ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES God reveals Himself to us through the Bible, and it is 100% accurate, reliable, and authoritative.

Transcription

1 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME Chief Executive Officer Reggie Joiner Creative Team Kristen Ivy Mike Clear Molly Boylan Elloa Davis Elizabeth Hansen Jessica McKee Brandon O Dell Greg Payne Phil Pierce Dan Scott Jon Williams Contributing Writers Emily Meredith Julie Tiemann Mike Tiemann John Tillman Dana Wilkerson Editors Molly Boylan Elloa Davis Dana Wilkerson Illustrations & Graphic Design Brian Bascle Mike Davis Joe Goode Technical & Web Support Hadley Brandt Orange Specialists Amy Grisham Joy Bowen Abbey Carr Amy Fenton Leslie Galema Misty Phillips Stephanie Porter Courtney Templeton Statement of Faith ABOUT GOD God is the one and only true God, yet He exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is the Creator, so everything belongs to Him and is under His control. God is holy, so He is righteous, majestic, and loving. God is all knowing and purposeful, so He s at work to bring about His will. No person, thing, or idea compares to God. ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES God reveals Himself to us through the Bible, and it is 100% accurate, reliable, and authoritative. ABOUT PEOPLE People are made in God s image and for His pleasure. But everybody falls short of God s intention, or ideal, for people. In other words, everyone has sinned. As a result, we are all separated from Him, even though He wants an intimate relationship with each of us. ABOUT SALVATION That s why Jesus God s Son came and lived on this earth, died, and rose again. God offers His free gift of salvation to all who believe in Jesus and accept Him as Savior the only way to be forgiven and reconciled to God. Anyone who accepts this gift is adopted as a son or daughter into God s family and will live with Him forever in heaven. User Agreement Orange gladly grants permission to churches, schools, and other licensees to tailor 252 Basics materials to fit their unique leadership requirements, locale and format preferences, and physical environment needs. However, if you wish to edit the content substantively, including Bible stories, learning activities, scripts, and any other content in which biblical principles and concepts are presented, you are obligated to do so within the doctrinal guidelines we ve expressed in our Statement of Faith. These resources are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by the subscribing entity only and may not be electronically transferred to or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work is a direct violation of US copyright laws The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 252 Basics and the 252 Basics logo are trademarks of Orange and the rethink Group. Scripture marked NIrV is taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL READER S VERSION. Copyright 1996, 1998, 2014 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica. Scripture marked NIV is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

2 SOCIAL PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME BIBLE STORY Return of The Dead Guy (Lazarus Raised to Life) John 11:1-45 BOTTOM LINE Whatever happens, remember how powerful God is. MEMORY VERSE In this world you will have trouble. But be encouraged! I have won the battle over the world. John 16:33b, NIrV LIFE APP 15 MINUTES 25 MINUTES 10 MINUTES 25 MINUTES PRELUDE: Setting the tone for the experience For Leaders Only Create the Environment SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interaction Ideas for Early Arrivers Feats of Strength STORY: Communicating God s truth in engaging ways Opener Worship Bible Story Prayer Closer WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God Let It Be Known from Movin Me Sing and Shout from Walk This Way : Creating a safe place to connect Lazarus, Come Out! Paper Lanterns Verse Ball Prayer HOME: Prompting action beyond the experience GodTime Parent Cue Hope believing that something good can come out of something bad. BASIC TRUTH I can trust God no matter what. PAGE 2

3 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME BIBLE STORY Return of The Dead Guy (Lazarus Raised to Life) John 11:1-45 BOTTOM LINE GETTING READY SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION (Choose one or both of these activities.) Early Arriver An offering container Feats of Strength No supplies needed Whatever happens, remember how powerful God is. MEMORY VERSE In this world you will have trouble. But be encouraged! I have won the battle over the world. John 16:33b, NIrV LIFE APP Hope believing that something good can come out of something bad. BASIC TRUTH I can trust God no matter what. : CREATING A SAFE PLACE TO CONNECT (Choose as many of these activities as you like.) * If you don t have time to do all these activities, be sure to do activity #2. 1. Lazarus, Come Out! (application activity / review the Bible story) Clay or Play-Doh ; 1 lump for each kid Bible Paper; 1 piece for each Small Group Pencil or pen * 2. Paper Lanterns (application activity) Print the Paper Lantern Template Activity Page on white or other lightcolored paper; 1 for each kid Scissors Clear tape One-hole punches; 2-3 for each Small Group Markers LED tealight candles; 1 for each Small Group OR 1 for each kid (you can find them in bulk online from Amazon.com or discount stores, such as: 3. Verse Ball (memory verse activity) Bibles Beach ball (one with light colors will work best) (Note: You will be using this ball all month long so be sure not to give it away or throw it away!) Permanent marker PAGE 3

4 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME Prayer Beach ball (from Verse Ball activity) Additional Resources: Make copies on cardstock of this week s GodTime and Parent Cue cards. Tell parents about our additional family resources: Studio252.tv, CUE Box, and the Parent Cue app. To find out more about these great resources, go to PAGE 4

