3 Seven are Chosen ACTS 6:1-8 KIDS WILL UNDERSTAND: The story of seven men chosen to help the apostles. That the seven men were chosen to help do God s work by caring for the poor and the widows. That we are chosen by God to do His work. JULY 27 2014
ACTIVITY This fun, simple activity will introduce the Bible story. Stand at the front of the room and pick 7 people from the room that have something in common, using whatever criteria you want. Those 7 people will have to come to the front of the room, while the rest of the kids will guess why they were chosen. Play several times, using different criteria. Here are some examples: 7 people who are all boys 7 people with long hair 7 people wearing tennis shoes 7 people sitting with their arms crossed 7 people with red on their outfit 7 people who are the oldest kid in their family 7 people with last names that start with the same letter 7 people with two-syllable first names 7 people who have a double letter in their first name (Annie, Bobby) Was it always easy to guess why I chose the 7 people I chose? Sometimes it was difficult to know why those particular 7 were chosen. You may not have always known right away why I chose those people; it wasn t real obvious. We may not always know right away why God chooses who He chooses to do His work, either. God has chosen all of us to do His work, and He chooses specific people for specific jobs. In today s Bible story, we ll learn about seven people who were chosen to do special work for God. GAME If you have a gym, a big outdoor yard, or another big open space, take the kids there to play this game. Form two teams to play a game that is similar to basketball. Set up two trashcans on opposite ends of the area, and assign each team their basket (trashcan). The teams will try to score points by getting the ball in their basket. 2 empty trashcans (with clean bags) 2 big balls large open space The catch is that no one is allowed to move. The kids will choose their spots (spread out across the open space) and pass the ball to each other by tossing it to their teammates with the object being to get a ball in their basket. The only way for the other team to get possession of a ball is by intercepting a pass and stealing a ball, or if one person drops it and someone from the other team gets it. But remember, you can t chase after a ball, because no one can move. Start the game by turning your back on the playing field and launching two balls onto the area (over your head). After the game, it is important to go over the follow-up questions so the kids will understand the importance of what they learned while playing. 2
Was it difficult to play this game when you couldn t move? Why or why not? How did you feel when you couldn t get the ball further because you couldn t move? How did it feel to have to depend on your teammates to help you score a basket? In our Bible story, we will learn that you can t do everything yourself; eventually you will drop the ball if you try to do too many jobs. That s where teammates come in. You need to call in other people to help do the job. We all need each other as we serve God and do His work. BIBLE ACCOUNT As you go through the Bible story, pause at the words in parentheses. These words are also on PowerPoint slides and indicate what the kids will say in response to what is going on in the story. Signal the kids when it s time for everyone to respond. Each set of words has an exclamation mark after it, so the kids should shout out these responses enthusiastically! PowerPoint slides The apostles worked hard to serve God. They preached the Gospel everywhere they went. (#1 -GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE!) They told everyone they met about God, and many people were saved! They were overjoyed! But there was SO MUCH work to do and some people started complaining to them. (#2 - WHAT A BUMMER!) That made the apostles sad, because they weren t being lazy. They were working really hard; they just didn t have enough time to do everything! (#3 - WHERE DOES THE TIME GO!) People complained that the widows and those who were poor were not being taken care of! Widows are women whose husbands have died, and in those days, it was very unusual for a woman to have a job to earn money. (#4 - THAT S SAD!) People were not taking care of the poor and the widows. The apostles put their heads together to come up with an idea. They thought for a while. (#5 - THINK, THINK, THINK!) Then, God gave them an idea! (#6 - I VE GOT IT!) They would choose 7 people to be in charge of the work of taking care of the widows and the poor. The apostles thanked God for giving them wisdom. (#7 - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!) They were excited, because this would really help them be able to do what God wanted them to do preach. They knew that this was a special job that needed special people. God helped the apostles choose the right people. They looked out into the crowd of people and chose seven. (#8 - CHOOSE ME, CHOOSE ME!) Some of the names of the people chosen were Stephen, Nicolas, Philip, and Timon. 3
