2.3 Small Group Lesson Elementary

Transcription

1 September 16 th, 2018 Slime Time Jacob and Esau BIG IDEA: God has a plan for my life, so I can trust Him even when something unfair happens. BIBLE BASIS: Genesis 25:19-34; 27:1-35 KEY VERSE: I know the plans I have for you, announces the Lord. I want you to enjoy success. I do not plan to harm you. I will give you hope for the years to come. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIrV) 2017 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 1

2 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: 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 Sometimes in my walk with God I find it so easy to take for granted the bazillions of blessings He bestows on me. Good health, food, family, friends, a church community when you ve had these things so consistently for so long, it s easy to forget that these really are gifts straight from God. Unfortunately, it s often times not until I ve lost them that I really begin to cherish them. In a way, this is the malady that Esau suffered from. Two of his most cherished possessions should have been his birthright, which gave him an extra portion of his father s inheritance, and his 7 15 minutes minutes 7 15 minutes minutes blessing, which established him as the eventual leader of the family. But this wasn t the case for Esau. In fact, Genesis 25:34 says that Esau treated his birthright with contempt. The Greek word that is used for Esau s attitude describes someone standing in front of a temple, the holy dwelling of God, rather than within it. The idea is that Esau was standing outside the place of true knowledge. He treated something sacred as if it were common. Did you catch that? He treated something sacred as if it were common. In the Old Testament Jewish culture, the sacred gifts of the birthright and the blessing almost always went to 2017 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 2

3 the oldest son. There were very few exceptions to this. Is it possible that Esau always assumed that these gifts would be his? Is it possible he began taking them for granted? If Esau is anything like me, that s a distinct possibility! There s a good chance that, like Esau, we ve all been treating sacred things like they re common. Unfortunately for Esau, he didn t really realize what amazing gifts he had until they were gone. More than that, it was in part because he took them for granted that he lost them. Let s not make that same mistake. What have you been taking for granted? What blessings do you need God to open your eyes to? I ll bet that if you stop and really think about it, the magnitude of God s graciousness in your life will be absolutely overwhelming! David Rausch Mooblio President 2017 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 3

4 The Magic Circle When it comes time for you to sit down with your small group, there is no better configuration than a circle. If you have a group of younger kids who find it difficult to seat themselves in a nice circle, have them first hold hands in a circle and then sit down. The benefits of sitting in a circle are well worth the time it takes to organize your kids in the beginning. Here s why: Everybody feels like they are a part of the group. When your group is arranged in a big clump, the kids sitting toward the outside often times don t feel like they re a part of what s going on and their attention goes elsewhere. In a circle, no one is on the outside. The kids will talk to one another, not just you. You are the facilitator of conversation, not the center of it. If you organize your group like a miniature classroom, kids will become accustomed to talking and listening to only you. A circle allows kids to feel like they re connected to everyone in the group. It s easier to manage. When there s a direct line of site between you and all of the kids, they re more apt to behave. You can quickly and easily address interruptions. Are there two kids distracting each other? Separate them in the circle. Is there a kid who is more difficult to manage? Seat him next to you in the circle. You can use eye contact to your advantage. Eye contact invites participation. If you have a kid who seldom participates, consider placing him across from you in the circle where he ll get more eye contact. Conversely, you can place kids who dominate conversation next to you Mooblio. All rights reserved. 4

5 SLIME TIME STORY PICTURE Say: During our series Slime Time, we re going to be hearing some stories from the ooeyer and gooeyer side of the Bible. The best part is that we re going to help tell the stories by creating some slime pictures. Directions: Decide ahead of time which groups are going to create which pictures. (If you have more groups than pictures, more than one group can work on the same picture. If you have fewer groups, have each group work on multiple pictures.) The following is the list of pictures to split among your groups: Twin babies Bowl and spoon Bow and arrow Hands Set the slime in the middle of the group on top of a cookie sheet. Tell your group they ll have to work together to mold and form the slime into their designated picture. Encourage your kids to allow everyone in the group to contribute something to the slime picture. While your group is working on their slime picture (or when they are finished), ask them the following questions: Question: Have you ever had something stolen from you? What was it and how did you feel about losing that thing? SMALL GROUP LEADER NOTE: Bring your groups slime picture with you to the large group area. The picture will be used during the telling of the story. If your groups slime picture begins to melt into a blob, help the kids quickly reshape it before they show it during the story. ADDITIONAL TIME ACTIVITY THUMBS UP, THUMBS DOWN If you have additional time before Large Group begins, play Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down. Simply ask the kids in your group to share one good thing that happened this week (thumbs up) and one not-so-good thing (thumbs down). This is a great way for your group to share celebrations and struggles with one another Mooblio. All rights reserved. 5

