! THE STORY OF SAUL S CONVERSION TO PAUL (K-3 THROUGH KINDERGARTEN)!1
MINISTRY EXPERIENCE TOOL GOD IS REDEEMER. We belong to Him. WEEK 4: The Story of Saul s Conversion to Paul OVERVIEW Memory Verse: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 (ESV) Preschool will memorize only For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Nail: We belong to Him. Week 1: The Story of Moses Scripture Story: Exodus 1-4 Week 2: The Story of Boaz Scripture Story: Ruth 1-4 Week 3: The Story of Stephen Scripture Story: Acts 6-7 Week 4: The Story of Saul s Conversion to Paul Scripture Story: Acts 8-9 HOW THIS CHANGES ME: How can I live like I belong to Him? 1. Wake up every day and say: I care about what God says about the choices I will make today. 2. Ask your parent to bring you to church every weekend. 3. Open your Bible at home, look at the pictures and read it. 4. Make choices to honor the Lord.! 2
PRESCHOOL: STORY ROOM DIRECTIVES Greeting (Quiet, engaging voice) Once the children are seated, the following will be repeated every week. Storyteller says: Welcome. This is a special place because this is where we hear true stories from the Word of God (hold up your Bible). I want you to know who God is. Sooooo.the true story you will hear today will tell you and me about who God is. We want to keep this place special so we have some special rules. Rules help us to have fun and keep things the way they should be. 1. The first special rule is that we always sit during the story. We keep everything that belongs to us our hands, our arms, our legs and feet to ourselves. 2. The second special rule is that when I m talking, you are listening. When you are listening you aren t talking and your eyes are looking at my eyes. 3. The third special rule is to participate. When we do something in this room, we all do it together. Let s review the three special rules for our special Story Room. Now we are going to have some fun learning about who God is. First, we will stretch and then we will play a game. Stretch Time Help children quietly release some energy and relax with some warm up stretches. Upfront Game Name: If You Are Wearing Supplies: Something odd like a fun tie or hat Instructions: Put on the odd object. Start with all children standing. Ask children to sit down if they are wearing something red shirt, long sleeves, sneakers, dress etc. When everyone is seated, ask if anyone is wearing the odd thing you are wearing. Explain that when you have Jesus you should look differently than everyone else. STORY ROOM Song Let s sing our Story Room Song together: We are all in the Story Room, the Story Room, the Story Room. We are all in the Story Room, me and NAME (look for the child so they can say I m here! The last time all children say their name at once.) sung to Here we go round the mulberry bush Memory Verse Romans 3:23(ESV) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Taught with motions found in the preschool take-home Transition to Animation Now children, we are going to watch a video that tells us today s story. Story Hits Supplies: Flannel graph Scripture: The Story of Paul, Acts 9 There was a man named Saul who didn t like Jesus and didn t like Jesus followers. Saul was mean to believers and hurt them and put them in prison. One day Saul was traveling to the town of Damascus looking for people who loved Jesus so he could put them in prison. On the road to Damascus, a light from heaven flashed around Saul and he fell to the ground. Saul heard a voice from heaven ask, Saul, Saul why do you persecute me? Saul knew that this was Jesus speaking to him and he suddenly believed in Him and knew that He was the Lord. When Saul got up, he was blind. He was led into the town of Damascus and was blind for three days. Jesus sent one of his followers, named Ananias to go see Saul and give him his sight back. Ananias was scared because he heard how mean Saul was to people who loved Jesus, but Jesus told Ananias that Saul was chosen to be a leader of God s children. Ananias obeyed, went to Saul, and prayed over him. Something like scales fell off of Saul s eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized and ate again. Jesus changed Saul. Closing Application We have heard two stories in the last two weeks. Last week we heard about Stephen. He was a man who loved Jesus and served Him even when it was hard and people didn t like him. Stephen belonged to God. He was redeemed. He also wanted others to belong to God even the people who hurt him. Nothing was going to stop Stephen from telling people about Jesus. His life was changed because he belonged to Jesus. Yet people hated! 3
him, including the man we heard about today. In the New Testament, where we find today s story, we heard about a man named Saul. We heard about the life that Saul lived before he belonged to God. And then we learned about how his life changed after he gave his heart to the Lord. My question today is, If we belong to God, how should we live? The first thing we should do every day before our feet hit the floor is to remember that I care about what God says about the choices I will make today. Everyday we should think about that before we eat breakfast, brush our teeth, or get dressed. We should come to church every week. Coming together with other people that love God so we can worship and learn together is very important. We should also want to look at our Bibles at home and hear what the Bible says. When we belong to God we will do things that show that we do. We will look differently because we belong to God. God is our redeemer and we belong to Him. Kindergarten Application Station Memory Verse Review Who Has It First? Supplies: Dry erase markers, whiteboard or window, eraser, verse cards Romans 3:23-24 (ESV) For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Instructions: Write the verse on a whiteboard, large paper or window. Pass out the verse cards. Have the children race, to see which group can place the cards in the correct order