NORTHWAY CHRISTIAN FAMILY CHURCH Turn to God Receive Jesus as Lord Experience Holy Spirit Power Keep growing in our walk with God BIBLE TREK CHILDREN S MINISTRY EXPLORERS & TRAIL BLAZERS March 2018 Our theme is God s Rescue Plan Memory Verse: Galatians 1:4 Jesus gave his life for our sins in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. March 4 Creation: It was good! (Genesis 1) March 11 The Fall: It was bad! (Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3) March 18 The Law: It was impossible! (Exodus 20:1-17, 1 John 3:4, Romans 3:20, Romans 7:14, Galatians 2:16) March 25 The Cross: It was hard! (Luke 19:28-37, Luke 23:1-56)
March 4 Memory Verse: Galatians 1:4 Jesus gave his life for our sins to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. Topic: Creation: It was good! Today s Key Point: Jesus created the world and everything in it in six days. Each day He looked at what He had made and saw that It was good. God created a perfect earth where there was no sickness and no death. The first people, Adam and Eve, were able to walk with God because there was no sin. Bible Passages: Genesis 1 Explorers & Trailblazers Pre-service: Before the children arrive, please pray over the room, pray for the children. Set up the snack. Arrival/Attendance: Welcome all the students! Allow them to play for a few minutes. Introduction: While the students are eating snack have them pair up. Write the word creation on the white board. Take the Scrabble tiles and give one set to each pair. Ask them to spell the word creation. Now have them pick up the tiles and drop them on the table. Do the tiles spell the word creation? Why not? Just as it takes a person to move the tiles and spell the word creation it took a creator to make the earth and everything in it. The world did not come into being by accident. Video: Watch the Creation video on the flash drive. Ask the students to count the number of times that the narrator tells us that God saw that creation was good. (5 times) Lesson: Ask the students the following questions. -What did God mean when He said that the earth was good? (His creation was perfect and there was nothing bad in it.) -Why did God create a world that was good? (He is a loving Father and there is nothing evil in Him. He wanted Adam and Eve to enjoy His creation.) -Would God look at the earth today and say that it is good? (No, because there is sin in the world. We ll learn more about that next week.) Tell the students that we are going to use our senses to explore the idea that what God made was good. Have students get into groups of 3 or 4. Give them each a Rating Sheet to rate how good or bad each item is. 1. Give each student a sample of items A & B in a paper cup. They should each dip a q-tip into the cup and touch it to their tongue to taste it. Have the students mark their rating sheet and discuss with their group what they thought of items A & B. After a few moments have students guess what the items were. (sugar water & cocoa water) 2. Give each group of students items C & D to smell. Have the students mark their rating sheet and discuss with their group what they thought of items C & D. After a few moments have students guess what the items were. (vinegar & peppermint) 3. Give each group of students items E & F to touch. Have the students mark their rating sheet and discuss with their group what they thought of items E & F. After a few moments have students guess what the items were. (fleece and burlap) Remind the students that when God created the world it was good but when sin entered the world it changed things and bad things entered the world.
Activities Explorers & Trailblazers: 1. Memory Verse- Have the class recite the verse several times in preparation for the game. Toss or roll a ball to one child. Have him say the first word of the verse before tossing or rolling the ball to someone else, who then says the next word, and so on. Continue until you complete the verse. If the ball is dropped, start over again. Time how long it takes to finish the verse; and try to beat the previous time. 2. Creation Play Dough- Have students work in pairs. Hold the Creation Cards upside down so that students cannot see what is on them and have each pair choose a card. Give students playdough and cookie cutters. Have them make things that God created on the day listed on their Creation Cards. If students finish their first card they may choose another card.
