252 Groups May 2017, Week 1 Saturday and Sunday Large Group: 30 minutes in length

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2 252 Groups May 2017, Week 1 Bible Story: Naaman and Elisha s Servant, Gehazi 2 Kings 5 Bottom Line: When you re not truthful, you lose trust. Memory Verse: Anyone who lives without blame walks safely. But anyone who takes a crooked path will get caught. Proverbs 10:9, NIrV Life App: Honesty Choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do Game Props: Qwerty Keyboard Game Keys o Download the Qwerty Keyboard Game Keys and print them on cardstock. For the space bar, tape several sheets of cardstock together lengthwise. Sort the keys in order of the keyboard. Cue Cards o Create cue cards for the STORYTELLER (on index cards) with the words for the game: fib, lie, honest, truthful, trust, true, honesty, false, sneaky, pants on fire. [add more if desired] CG 30 second timer Story Props: CG - Scrolling GIF of Binary Code Keys from the keyboard in the Game Cue cards o Create cue cards for the Storyteller (on index cards). Write out the three options for each question. INTRO AND WELCOME Intro Slide w/ Music [Walk around and welcome the kids as the join 252. Ask a few questions to get to know them as the other classes join. When everyone has arrived then begin the game.] GAMETIME (8 MINUTES) CG: Gametime slide w/ auto transition CG: Giant Qwerty Keyboard Smackdown [keep music low volume as the rules are explained.] STORYTELLER: WELCOME ALL! We are going to start the day with a classic game called, Frozen Mascot. In this game I need one volunteer to come to the stage. [PREP and RULES: Either play this game with small group leaders or the 3 rd graders since it involves spelling. In this game you will have a giant keyboard attached to the wall. You are going to read out certain words and the contestant will type it by touching the letters on the keyboard. The

3 252 Groups May 2017, Week 1 goal of the game is to have typed the most words in comparison to their opponents. Have 2-3 contestants play and get the audience involved by cheering them on.] STORYTELLER: I will need 2[or 3] contestants for this game as we are going to play Giant Qwerty Keyboard Smackdown! In this game you are going to spell as many words as possible within 30 seconds. The person who spells the most words wins. Are you ready? CG: Game Music/timer [Repeat timer as needed] [PLAY THE GAME] THEME OF THE MONTH STORYTELLER: Hello, friends! It s great to see you. I ve got a question for you. Have any of you done any coding? Have you ever seen a row of computer code like this? CG: Scrolling GIF of Binary Code Sure, when you first look at it, it seems like just a bunch of numbers. But those numbers have to be the RIGHT numbers in just the right place, or whatever you re trying to code won t code. Your source code has to be 100 percent true. The same thing is true about your life. It has to be 100 percent true. That s why we re talking about honesty this month. CG: Honesty Slide Honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. It isn t just about the words you say, but also about the way you live. If you aren t honest, you can really hurt your friendships with other people. But if you choose to be truthful, you show others they can trust you. Well before anything else let s get up on our feet and worship God! CG: Blank Slide WORSHIP (7 MINUTES) [Teach the song if it s the first week of the month. Afterwards jump into the worship song.] CG: Worship: Don t Ever Stop Chris Tomlin STORY (15 MINUTES) STORYTELLER: Wow, that keyboard game sure seemed like a lot of fun! We ll use those keys for today s story too. Our story comes from the book of 2 Kings (hold up Bible), during the time of Elisha the prophet, when the nations of Israel and Aram were at war. Soldiers from Aram even captured Israelites and took them

