SUNDAY MORNINGS March 31 & April 1, 2018, Week 1 Grade: PDF Free Download

Mapped Out Bible: Mapped Out (Easter Story) The Bible Bottom Line: Jesus is alive! Memory Verse: Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14, NIV Life App: Patience Waiting until later for what you want now Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Small Groups, 15 minutes) Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today s Bible Truth. Before kids arrive, take a few moments to pray for them. First, thank God for all the things today represents. Thank Him for making peace with us through His Son. Thank Him for knowing the end of the story and working all things for His glory and our good. Pray that your few would not only have fun celebrating Easter today, but they would start to understand what God has done for them. 4:30, 9:00, & 11:30 Early Arriver Idea What You Need: An offering container, a bowl of jelly beans What You Do: As you welcome kids to small group, make sure they place their offerings in the container. Invite them to take a small handful of jellybeans from the bowl. Then gather in a circle and get to know each other better! For each color of jelly bean, kids must share one fact about themselves: o Red: A superpower they would like to have o Orange: Their pet s secret talent o Yellow: A nickname they wish they had o Green: Their favorite pizza topping o Blue: The best present they ve ever received o Purple: The farthest place from home they ve ever been o Pink: Their dream vehicle to ride to school/church o Black: What they ate for breakfast last Monday White: Their favorite Easter candy Lead your group to the Large Group area. 2

5:45, 7:45, & 10:15 Egg-cellent Story Match What You Need: Prepared plastic Easter eggs What You Do: Set out the story eggs and let kids pick them up and look at them. Tell kids the eggs have very short stories written on them and their job is to match the egg halves together and put the stories in order. When they finish, let them read the story out loud as a group. If time allows, let kids take the eggs apart and make up funny short phrases or sentences by putting random eggs back together. What You Say: These eggs didn t make a lot of sense until we put them all together into one big story. [Transition] Let s go to Large Group and hear about the biggest story ever told! Lead your group to the Large Group area. 3

Mapped Out Bible: Mapped Out (Easter Story) The Bible Bottom Line: Jesus is alive! Memory Verse: Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14, NIV Life App: Patience Waiting until later for what you want now Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 25 minutes) Engage kids hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible Truth, worship, and prayer experience in a Large Group setting. CG: 10 Second count down CG: Road Trip Slide or Easter Special Slide Host is on stage, welcoming the kids as they enter. Opener HOST: Hey, everybody! Happy Easter! This is one of my absolute FAVORITE days of the year, and not just because of the candy. I love Easter because it s when we celebrate the best thing that has ever happened in the history of the WORLD. I m talking about when Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus proved that He really is who He says He is: God s one and only Son. Amazing! I think that s worth celebrating, don t you? Now, check this out. (Point to the screen.) We re launching a massive road trip this month, starting with Easter. Let s kick it off with an awesome road trip game! SFX: I ve Been Everywhere (starting at the chorus) Yes! I love it. Now imagine you re going to visit your Aunt Cassie to have some Easter ham. Aunt Cassie lives pretty far away. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska. CG: Map showing your city and Anchorage, Alaska (Point to the map.) Here we are in Richmond/Katy. Here s Aunt Cassie in Anchorage, Alaska. How long do you think it would take to drive a car from here to Anchorage? I m talking just drive time on the road no stops or bathroom breaks. ALL of you get to guess. Here are your choices. Turn the buckets around, one by one, revealing the signs. Do you think it would take less than a day, somewhere between one and two days, or MORE than two days? Here s how you ll cast your vote: with Easter Peeps! (Hold up a Peep.) Aren t they so cute? Leaders, I ll give you a second to pass them out to your kids. 5

