Foot-Washer Watch a DVD segment and act out examples of servanthood. Build-a-Crown Make crowns representing a servant kingdom. Current newspaper articles KidsOwn Worship Kit: Lesson Videos DVD: The Foot-Washer TV, DVD player Pens, markers, construction paper, scissors, glue, decorations, stapler Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God. Feet to Prayer Consider where their feet may go in service. Love the Lord Sing a song with foot motions. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Servant of All (Mark 9:35b) (track 22) Offering bowls, CD player KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) (track 8) CD player * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 3 KidsOwn Worship 31

32 Bible Background for Leaders Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet John 13:1-17 In examining this passage, it s interesting to reflect on what Jesus knew was coming. He knew that one of his disciples was going to betray him, that another would deny him three times, and that all of them would scatter and desert him. Still, he was determined to show them his love. It is especially significant that Jesus washed the disciples feet because none of the disciples was willing to stoop below the others to do this demeaning task. The washing of feet, necessary because people in Jesus day all wore sandals, was customary before the beginning of any meal and was normally done by a servant as guests entered the house. However, since this was a private meal, there was apparently no servant there. The water, the basin, and the towel were there, and certainly the disciples thought about the fact that no one had washed their feet. But none of them took the initiative to do the washing before the meal. After the food had been set out, Jesus took action. John records all this in detail, likely feeling guilty for not being the one to pick up the towel and basin to serve his brothers and his Lord. Peter s resistance to allowing Jesus to wash his feet revealed that Peter didn t understand what was really happening, part of which was Jesus illustrating the cleansing power of his death. Peter also exhibited pride in his refusal to let Jesus wash his feet. He didn t yet understand that Jesus came to serve, not to be served. Peter s rejection of Jesus act was based on an understanding of the Messiah that didn t allow for such a humble, servantlike action. Through his actions and words, Jesus commands us to serve one another as he served his disciples, but not specifically in the washing of feet. To claim to be exempt from such service would be to claim to be greater than Jesus himself. And it would not be enough for the disciples to recognize that they were to serve one another; they needed to take action if they were to receive the blessing promised in John 13:17. Devotion for Leaders Jesus entire mission was one of humility. Imagine a king leaving his posh palace to live as a homeless man, facing abuse and mistreatment. Ridiculous? Absolutely. Why did Jesus do what he did? All for the love of you and me. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Thank Jesus for making a way for you to live where he is someday. Acknowledge that because of him, you don t have to be afraid or ashamed about meeting God. Jesus bent down low to lift you up high. How can you live out your gratitude? 32 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

33 Why We Worship for Leaders It s difficult to imagine God taking on the role of a servant, partly because so few of us are willing to take on that role. Surely, our minds say, if we were God, we would rule not serve. That is exactly why we need a God who shows us another way. We need to understand that Jesus came to this earth to serve others so that we would know how. We bow before God and worship his greatness the greatness that bowed itself in love for us. Jesus was a servant. We worship a Servant-King. Hallelujah! Easy Prep for Leaders If I Were in Charge Clip age-appropriate articles from local newspapers. You ll need one article for every four or five children. The Foot-Washer Set up a TV and DVD player. Cue the Lesson Videos DVD to the segment titled The Foot-Washer. You ll want to watch the segment at least once before the children arrive. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Greet children by name, and say to each one, Before you sit down, do something a servant would do. Hello, all you servants! It was great to watch you doing things a servant would do. I use the word servant as a term of honor, but is that how the world views servants? Why? (No, servants are not considered important; servants always have to do the yucky stuff no one else wants to do, so they don t get much respect.) Why would calling you a servant honor you? (Because Jesus was a servant, and I want to be like Jesus; because God likes it when we re being servants.) Jesus set the example of serving. Jesus came and served among us. He could have come with enough power to force us to serve God, but instead he came to teach us how to love and serve God and each other. He was an almighty King, yet he was a gentle Servant. Let s praise the Lamb of God. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Sing To God Be the Glory. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 5 Great job! Think about this: A king has a lot of power. Session 3 KidsOwn Worship 33

34 When might a king use his power? (When he wants people to do things for him; when he wants to boss other people around.) When might a king choose not to use his power? (When he s being nice to his servants; when he doesn t need help.) How do you feel when someone forces you to do something? (I feel angry; I get frustrated.) Jesus, our king, came to show us a way to live that s better than living by force and violence. Jesus chose to bring his kingdom by working in our hearts, causing us to want to serve him out of love and gratitude instead of fear. Jesus was willing to put aside his power to come serve us. That makes me want to celebrate with a joyful song! Sing Sing Unto the Lord. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 19 Jesus came so every one of us can have a Lord and King. He came so that we can all have the best Father you can imagine. We have a Father who loves us no matter what a Father who is kind, patient, and forgiving. And our King! Let s celebrate that we are the children of such an amazing God. Sing He s the King. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 13 Jesus is the King of kings, yet he knows who we are and what we need. Jesus showed his love by becoming a servant. He led people by serving them and taking care of their needs. Jesus is still doing that today. What needs has God met for you? (He makes me feel safe; he gives me peace when I m afraid; he comforts me with his love.) In Bible times, the people of Israel were looking for someone who would free them from Roman rule. That s what they really wanted God to do for them. Let s play a game that will help us find out what happened. Help children form lines of four in the center of the room facing a wall. Well, this wall looks like your goal, people of Israel freedom from the Romans. Follow my directions exactly. In order to get a reward, the first person in line should turn to the second and say, You first, and then walk to the back of the line. The person who was first will now be last and should not take any more steps toward the wall. Then the second person in line is first and does the same thing. Do this until you can no longer follow my directions. Let s see what happens when you follow my instructions as quickly as you can. 34 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

35 If the children follow your instructions exactly, the lines will move toward the opposite wall. As groups reach the opposite wall, give each child a treat. Have children sit down to enjoy the treats. How did you feel as you followed directions? (Confused, because I thought I d never get to the goal; annoyed.) What did you discover as you continued? (That the directions weren t crazy after all; that the only way to get where you want to go is to let someone go ahead of you.) How is your experience like the disciples experience? (Maybe they were frustrated at first, too, but then things made sense; that we all got something different from what we expected.) When Jesus set the example of serving, it may have looked to the disciples and others as if they d never reach their goal. But the reward for them wasn t in reaching their goal of being freed from the Romans, just like the reward for you wasn t in getting to your goal, which was the wall. The reward came from following Jesus direction and example. The only way to win this game was to let others go first. God wanted us to know that the only way we can win is to serve, and he sent his own Son, Jesus, to show us how to be a servant of all. ALLERGY ALERT See Session 2. Sing Servant of All (Mark 9:35b). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 22 Jesus showed us what it means to be a servant when he prayed the Lord s Prayer. It was Jesus example of how we should pray. In this prayer, he said to God, Your will be done. What is someone s will? (When someone gets his or her own way; when somebody wants something badly.) What does it mean to want someone else to get his or her way? (It means you don t care if they get their own way; it means you re trying not to be selfish.) Jesus served people because he was God s servant. He said to God, Your will be done, instead of saying, God, please let me have my way. Let s follow Jesus example and offer ourselves to God with this musical prayer. Sing How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 9 Jesus, we worship you, our servant-king. We want to follow your example as we serve God and those around us to live your life on earth. In your name, amen. Session 3 KidsOwn Worship 35

36 Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities * If I Were in Charge Have the children form small groups of four or five. Give each group an ageappropriate newspaper story. When I read the paper, I sometimes think about what I would do about these stories if I were in charge of the world. Your job now is to read the newspaper story I ve given you. Then talk with your small group about what you d do about the situation if you were in charge of the world. Have the kids share what they would do in relation to the specific stories. Then have them share what they would do in general if they were in charge of the world. Give the children four or five minutes to read and discuss. 36 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter What would you do if you were in charge? (I would be nicer to kids; I would tell people what they should do.) Do you think you d enjoy being in charge? Why or why not? (Yes, because I d be kind; no, because I wouldn t be able to please everybody, and that would frustrate me.) What would be good about being in charge? (Being able to tell everyone what to do; having control over what happens to you.) What would be not so good about being in charge? (Some people might not like what you decide for them; maybe it would be hard at times to know what the right thing is to do.) Jesus is in charge of the world. What do you think Jesus thinks about being in charge of the world? (He s probably OK with that; he knows everything, so I ll bet it s easy for him to be in charge.) Listen to these verses about Jesus. Read Philippians 2:3-8 from an easy-to-understand version of the Bible. When we think of being in charge, we often think of enforcing rules or punishing people for doing wrong. When God put Jesus in charge, Jesus helped people. He was a servant. God gave Jesus complete authority over the universe, and he used that authority to serve the world. Let s discover how that happened through a Bible story. (continued on page 39)

37 Preschool Activities Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet Session 3 Worship Theme: John 13:1-17 Using Theo Jesus is a servant. Easy Prep for Leaders A Gentle Game Set several dustpans around the room. Servant Gift Put trail-mix ingredients (such as dry cereal, raisins and other dried fruit, soy beans, and M&M s candies) in small bowls. Put the bowls on a tray and cover them with a towel or other covering. Cut 2- or 3-inch circles from construction paper, at least two circles per child. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo try to blow packing peanuts in A Gentle Game. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. A Gentle Game Give each child a packing peanut (or a cotton ball). Provide markers, and encourage children to mark the peanuts so they will recognize their own. Often when people talk about Jesus being a servant, they call him a gentle servant. What does it mean to be gentle? Good answers. Jesus was gentle and loving. We are going to practice being gentle. Everyone put your peanut on the floor. See the dustpans around the room? Your goal is to get your peanut into a dustpan, but you cannot touch it. You can blow on it or fan it with a piece of paper to try to get it where you want it to be. Be gentle. Let the children blow and fan their peanuts until they get them into one of the dustpans. They can help each other as long as they are gentle. What does it feel like to be gentle? Why are you glad that Jesus is our gentle servant-king? Washing Up Have the children be seated in a circle. The Bible tells us about a time Jesus was a gentle servant to his disciples. In Bible times, when someone came to your house, a servant would wash your guest s feet. How does it feel to have your feet washed? What kind of a person would you want to wash your feet? When Jesus and the disciples got together to eat a special meal called Passover, everyone s feet needed to be washed. Jesus surprised his disciples by putting a towel around his own clothes and washing each disciple s feet. Why do you think everyone was surprised that Jesus acted like a servant? When Jesus got to Simon Peter, Simon Peter said, Oh, no, Jesus. I don t want you to wash my feet. I could wash your feet, maybe Peter knew that Jesus was the greatest of them all. But Jesus said it was important. Then Jesus asked, Do you understand what I ve done? He told them, I have given you an example to follow. You need to be servants. Let s do something to show Jesus we understand that he wants us to be servants. Squirt a small amount of disinfectant hand gel into your hands and rub them together to wash them. Session 3 KidsOwn Worship 37

38 Preschool Activities Washing Up (continued) To show Jesus that we want to be servants, we are going to help each other wash hands. Squirt a small spot of gel into the hands of the child on your right, and help him or her to rub the gel around. Then have the child repeat the process with the child to the right until all the children have had their hands washed. Do you know that if Jesus were standing here today, he wouldn t mind washing your hands or helping you blow your nose or fixing you a snack? The story of Jesus washing the disciples feet helps us to understand that to be like Jesus, we need to be willing to be servants to do anything for our friends. How do you feel knowing that King Jesus would serve you because he loves you? What are some other things we can do to be servants? What would you be willing to do for Jesus? * Servant Gift Jesus showed us how to be servants and serve others. Jesus he wants us to be servants, too. What can you do to be a servant? How do people serve you? I know someone who serves us by keeping our church clean. Tell children the name of your church s custodian or a volunteer who helps with maintenance. Give examples of things this person does for the church. Let s thank [name of custodian]! We ll make a gift to say thank you for being a servant to us. Set out the tray of trail-mix ingredients, paper cups, and spoons. Have children work together to spoon ingredients into the cups. Then set out the construction paper circles, markers, pieces of yarn, and glue sticks. Tell children they should each decorate a circle to look like them. Explain that you ll put these circles with the trail-mix gift so the person receiving it will know who it s from. As children finish their circles, glue each circle to a craft stick, leaving at least 2 inches of stick below the circle. Write the child s name (or have the child write it) on a second circle, and glue that to the other side of the craft stick. Put about five craft-stick children in each cup of trail mix. Pull the corners of a piece of cellophane up around the cup, and tie the cellophane and craft sticks with ribbon to make a pretty gift. Our gifts will make [name of recipient] happy. We re serving [recipient s name] because [he or she] serves us! 38 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

39 (continued from page 36) * The Foot-Washer Jesus was a great teacher. He didn t just talk to his disciples about how to live. He showed them how he wanted them to live. Let s watch a video that ll show how Jesus was a servant. Watch the segment from the Lesson Videos DVD titled The Foot-Washer. It tells the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet (John 13:1-17). What do you think it was like to be the one in charge of washing guests feet? (Nasty; dirty; unpleasant.) Do you think Jesus enjoyed his task? Why or why not? (No, because it would have been yucky; yes, because he liked to serve.) What would it have been like to have God doing a servant s job for you? (Embarrassing; weird; nice.) When Jesus washed his disciples feet, he was teaching them that he came to serve people and that he wanted them to serve each other. Have the children form groups of three. Have the groups discuss the following questions: What kinds of tasks might a servant do today? (Wash windows; vacuum floors; cook meals.) If you really wanted to make the point that we should serve each other today, what task would you perform for someone else? Why? (Help my mom do the dishes so she could rest after dinner; help my dad wash his car, so he could finish faster.) Have groups make up skits to dramatize their answers to the questions. Let several groups share. Jesus washed feet. Review the other acts of service you saw performed. Jesus humbled himself to become a servant. Instead of acting like the powerful King he was, he served the people he loved. How do you feel when someone does something important for you that he or she doesn t have to do? (I feel good; I wonder why they are doing it.) That s what Jesus did. He gave up his position to act in love and showed us true greatness. We worship him because he was willing to serve so that we can have a real-life example of how to live. Session 3 KidsOwn Worship 39

40 Build-a-Crown Jesus was building a servant kingdom. Every king needs a crown that represents what is important to that kingdom. What kind of crown do you think a servant kingdom would have? (A work cap; a helmet.) Provide pens, markers, construction paper, scissors, glue, and other decorative materials for the crowns. Have the children each cut a sheet of construction paper lengthwise in two pieces. Help the children staple the two pieces together to form a crown that fits. Today you re going to have a chance to design a crown that reflects Jesus kingdom. To help you get started on your design, think about these questions. What might be the servant-kingdom tree? flower? bird? (An oak tree; a rose; an eagle.) What colors might its flag be? (Red; blue; green; purple.) What might its motto be, and how could you show that motto? (Help others, and then help them; be nice to others; put others first, and then do something that puts them first.) After the children have had an opportunity to design their crowns, let them explain their crowns. Then have them set the crowns aside to be used later. Let s Pray! The Offering The Bible tells us that Jesus came as an example to us. Jesus wants us to be like him. If you made a crown today, put that crown on to show that you want to be a servant just like Jesus was a servant. There are many different ways to serve. One way we serve is to give our money in the offering. I m going to leave the offering bowl here. You can come by and put your money in the offering bowl if you brought an offering. As you stop at the offering bowl, think about what Jesus might want you to do to be a servant in his kingdom. If you want, silently promise Jesus you ll do that. Let s sing while we give our offerings. Let the children give their offerings. Sing Servant of All (Mark 9:35b). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

41 Feet to Prayer Have the children sit in a circle with their feet all pointed into the center. When Jesus came to Peter to wash his feet, Peter said No, Lord, you can t wash my feet! Jesus said, Peter, unless I wash your feet, you have no part with me. Then Peter said, Then don t just wash my feet! Wash all of me! Peter meant that he wanted whatever Jesus had for him. Look at your feet here in our circle. Some of your feet may serve God on a mission field. Some of your feet may run and play with little children to share God s love. Some of your feet may walk hospital hallways bringing God s healing power. Whatever God has for you, if you obey, you will be great in God s eyes, because you will be a servant like Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for putting aside your power and authority and becoming a servant. We want to follow your lead because we love you. In Jesus name, amen. Love the Lord While the children are still seated in the circle, challenge them to move their feet from the ankle only to make movements to the song Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). You have the power to use a whole strong leg to move your foot. Jesus has all the power of almighty God. Instead of acting out his power, Jesus held back his power and showed himself to us as a gentle servant. Hold back the power of your strong leg muscles. Use only your ankles to make motions with your feet as we sing Love the Lord. Sing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 8 Session 3 KidsOwn Worship 41

42 Session 4 Jesus Is Tried and Crucified Luke 19:28-40; 23:1-49 Worship Theme: Jesus died for our sins. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will worship Jesus because he died for our sins and is worthy of all praise. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing Let s Go! (Ephesians 2:10) (track 7) Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) (track 8) To God Be the Glory (track 5) He s the King (track 13) Sing Unto the Lord (track 19) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver, Lesson Videos DVD: Color Challenge CD player, TV, DVD player, play money Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Thank You, Lord Experience the excitement of Palm Sunday and thank the Lord for dying for them. Jesus Died for Me? Learn that Jesus died for them. The Blame Play a game to learn that Jesus took the blame for them. Green crepe-paper streamers Manila envelope, small mirror 42 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

43 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * Get Out of Jail Experience justice and redemption. *Palms to Crosses Play a game to learn about Palm Sunday and the road to the cross. *Dead or Alive, Part 1 Observe dead plants and relate them to dry, dead lives. Cardboard tube, black crepe-paper streamer, child-safe hammer KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: He s the King (track 13) Construction paper, CD player KidsOwn Worship Kit: Dinosaur Plant Dead plants, vase, dishes or bowls, water, pitcher, paper, pencils Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Give their offerings and a token of their dead, dry lives. Thanksgiving Say prayers of thanksgiving. Celebration Celebrate the Lord s triumph over sin on the cross. Offering bowl, bowl, bag of dead grass KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: To God Be the Glory (track 5) CD player *Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 4 KidsOwn Worship 43

44 Bible Background for Leaders Jesus Is Tried and Crucified Luke 19:28-40; 23:1-49 This passage moves from the elation of Jesus triumphal entry to the despair of his death on the cross. Sometimes we don t realize that these highs and lows occurred within less than a week. The disciples joy on Palm Sunday turned to fear and confusion on Thursday night and to disbelief when Jesus was crucified on Friday. Jesus entered the city riding a colt in order to fulfill the Messianic prophecy in Zechariah 9:9. This was a sign that Jews had been watching for. In addition, a king riding a horse indicated that the king was going into battle; whereas a king riding a donkey was a symbol of peace. The Pharisees request to Jesus to rebuke his disciples (Luke 19:39) was based on the Pharisees belief that the people were shouting blasphemy when they declared that Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus response likely related to his location: Huge stones made up the wall and the gate that Jesus was approaching. He was saying that even if the people were forced to be silent, the announcement that the Pharisees didn t want to hear would still be made! Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, had been less than pleasant to the Jews during his rule. He had taken money from the Temple treasury for a city water project and had brought images from the Roman Empire into the city of Jerusalem. But he knew not to go too far in his irritation of the Jews. If too many complaints about him reached Rome, he might lose his position. So he was likely feeling insecure when the Jews came to him with their request to crucify Jesus. Thus, even though it appears that Pilate felt Jesus was innocent, he was unwilling to stand up against the Jews. Against his better judgment, he granted their wish and sent Jesus to be crucified. It is significant that Jesus was crucified between two criminals. To the Jews, this indicated that he was a criminal. It seems likely that the religious leaders had exerted their influence to arrange for this positioning as one more way to humiliate Jesus. When Jesus died, the skies became dark from noon until three o clock in the afternoon when the sun would normally have been at the height of its brilliance. There is no way to explain this darkness as a natural phenomenon. God must have darkened the sun. When this passage was written, hundreds of thousands who could have attested to the accuracy of the statement would still have been alive. The centurion mentioned in Luke 23:47 was a Roman soldier, loyal to the emperor. Something about what happened as Jesus died made a difference in that man s life. Everyone who witnessed Jesus death seemed to sense that something very wrong had happened (Luke 23:48). Jesus was a righteous man who died for the sins of all who believed. But thanks to God, the story doesn t end in death. Devotion for Leaders It is easy to forget with all of the demands on our time and attention that everything in this life is about God. This one truth is woven into the very fabric of creation. What an honor to be in a loving relationship with Jesus! Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Pick up a rock. What does it tell you about God? Its mere existence is a testimony to the greatness of a Creator with no beginning or end. Fill every moment of today praising your Messiah. 44 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

45 Teaching This Bible Story to Children You might be surprised to see that this week s session teaches children about the Crucifixion. Rest assured that for this age level we have chosen to focus on the result of Jesus death rather than the details of it. Check out the session we think you ll find God has a lot to teach children through this important Scripture! Why We Worship for Leaders Today s Bible story begins with Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem and ends with his triumphal death on the cross. Although Jesus death on the cross may have looked like the ultimate defeat, it was the beginning of the ultimate victory over the power of sin. Because Jesus paid the price for our sins, he deserves our highest praise. Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Cue the Lesson Videos DVD to the segment titled Color Challenge. You ll want to watch the segment at least once before the worship session. Dead or Alive, Part 1 Gather at least three dead plants for example, a small bag of dead grass, a flower from an old flower arrangement, and a neglected houseplant. Include a vase and at least two dishes or bowls so the plants can be watered. You ll need a second bag of dead grass for The Offering. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Hand each child a play-money coin or bill as you say, Someone paid for your sins! As you came in, I gave you play money to remind you that someone paid for your sins, or the bad things you ve done. That someone was Jesus! But he didn t pay for your sins with cash. He paid a much higher price. Today we worship because Jesus died for our sins. The price for your sins was his life. Jesus loved you enough to die for you. That thought makes me so excited, I want to get up and go do great things for Jesus! Sing Let s Go! (Ephesians 2:10). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 7 The song we just sang says, Let s go! There s work to do. What kind of work is there to do? (Praising Jesus; telling others about Jesus.) There s lots of work we can do for Jesus. But today we worship him because of what Jesus did he gave up his life for us so that Session 4 KidsOwn Worship 45

46 we could have eternal life. Let s find out why Jesus had to give his life for us. Show the DVD segment titled Color Challenge. It will show kids that they can t play a game perfectly. After the game, At the beginning of this DVD, did you think that game sounded easy or hard? Why? (Easy, because all you have to do is look at the color; hard, because it was confusing.) Did you change your mind after you began to play the game? (Yes, the game was harder than it seemed; no, it was easy.) It doesn t really matter whether we can name the colors perfectly. It was just a game. The game did show us that none of us is perfect. But Jesus is perfect; and God wants us to be like Jesus! What do you think that means? (We should love God; we should serve others.) The Bible says that none of us is perfect because each of us sins. What is sin? (The things we do wrong; the bad stuff we do.) Sinning is doing wrong. It s going against God s rules. God saw that each one of us sins. And God knew that we d have to be punished for the wrong things we ve done. The punishment for sinning is death. But God loves us so much, he didn t want us to die. So God sent his Son, Jesus, to take the punishment for our sins. Jesus died on the cross so we can live with him in heaven forever. Let s sing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) and show our love for him. Sing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 8 Why do you think Jesus was willing to give his life for you? (Because he loves me; because he s God; I m not sure.) Jesus loves each of you enough to give his life for you. There is no greater love than that. Everyone please stand. You represent the whole wide world. Jesus gave his life for everyone in the world. First row, please sit down. Now there are fewer people in the world. Would Jesus have died for fewer people? (Yes; maybe; no.) The next two rows, please sit down. Now there are many fewer people in the world. If there were just a few people in the world, would Jesus have thought they were important enough to die for? (Yes, he still would have; probably; I m not sure.) Now, everyone sit down except [name of one child]. What if you were the only person in the world. Would Jesus have died just for you? (I don t know if he would have; I hope so.) Jesus loves each of you enough to die just for you. Everyone stand and thank him for loving you enough to die for you. (Pause.) 46 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

47 What can you give Jesus in return for giving his life for you? (My loyalty; my love back to him; my praise; my thanks.) Right, you can give him your heart, your life, your praise, and your thanks. Let s sing To God Be the Glory to praise Jesus for giving his life for us. Sing To God Be the Glory. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 5 Isn t it great to be free? The people of God were looking for freedom freedom from the strange government that ruled over them and the freedom that was promised to them long ago through the Messiah, a Savior. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, the people shouted praises to him. Some thought that Jesus might be the Messiah. The Pharisees complained about the noise the people were making. Jesus told them that if the people were silent, the rocks would cry out. The people shouted, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! As we sing He s the King, imagine that you re one of the people along the road as Jesus rode by. Let s sing and shout praises to the King! Sing He s the King. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 13 Let s continue to praise his name as we sing the next song. Imagine Jesus as the King of kings in crowning glory! Sing Sing Unto the Lord. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 19 Lord, thank you for loving us enough to die for us. You paid the price for us, and we praise you forever. In Jesus name, amen. Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. Session 4 KidsOwn Worship 47

48 Elementary Activities * Get Out of Jail Today we re going to check out your understanding of justice. I need a policeman, a jailer, and a judge. Give the policeman a cardboard tube to look through. Give the jailer a roll of black crepe-paper streamer. Give the judge a child-safe hammer to use as a gavel. Instruct the judge privately that children will ask questions later and that the answer to every one should be, No. Justice must be served. An offer to take the place of the person, however, should be accepted. The judge can also answer yes to questions that might lead to the right solution. The rest of us are going to do a clap pattern. Show children how to clap their knees two times, clap their hands twice, and then snap with the left hand and touch their forehead with their right palm. Let them practice a few times. Beginning now, anyone who doesn t do the pattern exactly as I taught it can be caught and brought to jail. Officer, remain on the lookout. Bring in anyone who breaks our law. Have children continue the pattern until someone breaks the law and is caught by the officer. When the officer brings someone to the jailer, the jailer may wrap the criminal in crepe paper. All right, now we need to swear the rest of you in as advocates for the criminal. You have to figure out how to free this criminal from jail. You may ask the judge any questions that can be answered with a Yes or a No to figure out how to free the captive. Allow the kids about 20 questions. If they still have not come up with the solution of having someone take the criminal s place, stop the children. This looks pretty hopeless, doesn t it? The judge must have justice, but none of your solutions is good enough, even though you ve been quite creative. Let s stop the action here. What do you think about the criminal s offense? Did he or she do anything that bad? (No; nothing that bad.) Let s ask the judge if it matters how bad the crime was. Let the judge answer. Is there a solution? (Yes, we can let him free; no, he s stuck in jail.) How was the judge like God? (He was powerful; he knew a lot.) How was the criminal like you? (He couldn t defend himself; he wasn t strong.) How was the solution like what must happen for each of us? (Jesus must take our place; Jesus must defend us.) (continued on page 51) 48 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

49 Preschool Activities Jesus Is Tried and Crucified Session 4 Worship Theme: Luke 19:28-40; 23:1-49 Using Theo Jesus died for our sins. Easy Prep for Leaders Jesus Died for Me? Before the children arrive, place a mirror in a manila envelope. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo look at the mirror during the Jesus Died for Me? activity. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. Thank You, Lord Give each child a strip of green crepe-paper streamer. For our Bible story today, you will need a palm branch. A palm branch comes from a palm tree. Pretend the streamers I gave you are great big palm branches. Our Bible story tells us about a time Jesus rode into the city on a donkey. All the people stood on the road and waved their palm branches. They were excited because some of them thought that Jesus would be their king. They treated him like a great king. They shouted praises to Jesus. Everyone wave your palm branch. They shouted, Blessed is the king! Encourage children to echo you. They shouted, Who comes in the name of the Lord. Pause for the echo. Now let s put it together, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Let s all shout and wave our branches. What would you have shouted to praise Jesus? The people were so loud that some of the leaders said, Jesus, quiet this crowd! Jesus said, If they don t praise me, then the rocks will shout! What do you think shouting rocks would sound like? Let s make a rumble like shouting rocks. Have the children pound on the floor, gently at first, then building in intensity. Jesus was reminding people that all creation shows the glory of God. People praise God with shouts. Several days after the parade, Jesus was arrested. The leaders who didn t understand that he was God s Son hung him on a cross to try to get rid of him. But God had a different plan. God allowed Jesus to die to pay for our sins the things we do that don t please God. Who did Jesus die for? Right, Jesus died for you! He took the blame for you! Now you can be with God. We thank Jesus for dying for us. Let s say together, Thank you, Lord! Session 4 KidsOwn Worship 49

