How to Meet with God Lesson 4: Stay! Linger with the Lord TM.com
How to Meet with God TM Lesson 4 Stay! Linger with the Lord Unit Summary The purpose of the Christian life is to have a relationship with God. Too often people in the church place an emphasis on getting saved but then what? While our ultimate destination with our Creator is to be cherished and celebrated, Jesus also died to welcome us into a relationship with Him during this life on earth! In this unit, your kids will learn tried-and-true techniques for enjoying a personal quiet time with God so they can deepen their friendship with Him. They will also discover how to enjoy the Lord s presence throughout the day and how to call on Him in times of need. Meeting with God is something we can do in a focused quiet time, but God is also available anytime we want to experience His presence and power. Lesson Summary One of the most meaningful concepts we can teach kids something that many adults have never even discovered is the incredible power of planning an extended time away with their Creator, Savior, and Friend. God longs to fellowship with us. In an extended time with the Lord, He has the opportunity to reveal things to us that we might not be open to or might not catch in rushed or short times with Him. This lesson will challenge children to plan these special times with God. Paul s Power Principle: Grow closer to God by spending extra time with Him. Know Disciple Targets In this lesson, your children will... They can call on God at any time, and He will hear them Feel Secure knowing that God is always listening and eager to help them Do Plan to meet alone with the Lord for an extraspecial time
SUPPLIES General Supplies Bibles, puppets, video projection (optional) Pencils, pens, paper Spark Interest WELCOME!: none LET S PLAY!: Cheerios, bowls, trays, cups CONNECT WITH YOUR KIDS: none Explore Scripture KEYVERSE: sleeping bag, blindfold, hand bell Inspire Action DRAMATIZE THE POINT: none PowerPoint Presentation As you plan your lesson, select PowerPoint slides that correspond to the lesson elements you choose. In the Slide Sorter View, you can rearrange and/or delete the slides as necessary. For descriptions of the included slides and tips on their use, see the notes accompanying each slide. SPARK INTEREST Choose from the following activities and ideas to engage kids and grab their attention. How to Meet with God Lesson 4 2011, DiscipleLand. All rights reserved. Karl Bastian / Kidology.org Welcome! Chill Time Today have leaders sitting around on the floor. As kids arrive, have the greeter at the door send them to one of the leaders around the room, who invites them to sit down with him or her. Eventually, you will have small groups of kids just sitting on the floor in small groups chatting. These leaders should be very relational. Ask kids about their week, their family, their pets, school, hobbies, favorite video games, books, movies, what they want to do when they grow up really show an interest in getting to know the kids. It s okay to start the service a little late. Once the service starts, ask the kids if they enjoyed that extended time getting to know the leaders, and ask how it felt to have someone wanting to get to know them. Say, Did you know God wants to get to know you, too? Let s Meet-n-Greet! Turn and meet two people near you and ask them if they sleep with a stuffed animal. If they do, what kind is it and what is its name? Leaders, be sure to stop whatever you are doing to move through the audience and greet the children, especially those you do not recognize. Announce any birthdays for the week. (See the How to Use DiscipleTown guide for quick and easy ways to acknowledge visitors and birthdays.)
Let s Worship! Recommended Song: You ll See Me Dancing, from Obvious Kid s Praise by Mark Condon, available at Kidology.org Puppet Intro Leader & puppet introduce today s lesson. You will find a scripted version of this intro at the end of the lesson. Puppet is excited, so the leader asks what is going on. Puppet says, I can t believe it! On Friday, the principal asked to spend lunch with me just me! The whole lunch period! We talked about all kinds of stuff. It was so cool. He s a really neat guy. Did you know he collects remote-controlled vehicles? And not just cars, but boats and airplanes and helicopters too? He even goes to shows about them in other states and has won contests. He said my dad can take me to his house sometime, and he ll show me his vehicles and awards. He s like a real person, not just a principal! The leader laughs and says, That s how it is with God. When we spend extended time with Him, we find out He is a real person with a personality, and we enjoy getting to know Him. The leader goes on to explain that today s lesson is all about how to spend extra time with God so we can really get to know Him extra well. Let s Play! Pajama Olympics Because starting our day with God is so important, the games for this unit are themed around morning activities. Enjoy the games, but then at the end emphasize that Meeting with God is the most important part of your day! The more children hear this, the more it will sink in. Hot Teddy! Smaller groups can play this game with everyone; larger groups should invite as many kids as can form a large circle to come up on the stage. Everyone knows the game Hot Potato ; we ll just play it with a teddy bear! For extra-large circles, just put two or three bears in at the beginning to speed up the game. A leader plays music, and the children pass the bear around the circle. The child holding the bear when the music stops is out. If you are using a group on stage, the kids return to their seats. If you are using all the kids in the audience, have the children stand to play and sit when they are out. Eventually kids will need to toss the bear to the next standing child. Be sure to tell them that wild throws will mean the one who threw it is out. So they need to toss it carefully to the next child in the rotation. The funnier the bear you use, the better! Connect with Your Kids Have you ever taken an extended retreat to spend time with God? If you have, talk to the kids about it. Where did you go? What did you experience? learn? discover? If you haven t, maybe you need to do so before this lesson!
