SUNDAY MORNINGS January 28, 2018, Week 4 Grade: Kinder

Pennies from Heaven Bible: Pennies from Heaven (The Widow s Offering) Mark 12:41-44 Bottom Line: Practice living for God. Memory Verse: For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:8, NIV Life App: Commitment Making a plan and putting it into practice 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, pray for each kid by name. Ask God to help you encourage kids to live for Him in order to show others the love of God. 9:00 & 11:30 Money, Money, Money, Money... Money! Made to Explore: an activity that extends learning through hands on experimentation and discovery What You Need: Coins, aluminum foil, cotton balls, craft sticks What You Do: Set out the coins and invite each child to choose two or three. Give each kid a piece of aluminum foil and show them how they can lay the foil over the coins and rub with their fingers over the top of the foil to create impressions. Encourage the kids to experiment as they create. Ask: o What happens if you rub a different coin in an area that you ve already rubbed with another coin? o What happens if you put the coin on a different surface and then rub it? o What happens if you rub the coin with a cotton ball? with a craft stick? What You Say: How much is a penny worth? a nickel? a dime? a quarter? Which is worth more money: a penny or a quarter? [Transition] In our Bible Truth today we ll hear about a time when Jesus said that two pennies were worth more than hundreds even thousands of quarters! Let s go to Large Group and find out why. Lead your group to the Large Group area. 2

10:15 Early Arriver Idea What You Need: Pennies What You Do: Collect kids offerings as they arrive. Pass out the pennies to the kids in your group. Encourage them to work together to stack the pennies as high as they can. As they are stacking, ask the following questions: o What are some things you do to stay healthy? o o What are some healthy things to eat? What are some not-so-healthy things to eat? Why is sleep important? What happens if you don t get enough sleep?what is your favorite exercise/sport? What You Say: How much is a penny worth? a nickel? a dime? a quarter? Which is worth more money: a penny or a quarter? [Transition] In our Bible Truth today we ll hear about a time when Jesus said that two pennies were worth more than hundreds even thousands of quarters! Let s go to Large Group and find out why. Lead your group to the Large Group area. 3

Pennies from Heaven Bible: Pennies from Heaven (The Widow s Offering) Mark 12:41-44 Bottom Line: Practice living for God. Memory Verse: For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:8, NIV Life App: Commitment Making a plan and putting it into practice Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what. Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 35 minutes) Engage kids hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible Truth, worship, and prayer experience in a Large Group setting. CG: Work It Out Theme Slide HOST: What s going on, friends? Welcome to The Treehouse! My name is [Host s name] and we re about to have the BEST DAY EVER. Look at your neighbor, point, and say, Are you ready for this? HOST and KIDS: (Point to the audience.) Are you ready for this? HOST: I hope you are! Because it s time to laugh, play, learn, and even get a little wild. Is that okay with you guys? (Hold hand to ear.) That s what I m talking about! Let s get started with some Praise and worship. Help me get the Power Praise team in here. Worship SFX: I Go to the Rock SFX: Never Gonna Be SFX: Close Power Praise team enters as Host joins the audience. Power Praise team exits as Host retakes the stage. HOST: Love praise and worship! Hey, does anyone remember our Life App?! It s our last week to talk about it, so on three, I want you to yell out what you think this month s Life App is. One, two, three! (Hold hand to ear.) If you said commitment, I want you to give yourself a high five. (Give yourself a high five.) If you didn t say commitment, or if you don t even know what that word means, no worries. Let s take one more look at it. CG: Commitment Slide Commitment is making a plan and putting it into practice. Help me out. Let s all read that together. HOST AND KIDS: Commitment is making a plan and putting it into practice. 5