Once the seven were chosen, the apostles laid hands on them and prayed over them, anointing them for the Holy Spirit to help them do the work of God. The seven were excited to get started! (#9 - WOO- HOO!) They were chosen by God to do His very important work! PUPPETS You will need an interesting prop for Puppet #1. Use Legos to create a crazy looking device and label it Chooser. If you re using this as a skit, you could use a weed whacker, a metal detector, or your own invention. Make sure you label it, though. 2 puppets Legos #1 (walking around with a device called a Chooser, holding it up in the air and waving it around) Hmmm I choose TIM to do my homework for me (name any kid in the audience.) #2 (enters) What in the world is that? #1 It s my Chooser. #2 You re what? #1 My Chooser! #2 And what does that crazy thing do? #1 It helps me choose people to do work for me. (Chooser starts to quiver) Oh, I think I m getting a reading right now. (points Chooser at #2) #2 Get that thing out of my face! #1 It s telling me to choose YOU to do my chores for me! #2 Oh no, I don t think so! #1 But that s what the Chooser says. #2 I am NOT doing your chores for you! Where did you get that? And why would you want to choose people to do your work for you? #1 I made this thing. Pretty nifty, huh? #2 It s pretty weird. What gave you the idea to make this thing? #1 Well, I heard the Bible story about the 7 men who were chosen to do the work of helping the apostles care for the widows and the poor. I just thought 4
#2 And you thought you would choose people to do your work for you? #1 Yeah! Isn t that awesome? My Chooser has already helped me choose a lot of people. Tim was chosen to do my homework for me. My brother was chosen to go to my softball practice for me. And now, you ve been chosen to do my chores. I think it s working out very well! #2 (shakes his head) I don t think you quite understand that Bible story. The apostles didn t choose the 7 men to do the work because they didn t want to do it. They weren t being lazy! #1 Really? #2 Really. They were so busy doing what God wanted them to do preach that they didn t have enough time to take care of the widows and orphans. It wasn t that they wanted to squirm out of their responsibilities; they just couldn t do everything! #1 How did they decide who to pick? I wonder if they had a Chooser! #2 I m sure they didn t have one of these wonderful devices. Helping the orphans and the widows was some of God s special work. When it came to choosing, the Holy Spirit helped the apostles pick the right 7 men to do His work. #1 Boy, I m glad I got that straightened out just in the nick of time. I won t have to tell Tim about the homework and my brother about the softball practice. (head offstage together) But, if you d like to do my chores, I think that can be arranged. OBJECT LESSON Place a bag of M&Ms in a container, but make sure there are only seven of the yellow M&Ms. (If you want to eat the candies later or give them to the kids, you will probably want to use some plastic gloves like cafeteria workers wear. The kids will be handling the M&Ms.) M&M candies container Choose one child to help you. Ask that child to close their eyes and reach into the container to draw out the 7 yellow M&Ms. Make a big deal over not looking into the container. When he/she is unsuccessful, put the M&Ms he drew out back into the container. Choose another child to try pulling out the 7 yellow M&Ms. They, too, will be unsuccessful. Do this with as many children as you like. 5
Why weren t we able to draw out the 7 yellow M&Ms? We couldn t find them because we couldn t see them. We didn t know what we were looking for. If I had told each of the volunteers to pull out the 7 yellow M&Ms and I had allowed them to see into the container, what do you think would ve happened? Yeah, they would ve found the 7 yellow M&Ms! How did the apostles know which 7 men to choose? Did they have a big X on their foreheads? These were just ordinary men and they didn t stand out from the crowd. God knew who they were, though. The apostles had God s Holy Spirit to direct them as they chose these 7 men to do a special job. The Holy Spirit helped them see who to choose. The apostles weren t just pointing into the crowd and hoping they would choose the right 7 men. If these 7 men were going to take care of the poor people and the widows, what do you think they were like? They probably had very tender hearts and enjoyed helping others. They were probably good at organizing things, so they could keep track of who needed help. They also probably knew how to communicate with others who could provide food and shelter for these people. And, they were probably good at handling money, because they would be collecting money and buying what the widows and poor people needed. God knew exactly which 7 men the apostles should choose for this job. God gives each of His followers special gifts that can be used for His kingdom. If I use my gifts and you use your gifts, the result will be more people believing in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. MESSAGE (show slide #2) Don t drop the ball! Give God your all! PowerPoint slides big ball Hold up a big ball and bounce it to yourself. Instruct