DiscipleTown Visitor Counselor Carl* As the leader is wrapping up the preceding segment, a well-dressed man walks by and stops to ask the leader for directions to the pastor s office. The leader asks if he is a businessman, and he answers that he is a counselor. They introduce themselves to each other, and the leader asks what a counselor does. The counselor explains that people meet with him to share their private problems, struggles, concerns, and needs. The leader says that he is struggling with some things and starts to explain then stops, looks at the kids, and says, Maybe we should talk about this in private. Carl says, I d be happy to. That would be $100 an hour. The leader is shocked! He makes an excuse about how he is busy and doesn t have time and can t do it, and the counselor leaves. He says to the kids he is surprised to learn that people pay over $100 an hour just to talk to a counselor to share their private worries and concerns and struggles when they can talk to God for hours for free! Note: After the skit, because some kids may be seeing a counselor, or might be asked by a parent to see a counselor, it is important to say to the kids that there are times when it is important to talk to a counselor. Counselors can be very helpful in dealing with some tough issues in life. If you need to talk to a counselor, not all counselors are expensive, and some donate their time, especially for children. Make it clear that you are not saying that counselors are bad people. Also, there are times in life when it is worth the cost to talk to a good counselor if you ve been through a very hard experience or are struggling with something. Counselors have been trained to help people through tough experiences or hard times. The point is just that we can talk to God for free anytime! And if talking with God is free, we should make the most of that opportunity every chance we get! *CHARACTERS: These are suggested characters and names. Please feel free to change or adjust according to the actors and props you have available.
EXPLORE SCRIPTURE Seize on the children s interest and direct them into God s Word. Let s Search! Bible Dash Supplies: Bibles Ask all kids with Bibles to participate, or invite a few volunteers to come to the front. As children hold Bibles closed with hands on covers, state the Bible reference twice, then on the command SEARCH! have the students race to locate the verse. Once they have a finger on the verse, they can stand and call out, FOUND IT! Have the first child read the verse aloud while you project the verse on a screen via PowerPoint. See suggestions below for comments on each verse. Keep your comments brief and to the point of the lesson. Psalm 139:23-24 Isaiah 40:30-31 Ezekiel 3:16-17 Luke 5:15-16 Luke 6:12 Ask God to search your heart. God will give strength to those who seek Him. After Ezekiel spent time with God, God spoke to him. Jesus needed time away to pray. Jesus went away and spent the night praying. Paul s Power Principle: Grow closer to God by spending extra time with Him. Click here to change text Suggested Bible Narrative Mary Stays with Jesus Luke 10:38-42 Jesus visited Mary and Martha. Martha was busy doing many things, but Mary made the better choice, to enjoy just being in Jesus presence. Let s Learn! Stay! Plan a Special Time with God Come out wearing a backpack. Tell the kids you are going on a journey to spend some time with God. Tell them that might sound funny, but it is something that Jesus did. Read Luke 5:15-16 and Luke 6:12. Jesus knew that life (and ministry) was exhausting. He needed to spend extra time with God in order to get close to Him again. There is just something special about spending extra time with the people we love. Often we go on vacation with our families. Well, we can spend extra time with God. Read or review the story from Luke 10:38-42. Jesus visited Mary and Martha. Martha was busy doing many things, but Mary made the better choice to enjoy just being in Jesus presence. Mary knew that while serving God was important, it was more important to simply spend time with Jesus enjoying Him and listening to Him. It is all too easy to get caught up in serving God and miss out on enjoying God! That happened to a prophet named Elijah. You have probably heard the great story about Elijah and the evil prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). He challenged the false prophets, and God brought down fire from heaven on his sacrifice (which was covered in water) to prove who the real God was. Quickly retell that story dramatically to emphasize what a great