4 252 Groups May 2017, Week 1 back to Aram to work for them. One of these Israelites was a young girl. She went to work for the wife of a man named Naaman, who was the leader of Aram s army. This is where our story gets really interesting. NAAMAN HAS LEPROSY STORYTELLER: Naaman was a brave soldier, and he had been very successful in battle. But he had a problem. He had a terrible skin disease called leprosy. Naaman was very wealthy and very important, but there was nothing he could do to cure his disease. Remember the young Israelite girl who served Naaman s wife? She had an idea about how Naaman could be healed. Let s see if you can guess what she told Naaman to do. You ve got three options A, B, or C. What do you think the young girl did? Point to letters A, B, and C on the wall A. She told him to eat only healthy foods so he could get better. B. She told him to play with a fidget spinner to cure his leprosy. C. She told him to go talk to the prophet Elisha to cure his leprosy. Do you think it was A, B, or C? (Pause for response.) It was C. She told him to go talk to the prophet Elisha. Walk over to the letter C (To audience) This young girl had heard all about Elisha. He was well known throughout all of Israel because of the miracles he did and because he shared God s messages. She knew that Elisha could help Naaman get better. But Naaman didn t go directly to Elisha. First he went to his leader, the King of Aram, to see if he could leave. The King of Aram gave him permission and sent him with a letter to the King of Israel, asking the King of Israel if he could help heal Naaman s skin disease. So Naaman went to the King of Israel with a bunch of fancy gifts and treasures and the letter from his country s king. Let s just say that the King of Israel wasn t happy. He thought it was some kind of trick and that Aram was plotting to attack him. How was he going to heal anybody? But Elisha somehow heard about this visitor from Aram and sent a messenger probably Gehazi to the king with a message: Tell the man to come to me (2 Kings 5:8 NIrV). So Namaan went to see Elisha. When he got to where Elisha was staying, it wasn t what he expected. He expected to meet with Elisha, but a messenger, probably Gehazi again, came out instead. Naaman was a little annoyed. After all, someone as important as he was should be able to meet with an important prophet not just his servant. NAAMAN STORMS OFF TO THE JORDAN RIVER STORYTELLER: But the servant told him that Elisha had sent him out with a message.

5 252 Groups May 2017, Week 1 Can you guess what Elisha s message was? This time I need the D, E, and F keys. What do you think Gehazi said to Naaman? Prompt letters D, E and F D. Naaman should offer a sacrifice to the Lord. E. Naaman should go to Chuck E. Cheese and win enough tickets to win a cure. F. Naaman should go wash in the Jordan River seven times. That s a tough one! What do you think? Let s see what it says in the Bible. Open the Bible to 2 Kings 5:10 and read. The messenger said, Go! Wash yourself in the Jordan River seven times. Then your skin will be healed. You will be pure and clean again (NIrV). Wow. So our answer is F. Elisha s message to this important man, Naaman, was that he should go wash off in the Jordan River seven times. That just didn t make sense to Naaman. He left pretty angry. But his servants convinced him to try it. He went to the Jordan River and he washed off seven times. And you know what? He was healed of his leprosy! Let s just say that turned Naaman s frown upside down! He was thrilled. God had healed him, just as Elisha said He would. So Naaman returned to Elisha and offered him a bunch of treasure to thank him for helping him. Gehazi and Elisha couldn t believe how much treasure he was offering them. GEHAZI LIES FOR TREASURE STORYTELLER: Now, what do you think Elisha did about it? This time, I need the X, Y, and Z keys. Did Elisha... X. Count the money like Mr. Krabs. Y. Refuse to take the treasure. Z. Take the treasure and use it to feed the poor. Prompt the X, Y, and Z The answer is... Y! Elisha chose to refuse the treasure. Elisha told Naaman that he served God and that it was God who had healed Naaman. Elisha wouldn t take any payment for it. And so Naaman went on his way. But Gehazi, the servant, was NOT pleased. He thought about all that money Naaman had offered. Listen to what he said to himself. Open the Bible to 2 Kings 5:20 and read. My master was too easy on Naaman... He should have accepted the gift Naaman brought. I m going

6 252 Groups May 2017, Week 1 to run after him. I m going to get something from him (NIrV). Gehazi ran after Naaman, and when he caught up with him, he LIED and said that Elisha had changed his mind. He said that some young prophets had come to visit, and that Elisha needed the money to provide for them. So Naaman handed over the treasure to Gehazi. And Gehazi quickly took it home and hid it away for himself in Elisha s house. WRAPPING UP THE STORY Gehazi wasn t truthful. He chose to lie because he thought that his way was better, but he got caught. Elisha probably had a hard time trusting Gehazi from that point on. It s kind of like when you tell a friend that you can keep a secret, but then you tell that secret to other people at school. That friend is probably not going to trust you again with a secret. But being truthful isn t just about telling the truth. It s about doing what you say you ll do. So if you tell your mom that you ll clean your room before dinner, you need to make sure you do it. If you don t, you ll lose trust with your mom. Here s the one thing to remember today. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] When you re not truthful, you lose trust. Everyone messes up sometimes. But you can always ask God to help you be honest and to help you build trust with your friends and family. We ve got a great memory verse this month. It ll help you remember how important it is to be honest. Let s read it together. CG: Memory Verse Slide Anyone who lives without blame walks safely. But anyone who takes a crooked path will get caught, Proverbs 10:9 (NIrV). Do you think you can memorize it? I bet you can! Let s pray and ask God to help us live in a truthful way. Pray STORYTELLER: Dear God, thank You for showing us how important honesty is. Help us to be truthful in what we say and do this week. Help us to keep our trust with our friends and family by being honest with them. We love You, and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. CG: Outro Slide and Music Dismiss kids

