How to Follow God s Plan

Transcription

1 How to Follow God s Plan Lesson 1: God s Plan for the World TM.com

2 How to Follow God s Plan TM Lesson 1 God s Plan for the World Unit Summary Many people, including Christians, settle for a very self-focused life goal to arrive at death safely, with as much comfort as possible along the way. This is hardly God s best! Though the world offers fun and excitement, only the Lord s plan promises deep, rich fulfillment (John 10:10). God makes available a life of adventure when believers pursue the purposes for which He made them. What a privilege to introduce children to this journey! We can help kids elevate their perspective to see that life can be thrilling when they follow God s plan. We can help children develop a Biblical worldview, a broader view of God s purpose in the world and what His plan is for every Christian. We can help children learn how to understand what God s specific plan is for them and how to form an action plan to experience everything God has for them. This series will help your kids discover God s will for their lives! They will learn that growing in Biblical knowledge, in Christlike character, and in godly conduct are key to fulfilling God s wonderful plan. Lesson Summary As we begin this series How to Follow God s Plan it is important to begin with the big picture of God s plan for the entire world. The children will be given a basic understanding of the problem of evil and God s plan of salvation for all people. It is important that we start with the Gospel because people cannot truly experience God s plan for their lives if they don t first understand that they are lost and in need of a Savior. Children will be given an opportunity to accept Jesus as their Savior; if they already Know Disciple Targets In this lesson, your children will... God wants every person to come to saving faith in Jesus Feel Excited about the wonderful plan God has in store for them Do Accept Jesus as their Savior or tell someone else about Jesus have a relationship with God, they will begin to understand God s desire that the message of the Gospel be spread to the whole world. Paul s Power Principle: God desires every person to know Him personally.

3 SUPPLIES General Supplies Bibles, puppets, video projection (optional) Pencils, pens, paper Spark Interest WELCOME!: nametags LET S PLAY!: 2-4 world globes CONNECT WITH YOUR KIDS: none Explore Scripture KEYVERSE: none Inspire Action DRAMATIZE THE POINT: tent, camping gear PowerPoint Presentation As you plan your lesson, select PowerPoint slides that correspond to the lesson elements you choose. In the Slide Sorter View, you can rearrange and/or delete the slides as necessary. For descriptions of the included slides and tips on their use, see the notes accompanying each slide. SPARK INTEREST Choose from the following activities and ideas to engage kids and grab their attention. How to Follow God s Plan Lesson , DiscipleLand. All rights reserved. Karl Bastian / Kidology.org Welcome! United Nations For today, instead of making nametags with the children s names on them, make stickers with names of countries. As children arrive, place a sticker on each child. Then during the service, refer to the children by the name of the country they are wearing rather than their first name. Be sure to say things like Russia, you need to behave or France and England, can you cease your diplomatic discussions right now? or I really need the United Arab Emirates to join our discussion right now. Use the names of the countries in fun ways during the lesson as you interact with the children. It will be memorable! (You can put children s names below the countries if you want to.) Let s Meet-n-Greet! Turn and greet two or three children around you. If you don t know their names, find out. Then ask the kids beside you, If you could go to any country in the world, where would you go and why? Leaders, be sure to stop whatever you are doing to move through the audience and greet the children, especially those you do not recognize. Announce any birthdays for the week. (See the How to Use DiscipleTown guide for quick and easy ways to acknowledge visitors and birthdays.)

