Kindergarten-2nd. May 7-8, BRAVE Journey: Bravery. Ephesians 6;10-18; Psalm 56:3. God makes us brave.

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1 Kindergarten-2nd May 7-8, 2016 BRAVE Journey: Bravery Ephesians 6;10-18; Psalm 56:3 God makes us brave. Connect Time (15 minutes): Five minutes after the service begins, split kids into groups and begin their activity. Large Group (30 minutes): Begin 20 minutes after the service starts. Model what it looks like to be engaged in large group. During this final week of the BRAVE Journey, baptisms will take place in the main service. If you have a chance to talk to kids about it, tell them why they might see some adults walking around in wet clothes when they leave today. Ask kids if they know what baptism means and why baptism is brave. Small Group (15 minutes): Keep kids in small groups until parents arrive. If you all have extra time at the end, you can review the video and songs together. We re talking about God s armor. Encourage kids to share what they learned about God s armor today and how it will help them be brave. This week, we re doing a quick review of the brave men and women we ve been hearing about during the BRAVE Journey. Then we re making it personal by putting on God s armor so that we can be brave!

2 GOAL: Connect Time is all about engaging kids in an activity that allows them to connect with each other right away while simultaneously piquing their curiosity for Large Group and preparing their minds for what they re going to hear. FOLLOW THE LEADER RELAY RACE Divide kids into small groups. Each small group will be a team. A leader will stand at one end of the room, while the teams line up at the other end of the room. The first kid from each team must reach the leader by following specific instructions, then get back to his/her team. After that, it s the next kid s turn to get to the leader and back. The leader will give instructions at the beginning. Then, at random intervals during the relay, the leader yells FREEZE! The kids have to freeze where they are until the leader gives a new command. Give the first command and let the first kid from each team start moving. Here are examples of commands to give the kids. (Make sure to say, Freeze periodically.) o Hop o Act like you re walking on a balance beam o Skip o Act like you re driving a car o Crawl o Act like you re walking on hot lava o Hop on one foot o Walk backwards o Act like you re walking past a pile of sleeping lions o Crab walk (on hands and feet with back towards the floor). o Pretend to swim Make sure to include commands, like those above, where kids have to act and pretend to do something dangerous. TALK ABOUT IT If you had to do some of those pretend things in real life, would you have to be brave to try them? How? What s one of the bravest things you ve ever done? Before you go to Large Group, you can ask kids how their week went. You can also remind kids of the expectations for Large Group behavior: (1) be kind, (2) listen when somebody speaks, and (3) follow the leader s instructions.

3 Goal: Kids will (1) recognize the various pieces of God s armor as outlined in Ephesians 6:10-18, and (2) understand that God gives us armor of God to make us brave. Why? The most important thing for kids to take away today is that God makes us brave. Tip: The Armor of God can be a tough concept; remind kids that just like a soldier wears armor to battle, we need to wear armor to be brave. We may not be able to see it physically, but it s there! You can also open the Bible and read Ephesians 6:10-18 to help. REVIEW THE STORY (Show the image of each person when asking about him/her.) 1. How was Joshua brave? (He obeyed God and led the Israelites across the river.) 2. How was Deborah brave? (She helped lead the Israelites into battle.) 3. How was Elijah brave? (He obeyed God even though he went through hard things.) 4. How was Esther brave? (She talked to the king and saved her people from death.) 5. How was Daniel brave? (He put God first and obeyed him.) 6. How were these people brave? (They trusted God and obeyed him.) 7. What armor does God give us to make us brave? Belt of truth Breastplate/body armor of righteousness Shoes of peace Shield of faith Helmet of salvation Sword of the spirit MAKE IT PERSONAL Set out markers and give each kid an armor page: o Each has a : Belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the spirit As kids decorate the armor, intentionally discuss the following: o What does each piece of armor mean? o How can this armor help you be brave this week? Some examples of bravery to help kids get started: o Telling someone about Jesus, trying something new that you ve wanted to do for a long time, talk to a new friend, pray, etc. (Continue on the following page)

4 2 Let kids cut out their armor with scissors if they want. Extra Time? Give kids a coloring page. After that, play the Follow the Leader Relay from Connect Time again, and come up with more silly commands for kids to do.

