Lesso 8 83 Disciples Follow Jesus Mark 1:14-20 T hird- ad fourth-graders log to be part of a group. Beig part of a group brigs acceptace ad positive friedships. Use this lesso to teach childre about followig Jesus. You ll use strategies that make them feel part of the group. Iclude kids i discussio, ad help them each feel part of a group of people who are followig Jesus. Through this lesso you ll ot oly help kids coect with a deep uderstadig of how to follow Jesus, but also ecourage them to rely o others who are tryig to do the same. LESSON 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio WHAT CHILDREN DO It s i the Cards (about 15 mi.) Choose whether to give somethig up or follow a istructio to reach a goal. Followig What Does It Really Mea? (about 35 mi.) Experiece differet aspects of followig Jesus at three differet learig statios. SUPPLIES maskig tape, 5 peies per child Teacher Pack: Do It cards Bibles, Bible Truth Sleuth, CD player, markers or crayos, pes, paper Teacher Pack: CD, Bible Timelie EASY PREP Use maskig tape to create a 10 x10 game board of squares o the floor (as pictured i the lesso). Separate the Do It cards, shuffle them, ad set them facedow i a stack. Tear out the Lesso 8 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. The set up three learig statios: Statio 1: Bibles, markers or crayos, ad pes Statio 2: paper ad markers Statio 3: CD player ad CD Bible Poit Follow Jesus. Key Verse Come, follow me, Jesus said, ad I will make you fishers of me (Mark 1:17). Weavig Faith Ito Life Childre will make choices that show their devotio to Jesus. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 8 Witer Quarter
84 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Remider to Follow (about 10 mi.) Review their statios, ad create a craft remider. Bible Truth Sleuth, pes Teacher Pack: Shoestrig Oramet craft package Set out the red, yellow, ad blue plastic beads ad the safety pis from the Shoestrig Oramet craft package. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bible Truth Sleuth Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Witer Quarter Lesso 8 Grades 3 & 4
85 Disciples Follow Jesus Mark 1:14-20 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Joh the Baptist Is Imprisoed ad Killed At the begiig of this passage, we read that Joh the Baptist was put i priso. Mark does t tell us why, but we kow from Luke 3:19-20 that Herod put Joh i priso for rebukig the ruler for various reasos. We also kow from Matthew 14:6-11 that Herod evetually likely i the midst of a druke party had Joh the Baptist beheaded. Jesus Begis His Miistry After Joh was imprisoed, Jesus bega his miistry with focus ad itetio. Mark relates Jesus message i a utshell: The kigdom of God is ear. Repet ad believe the good ews. For Jews, this would ideed have bee good ews. What they heard was that David s earthly kigdom would be restored! They d be freed from Roma bodage! Though their iterpretatio was icorrect, Jesus message certaily caught their attetio. Jesus Calls Disciples to Follow Him At this poit, Jesus bega gatherig aroud him the bad of disciples who would be with him throughout his miistry. The first four were Simo, Adrew, James, ad Joh. We ted to thik of these me as simple, ordiary fisherme, ad to some degree that perceptio is correct. They were i a rather lowly occupatio ad likely had o formal educatio. they kew how, so whe Jesus asked them to follow him, they did so without hesitatio. Fisherme Respod to Jesus Call We eed t ecessarily thik that these me abadoed their ets ad boats alog the seashore. James ad Joh left their fishig busiess i the care of their father ad hired hads. Peter ad Adrew s situatio was probably much the same. The decisio to follow Jesus did t mea that these disciples recklessly dropped their resposibilities, but it did mea that they were totally committed to Jesus. They had to make followig Jesus the most importat aspect of their lives. The Jesus Coectio To follow Jesus, we do t just follow his example or his teachigs, though that certaily is importat. Nor do we tag alog behid him uoticed. Whe we follow him, we actually walk alogside him i commuity ad i friedship. Are you aware of Christ s presece i your life? Are you itetioal i followig his guidace? What ca you do to grow closer to Jesus ad stay there? Your first step ca be to ask for Jesus help i that. You ca write your prayer here. However, Joh 1:35-42 idicates that two of the me, at least, had bee disciples of Joh the Baptist ad thus, to some degree, followers of Jesus already. It s possible that Adrew ad James also had bee disciples of Joh the Baptist. All four were spiritual me who were seekig to follow God as closely as Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 8 Witer Quarter
