Dude, Where s My Son?

252 Groups March 12, 2017, Week 2 Small Group, 2-3 Dude, Where s My Son? Bible Story: Dude, Where s My Son? (Lost Son) Luke 15:11-24 Bottom Line: Everyone needs to be forgiven, even me. Memory Verse: Put up with one another. Forgive one another if you are holding something against someone. Forgive, just as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13, NIrV Life App: Forgiveness deciding that someone who has wronged you doesn t have to pay. Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Small Groups, 15 minutes) Plug In Engage kids in conversation. Use the optional questions below to facilitate discussion. o What are things everyone needs? o Does everyone need school? Why or why not? What about sleep? Or transportation? What about a clock? What about sunlight? o Encourage kids to explain their answers. [Transition] Let s head to Large Group to hear about someone who needed something major. Lead your group to the Large Group area. Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (Small Groups, 25 minutes) 1. Rescued! (application activity / review the Bible story) What You Need: Bible Story Cards and Sum It Up Cards Activity Pages, Bibles Note: The purpose of this activity is to provide an opportunity to talk about salvation. If one or two kids in particular have more questions than other kids, plan to talk to them in more depth after small group or sometime during the week (and tell them you re doing that). If kids are interested in accepting Christ or learning more about baptism, tell them about Starting Zone. The next Starting Zone class is March 19 th at 12:15pm in the K-3 Elementary Room. Divide kids into teams of two or three. Give each team a set of Bible Story Cards, a set of Sum It Up Cards, and a Bible. Teams work together reading the verses on the Bible Story Cards and matching them up with the Sum It Up Cards. When teams are finished, review their answers. See if everyone got the same pairings. Discuss the Sum It Up Cards. 2016 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by (jpaganini/mbcloudoun/4.16). 1

252 Groups March 12, 2017, Week 2 Small Group, 2-3 o o o What is sin? (disobeying God) What does it mean to hit rock bottom? (when you realize you need to be rescued) What is forgiveness? (deciding that someone who has wronged you doesn t have to pay; a gift from God so, even though we sin, we have His forgiveness and can be with Him now and forever in heaven) This story is for everyone, because [Bottom Line] everyone needs to be forgiven, even me and even you. Jesus tells this story to us to show us how we can be forgiven and live with Him now and forever. Just like the son in the story, there are times we disobey God; we SIN. Maybe you say hurtful things, maybe you say you will do one thing and you do another thing instead. Perhaps you don t end up eating pig food, but if you were mean to someone maybe the relationship is now broken, or if you lied maybe the people you lied to don t trust you now. You may not actually hit rock bottom, but you realize the consequences of your sin and you know you disobeyed God and need to be rescued; you need God s forgiveness. And here is the amazing part of the story! You confess you are a sinner; you believe Jesus is your rescuer and, like the son in our story today, you receive God s forgiveness! God forgives you! [Make It Personal] (Share one of the times you heard the story of God s forgiveness. If you can, keeping your story age-appropriate, use the Sum It Up Cards to share your story.) * 2. Now You See It, Now You Don t (application activity) What You Need: Clear bowl with water, dissolvable paper, permanent red and black markers, Bibles Give kids a Bible. Find 1 John 1:9 (or let a volunteer find it) and read the verse together. Give kids a piece of dissolvable paper and a black marker. Talk with kids about what sin is and that it separates us from God. Give kids time to write on the paper one thing they need to confess to God a situation where they struggle to obey God. It can be just one word or a sentence or two. Assure kids they will not have to share this with anyone except God. Ask them to be respectful of those around them and keep their eyes on their own papers. When everyone is finished, ask what 1 John 1:9 promises us. (God will forgive our sins; He will make us pure) Then instruct kids to write Forgiven in red marker on their paper and place the paper in the water. When you put your paper in the water, what happened? (Pause.) Yes, it dissolved. Can you take your piece of paper back? No, you can t! It is gone! That is what the Bible says in 1John1:9: When we confess our sins to God, He forgives us! Does that mean we will never sin again? No, we are humans and there is no possible way we can be perfect and obey God perfectly. But God knows we aren t perfect and God knows [Bottom Line] everyone needs to be forgiven, even me and even you. That is why Jesus told us the story of the lost son to show us that nothing can separate us from God s love and forgiveness. 2016 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by (jpaganini/mbcloudoun/4.16). 2