the kids that every time you bounce the ball, everyone will freeze and shout, DON T DROP THE BALL! GIVE GOD YOUR ALL! as loud as they can. Practice a couple of times. God wants us to get in the game and serve Him. He has given us a job, and He has given us everything we need to do that job. What if the apostles had just ignored the complaints and ignored the poor and ignored the widows? What if they had dropped the ball on that important job? Would God s work have been done? Maybe, but the seven people God chose would have missed out on the opportunity to do His work. Don t miss out on the opportunities God gives you to serve Him. God could get someone else to do it if you won t, but He chose YOU for a specific job and purpose. Bounce the ball and shout with the kids, DON T DROP THE BALL! GIVE GOD YOUR ALL! 6
(show slide #3) We are all called to serve God. Sometimes we can get confused about what our job is as Christians. Some of us think it is our job to come to a church WE like where WE enjoy the music and WE get good snacks and prizes and WE have lots of friends and WE get served by the church. Or maybe we think we can just sit back and enjoy God and ask for things from Him WRONG. We are all called to serve God and serve others. Being a Christian and being a part of a church is not about us. What if all the players on a baseball team only thought about themselves? What if they never passed the ball to their teammates or tried to help each other get on base? Would the game work? Not very well! People who play sports know that it s not just about themselves; it s about helping others and thinking about people besides yourself. The apostles knew that too. That s why they dedicated their lives to serving God, and when there was a need, they selected seven Godchosen people who were also willing to dedicate their lives to serving others. Their lives are an inspiration to us and a reminder that we are all called to serve God. What have you done to serve God today? What have you done to care for someone else so far this morning? Pray that God would allow you to have the heart of a servant, rather than dropping the ball and thinking that it s all about you. Bounce the ball and shout with the kids, DON T DROP THE BALL! GIVE GOD YOUR ALL! (show slide #4) Give God your all. When we serve God, we need to use our gifts and our passions and our whole heart. We need to be dedicated to serving Him. Doesn t God deserve our very best? If you were playing in a big sports game, like the World Series in baseball, you wouldn t just jog from base to base and half-heartedly swing the bat, would you? How would you play? You d play like you wanted to win. You d give it your best! You d play with your whole heart in the game! Imagine that serving God is the World Series of jobs in your life it s the most important. Don t just get in the game. Pray about how God can use your life to serve others. Are there people in your life who need help? How can you help serve those people and help meet their needs? What is getting in the way of you serving God right now? How can you serve God more this week? Look up and read together Acts 6:7. What happened through the apostles? God did great things through these men. Because they were willing to give Him their all, many lives were changed! Bounce the ball and shout with the kids, DON T DROP THE BALL! GIVE GOD YOUR ALL! 7
(show slide #5) All positions are important. How many of you can name all the positions on a football team? There are a lot! Let s see how many we can name (quarterback, wide receiver, running back, offensive guard, lineman, tackle, full back). What do you think the game would be like without the quarterback? It wouldn t be a very good game! What about without the kicker? Or the referee, or the coach? Every position is important, and every job God gives us is important, too. Many of us have different ways of serving. There are many jobs where people serve right here in our church. Some people serve in the nursery, some in the music ministry, some in the youth ministry, some in an outreach ministry. All are important to God and all the players on God s team are important. The apostles knew that every person was important when they chose the seven people to help care for the poor and widowed people. Bounce the ball and shout with the kids, DON T DROP THE BALL! GIVE GOD YOUR ALL! (show slide #6) Don t be afraid to pass the ball. One more thing: we can t be afraid to pass the ball! Toss the ball to a student in the room. All our teammates are important, and we all need each other. The apostles knew that they couldn t do all the work on their own. That s why they called in some support some pinch hitters to fill in where they were needed. The seven men were chosen to take the ball from the apostles and make sure the important work with the poor and widows got done while the apostles did their jobs for God preaching the Gospel. Remember that it s good to pass the ball to your teammates and to work together to do God s work. Bounce the ball and shout with the kids, DON T DROP THE BALL! GIVE GOD YOUR ALL! SCIENCE EXPERIMENT You will absolutely blow your kids minds with this one! Practice beforehand so the experiment will go smoothly. Cut a 2-foot length of kite string and then wet the string. Tape one end to the inside bottom of one of the clear plastic cups. Make sure the string is stuck well. Fill the other cup about halfway and put a few drops of food coloring in it. Now, put the free end of the string in this colored water and hold onto it. Set the cup with the taped end of the string on a table. Hold the cup with the colored water above and off to the side of the cup on the table. You kite string scissors 2 clear plastic cups food coloring water tape 8