50 Preschool Activities Jesus Died for Me? The Blame Today I have a story to tell you about a little girl named Katie. Katie went to church all the time. At church, her teacher said that Jesus died for sins. Katie thought that Jesus must have died for someone really important! After all, if Jesus was willing to die for someone, that person must be very special! Katie decided to find out exactly who Jesus died for. She went on a trip and asked people who Jesus died for. She came upon a princess, the Princess [Name of a girl in the room]. Ask the girl you named if Jesus died for her. Encourage her to pretend to be a princess and answer the question. Next, she came upon a prince. Repeat the procedure with a boy. Continue in like manner, explaining that Katie came upon presidents, pastors, queens, kings, and other important leaders. Jesus died for our sins. What is sin? Sin is all the bad stuff we do that keeps us from God. We can t be with God when we sin. Jesus died for our sins so that we could be with God. Has anyone ever blamed you for doing something you didn t do? It s no fun to take the blame for someone else. It s no fair to get in trouble for something we didn t do. But Jesus volunteered to take the blame for us. Let s play a game to help us understand that. Have the children line up against one wall. When I say Green light, move toward the other wall. When I say Red light, everyone has to stop. If you get caught moving on a red light, you must take the blame and go back to the beginning. Finally, Katie thought she understood. Jesus died for princesses, princes, presidents, pastors, queens, and kings. Katie told her friend what she had discovered. If Katie told you that Jesus died for all those important people, what would you say to her? Katie s friend said, Yes, Jesus died for all those people, but he also died for someone else who is very special to him. Look inside this envelope, and see who Jesus died for. Shh! Don t tell who you see. Allow the children to look in the envelope one at a time to see their reflections. Who did Jesus die for? Jesus died for everyone! Jesus died for you. Let s all say together, Jesus died for me! When someone gets caught moving on a red light, explain that you ll take the blame for that person. I ll take the blame for you. I ll go back of the line and you can keep playing. Continue playing until all the children have reached the opposite wall. Then join them. How did you feel when I took the blame for you so you could keep playing the game? Jesus took the blame and punishment for our sins. How does it make you feel to know that Jesus has paid for your sin? You deserved to go to the back of the line when you moved, but I took the blame for you and went to the back of the line instead. We deserve to be away from God, but Jesus took the blame for us so we could be with God. That s why Jesus died for our sins. He died so we could be with God. 50 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

51 (continued from page 48) There is only one solution that will free us from our sins, no matter how big or little our sins seem to us. That solution is Jesus taking our places. That s called redemption. We deserve to die for our sins. But Jesus, who was perfect, took our place and gave his life so that we don t have to pay for our own sins. Rip the crepe paper off your criminal, and thank all the kids for their participation. * Palms to Crosses Our Bible story today comes from the Gospel of Luke. The Bible tells us that Jesus rode into the city on a donkey. As he rode, people tried to cover the ground the donkey walked on with their cloaks to show honor to Jesus. Other Bible passages tell us that people also waved palm branches and threw them onto the road. Give half the children green construction paper. Ask them to wave the papers as if they were palm branches before putting them on the ground. Give the rest of the children sheets of construction paper in various colors. Have the children pretend these sheets of paper are cloaks. Choose one child to pretend to be Jesus and another to pretend to be a donkey. Send them outside the room. Tell them that as soon as the music starts, they are to enter the room. They can only step on palm branches or cloaks. The rest of the kids will pretend to be the crowd, shouting Hosanna or Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, and trying to lay palm branches or cloaks before Jesus and the donkey. Their goal is to get Jesus all the way across the room by the time the music stops. I ll play the song He s the King, and let s wave our palm branches in praise to Jesus, our King. Play He s the King. Track 13 Now I want you to collect all the groundcovering and form a large cross with it. Then be seated around the cross. Give the kids time to complete your instructions. It didn t take long for all that glory to become a cross. And it didn t take long after Jesus came into Jerusalem for the tide of public opinion to turn. You see, not everyone who saw Jesus make that kingly trip into the city was pleased to see how people felt about Jesus. Some people thought Jesus should get the crowd to settle down and not create such a ruckus. Those people were some of the ones who went to government officials to try to get Jesus into trouble. And it worked. Soon another crowd was shouting about Jesus. This time they were saying Crucify him! Crucify him! And that s what happened. Jesus gave his life on a cross. But little did Session 4 KidsOwn Worship 51

52 those people know that Jesus death was part of God s great plan. Let s find out more about how that plan works and why Jesus had to die. * Dead or Alive, Part 1 Set out the three dead plants you gathered before the worship session. Also set out the Dinosaur Plant from the KidsOwn Worship Kit. Label the plants, Plant A, Plant B, Plant C, and Plant D. Worship Leader Tip The Dinosaur Plant from the KidsOwn Worship Kit is actually dormant moss. After a few hours in water, the Dinosaur Plant will turn green and lush. This plant makes a powerful point about the Resurrection. Because the plant takes several hours to transform, though, you ll need to continue this object lesson in next week s worship session. Follow the instructions for this activity carefully. You may want to read ahead in next week s instructions to see how it all turns out. Have children form groups of four or five. Give each group a sheet of paper and a pencil. Have each group sit by one of the plants. If you have more than four groups, make sure they are evenly distributed among the plant stations. For this activity, you re all going to be scientists. You ll have a minute to make observations about the plant you re sitting by. Choose a recorder in your group; your recorder will list all of your observations. Be sure to be thoughtful scientists. Other groups will also observe the plant you re observing. Give the groups one minute to make observations about the plant they re sitting next to. Then have the groups rotate and make observations about the next plant. Have the groups continue rotating until they ve made observations about each of the plants. What did you notice about these plants? (They are dead; they look bad.) Are these plants living or dead? How do you know? (Dead, because they are brown; dead, because the leaves are dried up.) Now we re going to put water on each of these plants. Your group s job is to decide what you think will happen to these plants when I give them water. Take a minute to discuss with your group what you expect will happen. While you re discussing, I ll water the plants. Water each plant while the small groups are discussing what will happen. What do you think will happen when water is poured onto these plants? (Nothing; maybe the plant will come back to life.) Do you think the water will make these plants come back to life? Why or why not? (Maybe, if the plant drinks enough water; no, the plant is already dead.) We all agreed that these plants look dead. They re brown and brittle. Living plants are green and flexible. The Bible tells us that people who sin are dead on the inside. What do you think that means? (They don t feel alive; they don t know Jesus.) Is there any way for us to come back to life again? Explain. (Yes, if we love Jesus; yes, if we ask God to forgive our sins.) 52 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

53 The Bible tells us that Jesus died for our sins. We know that means that Jesus took the punishment for our sins, but it means something else, too. It means that Jesus can bring us back to life again. Jesus died for our sins, and he gives us new life. These plants look dead now. But next week, on the day we celebrate the Resurrection, you ll notice a big change. Be sure to come back next week to see what happens. After the worship session, take the Dinosaur Plant out of the water. Next week, you ll need to put the plant back in the water at least four hours before the worship session. Let s Pray! The Offering Set a bag of dead grass and an empty bowl next to the offering bowl at the front of the room. The penalty for our sin is death. Our sin makes us as dead as the plants we studied today. As we give our offering today, let s also give God our dead, dry lives and ask him to make us new. Come to the front of the room, put a little bit of the dead grass into the bowl next to the offering bowl, and thank God that, because of Jesus gift to you, you don t have to be dead in sin. Take the offering. Thanksgiving Let s praise God for giving his Son to die for us. Let s take turns around the room saying sentence prayers of thanksgiving for what Jesus has done for us. I ll start. Lord, my heart is so full of thanks for your sacrifice. Thank you for your love. Allow the children to pray around the circle. Celebration When we realize what Jesus has done for us by dying on the cross, we want to celebrate. What do we do when we celebrate our favorite team s victory? (We clap; we throw a party; we shout hooray.) Jesus death on the cross brought us victory. Let s stand, clap our hands, and shout praises to him. Play To God Be the Glory. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 5 Session 4 KidsOwn Worship 53

54 Let s close by cheering together, Thank you, Jesus, for dying for my sins. Lead the kids in doing the wave, raising their arms up high just as soon as they see the person to their right raising his or her arms. Do this several times to praise God. 54 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

55 Encouragement for Leaders Dear God, help me to remember that as I serve these children I am serving you. Please give me strength each day to be kind and patient with these precious little ones. In Jesus name, amen.

56 Session 5 Jesus Appears to Mary John 20:1-18 Worship Theme: Jesus has power over death. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will praise Jesus for his power over death. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing It Is by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) (track 21) I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25) (track 16) His Great Love (Romans 5:8) (track 14) That You May Believe (John 20:31) (track 18) Are You Going to Praise the Lord? (track 1) Christ the Lord Is Risen Today (track 15) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver, Dinosaur Plant CD player, notebook, dead plants from last week, bowl, water, paper, pencils Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Resurrection Angels Make angels to tell the Bible story. He s Alive! Hear the Bible story, and learn that Jesus has power over death. From Sadness to Joy! Celebrate Jesus resurrection with a special snack. 1 foam cup and doily per child, markers, tape White sheet, box, towel, white rags, angels from Resurrection Angels, Bible Napkins, doughnuts, juice, paper cups 56 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

57 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * The Busker Watch a DVD about illusion and the reality of the Resurrection, and then listen to the Bible story. *Popping Praises Praise the Lord while popping balloons to find a resurrection surprise. *Celebration Eggs Fill eggs to help others celebrate the Resurrection. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Lesson Videos DVD: The Busker TV, DVD player, Bible, 2 rubber bands per child Balloons, photocopies of Resurrection Messages (at the end of this session), scissors, trash bag Photocopies of Resurrection Messages (at the end of this session), scissors, plastic Easter eggs, bowls, candy, baskets Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God. Closing Prayer Hear a closing prayer. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25) (track 16) Offering bowls, CD player *Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 5 KidsOwn Worship 57

58 Bible Background for Leaders Jesus Appears to Mary John 20:1-18 John s Gospel records that only Mary Magdalene went to Jesus tomb early on that Resurrection morning. Some scholars feel this contradicts the other Gospels, which state that other women accompanied Mary. However, in John 20:2, Mary uses the word we as she tells Peter of what was seen at the tomb. Apparently John knew of the other women; he just didn t feel it necessary to mention them since Mary was the central figure. It is obvious from Mary s response and from that of the disciples that no one expected Jesus to rise from the dead. Only after his resurrection were they able to remember things he had said and realize that his death was part of the plan all along. The other disciple mentioned in verse 2 was John himself. Even though he arrived at the tomb first, he didn t go in immediately. Bold, impetuous Peter arrived after John and burst into the tomb to see what had happened. The body was gone, but the grave clothes were still there. In fact, the wrap that had been on Jesus head was folded up, not tossed carelessly as a grave robber might have done. We aren t told of Peter s response, but we see that when John followed him in and saw the position of the grave clothes, John believed. Peter and John left the tomb, but Mary couldn t. For her, the disappearance of Jesus body was still a mystery. As she stood outside sobbing, she peered into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there. In her grief, it didn t register who or what they were. Her response to the angel s inquiry indicates that she hadn t grasped what had happened. She was sad because she thought Jesus body had been taken away. She had no comprehension that Jesus had risen. Why did Mary not recognize the Lord she was looking for when she turned around and saw him? Several factors probably contributed to her lack of recognition: She knew he was dead and was not expecting him to be alive, she may not have raised her eyes to really look at him because she didn t want to show her tears, she may not have seen clearly through her tears anyway, and Jesus was now in his glorified body he may have looked very different from when she had last seen him. It is interesting that Jesus repeated the same question the angels had asked Mary. The angels and Jesus were both trying to help Mary understand what had actually happened. But she just couldn t comprehend it until Jesus called her name. She knew the voice of Jesus and recognized him. Why did Jesus not want Mary to hold on to him? Perhaps he wanted her to realize that his physical presence was no longer so important. He would always be spiritually present in the Holy Spirit. Devotion for Leaders Mary recognized the gentle voice speaking her name because she was in a habit of listening to this One she loved. The same voice calls to us, inviting, assuring, welcoming us into a full life with him a timeless relationship with Jesus. Show your joy! Weaving Faith Into Your Life: After witnessing incredible miracles, seeing a dead man brought to life, hearing predictions Christ made about his death, the disciples still weren t expecting a happy ending to the crucifixion of the Lord. It was the resurrection of Jesus that changed everything and gave them the courage they needed to face death unafraid. How is the resurrection of Christ changing the way you live? 58 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

59 Why We Worship for Leaders With his resurrection, Jesus overcame death. He proved himself Lord, ruler over everything, and master of the universe! He showed once and for all that he is God. The Resurrection is good news for kids, who love it when their heroes triumph over evil. They find happiness and security in knowing that Jesus, the true hero, is not a makebelieve character but a real, true, living person who came to earth just for them. Jesus triumphed for all time and all people everywhere. His resurrection means new life and unending resources resources the world can t give, such as love, joy, and peace for believers living with him. That s our reason for worshipping him! Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Place the Dinosaur Plant from the KidsOwn Worship Kit in a bowl of water at least four hours ahead of time or overnight. Set it on a table near the entrance to the worship area, and set the dead plants from last week s worship session on the same table. Next to the Dinosaur Plant, place an open notebook or piece of paper and one or two pencils. If you want, include a magnifying glass. The Busker Set up a TV and DVD player, and cue the Lesson Videos DVD to the segment titled The Busker. Watch the segment at least once before the worship session so you ll be familiar with it. Popping Praises Photocopy Resurrection Messages (at the end of this session), and cut out the message slips. You ll need one slip for each member of your adult congregation and one for each child. Prepare a balloon for each child in your children s church by inserting one message slip into it and inflating it. Put the remaining message slips aside to use in the Celebration Eggs activity. (Get someone to help you if you have more than 20 kids!) To carry the balloons, put them in a large trash bag or in a bed sheet with the corners folded up. Celebration Eggs Get a plastic Easter egg and several pieces of candy for each member of your adult congregation. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Ask a few children to stand at the door and greet the other children as they arrive. Have them greet each child by name and say, Jesus is alive! As children enter the room, encourage them to examine the Dinosaur Plant immersed in water and write a comment or observation about how it has changed since they last saw it. Welcome to children s church, everyone! Jesus is risen! That s our reason for worshipping him today! Let s stand and sing It Is by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Sing It Is by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 21 Session 5 KidsOwn Worship 59

60 Great singing, everyone! Jesus has power over death. That s why we celebrate Easter. When Adam and Eve sinned, death entered the world. Since then, only one person has been able to conquer sin and death, and that s Jesus. Jesus resurrection proved he is God. It proved he s much more than just a good man. Let s celebrate that Jesus is alive! Sing I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 16 Because Jesus conquered death, those who believe in Jesus can live with him in heaven forever. Jesus is getting a place ready for us right now. It s a place where there will be no more pain or sadness, no suffering or sickness, no sin or death. Take a moment to think of something sad or painful in your life or in the life of someone you know. (Pause.) As we sing our next song, rejoice because whatever sad or painful thing you were thinking of won t be in heaven when we get there! Turn to your neighbor, give your neighbor a high five, and say, His love is great! Sing His Great Love (Romans 5:8.) Track 14 Lyrics are in the back of this book. Thanks to Jesus, we all have a place in heaven if we believe in him. Try to stay in a spirit of worship and spread out around the room. Find a place to stand by yourself. Pretend that it s the place God has for you in heaven. Pause as children spread out. Now, let s continue to worship by singing. Sing That You May Believe (John 20:31). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 18 What does it mean to say that Jesus has power over death? (He died, but he didn t stay dead; Jesus rose from the dead.) Jesus has power over death because he rose from the dead! That proved he is God! When we love him, we don t ever need to be afraid of dying. Jesus is the most powerful, the wisest, and most generous one in the universe. When you feel weak, God is most powerful. When you re confused, he s the wisest. When you need something, he s the most generous. Let s praise him for that! Sing Are You Going to Praise the Lord? Track 1 Lyrics are in the back of this book. When you came to children s church today, you made some comments and observations about the plant that we put in water during our last session. Here are some of your comments. Read some of the children s comments. 60 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

61 How is the plant different than when we first put it in water? (It s alive now; it s green.) How is this plant different from the other plants? (The other plants are still dead; the other plants are brown and dried up.) How is this plant like Jesus? (Jesus came back to life; Jesus didn t stay dead, just like this plant didn t stay dead.) All of these other plants stayed brown, dry, and dead. But this plant came back to life. Jesus came back to life, too. Jesus is the only one with the power to come back to life again. And he gives us new life, too. Let s thank Jesus for what happened on the cross and for what happened three days later when he rose from the dead. Sing Christ the Lord Is Risen Today. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 15 Jesus, thank you for having power over death. Because you loved and obeyed God by dying on the cross and coming back to life, you give us life, too. When we look at this little green plant, help us remember the life you give us when we live in you. We love you and want to please you and praise you. In Jesus name, amen. Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities * The Busker Show the Lesson Videos DVD segment titled The Busker. It explains that the Resurrection really happened. Be prepared to stop the DVD and hand each child two rubber bands to use to practice the trick that s shown on the DVD. What did you learn from this video? (How to do a new trick; that a busker is a street performer.) Why do some people have a hard time believing in the Resurrection? (Because it seems impossible; because they don t believe in God.) Session 5 KidsOwn Worship 61

62 Let s take a look at the Bible account of the Resurrection to see what we can learn. The Easter story is one most of you have heard many, many times. But as you hear it today, use your imagination to put yourself in the place of each person in the story. Imagine how you d feel if you d been there. To get ready for the story, spread out around the room and find a place where you won t be distracted by those around you. Get into a comfortable position, and close your eyes. (Pause.) Ready? Here we go. First, let s imagine that we are all Jesus good friends. On Friday, we watched Jesus die a cruel death. Take a moment to imagine how you d feel if your best friend died. (Pause.) Now listen to what the Bible says. Worship Leader Tip If you re looking for an easyto-read version of the Bible, try Group s Hands-On Bible. The Hands-On Bible uses the same experience-based learning to communicate God s Word in an active, understandable way. Read John 20:1-2 from an easy-to-understand version of the Bible. Explain that the disciple whom Jesus loved is John. Ask the following questions, but have the children just think about their answers. What was Mary probably thinking and feeling as she went to the tomb? (How sad she was; how much she missed Jesus.) What was she feeling when she ran to Peter and John? (Excited that Jesus was alive; excited to tell them the good news.) Read John 20:3-7. Then ask the following questions, but have the children think about their answers. What do you think John felt when he got to the tomb? (That he d believe it when he saw it; that he was going to see Jesus.) Why do you think he didn t go inside the tomb? (Maybe he didn t want to be disappointed; afraid of what he d find.) Why do you think Peter went in right away? What was he feeling? (He was excited, so he ran in; he could hardly wait to see Jesus again.) Read verses 8-9. What happened to John when he went inside the tomb? (He believed that Jesus was alive; he saw the evidence for himself.) Read verses 10-11a. Why do you suppose the disciples left? (They wanted to tell everyone; they were too excited to stay there.) Why did Mary cry? (Because she was happy; because she was scared; she thought someone had stolen Jesus body.) Read verses 11b-16. What made Mary recognize Jesus? (When he said her name, she recognized his voice; he spoke to her.) How do you think she felt when she realized she was talking to Jesus? (Really excited; very happy.) (continued on page 65) 62 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

63 Preschool Activities Jesus Appears to Mary Session 5 Worship Theme: John 20:1-18 Using Theo Jesus has power over death. Easy Prep for Leaders Resurrection Angels You ll need a white paper or foam cup and a small white doily for each child. Provide markers and tape. He s Alive! You ll need an old, white bedsheet, a large cardboard box or floor pillow, a folded towel or cloth, and white rags or strips of white toilet paper. Drape the sheet over a table near the story area to make a tomb, and place the empty box or pillow in front of it to represent the stone. Set a folded towel and some white rags inside the cave. Have within reach the two extra angels you made in the previous activity. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo tell the Bible story in He s Alive! Pinch a large white circle of tissue paper to make angel wings, and tape it to Theo s back. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. Resurrection Angels Today is Easter! This is the day we celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. How did Jesus die? What happened after he died? After Jesus died, his friends buried him inside a tomb, which was like a cave. They rolled a huge stone in front of it to keep his body safe. In a little while, we ll hear a Bible story that tells us that Jesus has power over death. But first let s make some special angels to help us tell the story. Have children turn their cups upside down and draw smiley faces on them. Help them pinch doilies in the middle to make angel wings and tape the wings to their cups. Be sure each child has an angel to use in the next two activities, and make two angels to use as you re telling the Bible story. He s Alive! Have children take their angels to the story area and sit down. Open your Bible to John 20. After Jesus died, he was buried in a tomb. The tomb was like a cave. Point to the sheetdraped table. A large stone was put at the entrance. Indicate the box or pillow. Cup your hands together to make a small cave. Use your thumbs for the stone in front of the cave. Now lift your thumbs up and look inside your cave. See how dark it is in there? After Jesus was buried, all his friends were very sad. They thought they would never see Jesus again. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb where Jesus was buried. She was surprised when she got there because the giant stone had been rolled away from it! She ran to tell Peter and John, who were two of Jesus special friends. Ask a volunteer to push the stone away from your cave. Lift up the sheet so children can see inside. Peter and John ran back to the tomb. They saw the cloth that Jesus had been wrapped in lying inside the cave. But Jesus wasn t there. After a while, Peter and John went home. But Mary stayed outside the tomb and cried. She was sad. Place the two extra angels inside the tomb. Session 5 KidsOwn Worship 63

64 Preschool Activities He s Alive! (continued) Then Mary peeked inside the tomb again. This time she saw two angels where Jesus body had been! Set your angel in your lap, and use your hands to make a tomb over the angel. (Pause.) Good job! Now hold your angel up because it s going to talk to Mary. (Pause.) The angels asked Mary why she was crying. Let s make our angels ask Mary that question. (Pause.) Just then Jesus came up behind her and called her name. When he said her name, Mary knew it was Jesus! She was so happy because he had risen from the dead! She went and told her friends all about Jesus. What happened to Jesus? Why did this make Mary and her friends so happy? What does this tell us about Jesus? Because Jesus didn t stay dead but came back to life, we know that he is God! We know that Jesus has power over death! We don t have to be afraid of anything, because Jesus power is able to take care of us and help us. That s why we celebrate Easter. Let s take our angels with us to the table to celebrate with a special snack. From Sadness to Joy! Have a helper give a napkin and paper cup to each child. Lay your cup on its side next to your napkin, and let s pretend it s the tomb that Jesus was buried in. Show me how sad you feel when you think about Jesus dying on the cross even though he didn t do anything wrong. (Pause.) Oh, you all look so sad! While you re still looking sad, let s put stones in front of our tombs to seal them up tight. Pass out doughnuts, and have children set them in front of the cup on the napkin. Now who can tell us the rest of the story so we can get to the happy, joyful part? Ask a few children to retell the story of Mary going to the tomb and discovering that Jesus had risen from the dead. Encourage children to roll their doughnuts away from the tomb when that part is mentioned. Mary was sad at first because Jesus died. Then she was overjoyed when she found out that he rose from the dead! Show me your happiest face. (Pause.) I feel happy just looking at you! Let s turn our tombs over and fill them up with juice to show that Jesus fills us with life and ALLERGY ALERT Be aware that some children have food allergies that can be dangerous. Know your children, and consult with parents about allergies their children may have. Also be sure to read food labels carefully as hidden ingredients can cause allergy-related problems. joy. Then we can eat and drink to celebrate that Jesus has power over death! 64 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

65 (continued from page 62) Though Mary saw Jesus standing next to her, she didn t recognize him at first. But when he called her name, she knew he was really Jesus and that he d risen from the dead. Jesus told Mary to go tell the others that he was alive. Mary joyfully went and told the news to the others. Have the children open their eyes and gather near you. When Mary, Peter, and John saw that the tomb was empty, they must have been a little bit confused. Then Jesus came and talked to Mary. He was dead but then he was alive. The Resurrection is real! Jesus is alive and real today. It s amazing and miraculous, but it s true. And it proves that Jesus was God and that he has complete power over death. Let s celebrate! * Popping Praises Clear an area of the room so that kids can move. Gather everyone in the cleared area, and set the bag of prepared balloons in the center. We ve been learning that Jesus has power over death because he rose from the dead. Warning To avoid potential choking hazards, pick up pieces of broken balloons promptly. Why is it so important to us today that he rose from the dead? (It means he told the truth about himself; it proves he has power over death.) How can the fact that Jesus has power over death help you in your life? (It gives me hope for eternity; it helps me trust Jesus.) The Bible says that when Mary and the disciples got to the tomb, they discovered that Jesus was gone. There was evidence in the tomb that he had been there they found the strips of linen and the burial cloth inside the tomb, but his body was gone. Let s pretend these balloons are tombs. Inside each tomb is something that reminds us of Jesus, though Jesus isn t there. Take a balloon now, then spread out around the room. Give kids a few moments to spread out. Worship Leader Tip On rare occasions, you may have a student who is allergic to latex products. If you do, use nonlatex balloons for the activity. They can be found at most party stores. When I say Go! try to pop your balloon. You can sit on it, step on it, squeeze it whatever you want. But each time you try to pop the balloon, shout out a praise or thank you to God. For example, you might shout, Praise you for dying on the cross! or Thank you for rising from the dead! or You have power over death! As soon as you pop your praises, pick up what s inside the balloon, and wait until others are finished. Are you ready? Go! Have kids pick up the messages that fall from the balloons as they pop. When everyone has a message, get the children s attention. That was a fun way to praise Jesus for having power over death! We re going to use these messages in a minute, but first let s pick up the balloon scraps and throw them away! Session 5 KidsOwn Worship 65

66 Worship Leader Tip If making eggs for everyone in the adult worship service is too ambitious for your group, have the children make celebration eggs for the children in another class or for the members of their family. ALLERGY ALERT See Session 2. Monitor this cleanup activity closely. Make sure the kids throw away every scrap of balloon and that no one keeps any scraps to play with. If young children use the room you meet in, vacuum the room thoroughly as soon as the worship session is over. Even tiny scraps of balloons can be choking hazards to young children. * Celebration Eggs Set out the message strips cut from Resurrection Messages on several tables. Put bowls of candy, plastic Easter eggs, and baskets on the tables. We re going to make celebration eggs to spread the news of Jesus resurrection to everyone in our church. I ve set out enough supplies for us to make celebration eggs for everyone who s here today. Let s make these eggs quickly so we can hand them out to the adults as they leave worship. Have the children meet around the tables and put a message strip and a few pieces of candy into each plastic Easter egg. Have the children put the finished eggs in the baskets. Continue until all the eggs have been filled. While the children are working, wander around the tables offering help to children who need it. Ask questions such as How does your family celebrate Jesus resurrection? and Why is it a good idea to spread the news of Jesus resurrection? You may want to play the Easter music from the Songs From FaithWeaver CD while the children are working. When the baskets of eggs are complete, have the children put the baskets near the door. Continue with Let s Pray! but keep an eye on the clock. Allow plenty of time for children to get in position to hand out celebration eggs to the adult congregation as people leave the worship area. Let s Pray! The Offering Put the offering bowls at the front of the room. Jesus has power over death. That s an amazing thing! It proves he is God. It means he deserves our worship. Before we give our offerings today, think of the number one reason you re grateful that Jesus has power over death. When you have that reason in mind, thank God silently while you walk to the front and place your offering in the bowl. Then sit down quietly, and wait until everyone is finished. Play I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25) while children bring their offerings. Track KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

67 Closing Prayer God, you are so good to us! Here we are, Lord, thanking you for sending Jesus for us. Jesus, thank you for dying for our sins. Thank you for rising from the dead to prove that you are God and that you have power over death. We give our hearts and lives to you. We love you, Lord. In Jesus name, amen. Session 5 KidsOwn Worship 67

68 Resurrection Messages He is risen, indeed! He is risen, indeed! Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive! Jesus died for your sins! Jesus died for your sins! Christ the Lord is risen today! Christ the Lord is risen today! Praise God! The tomb is empty! Praise God! The tomb is empty! I can go to heaven because Jesus is alive! I can go to heaven because Jesus is alive! He is risen, just as he said! He is risen, just as he said! Believe in the power of the Resurrection! Believe in the power of the Resurrection! Up from the grave he arose! Up from the grave he arose! Christ is risen! Shout, Hosanna! Christ is risen! Shout, Hosanna! Permission to photocopy this handout from KidsOwn Worship Leader Guide, Spring, granted for local church use. Copyright Group Publishing, Inc. group.com 68 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter OK to copy

69 Encouragement for Leaders Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else (2 Corinthians 9:13). Though you may not often hear words of thanks from the children in your class, these children will grow up knowing the love of God as a result of your obedience.

