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This Just In Series at a Glance for Elevate ABOUT THIS SERIES The Bible is rich with stories about Jesus. Often times, we reference Jesus without being able to learn more about who He is. Through this series, we will look at some stories in the Bible with Jesus as the main character. Each week we will discover specific characteristics of Jesus and how we can be more like him! MEMORY VERSE 1 Peter 2:21 He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. WEEKLY OVERVIEW Lesson Topic Big Idea Jesus is our Friend! Matthew 8:23-27 Jesus is always with us, whatever comes our way! Lesson 2 July 9/10 Jesus is Powerful! Mark 5:21-34 Jesus is powerful and always ready to help! Lesson 3 July 16/17 Jesus is Caring! John 11:30-44 Jesus cares about us! Lesson 4 July 23/24 Jesus is Provider! John 6:1-15 Jesus can provide for us! Lesson 5 July 30/31 Jesus is our Leader! John 3:16 We can follow Jesus as the Leader of our life! 2
- Jesus is our Friend! This Just In Series at a Glance for Elevate (cont.) To launch this series, we will be learning how Jesus is always with us. We are either in troubled times, coming out of troubled times, or about to go through troubled times. Either way, Jesus is always by our side. He is our friend! How can we be friends to others? July 9/10 - Jesus is Powerful! This weekend, we will discover that in a crowd of people surrounding Jesus, one woman who had a severe sickness reached out and simply touched Jesus robe and was healed! Jesus is powerful and always ready to help! How can we help out others? July 16/17 - Jesus is Caring! Jesus felt all the same feelings that we do! He felt joy, love, and sadness. When Jesus heard that His friend Lazarus was dead, he wept. Jesus cares about us and cries with us and for us. How can we care for others around us? July 23/24 - Jesus is Provider! One of Jesus best known miracles occurred when he fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus provided more than just food. We will learn that when we give Jesus something, he can do incredible things with it. July 30/31 - Jesus is our Leader! We see the verse John 3:16 all over the place. Using that verse as the backbone to this message, we will learn that God loves us so much! That God gave us Jesus, and that if we believe Jesus died and rose from the dead then we receive the free gift of life in Heaven forever someday. Jesus is the ultimate leader and worth following! 3
What You Need to DO and KNOW Each Week Opening Do This: Encourage everyone to gather near the stage, and have FUN! Give high-fives, welcome the kids by name, dance to the music, and let kids know we re going to have fun today! Interact with the crowd! Create a buzz about what is going to happen. Know This: This is intended to be a fun time! You as the leader need to set that standard so kids can feel comfortable. If you re not willing to open up and be silly, they won t either. It s ok if some kids are shy or stand-offish, but YOU should model what we d like to see! Welcome Do This: Greet the kids with enthusiasm without being overwhelming. Know This: During this time you are working to gain the kids trust. Something as simple as telling them what is going to happen during the hour can help relieve some anxiety that they may have. We will also gain their trust by showing them that this is a place that is not weird or different from what they see in other places. Worship Do This: Perform the provided actions to the songs and demonstrate enthusiastic worship for kids. Encourage kids to join in, but don t force them to participate. Read aloud any verses that are on the screen (unless the song features a voice over). Direct the kids attention towards God. Call out upcoming lyrics when appropriate and help the kids engage in singing. Know This: It s okay if some kids don t sing or do actions to the songs. They may worship by just reflecting on the lyrics and listening. Our music set is generally made of high-energy songs to help kids get engaged in worship. Media Do This: Sit or stand to the side of the screen (s). Watch the media and appear engaged with appropriate non-verbals. Know This: Although this is a good time to catch your breath and gather your thoughts, you are still technically on. Kids may be looking at you to see if you are watching the videos, and if you don t look engaged, they may not choose to engage either. Prayer Do This: Ask the kids to be respectful and quiet; you will pray out loud, while they pray quietly in their hearts and heads. Sit or crouch down and engage the kids as you pray. Know This: We want the kids to learn how to pray by seeing you model this. Feel free to say your own prayer this one is simply a suggestion. Bible Verses & Memory Verse Do This: Read any verses from the side screen aloud. Make the memory verse fun! After you ve read it, do something silly like challenge the boys to be louder than the girls, jump up and down, add actions, or have the kids recite the verse using different voices. 4
