Spiritual Gifts for the Soul

Transcription

1 Spiritual Gifts for the Soul Bible Truth: Spiritual Gifts for the Soul (Gifts of the Spirit) 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-11 Bottom Line: God made you to do good. Memory Verse: For we are God s handiwork, created I Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do Ephesians 2:10, NIV Life App: Uniqueness discovering who God made you to be so you can make a difference. Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Social: Setting the Tone for the Experience (9:00, 10:15, 11:30) My Amazing Hands White board Dry-erase Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (9:15, 10:30, 11:45) Bible Presentation in Large Group Prayer (9:50, 11:05, 12:20) Recipe for Me Activity Page; 1 for each kid Pencils Dismiss (10:00, 11:15, 12:30) 1

2 Spiritual Gifts for the Soul Bible Truth: Spiritual Gifts for the Soul (Gifts of the Spirit) 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-11 Bottom Line: God made you to do good. Memory Verse: For we are God s handiwork, created I Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do Ephesians 2:10, NIV Life App: Uniqueness discovering who God made you to be so you can make a difference. Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what.. Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Prayer Groups, 15 minutes) Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today s Bible Truth. Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group for the first time. Once again, thank God for how uniquely He wired each individual kid in your group. Ask Him to help your few unlock the potential of the talents and abilities He gifted them with. Pray that your kids would use those talents and abilities to honor God in everything they do. My Amazing Hands What You Need: Objects from the previous activity, white board, dry erase marker What You Do: Ask the kids to take a look at their hands. Explain that you want them to think of the many things their hands can do. Ask the kids to name some things they can do with their hands. As they list items, write them on the white board or tear sheet. If the kids need help getting started, here are just a few ideas: o Write o Draw o Push or pull o Snap your fingers o Wave o Give a high five o Lift o Hold o Grab What You Say: Your hands are amazing! Out of the animals that God created, no animal has hands like human hands. Monkeys or gorillas come close, but they don t have hands that can do all the things (point to your list) that your hands can do. Our hands are truly amazing! [Transition] Let s go to Large Group to hear more about what our hands can do! Lead your group to the Large Group area. 2

3 Spiritual Gifts for the Soul Bible Truth: Spiritual Gifts for the Soul (Gifts of the Spirit) 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-11 Bottom Line: God made you to do good. Memory Verse: For we are God s handiwork, created I Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do Ephesians 2:10, NIV Life App: Uniqueness discovering who God made you to be so you can make a difference. Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 35 minutes) 1. Opener/Closer What You Need: Host 3-4 volunteers GETTING READY 2. Bible Truth What You Need: Historyteller Bible 3 larger gift bags with numbered tags (1-3) 3 smaller, wrapped boxes, each one inside the corresponding bag (1=Wisdom, 2=Knowledge, 3=Faith) 3. Worship What You Need: Power Praise Team Music and Sound Effects (SFX): Get Down Generation for You I Will Follow 3

4 Spiritual Gifts for the Soul Bible Truth: Spiritual Gifts for the Soul (Gifts of the Spirit) 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-11 Bottom Line: God made you to do good. Memory Verse: For we are God s handiwork, created I Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do Ephesians 2:10, NIV Life App: Uniqueness discovering who God made you to be so you can make a difference. Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 35 minutes) Engage kids hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible Truth, worship, and prayer experience in a Large Group setting. CG: Gadgets and Gizmos Theme Slide Host welcomes kids as they enter. Opener HOST: I have very much enjoyed spending time with you and getting to know you over the past few weeks. It s been rather fantastic to learn about how God has uniquely wired you. Does anyone remember our definition for uniqueness? CG: Uniqueness Slide Yeah! Uniqueness is discovering who God made you to be so you can make a difference! This morning, I d like to find out a bit more about how God made each of you unique. I know we have a very talented bunch in the room, and I bet some of you may have a few hidden talents that even your prayer group doesn t know about! I think it would be exhilarating that means fun to see some of your talents. Yes, I m talking about a pop talent show! Like a pop quiz, but so much better. To get us started, I considered showing you my talent, but all I could think about was how much I like gizmos. And that doesn t seem like much of a talent at all. I hope that as you share your talents it will help me figure out mine. So what s your talent? Maybe you can do a cartwheel or you can twist your tongue into a funny shape. Who wants to come onstage and show us how God has wired you? SFX: Play high-energy music at a low volume. Choose a volunteer from the audience and bring them onstage. Ask them what their talent is and step back to give them the stage. React positively, clapping and inviting the audience to clap too. Bring up two or three more volunteers, as time allows. You may need to mention other talents to get kids thinking. 4

