May 20, 2018 God Is Powerful DATE PONDER POINT So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Acts 1 2; Luke 24:52 53 Ascension Isaiah 41:10 THE BIG GOD STORY REMEMBER VERSE Welcome and Worship (15 minutes) The large group room will be divided into three sections. Please help kids find which section they should sit in according to their grade: 1st2nd, 3rd-4th & 5th-6th. Toward the end of small group time, A/V Tech will play the 2 minute warning sound followed by a song. During or immediately following the song please regroup in the large group meeting space (not before). 5th & 6th graders can go directly to Snack Shack after small group time, rather than regrouping in the large group space. Begins class creating an inviting atmosphere for kids to feel welcome and engage kids in worship through singing and communion. The Big God Story (18 minutes) Creates space for children to hear God s word and prepare respond to the Holy Spirit in small groups Small Groups (20 minutes) Kids will build relationships with each other and their leaders, and respond to what they learned in the Big God Story as well as how to apply it to their lives Bless & Dismiss (4 minutes) Bless kids to send them out with a sense of peace so they can be a blessing to others. SCHEDULE Large Group Small 2 Min Group Warn. Regroup/ Dismiss 5th-6th 1st Service (9:00) 9:00 9:33 9:53 10:00 2nd Service (10:15) 10:15 10:48 11:08 11:15 3rd Service (11:30) 11:30 12:03 12:23 12:30 Host Administrative To Do s: Make sure no group is too large Make sure each group has enough supplies Close curtains and divider wall for small groups at 9:00 and 10:15 (and re-open after 9:00) Cue the tech when to play the 2 minute warning with song. Call names for dismissal after blessing 1
GOAL: Worship & welcome is all about engaging kids and helping them enter into worship, letting them know that class has begun preparing their minds for what they are going to hear. WELCOME (Host): Stage Lights On VIDEO LOOPS: Welcome Loop, 5 Min Countdown, Welcome Image We are so glad you are here today. Welcome the kids in your own words then say the following to the kids: Let s all stand and hear God s word and sing our praise to Him OPENING WORSHIP SONG (Worship Leader): Turn out main overhead lights REMEMBER VERSE VIDEO WORSHIP VIDEO 1: Jump Up WORSHIP VIDEO 2: This Is Amazing Grace (Direct kids to get with their groups and circle up with their small group leader before sitting down) SMALL GROUP CONNECT IMAGE CONNECT QUESTIONS (Host): 4 MINUTE COUNTDOWN VIDEO What makes a person strong? Who is the strongest person you know? Can you be strong in more than one way? If so how? TIMELINE VIDEO (Storyteller) The Big God Story: Point out that what kids are about to hear is true and is recorded in the Bible. Open your Bible to the passage and leave it open and visible throughout The Big God Story. Invite kids to open their Bibles and follow along as you storytell. Children respond to what the Holy Spirit is teaching them as they reflect on the day s portion of The Big God Story. The Prayer of Release: This allows children and leaders to pause, be still, and ask God to quiet their hearts and minds. Before you pray, you might ask the kids to hold out their hands, palms up, in a spirit of releasing their worries and distractions in order to better receive what the Holy Spirit might have for them today. Then encourage the kids to quiet their voices, take a seat, and pray with you. 2
The Big God Story: Storyteller Script Throughout Jesus time on earth, He promised to go back to heaven and live with His Father, God. Jesus also promised to send down the Holy Spirit to be with us. The Holy Spirit would be with believers at all times and live inside them. The Holy Spirit would teach the believers more about God than they ever thought they could know! Amazing! But what s even more amazing is that the Holy Spirit gave Jesus disciples the power to continue His ministry even after He d gone to heaven. God is powerful, and God s Spirit, living inside the believers, gave them the power to go out and tell everyone the good news. Let s watch this Storytelling Video and find out the rest of the Story. Tech: Cue Storytelling Video (13 mins) When Peter preached, he was filled with power and boldness from the Holy Spirit and from that day on, the new believers came together every day, and more and more people believed in Jesus and they received the Holy Spirit. They prayed together, ate together, and worshipped Jesus together. They shared everything they owned with each other (Acts 2:44). It was an amazing display of God s power. Just like the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, we, as believers, are filled with the Holy Spirit today. God is powerful, and He can give us the strength to follow Jesus and tell others about Him. Share a personal story about a time you experienced God s power. Tell the kids we are going to close the Big God Story by worshipping him. Ask the kids to wait until they are asked to come forward to take communion. WORSHIP VIDEO 3: Your Love Never Fails After a time of worshipping have kids come and take communion if they have been baptized, and bring their offering. Fade out song slowly at Worship Leader s prompting. (As the song comes to a close Worship Leader tells groups to head to their small group space. Say something like, Let s continue responding to what God is teaching us as we dismiss to our small groups. Please follow your small group leader at this time. ) IMAGE: It s time for small groups Turn main overhead lights on 3
Dismiss for small groups refer to map for small group locations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the end of small groups... Tech cue: 2 minute warning with exit song, using ceiling speakers, at the host s prompting Turn speakers back to wall speakers for blessing, closing song and dismissal. 4