This Just In Lesson Outline for Elevate : Jesus Is Our Friend Lesson Segment Total Running Time Opening Song (2:00) Welcome (3:00) Worship (10:00) 0:00-15:00 Bumper Video (1:00) Lesson Intro (6:00) Booger Remix: Part 1 (4:00) Share Your Story (3:00) Memory Verse (5:00) Booger Remix: Part 2 (4:00) Message (8:00) Wrap Up (3:00) 15:00-49:00 Game Time (11:00) 49:00-60:00 Video Cue Slide Cue Audio Cue Tech Notes 5
Opening Song 2:00 (Roll when directed) Elevate Opener Hey everybody! It s time to get started, so please clean up your areas, turn off the games, and if you have popcorn, throw it away. Then come on over and join me by the stage! We are going to have a lot of fun today, so as you come on over, give as many people as you can some knuckles, or pound it as they say! Do This: Go into the audience and give knuckles. (Auto advance) Elevate Slide and Underscore Welcome 3:00 Welcome to Elevate everyone! You can go ahead and take a seat. My name is, and it is awesome to see you here today. We also love having new friends join us. If this is your first time here to Elevate, welcome! Today, we are going to be singing a couple songs, learning some things together, and having a lot of fun. Before we get to any of that, let s catch up with our friend Lindsey, who has a question for us. Check out the side screens. Would You Rather Lindsey Question Slide Do This: Emcee as the kids are sharing their answers. If time allows, you can ask a couple of kids to share their examples with the larger group. 6
! Worship 10:00 Do This: If the worship team did not do the welcome, the teacher should invite them to the stage at this time. Worship Slide We are going to spend some time together worshipping God. Worshipping God is a way we can connect with Him and show how much we love Him. There are so many ways to worship God! Did you know that you can worship God by reading the Bible? Even just reading some verses can be worship. Let's read a verse together right now. Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good. His faithful love continues forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34 When a verse says to give thanks, it means we just can thank God for being so good. Maybe you want to thank God for the fun plans you have today. Maybe you are thankful for how loved you feel. Maybe you are thankful because you were sick but are feeling better. Whatever it is, we can thank God for so many things. God loves us so much! Let's continue in our worship to God by singing. Feel free to sing along if you know the songs. If you don t know the songs and just want to listen, that is great too! Let s start today out by getting down! Sing it out and follow along if you can! Song 1: Get Down (Auto advance) Worship Slide 7
! That is such a fun song! It is so fun to see you get down and then get up so fast. One of the great parts of that song is the words, I get down, He lifts me up. When we have a day that makes us feel down, and then we feel like it gets better, that s a reason to be thankful to God! Let s sing one more song together! Song 2: This Is Our Time (Auto advance) Worship Slide Did you know that we can worship AND have fun all at the same time? It s true. That was some great singing and dancing around everyone! Let s take a moment to talk to God, which we call praying. God, thank you so much for a great day! Thank you for the different ways we can worship you. Thank you for loving us. Amen. Lesson Intro 6:00 Do This: During the bumper video, the teacher comes on stage as the worship team leaves. Bumper Video (Auto advance) This Just In Welcome to Elevate everyone! My name is, and it is great to see all of you! I hope you are having a great summer so far. Today we begin a brand new series called, This Just In and we are going to be learning more about who Jesus is. Many of us might hear about Jesus over Christmas as we talk about Jesus birth. And some of us might hear about Jesus over Easter as we remember and honor what Jesus 8
