Stand by You Bible Story: Stand by You (Jesus Heals the Paralytic / Four Friends) Luke 5:17-26 Bottom Line: Work together to help someone in need. Memory Verse: Two people are better than one. They can help each other in everything they do. Ecclesiastes 4:9 (NIrV) Life App: Cooperation Working together to do more than you can do alone Basic Truth: I should treat others the way I want to be treated. 1. Countdown 2. Announcements 3. CG:Transition Slide then Host Opener (5 minutes) Host Worship Leaders Random objects; one for each small group (for example: a kiwi, a pacifier, a dog collar, etc.) Index cards; two or three for each small group Pens; one for each small group Host s phone (to set a timer) Media Upbeat music to use as kids enter and exit the room Fun instrumental music to use during the game Theme Slide Cooperation Slide Blank Bottom Line Slide Bottom Line Slide 4. Praise and Worship (10 Minutes) End with CG:Transition Slide 5. CG: Word Video and CG:Transition Slide 6. Bible Story (15 Minutes) Storyteller Host Bible Prop bin 10 mini cereal boxes (for example: Kellogg s Fun Pak, or General Mills Breakfast Pack) ideally, these should all be different types of cereal, and none of them should be the same as the five fullsize boxes Five full-size, empty cereal boxes with human characters on them (for example, Lucky the leprechaun, Cap n Crunch, Fred Flintstone, whoever is on the Wheaties box, the Cinnamon Toast Crunch baker); one box should be empty 10 sets of googly eyes Fishing pole with line and working reel Tape Stick the googly eyes on the mini cereal boxes. Place all of the boxes (mini and full-size) into the prop bin. Media Blank Bottom Line Slide Bottom Line Slide At the end the Storyteller should pray for the group and dismiss kids to Small Group 7. Small Group (20-30 Minutes) 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by Ginghamsburg Church 2018 1
Bible Story Outline Week 3 Stand by You (Jesus Heals the Paralytic / Four Friends) Luke 5:17-26 SETTING UP THE STORY Jesus was traveling in Galilee He was teaching and healing people who were sick Crowds came to hear Him, including some teachers of the law STANDING ROOM ONLY Jesus was teaching a crowd of people They were all bunched up in and around the house where Jesus was speaking They were hoping to hear what Jesus was teaching, hoping to see one of His miracles A MAN & HIS FRIENDS Some people wanted to be a part of one of Jesus miracles There was a guy who couldn t walk; maybe Jesus would heal him How was he supposed to get through the people to get to Jesus? This man s friends were willing to do whatever it took to get him to Jesus They believed Jesus had the power to heal him They carried him on a mat to the house, but it was too crowded; they couldn t get inside THROUGH THE ROOF The men came up with a plan to get their friend in front of Jesus They carried him up onto the roof of the house They lowered him on his mat through the opening in the roof tiles, right in front of Jesus Jesus saw that the four friends had faith Jesus told the man: Friend, your sins are forgiven. Get up. Take your mat and go home. The man was healed; he could walk He stood up and went home, praising God WRAPPING UP THE STORY The people praised God; Jesus had changed this man s life The man never would have made it to Jesus if it hadn t been for his four friends They worked together to bring him all the way to Jesus BL: Work together to help someone in need. God can use US as we work together to help people We need to be on the lookout and have the courage to help 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by Ginghamsburg Church 2018 2
Stand by You Bible Story: Stand by You (Jesus Heals the Paralytic / Four Friends) Luke 5:17-26 Bottom Line: Work together to help someone in need. Memory Verse: Two people are better than one. They can help each other in everything they do. Ecclesiastes 4:9 (NIrV) Life App: Cooperation Working together to do more than you can do alone Basic Truth: I should treat others the way I want to be treated. 