70 Session 6 Apostles Defend Their Faith Acts 5:12-42 Worship Theme: We can boldly follow God. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will boldly follow God through praise and worship. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing Christ the Lord Is Risen Today (track 15) I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25) (track 16) His Great Love (Romans 5:8) (track 14) Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) (track 8) He Is Good (Nahum 1:7) (track 4) Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23) (track 20) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, large poster board, marker Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Even If Play a variation of Follow the Leader. Bold Apostles Use toy people to dramatize the Bible story. Bold as Lions Act like lions, and practice following God boldly. Bible, 10 toy people, box 70 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

71 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) *A Bold Visitor Listen to Peter, who s excited and committed to boldly following God. *Be Strong and Courageous Watch a DVD segment about following God. *A Bold Lion Complete a lion poster that shows ways they can follow God boldly. Photocopy of Peter s Story script (at the end of this session) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Lesson Videos DVD: Wherever You Go TV, DVD player Newsprint, marker, tape, 10 self-stick notes per child, pencils, Bible Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God. Roar a Prayer Roar like lions as they pray about following God boldly. Stand-Up Prayer Stand up for God and pray. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) (track 8) Offering bowls, CD player *Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 6 KidsOwn Worship 71

72 Bible Background for Leaders Apostles Defend Their Faith Acts 5:12-42 Jesus resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit changed a band of confused, fearful followers into bold proclaimers of the message of Christ. They were not only bold, but they were also filled with God s power. Peter s shadow falling on someone in need brought healing! However, the praise this power and boldness brought to the name of Jesus did not please the religious leaders. As described in Acts 4, Peter and John had been brought before the Sanhedrin for questioning and told to stop teaching in the name of Jesus. Frustrated but finding no reason to punish them, the Sanhedrin had to let them go. Now, after performing more miraculous signs and arousing more excitement among the people, all of the apostles were brought in and locked up overnight. The Sanhedrin likely intended to punish them the next day. However, the next morning, the doors and gates to the cell were still securely locked, but the prisoners were gone. Rather than accept the supernatural release of the apostles, the authorities apparently concluded that someone in the Temple police was a sympathizer and had freed the prisoners. When the apostles were approached in the Temple court again, no force was used to bring them back to the meeting of the Sanhedrin. Had the apostles wanted to resist, the support of the crowd would have made it difficult for the religious leaders to bring them in. But the apostles didn t resist. Notice that the high priest didn t say a word about the apostles escape from jail. He didn t want to hear how they had been freed. He did, however, chastise them for having disobeyed the orders of the Sanhedrin. He didn t even want to utter the name of Jesus. Perhaps the high priest was afraid that the apostles would make him and the Sanhedrin look guilty for the death of Jesus. His guilt was haunting him, and he was becoming paranoid about the disciples motives. Peter, responding for all the apostles, was very clear. Members of the Sanhedrin couldn t disagree with the principle; they just disagreed over what it meant to obey God. Mistaken as they were, they thought they were obeying God. Gamaliel s response to the Sanhedrin was wise. After reminding the Sanhedrin of two people who had commanded followings and later faded away, he advised the Sanhedrin to leave the apostles alone. He said that if what the apostles were doing was simply self-manufactured it would go nowhere, but if it was of God, even the Sanhedrin wouldn t be able to stop it. Gamaliel s speech was effective. The Sanhedrin had the apostles flogged and let them go. The result? Day after day the apostles never stopped teaching about Jesus. Devotion for Leaders The Holy Spirit is sometimes described as a deposit assuring that God will make good on his promises of what is yet to come. The Holy Spirit guides, convicts, and inspires us as we grow in our relationship with Jesus. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Take a deep breath. What is this force that makes you alive, animating your body and giving you your very essence? Your spirit. This separates you from the dead. God has given his own Spirit to live in you, making you alive, animating your soul, giving you his very essence. Be fully alive! 72 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

73 Why We Worship for Leaders From the very beginning, the church faced persecution. The Romans and the Jewish leaders watched as the apostles stirred the people by performing miracles and delivering impassioned sermons. Thousands of people came to believe in Jesus. Both the Romans and the Jewish leaders persecuted Jesus followers in an attempt to put an end to the church. But the apostles preached the gospel boldly, despite the dangers of imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom. They could be bold because God gave them strength and courage. God will give us strength and courage, too, so that we may also follow God boldly. Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Copy the text of the What We Believe box (see activity) onto a large piece of poster board. A Bold Visitor Recruit a volunteer to play Peter. Then photocopy the Peter s Story script (at the end of this session) for your volunteer. Ask him to read through it several times. Tell him he should begin the script as soon as he comes into the room. Be Strong and Courageous Set up a TV and DVD, and cue the Lesson Videos DVD to the Wherever You Go segment. Watch the segment at least once before the worship session. A Bold Lion Make a lion poster by drawing a lion s face (see the illustration) on a large sheet of newsprint. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Greet children by name and say to each one, Be strong and courageous. Hello, everyone! Welcome to children s church! I m glad you re here today to worship God. Today we re going to talk about following God boldly. Our God is great! He sent his Son to die for us so that we can live in heaven forever! That s fantastic news that we can boldly share with others. Let s sing boldly about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Sing Christ the Lord Is Risen Today. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 15 Let s talk about the difference between being bold and timid. What does it mean to be timid? (To be shy; to hold back a little.) Let s greet each other timidly. Use a timid voice to say good morning to three other people. Have the children greet each other timidly. Session 6 KidsOwn Worship 73

74 Worship Leader Tip If you have access to PowerPoint software or an overhead projector, you can use that instead of writing out the What We Believe text on poster board. What does it mean to be bold? (To be brave; to be loud.) Let s greet each other boldly. Use a bold voice to say good morning to three other people. Have the children greet each other boldly. Why do you think it s good to be bold about God rather than timid? (We shouldn t hold back when we talk about God; because God is worth making noise about.) How do you think God feels when we re bold about believing in him? when we re timid? (Happy when bold; disappointed when timid.) God is a great God. He s worth being excited about. We show God and the whole world that we think he s wonderful when we follow him boldly and with excitement. Let s praise God with bold hearts and bold voices. Sing I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 16 God does great and mighty things in our lives. Because of God s Son, Jesus, all our sins are washed away, and we can dance together in the city of our God. That s something to get excited about. It s something to tell the world about. Let s praise God together for his great love! Sing His Great Love (Romans 5:8). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 14 Let s boldly declare what we know to be true about God. Draw the children s attention to the What We Believe poster on the wall. Then read the words aloud with the children. Don t rush through this activity. Encourage the children to call out the words with strong, confident voices. 74 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

75 What We Believe There is only one God, the God of the Bible. God has always been alive. And God will always be alive. I believe in God the Father. God is the maker of all things. God made the universe. God made the world. God made people. God made me. God can do anything. God loves me. I believe in Jesus. Jesus is God s only Son. He came to the world as a baby. He lived a perfect life he never did anything wrong. Jesus died for my sins. On the third day, he rose again. Now Jesus lives in heaven. Someday, all those who trust in Jesus will live with him in heaven. I believe in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives within me. The Spirit gives me strength. The Spirit gives me encouragement. The Holy Spirit helps me pray. And the Spirit helps me know the right thing to do. I believe in God the Father! I believe in Jesus! I believe in the Holy Spirit! In Jesus name, amen. Permission to photocopy this box from KidsOwn Worship Leader Guide, Spring, granted for local church use. Copyright Group Publishing, Inc. group.com We ve praised God with our bold words. Now let s sing about how much we love God. Sing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 8 God will help us be bold for him. This next song says that we can go to God whenever we need help. Let s sing together. Sing He Is Good (Nahum 1:7). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 4 Let s sing this next song as a prayer. While we sing, thank God for the gifts of his Holy Spirit. Tell God how much you love him. Sing Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 20 God, we are your children, and we do love you more every day. We want to be your bold followers. Help us learn how to honor you by following you boldly. In Jesus name, amen. If possible, leave your What We Believe poster in your meeting area for the kids to see and be encouraged in their faith in the coming weeks. Session 6 KidsOwn Worship 75

76 Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities * A Bold Visitor Invite the volunteer who s acting in the role of Peter to enter the room. Peter should immediately begin to follow the script, speaking loudly, quickly, and enthusiastically. When your volunteer has finished the story, ask him the following questions. Peter s answers are in the script. Why is it so important to you to tell people about Jesus? Why are you so bold about spreading the message of the gospel? Is it hard for you to be bold? How would you encourage these children to boldly follow Jesus? Thank you, Peter, for telling us your story. You are an example to all of us. Encourage the children to say goodbye to Peter. Wow! Peter sure was excited. Have you ever been that excited about anything? Tell us about it. (Answers will vary.) Why do you think Peter was so excited about Jesus that he preached the good news even though he was thrown in prison? (Because Jesus is good news; because he loved Jesus so much.) Peter was even beaten for preaching about Jesus. Has anything bad ever happened to you because you follow God? Tell us about it. (Answers will vary.) Why do you think Peter continued to be bold for Jesus? (Because he wasn t afraid; because God gave him strength.) Following God boldly isn t always easy. But we can follow Peter s example. Even when bad things happened, he still obeyed God and continued to tell people about Jesus. He knew that people needed to know about Jesus. The good news about Jesus is the best news ever. We, too, can boldly follow God and tell others about Jesus. Let s learn more. (continued on page 79) 76 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

77 Preschool Activities Apostles Defend Their Faith Session 6 Worship Theme: Acts 5:12-42 Using Theo We can boldly follow God. Easy Prep for Leaders Bold Apostles Set out at least 10 small toy people and a box that can be used as a prison. Mark Acts 5:12-42 in your Bible. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo roar like a lion and march along with the children during the Bold as Lions activity. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. Even If To play this imaginative version of Follow the Leader with your preschoolers, have the preschoolers line up behind you. Have the children begin to follow you as you march around the room. We will follow God boldly even if Complete the sentence with some kind of scary or worrisome possibility, such as even if we have to trudge through a swamp, or climb a tall mountain, or people make fun of us. As you mention each one, have the children act out following God despite the scary or worrisome thing. Make sure the examples are not too scary. Bold Apostles Open your Bible to Acts 5:12-42, and show the page to the children. This story comes from the Bible. I need you to help me tell the story. Are you ready? Good! One day Peter and some of Jesus other followers were at the Temple telling all the people the good news about Jesus. Let s use these toy people to show what that looked like. Have children set up several toy people to represent a crowd. Ask children to put three toy people in front of the crowd to represent Peter and other apostles preaching to the crowd. What do you think Peter and the other followers told the people about Jesus? Older preschoolers will enjoy coming up with such potential foes as alligators, bears, and tornadoes. Play the game for several minutes. Then gather the children in a circle. Why is it good to follow God? Do you think God is happy when we follow him? God is glad when we follow him no matter what. God helps us be strong and courageous so we can follow him all the time. Let s learn about some people in the Bible who followed God boldly. Some of the Temple leaders were angry with Peter and the other followers. They didn t understand that Jesus was God s Son, and they didn t want Peter and his friends to tell people about Jesus. So they threw Peter and his friends in jail. Let s put Peter and his friends in jail. Have children put Peter and the other followers in the box that s serving as the jail. How do you think Peter and Jesus other followers felt about being in jail? How do you think all the people felt with no one to tell them about Jesus? Session 6 KidsOwn Worship 77

78 Preschool Activities Bold Apostles (continued) That night an angel came and opened the doors of the jail. The angel told Peter and the other followers to go back to the Temple and preach about Jesus. Let s have an angel rescue Peter and his friends from jail. Ask a child to choose one toy person to be the angel that releases Peter and Jesus other followers from jail. What do you think Peter and his friends did next? The Bible tells us that as soon as the sun came up, Peter and his friends did just what the angel told them to do. They went back to the Temple and told the people about Jesus. Let s put Peter and his friends back with the crowd of people at the Temple. Have children put the figures in front of the crowd again. How do you think the people felt when Peter and his friends came back? The people who d put Peter and his friends in jail were surprised when they got to the Temple and saw Peter and his friends preaching again. The guards brought Peter and his friends to talk to the official leaders. Let s do that with the toys. Have children place two or three toy people to represent the Sanhedrin. Ask other children to move Peter and his friends next to these figures. The official leaders said, Hey, we told you to stop talking about Jesus. What do you think Peter said about that? Peter said, You told us to stop, but God told us to keep preaching. We must obey God rather than men. Then Peter and his friends told the official leaders all about Jesus. Peter and his friends were bold! They followed Jesus no matter what! Bold as Lions The Bible tells us that righteous people are as bold as lions. In our Bible story, Jesus followers were as bold as lions. Let s be bold, too, while we play this game. Tell the children to walk around the room and, when they hear you call out lion, drop to the floor and pretend to be lions. Encourage them to roar loudly and claw the air. Remind them frequently that they are good, friendly lions who love God. When you call out, Jesus followers, have the children stand up and march around the room as they shout, I love Jesus, and I am bold. Play the game for several minutes. Older preschoolers may enjoy changing the words they call out when they are Jesus followers. You may want to have them say, I serve Jesus, and I am bold or I follow Jesus, and I am bold. After you ve played the game several times, get the children s attention, and have them sit in a circle. Where can you be bold for Jesus? Encourage children to think of places such as at home, at church, at the park, at a friend s house, and at the store. Jesus wants us to be bold followers. And Jesus will help us be bold for him. 78 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

79 (continued from page 76) * Be Strong and Courageous Show the Lesson Videos DVD segment titled Wherever You Go. Why do you think God wants us to follow him boldly? (Because it s that important; because people need to know about Jesus.) When is it easy to follow God boldly? When is it hard? (When people are excited to hear about God; when they are not, it s hard.) What are the results when we follow God boldly? (We make him happy; God encourages us so we know we aren t alone.) It can be tough to follow God boldly. The Bible tells us that some people were treated badly for following God. Some people were put in prison, and some people were hurt or killed. We will probably never be treated that badly for following God, but our friends might make fun of us, and we might have to say no to peer pressure so we can follow God. We honor God and show that he s important to us when we follow him boldly no matter what the consequences. Even when it s tough to follow God, we can know that he will be with us and give us the strength and courage we need. The Bible promises that even if bad things happen, God will make all things turn out right in the end. * A Bold Lion Display the lion poster you prepared before the worship session, and have pencils and about 10 small self-stick notes per child ready to distribute. The Bible tells us that righteous people are as bold as lions. God wants us to follow him boldly. Let s think of ways we can follow God boldly. I ll pass out self-stick notes in a moment. On each of your self-stick notes, write a way you can boldly follow God. When you re done, we ll use the self-stick notes to make a lion poster for our room. Give each child a pencil and about 10 self-stick notes. Encourage the children to think of ways they can boldly follow God. Then show them how to wrap the nonsticky side of the note around the pencil to curl it. Have the children stick the notes to the lion poster to make a three-dimensional mane. (See the illustration.) Extra Impact While the children are writing ways they can be bold on sticky notes during the A Bold Lion activity, take some sticky notes for yourself (about one per child), and write notes to the children, encouraging them to show boldness in their lives. Give the notes to the children before they leave. How can you boldly follow God? (By telling others about Jesus; by letting other people know I read the Bible every day.) Listen to this verse from the Bible. Read Psalm 138:3 from an easyto-understand version of the Bible. Who makes us bold? (God does.) It s a good thing to boldly follow God. And we can count on God to give us courage and boldness to stand up for him. Let s thank God! Session 6 KidsOwn Worship 79

80 Let s Pray! The Offering As we give our offerings today, let s tell God that we want to follow him boldly. Talk to God silently as you wait for the offering bowl to come to you. Play Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) while you take the offering. Track 8 Roar a Prayer The Bible tells us that good people, the righteous, are as bold as lions. God makes us righteous. God will also make us bold. Let s thank God for making us bold. I ll lead us in prayer. Every time I pause, your job is to roar like a lion. Dear God, you are a great and mighty God, and you have done great things for us. We re excited about what you ve done for us, and we want to boldly tell the world about you. (Pause.) We want to be bold even when others make fun of our faith. (Pause.) We want to be bold even when we re the only ones who want to follow you. (Pause.) We want to be bold even when it s hard to follow you. (Pause.) And we know that you will help us boldly follow you. Thank you, God. In Jesus name, amen. Stand-Up Prayer Have the children sit in one large circle. Sometimes when we talk about following God boldly, we say we want to stand up for God. During our closing prayer today, you ll all have a chance to stand up for God. Here s what we ll do. We ll take turns around the circle. One person at a time will stand up and pray, God, I will boldly stand up for you. While you re waiting for your turn to stand up and after you ve had your turn, pray silently to ask God to help you boldly follow him. Ready? Here we go. Have children take turns around the circle as they stand to pray, God, I will boldly stand up for you. After each child has prayed aloud, close in prayer. God, thank you for helping us follow you boldly every day. We ask that you give us strength and courage to do what you want us to do. Please be with us every day. Thank you, God, for loving us and for helping us. In Jesus name, amen. 80 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

81 Peter s Story Peter: (Excited and animated, as if he can t stop talking about Jesus) Hi! I m Peter, and I m an apostle of our wonderful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I can t begin to tell you all the magnificent things that God has done through his one and only Son, Jesus. First of all, there was the Resurrection. We were all so scared when Jesus died. And some of us, me included, were not very faithful there for a bit. Then, on Sunday morning, Mary went to the tomb and saw that it was empty. And then I looked inside the tomb, and it was empty. Our Lord had risen from the dead! He was alive again. It was just so miraculous! It was so amazing that we had to tell others. Then Jesus met with us. For many days, he walked and talked and ate with us. He d been dead, but he was alive again. Amazing things were happening! They were almost unbelievable, they were so amazing. But I was right there. I saw these things myself. I talked with Jesus, and I ate with him. After several weeks, another amazing thing happened. Jesus was talking to us about the power that he was going to send to us it was to be a special gift when he just started rising into the air toward heaven. He kept going until we couldn t see him anymore. I d say it was the most amazing thing I d ever seen except that there were so many amazing things! Next was the celebration of Pentecost. That s when the Holy Spirit came and gave the other apostles and me special strength and power. We all started talking in languages that we d never learned. And people came to believe in Jesus. Soon we began meeting regularly in a special part of the Temple. We praised God, and the apostles performed miracles and wonders. People were healed every day, and more and more people began to believe in Jesus. But the high priest and all the Sadducees were not so happy about what was going on. They were jealous of the power we had and the way people were gathering to hear about Jesus. They arrested us and put us in jail. Then an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison and brought us out. The angel told us to go back into the Temple courts and to preach more the angel said to preach the full message of the new life that comes from Jesus. That s exactly what we did. There was so much to say, and there were so many people who needed to hear the message of Jesus. So, as soon as the sun came up, we were out there in the Temple courts preaching about Jesus. And do you know what? The captain of the Temple guard brought us in for questioning. The high priest said, We gave you strict orders not to preach in the name of Jesus. But you re still preaching. So I told the priest, You may have told us to stop preaching, but we must obey God rather than men. We had to preach the gospel. It s what God told us to do. Then I began to tell the guards and the priests all about Jesus. You wouldn t believe how angry they got they were absolutely furious! Then, a man named Gamaliel stood up to speak. The priests made all us apostles leave, but I found out what Gamaliel had to say. He said that they should just leave us alone. He said that if our message was false, we would fail, but if our message came from God, we would be unstoppable. He had no idea just how right he was. His words persuaded the priests to let us go, although they beat us and warned us to stop preaching about Jesus. But do you think that stopped us? Of course it didn t. Every day, from that day on, we preached about Jesus. There s nothing that could stop me from proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. Leader: Why is it so important to you to tell people about Jesus? Peter: Because Jesus is the Christ. He is our salvation. All people need to know how to find salvation from their sins. Leader: Why are you so bold about spreading the message of the gospel? Peter: Because this message is so important. And because God gives me strength, courage, and boldness. Leader: Is it hard for you to be bold? Peter: Yes, sometimes it is hard. We have been ridiculed and beaten. And we ve been thrown in prison. But even though it s hard, God gives us the strength to be bold. Leader: How would you encourage these children to boldly follow Jesus? Peter: I would say to them to ask God for strength. And I would also tell them to know why Jesus is so important to know that he is the world s salvation. When you understand that people all over the world need to know who Jesus is, it becomes easier to be bold. Permission to photocopy this page from KidsOwn Worship, Leader Guide, Spring, granted for local church use. Copyright Group Publishing, Inc. group.com OK to copy Session 6 KidsOwn Worship 81

82 Session 7 Saul Meets Jesus Near Damascus Acts 9:1-20 Worship Theme: Jesus does extraordinary things. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will offer praise and worship to Jesus for the extraordinary things he does in our lives. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing Christ the Lord Is Risen Today (track 15) His Great Love (Romans 5:8) (track 14) To God Be the Glory (track 5) He Is Good (Nahum 1:7) (track 4) Let s Go! (Ephesians 2:10) (track 7) A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) (track 25) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, Bibles, Cross Puzzle pieces, poster board, tape Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) *Jesus Is Number One Experience something extraordinary, and learn that Jesus does extraordinary things. Oh, What a Trip! Hear and act out the story of Saul s conversion with flashing lights. Wow! Jesus Did That! Discover extraordinary things that Jesus does. Large bowl, cornstartch, water, hand wipes Flashlights 82 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

83 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Extraordinary Watch a video that illustrates what extraordinary means. * What Would You Do? See an extraordinary sight, discuss what they d do if they were God, and learn that God is always at work on their behalf. * From Ordinary to Extraordinary Take ordinary objects and turn them into the extraordinary. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Lesson Videos DVD: Extraordinary TV, DVD player KidsOwn Worship Kit: Special Effect Glasses Bibles, ball, Christmas lights, paper, pencils Common items (see Easy Prep), craft supplies Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Give God their offerings. Potato Praise Praise Jesus for the extraordinary things he does. Extraordinary Prayers Ask Jesus to do extraordinary things in them. Offering bowls Potato From Ordinary to Extraordinary creations *Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 7 KidsOwn Worship 83

84 Bible Background for Leaders Saul Meets Jesus Near Damascus Acts 9:1-20 Prior to his conversion, Saul oversaw the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7). Stephen was stoned because he accused the Jews of killing Jesus, who he announced to be the Messiah. By his own account, Saul was a zealous Jew, having grown up within the strictest sect of Judaism and having lived as a Pharisee. He did all he could to oppose the name of Jesus, putting many Christians in prison and casting his vote to put Christians to death. He traveled all over the region seeking them out (Acts 26:4-11). Within this context, Saul was traveling to Damascus to arrest Christians when Jesus met him on the road. A light he later described as brighter than the sun (Acts 26:13) flashed out of heaven, and he dropped to the ground. He was likely riding a horse or another animal. He didn t just fall to the ground he must have jumped down from the animal and fallen to the ground. When Jesus questioned Saul, Saul s question in return was genuine. The term lord can refer simply to a person of superior standing. It seems that Saul really didn t know who was addressing him. When Jesus told him who he was, the truth of all that had happened must have swept through Saul like a flood. All that Saul had believed about Jesus was wrong, and in his zeal for God, he had been persecuting those who believed what was true! It s interesting that Jesus told Saul that he was to go into the city and wait for instructions and that Saul was blinded and remained that way as he waited in Damascus for three days. We can only speculate on what went through Saul s mind during that time, but he must have been going through all the Old Testament Scriptures stored in his memory, sorting out how Jesus could be the Messiah in spite of Saul s earlier belief. God gave him time to think! Saul s meeting with Ananias introduces another aspect of the story. Imagine the faith it took for Ananias to seek out the man he probably knew was coming to town to arrest him and other Christians. How better could the Christians there and around Judea have found out about the change in Saul? God definitely knows what he is doing! Why did God choose Saul? God could have used anyone. Perhaps he chose Saul to be a supreme example of how a life can be changed when God enters it. It is often suggested that Saul of Tarsus became Paul after this conversion. The truth is that Saul was his Jewish name but Paul was the Roman equivalent by which he became better known. Devotion for Leaders Maybe you haven t experienced that kind of Road to Damascus conversion, and that s OK. The road that brought you to a relationship with Jesus doesn t matter. What is important is whether or not you are making the most of your journey with him. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Close your eyes tight. (Are you still reading?) Think hard about exactly why you have placed your hope in Christ. What might that hope mean to someone who is still living in the darkness? Think of one person you can share your Lord with. Pray that God will help you show that person the light. 84 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

85 Why We Worship for Leaders In Jesus day, the Jews were well versed in the extraordinary ways God worked in Israel s past. They knew about the miracles of the Red Sea, manna in the wilderness, a global flood, the walls of Jericho, the slaying of giants. But when Jesus began to do extraordinary things in their own backyard, they didn t recognize God at work in their midst. Jesus worked in ways they didn t expect. He didn t meet their expectations of what the Messiah would be. Many of them missed the significance of his words and works, thinking that God only did extraordinary things in the past. Today, too, we know God did extraordinary things in the Bible, but we forget that Jesus also wants to do extraordinary things in our lives! He s constantly at work to save those he loves. He knows what it takes to get our attention. And just when we think we understand, he does something completely different! His ways are higher than our ways he transcends our understanding, our traditions, and our expectations. Jesus work among us is always fresh, new, and exciting. That s reason to worship! Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Photocopy the Cross Puzzle (at the end of this session) onto colored card stock. You may want to make several puzzles using different colors of card stock so that more children can work on the puzzles at the same time. Cut out the puzzle pieces, and set them on a table near the entrance to the worship area. Extraordinary Set up a TV and DVD player. Cue the Lesson Videos DVD to the segment titled Extraordinary. You ll want to watch the segment at least once before the worship session. What Would You Do? Wrap one or more strings of Christmas tree lights around a volleyball, soccer ball, or plastic-foam ball. Place the ball at the front of the room, and make sure the cord is long enough to reach an electrical outlet. From Ordinary to Extraordinary Collect a variety of common items so that you have at least one for every four or five children. The items might include a box of aluminum foil, a stack of old newspapers, several potatoes, chenille wires, a box of toothpicks, a box of paper clips, and a bag of cotton balls. You ll ask children to use these items in an unusual way. Provide craft supplies, too, including scissors, glue, tape, and markers. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Greet children by name, give them a high five, and say, Jesus does extraordinary things! Invite them to work on the puzzle together to figure out what it is. Session 7 KidsOwn Worship 85

86 Hello, everyone! Welcome to children s church. Today we re here to worship Jesus because he does extraordinary things. Let s begin with a song to celebrate the most extraordinary thing of all that he did he rose from the dead! Sing Christ the Lord Is Risen Today. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 15 Great singing, everyone! Jesus did an extraordinary thing when he rose from the dead. What does extraordinary mean? (Amazing; extra special.) When something is extraordinary, it s just that extra ordinary. It s beyond ordinary; it s extra special. The dictionary says it means something very unusual, exceptional, or remarkable. Give me some examples of things that are extraordinary. Give children time to respond. In our next song, we re going to sing about an extraordinary love: A love so great that God sent his Son to die for us. Imagine that! Because of Jesus, we can spend eternity in heaven with him. Let s praise God for his extraordinary love. Sing His Great Love (Romans 5:8). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter There are certain things in life that we expect. We expect our parents to love us. We expect to hear about God when we go to church. But sometimes God does things that are unexpected and extraordinary. Let s look at an example of the extraordinary things God does. Ask children with Bibles to look up Joshua 10: Have one child read the passage aloud while the others follow along in their Bibles. Wow! God did an extraordinary thing he stopped the sun for one whole day! That s unusual, unexpected, remarkable, extraordinary! What do you expect to happen to the sun tonight? in the morning? (To set tonight; to rise in the morning.) We always expect the sun to rise and set every day without fail. But one time, God did something amazing to help Joshua win a battle over Israel s enemy. The Bible is full of examples of Jesus doing extraordinary things. He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. That means he wants to do extraordinary things in your life, too. Have you had an extraordinary experience with God that you can share with us? It doesn t have to be as spectacular as the things the Bible tells about. It just needs to be something that you know was out of the ordinary not the usual way things should go. Allow children to share their experiences.