did for us on the cross when he died for us and rose from the dead. But what happened to Jesus in-between his birth and death? Through this series, we are going to talk about the truth that Jesus really did grow up and had friends, and he actually did some incredible things like miracles, and Jesus demonstrated how to have the best life possible. We are going to get to know the kind of man Jesus was and is and learn more about the excellent example he set out for us. Do This: Take out or reference the umbrella but do not open it yet. This is an umbrella. Do any of you have a special umbrella? What color or style do you have? Do This: Let kids interact and talk about their umbrella. Those sound like really cool umbrellas. Why do we use an umbrella? Do This: Use a white board or flip board to write down some answers. While you are writing the kids answers, write down the words PROTECT, FRIENDS, and STORMS if they are not mentioned. You re right. We use umbrellas for those things. We use them also to PROTECT us from the rain. We don t always want to get wet and when we use an umbrella it helps us from getting soaked! Umbrellas can also be used with FRIENDS. We might share our umbrella with a friend so they can stay out of the rain too. And of course we use umbrellas when there are STORMS. What is the difference between raining and a storm? Well, a storm is usually much stronger. Usually the winds are blowing around, and there can be lightning and thunder in a storm. Let s think of this as if it were your day. If you had a rainy day, your day might just be a little down. Things maybe didn t go the way you wanted to. Maybe you didn t pass the test you wanted to do well on. Maybe you got in a fight with your brother or sister. That would feel like a rainy day. Some of us might have had a time we felt like there was a storm. A storm might be like if your dad got a new job and you have to move to a different house. You might feel like a storm is happening if your grandpa got really sick and is in the hospital. Maybe you feel like you are in a storm because your mom and dad are getting separated or even divorced. That would certainly feel like a storm. Life can be full of storms. Some of you might go through smaller storms and some of you might be dealing with big storms. Some of you might actually feel like you are in a 9
storm right now and might have some tough stuff to figure out. That might sound a little scary and sad, but I have some great news! Did you know that you never ever have to be alone in those tough situations? This just in. This Just In Jesus is always with us whatever comes our way. Jesus is always with us whatever comes our way. No matter what is going on in life, whether things are going well or if we have a tough situation to deal with, Jesus is always by our side. Today, we are going to learn more about that! Video One 4:00 We are going to learn more about this idea today, but first let s catch up with a couple of our friends that some of you might recognize. Booger Video, Pt. 1 Share Your Story 3:00 (Auto advance) This Just In That storm sure looked pretty scary. I hope Lindsey is okay. Have you ever been in a storm or in a difficult situation? Have you ever felt like things were really tough? I remember when 10
Do This: Share a 2-minute appropriate, relevant personal story about a time that you were in a tough season but knew God was with you and share the Bible verse that helped you. That experience was really difficult, but I knew that I was not alone. I knew that Jesus was with me through that situation because I read about that fact in the Bible. Memory Verse 5:00 Each series we learn or review a memory verse. This week our Bible verse comes from the New Testament. Before we get to our Bible verse, let s take a one-question Bible quiz! What is the name of the last book of the Bible? A) Bananarama B) Revelation C) Elevator The correct answer is, B) Revelation. Revelation is the last book of the Bible. Isn t it cool to learn new things about the Bible? Let s check out the memory verse for this week. I would like us all to read this together. (Memory Verse) 1 Peter 2:21 He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. Great job everyone! Let s read it one more time but this time we will hop on one foot when we read it. Ready? Go! Do This: Have fun and feel free to be a little silly with this. That was so great! Sometimes when we do silly things like hop on a foot, it helps us to remember what we are doing. When this verse starts out with He, it is talking about Jesus! So we could really read this saying, Jesus is your example, and you must follow in his steps. 11
This verse is telling us that Jesus is our leader and worth following! We must follow in Jesus steps because when we do, we will make better choices. Jesus lived a perfect life, so we know if we are following his example, then we will be living the best life possible. Video 2 4:00 Let s get back to Booger and Lindsey and see what happened during that storm. Booger Remix, Pt. 2 Message 8:00 (Auto advance) This Just In I m thankful that Booger and Lindsey knew how to deal with that storm. I sure hope Lindsey finds Mrs. Picklepants soon. We ll just have to catch up with them next time and see. We are going to really get to know Jesus through the This Just In series. Isn t it cool to know that Jesus really did walk around and hang with people. And Jesus had friends! Maybe he even played soccer and football with his buddies as a kid. Jesus brushed his hair like we did and he took baths probably and cleaned his teeth. He got dressed and Jesus went to school and he grew up. Jesus might have been bummed just like we are when we don t win our games. Today we are going to look at a story from the Bible, which is God s true words to us. We can absolutely trust what it says. This story is from the book of Matthew, chapter 8. Before we start this story, it is important that you understand that when we get to this 12