March 11 Memory Verse: Galatians 1:4 Jesus gave his life for our sins to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. Topic: The Fall: It was bad! Today s Key Point: God loved Adam and Eve. He told them that they could eat any fruit in the Garden of Eden except the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God wanted Adam and Eve to choose to obey Him. Sadly, Adam and Eve did not listen to God and sin came into the world. Bible Passages: Genesis 2:15-17, Genesis 3 Explorers & Trailblazers Pre-service: Before the children arrive, please pray over the room. Take 2 pitches of water from the kitchen today because you will need one for the lesson. Set up the snack. Arrival/Attendance: Welcome all the students! Allow them to play for a few minutes. Introduction: While the students eat snack watch the video Sin Entered The World on the flash drive. Ask the kids why they think Adam and Eve didn t listen to God. Listen to their answers, then explain that God wanted to keep Adam and Eve safe from something bad: sin. The serpent wanted them to think that God was hiding something good from them. Give the students Bibles. (Explorers may use the storybook Bibles. Students can share Bibles if needed.) Ask the students if they know where the account of Adam and Eve is in the Bible. Can they find it? It is Genesis chapter 3 right in the beginning of the Bible. Adam and Eve chose to sin soon after God created them. Read Genesis 3:1-15. Lesson: Have students get in groups of three. Give each group a small bowl with some water in it and a pepper shaker. Tell the students that the water is like them and the pepper is sin. Tell them that just like Satan tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God he wants to temps us to do bad things. Have the students tell you things that Satan might tempt them to do. For each thing students suggest they should sprinkle some pepper in their bowls, then pass the pepper to the next person in their group. Make a list on the whiteboard. Ask the students to describe how the water looks with the pepper in it. How do they think it would taste? (Don t let actually them taste it.) Remind them that the water is like us and the pepper is like sin. Sin is bad and it pollutes our lives. Tell the students that when they only think about what they want then they are tempted to sin. Now put a drop of dish soap into each bowl. Have the students describe what happened. The dish soap is like Jesus. When we focus on Jesus He gives us power to run away from sin just like the pepper ran away from the dish soap. Sin is bad but God is good and wants only the best for us. We should always listen to Him. Watch the video Why Is Sin A Big Deal? on the flash drive. Ask students if they know what God s plan is and how He beat death. (He sent Jesus to die on the cross and then come back to life so that our sins can be forgiven.) We will learn about God s plan to beat sin and death this month and next month.
Activities Explorers & Trailblazers: 1. Jumpin Verses Have the class recite the verse several times in preparation for the game. Choose two children to turn the jump rope. Divide the rest of the class into two teams: Team A and Team B. Two children from Team A come forward and say the memory verse together. If they say it correctly they roll the dice and each child needs to jump the rope the number of times on the dice. If one child jumps without tripping they earn the points on the dice for their team. If both children jump without tripping they double the number of points earned. If both children trip they earn zero points. Keep score on the whiteboard. 2. Fruit Relay First, tell the children that we don t know what kind of fruit grew on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is not any kind of fruit that we have today, even though pictures often show it as an apple. Divide the children into two teams. Each team needs two baskets, one on each end of the room. One basket for each team should be filled with fruit. One child from each team stands by the basket of fruit. All the other children must keep their hands clasped behind their backs. One at a time for each team, the children go to their team member by the fruit basket and turn around so the child can place a piece of fruit from the basket in the child's clasped hands. The child with the fruit must then hurry across the room and drop it into the other basket. The team with the most fruit at the end of a defined time period wins.
March 18 Memory Verse: Galatians 1:4 Jesus gave his life for our sins to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. Topic: The Law: It was impossible! Today s Key Point: Sin came into the world when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Sin separated them from God. God gave the Israelites laws to keep. The first laws were the 10 Commandments. If the Israelites could obey God s laws perfectly then they could get to heaven without help, but obeying all of God s laws all the time was impossible. Bible Passages: Exodus 20:1-17, 1 John 3:4, Romans 3:20, Romans 7:14, Galatians 2:16 Explorers & Trailblazers Pre-service: Before the children arrive, please pray over the room, pray for the children. Set up the snack. Arrival/Attendance: Welcome all the students! Allow them to play for a few minutes. Introduction: While the students eat snack remind them that last week they learned about how sin entered the world. Watch the video God s Story: The Fall on the flash drive. Tell the students that part of God s rescue plan included giving us His laws. Ask for volunteers to do the following without help: -hold a hula hoop up too high and ask a student to jump through it -do a one-handed handstand and hold it while the class slowly counts to 10 (have the volunteer tuck in their shirt first) -get from one end of the room to the other in only two jumps (extra steps not allowed) Can they do these things? Of course not. They re impossible! Someone with special training and equipment might be able to do it but the students cannot do it on their own. Just as these actions are impossible for the students, it is impossible for anyone to obey God s laws perfectly. Yet this is what the Israelites needed to do if they were going to get to heaven without help. Explorers Only What is God s law? The first laws that God gave the Israelites were the 10 commandments. Read The Jesus Storybook Bible: Ten Ways To Be Perfect (pages 100-107). Number the white board from 1-10 and ask the students to name as many of the 10 commandments as they can. Fill in the rest. (See below for a list.) Then ask if any of them have ever broken even one of these commandments. Point out that if anything is more important to them than God, that breaks the first commandment. Disobeying parents breaks the fifth commandment. Being jealous of friends or siblings breaks the last commandment. Remind them that they learned about sin last week. Breaking even one of God s commandments is sin. Sin separates us from God. We all need help if we are going to live with God in heaven one day. Keeping God s law and getting to heaven without help are impossible. Video: Watch The Law video on the flash drive.