7 252 Groups May 2017, Week 1 Timing - Goal is to end by 5:35, 9:35, or 11:35

8 252 Groups May 2017, Week 2 Bible Story: David and Ahimelek 1 Samuel Bottom Line: When you re not truthful, you hurt others. Memory Verse: Anyone who lives without blame walks safely. But anyone who takes a crooked path will get caught. Proverbs 10:9, NIrV Life App: Honesty Choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do Game Props: CG Slides Handheld MIC [Make sure you turn off back screen for just the game] Story Props: Storyteller Bible Two stools or chairs (or any two points you can use the make a paper towel bridge) Drop cloth or tarp Roll of paper towels Tape Several plastic soldiers or action figures (lightweight enough to balance on napkins) Watering can (with water inside) INTRO AND WELCOME Intro Slide w/ Music [Walk around and welcome the kids as the join 252. Ask a few questions to get to know them as the other classes join. When everyone has arrived then begin the game.] GAMETIME (8 MINUTES) CG: Gametime slide w/ auto transition CG: Reverse Charades s/ Music [keep music low volume] HOST: WELCOME ALL! We are going to start the day with a game called, Reverse Charades. I need two volunteers to play this game, a boy and a girl. [PREP and RULES: This game is the reverse of charades. Have it a boys vs girls competition where you bring one boy and girl to the stage. They must face away from the TV screens but towards the audience. A series of words will appear on the screen and the entire audience can only act it out without using words so make them get up on their feet. (Cheating gives the other team the point). Have the two contestants huddle around the same Wireless MIC and

9 252 Groups May 2017, Week 2 whoever shouts out the correct answer first gets the points. Play this game with 7 rounds. HOST: These two contestants will use the MIC I am holding to shout out the answer that you will all provide. You, the audience will act out the word on the screen without using any words. If you do talk then the other team gets the point. The two contestants can shout out as many different answer as they think it may be but as soon as we get the correct answer then that team gets the point. Let s do a practice round right now by counting down from GO! CG: Practice word Alright, looks like we are ready for the real thing. I ll count down and then you all will act it out GO! [PLAY THE GAME] CG: Word #1 [continue the game until Word #7. TECH Team will wait on the Hosts cue for switching to the next word.] [When the game ends dismiss the kids and begin to talk about the theme of the month.] THEME OF THE MONTH STORYTELLER: Hellllloooo! How is everybody doing? My name is [Storyteller s name] and I m so glad you re here. If YOU RE excited to be here, give me two thumbs up! (Give two thumbs up.) Fantastic! And speaking of fantastic, we have a fantastic Life App this month. CG: Honesty Slide Honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. We know that honesty is important. But sometimes it s not easy to be honest. Sometimes we might choose to be dishonest because we don t want to get in trouble. We might choose to be dishonest because we think our way is better. We might choose to be dishonest to make ourselves look better or smarter than someone else. Well before anything else let s get up on our feet and worship God! CG: Blank Slide WORSHIP (7 MINUTES) [Teach the song if it s the first week of the month. Afterwards jump into the worship song.] CG: Worship: Don t Ever Stop Chris Tomlin STORY (15 MINUTES) STORYTELLER: Hey, hey, friends! I think you know this by now, but what are we talking about this month? (Pause for response.) That s right: honesty. One of the cool things we get to do is look at how