252 Groups March 12, 2017, Week 2 Small Group, 2-3 3. A Brief History (review the Bible story) What You Need: A Brief History Activity Pages, pencils with erasers, Bibles Guide kids to pair up. Pass out Bibles (the Bible reference today is Luke 15:11-20), pencils, and Activity Pages. Encourage kids to find Luke 15 with their partner. Tell them to come up with short headlines for each of the verses from today s story. Headlines should be short and grab attention; the goal is less than three words each Remind them to really think about the who in each verse and the what the action taking place. Give them a time limit and reminders as to how much time is left, like a countdown. Have volunteers take turns sharing the headline they came up with one verse at a time. This month s Life App is forgiveness. What are some of the things the father needed to forgive the young son for? (Pause for responses.) How do we know that the father did actually forgive the son? What s the proof or the evidence? (Thank them for sharing their thoughts.) How would you define forgiveness? Work with your partner at the bottom of your page to brainstorm how you d explain it to someone else. (Give them a minute to think, write, and then share with the group.) Forgiveness can be defined as deciding that someone who has wronged you doesn t have to pay. So forgiveness is a decision. What are some of the reasons that we don t want to forgive people who have hurt us? 4. Forgiveness Pictionary (application activity) What You Need: White board, dry erase marker, eraser or paper towel, a piece of paper Grab the piece of paper and a pen/pencil. Ask the kids to quickly name some things they might get in trouble and need forgiveness for and write them down. Choose one kid to draw something on the whiteboard he or she might get in trouble and need forgiveness for. She can draw an object, a situation, a place, etc. Set a timer for 60 seconds, and when time is up, let the kids guess the scenario. The person who most closely guesses the object or situation gets to draw next. (If a kid has already had a turn, he can pick someone else who hasn t had a turn yet.) If a kid gets stumped and can t think of a scenario, select one from the list the group made and whisper it to him. The point of this activity is to help you see that ALL of us mess up. We all do things that we need forgiveness for because we re not perfect. [Bottom Line] Everyone needs to be forgiven, even me. We need forgiveness every day. And I m SO glad that God knows what we need and that he offers forgiveness when we ask for it! 2016 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by (jpaganini/mbcloudoun/4.16). 3

252 Groups March 12, 2017, Week 2 Small Group, 2-3 Pray and Dismiss What You Need: No supplies needed Guide kids to pray: o Thank God that He does what He says He will and we can trust Him no matter what. o Give kids time to silently confess to God the sins they wrote on the dissolvable paper in the earlier activity. o Thank God for His forgiveness. o Ask for His help to remember everyone needs to be forgiven. As adults arrive to pick up, encourage kids to share with their parents what happened when they wrote their sin on the paper and put it in water, and what happens when they confess their sins to God. 2016 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com Adapted by (jpaganini/mbcloudoun/4.16). 4

Luke 15:11-13 Luke 15:11-13 Luke 15:14-16 Luke 15:14-16 Luke 15:17-20a Luke 15:17-20a Luke 15:20b-24 Luke 15:20b-24 What to Do: Copy on paper and cut apart along dashed lines. Make one set of Bible Story Cards for every 2-3 kids. Bible Story Cards March 2017, Week 2, Small Group 4-5 2017 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sin Sin Hits Rock Bottom Consequences of Sin Realizes he needs rescuing Confesses Hits Rock Bottom Consequences of Sin Realizes he needs rescuing Confesses Forgiveness Forgiveness What to Do: Sum It Up Cards Copy on paper and cut apart along dashed lines. Make one set of Sum It Up for every March 2017, Week 2, Small Group 4-5 2-3 kids. 2017 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Luke The Story of the Lost Son- Part One Directions: How would you write a short headline for each of the verses in the first half of the story about the lost son? With your partner, use the Bible to look at each of the verses from Luke 15:11-20. See if you can narrow it down to less than three words per verse. Chapter 15 Luke The Story of the Lost Son- Part One Directions: How would you write a short headline for each of the verses in the first half of the story about the lost son? With your partner, use the Bible to look at each of the verses from Luke 15:11-20. See if you can narrow it down to less than three words per verse. Chapter 15 v.11- v.12- v.13- v.14- v.15- v.16- v.17- v.18- v.19- v.20- v.11- v.12- v.13- v.14- v.15- v.16- v.17- v.18- v.19- v.20- Forgiveness is... Forgiveness is... What to Do: Copy and cut in half vertically. You need one for every two students A Brief History March 2017, Week 2, 5/6 Challenge 2017 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

