LESSON 3: GIVE YOUR BEST AND LET GOD DO THE REST! Teacher & Co-Teacher using Watch & Train DVD Watching the Bible Story and Skit on DVD Purpose Statement: This Skit and Bible Story will teach the children that it is our job to tell the world about Jesus and we should do our best at that job without worrying about how people respond. Materials/Props Needed: Lesson 3 DVD materials, 1 large bucket, 1 stopwatch, lots of throw-able objects (playpen balls, crumpled paper, etc.). 1 Lead the children through the opening activity Not My Job. Begin Worship Time. 1 Logo Note: For this lesson use Sound Track CD # 1. # 1 (CD Track # 1) Hello, my traveling friends. It is great to see you back here! CO- And where is here exactly? Why this is Upsidedown Town of course! I thought you would have figured that out by now. CO- Yeah, I knew...i was just hoping that maybe this time it would be somewhere more normal. I see, well I do have an idea that will cheer you up. CO- Going somewhere more normal? 2 Nope. Our opening song! Everybody up! Teacher and Co-Teacher lead the children in singing the song. 2 Opening Song (CONT D) Now that was fun! (to Co-Teacher) Right, my friend? 1 2009 Fellowship Church
3 CO- Yeah, I ll admit that song is pretty catchy. And speaking of catchy...you just gave me a great idea for another great Upside Down Challenge! (to children) I need some volunteers who are good at catching things! 3 Upside Down Challenge CO- No I said catchy...not catching! Don t be modest, it was a great idea! The next section of the lesson is a relay game. You can split the children into two teams or have one team and use a stopwatch to try and get the fastest time. The catcher(s) will hold a bucket and the throwers will throw objects (crumpled paper, foam balls, etc.) from the other side of the room/stage. The catchers will try to catch as many objects as possible in the allowed time or until all the objects have been thrown. However, for the first round of the game, the catcher(s) will hold the bucket upside down. Obviously it will be next to impossible to catch anything this way. The Teacher will have the children start over, but this time they will hold the bucket right side up. After the game the Teacher will wrap up the activity using the following lines. (CONT D) Great job throwers and great job catchers! Now let me ask you something. Was the game even worth playing during that first round? Was it working very well to hold the bucket upside down? (allows the children to answer) CO- Of course it wasn t working. The bucket was upside down! Exactly. Things don t work out very well when they are upside down. And that is why we are here in Upsidedown Town. When we don t live life the way God wants, we are living upside down. We re here to learn the right way to live. Then we ll be right side up and things will work out a lot better for us. Today we re talking about doing our best and focusing on what is important. But to really understand this idea...i think we need to see the exact opposite! CO- That doesn t make sense. 2 2009 Fellowship Church
4 Neither do a lot of the people here in Upsidedown Town. Let s meet one of them shall we? Do we have to? CO- Indeed we do. His name is Warren and I think you ll find him... interesting. Note: Play Skit Video chapter # 4 followed by Race Video 5 chapter # 5. Race Video CO- Wait a minute...warren never actually did any work? He just worried himself out of jobs? 4 5 Skit Video Yes. That s insane! CO- You re right. All Warren had to do was focus on his one job and then do his best. I know Warren s behavior seemed kind of silly, but we act the same way sometimes. Raise your hand if you ve ever worried about something before. (allows children to respond) Yes, all of us have at some point. And if you re anything like me, you worried about it, worried about it some more and then kept on worrying about it. The thing to remember is this: worrying doesn t help. In all situations we can only do our best and then we need to let God handle the rest. 6 Hey, that rhymed. CO- I know...because that is our Main Point: Give Your Best And Let God Do The Rest! Everyone stand up and help us make this a Main Point we ll remember! That means loud shouting and big motions! 6 Main Point The Teacher leads the children by first demonstrating the Main Point with motions. These motions should be similar to cheerleader-type hand motions. The Teacher can make up the motions or have the children help come up with them. Once everyone has gone over the Main Point have the children repeat it with motions two or three times. 3 2009 Fellowship Church
