Oct. 15, 2017 God Is the One True God DATE PONDER POINT Exodus 19 20 (Ten Commandments) Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5 6 THE BIG GOD STORY REMEMBER VERSE Welcome and Worship (15 minutes) The large group room will be divided into three sections. Please help kids find which section they should sit in according to their grade: 1st2nd, 3rd-4th & 5th-6th. Toward the end of small group time, A/V Tech will play the 2 minute warning sound followed by a song. During or immediately following the song please regroup in the large group meeting space (not before). 5th & 6th graders can go directly to Snack Shack after small group time, rather than regrouping in the large group space. Begins class creating an inviting atmosphere for kids to feel welcome and engage kids in worship through singing and communion. The Big God Story (18 minutes) Creates space for children to hear God s word and prepare respond to the Holy Spirit in small groups Small Groups (20 minutes) Kids will build relationships with each other and their leaders, and respond to what they learned in the Big God Story as well as how to apply it to their lives Bless & Dismiss (4 minutes) Bless kids to send them out with a sense of peace so they can be a blessing to others. SCHEDULE Large Group Small 2 Min Group Warn. Regroup/ Dismiss 5th-6th 1st Service (9:00) 9:00 9:33 9:53 10:00 2nd Service (10:15) 10:15 10:48 11:08 11:15 3rd Service (11:30) 11:30 12:03 12:23 12:30 Host Administrative To Do s: Make sure no group is too large Make sure each group has enough supplies Close curtains and divider wall for small groups at 9:00 and 10:15 (and re-open after 9:00) Cue the tech when to play the 2 minute warning with song. Call names for dismissal after blessing 1
GOAL: Worship & welcome is all about engaging kids and helping them enter into worship, letting them know that class has begun preparing their minds for what they are going to hear. WELCOME (Host): Stage Lights On VIDEO LOOPS: Welcome Loop, 5 Min Countdown, Welcome Image We are so glad you are here today. Welcome the kids in your own words and finish by saying, Let s all stand and hear God s word and sing our praise to Him OPENING WORSHIP SONG (Worship Leader): Turn out main overhead lights REMEMBER VERSE VIDEO (Host should pass out connect question cards during worship: one to each SG leader) WORSHIP VIDEO 1: Jump Up WORSHIP VIDEO 2: Because of Your Love (Direct kids to get with their groups and circle up with their small group leader before sitting down) CONNECT QUESTIONS (Host): 4 MINUTE COUNTDOWN VIDEO If you could change one rule at school, what would it be and why? What would it be like to play soccer, baseball, or another sport without rules? If you could make a rule for your home what would it be? Why do you think God gave us the 10 commandments? Can you name any of them? TIMELINE VIDEO (Storyteller) The Big God Story: Point out that what kids are about to hear is true and is recorded in the Bible. Open your Bible to the passage and leave it open and visible throughout The Big God Story. Invite kids to open their Bibles and follow along as you storytell. Children respond to what the Holy Spirit is teaching them as they reflect on the day s portion of The Big God Story. The Prayer of Release: This allows children and leaders to pause, be still, and ask God to quiet their hearts and minds. Before you pray, you might ask the kids to hold out their hands, palms up, in a spirit of releasing their worries and distractions in order to better receive what the Holy Spirit might have for them today. Then encourage the kids to quiet their voices, take a seat, and pray with you. 2
The Big God Story: Storyteller Script Enter wearing the climbing gear and carrying any other climbing items. Hello, everyone! I ve been thinking about going mountain climbing. Can someone tell me the way to the nearest mountain? Invite responses. Thank you! Have you ever gone mountain climbing? Invite a couple of kids to share stories. Great stories. Talking about mountain climbing reminds me of part of The Big God Story. Before we hear more, let s pray together. Lead children in a Prayer of Release to pause, be still, and ask the Holy Spirit to quiet their hearts and minds. During our last time together, we heard about how God provided for His people as they lived in the desert after leaving Egypt. God delivered them by sending 10 plagues. He proved to everyone, even the Egyptians, that He is the one true God and worthy of all worship. After three months in the desert, the Israelites arrived at the foot of a mountain called Sinai, where they could worship God. Tech: Cue Mount Sinai image. While the Israelites camped at Mount Sinai, the Lord called to Moses. Have children open their Bibles to Exodus 19. Read Exodus 19:3 5a aloud. 