4 Let s Worship! During the worship time, be sure to comment on God s love for the entire world and His desire that people everywhere worship Him and come to know Him. Recommended Song: He s Got the Whole World in His Hands, public domain Puppet Intro Leader & puppet introduce today s lesson. You will find a scripted version of this intro at the end of the lesson. Supplies: puppet, newspaper Leader brings out puppet.* Puppet is holding a newspaper. Leader asks puppet, Why do you look so sad? Puppet explains that the newspaper is full of stories about war and about people doing bad things to one another. Leader asks what can be done about the problem. Puppet says that maybe if the world had only one leader and that leader was wise and good, the leader could change the way people act. There would be peace, and everyone would be safe. Leader tells puppet that there already is such a leader. He is wise and good and powerful and loving. Puppet asks why people aren t following this leader. Leader explains that this leader came to the world, but the world rejected him, and even killed him. Puppet is shocked, and asks who this leader is. Leader tells puppet that the leader is Jesus. Leader explains the Gospel, how Jesus loved the world so much that He came and died to save them from their sins. He rose from the dead, and now He rules from heaven. Someday He will come back in power and glory, but He s looking for people who will follow Him right now. Puppet says, I want to follow Jesus. How do I do that? Leader says, That s what today s lesson is all about! *PUPPET: Develop a puppet character to use regularly. The children will get to know the personality and enjoy these regular visits. Dee, Cy, and Paul puppets are available at DiscipleLand.com Let s Play! Race Around the Globe Supplies: at least two to four world globes; the larger the group, the more globes you ll need. (If you cannot acquire globes, use folded world maps, but globes are so much better!) Display the world globes on tables in front of the room. To start the game, choose as many contestants as you have globes. Name a country. Each child races to find the country on the globe, places a finger on the name of the country, and then raises his or her other hand. The first one to find the country gets to remain on stage as King of the World. The others return to their seats. Choose replacements who have not yet had a turn. Play as many rounds as time permits. As the children get better, you can advance to naming a city, or even a river or mountain range! Throughout the game, talk about how big and amazing the world is, how many people there are, and how much God loves all those people and desires that they all know Him. Note: This is a game the children will want to play at the end of the service, if time allows.

5 Connect with Your Kids Have you been on a missions trip to a poor country or a poor part of town? (If you haven t personally been on a missions trip, invite another adult who has. Ask that person to speak during this segment.) What things do you remember most about your trip? How did the trip affect you? What changes did it make in your life? As you tell about your experience, emphasize that you did this because you wanted to follow Jesus. Be sure to tell how you were obeying Him by going. As you share your heart for the poor or the lost, you help children s perception of the lesson change from being an abstract concept to something real and tangible. Children need to see that Biblical truth is something that touches your heart if you want it to touch theirs. Connection Tip: Do you have an object from your missions trip that you can hold as you tell this story? Are there photos you can show? Providing a physical object or something for children to focus on helps them concentrate on and connect with your story. DiscipleTown Visitor Find a script version of this segment at the end of this lesson. Ambassador Alvin*: As you or your visitor finish talking about following Jesus by going on a missions trip, an actor walks by. The actor should be dressed as an airplane traveler, carrying a suitcase and holding a cell phone to his ear. As the actor gets near you, the actor says goodbye, puts away the cell phone, and shakes your hand. After talking with the person for a few minutes, you introduce the actor as Alvin, an ambassador to DiscipleTown from Australia. Ask Alvin to explain what an ambassador does. Alvin explains that an ambassador represents the country and the country s leader to people who live in other countries. The ambassador takes messages from his or her leader and gives those messages to the people of other lands. You tell the children that each one of us is an ambassador of our leader, Jesus Christ. Quote the first part of 2 Corinthians 5:20: We are therefore Christ s ambassadors. We don t have to go to a foreign country to be Christ s ambassadors. We don t even have to leave town! We can be His ambassadors to people in our neighborhood, school, and family. If He is our leader and we are following Him, we represent Him to everyone we meet! *CHARACTERS: These are suggested characters and names. Please feel free to change or adjust to suit your kids needs and tastes.