READ COLOSSIANS 1:13-14 DAY 4 This verse is so powerful and so clear. God is the one who has brought us out of darkness and into freedom! And we haven t done anything to deserve it. We can only be free and forgiven because of what Jesus has done for us. Forgiven people are different. They re different in a good way. Forgiven people don t think too highly of themselves. They re willing to accept and love others instead of trying to make themselves look good. They know what s it like to mess up and then experience true freedom again. So here s the challenge. The people around us need to see the change that God has made in us. They need to see that we ve been rescued from the way we used to be. They need to experience God s forgiveness just like we have. We can show them that life can be filled with more joy and hope than they ever expected. Find a washable marker and write the letter F on one of your hands. It s an F for Forgiven. Let it remind you today that everyone needs to know God s forgiveness, just like you do. THINK ABOUT IT: 1. What are some ways that people can see the change God has made in our lives? 2. Sometimes it s hard to ask for forgiveness, but do you feel better or worse when you do? 3. Do you wish everyone could experience the kind of freedom you have as a forgiven person? What holds them back? READ LUKE 15:18 DAY 1 When you re in the car and the driver or you realize a wrong turn, what do you have to do? Right. You have to make a U-turn. That can be hard for some people. They keep driving; they try to find their own way out instead of backtracking to what they already know. They don t want to listen to any directions because they re just too frustrated or angry or stubborn. In the story Jesus told, the lost son was like that too. He had turned his back on his father, and he kept making it worse by making bad decisions and losing all his money. But eventually, he reached his turning point. He started thinking clearly again. He realized that everything that had gone wrong was actually HIS fault and he was willing to admit it. Is there an area of your life where you need to turn back toward God? Good news He always allows U-turns! THINK ABOUT IT: 1. When you ve done something wrong, do you tend to make excuses for it? 2. Why is it so hard to own up to those wrong decisions you ve made? 3. Read the verse again. What do you notice about the son s attitude when he decides to go back to his father? March 12 2ND-5TH

READ LUKE 15:20 DAY 2 In the story Jesus told, the son came back home because he wanted to make things right. He knew he had sinned against his father, and he was willing to admit it. He hoped his father might be willing to let him come back as a worker, if he was lucky. But the father had something else in mind. He was on the lookout for his son, hoping he could see him again. And when he did see him, he RAN to welcome him! The father only cared about one thing that the son he loved had come home. When we ve done something wrong, we get so worried because we feel like we need to make it up to God, or to the person we ve hurt. But forgiveness changes all that. To forgive someone is to let it go... to say, It s OK. You don t have to pay me back! The fact is everyone needs to be forgiven. You might feel like you need to earn your way back to make things right. But the only REAL way to make it right is to be willing to ask for forgiveness... and to be willing to forgive others too. THINK ABOUT IT: 1. Have you ever felt like the son in this story? Why? 2. Do you think the son could have ever imagined the response he got from his father? 3. Why do think it was important for Jesus to tell this story? READ PSALM 103:12 DAY 3 Do you ever get a do-over when you re playing a sport, like basketball or football? Maybe when you re practicing, or just throwing the ball around for fun. But in a real game, you would never get a second chance. If you mess up and miss the shot... if you get called for a crucial penalty... if you miss a ground ball and it rolls right through your legs... it s over! You d probably WISH you could go back and try again, like it never really happened. But that wouldn t be fair at all to the other team. They re more than happy to take advantage of your mistake so they can get the advantage. That s not the way it is with God, though. God is totally unfair with us in the best possible way! He takes the wrong things we ve done and he REMOVES them from us. It s like he puts them on the other side of the earth! Struggling to forgive a friend? Remember that God always gives you a doover. THINK ABOUT IT: 1. Think of a really famous error or mistake you ve seen an athlete make. 2. Do you think it was harder for the fans to forgive him, or for him to forgive himself? 3. H ow is God s forgiveness so much different from the normal ways of the world?