3 Then Moses went up on the mountain to God. The Lord called to him from the mountain. The Lord said, Say this to the family of Jacob. And tell this to the people of Israel: 4 Every one of you has seen what I did to the people of Egypt. You saw how I carried you out of Egypt. I did it as an eagle carries her young on her wings. And I brought you here to me. 5 So now obey me and keep my agreement. What s a covenant? Invite responses. Yes! A covenant is a very special promise, and when God makes a promise, He keeps it! God made a covenant with Abraham to bless him and give him many, many family members. Now, at Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with all of His people. God loves His people and wanted to show them the best ways to live and to worship Him as the one true God. Why? Invite responses. Because He s the one true God. God also told Moses He would come to the people. Read Exodus 19:9 aloud while everyone follows along. 9 And the Lord said to Moses, I will come to you in a thick cloud. I will speak to you. The people will hear me talking to you. I will do this so the people will always trust you. Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said. God also told Moses to have the people wash their clothes (invite kids to make motions and sounds as if they re washing their clothing by hand) and prepare themselves to see (have kids point to their eyes) God. If you had been one of the Israelites getting ready, how do think you might have felt? Pause for responses. Three days later, God appeared with thunder and lightning (Tech: Cue Thunder and Lightning audio), with a thick cloud over the mountain (Tech: Cue Volcano Lightning image), and with a 3
very loud trumpet blast (Tech: Cue Trumpet audio). Everyone in the camp shook with fear! Have the kids stand and shake as if they re scared. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God (have the kids march in place), and they stood at the foot of the mountain (have the kids stop marching and sit down again). Read Exodus 19:18 19 to your group as they follow along. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke. This happened because the Lord came down on it in fire. The smoke rose from the mountain like smoke from a furnace. And the whole mountain shook wildly. 19 The sound from the trumpet became louder. Then Moses spoke, and the voice of God answered him. Wow! What do you think it would have been like to see all this happen? Invite responses. God is the one true God, and He is powerful! The people stayed at the foot of the mountain while Moses went up to meet with God. There, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The commandments are God s laws and instructions. They tell God s people how to live and what it means to be His people. What commandment did God choose to be the very first one? Pause for responses. The very first commandment (have kids hold up one finger) tells us to respect God as the one true God. The people had just left Egypt a land where people worshipped thousands of gods. But the Egyptian gods weren t real; they were false gods. Because God loved His people, He made it very simple for them. He told them that there is no other god. He is the one true God. And this became the very first commandment. The rest of the commandments told the people how to live in relationship with God and one another. As the people chose to follow God s commands by trusting and obeying Him, the world could see and know that He is the one true God. God chose His people and rescued them. He loved the Israelites and set them apart to worship Him as the one true God. Guess what? He chooses us and rescues us today! Because of Jesus, we re rescued from our sin and get to be in a relationship with God forever. When we choose to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives inside us and helps us to follow God s ways. He helps us to worship God as the one true God. Share about a time in your life when you worshipped God as the one true God. Tell the kids we are going to close the Big God Story by worshipping him. There is no one like our God. There never has been and there never will be. He is the one true God. Close your eyes for a minute. As you think about God, what comes to your mind? Are there words or phrases that you think of to describe Him? We re going to spend some time praising God as the one and only God. When you re ready, you can stand up and say the things you know to be true about Him, things you love about Him, or things you appreciate about Him. Give kids time and space to respond. Then, when this time comes to a natural close, tell kids during the next worship song they can give offering or take communion if they have made Jesus their savior and been baptized. WORSHIP VIDEO 3: Beautiful Name Fade out song slowly at Worship Leader s prompting. (As the song comes to a close Worship Leader tells groups to head to their small group space. Say something like, Let s continue responding to what God is teaching us as we dismiss to our small groups. Please follow your small group leader at this time. ) 4
IMAGE: It s time for small groups Turn main overhead lights on Dismiss for small groups refer to map for small group locations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the end of small groups... Tech cue: 2 minute warning with exit song, using ceiling speakers, at the host s prompting Turn speakers back to wall speakers for blessing, closing song and dismissal. 5