87 Jesus does extraordinary things! Let s give Jesus glory and praise with our next song! Sing To God Be the Glory. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 5 God is the greatest because he can do all things. Maybe you need Jesus to do something extraordinary in your life. If you do, silently pray and ask Jesus to do something extraordinary. As kids pray, place the pieces of one of the puzzles randomly on a table at the front of the room. When you came to class today, some of you tried to put this puzzle together. You may have thought it was just a common ordinary puzzle. But if you put the pieces together the right way, these common shapes make something special. Did anyone figure it out? If someone figured the puzzle out, have that child put the pieces together in the shape of the cross. If no one figured it out, put it together, taping the pieces onto poster board so you can hold it up to show the kids. These plain ordinary shapes combine to form a cross. The cross is an extraordinary symbol, because what happened on the cross is very extraordinary. Jesus died on the cross. Then he rose again to conquer death for all of us forever. That s extraordinary! So whenever you need anything, Jesus is the one to go to. Let s worship him by singing He Is Good (Nahum 1:7). Sing He Is Good (Nahum 1:7). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 4 God wants to do extraordinary things because he loves us. He wants to use our lives to prove to others that he is God. As we sing our next song, let s ask God to make us ready to do his works. Sing Let s Go! (Ephesians 2:10). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 7 There is something extraordinary that we can do for God something God can t do for himself. Does anyone know what it is? Tell us about it. (We can love God; we can give our hearts to Jesus.) The only thing God can t get or have for himself without us giving it to him is our love. We re the only ones who can give our hearts to him. He never forces anyone to love him. As we sing our next song, let s do the extraordinary: Let s offer ourselves to God. Sing A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 25 Session 7 KidsOwn Worship 87

88 Jesus, thank you for all the extraordinary things you do! Thank you for dying for us so that we can be with you in heaven forever. We love you, Jesus. We praise you for doing extraordinary things. In your name, amen. Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities Extraordinary Show the Lesson Videos DVD segment titled Extraordinary. This segment illustrates what extraordinary means and shows extraordinary things Jesus did. What did you learn from this DVD? (The difference between ordinary and extraordinary; that everything Jesus does is extraordinary.) Why does God do extraordinary things? (Because he can; because he wants to.) How does God do the extraordinary in our lives? (He saves us; he changes us on the inside.) Turn to someone near you now. Let s take a few minutes to pray with that person and thank Jesus for specific, extraordinary things that he s done. These can be things you learned from the DVD, things you ve read or heard about, or things that God has done for you or someone you know. 88 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter * What Would You Do? Our Bible story today is about a man named Saul. Saul was a smart, educated, and powerful man. He was also very mean, and he hated Jesus. He made it his personal job to seek out and put in prison anyone who preached about Jesus. Who knows what happened to Saul? Tell us about it. (Saul became blind; Jesus changed Saul.) (continued on page 91)

89 Preschool Activities Saul Meets Jesus Near Damascus Session 7 Worship Theme: Acts 9:1-20 Using Theo Jesus does extraordinary things. Easy Prep for Leaders Jesus Is Number One Gather a large bowl, cornstarch, and water. You ll be making goo by mixing cornstarch with water. You will need approximately half a cup of water for every cup of cornstarch. Mix the goo with your hands. Practice the activity so you know what to expect when doing it with the children. Oh, What a Trip! Collect several flashlights. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo go on the discovery walk in the Wow! Jesus Did That! activity. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. * Jesus Is Number One Welcome, preschoolers! We re learning today that Jesus does extraordinary things. That s a big word! Can you say it with me? Extraordinary! Good job, everyone! Extraordinary means extra special. Tell me some things you think are extra special. Those are extraordinary things! Jesus is the strongest, most powerful, most extraordinary person of all. He died on the cross and rose from the dead. He was with God when God made the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the animals. I d say Jesus is number one in the universe! Hold up your finger, point to heaven, and say, Jesus is number one! Have a few children take turns pointing in the air and leading the others in saying, Jesus is number one! Let s use our number one fingers to do something special to remind us that Jesus does extraordinary things. Set the bowl on a table or the floor. You may want to protect any carpet with newspapers or towels. I want you all to gather around this bowl and stick your finger in this goo. Then slowly hold your finger up and say, Jesus is number one! As kids follow your instructions, make sure they keep the goo out of their hair and clothes. Preschool Leader Tip You might want to demonstrate what to do before kids try this activity. This will reassure less adventurous kids that it s all right to play with goo! Now I want you to roll the goo into a ball using your hands. How did the goo change when you rolled it into a ball? Let kids play with the goo for a little while. After a few minutes, help kids clean up using the hand wipes. Look at what happened! The goo went from slimy to solid. It changed. Jesus helps change us and make us better. That s one reason why he is number one! Show the kids the bowl of cornstarch and water mix. Wow! Look at this goo! It s so runny and slimy. Session 7 KidsOwn Worship 89

90 Preschool Activities Oh, What a Trip! I m going to tell you a story about Saul and the extraordinary thing Jesus did for him. Every time you hear me say the word extraordinary, repeat it after me. Are you ready? Extraordinary! (Extraordinary.) Good job! Our story comes from the book of Acts in the Bible. Saul was not extraordinary (extraordinary), but he was smart and powerful. He was also very mean. Saul did not believe in Jesus, and he wanted to stop people who did. One day, Saul was going to Damascus. What a trip it was going to be! He was going to find people who were talking about Jesus and make them stop. Jesus was sad because he knew Saul wanted to hurt the people. Suddenly an extraordinary (extraordinary) thing happened! Flash one of the flashlights on and off, and wave it around. A light from heaven flashed all around Saul. He fell to the ground. Fall to the floor. He heard a loud voice say, Saul, Saul, why do you hurt me? Saul asked, Who are you? The voice answered, I am Jesus. Now, get up and go into the city. Wow! Jesus Did That! Make a puppet with your hand. Then hold the hand puppet to your ears as if it s talking to you. My little hand puppet has been watching and listening to us talk today. He heard about the extraordinary things Jesus does. He s so excited about it that he wants us to take a walk to find more extraordinary things Jesus has done. Then we can all say together, Wow! Jesus did that! Saul got up from the ground. Stand up. When he opened his eyes another extraordinary (extraordinary) thing happened. He couldn t see! So his friends took him into the city, just as the extraordinary (extraordinary) voice told him to do. Saul was blind for three days. Then Jesus sent a man named Ananias to tell Saul about Jesus. When Saul heard about Jesus, another extraordinary (extraordinary) thing happened! Suddenly Saul could see again! He praised God and began to tell everyone about Jesus! That was extraordinary! (Extraordinary.) Why did Jesus make Saul be blind for three days? Jesus wanted to get Saul s attention! Saul was so shocked at being blind that he listened to God and obeyed him. Because of what God did, Saul believed in Jesus! He stopped being mean and started doing good. Let s act out our story so we remember that Jesus does extraordinary things for us! Give the flashlights to several children. Have children take turns retelling the story while others act it out. Then have them switch places. Repeat until everyone has had a part in acting out the story. nature that God has made. Have your puppet get excited about each thing the children point out. For example, shake your fist up and down, or spread your fingers open and shut as if he s expressing joy. Then have everyone say, Wow! Jesus did that! at each finding. If time and weather don t permit you to leave the room, look out the windows or at picture books or magazines for extraordinary things God has done. Close by having the puppet find each child. Say something like, Jesus made [name of child]. Then have everyone respond with, Wow! Jesus made [him or her]! Take the children for a walk outside and examine things in 90 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

91 (continued from page 88) Jesus caused a bright light to appear in the sky when Saul was on his way to Damascus to find and arrest Christians. Let s see what that might have looked like. Dim the lights as much as possible. Then plug in the ball of Christmas tree lights. Let the children take turns putting on the Special Effect Glasses from the KidsOwn Worship Kit to look at the lights. Looking through the glasses, they ll see a cool special effect. What would you have thought if you d seen something like this appear in the sky one day? (That something funny was happening; that my eyes were messed up.) Have children form groups of four or five. Give each group at least one Bible, a sheet of paper, and a pencil. Let s look at what the Bible says. In your group, look up Acts 9:1-20. Read the passage with your group, and list all the extraordinary things that happened. Then take a minute to discuss with your group this question. If you were God and you wanted to reach Saul, what strategy would you use to do it? (I d make him blind, too; I d hit him with fireballs from heaven.) Give kids time to read and talk in their groups, and then have a volunteer from each group share the group s answer. Then have the kids discuss the following question in their groups. Why do you think God chose to reach Saul the way he did? (So Saul would pay attention but not get hurt; so Saul would sit still in one place and listen.) After a few minutes, have volunteers share their answers. God knows just what to do to get our attention! He got Saul s attention by shining a bright light and blinding Saul. That was a very unusual thing to do. But because of what God did, Saul believed in Jesus. Saul became known as Paul, and he became a great champion for God. In fact, Paul wrote much of the New Testament. Jesus always works on our behalf and to accomplish his will, even when it means doing the unexpected and the unusual! * From Ordinary to Extraordinary Jesus does extraordinary things. That means he doesn t do the same old things the same old way. Why does Jesus do things out of the ordinary or things we don t expect? (To get our attention; to have fun.) Session 7 KidsOwn Worship 91

92 Jesus is God, and he can do anything he wants! He s creative and powerful. He doesn t think like we do he understands and knows far more than we ever will. Jesus work among us is always fresh, new, and exciting. Let s try to think the way Jesus does. Let s take something ordinary and make it extraordinary. Place each of the common items you collected at a separate table or in its own spot on the floor. Have the extra craft materials nearby. Have kids form groups of four or five, and ask groups to choose one of the common items and gather around it so each group has a different item. Each group has one ordinary item. I m going to give you several minutes to work with your group to come up with a way to use your ordinary item in an extraordinary or unusual way. Then we ll share our ideas with each other. You can make something, build something, draw or decorate something, invent a game, or use the item in any way that is unusual or different and safe! There are extra craft supplies here if you need them. Circulate among the groups to encourage kids creativity and praise their teamwork. If they need help, be ready with suggestions. For example, kids might use the foil to make people, sculptures, or clothing; or they might use the newspapers to make a bowling game by wadding paper to make balls and rolling the paper to make pins. Children might use chenille wires to make people, jewelry, or sculptures; or they might use the toothpicks to spell out words (extraordinary! for example) or to build a structure. When the groups are finished, have someone from each group briefly explain what they created. Congratulate the kids on their creativity. Then have them clean up their area, collect any leftover craft items, and put leftover items aside. Have the kids sit down together. Extraordinary job, everyone! I m proud of what you made. How did you feel when you had to think of an unusual way to use your item? (Important; challenged; excited.) Was it easy or hard to work with other people? Why? (Easy, because I like working with others; hard, because I like to do things by myself.) How did you feel when you came up with a great idea? (Happy; excited.) Why do you think Jesus does extraordinary things? (Because he can; because he wants to; because he loves us.) Jesus does extraordinary things because he loves us. He loves to help us. He knows exactly what we need. Let s get ready to pray and thank God for doing extraordinary things. 92 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

93 Let s Pray! The Offering Today we ve been learning that Jesus does extraordinary things. Our offering is a way to thank him for that. Let s give our offerings in praise to God today. If you haven t brought money for our offering, think of something else you can give to God. Silently give whatever you thought of to him when the offering bowl comes to you. Pass the offering bowls. Potato Praise Hold up a potato. This is a common potato. We see potatoes and eat them all the time. But let s do something uncommon with this one. We ll pass it around, and whoever has the potato can praise Jesus for an extraordinary thing that he does or has done for us. Let s pray some uncommon, extraordinary prayers! Make sure all children get a chance to pray. If your group is big, help kids form two or more smaller groups, and give each group a potato. If you want, use one of the other common items from the From Ordinary to Extraordinary activity to pass around. Extraordinary Prayers Have kids gather in their groups and stand around the item they created in the From Ordinary to Extraordinary activity. If preschoolers who didn t participate in the From Ordinary to Extraordinary activity are present, help them join groups. In Jesus day, people remembered the spectacular things God did in the past the parting of the Red Sea, the big flood, and David killing Goliath. But they were surprised when Jesus began doing extraordinary things around them! They forgot that God wanted to work in them. Let s not be like that; let s not forget that Jesus wants to do special things for us today, too. You helped make something unusual today. Your creation is to remind you that Jesus does extraordinary things now, here, and today. Everyone close your eyes (pause) and think about what you need Jesus to do for you. What is something extraordinary you need Jesus for? (To help me learn about him; to forgive me.) Something extraordinary would mean anything that you can t do for yourself. Ask Jesus silently to do that for you. (Pause.) Now find a partner in your group and pray aloud for each other. Ask Jesus to do the extraordinary for your partner. Session 7 KidsOwn Worship 93

94 Give children a few minutes to pray for each other. Jesus, thank you for loving us and for doing extraordinary things. You didn t just do extraordinary things for Moses, Noah, and David. You do them for us, too! Help us believe in you and trust you to do extraordinary things. Help us recognize when you do it! In Jesus name, amen. Display the extraordinary items in the room for a few weeks to remind children that Jesus does extraordinary things. 94 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

95 Cross Puzzle Solution Permission to photocopy this handout from KidsOwn Worship, Leader Guide, Spring, granted for local church use. Copyright Group Publishing, Inc. group.com OK to copy Session 7 KidsOwn Worship 95

96 Session 8 Peter Raises Tabitha From the Dead Acts 9:36-43 Worship Theme: God works through people. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will worship God for the way he works through people. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing The Work of His Hands (track 11) Sing Unto the Lord (track 19) Everybody Ought to Know (track 6) Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16) (track 3) That You May Believe (John 20:31) (track 18) Oh, How I Love Jesus (track 2) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, banners, ribbons, flags Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies * God Works Through Me Learn that God works through people. Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * Tabitha, Tabitha Act out the Bible story and see how God worked through people. Critter Care Make pet treats to fulfill God s call to care for every living creature. Bible, dress-up clothes, bag, Peter costume Plates, dog biscuits, cheese spread, plastic knives, napkins, resealable bags 96 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

97 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Help Wanted Develop job announcements based on the traits of Bible characters. God Force Watch a DVD and discuss what God wants to accomplish through them. * God s Puzzle Make pins to remind them of their part in God s work. Bibles, pencils, paper KidsOwn Worship Kit: Lesson Videos DVD: God Force Bibles, TV, DVD player 2 puzzle pieces per child, glue sticks, safety pins, glue gun, glue, paper Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God. Sticky Prayers Pray to thank God for working through them. Raise Your Praise Raise their voices in praise. Offering bowls Self-stick notes, pencils *Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 8 KidsOwn Worship 97

98 Bible Background for Leaders Peter Raises Tabitha From the Dead Acts 9:36-43 Just prior to the events described in this passage, Peter healed a man who had been paralyzed for eight years. The result was that many turned to the Lord (Acts 9:32-35). In this story the healing is even more amazing. A servant-hearted follower of Jesus, named Tabitha, had died. As the washing described in Acts 9:37 was part of the Jewish preparation for burial, there could be no doubt that she was really dead. It was not customary, however, that she be taken to an upper room. More often a person would have been buried soon after death, usually on the same day. Apparently the Christians were waiting for Peter to arrive before burying her. It appears from the text that no one thought to send for Peter until after Tabitha had died. Peter was in Lydda, about nine miles away. It would have taken about five or six hours to bring him from there, so it was necessary for him to hurry. If he delayed, the people in Joppa would have to bury Tabitha s body. When Peter entered the room, he sent the widows and the mourners away, just as Jesus had done when he raised Jairus daughter in Mark 5. Peter wanted some time to be alone with the Lord. Peter knew what the Christians in Joppa wanted him to do, and he no doubt expressed that to God. But he undoubtedly wanted to find out what the Lord wanted to do. From Peter s actions, it is apparent that the Lord gave Peter the direction he needed. Peter then used the same wording that Jesus had used in raising Jairus daughter, with the exception of one letter: Tabitha arise, instead of Talitha arise. How did Tabitha hear Peter s command if she was dead? As Peter spoke, the Lord returned her to life. The Lord made Tabitha hear and arise. She was instantaneously and completely restored. The disease was gone, and any decay that had taken place since death was wiped away. Imagine the joyous scene when Peter presented Tabitha alive to the crowd! The result of this miracle, as with other miracles the apostles performed, was that many believed in the Lord. Miracles testify to God s power and encourage people in their faith. Devotion for Leaders Thanks to Jesus, who offers life, not just beyond but through death. No amount of bleakness can fade the wonder of this miracle. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Think about Peter s previous goof-ups and how God ultimately used him as a key leader in the startup of the church. God goes beyond forgiveness; he restores. What do you feel ashamed of? Confess your shortcomings to him now, and experience complete healing. 98 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

99 Why We Worship for Leaders Today we worship God because he works through people. Even though God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, he chooses to work through weak, fallible, unreliable human beings. Help the children see what a privilege it is to participate in accomplishing God s purposes. God accomplishes his plan through people. Although none of us is worthy, each of us is destined to take part in the divine drama. As we consider his ways, we can t help but praise him. Easy Prep for Leaders God Force Set up a TV and DVD player, and cue the Lesson Videos DVD to the segment titled God Force. Watch the segment at least once before the worship session. God s Puzzle Cut 2-inch squares of brightly colored paper. You ll need several squares for each child. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Greet each child by name and say, Think of someone God works through. Hello, everyone! We praise God today because he chooses to work through people. You ve been thinking of some people God works through. Let s share your thoughts. Allow the kids to share. God works through all those people. But the fact that God works through people also means that he wants to work through you and you and you and me! Let s think about how amazing that is as we sing The Work of His Hands. Sing The Work of His Hands. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 11 We re all part of God s family, and he works through all of us to accomplish his plan. Even though God is a great big God, he knows who each of us is, and he wants us all to be part of his great big plan. Why do you think God chooses to work through people? (Because it s more interesting that way; because that s how we learn about God.) We need to participate in God s plan to grow in our faith. God chooses to work through people even in worship. God works through the people who write songs and the people who made Session 8 KidsOwn Worship 99

100 the CD we use. God works through the people who lead the songs, and God works through the people who worship him. Today, you are going to have an opportunity to let God work through you. Some of you have singing gifts. If you have singing gifts, come up and help me lead this next song. Sing Sing Unto the Lord. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 19 There are many, many people, and each person is important to God. Each person is part of God s plan. Let s thank the singers who helped lead that song. Pause to applaud. Right now, turn to a partner, and tell your partner the names of five people you know who your partner probably doesn t know. Give the children about one minute to share names. Part of God s plan is that everybody will know who Jesus is. Do you know that there are some people who may be depending on you to tell them about Jesus? Those people can t depend on your partner to tell them about Jesus, because your partner doesn t know them! Even if the particular people you told about aren t depending on you to introduce them to Jesus, maybe they need to know how Jesus is working in your life. Let s sing about that responsibility. Sing Everybody Ought to Know. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 6 Couldn t God just come down and personally explain to everyone who Jesus is? (Yes; sure, he could.) Why doesn t he? (He doesn t want to; he doesn t have to.) We need to tell people who Jesus is. It helps our faith grow when we share. It brings us closer to God. We may not do it as well as God would, but he allows us to do it because we need it. Do your parents ever let you help them do something that they could do better themselves? (Yes, sometimes; no, never.) Why were you allowed to help? (Because I asked to; because they trusted me.) Even though God could do everything much better than we can, God chooses to work through people. When we try to be like Jesus and do what he wants us to do, we do good deeds. People know more about God when they see our good deeds. Sing Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

101 Some of you may be good at worshipping God with banners and flags. God works through people that way, too. If you would like to use a banner or flag to wave during the next song, raise your hand. Distribute banners, ribbons, or flags to those who choose to use them. Ask the children to spread out so they ll have space to wave them as they sing. Imagine that you re telling everyone how they can believe in Jesus as you lift your banner. Sing That You May Believe (John 20:31). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 18 I love to sing God s praises for what he has done for me and for allowing me to be part of his plan. God can do anything. Let s name some of the things God can do. (Pause.) Let s sing a song to praise him. Sing Oh, How I Love Jesus. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 2 God, we thank you because, even though you can do anything, you choose to work through us. In Jesus name, amen. Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities Help Wanted Have the children form groups of four. Give each group a Bible, a pencil, and paper. It s not likely that God will use any of us to raise someone from the dead, but God will use us if we are available to him. It s an honor to go to work for God. Read Acts 9:36-43, and look for things about the characters in the story that made it possible for God to use them. Then you ll turn those characteristics into a job announcement to be announced on the radio. Choose one person in your group to Session 8 KidsOwn Worship 101

102 look up Acts 9: Choose another person to read it. Choose a third person to be the writer, and the fourth person will be the announcer for our God s Help Wanted announcements. You can be creative about exactly what the job is that your group will announce. The job in the Bible passage was for each person to be a part of the team that raised Tabitha from the dead. You can think of a unique job you think God wants to be done, but be sure that you ask for the qualifications you see lived out in the Scripture passage. Allow the children about 10 minutes to work. Move from group to group, and help the children look at what motivated each character to do the things he or she did. For example, Tabitha was always doing good and cared about the poor, and the men who went to get Peter were willing to travel and were quick to take action. Peter was a man of prayer and was willing to interrupt his schedule to go where God led. Your children will unveil other possible characteristics. Encourage them to write these characteristics into a job description in a way that will make someone really want to work for God. If a group finishes early, have those children use chairs and tables to make a radio-station set where the announcers from each group can read the job bulletins. After 10 minutes, ask groups to broadcast their announcements. What were the differences among these jobs? the similarities? (Answers will vary.) Why would God need to use people to do these jobs? (He wouldn t, but he could; so they would grow in faith.) Without telling anyone else, ask yourself if you d be qualified to take on a job for God if it required these characteristics. (Yes, I want to grow in faith; yes, I want to do more for God.) Just like not every one of us is qualified to take on every job announced over the radio or in the newspaper, not every one of us is qualified to take on every job God wants done. That s why God needs each and every one of us. There are plenty of jobs to go around. But there are some basic characteristics that each of us needs to have in order to serve God in any job. What are some basic requirements for being used by God? (Being willing to be used; asking God to use us; accepting how God wants to use us.) We worship God today because he allows us to be involved in his work. He could use his power to control everyone and everything; instead, he allows us to be on his team. He is truly a great God, who works through imperfect people who are willing to serve him. (continued on page 105) 102 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

103 Preschool Activities Peter Raises Tabitha From the Dead Session 8 Worship Theme: Acts 9:36-43 Using Theo God works through people. Easy Prep for Leaders Tabitha, Tabitha Put together a bag of dress-up clothes that will be easy for the children to slip on. You ll also need a Peter costume you can slip on quickly. Put a tab in your Bible for Acts 9. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo admire the prospect of the treats in Critter Care. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. * God Works Through Me We ve been talking about how God works through people. I need a few volunteers to work through. Move several volunteers arms up and down as if they were marionettes. Try to move a child s hands to pick up an item. Our volunteers looked like puppets! But that s not how God works through people. God works more like this: Choose a cooperative child, and whisper a request to do a small favor, such * Tabitha, Tabitha Open your Bible to Acts 9. Our Bible story today is about a woman named Tabitha. Tabitha was a very nice woman. Tabitha helped the poor. Ask for a volunteer to pretend to be Tabitha. Everyone, say Hello to Tabitha. How do you think Tabitha helped the poor? One way Tabitha helped poor people was by making clothes for them. Hand your volunteer the bag, and let her distribute the clothes to the children. Ask the children to put the clothes on. One day Tabitha got sick and died. Ask Tabitha to lie on the floor. All the people she had helped came and cried because she was dead. They cried, Tabitha, Tabitha! Have the children surround the volunteer and cry. as getting a book from across the room or giving another child a hug. Repeat with several children. What was the difference between [names of marionette volunteers] and [names of children you whispered to]? God doesn t force us to do what he says. God asks us. It s up to us to do what he wants. In our Bible story today, Peter does a miracle that God whispered in his ear. They showed each other the clothes Tabitha made for them. Have the kids show three other people their outfits. They told how nice Tabitha was. Everyone was sad because they would miss Tabitha and her fine work. Some of the people went to get Peter. Slip on the Peter costume. The people showed their clothes to Peter and told him how special Tabitha was. Walk around to inspect each child s dress-up clothes. Peter went to Tabitha and prayed for her. Then Peter said, Tabitha, get up! Help the child pretending to be Tabitha to get up. Tabitha was alive! Jump, Tabitha! Shout, Tabitha! You re alive! What do you think Tabitha s friends did? Session 8 KidsOwn Worship 103

104 Preschool Activities * Tabitha, Tabitha (continued) All the people shouted out their praise to God for what he had done through Peter. Encourage the children to shout out praises to God. Then have the children take off their costumes. Who did God work through in the story? God worked through Tabitha to help the poor. God worked through the people who went to get Peter. God worked through Peter to pray for Tabitha and heal her. Who did God work through to tell the story? God worked through you to tell this story, and God worked through me. That s how God does his work: through you, me, and all those who are willing to obey him. Give each other a hand for the part you play in God s story! Give God a hand for the way he works through people. Lead the children in applause. Critter Care Way back when God first created the earth, he told the first people, Adam and Eve, how he would work through people to take care of the earth and all the creatures in it. What are some of the creatures God has given people to take care of? God uses us to take care of our pets. Pets are a big responsibility. Tell a partner about a pet you know, whether it s your pet, a neighbor s pet, or a friend s pet. What would happen if someone who has a pet doesn t think feeding it is important? Pets depend on people. God created all kinds of animals and told people to take care of them. Let s make some special pet treats you can give to your pet or a pet that belongs to someone you know. Give each child a paper plate, a plastic knife, and two small bone-shaped dog biscuits. Let the children spread a thin layer of cheese spread on one of the bones, and then match the other bone on top of it. Have the children wipe the excess cheese off the edges with a napkin, and then put the finished cookie into a resealable plastic bag. Have enough dog biscuits so that each child can make two or three dog cookies. When you re ready to give these special doggie cookies to a pet, be sure you ask the owner how and where the pet can eat it. When you re talking with the owner, remember to explain that God works through people to take care of his creation. God, thank you for trusting us with some special responsibilities. We know that you work through people to show you care. Help us to be ready for you to work through us. In Jesus name, amen. ALLERGY ALERT Be aware that some children have food allergies that can be dangerous. Know your children, and consult with parents about allergies their children may have. Also be sure to read food labels carefully as hidden ingredients can cause allergy-related problems. 104 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

105 (continued from page 102) God Force Show the Lesson Videos DVD segment titled God Force. The segment explains that all Christians are on God s team and that God sends us out as agents in the world to accomplish his plan. After the DVD, hand out Bibles, and have children answer the following questions with a partner. What did you learn from this DVD? (That God s people are everywhere; that we should be ready at any time to act for God.) Look up Matthew 28:19-20 and 1 Peter 4:8-11. What kinds of things does God do through people? (Reaches other people with the gospel; provides shelter; gives grace.) What do you think God wants to do through you? (Tell others about Jesus; encourage others to trust God the way I do.) How does it make you feel to know that you re on God s special team? (Good; overwhelmed; excited.) If you re a Christian, God has many plans for you. God wants us to love others so that they know that God loves them. God wants us to serve others and to tell others about him. God uses us to help the entire world come to know him. Let s find out more. * God s Puzzle Place the paper squares and glue sticks where they are accessible to all the kids. You may also wish to set out scissors. Set up the hot-glue gun and safety pins out of the way of the kids. Why does God need all of us to accomplish his plan? (Because there s so much work to be done; because he wants all of us to get involved.) Hold up pieces of a puzzle. Pass the puzzle pieces around so that each child has two. Turn to a partner and answer this question: How are you like this puzzle piece in God s plan? (I m one small but important piece; I m special.) Each of us is a unique part of God s plan. Without all the pieces, the puzzle will remain incomplete. You hold a special piece. To help you remember that, we re going to make pins. In a moment, you can go to the supply table and take several paper squares. Use these paper squares however you want to make bases for your puzzle pieces. Then glue the puzzle pieces to your bases. When you ve designed the pin you want, bring it to me, and I ll hot-glue a safety pin to the back of the base. Make one puzzle-piece pin for yourself and one to give to someone else. When you give the second pin away, remember Extra Impact Along with the God s Puzzle activity, make puzzle-piece pins for kids to take home to their families. On each pin, write a line to say that the child s family is an important piece of God s plan. Session 8 KidsOwn Worship 105

106 to tell whoever you give it to that God works through people, and each of us holds a different piece of the puzzle. These pins identify us as members of God s team, the people he works through to accomplish great things. You may wish to model several different ways to stack the paper squares to form a base for the puzzle piece. Designs might be made by turning the squares at different angles or overlapping squares so that strips of underneath layers show. If you provide scissors, kids can also cut the squares into triangles. Have the kids gather supplies and make puzzle-piece pins. As they finish, use the hot-glue gun to glue safety pins to the backs of the bases. Let s Pray! The Offering God works through us when we give, too. The offering we put in the bowl will be used to help accomplish his plan. Describe how your particular offering is used. If you don t already have a designated mission for the offering, discuss where the children would like to send their offering to help accomplish God s plan. Continue to collect money for this mission in weeks to come. If you can, get reports about the mission to share with the children. As you place your offering in the bowl, ask God to use it for his plan. Sticky Prayers Give children self-stick notes and pencils, and ask them to write or draw a way God has worked through them. Bow your head and thank God for working through you. When you ve finished your prayer, bring the sticky note to me. As the children bring their notes, post them in a circle. We re each a part of God s plan for this class, but we re also part of a much bigger circle. God uses each of us as part of his plan to circle the world with his love. We praise God that he gives us the opportunity to allow him to work through us. God, it makes us feel special to be part of your plan. We know that we can t do much on our own, but in you we can do all things. Thank you for working through us. In Jesus name, amen. 106 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