10 252 Groups May 2017, Week 2 these big ideas like honesty show up in the God s Word, the Bible. And today is no different. Let s check it out. As we get started, you should know that this story has three main people: the king, Saul; the future king, David; and a priest, Ahimelek. Let s review. We have the king named what? (Pause for response.) Saul. The future king named what? (Pause for response.) David. And a priest. I ll repeat his name, because it s kind of tricky: Ahimelek. The main thing you need to know about our three characters is that King Saul did NOT like David. He was jealous of David. He even tried to kill him! And that s where our story begins. DAVID GOES TO AHIMELEK Unroll the paper towels and stretch them between the two stools, creating a paper towel bridge. Use tape to secure each end. David was on the run from King Saul. He was scared, and he needed help. He did what a lot of people did. He ran to a temple, which is kind of like a church, for help. When he got to the temple, David found the priest, Ahimelek. Continue with layers of paper towels, back and forth, as you talk. Stop when you have about 10 layers. Ahimelek was suspicious. He asked David why he was there alone. And this was where David had a choice. Remember, the reason David was there alone was that he was on the run from King Saul. He could have been honest with Ahimelek and just told him the truth. But instead, David chose to lie. Listen to what David said. Open the Bible to 1 Samuel 21:2-3 and read. The king gave me a special job to do. He said to me, I don t want anyone to know what I m sending you to do. So don t say anything about it. I ve told my men to meet me at a certain place. Do you have anything for us to eat? Give me five loaves of bread, or anything else you can find (NIrV). What? That couldn t be farther from the truth! David wasn t on a special mission for the king; the king s special mission was to go after David! But Ahimelek believed David. He gave him food. Not only THAT, but he also gave David a sword. And this was all because he trusted what David was telling him. SAUL GETS WORD STORYTELLER: David was not alone with Ahimelek that day. There was a man nearby a shepherd named Doeg. But he wasn t just any shepherd; he was King Saul s shepherd Saul s CHIEF shepherd. And he overheard everything David said to Ahimelek. Remember that. We ll come back to it.

11 252 Groups May 2017, Week 2 Meanwhile, David continued hiding from King Saul, but he wasn t alone anymore. Members of his family came to join him as well as some other people who had problems with King Saul. By a certain point, there were over 400 men hiding out with David. I want you to think of a place where you could hide 400 people. (Pause.) Yeah, I ve got nothing, either! That s because it s really hard. So it wasn t long until King Saul found out what David was up to. Saul was furious with David FURIOUS. He gathered some of his own men together to ask them why they d been hiding things from him about David. And can you guess who was in that group? You got it: the shepherd, Doeg. Doeg told King Saul exactly what he had overheard and seen between David and Ahimelek. SAUL AND AHIMELEK STORYTELLER: Saul called for Ahimelek and his entire family to come before him. Start placing plastic soldiers on the paper towels. Saul asked Ahimelek why he had helped David. Ahimelek told King Saul what happened that he d helped David because David said he was on a special mission for the king. But David WASN T on a special mission for the king. David had lied. Ahimelek had to face King Saul s anger all because David hadn t told him the truth. He had trusted David. Just like these soldiers are trusting these paper towels to hold them up, and just like in our game a little while ago, when our friends [SGLs names] had to trust [kid contestants names] to give them directions that would keep them safe, Ahimelek s life depended on David being trustworthy. Use the watering can to drop a few drops onto the paper towel bridge. Gradually add more and more water to the paper towels, compromising their strength. Since David wasn t truthful, he put Ahimelek in danger. King Saul was so angry that he decided to do something incredibly extreme. He had Ahimelek, everyone in Ahimelek s family, and several others KILLED. WRAPPING UP THE STORY STORYTELLER: Ahimelek s son, Abiathar, managed to escape. Keep pouring water until the paper towels collapse and the soldiers fall through. Pick up one toy soldier. Abiathar went to see David. Here s what David said to him. Open the Bible to 1 Samuel 22:22-23 and read. One day I was at Nob. I saw Doeg, the Edomite, there. I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. Your whole family has been killed. And I m responsible for it. So stay with me. Don t be afraid. The man who

