Freeze Frame Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand BIG IDEA: Jesus can do BIG things with the little bit that we give Him. BIBLE BASIS: Mark 6:30-44, John 6:1-14 KEY VERSE: God is able to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine. He does everything by his power that is working in us. Ephesians 3:20 (NIrV) Scripture marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica. Scripture marked NIrV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Reader s Version, Copyright 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. All scripture references are taken from NIrV unless otherwise stated. User Agreement: The GO! curriculum by Mooblio is intended for download and print by subscribing entities only. It may not be transferred electronically to or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. If the GO! curriculum is cost prohibitive for your organization, please contact us about assistance. We are awesomely generous! All use must be in accordance with the Terms of Use agreement as described on the website www.go.mooblio.com. 2016 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 1
How much do you trust God to meet your needs? A little? A lot? Sometimes? Every waking hour? Early in my relationship with God, I found it was easier to trust God for my eternal salvation than it was to trust that God would provide for my daily needs. But as I ve experienced the tests of life and seen God provide in each of them, my trust in Him has matured. I believe that the Bible gives us examples of how growth comes through these life tests that God allows in our lives. We can choose to grow through them or we can fail and have to retake the test. God doesn't grade on a curve. He wants our growth to be complete, not just better than the people around us. When I study Jesus miraculous feeding of the 5,000 in Mark 6:30-44, I find three principles at work regarding how God provides for you and me. 1. The Test. In Mark 6 we find 5,000 hungry followers of Jesus. The disciples think they should be sent away to go home and eat; but Jesus says to the disciples, You give them something to eat." The disciples were shocked and bewildered. They said to Jesus, That would take more than half a year s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat? Mark 6:37 (NIV) Their faith in Jesus provision was being tested. 2. The Sufficiency. We read soon after in Mark 6:42 that They all ate and were satisfied. (NIV) The food that Jesus provided was sufficient for everyone present. But that s not all. 3. The Abundance. Finally, we read in Mark 6:43, "And the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish." Not only were the 5,000 people fed, there was an abundance 12 entire baskets were filled with leftovers. This story is a constant reminder that God is sufficient and wants to meet our needs spiritual, emotional and physical with not only sufficiency, but exceeding abundance. Are you trusting God to meet your needs? Take a few minutes to make a list of the ways that God has met your needs and then thank Him for His faithfulness. I think you ll find that you can trust God more when you stop and consider the ways He has been faithful to meet your needs in the past. Bob Norwood GO! Contributor 2016 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 2
The 5 Be s of Being a Great Small Group Leader Sometimes we see people who lead and relate to kids with such effortless talent that we say of them, They re such a natural! Make no mistake, though, great small group leaders aren t born they re made! If you watch the most successful small group leaders closely, you ll see that many of them have a method to their madness. And best of all, it s something that anyone can learn. Follow these 5 Be s to be the bees knees to your group of kids. Be prepared. It all starts here. When you re flipping through papers during the lesson and trying to figure out what to say or do next, it s very hard to engage your kids. Great small group leaders read the lesson before they arrive. This allows them to lead their group with excellence and to be mentally and relationally present for the kids. Be relational. For most kids, the thing that draws them back week after week isn t the incredible lessons, it s the feeling of being loved and known. It s easy to sometimes think that your primary role is to teach the kids in your group, when in fact, the most important thing you could do is to know the kids. Not just their names, but their likes and their fears and the silly things that make them laugh. Be consistent. Developing deep, life-changing relationships with kids takes time and trust. They need to see your face on a regular basis. They need to trust that you ll be there for them. Great small group leaders make serving with kids a priority and show up consistently. The more your group of kids sees you, the quicker and deeper your relationship with them will grow. Be involved. Great small group leaders are involved with the kids from the time they arrive to the time they leave. Be a part of their world. If you have kid s worship, stand among the kids and sing. If there are motions to the songs, roll up your sleeves and jump in. Instead of sitting in the back of the room during large group, sit with the kids. Let them see you be silly sometimes. They ll notice and love you for it! Better yet, be involved even after they leave. Give them a call or send them a note during the week. Be quiet. Great small group leaders are great listeners. Kids have so much to say and too few people in their lives who take the time to listen. If kids know that you genuinely care about what they have to say, they ll pour out their lives to you. Moreover, great small group leaders are masters at facilitating discussion. During small group time, be slow to talk and quick to listen. 2016 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 3
