Moses. July 11-12, God has a plan for us. Exodus 2-4; Jeremiah 29:11

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1 rd 3 5 July 11-12, 2015 Moses Exodus 2-4; Jeremiah 29:11 God has a plan for us. th Connect Time (20 minutes): Five minutes after the service begins, split kids into groups and begin their activity. Remember to play the outdoor loop again this week (slide 1 of the Keynote presentation). Large Group (30 minutes): Begin 20 minutes after the service starts. Model what it looks like to be engaged in large group. Today, we re talking about places Moses went that prepared him for his future job leading the people. Ask kids to share the best place they went last week, and why they love it. Small Group (10 minutes): Keep kids in small groups until parents arrive. If you all have extra time at the end, you can review the video and songs together. As kids leave, remind them of the reason they are taking home a compass: God wants to lead them this week! *Also, don t forget to put on slide 1 of today s Keynote presentation. It s a silent outdoor loop that may spark conversations among kids and parents as they leave. Moses was chosen by God for a special purpose, but for much of his life he didn t believe he was anybody special. Today, kids will hear that God has a special plan for their lives too!

2 GOAL: Connect Time is all about engaging kids in an activity that allows them to connect with each other right away while simultaneously piquing their curiosity for Large Group and preparing their minds for what they re going to hear. FOUR CORNERS *Play as one large group. Tell kids that the four corners of the room are either North, South, East, or West. (Do NOT label corners or tell the kids which corner is which!) Explain the rules of the game: o An adult is going to close his/her eyes and count to ten o While he/she counts, each kid chooses a corner and goes to it (they go randomly to whichever corner they want!) o With eyes still closed, the adult will call out a corner (N, S, E or W) o Every kid standing in that corner has to sit down in the middle of the room (or designated area). Remember, in Round 1 kids will NOT know which corner should sit because corners haven t been labeled. Close your eyes and count to ten. (Kids will go to a corner but won t know which one they re in.) Call out a corner. Get frustrated that students won t sit down. Eventually, label the corners. Have other volunteers put up the direction signs. Play a complete round (or two) of four corners. In small groups, debrief: o What made this game hard? o Did it become easier when we gave you all the instructions? Why? o How important are directions in this game? Before you go to Large Group, you can ask kids how their week went. You can also remind kids of the expectations for Large Group behavior: (1) be kind, (2) listen when somebody speaks, and (3) follow the leader s instructions.

3 Goal: Kids will (1) recognize that God was leading Moses throughout his life, (2) understand that God is leading us too and (3) identify one way he s leading us right now Why? God has a purpose for us even when our life feels normal or purposeless. Tip: Kids may need your help to identify places God is leading them. You can always use commands from the Bible like: obey your parents, love your enemies or pray for people who hurt you. REVIEW THE STORY 1. How did God prepare Moses for his job? 2. How is this like giving Moses a roadmap? 3. What plan does God have for you now? 4. What should you do about that plan? (Get moving and do something.) MAKE IT PERSONAL We don t know exactly where we ll end up but we do know that God has directions for us to follow him now. Give each kid a blank sheet of paper (if kids ask, we re mapping out our actions, not a physical place.) Start by drawing yourself in one corner (write: You are here. ) Draw a big X in another corner: This is where you re trying to go. Next to the X, write/draw one thing you feel like God wants you to do to follow him today. (Examples could be to (1) make friends with a new kid at school, (2) tell a friend about Jesus, (3) give to someone in need.) Draw a dotted line all over the map. Add in 3 steps to help you get to that goal. For example (1), could be to ask the new kid about his/her old school, sit with him/her for lunch and invite him/her to dinner. For (2), could be to ask God for courage, ask friend if he/she has ever heard of Jesus, invite him/her to Kids Club. For (3), could be to find a person who needs food, water or a home; praying for that person; earn money by doing a job or make food and give it to that person.) Write Jeremiah 29:11 around the edges of the map (can use the verse card). Decorate if you have time. Then give each kid a compass to remind them that God has a plan for them and will lead them. (Continue on the following page)

4 2 *Pray with the kids, thanking God that he has a purpose for us and asking him to lead us! Extra time? Talk to kids about a time they were lost: Where were you? How did you get lost? How did you find your way? Or play 4 Corners again!