12 252 Groups May 2017, Week 2 wants to kill you wants to kill me too. You will be safe with me (NIrV). David felt so bad! He knew that he was responsible for what had happened. It was all because he chose to tell a lie. Ahimelek hadn t done anything wrong. He trusted David, and David let him down. Ahimelek paid for David s dishonesty with his life. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] When you re not truthful, you hurt others. That s our Bottom Line for today. Can you say that with me? KIDS and STORYTELLER: [Bottom Line] When you re not truthful, you hurt others. STORYTELLER: Let s remember how important it is to be honest. When we lie, it doesn t just hurt us. It hurts other people, too. Some lies might seem small, but they can still hurt people in a big way. We don t want to hurt the people around us, so let s be honest. Let s [Basic Truth] treat others the way we want to be treated. Let s choose to be truthful in what we do and what we say. You ll talk more about that in Small Group and discover ways you can be honest with people in your life. Let s pray and ask God to help us choose to be truthful. Pray STORYTELLER: God, thank You for being trustworthy ALL the time. Thank You that You never let us down. God, we pray You would give us the courage to be truthful, no matter what, so that we don t hurt those who trust us. We love You, and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. CG: Outro Slide and Music Dismiss kids Timing - Goal is to end by 5:35, 9:35, or 11:35

13 252 Groups May 2017, Week 3 Bible Story: Haman s Plot Against the Jews Esther 3; 4:8b; 5:6-10; 6:6-11; 7:1-6, 9b-10 Bottom Line: When you lie to help yourself, you hurt yourself instead. Memory Verse: Anyone who lives without blame walks safely. But anyone who takes a crooked path will get caught. Proverbs 10:9, NIrV Life App: Honesty Choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do Game Props: None Story Props: SFX INTRO AND WELCOME Intro Slide w/ Music [Walk around and welcome the kids as the join 252. Ask a few questions to get to know them as the other classes join. When everyone has arrived then begin the game.] GAMETIME (8 MINUTES) CG: Gametime slide w/ auto transition CG: Choose your Move [keep music low volume as the rules are explained.] HOST: WELCOME ALL! It looks like it is gametime! [PREP WORK and INSTRUCTIONS: Have everyone stand on their feet. Explain that they are going to choose between three different. They can choose a ninja poise, bear poise, or an alligator poise. Invite one volunteer to come to the stage. That volunteer will face away from the audience. Have a countdown on the screen set for 10 seconds to Choose your Move. During this time the audience can choose between any of the three moves but when it hits 0 they most choose only one and freeze. Afterwards have the volunteer on stage choose a move and turn around at the same time. If someone in audience matches the volunteer on stage then they are still in the game. If they do not match then they have to have a seat and they are out. Play several rounds until you have 1 left or a few and announce them as winners.] HOST: I am going to need one contestant to come to the stage who will choose the moves [Explain the rules of the game and when the game begins, start the music.]

14 252 Groups May 2017, Week 3 CG: Game Music [PLAY THE GAME] [When the game ends dismiss the kids and begin to talk about the theme of the month.] THEME OF THE MONTH STORYTELLER: What s up, friends? My name is [Host s name]. When I do this (hold your hand to your ear), I want you to yell out your name. Ready? Three, two, one! (Hold your hand to your ear and pause for response.) Uh-huh. I hear all of you. It s awesome to be hanging out with you today in [your environment s name]. Hey, raise your hand if you remember this month s Life App. I ll give you a hint: it starts with an H, and it ends in a Y. (Pause.) It s honesty! CG: Honesty Slide Honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. We can be honest with what we say, but we can also be honest with what we do. We can be honest without even saying a word. Well before anything else let s get up on our feet and worship God! CG: Blank Slide WORSHIP (7 MINUTES) [Teach the song if it s the first week of the month. Afterwards jump into the worship song.] CG: Worship: Don t Ever Stop Chris Tomlin STORY (15 MINUTES) STORYTELLER: Let me ask you a question. Have you ever been in charge of something big? Maybe you were the line leader for a week. Maybe you were the captain of your soccer match. Maybe you got to choose the movie for family movie night. It feels good to be in charge, right? There s nothing wrong with that. Being in charge can make us feel useful. We feel like what we re doing is important. There s a guy in our story today who had JUST been put in charge of something really important. His name was Haman. Like, Hey, man! But H-A-M-A-N Haman. The king during this time was King Xerxes, and he gave Haman a very high position among the people. SFX 1 : Trumpet fanfare It was a higher position than Haman or any other noble had ever had before. It says in the Book of