Leaders open the packages and hand them out to their kids so each kid has one. Okay, let me see those Peeps. Hold them up high! Each of you should have one, right? When I say Go, you ll throw your Peep into one of these three containers. If you think it would take less than a day to drive to Anchorage, throw your Peep in here. (Point to the Less Than 1 Day trash can.) If you think it would take one to two days, throw your Peep in here. (Point to the 1-2 Days trash can.) If you think it would take MORE than two days, throw your Peep in here. (Point to the More Than 2 Days trash can.) Are you ready? GO! SFX: I ve Been Everywhere (starting at the chorus) As the Peeps are flying, comment on where the kids are throwing them. That was so fun! (Looking at the Peeps in and around the different trash cans.) Looks like the votes are in. But only ONE guess is the correct one. Let s ask Siri to reveal the answer. I ll need everyone to be super quiet so we can hear her, okay? Note: Either ask your phone on stage and hold up a handheld mic for Siri s answer, or hook up a phone to your sound system and ask the question at the tech booth instead. (Speaking into the phone) Siri, how long would it take to drive from here to Anchorage, Alaska? SIRI: Traffic to Anchorage is light, so I m estimating 2 days, 20 hours, and 55 minutes via the Alaska Highway. HOST: Wow! Two days, 20 hours, and 55 minutes of non-stop driving. (Hold up the More Than 2 Days trash can.) If you guessed more than two days, you win! Your Peep has chosen correctly. Way to go! Now, if you see any Peeps on the floor around you, go ahead and toss them up here. Now let s move on to the next super awesome part of our time together. Please put your hands together for [Historyteller s Name]. Host exits. Historyteller enters. SETTING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: All right let s see what else we can unwrap today about why we celebrate Easter! 6

If you were here last week, you might remember this board we made with the cross. We ll use this today too. As I share this with you, I ll ask you some questions. If I call on you to answer the question, you ll answer, and then you ll come up to this board and unwind some of the yarn. As we go through this, I think you ll find there s a common thread throughout the Bible that leads to a really awesome ending. I want us to take a trip together through all God did leading up to Easter. Let s start at the beginning. CREATION AND THE FALL HISTORYTELLER: In the beginning there was... nothing except God. And then God created everything! He made water and land, plants and trees, birds and fish and animals. (Hold up Bible.) It says in the Bible that God looked at everything He made and saw that it was good. But God wasn t done yet. Who knows what God made after He created all the land, water, plants, and animals? Call on a younger child. Bring her up to the board and show her how to unwind some of the red yarn. Yes, people! From the ground the mud God created man and named him Adam. And then God made woman, and He named her what? Call on a younger child. Bring him up to the board so he can unwind some of the red yarn. Yes, God called the woman Eve. Adam and Eve were the first two people on the earth. God made them in His image, and He put them in charge of this most beautiful paradise. Then one day they made a terrible choice. God had given Adam and Eve one rule. Raise your hand if you know what that rule was. Call on an older child. Bring him up to the board so he can unwind some of the red yarn. You re right. They weren t supposed to eat the fruit. Let s read God s words to them. Open the Bible to Genesis 2:17 and read. But you must not eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you do, you will certainly die (NIrV). Yikes. God clearly meant business with this whole, Don t eat the fruit, thing. If only Adam and Eve had stayed strong. But sadly, the temptation was just too hard for them to resist. They just couldn t wait. They broke God s rule, they ate the fruit, and the perfect world God had created was suddenly broken. Who knows what entered the world then? Call on an older child. Bring her up to the board so she can unwind some of the red yarn. 7