6 THE BIG BIBLE STORY QUESTIONS Directions: During the Large Group program, kids will be asked to turn briefly to their small group and answer the following questions: For Younger Kids: 1. It was God s plan all along for Jacob to get the birthright and blessing, but do you think what Jacob did to get them was fair? Why or why not? 2. If you were Esau, what would you have done when your brother tricked you? For Older Kids: 1. What do you think this story teaches us about God? 2. If you were Esau, do you think you would have been upset with God s plan? Why or why not? MARSHMALLOW BLASTERS (Application Activity) Say: We all have things happen in our lives that seem to be unfair. A lot of times we just end up getting mad about it, but there s another way we can respond. Today we learned that we can trust God s plan for our lives even when unfair things happen. Right now we re going to talk about different ways we could respond to some unfair situations, but we re going to do something fun to decide who gets to talk. Directions: Each small group will be supplied with a Marshmallow Blaster made out of plastic cup and balloon. (See the Supply List section for directions on how to make the Marshmallow Blaster ) Take the mini marshmallow and place it in the marshmallow blaster. Shoot it at one of the kids in your group. You may want to practice this ahead of time so that you see how it works. The kid who is struck by the marshmallow gets to answer the following question: Question: When is the last time you wanted to yell, That s not fair!? Tell the group what happened and why you thought it was so unfair. After the kid tells about his situation, ask the rest of the group how God might want them to respond in that situation. For example, if a kid tells a story about how they got blamed for something they didn t do, God might want for them to forgive the person who actually did it. When the group is finished discussing that situation, let the kid who shared it use the Marshmallow Blaster to shoot a marshmallow at a different kid in the group. That kid will then get to share a situation from his life. Repeat the process until every kid in your group has had a turn to share. If time remains at the end, ask your group the following questions: Question: What do you think it means that God has a plan for your life? Question: What are some of the wonderful things you think God might have planned for you? PICTURE THIS BIBLE VERSE (Bible Memorization Activity) 2017 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 6

7 Directions: Place the Picture This Bible verse cards in the center of your group. Each card will contain a part of the verse. Have the kids arrange the cards in the correct order. For younger kids who are still learning to read, you may have to assist them with this. Today s Bible verse is: Younger Kids: I know the plans I have for you, announces the Lord. I want you to enjoy success. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIrV) Older Kids: I know the plans/i have for you, announces the Lord. I want you to enjoy success. I do not plan to harm you. I will give you hope for the years to come. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIrV) Tell the kids that they re going to replace each part of the verse with a picture. Begin by reading the words on the first card and asking your group if they can think of a picture that represents those words. Choose one of the kids to flip the card over and draw that picture on the back. Continue this for each of the cards. When finished, once again place all of the cards in order on the floor with the words facing up. Begin by reading the verse together. For younger kids, they can listen to you reading the verse a couple of times before they begin to join in. Choose a kid to flip one of the cards over so that the picture is facing up. Recite the verse again. Continue having kids flip over cards and reciting the verse until all of the words have been replaced with pictures. When your group is able to recite the verse using only the pictures, have them begin removing one card at a time. Each time you remove a card, recite the verse. Continue doing this until all of the cards are removed and the kids can recite the entire verse from memory. Question: Now that you have that verse memorized, can you tell me what it means to you? HANG TEN PRAYERS (Group Prayer Activity) Directions: Begin by teaching the kids in your group how to give the Hang Ten hand sign made popular by the surf culture. Extend your thumb and pinky fingers outward while curling your middle three fingers inward. Turn your hand so that your thumb is pointing toward yourself while your pinky is pointed toward others. Tell your kids they can use this as a reminder to pray not only for themselves, but for others too. Go around the circle having each kid practice the Hang Ten sign. While they re practicing the sign, have them share one prayer request for themselves and one prayer request for someone else. When all of the kids have had a chance to share their requests, open the group in prayer. Allow anyone who would like to pray an opportunity to do so. When it seems like everyone who wants a turn has prayed, close the group in a final prayer. Encourage your kids to remember everyone s prayer request and to be praying for them throughout the week Mooblio. All rights reserved. 7