86 GETTING STARTED It s i the Cards Supplies maskig tape 5 peies per child Teacher Pack Do It cards It s i the Cards Easy Prep Use maskig tape to create a 10 x10 game board of squares o the floor (as pictured i the lesso). Separate the Do It cards, shuffle them, ad set them facedow i a stack. It s i the Cards Welcome kids warmly as they arrive, ad ask them how their week wet. Say: We re goig to play a game where you re the game pieces! Give each child five peies, ad the have kids choose a spot o a outside row of the giat game board you created ahead of time. Say: The object of the game is for you to move from the row you re stadig i right ow to the row o the opposite side of the board. Here s how you ll move. I ll start by choosig oe of you to go first, ad the I ll have you draw a Do It card. Each card has a differet istructio. Whe you draw a card, read the istructio ad decide whether you wat to follow the istructio ad be allowed to move two spaces toward your goal, or whether you wat to give me a pey ad be allowed to move oe space toward your goal. The choice is yours. It s okay if you re stadig i the same space as someoe else. Ay questios? Repeat or clarify the directios as eeded. Ivite a willig child to go first, ad have him or her draw a Do It card. Cotiue havig kids draw cards ad move across the board util oe perso reaches the other side. The have kids sit i a circle iside the game board. Have kids form pairs to discuss the followig questios. Ask: What made you decide if you d rather give up a pey or follow the istructio? What did you like about havig a choice to follow or ot follow what the card said to do? I this game, oe of your choices was to give somethig up i order to reach your goal. Tell about times i your ow life whe you had to give thigs up i order to reach a goal. Your other choice i this game was to obey a istructio i order to reach your goal. Tell about times i your ow life whe you obeyed istructios i order to reach a goal. Say: I this game, you had to make a choice. Today we re goig to be lookig at followig Jesus. Whe we FOLLOW JESUS, we have choices to make. Let s see what Jesus said about choosig to follow him. Witer Quarter Lesso 8 Grades 3 & 4
87 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Followig What Does It Really Mea? Have kids form three groups, ad have kids ope their Bibles to Mark 1:14-20. Say: We re goig to lear about four me who made a choice to follow Jesus. These four me were amed Simo, Adrew, James, ad Joh. Show kids the Bible Timelie, ad poit to the Disciples Follow Jesus picture. As I read, cocetrate o oe of these four disciples. Choose i your group who you ll focus o. Pause. Read Mark 1:14-20 aloud as kids follow alog. Now you re goig to do some activities i your group at three statios I ve set up. As you do your activities, keep the disciple you chose i mid. Try to complete the activities like you imagie he would. Give the istructios for each statio, ad have each group start at a differet statio. Give groups o more tha 10 miutes at a statio before you idicate time to move to a differet statio. Moitor the statios i case kids eed a refresher o what to do. Statio 1: What I Did to Follow Jesus Distribute today s Bible Truth Sleuth pages, ad have kids tur to the What I Did to Follow Jesus sectio. Say: Use the space o your Bible Truth Sleuth pages to write about what the disciple you chose did to follow Jesus whe Jesus called. Be sure to work together i your group to be detailed ad accurate. You ca look i a Bible for help if you eed to. If you d rather draw a picture tha write, use the markers or the crayos. Allow kids time to work, ad the cue them to move to their ext statio. Statio 2: Makig a Sacrifice Say: At this statio, you ll read aloud together our Key Verse, Mark 1:17. The you ll thik about what the disciple you chose might have had to give up or leave behid i order to follow Jesus. Cosider their jobs ad what life was like i those days. Together with your group, braistorm thigs people today might be asked to give up so that they ca follow Jesus. The create a poster showig those thigs usig paper ad markers. Be sure to iclude the Key Verse o your poster as well. Followig What Does It Really Mea? Supplies Bibles Bible Truth Sleuth CD player markers or crayos pes paper Teacher Pack CD: Followig Jesus (track 13) Bible Timelie Followig What Does It Really Mea? Easy Prep Tear out the Lesso 8 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. The set up three learig statios: Statio 1: Bibles, markers or crayos, ad pes Statio 2: paper ad markers Statio 3: CD player ad CD Statio 3: The Joy of Followig Say: At this statio, you ll liste to a story o the CD. This story is about a boy who chose to give up somethig importat to him i order to follow Jesus ad to do what he believed Jesus wated him to do. As you liste, thik about what he got i retur. The talk with the others i your group about how this boy s story compares with what happeed with Jesus disciples. You might also share similar experieces you ve had. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 8 Witer Quarter