HOST: (Hold up one finger.) You make a plan. (Hold up a second finger.) And then you put it into practice. We do all sorts of things that take commitment. It takes commitment to go on a long hike. Has anyone ever gone on a hike? (Raise your hand and allow for response.) Yeah! It takes commitment to learn how to do the backstroke. Can anyone in here do the backstroke? (Mimic a backstroke.) I still have a hard time with that one. And it ALSO takes commitment to be a good friend, to do your chores every day, to start something new, or to join a club or a team. Commitment: sometimes it s easy, sometimes it s hard, but it s always important. SFX: Workout music Hey! It s everybody s favorite time: game time! Today s game is all about YOU, how we re all different from one another, and how that s totally okay. In fact, it s pretty cool! Here s how we ll play. When I tell you to, you re going to stand up and line up along the tape that s running down the center of the room. I ll ask you a question, and you ll have three seconds to respond and move to one side of the tape or the other, based on your response. We all know that working out takes a lot of commitment, so all of our questions will be about exercise. Here we go! Everybody get up and stand on the tape line. Give kids a moment to move to the tape line in the middle of the room. First question: Which do you like doing better: jumping jacks or push-ups? If you like jumping jacks better, move to the left side of the tape and do a jumping jack. (Do a jumping jack.) If you like push-ups better, move to the right side and do a push up. (Do a push up.) Give kids a moment to choose their favorite and move to that side of the room. Some of you like push-ups better than jumping jacks? That s so cool! You must be workout pros! Move back to the tape, and let s do another. Which do you like doing better: squats or hops? If you like squats better, move to the left side of the tape and do a few squats. (Do a squat.) If you like hops better, move to the right side and do a few hops. (Do a few hops.) Give kids a moment to choose their favorite and move to that side of the room. I like squats better, personally. But you guys sure look like you re having fun on the hopping side. Let s go another round. Which is more fun: high knees (jog in place with high knees) or heel kicks? (Jog in place with your heels hitting your bottom.) If you like high knees, move to the left side of the tape and do some high knees. (Do high knees.) If you like heel kicks better, move to the right side and kick those heels. (Do heel kicks.) 6

Give kids a moment to choose their favorite and move to that side of the room. I actually like both of these. They re fun! Want to do another round? Okay, last one. Which exercise would you rather commit to: lunges or arm curls? If lunges are your thing, move to the left side of the tape and lunge around. (Do a lunge.) If working your arms with some curls is more your style, then move to the right side and get in a few curling reps. (Do a few bicep curls.) Give kids a moment to choose their favorite and move to that side of the room. Cool! Now I want you all to return to your seats after you do your favorite exercise five times. Let s do it! Allow students to do their favorite exercise and then return to their seats. That was fun! When we commit to working out, we actually have to go and do it. We can t just say, I m gonna work out, and leave it at that. We have to actually practice working out! What s great, though, is that your commitment to working out doesn t have to look exactly the same as someone else s commitment to working out. We re all different, and that s awesome! Speaking of awesome, it s Bible time. Please welcome to the stage, [Historyteller s Name]! Historyteller enters as Host exits. SETTING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: Hello, hello! How is everybody doing today? We re ending our month of what God says about commitment with a Bible Truth that I think can totally flip your mind upside down and turn it around. That s my way of saying that we re about to hear about something that really happened that s totally cool. Like we ve been saying all month, commitment definitely takes work. It takes practice. And sometimes commitment takes something else. It takes GIVING. We find today s Bible Truth in the book of Mark. Mark was one of Jesus first followers. He hung out with Peter and the rest of Jesus disciples. They must have told him all sorts of stories about what Jesus said and did during His time on earth. Mark decided to write down these stories so people just like us could read them all these years later. How cool is that? In Mark 12, we discover that Jesus and His friends were hanging out at the temple. A temple in the Bible is like a church is to us today. Jesus was sitting close to the spot in the temple where people came to bring their money for offerings. Hold up one brown bag with the dollar sign showing. Back then, people would give money at the temple to help support the priests and keep up with any 7

