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Large Group! About this Series: What is the greatest gift you ve ever received? A game? A pet? Maybe a visit from someone you love to see? Did you know that you can give a gift this Christmas that could change someone s life? One of the most incredible gifts we can give someone is an invitation. When you invite someone to be your friend, to spend time with you, you show that they matter to you, and they matter to God. God sent Jesus to give us all an invitation, a chance to be part of God s family. That s what the first Christmas is all about. Memory Verse: John 13:34- I give you a new command. Love one another. You must love one another, just as I have loved you. Weekly Overview: Lesson: Topic: Big Idea: Lesson 1: Nov. 25/26 The Great Party Luke 14:15-23 Everyone is invited to know God. Lesson 2: Dec. 2/3 The Wise Men Matthew 2:1-12 God invites everyone on earth. Lesson 3: Dec. 9/10 The Shepherds Luke 2:8-20 God invites people who don t expect it. : Dec. 16/17 Simeon and Anna Luke 2:22-40 I can keep on inviting. Lesson 5: Dec. 23/24* The Baby Luke 2; John 18-20. Jesus came to show me God s love. 2
Lesson 1: The Great Party! Series at a Glance for Elevate (continued) One of the most powerful gifts we can give is an invitation. That s because telling someone You re invited also tells them You matter. Jesus believed that every person mattered. When He was asked about heaven, Jesus compared it to a party where everyone is invited. Imagine what a difference you could make this week by inviting someone to be your friend, to talk about how much God loves them, or to come with you to a huge Christmas party in Elevate and learn about God s love. Lesson 2: The Wise Men We have a lot in common with the people we love. We might not know it, but we also have things in common with people we ve never met! God didn t just invite people from the town of Bethlehem to see Jesus. With a star, He invited people from around the world, and they came. This week, we ll connect with people around the world, and see how big this Christmas party really is! Lesson 3: The Shepherds An invitation can mean the world to someone, especially someone who isn t expecting it. On the first Christmas, God invited a group of humble, average shepherds to meet his son. After meeting Jesus, the shepherds told everyone they could, Great news! Jesus, the Savior is here! They knew that everyone was invited to experience God s love. Who do you know that isn t expecting an invitation this Christmas? This could be your chance to show them God s love, and maybe even change their life. : Simeon and Anna Not all of our invitations will go as planned. Some people may say no. Some may not want to be invited. No matter what happens, though, we can trust that God is doing something good. That s what Simeon and Anna did. God told them years before the first Christmas that Jesus was coming. They waited, and trusted that God s promise was true. Every day, they watched for Jesus, and when he arrived, they were ready. Who can we be ready to show God s love to this Christmas? Lesson 5: The Baby Finally, everyone s here, and we re ready for the party! This week, take some time to remember why Christmas is a celebration: it s the day we celebrate Jesus coming as a baby to show everyone that they were loved by God and invited to be a part of his family. Join us in Elevate as we celebrate Christmas! 3
Lesson Outline for Elevate Lesson Segment Engage Opening Song (2:00) Welcome (1:00) Question of the Day (2:00) Group Activity (10:00) : Simeon and Anna Total Running Time Worship: Oh What a Glorious Night (5:00) 0:00-20:00 Involve Media: Part 1 (4:00) Lesson Intro (1:00) Group Time (15:00) 20:00-40:00 Challenge Memory Verse Challenge (3:00) Media: Part 2 (7:00) Application (5:00) Worship: Joy to the World (4:00) Wrap Up (1:00) 40:00-60:00 Video Cue Slide Cue Audio Cue Tech Notes 4
Opening Song 2:00 (Roll when directed) Elevate Opener Let s get this Christmas party started! Come on up, find a place to sit, throw away your popcorn, and shout out the coolest thing you ve ever made out of snow! (Auto advance) Elevate Slide and Underscore Welcome 1:00 Making snowmen and snow forts is awesome. Some people even build snow animals, sculptures, and castles! There are so many fun things to do at Christmastime, from looking at the lights, to going ice skating, to coming here! I m super glad all of you are here, because you all are what makes this Christmas party awesome. So, welcome! My name is. We ve got some games coming up, along with an awesome Christmas story, and a really important question for you to answer in your group time. Question of the Day 2:00 Let s get this party started by getting to know each other a bit better, with a Question of the Day! Question of the Day Video (Auto Advance) QOTD Slide: What s something you would love to get for Christmas? What s something you would love to get for Christmas? Turn to a couple people around you, and let them know! Do This: Emcee as the kids are sharing their answers. Encourage them to share with the people around them, and encourage any kid whose story you hear. 5