6 EXPLORE SCRIPTURE Seize on the children s interest and direct them into God s Word. Let s Search! Bible Dash Supplies: Bibles Ask all kids with Bibles to participate, or invite a few volunteers to come to the front. As children hold Bibles closed with hands on covers, state the Bible reference twice, then on the command SEARCH! have the students race to locate the verse. Once they have a finger on the verse, they can stand and call out, FOUND IT! Have the first child read the verse aloud while you project the verse on a screen via PowerPoint. See suggestions below for comments on each verse. Keep your comments brief and to the point of the lesson. Proverbs 21:30 No plan can succeed against the Lord. 2 Peter 3:9 God is patient; He wants everyone to be saved. Job 42:2 God can do all things; His plans cannot be thwarted. Micah 4:12a No one understands the plans of the Lord. 1 Timothy 4:12 You are never too young to be an example. Paul s Power Principle: God desires every person to know Him personally. Let s Learn! God s Plan for the World Ephesians 1:11 Supplies: dog leash, dog collar Show a leash that is used for walking a dog. The leash should be attached to a dog collar. Ask the children, Why do you use a leash when you walk your pet? (To allow it some freedom but also keep it safe from cars and other dangers.) God gives us freedom, but He also wants to protect us from harm. That is why He has given us commands that restrict us and hold us back. The Bible teaches that all people have sinned. They have taken the leash that God has provided and have cut it. Take scissors and cut the leash, or at least unbuckle the leash from the collar if you do not wish to damage the leash. People like to feel free of God, but they don t realize that being totally free actually means they no longer have His protection. Have you ever lost a pet or seen a LOST DOG sign? Someone lost a dog and is trying to get it back before it gets lost forever or hurt! Well, God has a plan to save the world a world that is lost because people have broken away from God s leash! He sent His Son to repair the break! Use some red tape to repair the cut leash, explaining that the red represents the fact that Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood to pay the punishment we deserve for rebelling against God, going our own way, and disobeying Him. When we ask God to forgive us and allow Jesus to repair that break, we are again connected to God. We are still free to enjoy so much of life, but within the limits of where God leads us, just as when you take a pet on a walk. And have you ever taken a dog to a place like a dog park or your yard where you can take off the leash? You can remove the leash because there are fences. In the same way, as our relationship with God grows He will take us to places where we will have even more freedom but there will always be boundaries to keep us safe. As we get older we understand that those boundaries aren t there to spoil our fun; they are there to keep us safe and prevent us from getting hurt. God s plan is for everyone in the world to learn about His love and about His desire to repair that relationship with anyone who is willing to come back to Him.

7 Click here to change text The Problem of Evil. Some people say that God can t be all good and all powerful because there is evil in the world. They think that either He isn t good because He allows evil, or that He is good but isn t all-powerful because He doesn t stop evil. The truth is that He is BOTH good and all powerful. But He created us free, and to be free we have to be free to be good or bad. He is good enough to let us be evil if we want, and He is powerful enough to stop evil, but He wants to give people time to repent. The time will come when He WILL stop evil and judge it. No one will get away with evil; each person will pay for it. But for now, God allows the evil to exist in order to keep our freedom free. Option: You may choose to share the Gospel message using your favorite presentation here. This would be a good opportunity to invite children to accept Jesus as their Savior. God s plan for the world is incredible! Let s look at what the Bible says about God s plan for the world: God s Plan is Wonderful! (Psalm 40:5) From the time God created the universe, He began working out His amazing and wonder-filled plan. Imagine your life is directly tied to the Lord s global purposes for all eternity! God s Plan is Perfect! (Ephesians 1:11) God is supreme Ruler over all He is in charge. He always does what is good and right. Since the Lord never makes mistakes, everything He does is perfect. Therefore, no one can improve God s will or plan! God s Plan is Eternal! (Psalm 33:10-11) God mapped out His plan before time began. Each day, He accomplishes His unchanging, eternal purposes. Nothing stands in His way. God s Plan is Total! (Romans 8:28) Every event in the universe fits into God s master plan! The primary way God reveals His will is through the Bible. Scriptural truths and principles answer about 90% of your questions about God s will for you. When you face a situation where Bible truths do not offer insights about God s will, pray for guidance and listen for God s Spirit to speak to you. Suggested Bible Narrative Adam & Eve Sin Genesis 3 God gave Adam and Eve complete freedom in the Garden of Eden to do whatever they wanted, but He gave them just one thing they couldn t do they couldn t eat from just one tree. There was probably nothing magical or special about that tree. The point was simply to see if they would obey God. It was not the fruit that opened their eyes to sin: it was their disobedience. They experienced a break in their perfect relationship with God, and they experienced the feelings of guilt and shame. We still feel guilt and shame today every time we disobey God. Dee s Disciple Tip: You can be a missionary anywhere in the world instantly on your knees! KeyVerse Topic: God s Plan for Us Reference: Jeremiah 29:11 Display the KeyVerse and have the children read through it several times. Let them know that in the original language the word for plans means thoughts ; so this verse literally says, I know the thoughts I think about you, declares the Lord. Amazing! God thinks about you, and when He does, He thinks good thoughts for an awesome future for you!