5 PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME SOCIAL SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today s story. Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group for the first time. Pray for those in particular who might be dealing with situations they feel like are hopeless. Pray that hearing today s story will give kids encouragement that we serve a powerful God who gives us hope for tomorrow. 1. EARLY ARRIVER IDEA WHAT YOU NEED: An offering container Collect kids offerings as they arrive. Ask kids about the most powerful person they know. What makes that person powerful? Are there people who are powerful in ways other than being physically powerful? 2. FEATS OF STRENGTH WHAT YOU NEED: No supplies needed Guide kids to do different strength exercises, such as: o Push-ups o Sit-ups o Lunges o Squats Find ways to make it fun without being overly individually competitive. See how many of each exercise all kids combined can do in 30 seconds. Divide them into two or three teams to compete as groups. You all sure showed some power today! Lots of times when we think of the word power we think of physical power like we just showed. But that s not the only kind of power. [Transition] Let s go to Large Group to see what I m talking about. Lead your group to the Large Group area. PAGE 5

6 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME : CREATING A SAFE PLACE TO CONNECT Create a safe place to connect and learn how the Bible story applies to real life experiences, through interactive activities and discussion questions. 1. LAZARUS, COME OUT! (application activity / review the Bible story) WHAT YOU NEED: Clay or Play-Doh ; 1 clump for each kid, Bible, paper, pencil or pen Ask kids to work together to write down all of the characters in today s Bible story. Make sure they include: Jesus, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, messenger, disciples, and friends. Then ask them to add the words tomb and cloths to the list. Assign one person or item from the list to each kid. More than one kid can be assigned a disciple or friend. Tell kids to make their person or item with clay or Play-Doh. Read the Bible story aloud from the Bible. As you do, kids will use their figures or items to act it out. If you ve heard this story a lot, you can forget how CRAZY it is that Jesus actually brought a man back from the dead. But it s not just crazy; it s POWERFUL! If He can raise people from the dead, He can do anything, right? Now, that doesn t mean He always will. Bad things will still happen as long as we re on earth, but God has made a way for us to spend all of eternity with Him in heaven when we believe in Jesus as our Savior. Now that s what I call powerful! [Bottom Line] Whatever happens, remember how powerful God is. * 2. PAPER LANTERNS (application activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Paper Lanterns Template Activity Pages; 1 for each kid, scissors, one-hole punches, clear tape, markers, LED tea light candle(s); 1 for each kid Give each kid a Paper Lanterns Template and tell them to cut on the solid lines and then fold on the dotted lines, forming a pyramid with the triangle in the middle acting as the bottom. Tell kids to think of three words that remind them of God s power. They should write one word on each side of the pyramid, so that when the pyramid is formed, the words can be read right side up. Let kids use the hole punches to punch 7-10 holes in each side of the pyramid (not the bottom). Instruct them to help each other tape the sides of their pyramids on the INSIDE. They should be sealed tightly so that light will not come through the edges. If you have a tea light for each kid, hand them out now and show them how to insert the lights through the slit in the side. If you only have one tea light, show kids how it works. Make sure you stress that they should ONLY use LED tea lights in their lanterns not real candles! You have just created your very own night light to help you see through the dark. When things are dark in our lives, and things aren t going well, we often tend to think the worst. But even in those times, God is there with us. His light can shine even in the darkest night. [Make It Personal] (Tell kids about a hard time in your life when you needed to remember PAGE 6

7 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME how powerful God is. Or maybe there was a difficult time when remembering how powerful God is encouraged you to keep going and keep believing.) So, [Bottom Line] whatever happens, remember how powerful God is. 3. VERSE BALL (memory verse activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Bibles, beach ball, permanent marker Help kids look up John 16:33b in their Bibles. Finding verses with 2nd and 3rd graders: Guide them to open their Bibles to the front and find the table of contents. (Hold up a Bible opened to the table of contents to show the kids what the page looks like.) When the kids find the table of contents, lead them to find John in the list under New Testament. When the kids find John, lead them to look at the page number beside the word. Explain that the number tells them on what page they can find John. Help the kids find the page. When they find John, explain that the big numbers on the page are the chapter numbers. Help them find chapter 16. Explain that the small numbers are verse numbers. Help them find verse 33 in chapter 16. Explain that the b means they will only use the second part of the verse, starting with In this world. Read the verse together a few times. Then use the permanent marker to write the first word of the verse on the ball. Hand the ball to a kid and tell her to write the next word after it. This should continue until all words have been written. The verse will need to be written in a spiral or otherwise winding manner in order for it to all fit on the ball. Explain that you will be using the ball all month. (So make sure to keep it!) This month we re learning all about hope believing that something good can come out of something bad. Our verse tells us why we can have hope because God has won the battle over the world! Yes, there will be sadness and pain on earth, but God is more powerful than those things. He is more powerful than any evil, and we saw in today s Bible story that He even has power over death! [Bottom Line] Whatever happens, remember how powerful God is. PRAY AND DISMISS WHAT YOU NEED: Beach ball (from Verse Ball activity) Gather kids into a circle with you. Hold the ball and tell kids you will toss the ball to one of them. When they catch it, they should thank God for His power. Encourage them to say something more than just, Thank You for Your power, such as, Thank You for showing us Your power through the story of Lazarus, or Thank You for Your power that gives us hope in dark times. When each kid finishes, he should toss the ball to someone who hasn t prayed yet. Close with a final prayer. PAGE 7

8 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME Dear God, thank You so much for Your power and for using it to show us Your love for us. We know You can do anything, and we praise You for it! In Jesus name, amen. Okay, let s go out this week and have hope in God s power. [Bottom Line] Whatever happens, remember how powerful God is. Give each child a GodTime card. Pass out Parent Cue cards as adults arrive to pick up. Show them the paper lanterns and how they work. Ask kids to explain the words they wrote on their lanterns. PAGE 8