Lesso 10 91 Philip Tells the Ethiopia About Jesus Acts 8:26-40 While most fifth- ad sixth-graders are t i a positio to make big life decisios, they re ofte makig decisios that feel big to them. They re askig, Why would we wat God to lead us? Use this lesso to teach pretees that eve though they might ot kow where he s leadig them, they ca trust God to lead them to the perfect place. He is holy, ad wholly trustworthy. LESSON WHAT KIDS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Decostructig Istructios (about 10 mi.) Try to follow a log list of cofusig istructios. Philip s Istructios (about 25 mi.) Follow istructios, ad lear about Philip s obediece. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Bible Buzz, pes Bibles, costructio paper, markers, spray bottle of water, tape Tear out the Lesso 10 pages from each Bible Buzz studet book. Use costructio paper to make 3 sigs that say Istructio Statio, ad umber the sigs from 1 to 3. Hag the sigs i 3 differet parts of the room. Set a spray bottle of water at Statio 3. Bible Poit Follow where God leads. Key Verse Trust i the Lord with all your heart ad lea ot o your ow uderstadig; i all your ways ackowledge him, ad he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). Weavig Faith Ito Life Kids will seek God s guidace i a specific way i their lives. Grades 5 & 6 Lesso 10 Sprig Quarter
92 LESSON WHAT KIDS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life What Did I Draw? (about 15 mi.) Attempt to draw a picture followig verbal istructios. Puzzle Prayer Parters (about 10 mi.) Discover that they eed to put God ito the ceter of their lives. Bible Buzz, pes, poster board, tape, CD player, copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso), chairs Teacher Pack: CD Bible Buzz Teacher Pack: God s Leadig puzzles Arrage chairs i the followig patter: Alog a wall with a board (or poster board taped to the wall), place a row of chairs sideways, close to the wall, so seated kids ca look both at the board ad away from it. Place a secod row of chairs facig away from the board, each chair lied up with a chair i the first row. You ll eed a chair for each pretee. Separate the pieces of the God s Leadig puzzles. 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 Buzz puzzle pieces from the God s Leadig puzzles Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Sprig Quarter Lesso 10 Grades 5 & 6
93 Philip Tells the Ethiopia About Jesus Acts 8:26-40 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Philip Obeyed God s Leadig Accordig to Acts 8:4-8, Philip was preachig Christ, healig people, ad brigig great joy to a Samarita city. But God had aother pla for Philip, which icluded guidig the first o-jewish covert to faith i Jesus ad God s pla resulted i Christiaity beig take to Ethiopia. Philip respoded i obediece. Sice the Ethiopia euuch had goe to Jerusalem to worship, we ca assume he kew somethig of the Jewish faith. He may have bee fully committed to the faith because he had traveled quite a distace to worship, perhaps as far as 200 miles! He had likely bee ispired by his time of worship, because he was readig from Isaiah as he rode alog. We might fid it strage that Philip could hear what he was readig, but it was commo i aciet times to read aloud. I fact, the laguage was such that soudig out the words was almost ecessary. ad sicerity of the Ethiopia s belief, because he coseted to baptize this traveler. The Jesus Coectio Havig completed his task, Philip was agai set o his way by God. The text seems to idicate that God miraculously swept him away, o to his ext missio. The Ethiopia cotiued o his way, ad traditio tells us that he spread the message of Christ i Ethiopia, soo baptizig the quee ad others there. We ofte do t kow why God guides us to do certai thigs. But whe we kow what God wats us to do, we must respod i faith ad actio. Who kows what God will do through us if we respod faithfully to the guidace of his Holy Spirit? I what area of your life is God leadig you to liste closely to his voice? You ca write your prayer here. Philip Was Prepared for Questios At the Holy Spirit s promptig, Philip overcame ot oly ay fears or questios about o-jews becomig Christias, but also ay racial prejudice he may have had. The Ethiopia was a ative of what is ow orther Suda ad was black-skied. God is ot cocered with the color of our ski, ad either was Philip. Philip had o difficulty aswerig the Ethiopia s questios. He had probably bee aswerig the same types of questios from the Samaritas. God had prepared the right perso to preset the gospel to the Ethiopia o the road. Whe Philip told the ma about Jesus, the Ethiopia apparetly expressed belief immediately. Baptism was take very seriously i the early church. Philip must have bee fully coviced of the certaity Grades 5 & 6 Lesso 10 Sprig Quarter
