God is the Source of Life

Transcription

1 God is the Source of Life BIBLE PASSAGE 2 Kings 5 (Elisha & Naaman) REMEMBER VERSE Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10 SCHEDULE Large Group minutes Small Groups minutes 1

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3 Welcome// 5-10 min As kids join your group today ask them about Superbowl Sunday- who will they be rooting for? Color the Elisha coloring sheet as you talk. Large Group// min 1. Worship Through Music Open Large Group time with singing music to worship Jesus together. Choose 2-3 songs from the music on your USB drive! Have one leader with lots of energy lead songs and provide motions for the kids to follow! 2. Large Group Welcome WELCOME VISITORS- As you welcome everyone to your day together, start by celebrating visitors! If they are a friend then have the regular attender who brought them introduce them to the group. Give all visitors a big round of applause for coming! And have a nearby leader give each visitor a high five AND a gumball (just for coming)!!! BIRTHDAYS- First weekend of the month, invite the children with birthdays this month up for a groupsinging of Happy Birthday and a blessing/ prayer from the leader. Make this a tradition in which the children feel loved by their faith community! CONNECT- To finish up welcome time, let kids engage in today s connect question- let s take a poll to see who is going to win this year s super bowl! Poll your group and mark tally s on the board for each team! 3. Earning Gumballs This year, we have a new community goal... Gumball Goal! Children can earn 1 gumball for the day by showing one of the following. (One gumball no matter how many things they do). Know the Word- Memorizing this month s memory verse (NO mistakes for older kids!) Share the Word- Bringing a Friend Cling to the Word- Bringing their Bible Give small groups 3-4 minutes to talk amongst themselves and earn their gumballs. After a few minutes bring everyone s attention back together and make note of how we re seeing the gumball machine get emptied week after week! Remember- when your machine gets emptied you get a Sunday morning party together!!!! Let your coordinator know when your machine is almost empty! Last month s memory verse for kids still working on it: God demonstrates (Vertical hand from forehead to chest) his own love (Point finger to heaven then hug self) for us in this: (point thumbs towards chest) While we were still sinners, (hold arms outstretched forward) Christ died for us. (touch middle finger to each hand for Christ, then point thumbs towards chest) Romans 5:8 (open hands like a book) 3

4 4. Remember Verse Go over this month s Remember Verse. Open your Bibles and read it together. Tell kids about the incentive for memorizing their verses... Colored tags of the verse they memorized! Earn all 12 this year and make a necklace, bracelet or keychain out of them! Be still and know (index finger over lips to show quiet and then point to head) that I am God (point finger towards heaven) I will be exalted among the nations (arms stretch forward and out to the sides, to show all the nations) I will be exalted in the earth (arms stretch BIG overhead falling down to your sides, to show the earth) Psalm 46:10 (open hands like a book) 5. Offering As a response of thankfulness and trust in God, we give a part of our money to the church to be utilized in big ways for the Kingdom! It is because we thank God for all that He has given to us, and because we trust Him to provide for us no matter how much or how little we may have. Pass around the Offering Bucket. Remind kids of how God is using our offering this year- to support our overseas sponsor child- Vivan from Kenya! Challenge your kids to continue to give out of what they have so that God might give it to Vivian. 6. Prayer Take a moment to pause, be still, and ask God to quiet your hearts and minds as a room. Encourage kids to quiet their voices and take a seat. Then ask them to pray with you as you begin the lesson. 7. The Big God Story- God is Counselor SUPPLIES- print out of what leprosy looks like A note to teachers: In 2 Kings 5 we see an amazing illustration of how God is the source of life. In the passage, we read how God healed a Gentile warrior named Naaman through the prophet Elisha. Naaman was a Syrian general who went to Elisha for healing from leprosy. This great army commander had no idea with whom he was dealing. A little background on Elisha can help us understand this prophet of God a little better. Elisha learned his trade from the powerful prophet Elijah. While Elijah was still alive, Elisha boldly asked for a double portion of what Elijah had (2 Kings 2:9). In Scripture, Elijah performed 14 recorded miracles, Elisha 28! When Naaman approached the house of Elisha, he undoubtedly expected a great and formal welcome because of his role as a great army commander. But Elisha didn t even bother coming to the door. Instead, Elisha told Naaman through a servant to go wash in a river. Naaman became angry. Yet God used His prophet to heal the army commander of his leprosy. Elisha was truly a prophet of God a man whom God, the source of life, used to heal and give life to others. ENGAGE- Last week we heard about the prophet Elijah and two of his very unique encounters with God. Who remembers what a prophet is? (a spokesperson for God/someone God used to speak to people for Him). Now who remembers the two very different ways Elijah encountered God?? (Allow the kids to answer.) Yes! In one encounter, God made a fire blaze from heaven. In the second, He spoke gently to Elijah through the whispering wind. Through these, God showed He is Yahweh, the Lord, in two very different ways. Elijah had a disciple named Elisha. (for fun, every time you say Elijah and Elisha, have the kids say the names with you emphasizing the juh and shuh at the end of their names). Amazingly, when Elijah finished his ministry on earth, God took him up into heaven in a whirlwind of clouds! Can you imagine watching your friend go up to heaven like that? Amazing! 4