want the string to be taut, but not so tight that you re pulling the taped end out of the cup. Slowly pour the water out of the side of the top cup toward the string. The colored water should travel down the string and start filling the empty cup. For our purposes, only transfer some of the water; don t empty the colored water completely into the other cup. If you d like to see a video of this experiment, go to www.stevespanglerscience.com/content/science-video/traveling-water. What did we do with some of the colored water? We moved it over to the other cup. How does this experiment remind you of the story we ve been talking about today? Give the kids an opportunity to dig for some abstract thoughts. They can do this! The apostles had the responsibility of preaching and praying, but then they were also expected to take care of the poor and the widows. That was too much for them! They needed to transfer some of those responsibilities onto someone else. The Holy Spirit pointed out 7 men who had special gifts in taking care of the needs of widows and poor people, so some of the responsibilities of the apostles were transferred to those 7 men. Just like we transferred some of the colored water from one cup to the other, some of the responsibilities were transferred from the apostles to the 7 chosen men. ACTIVITY - VIDEO Kids love stories, and this one will resonate with sports fans and kids, even if they aren t into sports. Familiarize yourself with the story ahead of time, so you can tell it without reading. video online If you have internet access, show this video about Kurt Gibson to the kids. Start at the 55-second mark. http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=3364800 This is a true story about an old third string professional baseball player named Kurt Gibson. Have any of you ever heard of Kurt Gibson? He was an older baseball player on the Dodgers back in the 1980s. Because he was older and had two hurt knees, Kurt was considered a second or third string player. He was on the bench most of the time, but he was a great hitter. In 1988, before any of you were even born, the Los Angeles Dodgers made the World Series and were up against a team called the A s. This game was so close, and the Dodgers were losing by one run. The game was coming to a close and everyone was afraid the Dodgers were going to lose the World Series! It was the bottom of the ninth; there was one man on first base, and the Dodgers were batting against the best pitcher in the league! Their chances did not look good. Kurt s knees were hurting him and he had actually spent most of the game in the locker room with ice on them. But then, much to everyone s surprise, Kurt Gibson stepped up to bat as a substitute hitter. He must 9
have been nervous knowing that the World Series hinged on what happened when he swung that bat. The pitcher threw the ball, and Kurt Gibson swung as hard as he could. He hit the ball and the whole stadium watched it fly across the field. He did it! He hit a home run! He caused the Dodgers to win the World Series that year! Everyone jumped up and down and cheered! We might think that God can t use us, because we think of ourselves as second or third string workers for God, but even second or third string people can do amazing things for God. What might have happened if Kurt would ve stayed in the locker room that day? Despite the sore knees, Kurt knew he needed to do his part for the team, so he gave it everything he could. God is looking for people who are willing to do their part on His team and give it their all. PRAYER Before the service, use a permanent marker to write on some big balls. (Discount stores usually have these plastic balls for a dollar.) Write on each ball the following sentences, spaced out evenly around the ball. big balls permanent marker God, thank you for giving us a purpose. God, we will not drop the ball as we serve you. God, we praise you for caring about our needs. God, help us love the people you love. Form small groups and give each group a ball. The kids in each group will stand in a circle and bounce the ball to another person in the circle. Then, that person will bounce the ball to someone else. They will do this six times. On the sixth time when someone catches the ball, that person will look at his/her right thumb. Whatever sentence it is touching, that person will pray that sentence aloud for the group to hear, and then start the bouncing cycle again. The sentences don t have to be read in any particular order, and it s fine to repeat prayer sentences. The leader will stop the bouncing and close in a group prayer committing to serve God however He chooses to use us. ACTIVITY Put a bunch of socks in a laundry basket. Make sure there is a wide variety of kinds/colors of socks and that they are mixed well. Form groups of six kids. Each group will have the same objective: to get 4 pairs of socks wrapped in wrapping paper and delivered to the designated person. The groups will give a job to each person. The jobs are: laundry basket lots of socks wrapping paper tape scissors masking tape 10