Know This: It s more important that the kids interact with each other than with you. Allow them time enough to share with each other, and don t have them share with the whole group. It s only one more week until Christmas Day. I m getting super excited, and I m sure you all are, too! I don t have all the things you just asked for, but I can give you a fun Christmas game to play! It s called Sketchy Scenes. Group Activity 10:00 Game Title Slide: Sketchy Scenes Here s how this game works. Each of you is going to get one paper plate, and one marker from your group leader. You must put the plate on top of your head, and hold it there. You may not take the plate off of your head at all. I m going to describe a Christmas scene, and your job is to draw it on the plate, without taking the plate off of your head. When we re done, we ll see who has the best Christmas scene! Now, find your group leader by your squad s flag, grab your plate and marker, and then listen close so you know what to draw. Do This: Read the following objects clearly, and give kids time in between each one to draw. When you notice kids are finishing drawing each thing, move on to the next. Fun Game Music! Ok, the first thing to draw is a Christmas tree! Get some branches on there, maybe an ornament or two? Next, draw some presents under the tree. You can draw as many as you like. Alright, next to the tree is a table, with some milk and cookies for Santa. Try to get the milk and cookies on the table! The last thing to draw is a fireplace, with some stockings hanging over it. Make sure there s a fire burning in it, too! 6
Alright, let s see how you did! You can put the cap on your marker, don t draw any more. Take a look at your Christmas scene. Did anyone get the presents under the tree, the cookies and milk on the table, and the stockings and fire in the right places? Do This: If someone says they did, bring them up and show off their drawing! Give them a prize of an Elevate sketchbook. If no one says they got all of those, ask people who got three out of the four things (presents, cookies, stockings, and fire) to come up. You could also ask each group to choose one representative, then have the crowd cheer for the drawing they like the best. Once you ve given away the notebook, thank and congratulate the winner and go on. It s sure hard to do something without your eyes, isn t it? Today, we re talking about something that we have to do without our eyes. It s called hope. Hope means waiting for something good, and believing that it will happen, even when you don t know when or how. You ll have to watch closely to figure out what hope has to do with what we re talking about. I ll check later to see if you ve figured it out! For now, let s stay on our feet and get ready to worship God! Worship Slide and clear audio Worship 5:00 The reason we have hope is because God is so good. We can always trust that He is doing what is best for us. That s why He sent Jesus at Christmas, because it was the best gift we could ever receive. Let s sing this song about the first Christmas, called Oh What a Glorious Night! Song 1: Oh What a Glorious Night (Auto advance) Worship Slide It is so awesome to sing with you! You can sit down. These slides say Worship on them, because that s what we call it when we thank or show love to God. We can praise God by singing, serving others, and thanking God when we talk to him. Those are all ways to show God that we love him. We can talk to God anytime and anywhere, including right now! There are so many of us, let s close our eyes and bow our heads to keep from getting distracted as we talk to God. 7
God, you are incredible. You sent Jesus so that we could get to know you better, and know how much you love us. Thank you for all that you give us. We love you. Amen. Media: Part 1 4:00 I wonder what the Light Force team is up to now? They ve had a tough time defending their virtual world against the evil syndicate. Let s find out what happens to them this week! Light Force: Part 1 (4:00) (Auto advance) Series Title Slide: What are they going to do? They ve got some work ahead, but there s something interesting in that story. We sometimes have the same problem the Light Force does. Lesson Intro 1:00 Have you ever hoped for something, and not gotten it when you expected, or not gotten it at all? Maybe you didn t get what you wanted for your birthday or had a really bad day at school. It can be tough to keep on hoping when things go wrong. This series is called! We re throwing a huge Christmas party right here this next week! It s going to be awesome, but if you ve been here the last few weeks, you know that the party isn t quite ready yet. We need your help to invite as many people to this party as we can. The question we re talking about today is an important one. What happens if I invite someone, and they say no? What do we do when something we hope for doesn t seem to come true? You ll get to talk about that, and discover some answers in your groups. Go ahead and look for your flag, to help you find your group leader! Group Time 15:00 8
Optional: 15:00 Countdown Do This: Make sure each kid finds their group. Help group leaders if there is a need. Encourage kids as they work to answer the question. Know This: This is a time for kids to search for answers in the Bible, and see how they can use the Bible to investigate and better understand life. This time is designed for kids to interact and deepen their understanding. They won t get all the answers, but allow them to question and discover as much as possible. Be ready to support group leaders in any way needed. Do This: Give the groups a warning about one minute before this time is up. When this time ends, transition into the memory verse challenge. Bumper Video (1:00) (Auto-Advance) Memory Verse Slide: John 13:34- I give you a new command. Love one another. You must love one another, just as I have loved you. Memory Verse Challenge 3:00 I hope you had a great group time. Now it s time for a Memory Verse Challenge! This is a verse in the book of John in the Bible. This book was written by one of Jesus best friends. John did his best to write down a lot of what Jesus did and said. This is one of the things Jesus said that John wrote down! It s John 13:34. I give you a new command. Love one another. You must love one another, just as I have loved you. Jesus tells us to love each other, just like he loves us. Jesus came to serve, give, and help people however he could. That s the way he wants us to love others, too. Let s say that verse together! John 13:34. I give you a new command. Love one another. You must love one another, just as I have loved you. Jesus uses the word Love a bunch here. You should know that this isn t a mushy kind of love. Jesus love is the most powerful force in the world. The way Jesus loved his friends and followers changed their lives, and is still changing the world today, two thousand years later. He wants us to love in that same way. 9