1. Countdown 2. Announcements 3. CG:Transition Slide then Host Opener (5 minutes) SFX: Play high-energy music as kids enter. CG: Theme Slide Optional CG (Media Package): Theme Loop Video Optional CG (Media Package): Countdown Video Optional CG (Media Package): Theme Video Host is on stage, welcoming the kids as they enter. HOST: Hey, everybody! It s great to see you. If you re ready to have some fun, you came to the right place! All month long we re talking about cooperation. CG: Cooperation Slide Optional CG (Media Package): Life App Video Cooperation is working together to do more than you can do alone. Optional CG (Media Package): Theme TransBack Video I know you all have lots of chances to cooperate every single day. You cooperate with your classmates at school. You cooperate with your teammates or with your friends at dance or theater. You even cooperate with your brothers and sisters... (clear your throat) or at least you TRY to. But cooperation isn t always easy! We need God s help to do it. To get us started today, I thought we d have a little friendly competition a songwriting competition! After all, music takes some serious cooperation. If you all try to sing different words and melodies, your song is a mess. But if you work together, you can build a better beat! I ll give each small group an object. As a group, you ll write a song about it, and then you ll perform it together on stage. Who gets to decide which song is best? Our Worship Leaders, of course! They ll be the judges, so they re the ones you need to impress. Worship Leaders enter and stand at the back of the room. Let me hand out your objects and some cards to write down your lyrics. Remember, you re writing a song about your object as a group. 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by Ginghamsburg Church 2018 3
Hand out the random objects (for example: a kiwi, a pacifier, a dog collar, etc.) one per group. Also hand out two or three index cards and a pen per group. I ll give you two minutes to write your song together. It only needs to be a few seconds long, but we re looking for creativity and lots of enthusiasm in your performance. All right, songwriters. I ll give you two minutes... and go! SFX: Fun instrumental music Set a two-minute timer on your phone. Encourage the groups as they write down their words on the cards. All right! Let s see you perform your songs for our judges. Audience, let s cheer for each other, okay? Who wants to go first? Have each group perform their song on stage. Lead the audience in cheering for each group. Thanks, everybody! All of your songs were brilliant. Let s give the judges a few seconds to determine the winner. SFX: Fun instrumental music (Looking at the judges) It looks like they re ready. Judges, please show us the winning group! Worship Leaders walk to the winning group and raise the Leader s hand. Congratulations, [Leader s name] s group. Thank you all for sharing your amazing songs with us. Now let s keep the music going and sing to our God. Stand up, everybody! Host exits. 4. Praise and Worship (10 Minutes) End with CG:Transition Slide 5. CG: Word Video and CG:Transition Slide 6. Bible Story (15 Minutes) CG: Blank Bottom Line Slide Storyteller enters as Worship Leaders exit. 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by Ginghamsburg Church 2018 4
SETTING UP THE STORY STORYTELLER: Hey, everybody! Today I want to tell you about a time when Jesus was traveling in Galilee. (Hold up Bible.) He was teaching and healing people who were sick. It was AMAZING. No one had seen anything like it before! In fact, no one had ever MET anyone like Jesus before. It was clear that there was something very special about Him. The news about Jesus had spread quickly. Crowds of people came to hear Him including some of the teachers of the law. They wanted to see Jesus for themselves and hear what He was saying. HOST: Hey, [Storyteller s name]. I just had the best idea! Host enters with the bin full of cereal boxes. STORYTELLER: (Going along with it) Ummm... okay. What did you have in mind? HOST: Well, I know there are lots of people in this story. But I know we don t know a lot about those people. STORYTELLER: That s true. HOST: I thought we could give them a little personality... and tell the story with cereal boxes! STORYTELLER: (Puzzled, but amused) Okay... Host holds up two of the cereal boxes. HOST: It ll be great! I ve got a different kind of cereal for each character (tip the prop bin so the kids can see all the mini boxes inside), so we can act out what they did. STORYTELLER: Sure sounds fun! Let s get started. STANDING ROOM ONLY STORYTELLER: One day, Jesus was teaching a crowd of people. (To Host) Do you have a crowd of people in there? Host picks up the 10 mini cereal boxes. He sets them up on one side of the table five on each side, with some empty space in the middle. Great. (To audience) As you can see, these people were all bunched up in and around the house where Jesus was speaking. The house was PACKED! All of these people were hoping to hear what Jesus was teaching. They were hoping they could see one of His miracles for themselves! A MAN & HIS FRIENDS STORYTELLER: For some people, it was an even bigger deal than that. They didn t just want to SEE a miracle from Jesus. They wanted to be a part of one! There was this one guy who couldn t walk. Host picks up one of the full-size cereal boxes but doesn t put it on the table yet. 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by Ginghamsburg Church 2018 5