5 When Elijah went up to heaven, he left his job of being a prophet to Elisha. Elisha s job as prophet was to continue the work of Elijah: to stop the nation of Israel from worshipping false gods. Because Israel wasn t being faithful to the Lord, God called Elisha to remind them He is God the only source of life. Our story for today comes from 2 Kings, Chapter 5. You can open your Bibles with me if you d like! We are about to meet a man named Namaan, who was a Gentile from Syria which was a country right next to Israel. What s a Gentile? (Allow kids to answer). A Gentile was someone who wasn t part of God s original chosen people, the Israelites. Well Namaan was a well-respected man who had won many victories in war for his country. BUT- he also had a disease called leprosy. Someone read 2 Kings 5:1 (If children are too young, then read to them). Who knows what leprosy is? (Allow kids to answer.) Leprosy is a skin disease that can cover and eat away at the body! (Pass around sheet that shows leprosy so kids understand). And back in Bible times, people didn t know how to cure it. I am SURE that Namaan wanted to be healed very badly. Now, Naaman s wife had a servant girl who was from Israel. This servant girl believed in the Lord and she said that Namaan MUST go see the prophet Elisha- because Elisha was able to heal! So Namaan asked his king (who was kind of like his boss) if he could go to Israel to be healed. The king said, Yes! and he sent a letter to the King of Israel asking him to heal Namaan, the Syrian army commander. So Namaan took the letter from his king, and packed up all his gear, and set off for Israel! Let s keep reading to see what happened! Someone read 2 Kings 5:5-7 (If children are too young, then read to them). So what just happened? Is the King of Israel happy about this letter? (Allow children to answer). Why not? (Allow for answers). That s right! The King knew that only God is the true source of life! Only God can give life and take away life and save life. But we re about to see Elisha come into the picture! And Elisha had true faith in God. He didn t just know in his head that God could heal, he believed that God would actually heal! He had seen it and been a part of it! Well somehow Elisha heard about Namaan going to see the king, and so he told the king to send Namaan to his home. And this is what happened next- someone read 2 Kings 5:9-12 (read yourself if children are young). So- let s review- what did Elisha tell Namaa to do? (Wash in the River Jordan 7 times). And why did Namaan get so mad at that? (Namaan expected it to look different! He expected Elisha to come to the door and perform a great healing... ultimately, Namaan doubted that this man would heal him). Well thankfully, that s not the end of the story. Someone read for us 2 Kings 5:13-14 (read yourself if children are young). Elisha was God s prophet, and for whatever reason, God wanted to heal Namaan in the River Jordan- not in a ceremony done by Elisha, or in some other water. And even though Namaan doubted, he listened to his servant and he went anyways and he was cleansed. It says his skin was like a newborn baby again! After looking at those pictures of leprosy imagine what a miracle that would have been!! And in the very next verse, 2 Kings 5:15- Namaan goes back to Elisha and says, Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel. Namaan believed now! In the one, true God who is the source of all life. Not only was Namaan s skin transformed, but his heart was transformed as well- he believed! 5

6 8. What does this say about Jesus? God is still the source of all life! And He wants us to believe in His power. That s why He sent His Son, Jesus, to live and die and rise again so we might know Him. When Jesus came to earth, He said He came so that we might have life to the fullest (John 10:10). He is the source of life, and He offers us the fullest life that we could ever ask for. There is no other place in this world where we can receive life, except through Him. (Share when you first knew God and how He became the source of your life.) Close in prayer. 6

7 Small Group// min. Small group time is not only a time to go deeper into the lesson and find some take home application together, but it is also a time for you to grow in relationship with your kids. As you spend time together the rest of today, go further than just the review questions and the Create project. Spend time asking kids what they thought about the lesson. What surprised them? What questions do THEY have about this part of God s story? How do they learn more about Jesus through this story? What was is their faith challenged by today? Talk about these things as you work on the project. Kids are much more apt to talk while their hands are busy. 1. Review Questions Questions for Younger Kids In whose footsteps did Elisha follow? (I Kings 19:19-21) What was God s special plan for Elisha? Why do you think Naaman was mad that Elisha didn t come out and heal him himself? (2 Kings 5:11-13) How did Naaman receive a new life that day? (2 Kings 5:14-15) Is there a story in your own life that helped you realize that God is the one true God? 2. Prayer After you finish with your review questions read this Bible verse as a blessing and close in prayer. Have one of the children in your group pray, or if you have older kids maybe even take some prayer requests and then do popcorn prayer! Psalm 1:1-3: Blessed is the [person whose]... delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planed by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 3. Create: Praying for Others SUPPLIES- Tree worksheet for each child, colored paper, leaf shapes, scissors, markers, glue sticks SETUP- Cut out the leaf shapes ahead of time so that children can trace with them ENGAGE- Naaman was a Gentile who grew up not knowing God. But God used Elisha to not only heal Naaman s body (of leprosy), but also to heal him from sin so that he would believe in the one, true Godthe source of eternal life! Who is someone that you know that does not know who God and Jesus are? (Have kids share). Take out the tree worksheet and give one to each child. This tree reminds us that God is the source of life, and we all have life because of Him just like leaves on a tree have life only because of the tree. Let s cut out shapes of leaves and write the names of friends or family that we need to pray for to know that God is the source of eternal life! Have kids cut out leaf shapes and glue to their tree. If you have time at the end of class, pray as a group for these friends to believe in God just like Naaman s heart was changed and he believed! 7