107 Raise Your Praise Our amazing God is always worthy of our praise. Today we praise him for working through his people. Let s raise our praise to him in this way. Demonstrate the following before asking the children to join in. Then have everyone join hands in a circle. Beginning with hands down at your sides, whisper, God, we praise you. With hands still joined, raise them about 6 inches, and say a little louder, Praise you! Raise them to shoulder height, and say a little louder, Praise you! Raise your hands over your head and shout, Praise you for working through us! Today we worshipped God because he works through us. Remember to allow God to work through you to bless other people this week. Session 8 KidsOwn Worship 107

108 Session 9 An Angel Frees Peter From Jail Acts 12:1-18 Worship Theme: God sends angels. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will praise God for sending angels. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing He s the King (track 13) Let s Go! (Ephesians 2:10) (track 7) To God Be the Glory (track 5) Sing Unto the Lord (track 19) He Is Good (Nahum 1:7) (track 4) Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) (track 8) Everybody Ought to Know (track 6) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, Bibles, white board, marker Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Setting Peter Free Hear how Peter was set free from prison and dramatize the story. *Angel Jobs Learn ways that God uses angels to help us. Watching Over Us Play a game to celebrate God because he sends angels. Blanket, flashlight, rope, T-shirt Sheet 108 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

109 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * Saved by an Angel Watch the Bible story on DVD. God Sends Angels Search the Bible to learn about angels and present their findings. * The One We Worship Answer true or false statements about angels. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Lesson Videos DVD: Saved by an Angel TV, DVD player Concordance, Bibles, index cards, marker, art supplies, 1 sheet poster board per 5 kids Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God. Prayers of Praise Write sentence prayers and read them to God. Sing Unto the Lord Sing a song to worship God. Offering bowls Index cards, pencils KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Sing Unto the Lord (track 19) CD player * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 9 KidsOwn Worship 109

110 Bible Background for Leaders An Angel Frees Peter From Jail Acts 12:1-18 Herod persecuted the Christians to appease the Jews in the hope that it would solidify the Jews support. This Herod was Herod Agrippa I. He was the third in a line of four Herods, the first of whom had killed the babies in Jerusalem when he heard of Jesus birth. Herod Agrippa I continued in the murderous ways of his predecessors by murdering the Apostle James. Undoubtedly Herod planned the same fate for Peter when he realized how pleased the Jews were by James execution. Herod wanted to make sure that Christian sympathizers would not be able to release Peter. Herod assigned four groups of four soldiers each to take turns guarding Peter one soldier on each side of Peter and two at his cell door. These measures were extraordinary for such a prisoner. Acts 12:5 describes something of a competition: Peter was securely in prison, guarded by 16 of Rome s finest, handcuffed to a guard on each side of him. But on the other hand, God s people were praying earnestly for Peter on the night that Herod intended to be Peter s last night on earth. From the text, we know that Peter thought he was having a vision as he was released from prison. He had been awakened from sleep and suspected that he was only dreaming. Only after Peter s chains had fallen off, after he and the angel had walked through the gates to the street, and after the angel had led him down the first street, did Peter come to the realization that he was really free and that God had worked a series of miracles to free him. The scene that unfolded when Peter arrived at Mark s mother s house is somewhat comical. Rhoda, the servant girl, came to see who was knocking at the door in the middle of the night. When she realized it was Peter, she was so excited that she ran back to tell the others without unlocking the door! And then the people who had been earnestly praying for Peter refused to believe that he could really be at the gate. Instead, they may have jumped to the conclusion that Peter was already dead and that his guardian angel had come to tell them the news. And all the while, Peter was standing outside knocking. When they went to the door to see for themselves, they were astonished by the truth. There was so much excitement that Peter had to quiet them down before he could tell them the amazing story of what God had done for him. Devotion for Leaders Find courage. You are in a relationship with Jesus, a great defender who knows all and cannot be conquered. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Flex your muscle your prayer muscle. God moves and works miracles for those who pray in accordance with his will. How can you best utilize this strength you have in him? 110 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

111 Why We Worship for Leaders We believe in angels because the Bible says they exist! In nearly 300 examples, the Bible shows us that God uses angels in a variety of ways. God charges angels with helping us, his children, as we struggle against the forces of evil in the world and work to accomplish his purposes on earth. They are sent to defend and protect us. They act as God s messengers to guide, instruct, and comfort us. They assist him their Creator while he controls the universe. They are at God s command and seek only to do his will. Yet, amazing and powerful as angels are, we don t place our faith in them directly. Instead, we place our faith in God who commissions them on our behalf. God is for us we don t need to be afraid! Because of his great love, he sends his angels to help us. Take courage and worship God, for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone (Psalm 91:11-12). Easy Prep for Leaders Saved by an Angel Set up a TV and DVD, and cue the Lesson Videos DVD to the Saved by an Angel segment. Watch the segment at least once before the worship session so you ll be familiar with it. God Sends Angels Gather a concordance, at least one piece of poster board for every four or five children, and art supplies. Write the following Scripture references on index cards, one per card: 1 Kings 19:5-8; Psalm 34:7; Isaiah 63:8-9; Daniel 10:5-6,14; Matthew 1:20, 24; Matthew 2:13; Matthew 4:6; Luke 22:43; John 20:12; Acts 8:26; Hebrews 1:14; and Revelation 22:8-9. Prepare a card for every four or five children. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Greet children by name, and say, Welcome to children s church. Welcome to children s church, everyone! We re going to worship God today because he sends angels to help us. The Bible tells us almost 300 times that angels are God s servants. Our God is mighty and powerful and loving. He can do anything! Let s worship our God, the King of Kings. Sing He s the King. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 13 God loves us so much! God helps us as we live for him. We know from the Bible that one way God helps us is by sending angels. Session 9 KidsOwn Worship 111

112 We ll learn more about that today, but first, let s sing about what we can do for God. C mon, let s go! Sing Let s Go! (Ephesians 2:10). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 7 Angels are popular today. People love to talk about them. But a lot of what you hear about angels isn t true. Some people even worship angels and refuse to believe in God! That s why we study the Bible to see what God says. Think about the Bible stories you know with angels in them. What did the angels do in those stories? (They helped people; they made announcements.) If kids need prompting, remind them of the angel who shut the lions mouths to protect Daniel, the angel who protected the three men in the fiery furnace, the angel who appeared to Mary and told her about being the mother of Jesus, the angel who warned Joseph to take Mary and Jesus out of Bethlehem to save their lives, or the angels who were in the tomb in the Resurrection story. As children name examples, write on a white board words that summarize the angels roles, such as help, protect, guide, and instruct. Angels did amazing things for God s people! John, who wrote the book of Revelation, said that when he saw an angel, he fell to the ground and worshipped him. But the angel told him to stop worshipping him and worship God. The Bible shows us that angels never want to be worshipped. They want us to worship God and love him only. Let s do that right now. Sing To God Be the Glory. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 5 It s one thing to hear about what angels did in the past. That helps us learn about them. But what about angels today? Are they still sent by God to help us? Let s see what the Bible says. Ask three volunteers to read Psalms 34:7; 91:11-12; and Hebrews 1:14. God sends angels for us today! He knows when we need help, and the angels are there to do whatever he says. Most of the time, we don t even know when they help us. We can t see angels unless God wants us to see them. That s because too many people would worship them instead of God. Angels only go where God sends them, and they do only what he tells them to do. God loves us so much! Sing Sing Unto the Lord. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 19 Think of something in your life you need God s help with. Maybe you need help to do better in school, obey your parents, or follow God more faithfully. Maybe you have to do something difficult this week or someone you love needs God s help. Hold 112 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

113 your hands out with your palms up. Now silently ask God for his help. (Pause.) Some of you may need the help of angels this week. If you do, God will send them, because God sends angels. Whether he sends angels or not, God will take care of all your needs. God is good! Sing He Is Good (Nahum 1:7). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 4 I m so glad that God has lots of ways to help us. I m glad he sends angels. Tell us some ways God has helped you. Give children time to share stories of God s help in their lives. God s help is awesome! That s because he loves us so much. As we sing our next song, let s give our lives to God. It s the best way to thank him for sending Jesus and for dying for us. It s the best way to thank him for the loving things he does, like sending angels when we need them. Sing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 8 Someday, when we re in heaven, we ll probably sing together with the angels to worship God. Imagine that all the angels and all the people singing together to worship him! Until that day comes, we get to worship with each other. Put your arms on the shoulders of the people next to you as we sing our last song. Everybody ought to know how good God is! Sing Everybody Ought to Know. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 6 Lord, you are an exciting God! You send angels for us! We love you, Lord, and we thank you for that. We thank you for all the ways angels have already helped us, ways that we don t know about. But most of all we thank you for you, Jesus. We worship you and say you are Lord. In Jesus name, amen. Session 9 KidsOwn Worship 113

114 Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities * Saved by an Angel Show the Saved by an Angel segment of the Lesson Videos DVD. The segment shows the story of Peter being freed from jail (Acts 12:1-18). What would you think if this happened here? Would you be surprised? (I d be very surprised; I d be confused; I would doubt it.) Why do you think Rhoda was so surprised? (Because she thought Peter was in jail; because it seemed impossible how Peter got free.) Why do you think God sent an angel to help Peter? (Because without God s help, Peter would never get free; because he knew the angel would help Peter.) Does God send angels to help us? Explain. (Yes, sometimes we need special help, too; yes, when there s an important message God wants us to hear.) Angels are God s special helpers. The Bible gives us many examples of God sending angels to help people or to give them an important message. Let s learn what the Bible says about angels. God Sends Angels Set out art materials and one sheet of poster board per group. Have kids form groups of four or five. Hold up a concordance (or show the one in the back of your Bible). 114 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter What is this used for? (To look up things in the Bible; to find every place where a word appears in the Bible; I m not sure.) This is a concordance. We use it when we want to find where the Bible talks about a certain topic. For example, if we want to find where the Bible talks about angels, we look up the word angel. (continued on page 117)

115 Preschool Activities An Angel Frees Peter From Jail Session 9 Worship Theme: Acts 12:1-18 Using Theo God sends angels. Easy Prep for Leaders Setting Peter Free Set out a table, and find a bedsheet or blanket to drape over the table. You ll also need a flashlight, a small rope, and a large T-shirt. Put the shirt under the table. Watching Over Us Find an old white bedsheet or blanket. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo tell the Bible story in the Setting Peter Free activity. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. Setting Peter Free Gather the children around the prison (the sheet-covered table) in the story area. Long ago, King Herod arrested one of Jesus disciples and put him in jail. The disciple s name was Peter. Choose a volunteer to pretend to be Peter. This is Peter, the disciple Herod put in jail. Let s put him in our jail. Put Peter in the jail. Loop the rope Extra Impact Instead of using the table and sheet, use a very large box or plastic tub, such as a refrigerator box or something of the same size. Decorate it to look like a jail, using black paper to make bars. If using a box, cut a small hole for a window so Peter can be seen by the children. loosely around the child s hands to represent chains. When Peter s friends learned that Peter was in jail, they were very upset. What would you do if you were one of Peter s friends? Peter s friends prayed for Peter. They asked God to keep him safe. God heard their prayers. He sent someone special to set Peter free from jail. Fold your hands, and show me how you d pray. Good job! The special person God sent to help Peter was an angel! We don t know the angel s name, but he appeared while Peter was sleeping. There was a bright light in the jail. Turn the flashlight on, and have the angel shine it into the jail. The angel woke Peter up, and Peter s chains fell off! Pause while the angel takes the ropes off Peter. He told Peter to get up and get dressed. Ask Peter to put on the T-shirt. Then the angel led Peter out of jail, past the guards, and safely to his friend s house! God answered the prayers that Peter s friends prayed for him! Let s clap for Peter and the angel. What did the angel do that no one else could do? How did God answer the prayers of Peter s friends? How did God show his love for Peter? God shows his love for us, too he sends angels when we need them. We don t know when angels help us because we can t see them. But we know God loves us and sends his angels to help us when we need help. Allow children to retell the story with different children acting the parts. Choose a child to pretend to be the angel. Session 9 KidsOwn Worship 115

116 Preschool Activities * Angel Jobs We know God sends angels because the Bible tells us he does. God gives angels special jobs. An angel visited Peter. What was that angel s special job? Do you remember any other jobs angels did in Bible stories? Tell us about a job you remember. If none of the children can remember an appropriate story, prompt them to remember what the angels told Mary and the shepherds about Jesus and what happened to the lions when Daniel was thrown into the lions den. Tell them if they don t know. God sends angels to do many different things. Listen to this Bible verse: For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. That means Preschool Leader Tip Make sure children realize that people do not become angels when they die. Also be sure the children understand that people aren t angels. Angels may sometimes look like people, but angels and people are separate beings created by God. that God will send his angels to protect you! Let s pretend we need God s help. We ll act out some of the ways God might have his angels help us. Help children form groups of four or five. Working with one group at a time, read a situation from the following list, and give the group time to act it out. In some of the situations, all the children can pretend to be angels; in others, some children may need to be people. Help children decide who ll pretend to be people and who ll pretend to be angels. If they need them, offer suggestions on how the angel might help. People are in a boat that s about to sink. Someone needs to know that God loves him or her. (Have all the children in the group be angels and whisper to the other children, God loves you. ) Someone is walking down the street and is about to be hit by a speeding car. People are praising God and celebrating because someone new believes in God. A child is in bed at night and is scared. Children are playing in the river and don t know it s very deep. If you were God, what jobs would you want angels to do? Why does God send angels? God sends angels because he loves us. He sends his angels to help and protect us. I m glad God loves us so much, aren t you? Let s do what the angels do and show our love and praise for God, too. Let s jump up and down, wave our arms in the air, and tell God we love him. Let s say Thank you, God, for sending angels! Watching Over Us Let s play a game to remind us that God sends angels. Remember, the Bible says, For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. That means God sends angels to watch over us. Have children stand and hold the edges of the sheet. Help them wave the sheet up and down as you sing God Commands to the tune of The Mulberry Bush. When you sing over us, have children toss the sheet as high as they can and then try to run under it so it will cover them before it touches the ground. God Commands God commands his angels, His angels, his angels. God commands his angels To watch over us! Play the game several times. God sends his angels to watch over us whenever we need them. We ll probably never see God s angels, but we can trust that God sends them because his Word says so. He loves us and will always take care of us. 116 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

117 (continued from page 114) The concordance lists all the places that the word angel or angels is used. Turn to the page, and show kids all the entries. The Bible mentions angels about 300 times! It would take us too long to look them all up, so I ve picked some out for you to look up. When I give you a Bible reference, look it up with your group. Decide together what the verses tell us about angels. Then decide on a way to tell the rest of us about it. For example, you could draw pictures or prepare a skit to show us what you learned about angels. Give each group one of the index cards you prepared before worship. Encourage kids to read the passage surrounding the verse to understand the context of the verse. Give groups time to work on their presentations. Be sure to circulate among the groups to make sure kids understand what the verses mean. Then have groups display their drawings and present their skits for each other, reading and explaining the verses. God sends angels to do many things. The most important thing about angels is not their power or beauty or the work they do. They are motivated by a love for God that never stops. They only want to see the will of God fulfilled in us. God is great to send us angels! * The One We Worship Let s play a game to see what we ve learned so far about angels. Everyone needs to stand in the middle of the room. If what I say about angels is true, walk to the back of the room. If what I say is false, walk to the front of the room. If you don t know, stay in the center of the room. Ready? Listen closely. Read one of the following statements, and then allow time for children to walk to the front or back of the room. Ask volunteers to share why they chose the answer they did. After a few responses, ask children to return to the center. Read another statement. Angels are God s servants. (True.) Angels are powerful. (True.) Angels are as powerful as God. (False.) Angels want to be worshipped. (False.) People can be angels. (False.) Angels have wings and halos. (The Bible doesn t say.) Angels are God s messengers. (True.) Angels can do whatever they want. (False.) Angels protect and defend us. (True.) Session 9 KidsOwn Worship 117

118 God sends angels because he loves us. We may never see an angel in our lives, but we can be sure that they are around us, walk with us, and watch over us. Even though they do amazing things, we never worship angels. They are only created beings, like we are. God is the one to worship and praise. He is the Creator of us all. Let s Pray! The Offering The offering time is a time to offer our gifts and ourselves to God. Today we want to thank God for sending angels to help us. Today, while you re waiting for the offering bowl to come to you, give God your love and thank him for sending angels. Take the offering. Prayers of Praise Pass out index cards and pencils to each child. We ve been worshipping God because he sends angels. You ve read some of what the Bible says about angels, and we heard the Bible story about Peter and the angel that freed him from prison. Let s take a minute now to thank God for sending angels. Use what you know about angels to write one sentence on your card that thanks or praises God for sending them to help us. Give children time to write their sentences. Pair preschoolers with older children who can help them write their thanks. Then have each child read his or her sentence aloud as a prayer. Sing Unto the Lord Angels are God s amazing helpers. And though we ll probably never see an angel, we know they are here because God s Word says so. Let s praise and worship God one last time today for loving us so much. Sing Sing Unto the Lord. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 19 Thank you, God, for sending angels. You love us so much that you send them to guard us and help us, protect us, and teach us. We don t see them, but we know they are there. Thank you, God. You are awesome. We give you all the praise! In Jesus name, amen. 118 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

119 Encouragement for Leaders Dear Lord, thank you for knowing me by name. Thank you for leading me. Thank you for being my Shepherd. Please help me to lead my students to an understanding of your love and sacrifice. In Jesus name, amen. From Heartfelt Thanks for Sunday School Teachers. Copyright 2003 Group Publishing, Inc., Loveland, CO.

120 Session 10 Lydia Is Converted Acts 16:9-15 Worship Theme: God prepares our hearts. Weaving Faith Into Life: Through praise children will learn how God prepares their hearts to worship him. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing Everybody Ought to Know (track 6) Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16) (track 3) A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) (track 25) I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25) (track 16) How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13) (track 9) That You May Believe (John 20:31) (track 18) Confess With Your Mouth (Romans 10:9) (track 23) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player; green, black, and yellow bananas; basket or bowl; heart-shaped candies Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Preparing Our Hearts Prepare paper hearts and make listening ears for the Bible story. Hearts That Hear Use their paper hearts and ears to hear the Bible story. Heart Wands Make a thank-you gift to give to someone they love. Construction paper, scissors, markers Heart pieces from Preparing Our Hearts Construction paper, scissors, 2 straws and ribbons per child, markers, tape 120 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

121 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * God Prepares the Way Hear the Bible story and learn that God uses people and events to prepare our hearts. * Prepared Hearts Prepare dry sponges to be useful. * A Thankful Response Thank God for someone who has helped them grow closer to God. Bible, large index cards, marker 1 stiff sponge, spoon, and cup of water per 3 kids Construction paper, scissors, markers Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God. Praying Hearts Thank God for the ways he prepares our hearts. Purify My Heart Sing a song as a closing prayer. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Oh, How I Love Jesus (track 2) CD player, offering bowls, hearts from A Thankful Response KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: If We Confess (1 John 1:9) (track 17) CD player * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 10 KidsOwn Worship 121

122 Bible Background for Leaders Lydia Is Converted Acts 16:9-15 It is interesting to note that a transition in the writing of Acts takes place in this passage. The perspective changes from they (verse 8) to we (verse 10). Apparently Luke, the writer of the Gospel of Luke and of Acts, had joined Paul s traveling group. Although Paul had other plans, he didn t hesitate to change them when he had clear direction from God in a vision. The text says that they got ready at once to leave for Macedonia. And looking back on the effect Paul s missionary journeys had on that part of the world, we see that God s strategy in leading Paul where he did only improved Paul s original plan. Whenever Paul came to a new city, he made it a practice to go to the local Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath to see if an opportunity would arise to share the message of Jesus with the Jews meeting there. However, there must not have been a synagogue in Philippi. It took 10 Jewish males to constitute a synagogue, but Jewish men must have been lacking. Instead, a group of Jewish or God-fearing women met at an informal meeting place outside the city. Paul and his team found this meeting and told the women there about Jesus. Paul didn t hesitate to give them his time and attention. He wanted to reach everyone he could with God s message of grace. Lydia, the leader of this little group, was a dealer in purple cloth. Purple dye was extremely costly, and anyone able to deal in it had to be wealthy. For a woman to be successful and wealthy on her own was unusual in that culture, and it says a lot about Lydia. This woman was the first person in Europe who Paul led to faith in Christ. Why were all the members of Lydia s household baptized? Though Luke concentrates on the story of Lydia, that doesn t mean that others in her family weren t present and didn t believe on their own. Her children and any servants in her household likely followed her example and believed in Jesus. Some cite this passage as a precedent for baptizing infants, while others suggest that whenever a Scripture about baptism gives the details, only those old enough to believe on their own are baptized. In inviting Paul and his missionary team to stay at her house, Lydia offered generous hospitality. Perhaps as time went on, her generosity served as an example to the entire church that developed at Philippi because this was the only congregation that remembered what Paul had done for its members and regularly sent him gifts to support his ministry. Devotion for Leaders Much is said about knowing the will of God. The more time you spend with someone, the more familiar you become with that person s wishes. Paul didn t waste time wondering about what God wanted. He knew. As you spend time with Jesus through Bible study and prayer, sense his will for you and make it your own. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Lydia was a standout in her society, impressive by any standard. Do you feel intimidated by others and too timid to share the love of Christ with them? Even the least needy need Jesus. Choose one person to share God s love with in the coming week. 122 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

123 Why We Worship for Leaders We serve a loving, mighty God. He often goes to great lengths to prepare our hearts and the circumstances of our lives to help us respond to him in positive, lifechanging ways. Lydia experienced this firsthand when God directed Paul, through a vision, to go to Macedonia. When Paul met Lydia in Philippi, he preached the gospel on the riverbank, and God opened Lydia s heart to respond. Lydia s story is a testimony about God at work in the life of a person hungry to know him. He opened Lydia s heart to receive the message of Jesus. God works in our hearts, too, and prepares us to respond to him. Let s praise him for the love he displays as he prepares our hearts and enables us to understand and accept the message of Christ, his Son, who died and rose for us! Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Set a basket or bowl of heart-shaped candies near the door. You ll need at least one piece of candy for every child. Select three bananas, one very green, one yellow, and one black. (To make a black banana, put a ripe one in the refrigerator for a few days or in the freezer for a few hours.) God Prepares the Way Write the following phrases on large index cards, one phrase on a card: Paul s vision; Over the sea to Philippi; At the river; Lydia hears and responds; Lydia s hospitality. You ll need one set of the cards for every four or five children. Shuffle each set so that the cards are not in order. A Thankful Response Cut out enough 4-inch construction paper hearts for each elementary age child to have one. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Have greeters hand each child a heart-shaped candy, welcome the child by name, and say, God prepares our hearts. Hello, everyone! Welcome to children s church. We re here to worship today because God prepares our hearts. I hope you enjoyed the sweet treat you were given when you arrived today the heart candy is to remind us that there s nothing sweeter than God s love! In a moment we re going to sing Everybody Ought to Know. What has Jesus done for you this week that you think everybody ought to know? (Answers will vary.) Those are great things! Something else everybody ought to know is that God prepares our hearts. That means he gets us ready for whatever he wants to do or teach us in our lives. He gets us ready to hear and understand his Word. Turn to your neighbor, give your neighbor a high five, and say, God prepares our hearts! ALLERGY ALERT See Session 2. Session 10 KidsOwn Worship 123

124 Sing Everybody Ought to Know. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 6 How do you prepare for a test at school? (I study; I review.) What do you do to get ready for a soccer or other sports game? (I practice; I get lots of rest before the game.) What do you think it means when we say, God prepares our hearts? (He makes our hearts ready for him; he helps us obey him.) God wants us to know him and his love. He wants us to hear his voice and obey him. And God prepares our hearts so we re ready to know him, hear him, and obey him. Reading the Bible, praying, and worshipping are things we do that God uses to prepare our hearts. He also uses circumstances in our lives to prepare us. Nothing happens to us without God knowing about it. He promises to take all things in our lives and make good come out of them. And then we can let our lights shine so everyone will know about Jesus. Sing Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 3 Show children the green, black, and yellow bananas. What makes these bananas different from one another? (They are different colors; you can eat some but not all of them.) Which one would you want to eat? Why? (Yellow one, because it s ready; the black one, because I like mushy bananas.) Hold up the green banana. This green banana isn t ready to eat. It s hard on the inside and doesn t have any flavor yet. It s even hard to peel because it s not ready to be opened up. Hold up the black banana. This black banana was a ready-to-eat yellow banana, but I put it in the refrigerator. Bananas don t like cold places, so it turned black. It may taste all right, but it doesn t look so good. It wasn t prepared properly. Hold up the yellow banana. The yellow banana, on the other hand, is ready right now. It s been prepared under the right conditions not too hot, not too cold, not too early, not too late. Peel the banana, and take a bite. Mm-mm. It s good! God takes care of our lives and provides the conditions to help us ripen the way this yellow banana did. He prepares our hearts so we re ready to hear his Word and respond to him the right way. He s prepared you for being here today! If you feel like the green or black banana, let God s love warm you up and prepare you to worship him as we sing our next song! 124 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

125 Sing A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 25 God causes things to happen in our lives to prepare our hearts for what he wants to do through us. Sometimes, when things happen, we re able to respond in a certain way because he prepared us for it. Many times, we don t even realize until it s over that he was preparing us all along! Describe one or two examples from your life to show how God prepared you for something that happened later. Who can share an example of how God prepared you for something? Explain. Give children time to respond. God prepares our hearts. That s a great thing about being a Christian and knowing Jesus. He is alive and working in our lives! Sing I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 16 Let s continue to worship God by telling him we want his will to be done and his kingdom to come. Sing How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 9 Our next song says that it is written in the Bible that we may believe and know Jesus. And when we know Jesus, we can live forever with him in heaven someday. God is awesome, isn t he? He prepares our hearts so that we may believe in Jesus, and by believing have life in his name! Let s praise him! Sing That You May Believe (John 20:31). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 18 As we sing our last song, let s confess with our mouths how much we love God. Isn t it great to be his children and to know that he loves us so much that he prepares us for everything he wants us to do? Sing with me. Sing Confess With Your Mouth (Romans 10:9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 23 Lord, we love you! Thank you for preparing our hearts. Thank you for loving us so much that you use everything in our lives to bring us to you. We thank you for using this worship time to prepare our hearts to learn more about you. In Jesus name, amen. Session 10 KidsOwn Worship 125

126 Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. Worship Leader Tip If you combine preschoolers and elementary students for this activity, vary the ages in the groups. Have older kids tell the story to the preschoolers as they put the cards in order. This will be a good way for students to work together and learn from their own teaching. Elementary Activities * God Prepares the Way Have kids form groups of four or five. Today we re learning that God prepares our hearts. Our Bible story is about a woman named Lydia and how God prepared her heart. Listen carefully because your group will have to recall the events in order. Ask a child who is a good reader to read Acts 16:9-15 from an easy-tounderstand version of the Bible. Then give each group one set of the large index cards prepared before worship, and instruct children to keep the cards face down until you tell them. I ve given each group a set of cards. Parts of the story you just heard are written on the cards. Your job is to work together to put the cards in the order the events happened in the story. When you have them in order, raise your hand until I see you. Then put your hand down, and wait quietly until everyone else finishes. Are you ready? Begin. When everyone has finished, have someone from the group that finished first discuss the order that group chose. Allow groups to change the order of their cards if necessary. Then have a group who ordered them correctly hold the cards in order. God prepares our hearts to respond to him. Looking at the order of these events, how did God prepare people s hearts? (First he prepared Paul s heart, and then Lydia s heart; God prepared Lydia s heart to be nice to Paul so he would have a place to stay.) How did God prepare the way for Lydia to be converted? (God sent Paul to Lydia s town; God fixed it so Paul and Lydia would meet.) (continued on page 129) 126 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

