out of the box (opening activity) In this activity, the children will be introduced to the subject of today s lesson.

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1 Lesson goal: The children will learn that we should go beyond forgiving others for mistakes by showing them mercy. main point: I Will Show Mercy To Others! bible Story: King Saul and the Case of the Missing Shepherd. (1 Samuel 24) bible verse: God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7 NLT magnifying glass relay (weekly opening activity) This weekly opening activity will allow the children to figure out the Main Point by using their detective skills to put the clues in the correct order. out of the box (opening activity) In this activity, the children will be introduced to the subject of today s lesson. The skit and bible story (large group activity) The Skit and Bible Story will teach the children that we should go beyond forgiving others for mistakes by showing them mercy. Secret message (weekly craft activity) This weekly craft activity will allow the children to review the lesson while providing them with a memory tool to help them remember the lesson at home. building blocks (application activity) This activity will teach the children how not showing mercy can affect their lives. a thousand words (application activity) In this activity, the children will learn what showing mercy to others looks like in their daily lives. crash! (application activity) This activity will teach the children what it feels like to be shown mercy. Look closer! review game (large group activity) This is a strategic time to review and reinforce the content of the lesson.

2 LESSON 4: I WILL SHOW MERCY TO OTHERS! Single Teacher using Watch It/Train DVD Watching the Bible Story and Skit on DVD Purpose Statement: This Skit and Bible Story will teach the children that we should go beyond forgiving others for mistakes by showing them mercy. Materials/Props Needed: None. 1 Lead the children through the opening activity Magnifying Glass Relay and/or Out Of The Box. logo Begin Worship Time. Note: For this lesson use Sound Track CD # 1. 1 Optional: Take a few moments to assign roles to some of the children for the upcoming service. Choose children to be song leaders, to take up the offering, to pray for the offering, to pass out materials, to be a Review Game judge, etc. # 1 (CD Track # 1) Clue number one: There are a lot of junior detectives here. Clue number two: an opening song! Everybody up! 2 song 2 Teacher leads the children in singing the song. 3 Yes, the clues are starting to come together nicely. And all clues point to one fact: We re continuing our series on some of the most incredible detective stories from the Bible. And helping us to be better detectives is Roanoke Jones: Ace Detective! So far we ve been learning of some different ways we can be humble. We know that we should help other people and accept help from other people. And we learned that we should worship God instead of ourselves. But now we re at a standstill on today s case. We can t go further with the investigation without another clue. Thankfully, I believe our Main Point can serve as clue number three. It s another way we can be humble. We re learning that when people make mistakes, say mean things to us, or do things they know are wrong, we should show them mercy. And that is today s Main Point: I Will Show Mercy To Others! And nothing improves your detective skills like standing up, doing some hand motions, and shouting the Main Point. Everyone on your feet! 3 Main Point The Teacher leads the children by first demonstrating the Main Point with motions. These motions should be similar to cheerleader-type hand motions. The Teacher can make up the Fellowship Church

3 motions or have the children help come up with them. Once everyone has gone over the Main Point, have the children repeat it with motions two or three times. Optional: Ask the children for one volunteer who will come up and help you lead the Main Point for the other children. Great job on that Main Point, detectives. Here at church we talk about forgiveness a lot, but we don t always talk about mercy. I think it s important that we explain the difference between the two. Think of forgiveness and mercy as two separate steps. When someone makes a mistake or says something mean to us, the first step is forgiveness. We choose not to get mad and we don t hold it against the person. The next step is mercy. Showing mercy means that we don t try to get even for what the person did and we don t try and punish the person. Instead we go a step further and show kindness even though it s not deserved. Showing mercy is a lot of work, but there s a really big reason why we should show mercy: God shows us mercy. I have disobeyed God many times in my life and God has chosen to forgive me and even to show me mercy. I don t deserve it, but He loves me and chooses to bless me even though I ve done things that are wrong. And since we receive God s mercy, we need to show that same mercy to others. Even if other people are really mean to us, and I mean really mean, we should still show mercy. And no matter how mean someone is to you there are many people who have suffered even worse. I know one story about an innocent man being hunted down by an army and chased through the wilderness by a king who wanted to kill him. The story happened in the Bible to a man named David. And even in that situation, David chose to show mercy. The story can be found in 1st Samuel, chapter 24. But first, let s check on Roanoke Jones at home and see if he s had any breakthroughs on his case. 4 Optional: Before the Bible Story video, have the children race to look up the story. Give out a small prize to the child that looks it up first. This week the Bible Story is found in 1 st Samuel, chapter 24. Note: Play Bible Story Video chapter # 4. 4 Bible Story Video Optional: After the Bible Story ask a few short questions: 1. Where was the Bible Story located? 2. What was the name of the king who was hunting David? 3. What did David do to Saul in the cave? Hopefully that rugby player will treat his team with a little more mercy. I ve been around unmerciful people like that and it isn t fun. And that s why I don t want to be an unmerciful person Fellowship Church