94 GETTING STARTED Decostructig Istructios Supplies Bible Buzz pes Decostructig Istructios Easy Prep Tear out the Lesso 10 pages from each Bible Buzz studet book. Decostructig Istructios What You ll Do Distribute this week s Bible Buzz pages ad pes, ad have kids fid the Ca You Follow Istructios? sectio. Say: Read ad follow the istructios for this activity. Do this activity o your ow ad without talkig to your eighbor. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. What are some thigs i life that remid you of these istructios? Tell about a time you did t follow istructios. What happeed? Say: It s easy ot to follow directios well. I this activity it was t a big deal if you messed up. But that s ot always the case. It is a big deal for us to FOLLOW WHERE GOD LEADS. Let s examie a time God gave some very importat directios to Philip. Philip s Istructios Supplies Bibles costructio paper markers spray bottle of water tape Philip s Istructios Easy Prep Use costructio paper to make 3 sigs that say Istructio Statio, ad umber the sigs from 1 to 3. Hag the sigs i 3 differet parts of the room. Set a spray bottle of water at Statio 3. 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Philip s Istructios What You ll Do Have kids get ito trios they should remai i their trios for this experiece, eve though they wo t do aythig specifically i trios util close to the ed. Make sure each group has a Bible, ad direct kids to walk to Istructio Statio 1. Istructio Statio 1 What are some directios that differet people give you? How ofte do you obey those directios? Say: Let s read about some istructios Philip got directly from a agel! Sprig Quarter Lesso 10 Grades 5 & 6
95 Have kids ope their Bibles to Acts 8:26, ad ask a willig child to read the verse aloud. Say: Well, the agel told Philip to head south to the desert road, so let s go ahead ad walk alog the desert road ourselves. The we ll see how well Philip followed directios. Have kids follow you as you walk them aroud the room, dow the hall, or eve outside. Ecourage them to preted they re walkig o a desert road. They could act like they re very thirsty or weak from the heat, or walk as if the road is hot from the su. Whe you ve walked a little, come back to Istructio Statio 1. What were you thikig as you were followig me? Why did you follow me? Say: Whe someoe we trust gives us directios or leads us, we usually follow willigly. That s what Philip did here. God gave him some directios, ad right away he followed! Have kids get back ito their trios, ad have each trio read Acts 8:27-29. Say: Philip kew that he eeded to FOLLOW WHERE GOD LEADS. Each time God gave Philip directios, he followed right away! I have aother set of directios for you to follow so we ca fid out what happes ext. Two of the people i each trio will make a chariot to carry the third perso to the ext Istructio Statio. Have two kids each place their right had o the upper forearm of their left arm ad the grab the right forearm of the other perso to create a chair. Ask the third member of each trio to sit o the chair. Direct the chariots to carefully carry Philip to Istructio Statio 2 to fid out what happes with Philip ext. Grades 5 & 6 Lesso 10 Sprig Quarter
96 Istructio Statio 2 Whe the chariots arrive at the statio, ask kids to sit i their trios. Have the kids who rode o the chariots read Acts 8:30-35 aloud i their trios. Have trios discuss these questios: Whe have you had a hard time uderstadig somethig you were readig? How has someoe helped you uderstad what you were readig? How did Philip help the Ethiopia uderstad what he was readig? Why was it importat for Philip to go to the Ethiopia? Say: So far Philip has followed where God has led, but there s more! He goes a step further i followig God s directios. To fid out what happes ext, we eed to move to Istructio Statio 3. But first, let s take off our shoes ad socks because the ext part takes place i the water. Have kids remove their shoes ad socks ad hold o to them as they walk to Istructio Statio 3. Make sure kids take their Bibles with them. Istructio Statio 3 As you arrive at the statio, have kids remai stadig i their trios. Ask a willig pretee i each