Person #1 will go to the laundry basket and find 2 socks that match. Deliver them to person #2. Person #2 will lay the socks on top of one another and roll them into a Tootsie Roll. Then, they will take a piece of masking tape and wrap the tape around the socks to hold them in place. Give the socks to #3. Person #3 will cut a piece of wrapping paper to wrap the socks in and deliver the paper and socks to #4 and #5. Persons #4 and #5 will wrap the socks. Once the socks are wrapped, person #6 will deliver the socks to the designated person. As soon as person #1 delivers his first pair of matched socks, he can go back to the laundry basket to find another pair. The teams do not have to wait for a pair of socks to be delivered to the end person before starting on the next pair of socks. The kids are not allowed to do someone else s job. How were you able to get your socks wrapped successfully? Was everyone able to do their job? Did everyone know how to do their job? Did you find that after you did your job a couple of times that it was easier and you got better at it? The apostles had the job of preaching. They weren t able to do that AND take care of the widows and poor people. Even though taking care of the widows and the poor is a good thing, that was not the job they were supposed to be doing. The 7 men who were chosen were exactly the right people. When they did their job and the apostles did their job, then the work of God s kingdom got done. The result was that many people were added to the Kingdom! BLESSING You are chosen by God to serve Him in great ways. 11
EXTRA OPTIONS SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION 2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. memory verse slide balls Put the memory verse on the screen and go over it a few times with the kids so they are familiar with it. Then, turn it off before starting the game. This game is similar to Hot Potato, but with balls. The kids will spread out all over an open area. Throw several balls into the crowd, and play some loud praise music. The kids will bounce the balls to each other (not THROW them AT each other). When the music stops, all the kids who are holding a ball (or the last one to touch a ball) will say the memory verse. Then, start the music and bouncing again. TAKE HOME SOUVENIR small balls As they are heading out the door, give each child a small ball to take home. As you hand each child a ball say, Don t drop the ball. Instruct the kids to respond when they get their ball with, I ll give my all! KNOW YOUR BIBLE In the Bible story, we learned about some men called the apostles. But what is an apostle? Does anyone know? Can anyone be an apostle? Are you an apostle? The word apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos. Can everyone say that with me? That word means, one who was sent by God. It is someone who is chosen and sent by God to do specific work for Him. 12
There were many people in the New Testament called apostles. They were people called and chosen by God and anointed by His Holy Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit filled them and helped them work. Apostles are given wisdom by God, and they are leaders for God. The jobs apostles did were varied, but they all built up people for the Kingdom. They developed other people as spiritual leaders, like the seven we learned about in today s Bible story. They built the early church. GAME This review game will help reinforce what the kids learned in today s lesson. We ve talked about not dropping the ball today, but now we re going to try to not drop the balloon. Form groups of about 6. Each group will send one player to the front. These kids will stand in a circle. The leader will throw out a blown-up balloon and the kids in this circle will try to keep the balloon from dropping. Be gentle and keep it going. Don t drop the balloon! When the balloon finally does hit the floor, ask these kids to answer one of the questions below. They will return to their groups and then send another player to take their place. balloons What kind of work were the apostles doing at the beginning of the Bible story? (preaching the Gospel) How many people did the apostles choose? (seven) What two jobs did they choose the seven people to do? (help the widows and the poor people) Why were people complaining? (because the poor and widows were being neglected) Why weren t the apostles able to preach and help the poor and take care of the widows? (they didn t have enough time to do all of it) Can you name at least one of the seven men chosen? (Stephen, Nicolas, Philip, and Timon) Name something you can do to serve God. 13