3PK. April 16-17, BRAVE Journey / Elijah. 1 Kings 17-2 Kings 2; Psalm 56:3. We all need to be brave.

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1 3PK April 16-17, 2016 BRAVE Journey / Elijah 1 Kings 17-2 Kings 2; Psalm 56:3 We all need to be brave. First 10 minutes of the service hour: Engage kids in cooperative play activities to help them connect to other kids Next 5 minutes: Connect Time Next 25 minutes: Large Group Last 25 minutes: Snack and Small Group As kids leave, ask them about how they pretended to be brave today! Sometimes kids may seem disruptive or disengaged, but they might just need a positive word of encouragement from you! Try to find one thing they LOVE to do (even if it has nothing to do with the lesson), and say something positive about it! For example, a kid might love to throw balls in the basketball hoop, and it would make his/her day to hear you say how great they are at it! Today we re digging into the life of Elijah! He s an amazing example of someone who followed and obeyed God, even when it was hard.

2 GOAL: Connect time is all about engaging kids in a short, interactive game to prepare them for Large Group. Clean up! (10 minutes after the service start time, when you get the 5-minute warning from the presenter) Line up. Tell kids that it s time to work really hard! We re going to pretend to do some things that take a lot of work and energy. Lead kids in pretending to do the following actions: o Climbing up a mountain o Swimming across the ocean o Flying a plane o Driving a race car o Balancing on a balance beam with our hands held out o Stepping on something really hot o Running in place really fast Once you get through those actions, start repeating them! But this time, do them fast and faster, and go back and forth between actions (For instance, Climb a mountain, then run really fast, then swim, then run really fast, then drive a car, then swim again, etc.) As you walk into Large Group, encourage kids to put on their listening ears! Remind them that HOPS will be showing us how we should act in Large Group, so we have to listen!

3 Goal: Kids will (1) understand how Elijah was brave, even when it was hard, and (2) identify how God can help us be brave even when it s hard. Why? Kids deal with struggles just like grown ups, and it s important to identify what those struggles are, and how we can rely on God to help us overcome them. Tip: Think of a hard time you recently went through, and how you had to be brave and rely on God. Share it in a kid-friendly way to better help kids grasp what bravery can mean. REVIEW THE STORY 1. What special job did Elijah have? (He was a prophet; he heard from God and told others about it.) 2. Did King Ahab love God? (No; he worshipped a false God called Baal.) 3. Why did God tell Elijah to run away to the wilderness? (Ahab was angry at Elijah.) 4. What happened to King Ahab s alter? (Nothing! It didn t burn at all.) 5. What happened when Elijah built an altar to God? (God burned up the whole thing!) 6. Did King Ahab and Jezebel believe in God after that? (No.) 7. Why did Elijah want to run away? (Ahab and Jezebel were chasing him; he was probably scared.) 8. What did God do when Elijah ran away? (God sent an angel to make him food and spoke to him in a gentle whisper.) MAKE IT PERSONAL Lay out a large sheet of tear-off paper on the floor, big enough for all kids to sit on it (If you have a lot of kids, you may want to lay down two pieces of paper to fit everyone comfortably.) Tell kids that we re going to pretend to do some things that require us to be really brave! (These first examples will be very imaginative brave scenarios.) o While on the large piece of paper, lead the kids in pretending that you re all on a boat, in the middle of the ocean! There are big waves and the boat is rocking back and forth. (Say things like: Everybody lean THIS way, now everybody lean THAT way! or Look, there s a sea monster, we have to row our boat away as fast as we can! ) Continue to lead kids in rowing your boat to safety on land. (Continue on the following page)

4 2 o Next, pretend you re in a rocket ship and blasting off into space! Have kids pretend to put their helmets on, and press buttons on the floor. Act like you re passing planets, and going really fast! Now lead kids in pretending to do some more realistic brave scenarios. Remind them that we can be brave every single day! o Say:! Pretend like it s the middle of the night, and we ve woken up in the dark! Let s all tip toe around the room and be as quiet as we can. (Let kids respond.) Say, We can be brave!! Now let s pretend we re on the playground, but we fall and get hurt. (Let kids respond.) Now let s be brave, and get up to put a band aid on our boo-boo! Say, We can be brave!! Let s pretend like we see a friend who is sad, and they need a hug! (Let kids respond.) Say, We can be brave!! Pretend we re really hungry and we have a snack in our bag but then we see a friend who s hungry too. So we decide to share! (Let kids respond.) Say, We can be brave!! Pretend we have to go to a new place and we don t know anybody. We can pray and ask Jesus for help! (Let kids respond.) Say, We can be brave!! Ask kids to tell you times they ve been brave and act them out! Extra time? Let kids do a coloring page. After that, play some more Brave follow the leader! Have kids follow you around the room while listening to music and following you as you do brave things like jumping high, skipping, hopping on one leg, walking backwards, etc.