story a lot had already happened with Jesus. He had done some amazing things like miracles. He had healed sick people. He had changed water into wine. Jesus fed a bunch of people with two loaves of bread and five fish! Jesus had been showing people that while he was just like you or me, he was also God. When we hear this story, it is much like watching a movie from the middle. We aren t starting from the beginning of Jesus story, and we are not at the end of it. Let s find out what happened! Do This: Read this next section out of the Kid s Quest Bible, page 1241. Jesus got into a boat. His disciples followed him. Suddenly a terrible storm came up on the lake. The waves crashed over the boat But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him up. They said, Lord! Save us! We re going to drown! Matthew 8:23-25 Let s stop for a second. If you were in the middle of a huge lake and a massive storm came over you and you were rocking back and forth, being tossed and turned all over the place, you d be scared too right? These followers were fishermen too! Think about that for a moment. The men in the boat are used to being in a boat. They were used to weather not always being good. If these professional fishermen were scared of the storm, it was a VERY bad storm. Imagine these fishermen in a boat and they are scared of the storm that is around them. Then imagine looking over and seeing Jesus. He wasn t scared of the storm. Maybe he was even cutting his fingernails during all of this. Maybe he wasn t, but Jesus was pretty awesome. These fishermen know that Jesus had done some amazing things already. They had followed Jesus all over the place. They had handed Jesus the bread and fish and watched with their own eyes what Jesus did when he fed over 5,000 people! And now they were calling out to Jesus because they thought they were going to die! Listen to what Jesus says to them: He replied, Your faith is so small! Why are you afraid? Matthew 8:26 Do This: Go back to umbrella and pick it up but do not open it up yet. 13
Let s stop right there for a moment. The disciples were Jesus friends and they were afraid so they called out to Jesus. Jesus listened to them! Listening is a great way to be a friend to others. Jesus didn t just listen to them, though. He took action. Here is what the Bible says happened. Know This: Read the next Bible verse from the script. It is the Bible Gateway NiRV version, which is slightly different than Kids Quest. Then He stood up. He spoke sharp words to the wind and the waves. Then the wind stopped blowing. 27 Then men were surprised and wondered about it. They said, What kind of a man is He? Even the winds and the waves obey Him. Matthew 8:26-27 Isn t that awesome? Jesus stood up in the middle of chaos and spoke words to the wind and waves. I wonder what he actually said! Jesus was so powerful that he only had to speak and the winds and waves chilled out. This story is remarkable for a number of reasons. From this story in the Bible, we know that there are storms. We know that the disciples or followers of Jesus actually went through a rain storm on the lake. But remember from earlier when we talked about a storm could also be a tough time in our lives? The people that were the closest to Jesus, the people that knew Jesus the best and actually ate and hung out with Jesus even they had do deal with tough times! We know that when we have Jesus in our lives, we will still have situations that are no fun to go through, but isn t it incredible to know that Jesus never leaves us? We may not see it coming, but Jesus is with us when we are in the middle of tough times in our life. He never leaves us. Jesus is our friend. He didn t leave the disciples when they were scared and in a boat. He didn t leave them then, and he won t leave us today. Jesus is always with us and never leaves us. Jesus left us an example on how we can live the best life possible. Today, we learned that Jesus is always with us and never leaves us. We talked about how storms are much like when we have tough times in our lives. We looked at an umbrella and talked about how it protects us and helps us out in a storm. Do This: Go back to umbrella and pick it up. 14