prophet of God Elijah was. What few people tell is what happened right after that story. In 1 Kings 19:1-16 we read that as soon as the evil queen Jezebel found out about this miracle, she sent out word that she was going to kill Elijah. Instead of trusting the same amazing God who had sent down fire from heaven, Elijah freaked and ran for his life like the biggest wimp in Bible times! Read 1 Kings 19:1-16. In this story we find that Elijah spent some special time with God. God provided him with food and showed him that He wasn t in the great wind or earthquake or fire; instead, He was in a gentle whisper. When Elijah quieted himself and calmed down and listened to God, his confidence and peace returned and he was able to return to his job as a prophet for God. He went from running for his life and wanting to die, to going back to serving God. Sometimes when we are freaking out and afraid and looking at our circumstances and not to God, we need an extended time with God to listen to the whisper of God. We need to let Him calm our hearts and give us the peace we need to walk with Him and trust Him that everything is going to be OK again. We might have had great victories in the past just as Elijah did with the prophets of Baal but we are likely to fail quickly if we don t stay close to God and plan times to be with Him. Dee s Disciple Tip: Praying from the H-E-A-R-T gives children an easy guide they can use to pray during their quiet times. The Object Talk videos also teach and reinforce this memory device. H = Honor God with praise E = Examine your life A = Ask for personal needs R = Request help for others T = Thank God for blessing you
KeyVerse Topic: Jesus Quiet Time Reference: Mark 1:35 Memorization Activity: To help children learn all the elements of this verse in a humorous manner, create an obstacle course that kids can compete to complete as quickly as possible. Each lesson, choose two boys and two girls to come up on stage and compete. Of course, as the kids learn the verse better and watch other kids compete the times will get faster. By the fourth week you should have an overall champ boy and girl, and all the kids should really know the verse, too. Use this as an opportunity to reaffirm the teaching during this relay. Keep it short and to the point: Jesus got up, left the house Jesus picked a place and knew He needed to get away from distractions. Make this a timed relay one child at a time will run the course. The child starts out in a sleeping bag. On Go the child must 1) ring a bell [ Very early ]; 2) put on a blindfold [ while it was still dark ]; 3) get out of the sleeping bag [ Jesus got up ]; 4) walk under the arms of two volunteers who form a door [ left the house ]; 5) go to a chair (or bean bag) [ off to a solitary place ]; 6) sit down, take off the blindfold, and fold his or her hands as if in prayer [ where He prayed ]; 7) recite the entire verse. If the child makes a mistake, ring a buzzer or bell. The child is not corrected, just notified so that the mistake can be corrected. The child must give the reference. Then the child runs back to the bed (no eye covering). As soon as the child touches the bed the timer stops! Record the time and post it on the wall for the weeks to come!
on presented by month day year INSPIRE ACTION Encourage kids to apply the Bible truth to their lives. Dramatize the Point Failure to Launch Devo Boy is packing a backpack for an all-day hiking trip with his best friend. His sister is talking to him, and he is trying to avoid telling her who is going hiking with him. She finally pries it out of him, and he says he is going hiking with Jesus. She asks how you can hike with Jesus. He explains that he has discovered that prayer isn t a stuffy religious experience but a real, awesome, two-way conversation between him and God. However, he just can t get enough of it in a loud house full of distractions, so he wants to spend a day with Jesus hiking and talking about life and asking Jesus some serious questions about his future. He sister is shocked. After he leaves, she says, I wonder if Jesus would want to spend a day with me? Object Talks Puppet Talks Supplies: video projection The videos in this unit feature Puppets with a H-E-A-R-T. In this video, Timber encourages children to spend time thanking God for the many blessing He has given them! A dog might wag his tail when he is happy, but people should pray! Dogs are known as man s best friend, but actually Jesus is our best Friend, and He is loyal, too. Featured verse: Colossians 4:2 Awarded to for Being Ready award Let s Talk! Small Group Discussion Small Group Activity: Take turns staring at each other while the others judge who blinks first. The winner gets to challenge someone else. The key is to focus your attention and try not to look away or break the connection for as long as possible! The Point: When we get away with God, that is exactly what we are doing trying to get some uninterrupted focused time with God. And God won t break the connection, ever! Discussion Questions: 1) Who is your best friend? 2) What s the longest time you ve ever gotten to spend with your best friend? 3) Have you ever invited someone to join you on a family vacation who wasn t family? 4) Have you ever planned a special time with God? If you have, talk about it. If not, talk about how you could do it, and everyone make a plan! DiscipleTown Super Citizen Select a child who was on his or her best behavior the entire service.