first, and stand up and say it together. Snack & Prayer Ask the Lord to bless the snack and pray for the worship service. Story Hits Scripture: The Story of Paul, Acts 9 There was a man named Saul who didn t like Jesus and didn t like Jesus followers. Saul was mean to believers and hurt them and put them in prison. One day Saul was traveling to the town of Damascus looking for people who loved Jesus so he could put them in prison. On the road to Damascus, a light from heaven flashed around Saul and he fell to the ground. Saul heard a voice from heaven ask, Saul, Saul why do you persecute me? Saul knew that this was Jesus speaking to him and he suddenly believed in Him and knew that He was the Lord. When Saul got up, he was blind. He was led into the town of Damascus and was blind for three days. Jesus sent one of his followers, named Ananias to go see Saul and give him his sight back. Ananias was scared because he heard how mean Saul was to people who loved Jesus, but Jesus told Ananias that Saul was chosen to be a leader of God s children. Ananias obeyed, went to Saul, and prayed over him. Something like scales fell off of Saul s eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized and ate again. Jesus changed Saul Activity Get to Ananias Relay Set Up: Divide children in to pairs and teams. (This relay can be done as one team.). One child is blindfolded and one child is the one that will lead the child to Ananias. Stage a volunteer to be Ananias. Supplies: Blindfolds 1. Gather children at one end of the area. Explain to them that Damascus is at the other end. Their goal is to get to Damascus. 2. However, there are people that are blind. They need help getting to the person that can tell them about Jesus. 3. If you are that person, you need to help the blind person carefully get to the person that can tell them about Jesus. Everyone must walk carefully and the seeing child must help the blind child. 4. When a pair reaches Ananias, the volunteer tells the pair God redeemed you through Jesus Christ. Go in peace and tell others. 5. It can be a competition or just for fun. You decide how to end it. Wrap Up: We have learned the truth all month that God is redeemer. This relay race/game is a fun way to remind us that now that we know the truth, we should bring others to someone who can tell them the truth too. Coming to church on the weekends help you know more about who God is and inviting other children to come with you helps them hear the truth too. Small Group Supplies: Happy/sad face cards 100% RESPONSE TOOL: Happy face/sad face 1. Where do we find the true story of Saul? (New Testament, Bible) 2. 100% RESPONSE TOOL: Saul was mean to people who loved Jesus. (Sad)! 4
3. 100% RESPONSE TOOL: When Saul was headed to the town of Damascus a bright light flashed around him. Saul was blinded. (Sad) 4. 100% RESPONSE TOOL: Ananias obeyed Jesus and went to see Saul even though he was scared. Which picture shows how God feels when we obey right away? (Happy) 5. 100% RESPONSE TOOL: Ananias went to Saul and healed his sight. (Happy) 6. 100% RESPONSE TOOL: Saul went and was baptized and started eating again. Saul now loved Jesus. (Happy) 7. Volunteer: Tell the children that Saul used to have a mean, angry face but then he was redeemed by God, his face changed to a happy face. Even though God loves and redeems His people, that doesn t mean life will be easy. Saul went through lots of hard things after he belonged to Jesus, but that didn t stop him from making choices to show everyone he belonged to Jesus. It didn t stop him from serving Jesus with his whole heart. Tell children you used to have an angry face until you belonged to God too. God changes us when He redeems us. 8. Ask children how they feel knowing that God changes people and can change them too. Special Prayer Time Let s spend time in prayer. So we can focus on the Lord, let s fold our hands and close our eyes. Thank you Father for loving us so much that you redeemed us. We are thankful that we don t have to pay for our own sin but can be free and your child when we give our lives to You and decide to follow after Jesus. Help us to live like we belong to You and to show the world how great You are. Give us someone to invite to church so they can hear the truth too. In Jesus name, Amen. New Testament Mechanics Supplies: Bible, dry erase marker, list of New Testament Books. (If a child does not have a binder, collect the sheets for next week. If they have a binder, list can be inserted into binder.) Post all the books of the New Testament in order. For the second part of the mechanics: At least one set of NT boxes, list of New Testament books and a timer (a phone is good too.) Overview: You will finish up memorizing the books of the New Testament this weekend. There are children who know them very well and will want to show everyone that they do. Gently remind them that not everyone knows what they know. Attempt to spread out children to each group. Before you begin, you will review some fun facts. New Testament Facts: 1. The New Testament refers to the books that form the Scriptures of the Christian Church and records the life of Jesus Christ. 2. It consists of the second half of the Christian Bible, the first half being the Old Testament of the Bible. 3. The New Testament is the last 27 books of the 66 books of the Bible. 4. It has over 7,000 verses. (7,959 verses exactly) 5. The longest book is Acts. 6. The longest chapter is Luke 1. 7. Words occurring only once in the Bible: grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5); gnat (Matthew 23:24) Instructions: Children will go to the New Testament boxes and put them in order. Divide them into teams assigning a volunteer to each team. Make sure each volunteer has a list of the books in order. Start the timer. Keep track of the number of requested helps. At the end add a second for each help. Team with the lowest score wins. Checkout Supplies: Coloring pages pertaining to today s story, crayons or markers! 5