needs they might have kind of like how people give money to this church. The money helps support the church staff and meet different needs, like [your environment s name], and all the ways we help people in our community and in the world. An important part of worshipping God is giving money to the church or, the case of our Bible Truth for today, the temple. JESUS WATCHES THE RICH PEOPLE AT THE TEMPLE CG: Mark 12:41 Slide HISTORYTELLER: Here s what Mark said Jesus saw. (Open Bible and read Mark 12:41.) Jesus sat down across from the place where people put their temple offerings. He watched the crowd putting their money into the offering boxes. Many rich people threw large amounts into them (NIrV). Let s set the stage for a moment and really see what s happening here. Would two of my volunteers come up? Call up the first two volunteers as the wealthy givers. After they put on their robes, hand each of them several bags. The Bible tells us that Jesus saw some rich people people with lots of money coming to give their offerings. The rich people gave lots of money to the temple. But there wasn t just one rich person. There were many. These rich people gave a LOT of money! Take the first volunteer and lead him/her to the box. Take a few bags (but not all) from the volunteer and put them inside the box. Bring over the second volunteer. Take a few bags (but not all) from the volunteer and put them inside the box. JESUS WATCHES THE WIDOW AT THE TEMPLE CG: Mark 12:42 Slide HISTORYTELLER: But Jesus noticed someone else at the temple. Let s find out who. (Open Bible and read Mark 12:42.) But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins. They were worth only a few pennies (NIrV). Just reading that, you may not understand how the widow s actions were a big deal, but they were. 8

What the widow did was HUGE. It was amazing. It showed incredible commitment. Widow might be a new word to some of you. A widow is a woman who was married but her husband died. During Jesus time, widows were very poor. Most found it hard to earn enough money to buy what they needed each day. Let s take a closer look at what she did. Would my last volunteer come up? Call the third volunteer to the stage. After she puts on her robe, give her the bag with the two coins inside. Jesus watched as the widow went over to the offering station. Mark tells us that she came to give money to the temple. Bring third volunteer over. Take the bag, open it, pull out the two coins, and drop them into the box. She only had two small coins, which only equaled a few pennies. What the widow gave was far, far less than what the rich people gave. But Jesus knew something about her the others didn't. Listen to what Jesus said. JESUS REACTION CG: Mark 12:43b-44 Slide HISTORYTELLER: The Bible tells us that Jesus called over His disciples and He talked to them. (Open Bible and read Mark 12:43b-44.) He said: That poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. They all gave a lot because they are rich. But she gave even though she is poor. She put in everything she had (NIrV). Pick up the money box and flip it over, emptying the bags onto the floor. Jesus said that her two coins (hold up two coins) were worth more than all those other bags of money (motion to the bags). And why? Because the widow had given everything all she had. She gave when she didn t have much to give. What the widow did show was that she loved God. It showed she trusted Him. It showed she knew God would take care of her no matter what. Before we finish up, let s hear it for our volunteers. You three can have a seat. Volunteers exit. WRAPPING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: That must have been such a hard decision for the widow. Does she give money to the temple, or does she save the money for herself? She decided in her heart to give, knowing that she could trust God no matter what. God would take care of her needs! The same can be true for us. When we give what we have our time, our attention, our obedience, or even our money when we give our all to God, we show Him the kind of commitment that widow had in our Truth and show Him that we trust Him no matter what. 9

The widow lived for God, and we can, too. We can practice living for God. CG: Bottom Line Slide That s our Bottom Line: [Bottom Line] Practice living for God. Say that with me. HISTORYTELLER and KIDS: [Bottom Line] Practice living for God. HISTORYTELLER: When we practice living for God, we give all we have. We commit. We make a plan to live for Him, and we stick to it. That kind of sounds like training to me. Pretty sure we had a memory verse that said something about training. Anyone remember it? (Pause for responses, allowing kids to recite the verse.) HOST: Read it with me. CG: Memory Verse Slide For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timoty 4:8, NIV Let s pray. Pray HISTORYTELLER: God, thank You for giving us Your Word to learn how we can practice living for You. Thank You that You re always with us. Thank You that we can trust You with our time, our hearts, and our money. Help us worship with our lives and live for You! We love You. We pray this in Jesus name, amen. If you have an offering with you today, raise your hand and we will bring the bucket over to you. Historyteller exits as Host enters. Closer HOST: Hey, everyone! Who knew that two small coins could mean so much to Jesus? It s pretty cool. It reminds us that no matter how young we are, no matter how small we are, no matter how little we feel like we have, when we give our all to God, He is blown away by our commitment and can use even our small gifts to do big things. Let s look at our Bottom Line one more time. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line] Practice living for God. You know, practicing living for God is going to look different for all of us. For some of us, giving our all means making time to talk to God every day. For others of us, giving our all means inviting our friend to church. You can practice living for God by serving others, raising money for people who don t have much, or by simply giving your teachers and parents your obedience. No matter who you are, you can worship God with your life as you give your all to God. You can practice living for Him. You can show Him incredible commitment. In Small Group today, you ll talk 10

more about how you can [Bottom Line] practice living for God. Have fun together, and we ll see you next time! CG: Small Group Slide Dismiss children to their Small Groups. 11

Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (10 minutes) 9:00 & 11:30 Who Gave More? What You Need: Pennies, 2 towels What You Do: Set out one towel and guide the kids to gather around it. o Pour the pennies onto the towel. o Put two pennies in one pile and 100 in another. o Instruct the kids to close their eyes. (Instruct them to also turn their backs, if you have some who you know will be very tempted to peek.) o Remove one penny from the pile of two. o Invite kids to open their eyes and guess which pile is missing some pennies. Ask how many are missing. Play additional rounds, sometimes removing 1 penny from the pile of 2, and sometimes (very quietly!) removing 10-20 pennies from the pile of 100. (You can hide them behind your back in the second towel.) During each round, encourage kids to guess how many pennies are missing from each pile. On the final round, remove 2 pennies from the pile of 2 and 10 pennies from the pile of 100. o When you ask the kids to guess how many pennies are missing, they ll likely only notice the two. o Show them that you also removed 10 from the large pile. Unpack the truth that even though the widow gave only a little bit of money, she really put in more than all the others because she gave everything she had. Read the following scenarios. Guide kids to give a thumbs up if the person practiced living for God and a thumbs down if they didn t. (NOTE: Each scenario is thumbs up!) o Jason got the best video game ever for Christmas. When his brother asked to play, he let him play as long as he wanted instead of just letting him play for five minutes. o Sophie doesn t usually let her little sister play in her room, but when her sister knocked on the door, Sophie let her in and played with her all afternoon. She even played her sister s favorite games. o Javier has a friend who didn t get many presents for Christmas. Javier knew that his friend would really like two of his gifts, so instead of keeping them, Javier decided to give them to his friend. o Elaine loves cookies! When she went to the kitchen and saw that there were only two left, she decided to let her sister and brother have them instead of eating them herself. What You Say: Why did Jesus say the widow gave more than the others? (She gave everything.) Yes! Even though the widow gave only a little bit of money, she gave everything she had. She practiced living for God. How can you [Bottom Line] practice living for God? (Pause.) Can you share your toys even when you don t want to? Can you let your brother play your video game for 30 minutes instead of for 5 minutes? Can you give half your allowance to a missions fund instead of giving less? Can you read a story to your little sister even though you want to be by yourself? So remember: [Bottom Line] Practice living for God. 12

10:15 Value for All Things [Hear from God Memory Verse Activity] Made to Move: an activity that increases the oxygen in the brain and taps into the energy in the body What You Need: Bibles, Godly Training Dice What You Do: Guide kids to look up 1 Timothy 4:8. Say the verse aloud together. Briefly unpack the phrase being godly has value in every way. Invite a child to roll the dice. Guide the kids to pantomime the two types of training they rolled as you say the first portion of the memory verse: For physical training, like doing jumping jacks (guide kids to do jumping jacks) is of some value, but godliness like praying (guide kids to pantomime praying) has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. Continue until each child has an opportunity to roll the dice. At the end of the game, guide kids to say the verse with you again. What You Say: Before the game What does it mean to say that something has value? (It s important; it s valuable.) 1 Timothy 4:8 says that physically training our bodies is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. What do you think that means? (Being godly is more important; being godly is better.) Since being godly is so important, what are some ways that you can practice being godly? (I can read my Bible, I can pray, I can hear and do what Jesus says, I can talk about God.) [Bottom Line] Practice living for God. 13

All Service Times Pray and Dismiss (10 minutes) [Pray to God Prayer Activity] Made to Reflect: an activity that creates space for personal understanding and application What You Need: No supplies needed What You Do: Guide kids to gather around you. Encourage the kids to [Bottom Line] practice living for God, just like the widow in today s Bible Truth did. Lead them in prayer, asking God to help both you and them live for Him. Give each child a GodTime card. Pass out Parent Cue cards as adults arrive to pick up. Encourage the kids to tell someone in their family the Truth of the widow who practiced living for God. 14