FREEZE FRAME COMMUNITY BUILDER Say: We re in the middle of a series called Freeze Frame. We ve talked about some really amazing miracles that Jesus did. Who remembers what a miracle is? (Take answers.) Great answers! A miracle is something amazing that only Jesus can do. In today s story, we re going to hear about a crowd of people who were SUPER hungry! When I say Freeze Frame, show me what you look like when you re SUPER hungry. 3, 2, 1 Freeze Frame! Question: Tell us about a time when you were super hungry! What was the food you most wanted to eat? ADDITIONAL TIME ACTIVITY THUMBS UP, THUMBS DOWN Simply ask the kids in your group to share one good thing that happened this week (thumbs up) and one not-so-good thing (thumbs down). This is a great way for your group to share celebrations and struggles with one another. STORY QUESTIONS Directions: During the Large Group program, kids will be asked to turn briefly to their small group and answer the following questions: For Younger Kids: 1. What was your favorite part of this story? 2. If you were the little boy, would you have given all of your food to Jesus? Why or why not? For Older Kids: 1. What do you think this story teaches us about Jesus? 2. Do you think the disciples ever imagined that Jesus could multiply the bread and fish to feed the people? Why or why not? 2016 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 4
GROWING GIFTS (Application Activity) Say: Today we learned that Jesus can do BIG things with the little bit that we give Him. Sometimes you might think that what you have to offer God isn t all that special or great, but that s not true. We re going to do something now to help us think of things we can give to Jesus and be reminded that He can do great things with even the smallest gifts. Directions: Place a bucket of water about 10 feet away from your small group. Give each kid a plastic spoon. Tell the kids that the object of the game is to get all 5 of their beads into the bucket. To do so, they must answer a question. After discussing the answer, each kid will receive one water bead, put the handle of the spoon in their mouth, place the bead on the spoon, move to the bucket in the manner indicated with the question, then drop the bead into the water. As the beads sit in the water, they will expand in size. Continue until all of the questions have been discussed. At the end of the activity, note how the beads began so small, but have grown so much bigger. Allow kids to play with the beads and remind them that God can use even tiny gifts to do big things. NOTE: If you want to allow kids to see fully grown water beads, you may wish to place some dry beads in the bucket of water in advance to give them more time to grow. Questions: How can you use your time to do something good for Jesus? Be specific. (Walk backwards to the bucket!) How can you use your talents to do something good for Jesus? Be specific. (Crawl to the bucket!) How can you use your money or possessions to do something good for Jesus? Be specific. (Bear crawl to the bucket!) How do you think Jesus might take your small gift of time, talent or money and do something BIG? (Crabwalk to the bucket!) Have you ever done something seemingly small that Jesus used in BIG ways? Tell us about it. (Army crawl to the bucket!) Say: These waters beads started off so tiny, but now they re way bigger. That s kind of like what Jesus does with the time, talents, and money that we give Him. Even though our gifts might seem so small, Jesus can do BIG things with them. BIBLE VERSE BLITZ (Bible Memorization Activity) Set up: Print out 2 copies of the Bible Verse cards on 8½ x 11 paper and cut apart. (See Resource Folder.) Each of the 8 cards will have a portion of the Bible verse on it. Directions: Place 1 set of Bible verse cards in the middle of the group. Each of the 8 cards will have a portion of the Bible verse. Place the cards in the correct order. Read the verse carefully with your kids several times so they can begin to memorize it. Today s Bible verse says: Older Kids: God is able to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine. He does everything by his power that is working in us. Ephesians 3:20 2016 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 5
Young Kids: God is able to do far more than we could ever ask for or imagine. Ephesians 3:20 Next, divide your group into 2 teams. Give each team one set of Bible verse cards and tell them to thoroughly mix the cards up. When you say go, have the two teams race to put the cards back in the right order. (The Young Kids version has numbers on each card to assist with the ordering.) Each kid must be responsible for placing at least one card. For the first round allow the kids to use their hands to move the cards, but for each additional round, choose a different body part such as forehead, nose, foot, knee, elbow, cheek, etc. The first team to assemble the cards in the right order wins the round and a point for the team. After each round, cover the cards up and have each team take turns reciting the verse from memory. Question: God s power helps us do BIG things for Him bigger than we can even imagine. How could you use God s power this week to do something big for Him? DRAWING CLOSE TO GOD (Group Prayer Activity) Directions: Place a poster board or piece of butcher block paper in the middle of the group along with a box of markers. In the middle of the poster board or paper, write the word GIFT in large letters. Tell the kids to think about a gift that they can give to Jesus. It could be a gift of time, talent, money, words of encouragement, etc. When ready, have them draw a picture of it on the poster board or paper. When the kids are finished, allow them to talk about their gift and how they can use it for God. When everyone has finished sharing, lead the kids in a closing prayer. Encourage the kids to tell Jesus what they would like to give and to ask Him to use it in BIG ways. 2016 Mooblio. All rights reserved. 6