Trailblazers Only What is God s law? The first laws that God gave the Israelites were the 10 commandments. God gave the 10 commandments to Moses in Exodus chapter 20. Number the white board from 1-10 and ask the students to name as many of the 10 commandments as they can. They can look in their Bibles. (See below for a list.) Video: Watch The Law video on the flash drive. Have students pair up to complete the worksheet. Each student should have a yellow marker and a pencil. When most of the students are finished come back together. Discuss what they learned about God s law by going over the questions on the worksheet. Referring to the 10 commandments written on the white board, ask if any of them have ever broken even one of God s laws. Point out that if there is anything more important to them than God, that breaks the first commandment. Disobeying parents breaks the fifth commandment. Being jealous of friends or siblings breaks the last commandment. Remind them that they learned about sin last week. Breaking even one of God s commandments is sin. Sin separates us from God. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that Everyone has sinned. We all fall short of God s glorious standard. Everyone includes us. Ask the students how they will get to heaven since they cannot keep God s law. We all need help if we are going to live with God in heaven one day. Keeping God s law and getting to heaven without help are impossible. Ten Commandments 1. Do not have any other gods before me. Put God first. 2. Do not make idols and bow down to them. Worship God only. 3. Do not take God s name in vain. Use God s name with respect. 4. Keep the Sabbath day holy. Do not work on this day. 5. Respect your father and mother. 6. Do not take another person s life. (murder) 7. Do not take another person s husband or wife. Be faithful in marriage. 8. Do not steal. 9. Do not lie. 10. Do not be envious of other people or want what other people have. Activities for Explorers & Trailblazers Battling Sin Game Set Up: Divide the room in half with a line of masking tape on the floor. Scatter the sin balls on one side of the room. The balls represent sin. Place 2 baskets on the other side of the room far enough from the masking tape line that it will be a challenge for students to throw the sin balls into it. (If needed move tables out of the way.) To play: Choose two students to be it. Each it should stand near one basket. The rest of the students stand on the other side of the room and try to throw the sin balls into the basket. They may not cross over the masking tape line. It can defend the basket and throw back any sin balls that miss the basket. Give the students 1 minute to play. After 1 minute have the kids sit on the floor and tell them that trying to throw all the sin balls in the basket is like trying to obey God s law perfectly. It s impossible! We need help from Jesus to defeat sin. Repeat the game with new students as it if desired. Memory Verse Picture It & The Law Activity Sheet - Have the children write the verse, drawing as many pictures for the words as possible. Students may use the back of The Law Activity Sheet to do this then they may do the activity sheet.
The Law Trailblazers Directions: Read the following verses with a partner and highlight the word law each time you see it with the yellow marker. Circle the word sin each time you see it. 1 John 3:4 - Everyone who sins is breaking God s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. Romans 3:20 - For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. Romans 7:14 - So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. Galatians 2:16 - Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. 1. What are we doing when we sin? 2. What does God s law show us? 3. Is God s law good or bad? 4. Is the trouble with God s law or with people? Why? 5. Can we be made right with God by keeping the law? Why? 6. How can people be made right with God?