Let s Pray! Dear Jesus, today we have been challenged to not just pray to You in little bursts, but to consider scheduling a special time with You. Help us to not forget this challenge; keep bringing it to our mind until we do it. Give us a really creative idea of how we can do this in a way that is unique to You and me. Maybe You might even create a special time in the next few weeks for us, and we will realize that You made this time available for this very purpose. Help us to keep an eye out for that opportunity because You can t wait to spend time with Your children. In Your holy name, amen. Cy s Challenge: Write on your calendar when you will have your special time with God! Let s Review! If you have extra time, use these review questions to keep the kids focused on the lesson until time to dismiss. A handful of candy will help you keep their attention. After each question, take a minute to reiterate the lesson point related to the question. 1) T/F God is really busy, so keep your prayers short, please. 2) T/F God is eager to hear your prayers at any time. 3) T/F We should ask God to search our hearts for sin. 4) T/F Jesus often ditched the disciples to go pray alone. 5) Who spent time with Jesus, Mary or Martha? 6) Who did great things for God, and then wimped out at the first sign of danger? 7) Where is God: in the storm or earthquake or fire or whisper?
For the Home DiscipleTown Table Talker: Give each child a copy of this week s DiscipleTown Table Talker. Be sure to show the kids how to put it together and encourage them to ask their parents to lead family devotions three times this week. Parent Email: Copy and send the email below to help your parents connect with their kids during the week. Send them early in the week, but not on Sunday. As a courtesy, be sure parents have opted to receive these emails. Review and edit as necessary to reflect the lesson elements you have used. You can also find this email as a Microsoft Word document in your download bundle. Dear Mom and Dad, Recently we concluded our series on How to Meet with God in DiscipleTown with a unique challenge to the children. One of the most powerful things we can teach kids something that many adults have never discovered is the incredible power of planning an extended time away with their Creator, Savior, and Friend Jesus Christ. God longs to fellowship with us. But for too many Christians, their relationship with God is reduced to short prayers at meals or the occasional quiet time, which can become ritualistic and rob God of the opportunity to truly speak to us. However, in an extended time with the Lord, He has the opportunity to reveal things to us that we might not be open to or might not catch in rushed or short times with Him. This lesson challenged children to plan these special times with God. I don t know if you have ever had an extended time with God, but it can have a powerful impact on your life and on your walk with God. Some might think this is an unusual thing to expect or ask of children, but it isn t. Of course, not all children will accept this challenge, but those who accept it will certainly have an encounter with God that could be life-changing. But they are still children! Perhaps you should consider planning a personal spiritual retreat with your child(ren). Many adults have shared how a father-son/father-daughter/mother-son/mother-daughter trip had a profound impact on their spiritual lives! This is something to prayerfully consider as you think about the future and whether you d like your child(ren) to be sold out for God! Building young disciples, [Your Name] 10
BONUS MATERIALS Use these options to extend your time or as substitutes for the ideas above. Chip s Snack Time! Supplies: Honey Nut Cheerios cereal Health experts say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you start your day with a good breakfast, your whole day will go better! Well, the same is true spiritually. If you start your day out with God, your whole day will go better! Each week, give kids a small cup filled with a popular dry cereal to munch on as on object lesson on the value of starting their day with God. God would cheer and go nuts if you spent extra time with Him, and you would find it sweeter than honey! Additional Ideas Four Corners Elimination This is a great game that gets kids out of their seats and moving around the room! You can make a giant die from a square box, or just make six cards that you draw for random selection. The six choices are: * 1 * 4 * 2 * 1 and 3 * 3 * 2 and 4 Label the four corners of the room 1, 2, 3, and 4. On Go, the kids spread out and choose a corner. Then you roll the giant die or draw a card, and the kids at the corner with that number (or combo) are eliminated and must sit down. They are out of the game. The remaining kids must move to a new corner. Kids may not stay in the same corner. The goal, of course, is to see how long you can survive the game. The winner is the last child who remains in the game! That person made the right choices every time! Amazing! The Point: This game had a lot of moving around, and most of you got eliminated pretty quickly. Life keeps us on the move, and we tend to never have time for God. When we are going from one thing to another, it is God who gets eliminated from our schedule over and over. God would love it if we would decide to stay in His corner for a while and make some time for Him! Stay-After-Church Party Plan a Stay-After-Church Party! Invite kids on the final week of this unit to bring a sack lunch to church and stay after church for an afternoon of games and fellowship! Don t overplan it. Just have some games, food, and fellowship, and provide child care to give parents a Sunday lunch without their kids. The kids will love it, and so will their parents. During the party, review what the kids have learned. You can use the ideas in the Review Lesson as well if you need some things to do. 11