5 1 There are two main parts of today s lesson: (1) review the brave men and women of the Bible that we ve been learning about the past several weeks, and (2) understand how God makes us brave by giving us spiritual armor! Not sure you remember all God s armor? Watch God s Story: Armor of God ahead of time for a refresher. You can find it at vimeo.com/ *Click to play intro music WELCOME AND INTRO Hi everybody! I m so glad to see you here today, and welcome to Kids Club! We ve been talking all about bravery for the past few weeks. Let s all make our best BRAVE pose right now! Stand up, and do something that shows how strong and brave God makes us. Ready? One, two three! (Do a fun brave pose along with kids.) Good job everybody! You can sit down. We just played a pretty silly version of Follow the Leader. Some of the things you had to do were just plain silly! But some of the things you had to do involved a little acting! Who remembers some of the things you had to pretend to do? (Let a few kids respond.) Yep, you balanced on a balance beam, you walked across lava, you crept past some sleeping lions, and even drove a car! How about some everyday things like.sticking up for a friend that s getting made fun of? Could you do that? (Let kids respond.) Or maybe acting in a play at school, even though you re afraid? Could you try that? (Let kids respond.) Do you think you would have to be brave to do them, too? (Let kids respond.) Definitely! Today we re going to talk about being brave all the time. The good news is, we re not alone when we need to be brave. Who gives us bravery? (Let kids respond.) That s right, God! He gives us everything we need to be brave. Before we talk more about that, we re going review the brave men and women from the Bible that we ve been learning about! BRAVE REVIEW (Click to show image of Joshua) The first brave person we talked about was Joshua. God chose Joshua to lead his people into their special new home. But there was a huge, rushing river in their way, with no way to get around it! Getting in the river was really dangerous. The thing is, God wanted Joshua to trust him no matter what. So he told Joshua to step into the river, even though it might have been scary. And guess what happened? God divided the

6 water, and made a dry path for the Israelites to walk across! Let s do a special motion to remember Joshua s bravery. Everybody stand up and walk in place. (Let kids respond.) This can help us remember that Joshua walked across dry land, because he obeyed God and was brave. Okay, go ahead and sit down! (Click to show image of Deborah) Next, we heard about Deborah. She was a woman who helped lead God s people into battle. God s family was about to fight a really big, really mean army. Can you show me your meanest, grouchiest face? (Let kids respond.) Good job. The man who lead God s army, Barak, was afraid of this mean enemy. But God made Deborah brave, and told her to tell Barak that he didn t need to be scared! Who do you think won the fight after that, God s army, or the enemy? (Let kids respond.) Yep, God won the fight! Let s do a motion to show Deborah s bravery. Let s all pretend to pull out a sword, something that the Israelites had to use in battle! (Let kids respond.) Good job everyone. (Click to show the image of Elijah) Next, we learned about Elijah. He was a prophet, which means that he heard from God, and then told others about it. Unfortunately, there was a king and queen who did not love God. They were named King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Elijah spent years trying to show them that God was the one true God...and they never, ever believed him, even when God did incredibly powerful things. Elijah kept believing in God though, and he never gave up, because God made him brave and helped him get through hard things. Let s do a motion to show how brave Elijah was. Everyone, let s do a strong pose, because Elijah had to be pretty strong to make it through all the hard times. (Let kids respond.) (Click to show an image of Esther) Esther was a woman in God s family who became queen of a place called Persia. While she was queen, something really scary happened. A guy named Haman convinced the king to pass a law that said that God s whole family had to die. Esther could have been killed for talking to the king about his laws, but she did it anyway. God saved his whole family through Esther. Let s do a motion to show how Esther was brave. Let s pretend to put a crown on our head, to show how Esther was queen, and she saved her people. (Let kids respond.) (Click to show an image of Daniel) And finally, last week, we heard about Daniel. He was a Jew who was taken from his home to serve another king. The king wanted Daniel to do things that did not honor God, but Daniel chose to put God first instead, and obey him. One time, when Daniel chose to obey God instead of the king, the king put Daniel in a pit with real lions! But you know what happened? God kept Daniel safe, because Daniel prayed, and chose to obey God no matter what. God made Daniel brave, and helped keep him safe. To show Daniel s bravery, let s all pretend like we re sleeping in a pit of lions, just like Daniel did. (Let kids respond.) Good job guys. Let s try and do all the motions we ve learned! I wonder how many you can remember. Joshua (Walk in place.) Deborah (Pull out your sword.) Elijah (Strong pose.) Esther (Put on a crown.) Daniel (Pretend to sleep next to lions.) Good job everyone.