Yes, sadly, sin entered the world. People began to tell lies and fight with each other. They became selfish, only looking out for themselves. The peaceful perfect paradise now had pain and death and sin. And worst of all, that sin separated people us from God. God was and is perfect, and people are not. But God loves us so much that He had already planned a way for people to return to Him. THE LOST TRIBES HISTORYTELLER: Hundreds of years after Adam and Eve broke His rule, God set apart a man and told him to look up at the stars and count them, if he could. God told this man that s how many children he would have. Does anyone know what that man s name was? Call on an older child. Bring her up to the board so she can unwind some of the red yarn. Yes, Abraham. God told Abraham that he would have as many people in his family over the years as there are stars in the sky, and the whole earth would be blessed through his family. Talk about an awesome promise from God! After many long years of waiting, Abraham had a son named Isaac. Then Isaac grew up and had two sons, Jacob and Esau, who grew up and had children as well. Jacob, who was also called Israel, had a lot of sons. This one is tricky. Does anyone know how many sons Israel had? Call on an older child. Bring her up to the board so she can unwind some of the red yarn. Yep, he had twelve. When you hear about the 12 tribes of Israel, those tribes began with these 12 sons who were Abraham s great-grandchildren. You can start to see God s promise to Abraham coming true, can t you? God had given Abraham a huge family just as He promised. But God s people were still broken and lost, separated from Him. Who can tell me the name of this group of people who we often say were God s chosen people? Call on an older child. Bring him up to the board so he can unwind some of the red yarn. Yes, the Israelites. (Hold up Bible.) The Bible is full of examples of how time after time, the Israelites tried to do things their own way instead of waiting on God. When God rescued them from slavery in Egypt, they quickly forgot and tried to make their own god. Who remembers what animal they made their god in the shape of? Call on a younger child. (You can moo for a hint if necessary.) Bring him up to the board so he can unwind some of the red yarn. Can you imagine? Why would the Israelites choose to worship a statue when the living God was with them? But their impatience with God was just beginning. When God gave them a new law, they 8

complained. They didn t want laws to follow; they wanted a king like all the other nations had. God gave them a king, but they still refused to wait on God. They complained to God again this time about the king s laws. They whined and complained no matter what God did, and nothing brought them rest or peace. The people were still lost and broken and separated from God. It was this way for thousands of years. But God had not forgotten the promise He made to Abraham that He would bless the whole earth through Abraham s family. THE PROMISED ONE HISTORYTELLER: God had a perfect plan to show the world how much He loves us. In His perfect timing, He began to reveal that plan. He knew that we couldn t do it on our own. Clearly, we needed His help. Eventually, God sent THE help we needed. Who did God send us? Call on a younger child. Bring her up to the board so she can unwind some of the red yarn. Yes, Jesus! God sent His Son, Jesus, to the earth to live like one of us. Jesus came to bring peace to the world. He did this by living a perfect life. He never sinned. Instead, He lived a life of service to others, spending His days teaching and preaching and healing and loving. He taught others about love and compassion, forgiveness and grace. He healed the sick and was a friend to people who didn t have any friends. Not everyone liked seeing and hearing about Jesus, though. Does anyone know who got upset by the things that Jesus was doing? Call on an older child. Bring her up to the board so she can unwind some of the red yarn. Yes, the Pharisees the religious leaders were upset. They didn t like what Jesus was saying or how He was saying it. Jesus was changing the way they d always done things. They made a plan to get rid of Jesus. And Jesus gave His life on a cross. He died to pay for the sins of the world. This was the plan God had all along. Because Jesus paid the price for everyone's sins, including yours and mine, people no longer have to be separated from God. But Jesus followers couldn t see this yet. All they knew was that Jesus was dead. In the three dark days after His death, they huddled in the dark, afraid that they, too, might be arrested or killed. Then, early on the morning of the third day, Mary Magdalene arrived at the home where the disciples were staying. Listen to the news she came to share. Open the Bible to John 20:2b and read. She said, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb! We don t know where they have put him! (NIrV). The disciples took off running for the tomb. Could it be true? Was the tomb really empty? Had 9