8 INSPIRE ACTION Encourage kids to apply the Bible truth to their lives. Dramatize the Point Act this out or read as a story. Supplies: tent, Crazy Campers PowerPoint. You will also need consistent actors and characters for each week; this will be a continuing series. You ll need three or four actors. Give the characters fun names. Actors can be all men, all women, or a mix. Tent Instructions: You will need a basic tent with poles; a child s tent will work fine. The characters are dressed for camping and have arrived at their campsite. Backpacks and other camping gear will add to the scene, but the main skit for today is setting up the tent. One of the campers asks where the instructions are, and another camper answers, Who needs instructions? How hard can it be? After that setup, the actors should just have fun trying to put the tent together without instructions! Some fun music playing can add to the entertainment value. In the end, all four actors end up climbing inside and trying to go to sleep in a tent that is horribly put together and falling apart. The skit ends with the tent falling down on the campers, much to the delight of the children. The point: The campers needed the instructions for the tent. In life, things go better when we follow God s plan, too! Object Talks The Match and the Globe Supplies: video projection The video clip for this lesson features Karl, the Kidologist, doing a short object lesson featuring a match and a globe discussing what it means to be on fire for Jesus in order to spread the Good News around the world. Use this short teaching video to show the kids or to train a leader to do the talk live. Featured verse: John 8:12 Let s Talk! Small Group Discussion Provide each small group with a flat paper world map and allow each child to have a turn saying a country and letting the others race to find it. The first one to locate it gets to choose the next one to find. But first, the group prays for that country. Use the following questions to help children process what they ve learned: 1) Do you have a pet? Have you ever lost it? Did you get it back? How? If you didn t get your pet back, how did you feel? 2) How do you think God feels when people He created and loves rebel against Him and run away? 3) Have you accepted Jesus? When? How? 4) Do you have a friend you are sharing Jesus with? 5) How can you tell your friends about Jesus?

9 on presented by month day year Awarded to for Bringing a Friend award DiscipleTown Super Citizen This week reward a child who brought a friend to church with a Super Citizen certificate. Let s Pray! Prayer: At the end of the service, have kids close their eyes and bow their heads. Ask them to think about the fact that God has a plan for them and that He loves them very much. Ask them to think about what it means to follow God and why following God will give the best life they can have. Dear God, thank You for making us free and then for being so gracious and patient when we use that freedom to disobey You. All of us have used our freedom to disobey You. Thank You that instead of punishing us for disobeying You, You sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we could be forgiven and have a close relationship with You. To show our gratitude and love, we now want to use our freedom to love and obey You, to live for You, and to tell others that they too can have a friendship with the wonderful God who made them! Help us to be ambassadors for You in the world because we know Your desire that everyone would know just how much You love them and long to have a relationship with them. We love You, God. In Jesus name, amen. Cy s Challenge: Challenge the kids to tell someone this week that God loves them and wants to know them! Let s Review! If you have extra time, use these review questions to keep the kids focused on the lesson until time to dismiss. A handful of candy will help you keep their attention. After each question, take a minute to reiterate the lesson point related to the question. 1) Complete this sentence: God desires every person to. 2) What does an ambassador do? 3) Who committed the first sin? 4) Why does God give us commands? 5) God is patient and waiting for more people to. 6) In the Hebrew of Jeremiah 29:11, plans literally means.