March 25 Memory Verse: Galatians 1:4 Jesus gave his life for our sins to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. Topic: The Cross: It was hard! Today s Key Point: Jesus made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Many people lined the streets cheering and waving palm branches. They were welcoming Jesus as their king. Jesus was nailed to a cross and died. Even though he had done nothing wrong, Jesus paid the price for our sins. Jesus death was sad, but Jesus didn t stay dead. He rose from the grave! Bible Passages: Luke 19:28-40, Luke 23:32-53, Mark 14:32-36 Explorers & Trailblazers Pre-service: Before the children arrive, please pray over the room, pray for the children. Set up the snack. Arrival/Attendance: Welcome all the students! Allow them to play for a few minutes. Introduction: While students eat snack tell them that today we are learning about The Cross: It was hard! Ask students if they know what a timeline is. (A timeline helps us know the order of events in history.) Tell them that in the Bible God gives us His history of the world. Pass out the Bible Timeline to each student. Some of the events on the timeline were happy but some of them were hard. Ask students to point out some events on the timeline that were happy including Palm Sunday. Ask students to point out events that were hard. Discuss what event was the hardest of all (Jesus death on the cross). The cross was hard but Jesus did it because He loves us. Tell the students that all the events in Bible history point to Jesus. Video: Watch The Big Story video on the flash drive. Explorers Only Explain to children that today we are going to hear about to events that took place before Jesus was raised from the dead. One event was happy and one was sad. Give each child a construction paper circle and have him/her make a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other. Read to children pages 406-412 & 430-434 from The Read and Learn Bible pausing periodically for children to hold up either the happy face or the sad face. (During the reading about the triumphal entry, reinforce that children should hold up the happy face and for the crucifixion, the sad face.) When you re done reading, remind children that it was a very sad day when Jesus died. It was hard for Jesus to go to the cross. Read Mark 14:32-36. The cross was so hard that Jesus didn t want to go there BUT He did it because He loves us. Remind the children that Jesus didn t stay dead. Jesus rose from the dead and Jesus is alive! Tell the children that next Sunday, we will celebrate that Jesus is alive! That will make us smile. One last time, encourage the children to hold up the happy faces and smile! Video: Watch God s Story: Easter video on the flash drive.
Trailblazers Only Explain to children that today we are going to hear about events that took place before Jesus was raised from the dead. One event was happy and one was sad. Let s call the first event Parading with Palms and the second one Crying at the Crucifixion. Read together Luke 19:28-40. Discuss why this was a happy event. Read Mark 14:32-36. Discuss how this passage shows us that the cross was hard for Jesus. Read Luke 23:32-53. Discuss why this was a sad event. When you re done reading, remind children that it was a very sad day when Jesus died. It was hard for Jesus to go to the cross BUT He did it because He loves us. Remind children that Jesus didn t stay dead. Jesus rose from the dead and Jesus is alive! Tell the children that next Sunday, we will celebrate that Jesus is alive! Video: Watch God s Story: Easter video on the flash drive. Activities Explorers: -Palm Branch Praise- Play the All That I Am video on the flash drive. Children should stand up, wave their palms and sing Hosanna! -Game -Who Has the Cross?- Children sit in a circle. One child goes outside the door. Give one child in the circle a small wooden cross. All the children should pretend they are holding it. Call the volunteer back into the room and see if he/she can guess who has the cross. Remind the children that Jesus died on the cross, but he is alive! - Memory Verse Activity- Palm Branch Pass- Write the memory verse on the dry erase board. Play like Hot Potato. Pass around a palm leaf. When the music stops, the child holding the palm erases one word from the memory verse. The whole group must say the memory verse together filling in the missing word. Continue until all the words are missing! -Coloring Paper- Parading with Palms & Crying at the Crucifixion Trailblazers: Craft- Follow the directions on the worksheet and/or watch the video on the flash drive Palm Branch Cross to help each child to make a palm branch cross. Memory Verse Activity- Palm Branch Pass- see above Closing/Dismissal: Pray over the children. Direct them to take all their crafts & belongings. Then, escort the children into the back of the sanctuary. Be sure to leave the room neat and clean. Put any unused lesson, game or craft items in the appropriate bin in the metal cabinet. Thank you!