5 1 There s a lot of events in the story of Elijah, but don t worry about covering all the details. Today we want kids to walk away remembering this: Elijah had to be brave, even during hard times, but God helped him! You can find today s video on crossroadskidsclub.net/weekend. It s called God s Story / Elijah. *Click to play intro music. Hi Friends! Welcome to Kids Club. I'm and I'm really glad you're here today. Before we get started, I want you to meet my friend HOPS. Video: HOPS Have fun! (Holding up the Bible for kids to see) This is God s story. Out of all the stories in the world, this story is the most important. Do you know what it s called? (Let kids respond, the Bible. ) That s right, the Bible! It s God s Rescue plan. This book shows us how he rescued us from all the wrong things in the world. In the beginning, God made the whole world and everything in it. He created the sun and the moon, the water and the land, the plants and the animals, and people like you and me! Everything was good. Give me a big thumbs up! (Let kids respond. Then change your tone.) But THEN, something bad happened. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and all the wrong things came into the world. Things like sadness and death. Show me your sad face. (Let kids respond.) Even though Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God loved them anyway! He planned a great rescue so that Adam and Eve and you and me could be close to God again! Do you know who the Rescuer is? (Let kids say: Jesus! ) That s right! Jesus! INTRO: ELIJAH Today we re going to talk about a man named Elijah. (Click to show image of Elijah.) Can you say, Elijah? (Let kids respond.) Elijah was part of God s special family. He loved following God so much that he wanted everyone else to follow God too! Elijah also had a very special job. He

6 was a prophet. Can you say, prophet? (Let kids respond.) That means he heard special things from God, and then told people about it! Let s all pretend to tell our friends something right now, and whisper in someone s ear. (Let kids respond.) Elijah was so excited to tell people about God but there was one problem. Not everyone loved God! Can you show me a sad face? (Let kids respond.) It was really sad. There was a guy named King Ahab, and he was king over all of God s family. But he didn t love God at all. Even though Ahab didn t follow God, Elijah still told him how powerful God was. Ahab didn t like that at all! Can you show me a mad face? (Let kids respond.) Even though Elijah was probably scared, he was brave and obeyed God. And God took care of Elijah Let s watch a video to see what happened. As you watch, try to figure out why Elijah had to be brave. Video: God s Story / Elijah What an amazing story! Did Elijah have to be brave? (Let kids respond.) Yes, he did! When King Ahab wanted to hurt him, he had to be brave and obey what God said. And because he did that, God kept him safe. GOD HELPS US BE BRAVE TOO Elijah did a lot of brave things, and God helped him through all of it! Do you think God wants us to do brave things too? (Let kids respond.) Yes he does! And he wants to help us be brave, just like he helped Elijah. Could we be brave by.helping someone who s hurt? (Let kids respond.) Yes! Could we be brave by.praying to Jesus when we re scared? (Let kids respond.) Yes! Could we be brave by sticking up for someone who gets made fun of? (Let kids respond.) yes! Remember when Elijah had to be brave when he went to the mountain? At first, there was a big wind! Let s all pretend to make a huge wind. (Wave your hands back and forth and say, Woosh! ) Then, there was a big, giant earthquake. Let s all pretend like the ground is shaking! Next, there was a hot fire. Let s cough and pretend to get rid of smoke. (Cough together.) But the most important thing that happened was this: (Speak in a whisper): God spoke to Elijah in a soft, gentle whisper. He wanted to tell Elijah that he loved him, and he would take care of him no matter what. God helped Elijah be brave. He showed Elijah that he loves him, and would always be with him. Do you think God will always be with us too? (Let kids respond.) Yes! He will be with us when things are easy, or when things are hard. No matter what, he ll help us be brave. PRAY (Pray, breaking it into small, repeatable phrases.) Dear God. We love you so much. You re always with us. Please help us be brave. Aaaa-men! WORSHIP I m so glad that we can trust God, even when hard things happen. Let s show him how glad we

7 are by singing and dancing! Music Video: Bravery Song: Deep and Wide Song: King of the Jungle Dismiss kids to small groups. (Be creative as you dismiss them. Ask them to come give you a high five first, or maybe tiptoe or hop--like Hops--to their groups.)

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10 Per room: Bible, markers, large sheet of tear off paper Per kid: Coloring page Per Group: Bible 1. Song slide: for when kids enter the room (All that You Need instrumental; mp3 only; can be downloaded on website) 2. Video: HOPS Have fun! ( 3. Slide: Elijah 4. Video: God s Story / Elijah (Link not yet available.) 5. Music Video: Bravery 6. Song: Deep and Wide (KC/SM media videos songs>songs>songs with slides) 7. Song: King of the Jungle (KC/SM media videos songs>songs>songs with slides) Tell me about Elijah. How did God take care of Elijah?