5 Wow! Those were some phenomenal talents! God has certainly made you all unique! But I can t do any of those things not well, anyway. Maybe God hasn t given me a special talent. Maybe I m not uniquely wired after all. Sure, I like gizmos, and I am a fancy dresser if I do say so myself, but that s not much of a talent. Hmmm, maybe our Bible Truth for today will be able to help me. I say it s time to find out. Historyteller enters as Host exits. SETTING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: All month long, we ve been talking about how God has created each of us unique and special. And when we think about how we are special, we often times think about our talents. CG: Drawing Slide God made some of us to be really good at drawing. Maybe that s you! You see something in real life and can easily draw it on paper. When someone looks at your picture, they know it s an elephant and not a mouse with a funny-looking nose. CG: Singing Slide Or maybe God made you to be a good singer. Maybe your friends and family make special requests and ask you to sing their favorite song. Or maybe you re musical in a different way and like to play an instrument. You re learning to read music and like having recitals for your friends. CG: Sports Slide Or maybe you are discovering you re talented at sports. You enjoy being a part of team and competing against other people. God has made us each special and has given us unique talents. But did you know that God gives spiritual gifts to those who put their trust in Jesus? Spiritual gifts are a little bit different than talents. In one of the letters in the Bible, Paul one of the people we talked about last week shared this. CG: 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 Slide Even though the verse is on the screen, read 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 directly from the Bible. There are different kinds of gifts. But they are all given to believers by the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord. There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people. The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all. (NIrV) Paul was writing about the special spiritual gifts that God gives us when we believe in God. And God wants us to use our spiritual gifts to do good and make a difference. But what does that even mean?! Well, let s take a look at a few of these spiritual gifts and how God can use them in our lives can make a difference for Him. 5

6 WISDOM HISTORYTELLER: For our first gift, I m going to need a volunteer. I have a gift for you! Go ahead and open the box. Choose a volunteer from the audience. Retrieve the gifts from back stage. Hand the volunteer the box with the #1 written on the gift tag. Pause as the volunteer opens the gift. Once open, instruct the volunteer to hold the gift so that the audience can see the word on the outside. You opened the gift of wisdom. Those who have the spiritual gift of wisdom know right from wrong and give good advice to those around them. They are good at helping others come up with solutions to their problems. Their gift from God helps them see what to do next. They can also keep others from repeating the same mistakes over and over again. The gift of wisdom is really important! Maybe God has given you wisdom. But God didn t give us these gifts to keep them to ourselves. God gave these gifts to us to make a difference. I m not sure if [volunteer s name] s spiritual gift is wisdom, but let s pretend it is. And let s pretend that she has a friend who has to make a difficult decision. Her friend promised his little sister they would go to the park together to play after school, but then he was invited to go play a brand new video game at a friend s house. Now he isn t sure what to do! Having the gift of wisdom, [volunteer s name] might tell her friend that a promise is a promise and that God wants us to keep our word. Besides, we can play video games another day! See, God gave us spiritual gifts so that we can use them to help others and point them to God. Thanks so much for your help, [volunteer s name]! Dismiss volunteer from stage. KNOWLEDGE HISTORYTELLER: Let s look at another spiritual gift. How about another volunteer? Choose a volunteer from the audience. Hand the volunteer the box with the #2 written on the gift tag. Pause as the volunteer opens the gift. Once open, instruct the volunteer to hold the gift so that the audience can see the word on the outside. This is a good one! You opened the gift of knowledge. People with the gift of knowledge like to read the Bible and have a knack for understanding it. They may like to research and learn so that they can know God better. They also like to share what they have learned with others. They like to help others make decisions while fully knowing all the facts. The gift of knowledge is a great gift! I m sure some of you have this spiritual gift. But remember, God gave us these gifts so that we can do good for others. Knowledge kept to ourselves doesn't make much of a difference! 6