CO- Well, if the people of Upsidedown Town didn t know we were here before...they definitely do after that. I think you re right, my friend. That was great shouting, everyone. Instead of being like Warren and worrying all the time, we should just do the best job we can and then let God handle the rest. This is especially true when it comes to telling people about God and Jesus. God has given all of us the job of telling the world about Him. That means your friends at school, your neighbors on your street and even people in other countries. We should tell everyone about God and His Son Jesus. Now this isn t an easy job, and it can have a lot of details to it. People might not respond well to the news, they might not care or they might get angry. They might even make fun of us for our beliefs. But it isn t our job to worry about those things. Our job is to do what God tells us and spread the message. God will take care of the rest. So far we ve seen what happens when someone lives life upside down and just worries about everything. Let s see what it looks like when someone lives life right side up and just focuses on the job at hand and giving the best. I m talking, of course, about our Bible Story for today. So if you brought your Bibles today, please open them up and turn to Mark chapter 4. Allow children time to look up the Bible story before starting. You may need to help younger children find the Bible reference. 7 Main Point 7 Note: Play Bible Story Video chapter # 7. CO- I never realized that we really do have the most important job in the world; telling others about Jesus. 8 Yes, and if we sit around worrying about what our friends might think of us, or about getting teased, we may never do that job. And then we really aren t living life as God wants us to. We re living upside down. I know that telling other people about Jesus might not always be easy, and that s why I have this Bible Verse handy. It helps give me courage and helps me focus on what is important. 8 Bible Verse Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. NLT (CONT D) I like how it phrases things. Do not depend on your own understanding. God knows more than I will ever know, so if I depend on my own understanding, instead of trusting God, I m just going to end up worrying. 4 2009 Fellowship Church
CO- Yeah, when you put it that way, it doesn t make sense for us to worry when we could just do our best and trust God to guide us. I think it s amazing that God loves us and trusts us by giving us the most important job in the world. Think about it. He s the God of the entire universe and we get to tell other people about Him. Let s all worship Him and thank Him for His love. Everybody up. 9 Song 9 # 1 10 11 12 # 4 Teacher and Co-Teacher lead the children in singing the song. (CD Track # 1) Thank you for worshiping with us. We re going to continue learning about our job and how we can avoid worrying in our Small Groups. (28) Note: If you are staying in your room, transition to the Small Group activities by reviewing the Main Point. You can have the children say it fast, slow, while hoping on one foot, or even while walking around the room. Challenge them to get back to their seats before you can finish reciting the Main Point. If your Small Group(s) travel to a second room or location, have the children repeat the Main Point while walking in various ways. Ex: Marching, skipping, crawling, walking backwards, pretending to fly, etc. SMALL GROUPS Note: The offering time can take place in either the Large Group time or the Small Group time. If you take up the offering during your Small Group, then skip the next section of the Large Group script. OFFERING (CD Track # 4) Now that we re finished with our Small Groups, I want us to continue to worship God with our offering. This is another important way to worship God. We give back to Him a portion of what He has given us. This is our way of saying thanks and showing that we trust God to provide for us. Let s pray. 10 11 Small Group Logo MP Still 12 Offering Lead the children in prayer. If you want to, include elements of the lesson you are teaching today. For instance, today we are talking about doing our best with the job God has given us. So you might say Dear God, we have the best news in the world. And we know it is our job to deliver that news to everyone. Help us to do our best with that job. Help us to focus on You and not to worry. Amen. Take up the offering. 5 2009 Fellowship Church
13 CO- Thank you for worshiping with us. (to Teacher) And now that we ve learned our lesson, we can leave this silly place and never come back. Um...no. We still have our review game! It s time for Milton McGoo s Upsidedown Town Review! Answer these questions and show us what you ve learned. 13 Review Game Note: Lead the children through the questions. Hit play when a child has given you the right answer. CLOSING # 1 CO- (CD Track # 1) Okay, now we can leave and never come back, right? Well, we do get to leave, but we ll be back again really soon. Rats! CO- Great job, everyone! Don t forget what we learned about here in Upsidedown Town today: Give Your Best And Let God Do The Rest! We ll see you back here next time! 6 2009 Fellowship Church