12.3 Large Group Lesson

Transcription

1 July 15 th, 2018 Emoji Madness King Ahab s Anger BIG IDEA: God desires peace, so we can turn away from anger. BIBLE BASIS: 1 Kings 21 KEY VERSE: Turn away from anger and don t give into wrath. Don t be upset, because that only leads to evil. Psalm 37:8 (NIrV) Scripture marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica. Scripture marked NIrV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Reader s Version, Copyright 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. All scripture references are taken from NIrV unless otherwise stated. User Agreement: 2017 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 1

2 The GO! curriculum by Mooblio is intended for download and print by subscribing entities only. It may not be transferred electronically to or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. If the GO! curriculum is cost prohibitive for your organization, please contact us about assistance. We are awesomely generous! All use must be in accordance with the Terms of Use agreement as described on the website I recently read a statistic that 1 out of every 5 Americans has an anger management problem. Anger is destructive because it is usually directed at a person. It comes out as road rage, nasty remarks, or outbursts to (or about) a coworker. It ruins marriages and can permanently damage a parent-child relationship. Anger is ugly, and it is no wonder that God warns against its consuming power. TIME Magazine recently had an article entitled, America s Anger Is Out of Control (Jeffrey Kluger, 2016). In it, Kluger asks an important question: If every offensive, unjust or insulting incident turns into a jolt of high-fructose fury mainlined straight to the brain's amygdala, what's left when there's a truly right and righteous reason to rise up in anger? As a Christ-follower, that should hit home. We know that Jesus got angry, but it wasn t over a traffic incident or a long line at the check-out, it was for a truly right and righteous reason. There is plenty in our world to get angry about. Let s make sure that we are choosing the battles that Christ would. Rebecca Crews GO! Contributor 2017 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 2

3 5 Steps to Becoming a Master of Group Management There s a fine line between being a large group teacher and a zookeeper. If you make a few untimely missteps, it can start to feel like you re losing control of the room and slipping into the wild kingdom. Don t fret, though! We ve all been there! And fortunately, there are a few things you can do to prevent your kids wild side from breaking out. Get some help: Hopefully you ve got some dynamic small group leaders in the room who are willing and able to help you. They can be your first line of defense. Talk to them ahead of time and ask them to sit among the kids (as opposed to the back of the room). Encourage them to intervene any time they see distracting behavior. Separate the fire and gas: Some kids just make for explosive combinations. If there are two (or more) kids seated together that historically have trouble being around one another, don t be afraid to separate them from the beginning. Involve the kids: If you re too much of a talking head, kids can start to zone out and get fidgety. Be sure to involve the kids in as much of the lesson as you can. Bonus points if you can get the kids moving physically. Fortunately, the GO! lessons are chock full of these kinds of interactive opportunities! Don t get stale: Fidgety kids can also be an indication that it s time to move on to something different. If you re overly verbose and spend too much time on the same thing, you can start to lose the room. Again, the GO! lessons are written with this in mind, so the more you can stick to the script, the better! Put your body and voice into it: Often times, when a communicator is beginning to lose the attention of the entire room, the first response is to call for quiet and eyes up here. There s a better way, though. By changing what you do with your body and voice, you can regain the kid s attention in a way that doesn t interrupt the flow of the lesson. For example, if you re standing, try sitting or kneeling near the kids for a moment. Resist the urge to talk over the kids. Instead, begin speaking in a quiet voice, just above a whisper. This body/voice combination can do wonders with regaining attention Mooblio. All rights reserved. 3

4 Who doesn t love a good emoji?! Happy, sad, scared, or mad we can show people how we re feeling with just one little picture. Emoji s are also the perfect way to unpack the Book of Psalms! During Emoji Madness, kids will use different emoji s to tell the Bible story and to discover how God helps us manage our emotions. Do the following ahead of time: Print the Emoji Faces on 8½ x 11 paper or cardstock. There are separate files for each of the following Bible characters: King Ahab, Naboth, and Jezebel. Find one cardboard box for each of the Bible characters. The box should be just big enough to fit over a kid s head. Number each side of each box by placing a small number (1-4) in the top corner. Cut out the emoji s for each Bible character and attach them to a different side of that character s emoji box. To make the storytelling easier, be sure to put the emoji s in the order that they ll appear during the story. For this lesson, the emoji s for each character will appear in this order: o King Ahab: Side #1: shifty, Side #2: idea, Side #3: angry, Side #4: sad. o Naboth: Side #1: very happy, Side #2: dislike, Side #3: dead. o Jezebel: Side #1: mean, Side #2: evil, Side #3: excited. Save the emoji boxes and reuse them for each week. Place a Bible in the teaching area. Place 2 cans of soda in the teaching area. Place a tarp or a plastic bin on the floor in or near the teaching area. This will be used to catch the erupting soda as it spills from the can. Place a towel near the experiment table for wiping hands. Choose which of the GO! DEEP Reflect and Respond stations you would like to make available. Set out the appropriate materials for each of those stations Mooblio. All rights reserved. 4