127 Preschool Activities Lydia Is Converted Session 10 Worship Theme: God prepares our hearts. Easy Prep for Leaders Preparing Our Hearts Hello, preschoolers! We re learning today that God prepares our hearts. Prepare means get ready. What are some things that you get ready for at home? Acts 16:9-15 Preparing Our Hearts Cut heart shapes about 5 inches tall from construction paper, one for each child. Have scissors and markers or crayons available. Heart Wands Cut heart shapes about 3 to 4 inches tall from construction paper, two for each child. You ll also need two drinking straws per child, ribbon or curling ribbon, scissors, and markers. Make a sample heart wand by taping a paper heart to one end of a straw. Tie a piece of ribbon to the straw where the heart and straw meet. If necessary, help the children think about getting ready for bed or for dinner. When we say, God prepares our hearts, we mean that he gets us ready to learn more about him. Let s prepare something that will help us tell our Bible story today. It will remind us that God prepares our hearts. Hearts That Hear Have children gather in the story area with their heart pieces. God prepares our hearts. He gets us ready to learn about him. Show me your ready hearts. (Pause.) Show me your ready ears. (Pause.) Good job, everyone! Hold those ears up now while I start our story. One night a man named Paul had a vision, which is kind of like a dream. Wave an ear at me if you have dreams, then put it back. In the vision, a man was begging Paul to come to his country to help him. Paul knew in his heart that God was telling him to go there. Make a Using Theo Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Attach a heart wand to Theo s paw so he can demonstrate it. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. Let each child choose a heart and prepare it by decorating it with drawings and designs. What pretty hearts you ve prepared! Cut your heart in half vertically. Hold the pieces up to your chest together in the heart shape. I cut my heart in half so it could become something else, too. Hold the pieces up to your ears. Now I have two beautiful ears to hear God s Word with! Help the children cut their hearts in half. Have them practice making hearts and ears alternately. I think our hearts and ears are ready, don t you? Let s get ready to hear our Bible story! heart to show that Paul knew. (Pause.) He and his friends went there. They wanted to tell the people about Jesus. I hope the people listen! Show me listening ears! Good job. When they arrived in that country, they went down to the river, hoping to find some people. Make a heart, and hold it high to show they were hoping. Good job! They started talking to the people who were by the river, and the people listened quietly to everything they said. Show me quiet, listening ears again. Nice ears! Session 10 KidsOwn Worship 127

128 Preschool Activities Hearts That Hear (continued) One woman, named Lydia, loved God with her whole heart. Show me a heart. (Pause.) The Bible says that the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul s message about Jesus. That means he helped her understand. Then she and all the people in her house believed and were baptized. God had prepared her heart! Hold up the heart. She listened (hold up ears), and she believed God. Afterward, she invited Paul and his friends to her house, and she gave everyone a good meal. Did Lydia have good listening ears? Tell us why. Was Lydia s heart ready? How do you know? God loved Lydia so much that he sent Paul to her. He prepared everything for her so she could hear about Jesus. Her heart was ready. God does that for you, too he gets you ready to learn more about him. Now that our hearts are ready and our ears have heard God s Word, let s do something about it! Set the heart pieces aside so the children can put them in the offering bowl. Heart Wands What did Lydia do after she believed in Jesus and was baptized? Lydia invited Paul and his friends to stay at her house for a while. Lydia did that because she was thankful. What was Lydia thankful for? Lydia was thankful that God sent Paul. She was thankful that Paul came to tell her about Jesus. She wanted to do something special for Paul to thank him. One of the things God prepares our hearts to do is to love others. Let s be like Lydia and make something special to give someone. Show children the sample heart wand, and explain that they ll each make one to keep and one to give away. Help children decorate the paper hearts and tape them to the drinking straws. Then tie a piece of ribbon to the straw where the heart and straw meet. When the wands are finished, have children practice what they ll say when they give their wands to someone they love. Suggest Jesus loves you, and so do I! or Thank you for being my friend. 128 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

129 (continued from page 126) If we look at each event, we see that each one was important to the one after it. If Paul had not had his vision and sailed to Philippi, Lydia wouldn t have heard about Jesus and responded the way she did. Point to cards one and two. So first God directed Paul s journey. Point to the third card. Second, God arranged the events so that Paul and Lydia would meet. Point to the last two cards. Third, God opened Lydia s heart, and she responded. How did Lydia respond to the message about Jesus? (She listened and then believed; she showed Jesus love to Paul by letting him and his friends stay at her house.) Lydia responded by believing and being baptized. Then she responded in thankfulness by inviting Paul and his friends to her home. There she fed them, and gave them a place to stay while they were in Philippi. Collect the cards, and set them aside. * Prepared Hearts Have the children form small groups of three to five. Give each group a stiff, dry cleaning sponge. What do you use a sponge for? (For cleaning; to wipe the counter with.) Do you think these dried-out sponges will do a very good job at cleaning? Why or why not? (No, they don t work without water; maybe, but not well because they are dry.) If most of the children are younger, you may want to have them try cleaning a dirty table or window with the dried-out sponge. These sponges are kind of like us before God prepares our hearts. The cleaning sponges don t clean very well when they re stiff and dry. We can t fulfill our purpose when we have hard hearts. Let s see what happens when God prepares our hearts. Give each small group a cup of water and a spoon. Ask the children for examples of how God prepares our hearts to hear and respond to him. Each time a child mentions an idea, have him or her pour a spoonful of water onto the dried sponge. Give the children two or three minutes to talk and moisten the sponges. What s different about your sponge now? (It s soft and bendy; I can clean with it.) What can this sponge do now? (Pick up spills; clean.) What can we do when our hearts are prepared by God? (We can show God s love to others; we can tell others about Jesus.) When we added water to these sponges, they became soft and useable. That s what happens to us when God prepares our Session 10 KidsOwn Worship 129

130 hearts. God prepares our hearts so that we can do what we were created to do. We can hear God s message, and we can love and serve God the way he wants us to. Let s thank God for preparing our hearts for him. * A Thankful Response Worship Leader Tip If you combine preschoolers and elementary students for this activity, have an older child pair up with a preschooler. Have the older child help the preschooler think of a name and write it on the heart. Then when the activity calls for students to find partners, try to have preschoolers pair up. Distribute the construction paper hearts. Provide pencils or markers. What did Lydia do after she heard Paul s message about Jesus? (She believed and got baptized; she invited Paul and his friends to her house.) Lydia did two things. She responded by getting baptized and then invited Paul and his friends to her house. Why did Lydia invite Paul to her house? (As a way of saying thank you; so Paul and his friends would have someplace to stay.) Lydia was very grateful for what Paul did for her. She wanted to do something for him to show her thankfulness. After that, Paul and Lydia were friends. Lydia helped Paul over the years as he preached the gospel, and the church grew in Philippi. Take a moment to think of someone who has helped you grow closer to God the way Paul helped Lydia. It could be a parent, a brother or sister, a friend, a grown-up, or a child. (Pause.) Now write that person s name on your heart. (Pause.) Find a partner, and tell your partner about the person whose name you wrote. Give kids a few minutes to find partners and share. Then have a few kids share with the group about the person they chose. Lydia showed her thankfulness to Paul by inviting him to her home. Think of a way that you could show your thankfulness to the person who helped you. It could be something like making a card to send, sending a letter or , baking cookies for the person, or praying for that person. Tell your partner what you re going to do for that person this week, then write it on the heart underneath the person s name. Let s Pray! The Offering Play Oh, How I Love Jesus quietly in the background as you take the offering. Track KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter God loves us so much that he prepares our hearts! He puts special people in our lives to help us. He gets us ready to respond to him and to love him more. Today, let s thank him for preparing our hearts. When the offering bowl comes to you, put your paper heart in the bowl along with

131 any money you brought for the offering. As you do that, thank God for the people who have helped you know him better. If you wrote something on your heart, remember to show your thankfulness this week by doing what you wrote. Take the offering. Praying Hearts Have children stand and hold hands to form a large circle. Then show them how to form a heart shape by asking one child to take about three steps toward the center. Have the children on either side of that child curve in. Ask a child at the opposite side of the circle to step back to form the point, and have the children on either side adjust their positions. We learned today that God prepares our hearts. Let s have several people pray and thank God for all the ways he does that. If you or someone you know has a special need for God, you can pray for that, too. After each prayer, the rest of us will say, God prepares our hearts. When the children have finished praying, close in prayer, thanking God for preparing our hearts to respond to him. Purify My Heart Let s use a song as a prayer. Play If We Confess (1 John 1:9). Track 17 God, we love you so much! Thank you for purifying our hearts and making us ready to do your will. Thank you for accepting us as we are but loving us too much to leave us that way. You prepare our hearts and cleanse us to do your will. Set us apart for you, Jesus. We love you, Lord. In Jesus name, amen. Session 10 KidsOwn Worship 131

132 Session 11 Paul s Jailer Believes in Jesus Acts 16:16-34 Worship Theme: God uses his power to reach us. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will praise God for the way he uses his power to reach us. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing He s the King (track 13) Everybody Ought to Know (track 6) Confess With Your Mouth (Romans 10:9) (track 23) That You May Believe (John 20:31) (track 18) A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) (track 25) His Great Love (Romans 5:8) (track 14) If We Confess (1 John 1:9) (track 17) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, life-preserver ring, Life Savers candies, bowl Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Earthquake! Hear the Bible story to learn that God uses his power to reach people. God Finds Me Play a game to learn that God always knows where we are and uses his power to reach us. * Love Reaches Practice reaching, thank God for reaching us, and share God s love. 132 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

133 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * God s Power Reaches Us Identify where God s power is needed and trust him to bring help. * Power! Draw powerful pictures and thank God for reaching out to them. God Can Do It! Watch a demonstration and discuss how God finds ways to reach us. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Persevere! (James 1:2-3) (track 24) CD player, marshmallows Paper, markers Balloon, pin, pitcher, glass, water, 3 feet of string Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God. Thank You, God Thank God for reaching us with his powerful love. Let s Go! Praise God for using his power to reach us. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Confess With Your Mouth (Romans 10:9) (track 23) Offering bowls, CD player Ball of string KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Let s Go! (Ephesians 2:10) (track 7) CD player * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 11 KidsOwn Worship 133

134 Bible Background for Leaders Paul s Jailer Believes in Jesus Acts 16:16-34 Paul and his companions were probably on their way to the place of prayer where they had met Lydia when they ran into a demon-possessed slave girl. This slave girl was apparently considered to be inspired by Apollo, the god who gave oracles. The words she spoke under the influence of the power within her were thought to be the words of Apollo, and she was in demand for telling people s fortunes. Why did she follow Paul and his team, shouting out the truth about them? She may have done this to create commotion and confuse people. Paul couldn t accept the words of someone controlled by a demon. Had he done so, the gospel he was preaching could have been assumed to be linked with the girl s utterances, thereby hindering people s understanding of Paul s message. When Paul cast the demon out of the girl, she lost her ability to tell fortunes. Therefore, her owners saw Paul s actions as an attack on their property. They saw Paul and his companions as Jews propagating outlandish beliefs. On the basis of the owners accusations, Paul and Silas were flogged and put in jail. This time when God freed his servants from jail, he essentially freed everyone in the jail. Why didn t everyone flee? Perhaps they stayed because of the impression Paul and Silas had on them when they were singing hymns at midnight in spite of their chains! The Romans dealt severely with jailers who were unable to deliver their prisoners at the appointed time. Assuming that all the prisoners had escaped as a result of the earthquake opening the gates, the jailer thought he would die at the hands of his superiors. Taking his own life seemed a better choice at that point. Only a shout from Paul stopped him. When the jailer realized that all the prisoners were still there, he was ready to accept Paul s message. And Paul s message was clear: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. It was not against any rule for the jailer to take Paul and Silas to his own home. The jailer was commissioned only to produce the prisoners when they were called for. After what had happened that night, he probably didn t fear that they would try to escape. Instead, he took care of their wounds from the flogging, gave them some good food, and rejoiced in the salvation he had received. Paul and Silas undoubtedly realized that the flogging and imprisonment they had endured were worth the joy that salvation had brought to the Philippian jailer! Devotion for Leaders The jailer and his family weren t won so much by the words Paul and Silas spoke. Paul and Silas were the real deal. Their attitudes and behaviors reinforced their message. The vibrancy and realness of your relationship with Jesus is capturing the attention of others around you. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: The young slave girl was said to be possessed by an evil spirit. She was being controlled by this spirit force. A believer is filled with God s Holy Spirit. Are you allowing yourself to be controlled by his presence? Are you helping your students find the freedom they re seeking from the grip the world may have on them? Make a conscious effort to yield yourself to God s Spirit more and more, and watch how he can use you as you minister to your students. 134 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

135 Why We Worship for Leaders No matter how far we stray from God, his powerful love reaches us and draws us to redemption. This redeeming love is evidenced throughout history as God orchestrates incredible events to bring his wandering children back to him. Today we see a demonstration of this loving, powerful Creator reaching out to a common, hard-working man a guard in the Philippi prison. When Paul and Silas were in jail, God reached the jailer by demonstrating his power in an earthquake. Because of the faithful actions and testimony of Paul and Silas, the jailer s life was spared, and he and his family became believers. Today we worship God because he uses this same power to reach us. God s power is infinite and always has the same result he reaches us and brings us closer to him. Let s worship God for that! Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Place a bowl of Life Savers candies on a table near the entrance. You ll need at least one piece of candy for each child. Also, purchase an inexpensive life-preserver ring from a party store or borrow a real one from a community pool. God s Power Reaches Us Provide several bags of marshmallows. God Can Do It! You ll need an inflated balloon and a pin. You ll also need a small pitcher with a spout, filled two-thirds full with water; a glass; and a 3-foot long string. Practice the demonstration once or twice so you can do it smoothly. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Greet each child by name. Offer each one a Life Savers candy, and say, God is our lifesaver! Hello, everyone! Today we worship God because he uses his power to reach us. He loves us with a great and powerful love. Let s start our worship by singing about our great King. Sing He s the King. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Hold up the life-preserver ring. Track 13 What is this used for? (To save people from drowning; to float.) Life-preserver rings are tossed to people in the water who are in danger of drowning. The life preservers help them stay afloat. Often a rope is attached to the ring. If you re in a boating or swimming accident or in a pool and can t get out, someone can throw this ring to you and pull you to safety. ALLERGY ALERT See Session 2. Session 11 KidsOwn Worship 135

136 Toss the ring into the group of children. Have the child who catches it come and stand next to you. God uses his power to reach us in sort of the same way I tossed this life preserver out and [name of child] caught it. God s love pulls us to him. Let s show God s love to [name of child] and name some things we think are awesome about [him or her]. Encourage the children to name actions and characteristics. They might say, You always show up for children s church you re faithful, You re kind to others, You tell funny jokes and make us laugh, or You bring friends to church that s awesome. Then have the child sit down. Now quickly tell the person next to you why he or she is awesome. Who or what is the most powerful person or thing you can think of? (My dad; my teacher; Superman.) God is even more powerful than that! God uses his power to reach us and to love us. That s reason to worship! He s more powerful than anything created in heaven or on earth. So, no matter how hard our life is or how bad we might think we are, God is more powerful. Everybody ought to know that, right? Sing Everybody Ought to Know. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 6 When you came to children s church today, someone offered you a Life Savers candy and said, God is our lifesaver. How is God our lifesaver? (He saves us from our sins; if we believe in Jesus, we ll live forever with him.) Who did God send to reach us with his love? (Jesus; his Son.) How did we see God s great power after Jesus died on the cross? (Jesus rose from the dead; Jesus came back to life.) Jesus was raised from the dead with God s great power. He was sent to earth to reach us and help us. And when we believe in him, we get to be in heaven with Jesus forever! That s great news! Sing Confess With Your Mouth (Romans 10:9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 23 Some people think that a powerful God who can do anything is too busy to care about each one of us. But he can do anything he wants and he wants to reach us! He loves us and wants us to be with him. In the book of John in the Bible, Jesus tells us, In my Father s house are many rooms I am going there to prepare a place for you. Let s thank Jesus for that. 136 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

137 Sing That You May Believe (John 20:31). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 18 Sometimes God reaches us when we re praying or reading his Word. Sometimes God uses people to reach out to us and love us. Sometimes he uses circumstances or things. He arranges them in amazing ways so that we know he is real and he loves us. Share an example from your life of God reaching out to you so that you felt closer to him and knew he was real because of your experience. Have you experienced God reaching out to you in love? Tell us about it. (Answers will vary.) How do you feel when God or someone else reaches out to you? (Good; special; loved.) Reach out to the people next to you, and put your arms around their shoulders as we sing our next song. When we sing that we have been made new! reach toward heaven before putting your arms on each other s shoulders again. Sing A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 25 God wants to reach everyone, not just us in this room. We can pray that God will reach our friends and family, too. In our Bible story today, we ll see that God uses a powerful event to reach people who don t yet believe in him. Raise your hand if you can think of someone you would like God to reach. (Pause.) Let s take a minute to ask God silently to reach that person. (Pause for a moment of silent prayer.) God is always working to bring people to him. We praise him today for using his power to help us know who he is. God wants to reach us with his message of love and forgiveness so we can be with him forever. Let s sing about God s great love for us. Sing His Great Love (Romans 5:8). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 14 When God uses his power to reach us, nothing pleases him more than our responding to him in love. As we sing our last song, let s give God our greatest gift our hearts. Let s commit our lives to him and ask him to purify our hearts and make us ready to do his will. Sing If We Confess (1 John 1:9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 17 God, we thank you for using your power to reach us. In many ways and at many times, you have shown your love for us. Help us reach out to others with that same love. Thank you for being our friend and Savior. In Jesus name, amen. Session 11 KidsOwn Worship 137

138 Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They work well with both elementary and preschool children. ALLERGY ALERT See Session KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter. Elementary Activities * God s Power Reaches Us One time Paul and Silas were thrown into prison for preaching about Jesus. They were beaten and wrongly accused, but they worshipped God instead of being angry and upset. And a powerful thing happened because they did. What happened to Paul and Silas? Tell us about it. (They went to jail for talking about Jesus; they got beat up, but they still loved God.) God caused a great earthquake to shake the jail until the doors flew open and everyone s chains fell off. The jailer was terrified that he would be blamed for everyone escaping, so he decided to kill himself. But Paul and Silas didn t run away. They stopped the jailer from hurting himself and told him about Jesus. He and his whole family believed and were baptized. Who was in trouble and needed God s power in the story? (Paul and Silas; everybody did.) Everyone needed God s power! Paul and Silas were in chains in prison. They needed to be set free. But the jailer wasn t free either. He needed to know Jesus. How did God use his power to reach the people in this story? (He made an earthquake; he rescued Paul and Silas; he made the jailer believe in Jesus.) How does God use his power to reach us today? (He rescues us when we re in trouble; he helps us believe in Jesus.) Sometimes we have situations that we need Jesus help with. Maybe you or someone you know is sick and needs healing or maybe you know someone who needs friends. Maybe people in your family don t know Jesus. They re like the jailer, and you re praying that God will reach them. Take a moment to think of the ways that you need to see God s power in your life. Have kids wash their hands, and then pass around the marshmallows. (continued on page 141)

139 Preschool Activities Paul s Jailer Believes in Jesus Session 11 Worship Theme: God uses his power to reach us. Easy Prep for Leaders None necessary. Acts 16:16-34 Using Theo Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo find the children in the God Finds Me activity. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. Earthquake! Have children sit on the floor. Surround them with a circle of chairs so that the seats of the chairs are facing away from the children. Our Bible story today tells us how an earthquake helped people believe in Jesus. What is an earthquake? Is an earthquake powerful? Why? What can an earthquake do? Our Bible story is about Paul and Silas, who were put in jail one day for preaching about Jesus. Let s pretend you are in jail like Paul and Silas. The chairs around you are your jail. When Paul and Silas were put in jail, what do you think they did? They did a surprising thing. They sang songs of praise to God! Let s sing one of your favorite praise songs. Help the children sing a song they choose. Then something amazing happened. There was a big earthquake! They didn t run away even though they could have! When the guard saw the open jail, he was sure the prisoners had escaped. He knew he d get in bad trouble. But Paul said, We re all here! Let s say that together. (Pause.) Then Paul and Silas told the jailer about Jesus. He believed what they said. He was so thankful that they didn t run away. He was so happy to hear about Jesus that he took Paul and Silas to meet his family. Everyone in his family believed in Jesus, and everyone was baptized. How did God help the guard and his family believe? God used his power to show them he was real! God uses his power to reach us, too. Let s sing our praise song one more time and shake these chairs as if an earthquake is happening. Then let s move them back where they belong! Shake two of the chairs, and then lay them on the floor to make an opening in the circle. God sent a powerful earthquake that opened the jail door. What do you think Paul and Silas did? Session 11 KidsOwn Worship 139

140 Preschool Activities God Finds Me Have you ever been somewhere with your mom or dad maybe in a store or the park and gotten lost? Tell us about it. You probably didn t mean to get lost. You just wandered away from your mom for a minute and couldn t find her again. How do you feel when you re lost? If you were lost, why would your mom or dad look for you until you were found? Sometimes people wander away from God. But God uses his power to reach us and bring us back to him, just as your parents would come and find you if you got lost. *Love Reaches Use your hands to show me how you would reach for the sky. (Pause.) That s great! Now reach down low, as low as you can. (Pause.) Now reach to one side as far as you can. (Pause.) Now to the other side. (Pause.) Good reaching, everyone! You can reach far! But aren t you glad that God can reach farther than that? He can reach every person on earth with his love. How can we thank God for caring about us so much? Let s say, Thank you God, and clap for him. (Pause.) Now reach your hands up toward heaven. Say, Thank you for reaching me, God! Let s play a game about God finding us. I ll pretend to be God, and you pretend to be God s people. You ll wander away and get lost by hiding somewhere. Then I ll come and find you. Give children time to hide somewhere in the room. I m coming to find you now. When I reach out to you and call your name, take my hand and come with me. Then we ll go find others. Find each child, call the child by name, and take the child by the hand until everyone is found. Were you really lost? No, you weren t lost, because I knew where you were all along. God knows where we are, and he uses his power to reach us. Paul and Silas reached out to others to tell them about God. We can do that, too. Let s reach out and take the hands of the people next to us. Turn to each person and say, God loves you. (Pause.) Now let s scatter around the room and find a place to stand. (Pause.) Don t move until I come to you. I m going to reach out to you and give you a big hug to show you God s love, like Paul and Silas showed the jailer God s love. After I hug you, you reach out and hug someone else until everyone gets hugged. Ready? Let s reach out for God s love! 140 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

141 (continued from page 138) When the bag of marshmallows comes to you, take out one marshmallow for each person or situation that you need God s power for. Hold the marshmallows until everyone has some, then wait for my instructions. These marshmallows represent people or situations in our lives we need God s power to reach. Let s build a jail cell with our marshmallows to represent our need for God. Call on small groups of kids at a time to build a jail by stacking their marshmallows on the table until all the marshmallows are used. Kids can build more than one jail to accommodate everyone s marshmallows. If they have trouble with the walls tipping over, make a pile or tower instead of walls. When everyone s marshmallows have been added to the jail, gather the kids around the table. This jail represents our need for God. Sometimes we have to persevere that means to hold on while we are going through troubles. Now let s do what Paul and Silas did worship God before our prayers are answered. Let s sing Persevere! (James 1:2-3) and worship God for helping us hold on in these situations. Sing Persevere! (James 1:2-3). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 24 Our praises honor God. When we trust him, he hears us and helps us because our faith pleases him. Lord, thank you for using your power to reach us. Help us to trust you this week to work in our lives and the lives of the people we have told you about today. Break down the doors of the jails, Lord, and set us free to love you the way you set Paul, Silas, and the jailer free. In Jesus name, amen. Ask two or three kids to go to the table and shake it to make an earthquake so the walls will fall down. Allow kids to eat the marshmallows they want to eat as they put the rest back in the bags. * Power! Listen to what the Bible says we should do. It says, Praise [God] for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness (Psalm 150:2). Let s spend some time praising God for using mighty acts of power to reach us. I m going to give you a piece of paper and a marker. On the left side of your paper, draw yourself. Draw a picture of God on the other side of the piece of paper. Then draw something in the middle that represents how powerful God is. For example, you might draw a big storm or a piece of heavy equipment. Then Session 11 KidsOwn Worship 141

142 draw lines or arrows to connect God, the powerful symbol, and the picture of you. While you re drawing, thank God for using his power to reach out to you. Give the children four or five minutes to draw their pictures and talk with God. Why does God want to reach us? (Because he loves us; because he can use us.) Why do you think God uses powerful events to reach us? (To get our attention; so we ll remember how powerful God is.) Was there ever a time in your life you felt God was reaching out to you? Tell us about it. (Answers will vary.) How did you respond to God? (I trusted him; I prayed to him.) God loves each one of us so much that he does lots of different things to reach us with his love. Sometimes God reaches out to us through powerful events. He wants us to know that he s there for us. God wants us to understand who he is, and he wants us to follow him. Sometimes only a powerful event will make us really pay attention. Let s learn more about that. God Can Do It! Warning To avoid potential choking hazards, pick up pieces of the broken balloon promptly. Put the balloon, pin, glass, and water pitcher on a table so that everyone can see the supplies. Set the pitcher and glass about two feet apart. While you re setting up, kids should be talking among themselves. If not, pretend to be busy a little longer until they re distracted and not focused on you. Then quickly pop the balloon with the pin to startle them and focus their attention on you. Why did you suddenly focus your attention on me? (You startled me; you made a loud noise.) Extra Impact If you place the balloon in a large bucket to pop it, the sound is much louder and may be a more powerful attention-getter. I used noise to get your attention. Sometimes God uses his power to get our attention. Why would God use his power to get our attention? (So we notice him; so we know that God s power can help us.) He wants us to know that he is God. He wants us to know that he loves us. Do you ever feel that God is too far away to understand you and help you? Do you ever feel that you have a problem that God can t help you with? If you ever feel that way, you re not alone. Sometimes we might feel that God couldn t possibly reach us. But God can reach you, and sometimes he does it in unusual ways. Imagine that God s love is this pitcher of water and you are the empty glass waiting for his love and help. Imagine that the pitcher can t be moved any closer to the glass than it already is. How can we get the water into the glass without moving the pitcher closer? Give children time to suggest solutions. 142 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

143 God uses his power to reach us. He can always find a way to make things happen. Wet the string in the water, and then tie one end of it to the handle of the pitcher. Pass the string over the mouth of the pitcher, down the spout, and to the glass, about two feet away. Hold the pitcher about a foot up in the air off the table. With your other hand, hold the end of the wet string inside the glass. Slowly pour the water from the pitcher. It will move down the string into the glass without spilling a drop. I got the water into the glass in an unusual way. God used an earthquake to reach the jailer in our Bible story today. God will do whatever needs to be done in our lives to reach us. Let s trust him this week to use his power to reach us and everyone we re praying for. Let s Pray! The Offering God uses his power to reach us. Let s reach back to him as we give our offerings today. Let s sing Confess With Your Mouth (Romans 10:9) and thank him for loving us. When the bowl comes to you, thank God for reaching out to you, and then place your offering in it if you brought one. Let s sing our song now as a prayer of praise to God. Sing Confess WIth Your Mouth (Romans 10:9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 23 Take the offering. Thank You, God Hold a ball of string in your hand. God s love is so powerful, it reaches us in many ways. God used an earthquake to reach the jailer and his family. Some of us shared earlier about ways that God reached us. Since then, others of you may have realized ways God has used his power to reach you. How has God reached you? (By helping me believe in Jesus; by helping me not to feel scared during a storm.) Thank you for sharing those experiences with us. I m going to start a prayer by thanking God for reaching me. Then I m going to pull out some string and pass the ball of it to the person next to me. When the string reaches you, say a prayer of thanks, pull more string, and pass the ball of string to the next person. Make sure you keep the string running through your hands or across your lap as we pass it around. Session 11 KidsOwn Worship 143

144 Continue until everyone has prayed. Then have kids hold the length of string up to show how long it was when it reached everyone. Look at the length of the string that reached all of us! And God s love is much longer than that string! He s big and powerful enough to reach every person on earth who wants him! Collect the string and put it aside. Let s Go! God has done great things for us. He uses his power to reach us in many ways so that we can reach out to others with his love. Let s reach out to God while we sing and praise God with this song. Sing Let s Go! (Ephesians 2:10). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 7 God, thank you for using your power to reach us. We want to shout it loud! We ask for your help this week in reaching others with your love. Thank you for sending Jesus to us and for raising him from the dead the most powerful way of reaching us ever. We worship you and love you. In Jesus name, amen. 144 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

145 Encouragement for Leaders Dear Lord, thank you for being a loving God, the perfect example of how I should treat others. Help me reflect your love in my relationships with my students and my family. In Jesus name, amen. From Heartfelt Thanks for Helping Kids Love Jesus. Copyright 2004 Group Publishing, Inc., Loveland, CO.