10 For the Home DiscipleTown Table Talker: Give each child a copy of this week s DiscipleTown Table Talker. Be sure to show the kids how to put it together and encourage them to ask their parents to lead family devotions three times this week. Parent Copy and send the below to help your parents connect with their kids during the week. Send them early in the week, but not on Sunday. As a courtesy, be sure parents have opted to receive these s. Review and edit as necessary to reflect the lesson elements you have used. You can also find this as a Microsoft Word document in your download bundle. Dear Mom and Dad, This week in DiscipleTown we began a series called How to Follow God s Plan. We will be helping your child understand that God has a very special plan for your child s life! Many people, including Christians, settle for a very self-focused life goal to arrive at death safely, with as much comfort as possible along the way. This is hardly God s best! Though the world offers fun and excitement, only the Lord s plan promises deep, rich fulfillment (John 10:10). God makes available a life of adventure when believers pursue the purpose for which He made them. This Sunday we began with the big picture of God s plan for the entire world. The children were given a basic understanding of the problem of evil and God s plan of salvation for all people. It is important that we start with the Gospel because people can t truly experience God s plan for their lives if they don t first understand that they are lost and in need of a Savior. Your child was given an opportunity to accept Jesus as Savior. If your child already has a relationship with God, he or she can begin to understand that God s desire is that the message of the Gospel be spread to the whole world. Let me encourage you to talk with your child about the lesson and seek to gain an understanding of where your child is in his or her spiritual journey with Christ. As a help in engaging in spiritual discussions, we have sent home a DiscipleTown Table Talker which you can put on your kitchen table. It will help start just three family discussions at mealtime on the topic of following God s plan. No preparation is needed, so be sure to make them a part of your week! Making young disciples, [Your Name]

11 BONUS MATERIALS Use these options to extend your time or as substitutes for the ideas above. Chip s Snack Time! Supplies: snack with letters Serve Cheeze-It Scrabble Junior crackers or a snack with letters. (Or write letters with Cheez Whiz on saltine crackers) Pass out randomly to the children and have them try to think of countries that start with the letter they got. If they are stumped, they can look on a map or globe for help. Group Activity Supplies: maps of various countries Hang maps on walls around the room. Block out each country name. See how many countries the children can identify. Give awards to the children who can identify the most countries correctly! Additional Ideas Church Missions Project: Have a church missionary or a member of your church s missions committee come to speak to the children about how your church impacts the world through missions. Consider having a group missions project during this series. On Top of the World: Instead of chairs, for this first week create a huge globe on the floor with masking tape and let the children sit on the floor. Have some fun by talking about which children are sitting in the ocean, in North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and so on. During songs and other activities, you can refer to different parts of the world instead of parts of the room. It can be a way to get children thinking about the world as they represent different parts of the world just by where they are sitting! 10

12 Puppet Intro World Leader DIRECTOR S NOTES The words in italics are notes for you and your puppeteers; they are not to be read aloud. You will need a newspaper for the puppet to hold. Leader: Hey, [puppet name]. Why do you look so sad? Puppet: Actually, I m feeling very discouraged. Leader: What s the problem? Puppet: I ve been reading the newspaper. It seems like the world is full of war and violence. People from one country hate the people from another country, so they go to war. Last night I watched the TV news. They were saying that in our own town, there are places that aren t safe because people are attacking and robbing other people. Leader: That s a serious problem, all right! Did the newspaper or TV have any suggestions about how to make the world safer? Puppet: [Sadly.] Not really. Leader: Wow. Puppet: But I had an idea. Wherever you have fighting whether it s between countries or gangs or other groups you have leaders. Some people follow this leader; they fight against followers of other leaders. The leaders don t agree with each other. Some leaders are good, and some are bad. And those who follow this leader fight against those who follow a different leader. Leader: That s all true. What does it have to do with your idea? Puppet: [Pausing, as if making a super-important announcement.] We need to have everyone follow the same leader! Leader: [With a questioning look.] I think it s been tried before, [puppet name]. Lots of people have tried to become the only leader of the world, but it hasn t worked. The leaders haven t been very good. And people haven t wanted to follow them. So the result is just more wars and fighting. Puppet: [Getting excited.] But what if it were the best leader in the world? What if the person were good and trustworthy and honest? What if the leader had every person s best interests in mind? What if the leader were wise and smart and only made good decisions? Wouldn t everyone want to follow that leader? Leader: There is a leader who s just like that. He s already come to the world. But the people rejected Him. Puppet: Really? Leader: Yes. In fact, they killed Him! Puppet: Wow. Who was he? Leader: He knows everything. He knows what s going to happen in the future. He knows what s best for the world because He made the world and everything in it. He loves everyone. He is all-powerful. He can be everywhere at once. He is perfect in every way. Puppet: Who was he?! Leader: Jesus. Puppet: You re right. He is the perfect leader. But if He is all-powerful, how were people able to kill Him? Leader: He let them do it. Puppet: What? Why? Leader: Jesus loved people and wanted them to be with Him. But He knew that sinful people could not live forever with Him. They needed to have their sins forgiven, and the only way that could happen was if He died for their sins. Puppet: Wow! He didn t just say He loved us He proved it by dying for us. Leader: Then He rose again from the grave. Now He s in heaven, on a throne, ruling over all the universe. And He wants to be our leader. He wants us to follow Him. Puppet: Jesus is worth following. He is the only perfect leader. I want to be His follower every day of my life! But how do I follow Him? Leader: That s what today s lesson is all about! *PUPPET: Develop a puppet character to use regularly. The children will get to know the personality and enjoy these regular visits. Dee, Cy, and Paul puppets are available at DiscipleLand.com How to Follow God s Plan Lesson , DiscipleLand. Permission granted to reproduce for volunteers.