5 Sound: Emoji Madness title graphic PLAY upbeat music as kids move to large group area EMOJI MADNESS INTRO Large Group Leader: Hello everybody. I m so glad you re here today and I hope you re ready for another super fun week of Emoji Madness! Once again, we re going to crack open the Book of Psalms and see what it has to say about one of the many emotions that people feel. Hey speaking of cracking open the Book of Psalms, did you know there s a really easy way to find Psalms in the Bible? (Hold up Bible.) Take a look at this the Book of Psalms is in the very middle of the Bible. (Open your Bible to the very middle and show it to the kids.) And do you know what the word Psalm means? (Take answers.) Great guesses! A Psalm is a song. That s what a lot of the Psalms are they re songs written to God. But ancient Jewish songs didn t rhyme like ours do. Instead of repeating sounds, the Psalms repeat ideas over and over. EMOJI REVEAL But here s one of the coolest things about the Book of Psalms it s filled with all kinds of emotions. Happy, sad, scared or mad the Book of Psalms has them all. Are you ready to see which emotion we re going to look at today? (Kids respond.) Drum roll please! (Prompt kids to create a drumroll along with the Emoji Reveal video.) VDO: PLAY Emoji Reveal: Anger video This week we ll be looking at anger! (Motion a lot with hands.) For some people, it takes a LOT to make them angry. (Motion a little with hands.) For other people, it only takes a little bit to make them angry. (Motion with hands again.) But whether it takes a lot or a little or somewhere in-between, we ALL get angry sometimes. That s why this week s Psalm is so important for us to learn. Let s take a look and see what it is. Turn away from anger and don t give into wrath. Don t be upset, because that only leads to evil. Psalm 37:8 (NIrV) Let s dive deeper into that Psalm by looking at a story from another book of the Bible the Book of 1 Kings. I m going to need some help, though. Choose 3 kids to play the following Bible story characters: King Ahab, Jezebel, and Naboth. Place the appropriate emoji box over each kid s head with side #1 facing forward. THE BIG BIBLE STORY KING AHAB S ANGER (Stand behind King Ahab.) In the Old Testament, there was a Jewish King named Ahab. King Ahab lived in a beautiful palace, but there was just one problem with it it didn t have a vegetable garden. (Turn Ahab box to side #2: idea.) King Ahab had an idea, though. There was a man named Naboth who owned a vineyard right next to the palace. So Ahab said to Naboth, Hey buddy I have a great idea! Why don t you give me your vineyard since it s right next to my palace. I want to use it for a vegetable garden. I ll trade you for an even better vineyard. (Turn Naboth box to side #2: dislike.) But Naboth 2017 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 5

6 didn t like that idea. His family had owned the vineyard for many generations and he didn t want to trade it, so he said, No thanks! (Turn Ahab box to side #3: angry.) This made King Ahab angry! He laid on his bed and threw a fit. He was in such a bad mood that he wouldn t even eat. (Stand behind Jezebel.) When his wife, Jezebel, came in, she asked what was wrong. King Ahab told her what had happened. (Speak in an overly pouty voice.) I told Naboth that I wanted his vineyard, but he said no. I m so mad it s not fair! (Turn Jezebel box to side #2: evil.) When Jezebel heard about this, she came up with an evil plan. She wrote some letters pretending to be King Ahab. In the letters, she told some important people to invite Naboth to a fancy dinner. During the dinner, she had two evil men sit across from Naboth and she told them to lie about him. The two men accused Naboth of saying terrible things about God and the king. (Turn Naboth box to side #3: dead.) Even though it wasn t true, the people dragged Naboth out of the city and killed him by throwing stones at him. (Turn Jezebel box to side #3: excited.) When Jezebel heard the news, she got excited. She went and told Ahab, Naboth is dead! Go and take his vineyard now. So that s what King Ahab did he stole Naboth s vineyard after he had been killed. That s great news for Ahab, right? (Shake head no. ) Not so much! God knew all about what Ahab did, and he was NOT happy! So God sent a prophet to confront Ahab. The prophet told Ahab that God was going to cause horrible trouble for him and his entire family. (Turn Ahab box to side #4: sad.) When Ahab heard what the prophet said, he was so sad that he tore his clothes and stopped eating again. Big Bible Story Questions graphic BIG BIBLE STORY QUESTIONS At the end of the Bible story have the kids turn briefly to their small groups and discuss the following questions: For Younger Kids: What was your favorite part of this story? Why do you think King Ahab got so angry? Was he right to be angry? For Older Kids: What was the consequence of King Ahab s anger? How do you think the story would have ended differently if Ahab had controlled his anger? After a few minutes, draw their attention back to the teaching area. Emoji Madness title graphic EXPLODING WITH ANGER (Hold up a can of soda.) In our story for today, Ahab and Jezebel were kind of like this can of soda. When Naboth said that Ahab couldn t have the vineyard, they got more (shake can of soda) and more (shake can more) and more angry. (Continue shaking can.) The more they thought about what Naboth said, the angrier they got. Until finally, they EXPLODED with anger. (Hold the can over a tarp or bin. Open it on exploded. ) Jezebel and Ahab were so upset, that they had Naboth killed and they stole his vineyard. Set the can down and wipe your hands off with a towel. Pick up the second can of soda so the kids can see it. Now, you ve probably never done anything that terrible before, but we all get angry sometimes. Maybe your sister is playing on your tablet without asking and she cracks the screen. (Shake can.) Maybe your friend tells everyone at school something embarrassing that you told them in secret. (Shake can.) 2017 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 6