GOAL: Kids build relationships with each other and their leader as they respond to what they heard in the Big God Story. CARVING CLAY God also gave Moses the Ten Commandments on stone. In this activity, children can respond to God on their own stone tablets. SUPPLIES Play dough or clay (1 2 lumps per child) Disposable utensils or toothpicks (1 per child) By giving the Israelites the Ten Commandments, God showed His people how to follow Him and worship Him as the one true God. How can we worship Him as the one true God each day of our lives? Give the kids a few moments to think about this question. Later in The Big God Story, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12). Today we can respond to God on our own stone tablets. Give each child a lump or two of play dough or clay and a disposable utensil or toothpick. Invite the kids to flatten their lumps of clay into small tablet shapes and carve symbols or words that represent their thoughts about worshipping God as the one true God. For example, a child might draw a heart or write His. The kids could also work together to spell out a word or phrase with all of their tablets, with each child carving one letter into his tablet. 6
GOAL: Bless kids to send them out with a sense of peace so they can be a blessing to others. CLOSING REMARKS/ANNOUNCEMENTS (Host): Wall Speakers On VIDEO LOOP: Thanks, glad you were here. BLESSING (HOST): Open a Bible and read Romans 5:1 2: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. May you rejoice in the knowledge that God loves you and offers you a relationship with Him. May your life display to others the great things He has done for you. DISMISSAL (HOST): Choose some transition videos to play in Easy worship or play Spotify playlist Call names of kids as parent come to pick up and welcome kids who are being dropped off. Encourage parents to enter the room and encourage kids and parents to exit out the middle door (103) 7
In college, I worked as a hostess at a local restaurant a fun, fast-paced environment that got me out of the bubble of my Christian college. I thought it would be a great place to live out my faith. During a busy shift, I took names of people waiting for a table. A man and his wife were desperate to be seated so the man slipped me 20 dollars cash. I knew I could either honor God or take the cash. I took the cash and seated the couple. I felt low. Later that night, I told my roommate what I d done. She prayed with me and encouraged me by saying that being a Christian doesn t mean being perfect, but it does mean having the Holy Spirit inside of me teaching me, convicting me, and leading me on the right path. I m grateful for the Holy Spirit s guidance. He reminds me that obedience isn t just a requirement from God. It s a way to show God the worship He deserves because He s the one true God. Rae Lynn Lott ROCKHARBOR Church God freed His people, the Israelites, and brought them to a place where they could honor and worship the one true God of the universe. Then, rising out of the context of relationship, having proven His love for them, God gave them the Ten Commandments. Of the Ten Commandments, the first four commandments focus on relationship with God. The fifth focuses on relationship with parents, and the last five focus on relationship with one another. God spoke many of the commandments in a negative way: You shall not. He knew His people would stray from what He desired, so He gave them clear boundaries so they could know how to please Him. The Ten Commandments offered God s people the way to live the best life possible. But as we know, His people (and all people) couldn t fulfill these obligations on their own. As the laws stood, they only brought knowledge of sin. God knew this, so He sent the Holy Spirit to enable us to obey the law that He writes on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10). Through Jesus, God changes our sinful hearts and gives us the love we need to follow His commands, for He is the one true God. A study of child play behavior reported interesting results. The study found that if a playground didn t have a fence, the children would play in a tight area. But if a playground had a fence, children would run everywhere, even climbing on the fence itself. The children who played within the boundaries of a fence felt safe to play with abandon, while the children without a fence felt unsafe and played uneasily. 8
This behavior isn t just reflected in kids. As adults, we can see that through the Ten Commandments, God gave His children boundaries. The commandments showed His children how to be in relationship with God how to worship Him for what He d done for them. The psalms are filled with proclamations of joy about God s law. Spend time reading Psalm 19 or several verses of Psalm 119. As you read, ask God to give you the joy the psalmist experienced through God s law. Ask Him to show you that the law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul (Psalm 19:7a). 9