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

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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 Sharon Carey 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 Caution Leap (Prudent see danger) Proverbs 22:3 BOTTOM LINE If you want to be wise, look before you leap. MEMORY VERSE Choose my teaching instead of silver. Choose knowledge rather than fine gold. Wisdom is worth more than rubies. Nothing you want can compare with her. Proverbs 8:10-11, NIrV LIFE APP Wisdom finding out what you should do and doing it PRELUDE: Setting the tone for the experience For Leaders Only Create the Environment SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interaction Ideas for Early Arrivers Bounce Around STORY: Communicating God s truth in engaging ways Opener Worship Bible Story Prayer Closer WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God Close from Walk This Way* Your Love Never Fails from Movin Me* Brighter from Walk This Way* : Creating a safe place to connect Would You Rather Look Before You Leap Leapfrog Prayer HOME: Prompting action beyond the experience GodTime Parent Cue BASIC TRUTH I need to make the wise choice. PAGE 2

3 PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP HOME BIBLE STORY Caution Leap (Prudent see danger) Proverbs 22:3 BOTTOM LINE If you want to be wise, look before you leap. MEMORY VERSE Choose my teaching instead of silver. Choose knowledge rather than fine gold. Wisdom is worth more than rubies. Nothing you want can compare with her. Proverbs 8:10-11, NIrV LIFE APP Wisdom finding out what you should do and doing it. BASIC TRUTH I need to make the wise choice. GETTING READY SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION (Choose one or both of these activities.) Early Arriver An offering container Bounce Around Bouncy ball Medium-to-large cardboard box or opaque plastic tub Several small towels or pillows Before Small Group starts, place folded up towels and/or pillows on the bottom of the box, leaving several spaces where the bottom of the box can still be seen. : 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. Would You Rather (application activity / review the Bible story) Bibles * 2. Look Before You Leap (application activity) Print the Look Before You Leap Activity Page; 1 for each kid Markers 3. Leapfrog (memory verse activity) No supplies needed Prayer Bibles Paper Pencils 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 3

4 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. Ask God to help the kids remember what they learn today, especially as they continue to grow and gain the ability to think before acting. Pray that your kids would have practical and very real opportunities to practice what they ve learned today. 1. EARLY ARRIVER IDEA WHAT YOU NEED: An offering container Collect kids offerings. Ask questions like: What s the most dangerous thing you ve ever done? How did that work out for you? How COULD it have worked out in a worse way? What s the most dangerous thing you ve ever seen anyone else do? How did that work out for them? 2. BOUNCE AROUND WHAT YOU NEED: Bouncy ball, box or container, towels or pillows Place the box where kids can t see inside of it. Explain that kids will take turns tossing the bouncy ball into the box. If the ball stays in the box, they get to stay in the game. If the ball bounces out, they are out of the game. Play several rounds of this game. Since you couldn t look inside the box, you couldn t tell exactly where you should try to toss the ball to make it stay in. [Transition] Let s go to Large Group, where we ll hear about how it s important to be able to look before you do something. Lead your group to the Large Group area. PAGE 4

5 PRELUDE 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. WOULD YOU RATHER (application activity / review the Bible story) WHAT YOU NEED: Bibles Ask kids to look up Proverbs 22:3 in their Bibles. Read the verse together and review what was discussed in Large Group. Tell kids you are going to continue the Would You Rather discussion from Large Group Read the following scenarios one-by-one. Talk through the consequences of both sides of each scenario. Then ask kids which they would rather do which decision is the wise choice? Scenarios: You re riding in the car to your aunt s house, which is just two streets over. Would you rather put on your seatbelt or not? The doorbell rings while your mom is in the shower. Would you rather answer it or not? Your baby sister is taking FOREVER to crawl up the stairs, but you are supposed to wait for her. Would you rather wait or pick her up and carry her? The new guy at school invites you over to his house. Everybody thinks he s really cool, but he makes a lot of bad decisions. Would you rather go to his house or tell your mom it s not a good idea? Your little brother says he s going to jump out of the swing while it s going really high. Would you rather tell him not to or just wait and see what happens? You just learned how to dive off the side of the pool. All of your friends are diving off the high dive. Would you rather dive off the high dive too or wait until you have more practice? 5-6 Challenge: Ask kids to come up with some scenarios of their own and/or tell stories about times when they ve been in situations like the ones above. It s not always easy to think through the consequences of your actions before you make choices, especially when others are doing things that might be dangerous but potentially fun. But it s important to do so, because you could get hurt if you don t. Give me an example of a time recently when you looked before you leapt. How did that turn out? (Pause for responses.) [Bottom Line] If you want to be wise, look before you leap. PAGE 5

6 PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME * 2. LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP (application activity) WHAT YOU NEED: Look Before You Leap Activity Pages, markers Give each kid an Activity Page. Explain that this is a picture of them looking before they leap. Ask kids to draw pictures at the bottom of the cliff of something that could potentially be dangerous where they would need to look before they leap. Encourage them to share their pictures with the group. Take this paper home with you as a reminder that it s important to see danger before you just jump into something. [Make It Personal] (Tell the kids a story about how you looked before you leaped or didn t look before you leaped when you were about their age. How did it turn out?) [Bottom Line] If you want to be wise, look before you leap. 3. LEAPFROG (memory verse activity) WHAT YOU NEED: No supplies needed Tell kids to play leapfrog, with the person leaping saying a word of the verse as he leaps over each kid. If a kid can t remember a word, the kid he s leaping over can help him. God s teaching and the knowledge we get from it can help us look before we leap. As today s Bible story told us, Wise people see danger and go to a safe place. But childish people keep going and suffer for it. (Proverbs 22:3, NIrV) Let s be people who see danger and make wise choices. [Bottom Line] If you want to be wise, look before you leap. If you lead mostly older kids, consider asking these discussion questions: Is there a difference between doing something dangerous and doing something that s not good for you? Explain. Who are the people in your life that can help you look before you leap? Why have you chosen to listen to the people you listen to? What might stop you from asking any of those people for help? Has there ever been a time when you had already made up your mind to do something (either good or bad) before you heard someone s advice? Did you hear their advice and then choose to act differently? What would it take for YOU to be a person that could help someone else look before they leap? Who in your life might need you to be that person? PAGE 6

7 PRELUDE STORY WORSHIP HOME PRAY AND DISMISS WHAT YOU NEED: Bibles, paper, pencils Tell kids to look up Proverbs 22:3. Instruct them to use the ideas in the verse to write a prayer asking God to help them be wise. God, help us to see danger and make wise choices. We want to stay safe and honor You with the choices we make. In Jesus name, amen. [Bottom Line] If you want to be wise, look before you leap. This week, keep an eye out for danger and stay safe. I ll see you next week! Give each child a GodTime card. Pass out Parent Cue cards as adults arrive to pick up. PAGE 7