7 Maybe your parents punish you for doing something your brother did. (Shake can.) What are some other things that have made you really mad before? (Take answers. After each answer, shake the can of soda more.) Sometimes when those things happen, (continue shaking can) you get more and more and more angry. But when you re ready to EXPLODE, (fake as if you re going to open the can towards the kids) you need to stop! Before you open your mouth or do something you ll regret, think about our Psalm for today. (Set the can down. You ll want to wait at least 2 minutes before picking the can up again.) Let s take a look at it together. (Encourage kids to open their Bibles to Psalm 37:8. When ready, choose a kid to read the verse aloud or read it aloud yourself.) Turn away from anger and don t give into wrath. Don t be upset, because that only leads to evil. Psalm 37:8 TURN AWAY FROM ANGER Have you ever been so upset that you did or said something really mean? (Kids respond.) That s what this verse is talking about. If you don t control your anger, your anger will control you. It will cause you to do something evil that you wouldn t normally do, like push your brother down, or call your friend a terrible name, or scream at your parents. That s why God says to turn away from your anger. When you feel like you re going to explode, God wants you to STEP! Let me explain what that means. STEP graphic The S stands for Step away for a minute. If you re about to explode on someone, don t be around them. Go somewhere by yourself until you can calm down. The T stands for Take a deep breath (breathe deeply.) The E stands for Exhale (exhale breath.) And the P stands for Pray. Pray that God would help you control your anger in a way that honors Him and makes Him happy. After you STEP, look at what happens. (Pick up can and open. If enough time has passed, the can should open without exploding.) It keeps you from exploding. (Sit or kneel near kids.) If you think about it, that s what God does with us. We sin against Him all the time, but instead of exploding with anger, God offers us forgiveness. He gave us His Son, Jesus, so that our sins could be washed away and we could live with Him forever in Heaven. The next time someone makes us mad, let s try forgiving them the same way Jesus forgives us. Close the GO! TELL IT Large group time by praying for the kids in whatever way the Holy Spirit prompts you. Following the prayer, explain to the kids which of the GO! DEEP Reflect and Respond Stations will be available. Remind them to move about the stations very quietly. Tell them they are free to respond to God in whatever way the Holy Spirit leads them, but if they need suggestions, some of the stations will give them ideas for how to pray, write, or draw. Give each child one GO! Home sheet and instruct them to take it with them to the stations. Place small group leaders at the different stations to quietly help the kids. The stations listed below are just the ones that have prompts that are specific to today s lesson. For more instructions on how the GO! DEEP Reflect and Respond Stations work as well as a full list of possible stations, see the GO! Guide. Emoji Madness title graphic 2017 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 7

8 Music: (Optional) Play quiet reflective music Prayer Station prompt: Write a prayer to God. Ask Him to help you turn away from anger the next time you get mad. Journal Station prompt: What makes you angry? Write a letter to God and tell Him about it. Tell Him how you re going to STEP the next time you get angry. Bible Station prompt: Read it for yourself: 1 Kings 21. Draw a picture of the story or write to God about your favorite part of the story. Tell Him why you liked it. Art Station prompt: Draw a Praise Picture to God. You can draw anything that shows God how much you love Him and how thankful you are for His forgiveness Mooblio. All rights reserved. 8