15 252 Groups May 2017, Week 3 Esther (hold up Bible) that all the royal officials at the palace gate got down on their knees in front of Haman, because the king had commanded them to do it. MORDECAI DOES NOT BOW DOWN STORYTELLER: Everyone, that is, except a man named Mordecai. SFX 2: Record scratch Mordecai did not bow down to Haman because of his faith. Mordecai was Jewish, and Jewish law said that believers shouldn t bow down to any man. So Mordecai stood. He refused to kneel as Haman passed by the gates. When the other officials saw that Mordecai wouldn t bow down, they were curious. SFX 3 : Hmmm They wanted to know what Haman would do to Mordecai if he found out that Mordecai refused to bow to him. SFX 4 : Whispering They went to Haman and they told him about this Jewish person, Mordecai, who would not kneel before him. Think for a minute what it feels like to be in charge like Haman was. Think about how important Haman felt and how everyone else was treating him. They were bowing down to him and making a huge deal about him everywhere he went. How do you think Haman reacted when he heard that Mordecai WASN T showing him the respect he thought he deserved? I ll give you a hint. SFX 5 : Angry man yelling Yep. When Haman heard that Mordecai would not bow down to him, Haman lost it. He went so far as to say that he was going to kill ALL the Jews in the entire kingdom. ALL OF THEM! SFX 6 : Sword unsheathing Haman made a choice. Haman made up a lie to tell King Xerxes. Haman told King Xerxes that there was a group people in the kingdom who were stirring up trouble. He told the king that they were dangerous and disrespectful to King Xerxes. Based on Haman s dishonesty, King Xerxes told Haman to do whatever he wanted. So Haman started planning how he could kill every single Jewish person in the kingdom just because Mordecai refused to bow to him. ESTHER GOES TO THE KING STORYTELLER: There s another important person in our story today. Her name was Esther. SFX 7 : Royal music

16 252 Groups May 2017, Week 3 She was married to King Xerxes, making her queen of the kingdom. Esther was also Mordecai s cousin, AND Esther was Jewish. When Mordecai heard of Haman s plans to wipe out the Jews, he went to Esther for help. SFX 8 : Frantic running Listen to what Mordecai said to Esther. Put the device down. Open the Bible to Esther 4:14 and read. What if you don t say anything at this time? Then help for the Jews will come from another place. But you and your family will die. Who knows? It s possible that you became queen for a time just like this (NIrV). In other words, Mordecai knew that Esther was the one who could save their people. Esther could do it if she was honest with the king that she was Jewish. And so she bravely went to the king. SFX 9 : Knocking Put down the Bible and pick up the device. The king loved Esther, and he asked her what she wanted. He told her she could ask for anything even half his kingdom if she wanted it! SFX 10 : Cha-ching! ESTHER AND MORDECAI EXPOSE HAMAN STORYTELLER: But instead, Esther simply asked the king to save her people. See, the king didn t know about Haman s evil plan, because Haman had not been completely honest with the king. And when King Xerxes found out that Haman was planning to kill all the Jews his wife s people he was NOT happy. SFX 11 : Dun-dun-dun! Haman was put to death for his dishonesty. And the Jewish people were saved! WRAPPING UP THE STORY STORYTELLER: Haman thought he was SO important that he couldn t handle it when someone else wouldn t bow to him. And so he chose to lie to the king. He lied to help himself, and it ended up hurting him big time. The truth is, being dishonest can and will hurt you. Lying never pays off in the end. CG: Bottom Line Slide

17 252 Groups May 2017, Week 3 [Bottom Line] When you lie to help yourself, you hurt yourself instead. Honesty is always the wise choice. God knows that lying not only hurts others, but lying will also end up hurting us. Even though we know this, it s still hard to do sometimes. Let s pray and ask God for some help with this. Let s pray together. Pray STORYTELLER: God, please help us to remember to choose honesty. We know that when we choose to be dishonest, we hurt ourselves. We want to be people who choose to do and say honest things. Help us to do that. We love You, and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. CG: Outro Slide and Music Dismiss kids Timing - Goal is to end by 5:35, 9:35, or 11:35