7 Let s pretend that [volunteer s name] has a friend who wants to know if copying someone else s homework is a sin. If [volunteer s name] had the gift of knowledge, he would go to the Bible and find verses about not lying and being honest. He could read these verses with his friend and explain what the verses mean. He would be able to use his spiritual gift to help his friend see that cheating on our homework is lying and that God wants us to work hard and be honest. Thanks so much for your help, [volunteer s name]! FAITH HISTORYTELLER: I need one last volunteer. I have one more gift left. Go ahead and open it. Dismiss volunteer from stage. Choose a volunteer from the audience. Hand the volunteer the box with the #3 written on the gift tag. Once open, instruct the volunteer to hold the gift so that the audience can see the word on the outside. Oh wow! You opened the gift of faith. The Bible defines faith as: being sure of what we hope for. It is being sure of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1, NIrV). Those who receive the gift of faith trust in God fully, even when life doesn t seem fair. They expect God will do great things. People with this gift of faith are confident God will keep His promises. They know that they can trust God no matter what. Often, they pray a lot because they believe that God will answer them! They aren t discouraged by hard times, but instead they trust God and keep going! Again, I m not sure if God has given [volunteer s name] this specific gift, but let s pretend she does have the spiritual gift of faith. If [volunteer s name] s mom had a really hard day at work, she could use her gift to encourage her mom by praying for her. She would assure her mom that God is good and wants to use her to make a difference where she works. [Volunteer s name] may also remind her mom that God knows what she is going through and is always with her. I don t know about you, but if I was having a bad day, I would want to have a friend who had the spiritual gift of faith! But again, God doesn t give us these special bonus gifts to keep to ourselves. We re supposed to share them and make a difference in the lives of those around us. Thanks so much for your help, [volunteer s name]! Dismiss volunteer from stage. WRAPPING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: Wisdom, knowledge, faith those are some pretty amazing and important spiritual gifts! But you know what? Those are just three that the Bible talks about! There are a lot more spiritual gifts that God gives to people who accept Jesus as their Savior. When we believe in Jesus, God gives spiritual gifts to us freely. Of course, God expects us to take care of what He gives us. He wants us to use our spiritual gifts to make a difference and help other people come to know Him so He can give them gifts too! Let s look at today s Bottom Line. CG: Bottom Line Slide 7

8 [Bottom Line] God made you to do good. He wants you to use the gifts and talents He s given to you to make a difference in the world. Let s pray and thank God for giving us such awesome gifts! Pray HISTORYTELLER: God, thank You so much for making us each special and unique. And thank You for giving us spiritual gifts that we can use to do good. God, help us to use our gifts and talents to share Jesus with others. We don t want to keep these amazing gifts to ourselves! Help us to share them. We love You and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. If you have an offering to give today, please raise your hand and we will bring the bucket over to you. I say we celebrate our uniqueness with some fun music and dancing. Help me get the Power Praise team in here! Host joins the audience as the Power Praise team enters. Worship POWER PRAISE: Yes, let s make a joyful noise together. Stand to your feet and get ready. Psalm 100:1-3 says: Shout for joy to the LORD, everyone on earth. Worship the Lord with gladness. Come to him with songs of joy. Know that the LORD is God. He made us, and we belong to him (NIrV). Together we can make sure everyone knows about our great God. Here we go. SFX: Get Down That was so good! Keep it up with this next song. CG: Generation for You I have enjoyed all that we ve been learning this month. It s so good to know that God created us and will use us and our stories for His glory. Let s spend some time in worship giving thanks to Father God. Draw near to Him as we sing this together. SFX: I Will Follow Now that was amazing. You guys are such wonderful singers and I know that God loves to hear you celebrate your relationship with Him. You guys have a great week and we will see you soon! Power Praise team exits as Historyteller enters. Closer HOST: Wow, I really learned something amazing today. Earlier I was so focused on your talents and how God made you that I lost sight of what God has given me and how I m uniquely wired. I may not be good at drawing or able to [mention a talent shared by one of the volunteers in the opener], but God made me special! I love gizmos! That s part of who I am! And while [Historyteller s name] was teaching, I realized why I love gizmos. I don t like them because of their fancy lights or the cool noises they make. I like gizmos 8

