The Materials! Bibles! The Gospel: God s Plan for Me Flyers and Booklets! Calendar! Family Mission Flyer! Psalm 19:14 Pins! Lanyards! Paper plates (1 st 3 rd grade)! Markers (1 st 3 rd grade)! Beanbag (4 th -5 th grade) Get Their Attention! (5 min) Materials: None INTRODUCE yourself and ASK the children to introduce themselves. I m so glad you came to church today. I have a question that I d like a few of you to answer. What is something that someone has done to you that was hard for you to forgive*? (*NOTE TO LEADERS: As always, if a child shares something alarming that they have experienced, such as physical, mental, or emotional abuse, be certain to inform your coach or CF Kids director.) Thank you so much for sharing. It can be hard to forgive someone when they do something to hurt you or make you angry. When we remember that Jesus forgives us, it can help us to forgive others, too! SHARE the Need to Know for today. (15-20 min) Materials: Bibles, The Gospel: God s Plan for Me Resources SHARE this information with the children: One day, Peter asked Jesus, When someone won t stop doing wrong to me, how many times do I have to forgive them? Like 7 times? Jesus answered, You must forgive them more than seven times. You should forgive them even if they keep doing wrong to you even 77 times! That s something that s easy to say, but hard to do, isn t it? It s difficult to understand why we should forgive someone if they did something that hurt us. Jesus knew that forgiving people would be difficult for us, so He told Peter a story to help Peter understand why we should forgive others and how we can forgive others. Let s open our Bibles together and see what Jesus said. FIND and READ Matthew 18:23-27.! Situation cards (age-specific) DISCUSS the following questions: 1
The 1. Did the king in Jesus story forgive his servant or take all his servant s lunch money? (He forgave his servant.) 2. Can you think of a time you did something wrong or owed someone something, and they forgave you the way this king forgave His servant? (Let children share.) So far in the story, we ve read that a servant owed his master a TON of money, and His master decided to forgive him and not make him pay all that money. Let s see what happened next. READ Matthew 18:28-31. 3. Did the servant forgive his friend who owed him money? (No!) Well, that doesn t make much sense does it? The servant had just been forgiven by his master and he owed his master a HUGE sum of money! But when a friend did the same thing to him, he didn t forgive. Instead, he hurt his friend! 4. We owe Jesus much more than money. We owe Him our lives. Jesus gave His own live to take the punishment for our sins. If you ve asked God to forgive you for your sins, has He forgiven you? (YES!) 5. Why do you think we should forgive others? (Because God forgave us.) Jesus told Peter this story for a reason. He was trying to help Peter see that the reason we can forgive others is because God first forgave us. Just like that king forgave his servant, the servant should have forgiven his friend. READ Matthew 18:32-. Because the king s servant found out that he was not forgiving to his friend, he wound up punishing the servant after all. 6. How can your words show that you forgive someone? (By saying, It s okay, or I forgive you etc.) God forgives us when we do something wrong. In the same way, our 2
The Memory Verse May these words of my mouth, (point to mouth) And this meditation of my heart; (point to heart) Be pleasing in your sight, (point up) My rock and my Redeemer. (smack fist into hand) Psalm 19:14 words can show others that we forgive them, too! When Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose three days later, He forgave us once and for all, for every bad thing we ever did and every bad thing we will do in the future! When we remember that He did this for us, it s easier for us to forgive others when they do bad things, because we know that we are just like the people who hurt us we all mess up and we all need Jesus to forgive us. (Invite any child who is ready to trust in Jesus as Savior to talk and pray with you before leaving today. Use The Gospel: God s Plan for Me Flyer to share the Gospel with those children. Fill out the Decision Card on the back of the flyer for any child who prays to accept Jesus as their Savior. Give that card to your CF Kids Director or Coach. Give The Gospel: God s Plan for Me Booklet to any child who gives his/her life to Christ! ) REPEAT the Need to Know together. PRAY with your group. Dear God, thank You so much for forgiving us when we do wrong. Help us to forgive others when they do wrong things, too. We love You! In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Memory Verse & Prayer Time (10 min) Materials: Psalm 19:14 Pin, Lanyards Throughout our Out in the Wild: Arctic Chill series, we are learning Psalm 19:14. If you can say the whole passage to me by next weekend, I will give you a Psalm 19:14 Pin! Do you think any of you are ready to recite it on your own today? (Allow kids who are prepared an opportunity to recite. Award a Psalm 19:14 pin to any child who can do so accurately. If that is the child s first pin, give him/her a lanyard.) PRACTICE the memory verse a few times, one phrase at a time (with hand motions), while the kids repeat after you. Then, divide your group into five smaller groups. Assign the first four groups one phrase of the verse, and assign the fifth group the reference, Psalm 19:14. Point to each group in order, as the kids recite their portion. ASK the children to share their prayer requests. Write the requests down so that you can continue to pray for the children throughout the week. Then, PRAY with your group. 3
CF Kids on Mission (5 min) Materials: February Family Mission Flyer GIVE the following challenge: We want to always live on mission. Our mission is to make fully devoted followers of Christ. Do you know that Jesus wants every single person in your neighborhood to follow Him? He does! Jesus has placed you in your neighborhood to shine like a light for Him. I am challenging each of your (and your families) to participate in our Neighborhood Prayer Walk. (Show Mission Flyer) That is your February Family Mission. (Highlight the information on the flyer.) If you complete this challenge with your family, I want you to tell me about it! Once you share your story here at small group, I will give you a Prayer Walk Pin for your lanyard. The Remember, we have our very own CF Kids Valentine s Day Cards! You can give these cards away this week as you celebrate Valentine s Day. There is an invitation on the back of the cards so that you can invite your friends to our Sugar Rush event here at CF Kids next weekend. If you haven t picked yours up yet, think about how many you ll need for your classmates and the kids in your neighborhood, and take them with you today! Application Activity (This activity is to be used if you have extra time.) Materials: Paper Plates (1st -3rd grade), Markers (1st 3rd grade), Situation Cards (for 1st 3rd grade), Beanbag (4th 5th grade), Situation Cards (For 4th-5th grade) GRADES 1-3 1. Give each child a paper plate and place markers in the middle of the circle. 2. Allow kids to draw a smiley face on one side of the paper plate and a frowney face on the other side of the paper plate. 3. Kids will take turns drawing a situation card from the pile. Read the card to the group. 4. If the person on the card used words that forgave, kids will show the smiley face side of the paper plate. If the person on the card did not use words that forgave, kids will show the frowney face side of the paper plate. 5. Play until each child has had a turn or all of the cards are used. 4
The GRADES 4-5 1. Divide group into two teams. 2. Allow teams to sit in two straight lines facing each other. Place a beanbag between the last two people in the lines. 3. Kids will hold hands with the people beside them. Everyone EXCEPT the first person in line will close his or her eyes. 4. The leader will flip the first situation card for the first people in the lines to read. If the person in the situation used their words to forgive, the first people in line will squeeze the hand of the person beside them. Kids will squeeze hands all the way down the line, and then the last people will grab the beanbag. The first team to grab the beanbag gets a point. If the person in the situation did NOT use their words to forgive, the first people will NOT squeeze hands. If a team grabs the beanbag when it was NOT a forgiving situation, the team loses a point. 5. After each round, read the card to the group and allow the kids to rotate positions so that each child gets to be first and last in line. 6. Play as time allows. When someone does something wrong, you should forgive them just like Jesus forgave you. REPEAT the Need to Know together. 5