An umbrella is best in rain when it is open, right? You can have an umbrella with you when it is pouring, but if it is not open, then it is not the most effective. Jesus can be just like the umbrella in that he will never leave us, but it is best when we talk to him and spend time with him. The disciples were scared and cried out to Jesus when a storm came up in their lives. We can do the same thing in our lives! Jesus is an amazing friend how he stuck by the disciples in some very difficult times. How can we be friends to others and be like Jesus? Normally, we would not open up an umbrella inside right? But I have something to show you, so I am going to open this up right now. Do This: Open the umbrella. There are dangling cards and images inside the umbrella. Reference them inside the umbrella even as they pop up on the side screen. As we open up this umbrella, we have some ideas on how we can be friends to others and be just like Jesus! Raindrop [Card, as in one you would give for a birthday] On this first raindrop I see a card. How can we be a good friend by using a card? Yes, we can make our friends cards and give the cards to them. That is one way to show them how much we care about them. Let s look at the next one. Raindrop [Lunch] The next raindrop has a lunch on it. How can we be a good friend with our lunch? You are correct, we can share our lunch with our friends if they are hungry too. That is another way to care for friends. Raindrop [Two people hugging] 15
This next raindrop has two people hugging. Do you think good friends give hugs? Yes, if your friend is feeling sad ask them if they want a hug to cheer them up. This is one way to show our friends we love them. Raindrop [Two kids playing] I see another raindrop here that has two kids playing with each other. How many of you play with your friends? That is awesome. That is a great way to be a good friend. Raindrop [Someone talking] And the last raindrop here looks like someone who is talking. How can we use our words to be a good friend? Yes, we can talk to our friends, we can say nice things to them, and we can show we care about them by using kind words with them. Those are all really great ways that we can be good friends. Today, I want you to remember that Jesus was a fantastic example how to live the best life possible. And today we landed on a few ideas how we can be just like Jesus. Wrap Up 3:00 If you remember anything as we leave today, I want you to remember that Jesus is always with us, whatever comes our way! Jesus is always with us, whatever comes our way! No matter what happens, Jesus never ever leaves us. What a great truth to remember! Do This: Hold up the Family Connection Card 16
This Just In We have a couple things for you when you leave today. First, the Family Connection Card is for you and your family. This is a great tool to remember what we learned today in Elevate. You can show your parents or guardian what the Bible story is and even practice the Bible verse we are learning together. Do This: Hold up the Paper Pad Every great reporter needs a good pad of paper. They have it with them so that they can write down notes as they discover the facts. So, for this series, we want to make sure that you are able to discover the facts about who Jesus is. Last week, we gave you all a Bible reading plan. You could read through that plan, and have your pad of paper handy to write notes or questions you might have about what you read! You can also just use this to draw on too! Either way, we hope you like it! Game Time 11:00 Let s have some fun as we end our time together. This is one of those games that is both challenging but a TON of fun. I will need some people to come up on stage that do NOT have any food allergies. Use Your Face To start off, we need two contestants to come on up for the first round. We are going to be using some food, so if you have any kind of food allergies, we can t have you play this game. These cookies may have been made in a place where there are peanuts and other kinds of nuts. Do This: Call up two contestants at random to stage. You could modify this game as you need. You could use any number of contestants as you see fit. Know This: Give one Oreo to each contestant. 17
Here are the rules. Each of you have an Oreo. You must place it on your forehead. Using only your face muscles, you need to try to get it to your mouth and eat it. You cannot use your hands. If you drop your Oreo, I ll give you a new one! The first person to get the Oreo to your mouth, wins! Know This: If you have more time, you can play multiple rounds. Game Music Way to go everyone! Contestants, will you help pick up the tissue and put in the garbage can? Know This: You can give the kids a wet wipe for their face and hands. Elevate Before we dismiss, let s take one more moment to talk to God and thank him for today. Dear God, you are so awesome. Thank you for today. Thank you for always being with us. Amen. Do This: Dismiss however you like best. Know This: If you get done early, you could dismiss to games. 18