4 5 I want to follow David s example instead. David hadn t done anything wrong. Saul had chased David away from his home and was now trying to kill him. Saul deserved to be punished and David had a chance to do it. But David showed mercy instead. He didn t kill Saul, but bowed down to him in front of all his troops. David showed Saul honor. So the next time someone is mean to you or makes a mistake, remember David s example. Remember the mercy he showed to Saul. And most of all remember the mercy God has shown to you. And I have a Bible Verse that will help you remember to show mercy. 5 Bible Verse God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7 NLT Optional: Have the children recite the verse two or three times. Then assign specific words in the verse to specific children. Have them recite the verse again with each child only saying their assigned word. Repeat this until the rhythm is smooth. Or the teacher can use a conductor-style wand and point to specific children to say the next word in the verse. 6 7 TeACHER This verse not only encourages us to be merciful, but it is also a promise that God has made us. If we show mercy, God will show us mercy as well. That s good to know, because in life there won t a shortage of people who will be mean to us. And we can choose to forgive them and show them mercy, and in turn receive mercy from God, or we can choose to try and get even with them and punish them. Of course, things usually won t turn out very well for us if we refuse to show mercy. And now that we ve covered the subject of mercy, I believe we can get back to the case. And by case I am of course referring to the case of Professor Arty Morty s continued reign of terror that holds this city in an ever present grip of fear! And thankfully we ll be alongside Roanoke Jones and his capable assistant Swanson. Let s see what the latest is on the case. Note: Play Skit Video chapter # 6 followed by Keep Your Eye On The Ball chapter # 7. Ingenious! It was so simple. All they had to do was remove the hats! Professor Arty Morty s plans to get everyone in the city to forget about mercy, and to act with cruelty, has failed! But the most important detail that I think we should walk away with from today s case, is that we should show mercy because God shows us mercy. We don t deserve it, God doesn t owe it to us, and we can t ever pay him back for it either. Still, God chooses to show us mercy. And it is our job as followers of God to pass that mercy on to others. In fact, we don t have the right to deny mercy to other people. Think of how hard life would be if God chose to 6 7 skit video keep your eye on the ball Fellowship Church

5 8 deny us mercy. Every time we did something wrong, every day, we would be punished. I m really thankful that God doesn t treat us like that. Let s spend some time thanking God for His mercy and worshiping Him with our voices and our offerings. 8 song 2 Optional: Ask for some children to volunteer and come up and to lead the song with you. Teacher leads the children in singing the song and then begins the offering time. 9 Offering logo 9 OFFERING # 4 (CD Track # 4) Thank you for singing with us. We re going to continue to focus on God and worship Him with our offering time. Let s pray. Lead the children in prayer. If you want to, include elements of the lesson you are teaching today. For instance, today we are talking about showing mercy to others. So you might say, Dear God, we thank You for being merciful. And we know that there will always be people in this world who will be mean to us. Help us to show mercy to those people just as You have shown mercy to us. Amen. Take up the offering. Optional: Have two specific children pass the plate and take up the offering. Then have a child come up and close the offering in prayer The time we spend worshiping God together is very important. Thank you for worshiping with me. We re going to continue to learn about mercy, and how we should show mercy to others, in our Small Groups. (10) Hire a Private Investigator quickly to lead your small group and see what they can teach you about this case. Note: If you are staying in your room, transition to the Small Group activities by reviewing the Main Point. You can have the children say it fast, slow, while hopping on one foot, or even while walking around the room. Challenge them to get back to their seats before you can finish reciting the Main Point. If your Small Group(s) travel to a second room or location, have the children repeat the Main Point while walking in various ways. Ex: Skipping, crawling, walking backwards, pretending to drive, pretending to fly, etc. SMALL GROUPS Teacher greets the children as they return from Small Groups Small Group logo MP still Fellowship Church

6 # 1 # 1 12 (CD Track # 1) Junior detectives I have some bad news. The case isn t closed yet, but don t worry. We can still review the case notes from today and practice our detective skills, too. Let s tackle another session of our Review Game, Look Closer. Note: For specific instructions on how to lead the children through this Review Game, you will need to print out Review Game Lesson 2 from your Lesson Materials CD-ROM. The first page of the Review Game is an instructions page. Lead the children through the questions. Hit play when a child has given you the right answer. Optional: Ask for one child to volunteer to be the Review Game judge. Have them put on a judge s robe, a wig, and hold a gavel. Give the child the piece of paper with the correct answers to the Review Game questions. When the children answer a question, turn to the judge and ask the judge for a ruling. Correct or incorrect? After the judge s ruling continue with the game as usual. Repeat for each question. CLOSING (CD Track # 1) Huzzah, my sleuthful friends! That was some brilliant detective work, but that s all we had for our caseload for today. You are now free to go home. But don t forget about what we learned today. Our Main Point is I Will Show Mercy To Others! See you back here next week! 12 Look closer Fellowship Church