someone stolen Jesus body? When Peter and John arrived at the tomb, they saw Mary Magdalene was right. Jesus body was no longer there. But what was there? Does anyone know what they found? Call on an older child. Bring her up to the board so she can unwind some of the red yarn. Yep, they found the linen cloths that Jesus had been wrapped in after He died. So if Jesus wasn t wrapped in those cloths anymore, where was He? Peter and John headed home, uncertain and confused by what they had seen... or not seen. Mary Magdalene had followed them back to the garden. Even after they left, she stayed, crying as she wondered what had happened to Jesus. She turned to find a man standing nearby. Here s a really tricky question. Does anyone know who she thought this man was? Call on an older child. (You can give hints if necessary, like Remember, they were in a garden. ) Bring him up to the board so he can unwind some of the red yarn. Right! She thought he was the gardener. She begged the man for answers. Did he carry Jesus away? If so, where did he put Him? Then the man stopped Mary s pleading with one word: Mary. As soon as the man spoke her name, Mary realized who He was. It was Jesus alive again! Mary was overjoyed. She returned to the disciples to share the amazing news. She had seen the Lord! WRAPPING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH The yarn should be almost unwound by this point. Finish unwinding it, and then start winding one of the pieces of red yarn around the letters to highlight the word ALIVE. (See the LGV for more clarity on this.) HISTORYTELLER: It was true. Jesus had come back from the dead. He s more powerful than sin more powerful than death. And through Him, we can have peace with God as we wait for Him to make everything right in the end, just as He has promised. God had a plan all along. He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us to pay the price for our sin. But Jesus didn t stay in that tomb. Nope. (Point to the word on the pegboard.) CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] Jesus is alive! That s why we celebrate Easter because [Bottom Line] Jesus is alive! If we believe that Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins, we can receive the gift of eternal life: heaven, with God, forever. Just like Jesus is alive, we too can be live forever with God! If you have any questions about that, be sure and talk to someone about it. If you have a parent who believes in Jesus, you can talk to them about it, or you can ask your Small Group Leader. 10

Let s pray and thank God for sending us Jesus to be our Savior. Pray HISTORYTELLER: Dear God, thank You for loving us. Thank You for making a way for us to be a part of Your family forever. Thank You for sending Your only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. We re so thankful to know that Jesus didn t stay dead that He s ALIVE! I pray we ll all remember that today as we celebrate Easter. We love You, and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. If you have an offering with you today go ahead and bring that on up now. Historyteller enters as Host enters. Closer HOST: I can t even imagine how heartbroken Jesus friends must have been when He died. They all had plans for what the future would look like. They thought Jesus was the Savior that God had promised them for hundreds of years, but then He was gone. It was over. It seemed like all their hope was lost. That reminds me of our verse for this month. CG: Memory Verse Slide Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord! Psalm 27:14 (NIV). Those must have been a dark couple of days as the disciples tried to keep their hope alive. But as light dawned on that third day, the disciples slowly began to understand. As they began to realize that Jesus was really alive, they could look back (hold up the other piece of unwound yarn) God s Big Story and see that God had a plan all along. Even from the very beginning when Adam and Eve first broke the rules, God was already working on a plan to bring us back to Him. That plan was Jesus, His only Son, who was perfect and never did anything wrong. He would die on the cross to pay the price for the things we did wrong. BUT that wasn t the end, because three days later, the tomb was empty. [Bottom Line] Jesus is ALIVE (point to the word again)! He defeated death. He proved that He really is who He says He is: God s Son. That s some plan! And it s a BIG reason to celebrate today! Really, it s a BIG reason to celebrate every day. The one thing to remember is this, and it s one thing you should never forget. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] Jesus is alive! Say that with me. HOST and KIDS: [Bottom Line] Jesus is alive! HOST: That s right! God had it mapped out all along. He had a plan, and His plan was amazing! Happy Easter, everyone! Have a EGG-cellent time in Small Group. Sorry, couldn t resist at least ONE Easter pun. Enough of me, lets get the Power Praise team in here to lead us in some praise and worship. Power Praise team enters as Historyteller exits. 11

Worship SFX: Happy Day SFX: Let It Be Known SFX: Oceans Host enters as Power Praise Team exits. HOST: Now we re going to go back to our Small Groups! Have a speggtacular time! CG: Small Group Slide Dismiss children to their Small Groups. 12