88 Play Followig Jesus (track 13 o the CD). After the track eds, allow kids time to discuss what they just heard. Talk With Kids Lead pairs i this discussio. Ask: What have you leared about what it takes to follow Jesus? Eve whe it might mea givig somethig up such as the boy who gave up his ew sleepig bag what makes it worth it to follow Jesus? Say: Jesus loves us ad wats us to follow him, but he does t force us to do it. We re give a choice, just as the disciples had a choice. The disciples kew that followig Jesus was t always easy, but the good thigs they got to witess ad do for others with Jesus made their choice a reaso to be happy. We ca FOLLOW JESUS ad discover the joy i it, too. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Remider to Follow Supplies Bible Truth Sleuth pes Teacher Pack Shoestrig Oramet craft package Remider to Follow Easy Prep Set out the red, yellow, ad blue plastic beads ad the safety pis from the Shoestrig Oramet craft package. Remider to Follow Have kids sit i a circle. Say: You ll each use a safety pi ad some beads to create a shoestrig oramet. Each bead color represets somethig differet: the red beads represet givig somethig up to follow Jesus, the yellow beads represet the joy we ca fid by followig Jesus, ad the blue beads represet beig fishers of me. Make sure you get at least oe bead of each color o your safety pi. Whe you ve fiished, attach the safety pi to oe of your shoes. Every time you see it o your shoe it will remid you to follow Jesus i all you do. After kids have fiished makig their shoestrig oramets, help them as eeded to attach them to their shoes. Have kids fid the A Remider to Follow activity o their Bible Truth Sleuth pages ad write dow what each color bead represets. Have them cosider the meaig o a persoal level, writig somethig they ca give up to follow Jesus for the red bead, a way they ve foud joy by followig Jesus for the yellow bead, ad the ame of someoe they ca tell about Jesus for the blue bead. Witer Quarter Lesso 8 Grades 3 & 4
89 Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What about followig Jesus excites you? What about followig Jesus seems difficult or eve scary? What will it mea for you to follow Jesus this week? Say: As the disciples discovered, followig Jesus might mea leavig some thigs behid. But they asked Jesus for help whe they struggled ad we ca, too. No matter where we are or what we re doig we ca always ask for help to FOLLOW JESUS i our decisios, actios, ad what we say. Let s look at ways we ca do that this week. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Say: Let s thik this week about how we ca FOLLOW JESUS. Daily Challeges Supplies Bible Truth Sleuth Have kids fid this week s Daily Challeges o their Bible Truth Sleuth pages ad choose oe to do this week. They ca choose oe or more of these three optios: Ask Jesus to help you show others how woderful it is to kow ad follow him. Use your shoelace pi as a remider to follow Jesus this week. Give up somethig, such as your place i lie, to show that you follow Jesus. Make sure you choose a Daily Challege as well, ad tell kids what you chose. Kids will be more iclied to follow through o their commitmets whe they see you doig the same. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: The disciples left their fishig ets so they could follow Jesus. Let s remember to FOLLOW JESUS as we do our Daily Challeges this week. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 8 Witer Quarter
90 Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about followig Jesus. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their Bible Truth Sleuth pages with their families. Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Take a couple of miutes to pray with your kids. Say: Fid a parter, ad pray for each other that God will help you FOLLOW JESUS this week. Pray: Dear God, please help us FOLLOW JESUS i all we do, say, ad thik this week. I Jesus ame, ame. Witer Quarter Lesso 8 Grades 3 & 4