trio to read aloud Acts 8:36-40. As they read, use the spray bottle to spray each child s feet. Whe everyoe has bee sprayed ad trios have fiished readig, cotiue. Say: Sice we do t really have a body of water here, we ll just preted we re walkig i water. What does it say about the Ethiopia s trust that he asked Philip to baptize him o the spot? Why do you thik the Holy Spirit took Philip away after he baptized the Ethiopia? Say: Philip followed God s directios to help the Ethiopia fid a true relatioship with God. That s a great way to FOLLOW WHERE GOD LEADS. How did Philip s obediece affect the Ethiopia? Do you believe God has istructios for you, too? Why or why ot? How ca we kow what God wats us to do? Say: Philip was focusig o God whe he received his istructios, so it was easy for him to follow where God led him. He kew God s voice ad followed every directive dow to the last letter. Sometimes the way we respod to God s leadig depeds o how well we pay attetio. Let s talk more about how we ca FOLLOW WHERE GOD LEADS i our lives. Sprig Quarter Lesso 10 Grades 5 & 6
97 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE What Did I Draw? What You ll Do Have kids form pairs. Have pairs determie who will be a Oe ad who will be a Two. Have Oes sit i the chairs closest to the wall ad Twos sit i the chairs facig away from the wall. If you have a extra pretee, have him or her sit i a extra chair as a additioal Two. Give Twos each a pe, ad have them fid the Ca You Draw What I See? sectio. Say: I m goig to draw a shape o the board. Oes will be able to look at what I m drawig, ad they ll try to explai to their Twos parters how to draw it without amig the item they re drawig. Oly Oes ca look at my drawig. They may also look at their parter s drawig. Oes may oly tell Twos what to draw; they ca t touch or chage Twos drawigs. Draw oe of the shapes show for the Oes to walk the Twos through. Give a sigal to begi. Moitor the Twos to make sure they do t peek. If someoe does, use that as a teachable momet whe you debrief the activity. After Twos have completed their attempts at the drawig, have parters switch roles, ad repeat the activity with the other pretee drawig the secod object. Whe everyoe has attempted a drawig, have kids share their creatios with each other. Have kids fid the Key Verse, Proverbs 3:5-6, o their Bible Buzz pages. Have the Twos read the verse to the Oes: Trust i the Lord with all your heart ad lea ot o your ow uderstadig; i all your ways ackowledge him, ad he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). Say: Let s sig a sog to help us remember this verse. Distribute copies of the lyrics, ad lead kids i sigig Trust i the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6) (track 14 o the CD). What Did I Draw? Supplies Bible Buzz pes poster board tape CD player copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) chairs Teacher Pack CD: Trust i the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6) (track 14) What Did I Draw? Easy Prep Arrage chairs i the followig patter: Alog a wall with a board (or poster board taped to the wall), place a row of chairs sideways, close to the wall, so seated kids ca look both at the board ad away from it. Place a secod row of chairs facig away from the board, each chair lied up with a chair i the first row. You ll eed a chair for each pretee. (Chorus) Trust i the Lord (trust i the Lord) With all your heart (with all your heart), Ad lea ot o your ow uderstadig (uderstadig). I all your ways (i all your ways), Ackowledge him (ackowledge him); He will make your paths straight. Grades 5 & 6 Lesso 10 Sprig Quarter
98 Oce you begi that way, Do t you ever, ever stray; You ll be o your way To a amazig life. (Repeat.) (Repeat from the begiig; the repeat chorus.) Yeah, he will make your paths straight. Oh yeah, he will make your paths straight. Trust i the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6) by Jay Stocker. 