146 Session 12 Paul Describes Living by God s Spirit Romans 8:9-17 Worship Theme: God s Spirit lives in us. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will experience how God s Spirit lives in them as they praise and worship God. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing: Are You Going to Praise the Lord? (track 1) Those Who Hope (Isaiah 40:31) (track 26) To God Be the Glory (track 5) Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (track 27) Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23) (track 20) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, Bible, grapes, 2 drinking glasses, unsweetened powdered drink mix, water, sugar Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) God s Spirit Helps Us Learn that God helps them do good things. Living in Me! Play a game to remember that God s Spirit lives in them. * What s Inside? Brush water on black ink to reveal new colors. Bible, bubble solution and wand 1 paper towel, cup of water, and small paintbrush per child; black marker (not permanent) 146 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

147 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) Treasure Hunt Search for hidden treasure in the Bible text. * Fruity Charade Praise Praise God in a fun way for the fruit of his Spirit living in us. * The Spirit of God in Me Use balloons to see the difference between life with God s Spirit and life without. Bibles, paper, pens, 1 bowl of uncooked rice per 3 kids, 1 trinket per child (see Easy Prep), newsprint, marker KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, 9 index cards, marker 2 deflated balloons, uncooked rice, funnel Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God and ask for his help to grow in the fruit of his Spirit. Plugged In Pray for God s power to grow the fruit of the Spirit. Fruitful Prayers Pray for one another. 1 sheet of construction paper per 4 children, offering bowls, pencils Lamp with plug Fruity Charade Praise cards, tape *Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 147

148 Bible Background for Leaders Paul Describes Living by God s Spirit Romans 8:9-17 To understand what the Apostle Paul says in today s passage, it s important to look back at what he said just prior to this. In the latter half of Romans 7, Paul talks about the difficulty of being true to the good things we want to do when our sinful nature is set on doing the things we don t really want to do. At the end of the chapter, Paul summarizes the struggle: So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin (Romans 7:25). Fortunately, he doesn t stop there. At the start of Romans 8, Paul points out that what we are unable to do on our own in defeating sin in our lives, God did for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross. We have been set free from the sin and death that rule humanity! We are no longer condemned by our sin, and we are free to live our lives in accord with God s Spirit (see Romans 8:1-4). Then Paul launches into a description of living by the sinful nature which ends in death (Romans 8:5-8). That s where today s passage picks up: Paul describes what it looks like to live according to the Holy Spirit. He begins by making it clear that Christians have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, living in them. And with that Spirit within, we can resist the pull of the sinful nature (Romans 8:9). In Romans 8:11, Paul points out that the Holy Spirit not only helps us keep from sinning, but also brings us resurrection from the dead eternal life. If God raised up Jesus and God s Spirit is dwelling in us, God can raise us up as well! Paul changes gears somewhat in Romans 8:12-13, turning from what God does for us through the Holy Spirit to what our responsibility is in response to what God has done for us. If we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives rather than our sinful nature, we will live. The death to sin that God has accomplished for us doesn t mean that we don t have to worry about sin in our lives; instead it makes it possible for us to turn from sinning, and even obligates us to do so! Romans 8:15-17 turns back to what God has done for us. When we live by God s Spirit, not only are we able to turn from sin and be cleansed from sin through Jesus sacrifice, but we also are adopted as children of God himself! And in first-century culture, an adopted child wasn t in any way inferior to a natural child. In fact, the adopted child was deliberately chosen by a father for the purpose of carrying on his name, which was a great honor. God is our Father. We can call him Abba, an Aramaic word by which children would lovingly address their fathers. Of this word Martin Luther said, I am thy child, and thou art my Father for Christ s sake: I am beloved because of the Beloved. What more could we ask? Devotion for Leaders There is a great freedom that comes when, after every effort imaginable, you realize nothing you do on your own can win right-standing with God. It can be found only by accepting a gift with humility and gratitude. The gift? A relationship with Jesus. Find relief in knowing him. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Pray this prayer today: God, you did more than forgive me. You accepted me. I can hardly believe you think of me as your child. Make this so real to me that I am changed through and through. How can you face each day as one given a second chance? 148 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

149 Why We Worship for Leaders The Creator of the universe, the God who spoke the world into existence, lives in us! What an amazing and life-transforming truth! All we need to do is believe God and trust him. When we do that, we are given the privilege of becoming his own children, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. As children of God, we can be assured that God s Spirit lives in us. Let s worship God today because of that. Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Prepare unsweetened powdered drink mix in two identicallooking glasses and fill them with water. Add sugar to one glass. Stir them well. Have a bunch of grapes to show the children, and have extra grapes so that each child can have a few to eat. Set these supplies in the worship area. Treasure Hunt Fill cereal-size bowls with uncooked rice and hide three small objects in each bowl, such as coins or trinkets (rings or key chains, for example). You ll need one treasure for each child, and one bowl of rice for every three children. Fruity Charade Praise Write each of the nine fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23 on an index card. If your group has more than 45 children, make more than one set of cards, but keep the sets separate. You ll need one card for every four or five children. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Let s Praise God! Play the Songs From FaithWeaver CD as children arrive. Greet each child by name, and say to each one, God s Spirit lives in us. You may want to choose two children to serve as greeters for the day. Welcome to children s church, everyone. We re here to worship God today because his Spirit lives in us. Let s start by praising God by singing Are You Going to Praise the Lord? Sing Are You Going to Praise the Lord? Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 1 Great singing, everyone! The Bible says that when we believe in Jesus, he gives us the gift of his Spirit. Today we re going to learn a little bit about what that means. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is a helper, a comforter, and a teacher. The Holy Spirit is our constant companion who gives us hope and strength. Let s praise him for that! Sing Those Who Hope (Isaiah 40:31). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 26 Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 149

150 God s Spirit lives in us. Think about it. It s an amazing thing the God who is bigger than the entire universe cares about little you and me! Not only does he care, he comes to live in us! Wow! Let s give God glory for that as we sing our next song. Sing To God Be the Glory. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 5 Set out the two identical-looking drinks you prepared beforehand. I need two volunteers to taste these drinks and describe them to us. ALLERGY ALERT See Session 2. Have the volunteers describe the taste of the drinks. Hmm. That s funny. These drinks look exactly alike. But you (to one volunteer) say the drink is sour and yucky, and you (to the other volunteer) say the drink is sweet and tasty. Thank the volunteers and have them sit down. Why was there a difference in the drinks? (One was sweet, and one was sour; they looked alike, one had sugar and the other didn t.) How is this like or unlike having the Holy Spirit live in us? (The Holy Spirit makes us sweet on the inside; when we don t have God, we are kind of yucky inside, like the drink without sugar.) Of course, one of these drinks has sugar and the other doesn t. We can t see the sugar, but we know it s there because we can taste it. When God s Spirit lives in us, we might not look any different than anyone else on the outside, but there is a big difference on the inside. When we trust in Jesus, God s Spirit sweetens our lives! Let s praise him because we can trust him! Sing Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus. Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 27 Bring out the grapes and show them to the children. The type of fruit that grows on a tree or plant depends on what kind of plant it is. For example, these grapes were cut from a grapevine in a vineyard somewhere. What determined that they would be grapes and not, say, apples or oranges is the fact that the plant was a grapevine. Jesus said you are like parts of a plant, too. John 15, verse 5 tells us that Jesus said, I am the vine; you are the branches. Pass the grapes around, and ask the children to eat only a few so there are enough for everyone. What did Jesus mean when he said that he is the vine? (We get our strength from him; he gives us what we need.) 150 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter Why does the Bible say we are branches and not the vine? (Because we aren t in charge, but God is; because we are made like God, but we aren t God.)

151 What should our lives look like if we re growing on Jesus the way these grapes grow on a vine? (We should bloom; we should look more like Jesus.) Let s read Galatians 5:22-23a and listen to what the fruit of the Holy Spirit that lives in us is. Have a volunteer read the verses: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23a). Wow! Those are important fruit! How can we show these fruit of the Spirit? (By reading the Bible; by being nice to people; by loving others.) How many fruit are growing in your life? (Some of them; all of them; I m not sure.) What do you need more of? (Patience; self-control.) I know I could use more! And because we re God s children, he promises to send his Spirit to live in us and help us become more like him. Sing Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 20 Lord, thank you for sending your Spirit to live in us! We are so happy to have you help us and teach us. We need you today, Lord. Help us grow more like you. Fill us with your Spirit and your love. We love you, Jesus. In your name, amen. Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They will work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities Treasure Hunt Have kids form groups of three, and give each group a piece of paper and a pencil. Then set one of the bowls of rice you prepared before the session in the center of each group. Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 151

152 I have hidden three small treasures inside your bowl of rice. Pass the bowl around your group, and when it comes to you, carefully dig around in the bowl until you find one treasure. Then hold the treasure and pass the bowl to the next person. Wait quietly until the other groups finish. Give kids time to find the items. Then have them set the items on top of the rice and set the bowl in the center of their circle. Your bowls of rice didn t look very exciting until I told you they contained buried treasure! I did that because today s Bible text is a little bit like those bowls of rice. At first glance, it looks plain and boring. But there are treasures in it that I want you to dig for. In a moment, I m going to have you read a Bible passage together. I want you to find three things one for each treasure you found in your rice bowl that tell us what great things happen when God s Spirit lives in us. Are you ready? Find three treasures that are ours when God s Spirit lives in us. Open your Bibles to Romans 8:9-17 and begin. You will need to read it several times to find all the treasures. Give children five or ten minutes to work together. Circulate among the groups and help as needed. Encourage children to look again if they say they can t find three things. Guide students to find these suggested answers if they have trouble: 1. We are not controlled by sin but by the Spirit if the Holy Spirit lives in us (verse 9). 2. If God s Spirit lives in us, he gives us life in the same way that he raised Jesus from the dead (verse 11). 3. If God s Spirit lives in us, we will live and put to death, or get rid of, our misdeeds, or bad things we do (verse 13). 4. Those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God (verse 14). 5. We are God s children (verse 16). 6. We are heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ. That means we will share a part of God s glory (verse 17). When you feel the children have had enough time to work, have kids in each group share what they learned with the others. Write the main points on a piece of poster board or newsprint so everyone can see it. 152 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter Look at the treasures you found in God s Word today! And it took just a little bit of digging. Having God s Spirit living in us is an amazing privilege. Point to the things written on the poster board or newsprint and review them. It means we are God s children. It means we get to inherit all the good things that are God s, that he lives in us and helps us do good things. It means he wants to give health to our bodies and to help us live for him, not for anything else. These are all reasons to worship God for living in us! (continued on page 155)

153 Preschool Activities Paul Describes Living by God s Spirit Romans 8:9-17 Worship Theme: Using Theo Session 12 God s Spirit lives in us. Easy Prep for Leaders God s Spirit Helps Us Mark Romans 8 in your Bible. You ll also need a bottle of bubble solution with a wand. What s Inside? Draw a large heart shape on white paper towels or white napkins with a black nonpermanent marker. You ll need one of the paper towels, a small paintbrush, and some water for each child. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo be the one to tap the children in the Living in Me! activity. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. God s Spirit Helps Us Have children sit on the floor. Open your Bible to Romans 8, and show it to the children. The Bible tells us in the book called Romans, that God s Spirit lives in us. God s Spirit in us helps us do good things. Blow bubbles in the children s direction. What makes these bubbles move? Can you see the air? Why not? How do you know the air is there? When I blow, the air pushes the bubbles toward you. You can t see the air, but you know it s there because you can see the bubbles move. Set the bubbles aside. Blow on your hands. Pause while children do this. Can you feel the air on your hands? You can feel it even though you can t see it. The Bible tells us that when God s Spirit lives in us, he helps us do good things even though we can t see him. Did you ever want to do something naughty, but you did the right thing instead? Tell us about it. Did you ever get angry with someone and want to be mean, but you chose not to be mean? Tell us what you did. God s Spirit living in you helped you make those good choices! We can t see God s Spirit, but we can see he s at work when we do good things. Let s let God s Spirit work through us some more right now. Look at your neighbor and give him or her the biggest smile you have and say, Jesus loves you. (Pause.) Wow! What good smiles! Now give one of your neighbors a hug and say, You re the best. Then sit down. (Pause.) Good job, everyone! I just saw the Holy Spirit living in you! Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 153

154 Preschool Activities Living in Me! Have the preschoolers sit in a circle. Go around the outside of the circle, and tap each child on the shoulder on each of the words of today s worship theme. God s (tap a child) Spirit (tap the next one) lives in (tap the next child). That child should jump up and say, Me! Continue the game, but skip the children who are standing each time you go around the outside of the circle so that everyone gets a turn. Play until everyone is standing. * What s Inside? God s Spirit lives in us even though we can t see him. Let s make something to help us remember that God s Spirit is real, even when we can t see or feel him. Give each child one of the paper towels you prepared beforehand. Show children how to brush water over the outline of the heart. What happens to the black lines when you put water on your heart drawing? Let s keep brushing more water on the hearts and watch what happens to the black ink. As the water soaks in, the ink will be wicked away from the outline, leaving streaks of color. The longer the paper towels dry, the more the ink will separate. Look what was hidden in the black ink there are other colors in there. What colors do you see? What do you think about finding other colors inside the black? Other colors are there, even though all we see is black. It s kind of like that with God s Spirit. We can t see him, but he is really there! Preschool Leader Tip Results will vary, but you should see at least one other color, most likely blue, besides the black ink. (Blue, yellow, and purple are the colors normally found in black ink.) This activity works very well with washable markers. You can use these for less mess. 154 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

155 (continued from page 152) * Fruity Charade Praise Have kids form groups of four or five. If preschoolers do this activity, be sure they are in groups with older children who can help them. You ll need the nine index cards you prepared before the session, each with a fruit of the Spirit written on it. Set them facedown in a pile. We re learning today that when God s Spirit lives in us, good fruit, or character qualities, grow in us. During worship today we read from Galatians 5:22-23 and heard what these fruit are. What fruit of the Spirit do you remember? (Love; joy; peace.) In a moment, we ll find out if you got them all! I need one person from each group to come and draw one of these cards. Each card has one of the fruit of the Spirit on it. Don t let anyone but the people in your group know what your word is! You ll have one minute to come up with a way your group can act out the word you drew. You can t talk actions only. Then we ll take turns acting them out, like charades, and the rest of us will guess what fruit of the Spirit you drew. If your class is small, have groups draw more than one card and act out several fruit of the Spirit. Time the kids for exactly one minute. As they work, circulate among them and gather the cards. Set them aside to use during the Fruitful Prayers activity. Then have groups take turns performing their charade while the others guess what the fruit is. Good charades, everyone! Now, let s use some more charades to praise God for his Spirit living in us. I m going to play a song. Decide with your group on one or two praise actions you can do while we sing it. Then we ll worship God together as we all do our charade praises. Allow kids to choose a favorite song from the Songs From FaithWeaver CD. Then give them a few moments to come up with some actions to praise God. Lead kids in singing the song while groups perform their praise charades for the Lord. * The Spirit of God in Me When we don t have the Spirit of God living in us, life is much more lonely and difficult. It s like this balloon here, which represents a person s life without God s Spirit. It s meant to be light and happy, but selfishness and unhappiness have crowded in. Stretch the neck of the balloon over a funnel, and pour some uncooked rice in it. Meanness and greediness live there most of the time me, me, me rules this person s life. Worship Leader Tip On a rare occasion, you may have a student who is allergic to latex products. In this case, use nonlatex balloons for this activity. They can be found at most party stores. Add more rice to the balloon and tie it off. Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 155

156 What happened to our balloon? (It got heavier; it stretched.) How is this like adding sin and problems to our lives? (Problems drag us down; sin makes us droop.) Worship Leader Tip To avoid choking hazards, be sure to pick up pieces of any broken balloons promptly. Some balloons contain latex. Pretty soon the balloon that should be light and airy is heavy and weighted down. It can t do what it was meant to do. Bat the balloon into the air and watch as it thuds to the ground. On the other hand, when God s Spirit lives in us, our hearts are light and full of joy. Blow some air into another balloon but don t tie it off yet. We still have problems, but God gives us wisdom and strength to deal with them. Finish blowing up the balloon, and tie it off. He gives us peace and patience in times of trouble. Whatever we need, he s there for us. I don t know about you, but that makes me feel light and airy. Bat the balloon to someone in the room, and then get it back. How is the second balloon like being filled with God s Spirit? (We feel lighter, the way the second balloon is lighter; we get lifted up and not weighted down.) What does God do for us when we start feeling weighted down with problems? (He lifts our spirits; he makes us feel better.) Let s praise Jesus for his Spirit with this balloon. I m going to bat it in the air. When it comes to you, quickly say a short praise statement such as, Praise Jesus, or Thank you, God, and then bat it to someone else. Let s see how many praises we can say before it hits the floor. Give children a few minutes to praise God in this way. Let s Pray! The Offering Pass out small pieces of construction paper and pencils or markers to the kids. We ve learned a lot today about God s Spirit living in us. We learned that when his Spirit lives in us, we become his children. We learned that he wants us to grow to be like him. Think about the fruit of his Spirit that we talked about today. Which one do you need more of? 156 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter Take the paper I gave you and tear it into the shape of a fruit, such as a banana or an orange. Then write one word or draw a picture that represents what you want God s Spirit to help you with. When the offering bowl comes to you, put your piece of fruit in the bowl along with money if you brought some. Ask God to help you grow this week in that area.

157 Give kids a few minutes to make their fruit. Then take the offering. Plugged In Gather kids around a lamp that is near an outlet but not plugged in. [Name of a child], come and turn this lamp on for me. We need some more light in here. The lamp won t turn on because it s not plugged in. Hmm, I wonder what s wrong. Oh yes! I forgot to plug it in! Why is it important to plug in the lamp? (You need power; it doesn t work without electricity.) How is that like being plugged into God s Spirit? (God gives us power; we can t do what we should without God s help.) How do we get plugged into God s Spirit? (By believing in Jesus; by praying; by worshipping God.) Why is it important to be plugged into God s Spirit? (So we can be more like Jesus; so we can grow fruit of the Spirit.) How will we look when we are plugged into God s Spirit? (Happy; joyful; peaceful.) Plug in the lamp. If we don t have God s Spirit, we don t have any power to grow and change to become more like Jesus. That power comes from the Holy Spirit. If he lives in us, he is the source of our power. Have kids gather in a circle on the floor. Turn the lamp on, and set it in the middle of the circle of children. Have kids take a minute to pray for the person on their left by saying, Jesus, help [name of child] grow in your power. God, fill us with your power so that we can grow the fruit of the Spirit. In Jesus name, amen. Fruitful Prayers Have a few volunteers help you tape one set of the fruit of the Spirit cards in different locations in the room, such as on the walls, near the door, or on tables or chairs. During the offering, you thought of something that you need more help with in your life. Let s pray for each other about that now. Find the fruit that you d like prayer for. It might be the one you told God about during the Offering or it might be something else. Go stand by the card with that fruit written on it. Wait while kids form groups at each card. (You may need to help kids who aren t reading yet.) If a card has only one child standing at it, combine that fruit with another fruit. Instruct kids to pray for one another that God would help them grow in his Spirit. Session 12 KidsOwn Worship 157

158 158 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter Lord, your Spirit lives in us. Help us this week to grow to be more like you every day. Thank you for your Spirit who lives in us and thank you for the good things you have in mind for us. We love you, Lord. In Jesus name, amen.

159 Encouragement for Leaders And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask for anything in my name and I will do it (John 14:13-14). Ask God to lead your lesson this week. Ask him to do miraculous things in your classroom.

160 Session 13 Paul Describes Genuine Love 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Worship Theme: God is love. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will worship God for his true love and for helping them model love for others. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Praise God! (up to 25 minutes) Sing Brotherly Love (Romans 12:10) (track 12) Oh, How I Love Jesus (track 2) Love Is (1 Corinthians 13:4-5) (track 10) His Great Love (Romans 5:8) (track 14) Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) (track 8) KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver CD player, homemade dessert and supplies to serve it, aluminum foil, cardboard, transparent tape, mirror Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * The Love Chapter Talk about what God has to say about love. * God s Gifts Make models of what God gives to show his love. Echo Song Sing, and talk about showing love. Bible 3 ounces modeling dough per child 160 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

161 Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Learn the Point! (up to 25 minutes) * God Is Love Watch a music video about God s true love. Worldly Values Act out what might happen if love weren t the top priority for God. Scripture Strips Complete a group comic strip project. KidsOwn Worship Kit: Lesson Videos DVD: To God Be the Glory TV, DVD player Slips of paper, pen, hat Bibles, white paper, colored pencils Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Let s Pray! (up to 10 minutes) The Offering Offer their gifts to God. God Is Use 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 to voice prayers of thanks. Love the Lord Sing a song as a prayer. Offering bowls Bible KidsOwn Worship Kit: Songs From FaithWeaver: Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) (track 8) CD player * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2. Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 13 KidsOwn Worship 161

162 Bible Background for Leaders Paul Describes Genuine Love 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Paul begins today s passage, commonly known as the love chapter, with a dramatic paragraph on the importance of love. The four examples of good things people might do that are listed in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 are intended to demonstrate how loving motives are what make those actions good. His point is that whatever we do, if it is not done in love, it is meaningless to God. The love we see in movies, on TV, and in our culture is not the kind of love described in this passage. What we most often see is a selfish love, which is more like lust. That kind of love seeks its own pleasure and gratification, sometimes at the expense of others. The love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is precisely the opposite. It s directed at seeking the pleasure and good of others. It means turning aside from seeking what s pleasurable for ourselves and seeking instead what s best for others as Jesus did. This is what true love is! As we become more loving, we re becoming more like Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 13:8, Paul departs from talking about the importance of love and emphasizes its permanence. Other things such as prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will one day be gone. All those things as we know them are partial. They aren t complete. And when God s perfect plan is complete, all that was partial will be done away with. Even then, love will remain. Paul then turns to an analogy of childhood versus adulthood. The things we did and thought as children were pretty important to us then, and we thought we were doing pretty well. But when we become adults, we saw how insignificant some of the things that had been important to us were and how poorly we sometimes did them, and we don t think of things or do things in the same way anymore. We now have more mature attitudes and actions, by our own choice. In understanding Paul s mirror metaphor, it s important to note that the mirrors of Paul s day didn t reflect perfect images. Most likely the mirror he spoke of was of polished metal and would have reflected at best an unclear image, or more likely a distorted image. The connection, then, was that now we see the things of God but not very clearly and accurately. When we meet God face to face and live with him, our vision will be perfectly clear! Our incomplete knowledge will be made complete and perfect. To wrap up this passage, Paul returns to the prominence of love. He points out that faith and hope are important and will endure. But he echoes the principle of love being over all. Notice that this does not run contrary to any teachings of Jesus. In fact, in John 13:34-35, Jesus gave this new command : Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. Devotion for Leaders It s so hard for people who have been corrupted by sin to be loving. Gratefully, we can learn from Jesus example of how he lived on this earth. We can also connect with his unending love every day. Jesus love leads us and renews us. Weaving Faith Into Your Life: Read 1 Corinthians 13 again, and make a list of the ways Paul described pristine love. Circle the words you think describe your quality of love. Place a star next to any attributes that you want Jesus help to develop in your life. How might your life change if you were able to love perfectly? How would others lives change? Pray and ask Jesus to improve the quality of your love. 162 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

163 Why We Worship for Leaders Not only does God love us, undeserving as we are, but God is love. Because we are made in his image, learning to love is essential to our Christian development. Both God and love are concepts that are difficult even impossible to put into words. They must be known and experienced. Therefore, in order to develop Christian love in our lives, we must know God. As we worship and give our love to God, he fills us with his love he fills us with himself so we can love others and point the way to God. Easy Prep for Leaders Let s Praise God! Prepare a homemade dessert to share. Make two foil mirrors. To make the first mirror, crumple a piece of aluminum foil. Carefully, so you won t tear it, open the foil, wrap it around a piece of cardboard, and tape the edges in place in back. To make the second mirror, wrap a smooth piece of foil around a piece of cardboard and tape the edges in place. God Is Love Set up a TV and DVD player, and cue the Lesson Videos DVD to To God Be the Glory. You ll want to watch the clip at least once before the worship session so you ll be familiar with it. For additional worship songs each week, check out the Sing & Praise DVD included with your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Preschool Activities Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. Let s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver as children arrive. Greet children by name, and say to each one, Because God loves me, I love you. Pretend this is a hug from God! Give each child a hug. When you re ready to begin, welcome the children warmly. I have news for you! God made you, and he loves you. And because God loves you and me and everyone else, he wants us to love one another. Let s sing about the brotherly love we learn from God. Sing Brotherly Love (Romans 12:10). Lyrics are in the back of this book. I brought something special today. I made it myself! Show the dessert. Why do you think I made this dessert? (You like to cook; you wanted to give us a treat.) Serve yourself a piece of the dessert, and take a bite. To tell you the truth, I made this dessert because I love this dessert. Take another bite. I enjoy this dessert. Take another bite. Track 12 Worship Leader Tip If you absolutely can t cook, invite someone else to make the dessert for the children. To be truthful, however, you ll need to introduce the cook as a special guest, and have the cook present this object lesson. If the cook can t present the object lesson, tell the children that your friend made the dessert to share because your friend loves the dessert, enjoys the dessert, and can t get enough of the dessert. You can taste and enjoy it while making the presentation, but give the cook the credit or the lesson doesn t work. Session 13 KidsOwn Worship 163

164 ALLERGY ALERT See Session 2. Leader Skillbuilder Quick hugs are simple ways to show Christian love, especially to children who thrive on them. If your room has windows and open doors and if more than one adult is present, there s no reason you should be afraid to give hugs. Older children may prefer pats on the back, handshakes, or affirmative shoulder squeezes. Thank you for modeling love for children! There is no better way for children to learn than to experience the truth themselves. I just can t get enough of this dessert! Do you want some? Serve the dessert. Why do you think God made people? (God wanted people to live on earth; God wanted people who would worship him; God wanted people to love.) The reason God made people is a little like the reason I made this dessert. God loves people, he enjoys us, and he can t get enough of us! That s why God wants people to show love to him in return. Let s sing Oh, How I Love Jesus. Sing Oh, How I Love Jesus. Lyrics are in the back of this book. There s a chapter in the Bible known as the love chapter. It s 1 Corinthians 13. The whole chapter talks about love. Verses 4 and 5 say, Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Wow! Love is and isn t a lot of things. We ll talk about that more in a few moments, but first let s sing Love Is. Sing Love Is (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 2 Track 10 I m going to read 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 again. This time, I ll read it a phrase at a time. Whenever I tell you that love is something, you tell me what it isn t. If I say love isn t something, you tell me what it is. So you ll always tell me the opposite of what I say. For example, the first phrase is, Love is patient. If love is patient, then love is not impatient. What other words mean the opposite of patient? (In a hurry; pushy.) Let several children respond. Read the next phrase: Love is kind. If love is kind, then love is not what? (Mean; rude.) Continue to read individual phrases and ask for words that mean the opposite. Love is important to God. Jesus said love should be important to us, too. Jesus said, As I have loved you, so you must love one another. That s not always easy! Sometimes we need to ask Jesus to help us love people we don t like very much. I m glad God gave us the Bible to help us know how to love. I m also thankful that God loves me. When we worship God, he fills us with his love. God wants us to come to him so he can fill us with his love. Even if we ve done wrong, we can go to God for forgiveness and receive his love. That s why he sent his Son to die for our sins and rise again. God loves us that much! Let s sing His Great Love (Romans 5:8). 164 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

165 Sing His Great Love (Romans 5:8). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 14 First Corinthians 13 has much more to teach us about God s love. Verse 12 says, Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. Let s try to understand this verse. Hold up the mirror made from crumpled aluminum foil. I brought a mirror today. Look in this mirror, and tell me what you see. Pass the mirror around. Did your mirror image look like you? (Sort of, but I couldn t see well; it didn t look much like me.) If you had never seen yourself in a mirror before, would this mirror give you a clear picture of yourself? Why or why not? (No, the reflection wasn t clear; I would think my face is distorted.) The mirror gives us an idea of what we look like, but the image isn t very clear. Let s see if this mirror is better. Bring out the smooth foil mirror, and pass it around. Ask kids to compare what they see in this mirror with what they saw in the first mirror. Bring out the real mirror, and pass it around. Now have you seen a true image of yourself? Why or why not? (Yes, the mirror shows what I really look like; the mirror only shows what I look like on the outside.) The third mirror was the best, but it still wasn t perfect. Everything you saw was a backward version of what the rest of the world sees. Mirrors help us see what we look like, but they don t give true images. Let s look at 1 Corinthians 13:12 again. Read the verse. What is it that we only see a poor reflection of now? (God s love; real love.) When will we see clearly, face to face? (When we are in heaven; when we are with God.) Who knows you fully, better than you know yourself? (God.) What will you know fully in heaven? (What love really is.) Right now we see images of God and his love. Jesus came to earth to show us what God is like and what he wants of his people. The Bible tells us about God and his love. And God s love in our lives helps us to know and see him more clearly, too. Over time, as we grow as Christians, we see God as if we were looking at smooth foil instead of crumpled foil. We may even begin to see him as in a mirror. But even then, we won t know God and his love perfectly. We ll have to get to heaven for that. In heaven, we ll know and experience all of God s love. Session 13 KidsOwn Worship 165