18 252 Groups May 2017, Week 4 Bible Story: Confession / Being Honest with God 1 John 1:9 Bottom Line: Being truthful with God helps keep you close to Him. Memory Verse: Anyone who lives without blame walks safely. But anyone who takes a crooked path will get caught. Proverbs 10:9, NIrV Life App: Honesty Choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do Game Props: Sheet of confessions for the Game o Ask the Storyteller to write down five true confessions and five fake confessions prior to the game. These can be positive confessions or negative ones. They can be funny, but they don t all have to be. The real confessions should be mixed in with the fake ones. Some ideas are: I cheated on a math test in third grade. I sing into my hairbrush when I get dressed in the morning. I gave away clothes to a shelter last Christmas. I wanted to be a ballet dancer when I was little. I took something from my sibling when I was younger and never owned up to it. I practiced this script 15 times in front of the mirror because I wanted to get it right. Story Props: Storyteller Table Three chairs Sheet of paper Pen Envelope Stamps Landline phone Smartphone INTRO AND WELCOME Intro Slide w/ Music [Walk around and welcome the kids as the join 252. Ask a few questions to get to know them as the other classes join. When everyone has arrived then begin the game.] GAMETIME (8 MINUTES) CG: Gametime slide w/ auto transition CG: Confession Session [keep music low volume as the rules are explained.] HOST: WELCOME ALL! It looks like it is gametime!

19 252 Groups May 2017, Week 4 [PREP WORK and INSTRUCTIONS: In this game kids are going to stand up on their feet if they think your confession fake but remain seated if they think it is real.] HOST: All right! Our game is called Confession Session. Confession is kind of a big word, but it simply means that we tell the truth. We can confess good things we ve done, like when we secretly put all the dishes in the sink after dinner and our mom wondered who did it. Or we can confess not-so-good things we ve done like when we secretly BROKE a dish and our mom wants to know who did it. Take out your list of confessions. (See What You Do above for instructions on how to make this list.) I have ten confessions written down here. Some are my real-life confessions, and some are made-up. I ll read each one out loud to you. If you think my confession is fake if you think I m being dishonest stand up on your feet. If you think my confession is real if you think I m being honest remain seated. Here we go! CG: Game Music Read the confessions in random order. After each one, pause and allow the students to respond. Then reveal whether or not it was an honest confession. After the last confession... [PLAY THE GAME] [When the game ends dismiss the kids and begin to talk about the theme of the month.] THEME OF THE MONTH STORYTELLER: Hello, hello! My name is [Host s name], and I m so glad all of you are here. I have some good news and some bad news to share with you today. Raise your hand if you want to hear the good news first. (Pause for response.) Raise your hand if you d rather get the bad news out of the way first. (Pause for response.) Let s go with the bad news. Today is the very last time we ll talk about honesty. So sad, right? But the good news is, we ll start a brand-new Life App next week, AND today we get to hang out and have an awesome time today talking about honesty. Look at your neighbor and say, You got that right! KIDS: You got that right! CG: Honesty Slide Remember, honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. All month long, we ve looked at a bunch of examples of people who chose to be dishonest. And in every single situation, bad things happened because the person chose to lie. Dishonesty hurts us, and it hurts the people who love and trust us.

20 252 Groups May 2017, Week 4 It s simple. Telling the truth is the wise choice. [Basic Truth] We need to make the wise choice, right? Right! CG: Blank Slide WORSHIP (7 MINUTES) [Teach the song if it s the first week of the month. Afterwards jump into the worship song.] CG: Worship: Don t Ever Stop Chris Tomlin STORY (15 MINUTES) STORYTELLER: I have a big question for you as we start out today. Have you ever thought about how different God is from us? Think about it. For one thing, He loves in a different way than we do. He loved us before we even knew Him. He loves us without expecting anything in return. He loves us on our good days and on our bad days. God is perfect! We can try our best to be like God and follow His example. But we aren t perfect. Sometimes we get our feelings hurt. We get disappointed. Sometimes it s hard for us to forgive. God isn t like that. He sent us His one and only Son, Jesus, so that we could be in His family forever, no matter what we do. All we have to have is a relationship with Him. And the most important part of a relationship is communication. One of the most important things we can do in our faith is to talk to God. LETTER Sit down at the table in the first chair. As you talk, act like you re writing a letter. STORYTELLER: A long time ago, one of the only ways to communicate to people you didn t see in person was to write them a letter. You d have to sit down, think about what you wanted to say, and write it down word for word. Then you d have to figure out a way to get that letter to the person you wanted it sent to. Depending on how far away that person lived, that could take days or even weeks. Maybe more! Fold the letter and put it inside the envelope. Seal the envelope, pretend to address it, and put the stamp on it. Stand up behind the first chair and hold up your letter. Imagine what it would be like to have to wait WEEKS to tell your best friend something exciting. Sounds pretty miserable, right? It sounds like a terrible way to communicate. If we re not careful, we can do that with God. We can go days and days without talking to Him. Or weeks and weeks. Sometimes even months. The longer we go, the harder it is to remember to talk to Him. Before we know it, we feel so far away from God. And that s not a good feeling at all. LANDLINE Put down the letter. Sit down in the second chair, behind