GOAL: Kids build relationships with each other and their leader as they respond to what they heard in the Big God Story. HOLY SPIRIT POWER SUPPLIES 2 Peter 1:3 cards (one per child) Pencils or pens Bible ENGAGE When we hear about how God s Spirit helped the disciples speak languages they didn t know, or how God completely changed Peter from fearful to brave, we re amazed by the power of God. After experiencing God s power, Peter wrote, His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life (2 Peter 1:3). God s power gives you everything you need! I want each of you to grab a pen or pencil and one of these cards. On the front of this card has the verse 2 Peter 1:3 (Have a volunteer read the verse and everyone else follow along). Let s talk about what this verse is saying. Do you have any ideas? How about for you personally? Is there a situation in your life where you need God s power? Maybe you want to ask God for boldness to tell others about Him. Maybe you need His power to help you get through something that is really difficult. Or maybe, like early believers, you simply want to thank Him and praise Him for His power. Flip your card over and think about what you want to ask or thank God for. Take some time to write or draw what you need His power for in your life. When your are finished, if you feel like it, share with the group what you put on the back of your card. Take your card home and read the verse during the week to remind you of God s Power. If time allows use the following discussion questions and Bibles to keep the conversation going in your small group. After the Holy Spirit came, what did Peter do? Acts 2:14 How did the people who heard Peter s message respond? Acts 2:41 How did the first believers live their lives together after the Holy Spirit came? Acts 2:42 47 How does God s Spirit help us live as His children? John 14:26; Romans 8:26 BLESSING Close your small group time reading a final scripture and blessing your kids using the Blessing Card from your supply bin in your cart. 5
GOAL: Bless kids to send them out with a sense of peace so they can be a blessing to others. CLOSING REMARKS/ANNOUNCEMENTS (Host): Wall Speakers On TRANSITION ACTIVITIES (HOST): Play Regrouping Video Announce the expectations verbally as kids regroup in the large group room Have a seat on the floor Stay seated until your name is called or you see your parents Meet up with your parents and exit the middle door. Play Fun Video: Bad Dad Jokes Video Transition Activity: Kid Joke Telling (supplies provided: cards with jokes on them) Call up two volunteers and give each a card with a joke on it to read. Have one kid start by telling a joke to the other. Take turns going back and forth one joke at a time. The first one to laugh at the other one s joke is out and a new volunteer is called up. DISMISSAL (STORYTELLER): Call names of kids as parent come to pick up and welcome kids who are being dropped off. Encourage parents to enter the room and encourage kids and parents to exit out the middle door (103) 6
I was 13 years old and terribly afraid that I wasn t truly saved. What if I hadn t been sincere enough when I gave my life to Christ? What if I was actually going to hell? Each time a preacher gave a salvation message, I gave my heart to God again, but I struggled to reassure myself that it had really worked. I remember one night when the idea of hellfire scared me so desperately that I cried in bed, unable to sleep. A little while later, a traveling speaker came to our church. At the end of the night, amidst a room full of people, he said, The Holy Spirit is telling me that someone here is doubting their salvation. Can I pray for you? I kept my hand down, convincing myself that I was fine. A few other people raised their hands, and he prayed for them. But he said, The Holy Spirit is telling me there are still more. Then he looked at me out of a packed room of people and said, Can I pray for you? He and his team prayed for me, and I will never forget what he said. God has heard your cries in the night. You don t have to doubt anymore you are saved. Something happened as he was praying. I had never felt the Holy Spirit s presence like that before. My whole body trembled and I fell to my knees, overcome with God s love and goodness. God is powerful! He s powerful enough to send His Son as a man to die for our sins and rise again, making the way for sinful human beings to be made righteous. He s powerful enough to send His Spirit to do what seems impossible. He s powerful enough to amaze us for the rest of our lives. Kelly Goddard HRock Church As Jesus ascended into the clouds before their eyes (Acts 1:9), the disciples must have had many questions but, surely, any lingering doubts about His deity would have dissipated at the unbelievable sight. Jesus was both fully man and fully God (Colossians 2:9) and He remains this way today (Hebrews 1:3). Our God is powerful enough to forge such a union and to encompass all the power of an omnipotent, omnipresent God forever within the frame of a man. The theological term for God becoming man is incarnation, which literally means taking on flesh. God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, came to earth and was born as a human (Philippians 2:6 8). He did not, and could not, cease to be God. He simply added a second nature, a human nature, to His divine nature. He was now the God-man, a being with two natures. How these two natures relate is referred to as the hypostatic union. Jesus is fully God and fully man. His two natures are distinct but united in one person with one personality. When Jesus ascended on high from the Mount of Olives and returned to be with His Father, He did not cease to be a man. He is forever now the God-man. It s amazing to contemplate that today, there is a man standing at the right hand of the throne of God interceding on our behalf (1 Timothy 2:5). We may never fully comprehend the enormous price it cost Jesus to humble Himself and condescend to forever exist in the physical form of a man. Only the power of God could make this happen. And true power is seen in humility. God is powerful. 7
Sometimes we think we have to do everything in our own power and strength. Whatever the reasons (stubborn pride, the feeling we shouldn t have to ask for help, or just plain forgetfulness), we don t take the time to daily go before the Lord the all-powerful One and ask for His strength to do His work. We must rely on His power. We must acknowledge how desperately we need Him every moment of every day. This week, get out a pen and paper and make a list. Title it Things I m Trying to Do in My Own Strength. Maybe you re trying to resist temptation, to have more patience, or to be a good friend on your own. Give God your list, surrendering each item to Him. Pray this prayer: Father, I m tired of striving on my own. Please help me to yield my will to your Spirit. Fill me with Your power. 8