13 DiscipleTown Visitor Script DIRECTOR S NOTES The words in italics are notes for you and your volunteers; they are not to be read aloud. As you or your guest finish talking about following Jesus by going on a missions trip, a visitor walks by. The visitor should be dressed as an airplane traveler, carrying a suitcase and holding a cell phone to his ear. As the visitor nears you, he says goodbye, puts away the cell phone, and shakes your hand. Talk quietly with each other. Leader: [To audience:] Hey, kids! This is Alvin, an ambassador to DiscipleTown from Australia! Ambassador Alvin*: G day, kids. Leader: Hey, Al... Alvin: Call me Alvin. Leader: Okay, Alvin. Would you mind telling the kids what an ambassador does? Alvin: No worries. An ambassador represents his or her country and the country s leader to the people who live in other countries. Leader: It sounds important. Alvin: It sure is. Ambassadors take messages from their leaders and give those messages to the people of other lands. Leader: Alvin, [Gestures to audience.] we re ambassadors, too. Alvin: [Astonished.] All of you? Of DiscipleTown? Leader: No, but of the Church, and of our leader, Jesus Christ. The Bible even says, We are therefore Christ s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). Alvin: That s quite a job! Leader: It is, but we don t have to go to a foreign country to be Christ s ambassadors. We don t even have to leave town! We can be His ambassadors to people in our neighborhood, school, and family. Alvin: Well, from what I know of Jesus, it is a special privilege to represent Him. Leader: I think so. If He is our leader and we are following Him, we represent Him to everyone we meet! Alvin: I wish I could stay and chat, but I must be away to City Hall. Maybe we could get together for dinner and discuss being ambassadors some more. Leader: Sure! Where would you like to meet? Alvin: Do you have an Outback Steakhouse? *CHARACTERS: These are suggested characters and names. Please feel free to change or adjust to suit your kids needs and tastes. How to Follow God s Plan Lesson , DiscipleLand. Permission granted to reproduce for volunteers.

14 Curriculum Map (DiscipleTown Units in no particular order) How to Worship God How to Use My Bible How to Show Respect How to Pray How to Be Faithful Workers How to Love God How to Memorize God s Word How to Be Global Christians How to Grow Spiritual Fruit How to Make Good Friends How to Walk in the Spirit How to Be Jesus Disciple How to Build Character How to Navigate the New Testament How to Explain My Faith How to Earn Eternal Rewards How to Follow God s Plan How to Make Good Choices How to Navigate the Old Testament How to Study My Bible How to Know the Truth How to Discover Gifts and Talents How to Walk Victoriously How to Meet with God Each DiscipleTown Unit will teach your kids an essential how to skill to become victorious disciples of Jesus! TM.com