166 Let s close our praise time by singing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Let s stand and sing to the God who loves us so much! Sing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 8 Thank you, Lord, for love. We know it s important to you. We thank you for giving your love to us. In turn we offer our love to you. Help us know you more as we learn to love you and others throughout our lives. In Jesus name, amen. Let s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They will work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities * God Is Love What do we mean when we say that God is love? (God s love is perfect; God s love doesn t end; all love comes from God.) How has God shown us his great love? (Jesus died on the cross for us.) Show To God Be the Glory on the Lesson Videos DVD. After the video, What does it mean for you that God is love? (God loves me; God forgives me; when I know about God, I ll know about love.) Why does God want us to love others? (God wants us to share his love; we know God better when we are loving; we show God we love him when we love others.) One way God shows his love is through his Son, Jesus. Jesus loves us and died for each one of us so that we can be with him forever. Now that s true love! God invented true love. God loves us. God is love, and God wants us to love others. He wants others to know what he s like through our love for them. When we act with love, we re giving honor to the God we serve. Let s learn more. (continued on page 169) 166 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

167 Preschool Activities Paul Describes Genuine Love Session 13 Worship Theme: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Using Theo God is love. Easy Prep for Leaders God s Gifts Use modeling dough to make a model of something God has made that you especially enjoy. For example, you might make a modeling-dough bird. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room. Have Theo lead the Echo Song. See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today s worship session. * The Love Chapter Gather the children around you. Open your Bible to 1 Corin thians 13. Show the children the words. Love is so important to God that he put a whole chapter in the Bible to tell us what love is! What do you think love is? How do you feel when you know someone loves you? Why do you think love is so important to God? Let s play a game to see how much we know about love! You tell me something you do to show love for others. I ll tell you what the Bible has to say about that. How do you show love for others? As children give answers, find phrases in 1 Corinthians 13 that support what the children say. For example, if a child says, I show love by watching out for my baby brother, say, This chapter says, love always protects. Give each child a turn to answer the question at least once. There are many ways to show love. This chapter in the Bible helps us see how God wants us to show love. Because God loves us, love is important to God. Preschool Leader Tip Since young children may be inclined to say they show love by giving hugs and kisses, use this passage to help them see other ways to show love. You may wish to prepare a list of questions to help children think of these ways on their own. For example, ask, When you re angry with your sister, how can you show love? or When someone else has something you want, how can you show love? or When your mother is very tired at night, how can you show love? Session 13 KidsOwn Worship 167

168 Preschool Activities * God s Gifts Give each child a 3-ounce lump of modeling dough. Echo Song Love is important to God. That s why God shows his love for us every day. He s given us many gifts to show his love. These gifts are things God has made for us to use and enjoy. Think of something God has made that you especially enjoy. Use your modeling dough to make this thing. Gather the children in a circle. Teach the following song to the tune of Three Blind Mice. Sing each line, and have the children echo it. God is love. (Echo.) God loves us. (Echo.) We know that love is important to God. (Echo.) We know that love is important to God. (Echo.) And so we love. (Echo.) Show the model you made before the session, and talk about it. For example, if you made a bird, you might say, I enjoy birds. They remind me of God s love. Birds are colorful, and they fill the air with music. When I see or hear a bird, I remember that God loves me. Let the children make models of things God has made. Give each child a turn to tell why the model reminds him or her of God s love. How do you plan to show God s love to others this week? Let three or four children answer the question. Sing the song again. Let three or four more children answer the question. Continue in this way until all children have had a turn to answer. Love is important to God. Let s remember to show his love! 168 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

169 (continued from page 166) Worldly Values What are some things the world values? Give examples if needed money, power, and fame, for example. Write each answer on a slip of paper, and place the slips of paper in a hat. Keep track of how many answers you put in the hat. When kids have thought of several answers, have them form groups so there s a group for each answer. Let each group choose one answer from the hat. Talk about the answer you chose. Imagine what could happen if God valued that thing or idea more than he values love. Prepare a skit to show what you think would happen. Give groups time to think and prepare. Let each group present its skit. After seeing these skits, why do you think love is important to God? (Because love helps us do good things, and the other things make us selfish; because money can t help us be like Jesus, but love can.) Why should love be important to us? (Because love makes us happy; because Jesus asked us to love one another.) After seeing your skits, I m thankful that love is so important to God. Let s remember that God s values are more important than the world s values and for good reason. Let s put love in first place the way God does. Scripture Strips Have the children form five groups. Provide Bibles, white paper, and colored pencils or pencils and crayons. First Corinthians 13 is called the love chapter because it teaches us what love is and does. Let s look at that chapter more closely. I ll give your group a few verses to talk about. Then work together to design a comic strip that will help the group understand the words in your verses. Assign the following sections from 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3, 4-5, 8-10, 11, and Give kids time to read through, discuss, and illustrate their assigned passages. Let each group present its comic strip to the rest of the children. What do these verses tell us about love? (Love is the most important; love is kind and trusting and never rude.) If God is love, what do these verses teach us about God? (God is the most important; God never fails; God is patient and trusting.) These verses tell me that love is something very big that s very important to God. I want to know God so I can love others better. I want to learn more about love, so I can know God better. Session 13 KidsOwn Worship 169

170 Let s Pray! The Offering Set the offering bowls on a table at the front of the group. Stand beside them. Everything we have is a gift from God. His gifts show how much he loves us. Love is important to God. As you give your offerings today, present them as gifts of love back to God. Come to the front to put your offerings in the bowl. As you do, pray, Lord, I give this gift because I love you. Take the offering. God Is Love is important to God because God is love. Let s use 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 as a thank-you prayer to God. When I read, Love is patient, you pray, God, you are patient. Thank you, God! Let s pray. Lead the prayer by reading the passage a phrase at a time. Have the children pray as described above by stating what God is or is not, does or does not do, and by thanking him. Close by quietly saying, In Jesus name we pray, amen. Love the Lord When we open our heart to God, he fills our hearts with his love. After that, he walks with us always, as our friend. He helps us become more and more like him. God s love for us is more than we can imagine. Let s close by singing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) as a prayer. Sing Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Lyrics are in the back of this book. Track 8 Dear God, thank you for your gift of love. May your love grow inside us each day. May we know you and your love more and more. Help us show this love to others wherever we go. In Jesus name, amen. 170 KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

171 Encouragement for Leaders May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer (Psalm 19:14). Dear Lord, please remind me that teaching these children is not about me. I want them to know you and love you. Let that be my focus. In Jesus name, amen.

172 Are You Going to Praise the Lord? Track 1 Are you going to praise the Lord?... (Point to a friend.) I will praise him all of the time.... (Point to yourself, and then to an imaginary wristwatch.) Remember all the things he has done.... (Point to your head.) Jesus is a true friend of mine.... (Sign Jesus by pointing to each palm with the middle finger of the opposite hand, and then point to yourself.) There is a name I love to hear... (Slowly raise your hands until they re behind your ears.) I love to sing its worth.... (Put your hands around your mouth on sing and then lift your hands.) It sounds like music in my ear... (Put your hands behind your ears.) The sweetest name on earth.... (Raise your right arm; raise your left arm.) (Repeat first four lines twice.) "Oh, How I Love Jesus" by Frederick Whitfield. (Chorus) Praise, praise, praise the Lord... (Lift both hands high.) Come on, come on... (Signal "Come.") Let s praise the Lord... (Lift both hands high.) (Repeat.) Praise him for his goodness to me.... (Raise both hands up, and then point to yourself.) He is always loving and kind.... (Cross both arms over your heart, and hug yourself.) He died for me and forgave all my sin.... (Extend one arm to the side, and then extend the other arm to form a cross.) Jesus is a true friend of mine.... (Sign Jesus, and then point to yourself.) (Repeat chorus twice.) Come on, come on, let s praise the Lord. Come on, come on, let s praise the Lord. Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16) Track 3 (Throughout, sway back and forth to the beat.) Let your light shine before men, that.... (Hold up one finger to represent light. Then flutter the fingers of both hands above your head and out to your sides.) They may see your good deeds and... (Shade your eyes, and look from left to right.) Praise your Father in heaven.... ( Clap your hands silently; then raise them up.) Let your light shine before men, yeah,... (Hold up one finger to represent light. Then flutter the fingers of both hands above your head and out to your sides.) Let your light shine before men.... (Hold up one finger to represent light. Then flutter the fingers of both hands above your head and out to your sides.) (Repeat.) Oh, How I Love Jesus Track 2 Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16) by Carol Smith. 2003, 2006 Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. To sign Oh, how I love Jesus, form an O with your right hand, and move it away from you on the beat. Sign "I" by making a fist against your chest and holding up your pinkie. For love, cross your fists over your chest. For Jesus, point to the palm of each hand. Oh, how I love Jesus.... (Sign the words.) Oh, how I love Jesus.... (Sign the words.) Oh, how I love Jesus... (Sign the words.) Because he first loved me.... (Raise your right arm; raise your left arm.) Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

173 He Is Good (Nahum 1:7) The Lord is good,... (Sign good by placing the fingertips of one hand to your mouth; then bringing your hand down to your other palm.) A refuge in times of trouble.... (Hug yourself, and then cover your eyes.) He cares for those who trust in him.... (Make fists and cross both arms over chest; then raise both hands high.) The Lord is good,... (Sign good by placing the fingertips of one hand to your mouth; then bringing your hand down to your other palm.) A refuge in times of trouble.... (Hug yourself, and then cover your eyes.) He cares for those who trust in him.... (Make fists and cross both arms over chest; then raise both hands high.) The Lord is good, good, good, good, good.... (Raise hands upward and then sign good to the beat.) He's good, good, good, good, good.... (Sign "good" to the beat.) He's good, good, good, good, good.... (Sign "good" to the beat.) He's good, good, good, good, good.... (Sign "good" to the beat.) (Repeat from the beginning.) To God Be the Glory Track 4 Track 5 Check it out now: to God be the glory..... (Point to others, and then raise one hand high on God, and fling both hands overhead on glory. ) (Repeat three times.) (Verse) To God be the glory;.... (Raise one hand high on God, and fling both hands overhead on glory. ) Great things he has done!... (Make muscles with one arm and then the other.) So loved he the world,.... (Cross both arms over your heart.) That he gave us his Son,... (Sign Jesus by pointing your right middle finger to your left palm and then pointing your left middle finger to your right palm.) Who yielded his life,... (Motion give with hands side by side and palms up.) An atonement for sin,... (Stretch both arms out to form a cross.) And opened the life gate... (Hold both hands together to suggest elevator doors, and then open them.) That all may go in.... (Walk through the door. ) The Lord is good,... (Sign good by placing the fingertips of one hand to your mouth; then bringing your hand down to your other palm.) A refuge in times of trouble.... (Hug yourself, and then cover your eyes.) He cares for those who trust in him.... (Make fists and cross both arms over chest; then raise both hands high.) A refuge in times of trouble.... (Hug yourself, and then cover your eyes.) He cares for those who trust in him.... (Make fists and cross both arms over chest; then raise both hands high.) He's good! He Is Good (Nahum 1:7) by Jay Stocker Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Check it out now: to God be the glory..... (Point to others, and then raise one hand high on God, and fling both hands overhead on glory. ) Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!... (Wave your hands overhead from side to side.) Let the earth hear his voice!... (Cup your hand behind your ear.) Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!... (Wave your hands overhead from side to side.) Let the people rejoice!... (Dance around as if you re celebrating.) O come to the Father... (Motion come here with your hands.) Through Jesus, the Son,... (Sign Jesus. ) And give him the glory;.... (Motion give. ) Great things he has done!... (Make muscles with one arm and then the other.) Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

174 Check it out now: to God be the glory..... (Point to others, and then raise one hand high on God, and fling both hands overhead on glory. ) Check it out now: to God be the glory..... (Point to others, and then raise one hand high on God, and fling both hands overhead on glory. ) (Sing verse.) Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!... (Wave your hands overhead from side to side.) Let the earth hear his voice!... (Cup your hand behind your ear.) Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!... (Wave your hands overhead from side to side.) Let the people rejoice!... (Dance around as if you re celebrating.) Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!... (Wave your hands overhead from side to side.) Let the earth hear his voice!... (Cup your hand behind your ear.) Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!... (Wave your hands overhead from side to side.) Let the people rejoice!... (Dance around as if you re celebrating.) O come to the Father... (Motion come here with your hands.) Through Jesus, the Son,... (Sign Jesus. ) O come to the Father... (Motion come here with your hands.) Through Jesus, the Son,... (Sign Jesus. ) O come to the Father... (Motion come here with your hands.) Through Jesus, the Son,... (Sign Jesus. ) And give him the glory;.... (Motion give. ) Great things he has done!... (Make muscles with one arm and then the other.) Check it out now: to God be the glory..... (Point to others, and then raise one hand high on God, and fling both hands overhead on glory. ) Check it out now: to God be the glory..... (Point to others, and then raise one hand high on God, and fling both hands overhead on glory. ) Everybody Ought to Know Everybody ought to know, Everybody ought to know, Everybody ought to know, Who Jesus is. He's my Savior, and he loves me, Caring for me every day. He will never, never leave me. He will guide me all the way. Everybody ought to know! (Yell.) Everybody ought to know! (Yell.) Everybody ought to know, (echo) Everybody ought to know, (echo) Everybody ought to know, (echo) Who Jesus is. He's my Guide, and he will lead me Over any path I go. He will always go before me. He's the one you ought to know. Everybody ought to know, (echo) Everybody ought to know, (echo) Everybody ought to know, (echo) Who Jesus is. Everybody ought to know! (Yell.) Everybody ought to know! (Yell.) Everybody ought to know! (Yell.) Everybody ought to know! (Yell.) Track 6 Worship Leader Tip Find the motions for this song on the Sing & Praise DVD in your KidsOwn Worship Kit! To God Be the Glory by Fanny Jan Crosby and William Howard Doane. Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

175 Let's Go! (Ephesians 2:10) We are God s workmanship,.... (Point to everyone.) Created in Christ Jesus.... (Point up.) To do good works, which... (Pound your fists together.) God prepared in advance for us to do.... (Point up.) (Repeat.) Let s go! There s work to do... (Beckon with your arm.) Let s go! That means me and you... (Beckon with your arm. Point to yourself, then someone else.) Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) Track 7 Track 8 Love the Lord your God with all your heart... (Bring your right hand up and place it on your heart.) And with all your soul,... (Place your left hand on top of your right.) With all your strength.... (Flex biceps.) These commandments that I give today.. (Hold your palms up like a book, and extend them forward on "give.") Should be upon your heart,... (Place both hands on your heart.) Upon your heart. God calls us, so (Cup your hands around your mouth.) Let s go!... (Beckon with your arm.) (Repeat from the beginning.) Let's go! There s work to do... (Beckon with your arm.) Let s go! That means me and you... (Beckon with your arm. Point to yourself, then someone else.) God calls us, so (Cup your hands around your mouth.) Let s go!... (Beckon with your arm.) Let s go!... (Beckon with your arm.) Let s go!... (Beckon with your arm.) Let's Go! (Ephesians 2:10) by Carol Smith Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Hear, O Israel,... (Cup hand to ear.) The Lord our God,... (Raise one arm high, raise the other arm high, and press palms together.) The Lord is one.... (Bring "praying hands" down and bow head.) Hear, O Israel,... (Cup hand to ear.) The Lord our God,... (Raise one arm high, raise the other arm high, and press your palms together.) The Lord is one.... (Bring "praying hands" down and bow head.) (Repeat from the beginning.) Hear, O Israel,... (Cup hand to ear.) The Lord our God,... (Raise one arm high, raise the other arm high, and press your palms together.) The Lord is one.... (Bring "praying hands" down and bow head.) Hear, O Israel,... (Cup hand to ear.) The Lord our God,... (Raise one arm high, raise the other arm high, and press your palms together.) The Lord is one.... (Bring "praying hands" down and bow head.) Love the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) by Jay Stocker Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

176 How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13) Yo oh, Yo-oh-oh, This then is how you should pray. Yo oh, Yo-oh-oh, This then is how you should pray. This then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, (This then is how you should pray.) Hallowed be your name, (This then is how you should pray.) Your kingdom come on the earth, (This then is how you should pray.) Your will be done on earth as in heaven. (This then is how you should pray.) Yo oh, Yo-oh-oh, This then is how you should pray. Yo oh, Yo-oh-oh, This then is how you should pray. Track 9 This then is how you should pray. This then is how you should pray. This then is how you should pray. This then is how you should pray. How You Should Pray (Matthew 6:9-13) by Uelese Fa'agutu and Jay Stocker Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Love Is (1 Corinthians 13:4-5) Love is patient,... (Put left hand on hip, and lift a right hand finger for each definition of love.) Love is kind, It does not envy, It does not boast, It is not proud. It is not rude,... (Keep your right hand up, and start counting with your left hand.) It is not self-seeking, It is not easily angered, It keeps no record of wrongs. (No!)... (Motion safe with both hands; punch forward with right hand on no! ) Love keeps no record of wrongs.... (Motion safe, and shake your head.) Love is, love is... (Hug yourself, and sway side to side.) Love is, love is (Repeat from the beginning.) Track 10 Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts As we forgive our debtors. Hey! "Love Is" (1 Corinthians 13:4-5) by Carol Smith Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. And lead us not into temptation (This then is how you should pray.) But deliver us from the evil one. (This then is how you should pray.) And lead us not into temptation (This then is how you should pray.) But deliver us from the evil one. Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

177 The Work of His Hands (Psalm 19:1) Who made the heavens?.... (Raise your right hand high and look up.) Who made the earth?... (Point down with your left hand and look down.) Who made the stars and gave us worth?.. (Raise both hands high, opening your fingers for "stars," and then bring your fingertips together to form a globe shape in front of you.) God made the heavens.... (Raise your right hand high and look up.) God made the earth.... (Point down with your left hand and look down.) God made the stars and gave us worth.... (Raise both hands high, opening your fingers for "stars," and then bring your fingertips together to form a globe shape in front of you.) The heavens tell of the glory of God;... (Look up and pulse your arms up.) The skies display the work of his hands.... (Bring your arms down slowly and extend your hands, palms up.) The heavens tell of the glory of God;... (Look up and pulse your arms up.) The skies display the work of his hands.... (Bring your arms down slowly and extend your hands, palms up.) (Repeat from the beginning.) The heavens tell of the glory of God;... (Look up and pulse your arms up.) The skies display the work of his hands.... (Bring your arms down slowly and extend your hands, palms up.) The heavens tell of the glory of God;... (Look up and pulse your arms up.) The skies display the work of his hands,... (Bring your arms down slowly and extend your hands, palms up.) The work of his hands..... (Bring your hands toward you and extend them again.) Brotherly Love (Romans 12:10) Track 11 Track 12 Yeah, yeah,... (Dance freestyle.) Yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah, Yeah. Be devoted to one another... (Shake a person s hand.) In brotherly love, in brotherly love..... (Pat a person s back.) Be devoted to one another... (Shake another person s hand.) In brotherly love, in brotherly love.... (Pat another person s back.) Your love must be real;... (Make the sign for love, by making fists and crossing arms over chest.) It must be sincere.... (Keep making the sign for love, and move side to side as if hugging yourself.) Honor one another above yourselves.... (Bow to someone on honor, then raise your hands high over your head.) Be devoted to one another... (Shake a person s hand.) In brotherly love, in brotherly love..... (Pat a person s back.) Be devoted to one another... (Shake another person s hand.) In brotherly love, in brotherly love..... (Pat another person s back.) Be devoted to one another... (Form a circle, join hands, and march in one direction.) In brotherly love, in brotherly love.... (Keep circling.) Be devoted to one another... (March in a circle in the opposite direction.) In brotherly love, in brotherly love.... (Keep circling.) Be devoted to one another... (Freestyle until end of song.) In brotherly love, in brotherly love. Brotherly Love (Romans 12:10) by Jay Stocker Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. The Work of His Hands (Psalm 19:1) by Ben Glover. 2005, 2008 Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

178 He's the King (When the elephant trumpets, hold one arm out as if it s an elephant s trunk; when the lion roars, hold your hands out as if you have claws; when the drums begin, motion with your hands as if pounding a drum; when the beat starts happening, jump up and down. Shout, He's the King! ) Let s sing about the Lord,... (Cup your hands around your mouth on sing. ) The greatness of our God,... (Fling both hands overhead and then down.) For he s the King of everything.... (Point to the sky as you turn in a circle.) We re wild about his love... (Move wildly, shaking your arms and twisting.) And all that he has done,... (Move both hands palms up, in a sweeping motion in front of you.) For he s the King of everything.... (Point high as you turn in a circle.) I know God;... (Point to your forehead.) I talk about him... (Point to your lips and then out.) Every single day..... (Sign day. ) I pray to him at all times;... (Put your hands together as if praying.) He s the only way.... (Point high.) I love him! He loves me,.... (Cross your arms over your heart.) No matter where I go,... (March in place.) And everything I do will be... (Sweep both hands in front of you.) for God and God alone.... (Punch your hands to the beat, then bring a knee up on huh. ) (During the musical interlude, have kids crouch low as if they are hiding in deep grass and then freeze. When the words start again, have kids jump up and pounce as they sing and do the motions.) He's the King by Jay Stocker and Ben Glover Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. His Great Love (Romans 5:8) Track 13 Track 14 God loves us... (Point upward, and then point to one another with a sweeping motion.) God sent his Son to die for us... (Reach to the side, first the right and then the left, to form a cross.) Because of his great love... (Raise your hands high. Then cross your fists on your chest in a sweeping motion.) God loves us... (Point upward, and then point to one another with a sweeping motion.) God sent his Son to die for us... (Reach to the side, first the right and then the left, to form a cross.) Because of his great love... (Raise your hands high. Then cross your fists on your chest in a sweeping motion.) His great love... (With arms folded across your chest, rock from side to side.) God showed his great big love.... (Uncross your arms and extend them wider with each word.) By sending Christ to die for us... (Sign Jesus by pointing your right middle finger to your left palm and then pointing your left middle finger to your right palm.) While we were still sinners... (Take several steps backward as you shake your head no. ) His great love... (With arms folded across your chest, rock from side to side.) God showed his great big love.... (Uncross your arms and extend them wider with each word.) By sending Christ to die for us... (Sign Jesus. ) While we were still sinners... (Take several steps backward as you shake your head no. ) (Repeat from the beginning.) His great love! His great love! His Great Love (Romans 5:8) by Ben Glover Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

179 Christ the Lord Is Risen Today Christ the Lord is ris n today! Alleluia!... (Sign Christ by forming a C with your right hand and moving it from your right shoulder to your left hip, then raise your hands. Motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) All creation joins to say: Alleluia!... (Spread your arms wide. Motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) Raise your joys and triumphs high! Alleluia!... (Raise your hands high. Motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) Sing, O heav ns, and earth reply: Alleluia!... (Raise your hands, and motion as if directing a choir in heaven. Then lower your hands as if to direct an earthly choir.) I Am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25) Track 15 Track 16 I am the resurrection and the life!... (Point up, and then form a cross shape with your arms.) He who believes in me will live,... (Point to your head, and then move your whole body to show you're alive.) Even though he dies.... (Continue moving your body.) (Repeat.) There's no other way to the Father (Shake your head as you walk in place.) No! other way to the Son.... (Shake your head as you turn left and walk in place.) No! other way to Jesus.... (Shake your head as you turn right and walk in place.) Lives again our glorious King! Alleluia!... (Suggest putting on a crown. Motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!... (Shrug your shoulders. Motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) Dying once, he all doth save! Alleluia!... (Form a cross with your forearms. Motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!... (Shrug your shoulders. Motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) We must believe, we must believe,... (Point to your temple, and then clasp your hands together without lacing your fingers. Repeat.) We must believe in him alone! (Point to your temple, clasp your hands together, and then point up.) (Repeat first 3 lines twice.) I am the resurrection and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. Christ the Lord is ris n today! Alleluia!... (Sign Christ, then raise your hands. Motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) All creation joins to say: Alleluia!... (Spread your arms wide. Motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) Raise your joys and triumphs high! Alleluia!... (Raise your hands high, and motion as if directing a choir on Alleluia! ) Sing, O heav ns, and earth reply: Alleluia!... (Raise your hands, and motion as if directing a choir in heaven. Then lower your hands as if to direct an earthly choir.) Alleluia! Alleluia!.... (Motion as if directing a choir.) I Am the Resurrection and the Life" (John 11:25) by Jay Stocker Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" by Charles Wesley. Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

180 If We Confess (1 John 1:9) If we confess, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins And purify us from all unrighteousness. If we confess, if we confess our sins. God says he will set us free if we confess our sins. God says he will set us free if we confess our sins. That You May Believe (John 20:31) Track 17 Track 18 But these are written that you may believe...(mime writing with your index finger.) That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,... (Sign Jesus by pointing to each palm with the index finger of the opposite hand. Sign Christ by forming a C with your left hand and moving it from your left shoulder to your right hip. Sign God by drawing a vertical line in front of your face with your open hand, palm facing left.) If we confess, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins And purify us from all unrighteousness. If we confess, if we confess our sins. If we confess, if we confess our sins. If We Confess (1 John 1:9) by Carol Smith. 2003, 2006 Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. But these are written that you may believe...(mime writing with your index finger.) That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,... (Sign Jesus, sign Christ, then sign God. ) And that by believing you may have life in his name..... (Sign believe by pointing to your temple, then clasping your hands together. Sign life by making L s with the thumbs and index fingers of both hands and making a scooping motion in front of your belly. Point up to indicate Jesus.) And that by believing you may have life in his name,.... (Repeat above motion.) And that by believing you may have life in his name,... (Repeat above motion.) And that by believing you may have life in his name..... (Repeat above motion.) (Repeat from the beginning.) That You May Believe (John 20:31) by Dean-o. 2003, 2006 Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

181 Sing Unto the Lord Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord a new song.... (Join hands and quickly circle to the right.) Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord a new song.... (Switch directions and circle to the left.) Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth.... (Stop circling after earth. ) For God is great... (Clap twice to the right of your head.) And greatly to be praised.... (Clap twice to the left of your head.) God is great... (Clap to the right of your head.) And greatly to be praised.... (Bend knees to beat of praised. ) Sing unto the Lord a new song.... (Join hands and quickly circle to the right.) Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23) Track 19 Track 20 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace, Patience, kindness, and goodness. The fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness, Gentleness, and self-control. (Repeat.) Against such things there is no law, Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na What's at the root shows in the fruit. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na (Repeat from beginning.) The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace, Patience, kindness, and goodness. The fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness, Gentleness, and self-control. (Repeat.) Gentleness, and self-control. Gentleness, and self-control. Love, Joy, Peace (Galatians 5:22-23) by John H. Morton Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Sing unto the Lord a new song.... (Switch directions and circle to the left.) Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter

182 It Is by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) Track 21 It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.... (Extend arms to the sides; point to head with both index fingers.) And this not from yourself, it is the gift of God... (Point to chest with right thumb; then extend arms forward, palms up, and lower them.) It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.... (Extend arms to the sides; point to head with both index fingers.) And this not from yourself, it is the gift, the gift.... (Point to chest with right thumb; then extend arms forward, palms up, and lower them.) Not by works, so that no one can boast,.. (Cross arms over chest and then slice arms down and out to the sides twice; then pat yourself on the back, crossing your right arm over your left shoulder.) Not by works, so that no one can boast... (Cross arms over chest and then slice arms down and out to the sides twice; then pat yourself on the back, crossing your right arm over your left shoulder.) (Repeat.) It is by grace you have been saved, through faith.... (Extend arms out to the sides; point to head with both index fingers.) And this not from yourself, it is the gift, the gift.... (Point to chest with right thumb; then extend arms forward, palms up, and lower them.) The gift of God,.... (Extend arms forward palm sideup and lower them.) The gift of God, grace through faith;... (Extend arms forward palm side up and lower them; point to head with both index fingers.) The gift of God, grace through faith;... (Extend arms forward palm side up and lower them; point to head with both index fingers.) The gift of God.... (Extend arms forward palm side up and lower them.) "It Is by Grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) by Carol Smith. 2003, 2008 Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Servant of All (Mark 9:35b) If anyone wants to be first, He must be the very last. If anyone wants to be first, He must be the very last, And the servant of all, And the servant of all, And the servant of all, If you want to be first. (Repeat from the beginning.) If anyone wants to be first, He must be the very last. If anyone wants to be first, He must be the very last. Track 22 Worship Leader Tip Find the motions for this song on the Sing & Praise DVD in your KidsOwn Worship Kit. Servant of All (Mark 9:35b) by Uelese Fa'agutu, Rachel Fa'agutu, and Jay Stocker Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Song Lyrics and Motions KidsOwn Worship Spring Quarter