2006 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. What made this activity difficult? What did this activity have to do with trust? If someoe peeked, ask: For those of you who peeked, what does that say about your level of trust with your parter? I your life, whe is it temptig to rely o your ow uderstadig? How was followig your parter s directios like or ulike followig God s directios? Why is it importat to follow where God leads? Say: It s so easy for us to wat to rely o our ow uderstadig ad follow our ow paths. But this verse helps us see that it s importat to trust God with our lives ad FOLLOW WHERE GOD LEADS. Philip did that, ad it chaged the Ethiopia s life forever. Puzzle Prayer Parters Supplies Bible Buzz Teacher Pack God s Leadig puzzles Puzzle Prayer Parters Easy Prep Separate the pieces of the God s Leadig puzzles. Puzzle Prayer Parters What You ll Do Say: God leads us i all sorts of ways, ad yet i our daily lives, the ways God does this ca be a bit puzzlig. To uderstad this better, I have a puzzle for you to put together. There are two puzzles, each with 14 pieces that iclude matchig pairs. Keep the God pieces for yourself, ad had out oe piece of the God s Leadig puzzles to each pretee. If you have extras, give some pretees two, but avoid givig matchig pieces to ayoe. Say: Your job is to fid the perso who has the other half of your matchig pair. Whe you have foud him or her, pair up ad place your two matched pieces o Sprig Quarter Lesso 10 Grades 5 & 6
99 the table. As pairs come to the table with their matched pieces, determie how to put each of the two puzzles together. Ready? Go! Allow kids to work o the puzzles. After they get all of the pieces together except for the pieces you have, gather them aroud the puzzles. The brig out the last pieces ad put them i place i the puzzles. Say: These puzzles show us some ways God leads us. Remove the ceter God pieces, ad poit to the puzzles. Say: But the importat thig to remember is that all these ways that God leads us make our lives a ufiished puzzle if we do t put God ito the ceter. Replace the God pieces ito the ceter of the puzzles. Say: With God s leadig, our lives are t a puzzle. We may ot fully uderstad how God is leadig us i certai situatios, but we ca be sure he s still leadig us. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. How is life like a puzzle? How does followig God s leadig make life less like a puzzle? What s oe way you feel God leadig you? How will you respod to that this week? Say: God wats to lead you. If you let him, you ll go o grad advetures ad kow that God is with you every step of the way. Philip listeed ad obeyed, ad we ca too. FOLLOW WHERE GOD LEADS you, ad you ll ever be the same. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: Let s thik about how we ca FOLLOW WHERE GOD LEADS this week. Daily Challeges Supplies Bible Buzz Have kids fid this week s Daily Challeges o their Bible Buzz pages ad choose oe to do this week. They ca choose oe or more of these three optios: Sped time askig God to lead you i the ways he wats. As you pray, make sure you focus etirely o God. Grades 5 & 6 Lesso 10 Sprig Quarter
100 Read God s Word to see how he s leadig you. This will help you focus o him as Philip did. You ca start with Matthew 28:19-20. But do t stop there! There s so much more you ca lear about followig God. Talk to a trusted Christia adult about how he or she focuses o ad follows God. Make sure you choose a Daily Challege as well, ad tell the 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. What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, place, ad other ideas. Say: Philip did t kow exactly what would come of his coversatio with the Ethiopia, but he kew if he would just FOLLOW WHERE GOD LEADS, he d be okay. Let s follow God this week by followig through o our Daily Challeges. Weavig Faith at Home Supplies puzzle pieces from the God s Leadig puzzles Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about the commitmet they made to follow where God leads this week. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their Bible Buzz 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. Have kids each take a puzzle piece, fid a parter who has a matchig piece, ad pray together about followig God s leadig. Sprig Quarter Lesso 10 Grades 5 & 6
101 Lyrics Trust the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6) (Chorus) Trust i the Lord (trust i the Lord) With all your heart (with all your heart), Ad lea ot o your ow uderstadig (uderstadig). I all your ways (i all your ways), Ackowledge him (ackowledge him); He will make your paths straight. Oce you begi that way, Do t you ever, ever stray; You ll be o your way To a amazig life. (Repeat.) (Repeat from the begiig; the repeat chorus.) Yeah, he will make your paths straight. Oh yeah, he will make your paths straight. Trust i the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6) by Jay Stocker. 2006 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved.! OK TO COPY Grades 5 & 6 Lesso 10 Sprig Quarter