Let s try saying the verse, but this time you re going to say it with each of your groups! We ve got these five colors on our stage. I m going to point to one of them, and if you are in that group, say the next word in the verse! Let s all start by saying John 13:34 together. Do This: Point to different groups, varying the order and the rate you are pointing at. Feel free to have them go through the verse a couple times this way. Media: Part 2 7:00 Nice work! Loving each other can be tough, especially when things aren t going well. I wonder if the Light Force can learn to love each other in time to fix what was going on? We ll have to find out! Light Force: Part 2 (7:00) (Auto advance) Series Title Slide: What an incredible story. Thank you, Sage! It can be really tough to hope for something and then be disappointed. Application 5:00 Now that you ve talked with your groups about what we can do when we feel disappointed, how can we use what you learned? Since we re trying to invite so many people to our Christmas party, there might be some people that say no. What do we do if that happens? Well, that story of Simeon and Anna can teach us a lot about what to do when we feel disappointed. They waited for years to meet the Messiah, so they were extremely old. It would have been easy for them to think, after a year or two, This isn t worth it. I ve been waiting for way too long, but they didn t. They kept on believing that God s promise was true. God promises that he loves and cares for every person on earth. God still loves that person you invited who said no. He still wants them to know that they are important, and that they are loved. Just like Simeon and Anna, we can always believe that God s promises are true, even if we can t see how he is working. Did you know that there are a lot of things going on around us that we can t see? Check out this picture. 10
Carlsbad Caverns Picture This is a cavern in New Mexico. It s found way underground, so far that you could walk over it, and never know it was there. Do you know how this cave was formed? It was a long process, but the most important ingredient in forming this cave is something we use every day. Water! Drops of water over a long, long, long time wore away rocks to make a cave, and dripped from the roof to make all those beautiful stalactites and stalagmites you see. Why are we looking at a cave? Well, that cave didn t need any help from us to be formed. People didn t even know it was happening for a long time. Sometimes, amazing and beautiful things are happening that we can t see. People sometimes work the same way. They can act one way on the outside, but we don t know what they are thinking or feeling inside. God might be using your words, your invitation, and your kindness to make a huge change in their lives, little by little. Series Title Slide: So, what do we do if someone doesn t want to come to the party this Christmas? Well, you don t have to give up on inviting them and praying for them. God loves that person, no matter what, and he can work through the things you do, even small things. Just like drops of water creating a giant cave, what you say or do could be the first time someone hears about God. It may not look like much, but your kindness or act of service could be the start of a big change in their life. Letting people know that God loves them is super important. Remember, we are inviting people to a Christmas party because we want them to know how much God loves them. We love to have fun and celebrate, but none of that is even close to how great God s love is. Even if someone never comes here to church, you can bring God s love out to them by serving them, encouraging them, and watching for ways to do good for them. If there s someone who isn t going to make it to Christmas this year, try bringing some of the Christmas party to them. You can show them God s love, all on your own. Worship 4:00 11
Keep on thinking of ways to share God s love with others. You still have time to invite someone to our Christmas party that s starting this week, and you can share God s love with them any time of the year! At Christmas, one of the most fun ways to share love and joy is by singing! Let s stand and sing Joy to the World! Song 2: Joy to the World (Auto advance) Series Title Slide: Wrap-Up 1:00 For another way to share some joy, grab a invitation as you leave today. Do This: Show kids the invitation. The party is this next week, so this is your last chance to invite someone to our snowball fighting, snack-eating, crazy Christmas game playing celebration! Whether you invite someone or not, we re super excited to have you here! I have one more thing for you to take today, though! Make sure you get one of these when you leave, it s our family connection card! You get a different card each week of this series. Do This: Show kids the Family Connection Card for week 4. This card has some Christmas activities for you and your family, and some information about the lesson today, so you can tell your family all about what we did. Before we go, there s one more important thing to do: talk to God. Let s close our eyes and bow our heads one more time! God, your love is wonderful. You give us everything we need, and we are so thankful. Help us to think of people that need to know about your love this week. Amen. I ve loved hanging out with you! I can t wait to see you next week at our Christmas party! 12
Elevate Slide Start Christmas hangtime music videos 13