Mapped Out Bible: Mapped Out (Easter Story) The Bible Bottom Line: Jesus is alive! Memory Verse: Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14, NIV Life App: Patience Waiting until later for what you want now Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (10 minutes) Create a safe place to connect and learn how the Bible Truth applies to real life experiences, through interactive activities and discussion questions. All Service Times Response and Prayer What You Need: Easter Response Cards, Pencils What You Do: Present the kids with a summary of the gospel message. Present the option for kids to pray to receive forgiveness and enter into God s eternal family. Pass out Easter Response Cards that coordinate with your class and service time. Write the child s FULL Name on the card and hand it to the child. Talk them through each choice on the card. Hand each child a pencil. Walk them through the choices again, as a group. Have them circle the option that fits them today. Place the completed cards back in the curriculum box. What You Say: Today you learned the most important lesson you will ever learn that Jesus died for us and rose from the dead to be our Savior. There is nothing that matters more than that! The amazing fact that Jesus died and then rose again was the most loving thing anyone has ever done. I mean, think about it, Jesus is ALIVE! We talked about how Adam and Eve brought sin into the world and that sin is still with us today. You sin, I sin, even your parents sin sometimes. But Jesus living, dying, and rising from the dead without ever sinning, was God s way of fixing the sin problem. By the way, sin is anything that we say, think, or do that disobeys God. Raise your hand if you have sinned. (Make a note of the kids that do not raise their hands. They will need more time and explanation, even if they pray a salvation prayer.) Raise your hand if you believe that Jesus is God s son and died so that He could take the punishment for our sins. Remember, that punishment was to be separated from God, because He is holy and perfect and can t be near sin. (Make note of the kids that do not raise their hands. They will need more time and explanation, even if they pray a salvation prayer.) 13

If you believe, and you are ready to ask God to forgive you so that you can be part of his forever family, in heaven, I want you to pray a prayer with me. You will only every have to pray it one time. So, if you have already prayed a pray like this, you don t need to pray it again. If you still have questions about Jesus, sin, and forgiveness, then please do not pray this prayer. Instead, let s talk some more after this activity. Here we go for my friends who Believe and are ready to ask for forgiveness and want to follow Jesus. Repeat after me. Dear father, thank you so much for sending your son, Jesus, to die on a cross for me. I want to ask him to forgive me of my sins. I ask you Jesus, to come into my heart right now. Thank you for forgiving me of my sins and I promise to follow after you for the rest of my life. Thank you, Jesus. I love you. Amen. If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, guess what; you re a Christ follower now! That is so exciting! You don t ever have to pray that prayer again. From this point forward you need to be studying your bible and making decisions that follow after Christ. Ask yourself What would Jesus do? What does Jesus want me to do? If you didn t pray that prayer because you still have questions, or you didn t feel ready, please, please talk to me, your parents, or any other grown up that believes, and we will answer as many of your questions as we can, or help you find the answers in the Bible. Now, we are going to fill out these cards together. First, I am going to write your name on the card so that everyone can read your name. (Hand each child their card) Now, we are going to read through this card together so that you know what you are going to circle when I give you your pencil. If today was the first time that you prayed the prayer to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, come into your heart, and be the boss of your life then you are going to circle the number One. If you already asked Jesus to be the boss of your life before today but you have not been baptized and you would like to do that, you are going to circle the number Two. If you already asked Jesus to be the boss of your life before today And you have been baptized then you are going to circle the number Three. If you are not ready to ask Jesus to be the boss of your life or if you have some questions about what that means, you will circle number Four. Do you have any questions about the card? (Answer any questions that arise.) I am going to give you your pencil now and we are going to go through the numbers again and you will circle the one that talks about you. Good. Make sure that you hand the cards and the pencils back to me. 14

SUNDAY MORNINGS March 31 & April 1, 2018, Week 1 Grade: 3-4