21 252 Groups May 2017, Week 4 the landline phone. STORYTELLER: Have you ever seen one of these? This is what we call a landline telephone. Your parents probably grew up with these in their houses. Your grandparents definitely did. These used to be the only way people could hear each others voices unless they saw each other face-to-face. Pick up the phone and put it to your ear. You d have to memorize or write down someone s phone number, then you d dial it on your phone (demonstrate this on the phone in front of you), and you then you d let it ring. SFX: Landline phone ringing If the person was at home, they d answer it. But if they were at the store, at work, or outside, they would miss the call. You d have to leave a message for them. Hang up the phone and stand behind the second chair. A landline phone is still better than writing a letter. But it s not the easiest or best way to talk to someone you love. There are too many ways you could miss each other. We can act like God is a landline if we only talk to Him every now and then, like when we NEED something. That s not a bad thing we SHOULD talk to Him about that but it s not the best way to communicate with God. CELL PHONE Sit down in the third chair in front of the smartphone. Pick it up so the kids can see it. STORYTELLER: I bet you ve all seen one of these, right? This is a cellular or mobile phone. You probably just call it a phone, right? These are the by far the quickest and easiest ways to talk to someone. You don t even have to use your voice to talk. SFX: Text ding Pretend to read a text. You can read and send messages with the press of a finger. SFX: Text sent Pretend to send a text back. We can talk to God like that all the time! God wants to talk to us daily all day about small things, big things, scary things, and exciting things. The more we talk to God, the easier it gets. WRAPPING UP THE STORY Stand up and move in front of the table to wrap up.

22 252 Groups May 2017, Week 4 STORYTELLER: God wants us to talk to Him about everything! He wants us to talk to Him about the things we re proud of and the things we re not so proud of. Listen to this amazing verse: 1 John 1:9. Open the Bible to 1 John 1:9 and read. God is faithful and fair. If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins. He will forgive every wrong thing we have done. He will make us pure (NIrV). God wants us to be honest with Him. He wants us to confess things to Him not because He wants us to feel bad, but because when we don t confess things, it s like we re avoiding Him. It s like we re writing Him a letter instead of talking with Him about everything that s going on in our life. (Hold up Bible.) This verse says that God WILL forgive our sins. He ll forgive us when we do something wrong. So we never have to hide or pretend. We can talk to God and know for sure that He ll love us and help us. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] Being truthful with God helps keep us close to Him. We can talk to God anytime and anywhere. We can tell Him anything. He wants us to! When we do, He forgives us. He keeps us close to Him, where we want to be. It s so great to know that God will forgive us no matter what. Do you know how He is able to do that? He is, because of what Jesus did for you and for me. When Jesus died on the cross, He traded HIS perfection for OUR mistakes. It s not an equal trade at all, but Jesus wanted to be our friend forever, so He was willing to do that for us. If you want to be a part of that trade if you want to trade your sin in for Jesus perfection all you have to do is ask. Some of you have already done this. You ve confessed to God that you re a sinner and that you need forgiveness. Maybe you haven t prayed that prayer yet. If you want to, talk to your Small Group Leader and your parents about it. Just know that God is waiting on you always and you can talk to Him. It s as easy as it is to send a text message. He s ready to talk to you, hear you, and forgive you. Let s pray together. Pray STORYTELLER: God, we know that we need You and we need Your forgiveness. We mess up every day, but You love us anyway. Help us to communicate with You and talk to You often. Help us to be honest and open with You and to confess to You when we ve done something wrong. We want to be close to you because we love You. Thank You for loving us, too. We ask these things in Jesus name, amen. CG: Outro Slide and Music

23 252 Groups May 2017, Week 4 Dismiss kids Timing - Goal is to end by 5:35, 9:35, or 11:35