Puppet Intro Quality Time DIRECTOR S NOTES The words in italics are notes for you and your puppeteers; they are not to be read aloud. Puppet is obviously excited, bouncing up and down. Leader: What are you so excited about? What s going on? Puppet: I can t believe it! On Friday, the principal asked to spend lunch with me just me! The whole lunch period! Leader: That s great! Puppet: We talked about all kinds of stuff. It was so cool. He s a really neat guy. Did you know he collects remote-controlled vehicles? And not just cars, but boats and airplanes and helicopters too? He even goes to shows about them in other states and has won contests. He said my dad can take me to his house sometime, and he ll show me his vehicles and awards. Leader: Sounds like you two really hit it off! Puppet: He s like a real person, not just a principal! Leader: [Laughs.] That s how it is with God. When we spend extended time with Him, we find out He is a real person with a personality, and we enjoy getting to know Him. Puppet: I can t wait to spend more time with my principal to get to know him better. And I can t wait to spend extra time with God so I can really get to know Him extra well. Leader: Good for you! *PUPPET: Develop a puppet character to use regularly. The children will get to know the personality and enjoy these regular visits. Dee, Cy, and Paul puppets are available at DiscipleLand.com How to Meet with God Lesson 4 2011, DiscipleLand. Permission granted to reproduce for volunteers.
DiscipleTown Visitor Script DIRECTOR S NOTES The words in italics are notes for you and your volunteers; they are not to be read aloud. A well-dressed man walks by and stops the leader. Counselor Carl*: Excuse me, can you give me directions to the pastor s office? Leader: Sure. [Gives directions.] Excuse me for asking, but are you a businessman? Carl: Actually I m a counselor. My name s Carl. Leader: Well, Counselor Carl, I m [leader name]. What exactly does a counselor do? Carl: People meet with me to share their private problems, struggles, concerns, and needs. Leader: I struggle with some things. Carl: You do? Leader: Sure. You see, I...[Looks at audience.] Maybe we should talk about this in private. Carl: I d be happy to. That would be $100 an hour. Leader: [Shocked.] Well, um, I ll have to get back with you. See, I m really busy with Kids Church and all. I m not sure if I can fit it into my schedule. Carl: That s fine. Just let me know. Well, I d better get going. [Exits.] Leader: Isn t it amazing that people pay $100 an hour or more to talk to a counselor share to their private worries and concerns and struggles when they can talk to God for hours for free? NOTE: After the skit, because some kids may be seeing a counselor, or might be asked by a parent to see a counselor, it is important to say to the kids that there are times when it is important to talk to a counselor. Counselors can be very helpful in dealing with some tough issues in life. If you need to talk to a counselor, not all counselors are expensive, and some donate their time, especially for children. Make it clear that you are not saying that counselors are bad people. Also, there are times in life when it is worth the cost to talk to a good counselor if you ve been through a very hard experience or are struggling with something. Counselors have been trained to help people through tough experiences or hard times. The point is just that we can talk to God for free anytime! And if talking with God is free, we should make the most of that opportunity every chance we get! *CHARACTERS: These are suggested characters and names. Please feel free to change or adjust according to the actors and props you have available. How to Meet with God Lesson 4 2011, DiscipleLand. Permission granted to reproduce for volunteers.
Curriculum Map (DiscipleTown Units in no particular order*) How to Worship God How to Use My Bible How to Show Respect How to Pray How to Be Faithful Workers How to Love God How to Memorize God s Word How to Be Global Christians How to Grow Spiritual Fruit How to Make Good Friends How to Walk in the Spirit How to Be Jesus Disciple How to Build Character How to Navigate the New Testament How to Explain My Faith How to Earn Eternal Rewards How to Follow God s Plan How to Make Good Choices How to Navigate the Old Testament How to Study My Bible How to Know the Truth How to Discover Gifts and Talents How to Walk Victoriously How to Meet with God Each DiscipleTown Unit will teach your kids an essential how to skill to become victorious disciples of Jesus! *DiscipleTown Units are still in production. Please visit DiscipleTown.com for availability. TM.com