7 HOW GOD MAKES US BRAVE We ve been learning about these brave men and women because they can teach us about how WE can be brave too. We may not be going into battles, or leading a kingdom, but we all face hard things. Joshua, Deborah, Elijah, Esther and Daniel showed us that we can obey God and follow him. We can listen to him, and trust what he tells us. We aren t alone! He s with us every step of the way, and he s even given us something help us be brave. It s called the Armor of God. Does anybody know what armor is? (Let kids respond.) Armor is something you wear to protect yourself when you go into battle. God s armor is a little different though, so we re going to watch a video to help us understand it. As you watch, imagine that you re putting each piece of armor on your own body, to help you be brave. Video: God s Story / Armor of God Whoa! How amazing is that? God gives us special armor to help us be brave. Let s look at what those special pieces of armor are (Have kids act like their putting on each piece of armor as you describe it.) Belt of truth. (This helps us know what is right and wrong.) Breastplate of righteousness. (This helps us obey what God says.) Shoes of the peace of Jesus rescue (These help us remember that Jesus has rescued us and given us peace.) Shield of faith (This helps us believe in God, and trust in him.) Helmet of salvation (This helps us believe that we ve been rescued.) Sword of the spirit (This means his word, the Bible! It helps us brave and know what to do when we re afraid.) Can we see this armor on our bodies? (Let kids respond.) Nope, it doesn t look like regular armor. It s something we can t see. Instead, it s something that we believe in, and always have with us no matter what. It s on the inside! We can trust and follow God, and he will always be with us, helping us live a brave life. Let s look at our verse that we ve been learning every week. Slide: Psalm 56:3 But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. RESPOND Let s all close our eyes right now. I want you to imagine that you putting on those pieces of armor. Now ask God, in your head, to help you be brave this week using the special armor he s given you. (Give kids a seconds of silence.) PRAY God, we love you. No matter what comes our way, you make us brave. Help us to put on the Armor of God, and follow you no matter what. WORSHIP Okay, now it s time to celebrate! God has prepared us to do brave things, and that s a reason to

8 be excited! Music Video: More Like You Are Music Video: All Our Hope *Dismiss kids to small groups

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10 Follow the Leader Relay no supplies needed Per kid: coloring page, Armor Page Per group: Bible, 1 set of 5 people images, reused (8.5x11, color cardstock): Joshua, Deborah, Elijah, Esther, Daniel; markers, scissors No supplies needed 1. Song slide: for when kids enter the room (All that You Need instrumental; mp3 only; can be downloaded on website) 2. The following images, each on its own slide: a. Joshua b. Deborah c. Elijah d. Esther e. Daniel 3. Video: God s Story: Armor of God 4. Slide: Psalm 56:3 But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. 5. Music Video: More Like You Are ( 6. Music Video: All Our Hope ( Tell me about God s armor. How does God help us be brave?