Now, maybe Jesus would heal him. (Point toward the table.) But if he couldn t walk, how was he supposed to get all the way over there, through all those people, to get to Jesus? How would Jesus ever see him? Well, here s the really great news. This man had some really great friends! Host picks up the other four full-size cereal boxes and holds all five in his hands. These men were willing to do whatever it took to get their friend to Jesus. (Point to the man who can t walk cereal box.) They believed Jesus had the power to heal him. They carried him on a mat to the house... Host walks over to the table next to the crowd of boxes.... but it was too crowded. They couldn t get inside to get their friend to Jesus. THROUGH THE ROOF STORYTELLER: So then what? Do you think these guys gave up? (Pause for response.) No way! They were determined to help their friend. They came up with a pretty brilliant plan to get him in front of Jesus. Get this they carried the man up onto the ROOF of the house. Host sets the four friends boxes on the table, on the opposite side from the crowd. Host picks up the fishing pole and ties the fishing line around the man who can t walk. (The box should be empty.) Host secures the fishing line in place with some tape. Host steps back and uses the fishing pole to slowly lower the box down into the empty space in the middle of the crowd of boxes. They lowered the man on his mat through the opening in the roof tiles... into the middle of the crowd... right in front of Jesus (Luke 5:19 NIrV). Host keeps holding the pole with the cereal box in the middle of the crowd. Jesus saw that the four friends had faith. They were willing to do anything to get their friend to Jesus, because they really believed Jesus could heal him. Listen to what Jesus said to the man. Friend, your sins are forgiven. Then He told the man... Get up. Take your mat and go home. Open the Bible to Luke 5:20 (NIrV) and read. Open the Bible to Luke 5:24 (NIrV) and read. Right then and there, the man was healed! He could walk! He stood up and went home, praising God the whole way. 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by Ginghamsburg Church 2018 6
Host picks up the cereal box (still attached to the fishing pole) and makes it do a happy dance. (To Host) That was fun, [Host s name]. Thanks for helping me tell the story! HOST: Anytime! Host exits, leaving the fishing pole and cereal boxes on stage. WRAPPING UP THE STORY STORYTELLER: If you were in the crowd of people that day, what would you have done? Do you think you would have cheered? Absolutely! That s exactly what happened. The people praised God. They were amazed by what they had just seen. Jesus had completely changed this man s life right before their eyes! But think about this. The man never would have made it to Jesus if it hadn t been for his four friends. Hold up the four friends cereal boxes. These four men knew what cooperation was all about. They worked together to help their friend. They found a way to bring him all the way to Jesus. And just like they did, you and I can work together and do the same sort of thing. CG: Bottom Line Slide We can [Bottom Line] work together to help someone in need. There are people around us every day who might be having a tough time. God can use US as we work together to help them. We can do something together to fix what s wrong. We just need to be on the lookout and have the courage to help. Maybe your neighbor had surgery and she can t mow her yard right now. You and your family could work together to do it for her! Or maybe you could ask your parents about ways that you can help people in our town who need food or shelter. The truth is, there are people in need everywhere. It could be someone who s hungry or cold, or it could be someone who s having a bad day. When you see that someone has a need, you have a choice to make. You could think, I m just one person. What can I do about that? OR you could choose to work together with others to help. You could think of ways to [Basic Truth] treat others the way you want to be treated. You could think of ways to cooperate with others to take what s wrong and make it right. Remember, cooperation is God s idea. He knows we can make a huge difference in people s lives if we work together. Talk about that with your small group and see if you can come up with some great ways to help! At the end the Storyteller should pray for the group and dismiss kids to Small Group 7. Small Group (20-30 Minutes) SFX: Play high-energy music as the kids exit. CG: Theme Slide 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by Ginghamsburg Church 2018 7