9 because they allow me to connect with people and make their lives easier. I like gizmos because I like to help and serve others. The Bible mentions the spiritual gift of helping maybe that s the gift God has given me! I can t wait to use my gift to do some good! Let's take a look at our Bottom Line one more time! CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] God made you to do good. Can you say that with me? HOST and KIDS: [Bottom Line] God made you to do good. HOST: Yeah! And hey, did you notice that today s Bottom Line comes right from our memory verse? Let s read Ephesians 2:10 again. CG: Memory Verse Slide For we are God s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do, Ephesians 2:10. To do these good works, God gives us talents like being good at building things, and God gives us special spiritual gifts like faith and helping. I wonder what spiritual gifts God gave you. How can you use your talents and your spiritual gifts to do good and make a difference? You ll talk all about it in Prayer Group. Have a great time with your friends, and we ll see you next time! CG: Prayer Group Slide Dismiss children to their Prayer Groups. 9

10 Pray and Dismiss (10 minutes) What You Need: Recipe for Me Activity Pages; pencils What You Do: Pass the recipe cards and pencils out. Ask if anyone s mom/dad/aunt/grandma/grandpa uses recipe cards or if anyone s ever seen one. If not, explain that before electronics, people would write down the ingredients and instructions for how to make a cake, a dinner entrée, cookies, brownies, etc. Guide kids to fill out the first few sections: o Recipe for: (kids names) o From the kitchen of: (God) o Finish time: (their birthday) Let kids think of the following things and write them in the ingredients section. o Three things they like to do or are good at (Examples: read, draw, play soccer, do science experiments, sing, play instruments, play with friends, etc.) o Three personality traits (Examples: quiet, silly, fun, thoughtful, polite, etc.) [Make It Personal] As the kids are working, create a card for yourself. You can also use this time to encourage your few about the good things you see in them. This will help give them ideas about what to write, too! Once everyone s finished writing, ask the kids to use the directions section to write or draw one way they can use the things they ve listed to honor God. Ask kids to share their answers if they re willing. Be prepared to share yours too. Ask the kids to hold their completed recipe cards from earlier. Give them a few minutes to pray on their own, asking God to help them follow through by doing something good this week, specifically in the way they ve written on their cards. Close in prayer. What You Say: These personality traits, the things you love to do, and the things you re good at all work together to make up wonderful YOU! And I LOVE how just like you, each of your recipes is so unique. [Bottom Line] God made you to do good. So the things that you ve written on your cards are like little windows to show you who God created you to be. But all these unique gifts aren t just for your benefit. God has created you to help and serve and give to others, because [Bottom Line] God made you to do good. Heavenly Father, thank You for so many awesome reminders of Your creativity! We are SO thankful for the unique way You ve made each of us to do good. Help us to pay attention to the people around us this week and find ways to love and serve and help using the gifts You ve given us. We love You. In Jesus name, amen. As adults arrive to pick up, encourage the kids to show their recipe cards to their parents or guardians and discuss how they can use their gifts this week to do good. 10