5 1 We ll be learning Jeremiah 29:11 throughout the month of June. It would be great if you could memorize it to model that for kids! Just because God has a purpose for us doesn t make our time following him now any less valuable. In fact, sometimes His purpose is that we learn to follow him day by day and become more like him. Be careful not to minimize the importance of following God today when talking about how God has a purpose for each of us. Hi everybody! Welcome to Kids Club. It s great to see you here. Your game of Four Corners looked pretty fun once you knew which corner is which! Do you guys think it s important to know the directions to a game before you play it? (Let kids say: Yes.) Why? (Let kids respond.) Yes, we can t play it right if we don t know the rules. We ll all be making it up as we go, and we ll all be doing something different. GETTING DIRECTIONS WHILE TRAVELING There are other times when it s really important to have directions, too. For example, let s pretend we re going on a trip. Where would you guys go if you could go anywhere you wanted right now? (Let 3-5 kids share.) Those sound great! I think I d go. Now, how will you figure out how to get there? Pretend you can get in the car and drive. What are some ways you can get directions? (Let kids respond with things like: map, GPS, compass.) That s right! It would be hard but you could probably get there if you had some of those tools. But since we ll be talking about being outdoors during July, I want you to think about this: What if you re stuck in the woods without any of these handy tools? Then what would you do? (Let kids respond.) Hm, good ideas. Before we go any further, let s find out what our friend Bear Grylls would do. We re going to be getting some tips from him this month! Video: Homemade Compass GETTING DIRECTION IN LIFE Wow, so he d make his own compass. Pretty impressive. And what is the purpose of a map or a GPS or a compass? (Let kids respond.) That s right, it helps us find our way. And in life, God helps us find our way. Remember our verse, Jeremiah 29:11 says this:

6 SLIDE: Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. God has big plans for us and he will give us the tools we need to accomplish those plans. MOSES GOT DIRECTION FROM GOD Today, we re going to talk about a guy named Moses. God gave him a very important job. See, during Moses life, God s family was stuck as slaves in the country of Egypt. They were miserable because the ruler, Pharaoh, made them work hard. As they grew bigger and bigger, he got afraid that they might turn against him. So he just kept making them work so hard to try to keep them weak. God saw how hard this was for his family and he decided to rescue them. He chose Moses to lead his family out of Egypt and into an amazing land he promised them. We re going to watch a video that will talk about how God prepared Moses for this job, long before Moses had any idea that God had a special plan for him! As you watch, look for the different places God took Moses before he asked him to be the leader! Video: God s Story / Moses So, long before Moses knew he was the leader, where did he end up living? (Let kids respond.) That s right, he lived in Egypt, in the palace as a prince. He also lived in a place called Midian, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere! What do you think Moses learned while he was in Egypt? Turn and tell a friend one thing Moses probably learned while he was there. (Let kids respond.) OK, share with me something you told a friend. (Let kids respond.) Yeah, by getting raised in the palace, Moses knew what it was like to be an Egyptian. He learned how Pharaoh treated God s family. But does anybody remember why Moses left the palace? (Let kids respond.) Yes, he didn t feel like he belonged there. He wasn t really Egyptian! But did he feel like he could join God s family, the Israelites? (Let kids say: No.) No, they didn t like him either! After all, he had been raised in the Egyptian palace. So he ran away to Midian. And what do you think Moses learned while he was there? Turn and tell a friend one thing Moses probably learned while he was in Midian. (Let kids respond.) OK, share with me something your friend said. (Let kids respond.) Yep, in Midian he learned about the wilderness and how to survive. GOD S PLAN FOR MOSES You know what s amazing? It s almost like God gave Moses a roadmap showing him how to be successful.before he even asked Moses to lead! In Moses job as leader, he needed to be able to talk to the ruler and ask him to set God s family free and he could, because they had lived in the same house! Then, once God brought his family out of Egypt, they needed to be able to survive in the wilderness, because it would take them a long time to get to the promised land!

7 WE GET DIRECTION FROM GOD When Moses was a kid, living as a prince in Egypt, he probably had no idea he would be the leader of the Israelites. When he was old, he could have looked back and saw how God prepared him. But Moses was a big part of God s story long before he was the leader! It s like that for you and for me, too! We can be part of God s story right now because he has plans for us and the things that are happening while we re kids are important for the future. Even things that might seem silly might be teaching us something we ll need. For example, maybe one day you re going to be a vet who cares for God s animals, who he loves. So maybe when you spend time with a pet or learn about animals in school he s getting you ready! To help us remember this at all times, we re going to try to memorize Jeremiah 29:11. And we ve got three people who are going to test their skills for us. Let s check it out! Video: Verse-O-Dome (Jeremiah 29:11) Wow, I bet you guys can do that too. We ll practice that verse some more in small group it s a truth we want to remember all the time! RESPOND For now, think about this: Just like a map or GPS can give us directions, we won t get where we need to go unless we re following God. So let s think about how we can follow God today and trust that he has a big plan for us! I m going to play a song and as you listen, tell God you follow him; ask him to show you what he wants you to learn from where he has you right now. Song: Kids Club Acoustic / Follow the Leader WORSHIP Now let s thank God that he has a purpose for us and will give us directions by singing another song. This is all about how we can think about following God before we do anything. Song: Before I Go PRAY Ask God to help all of us continue to learn and follow him. Ask him for directions!

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9 1 2 Direction Signs for the Four Corners Game Per kid 1 blank sheet of paper 1 compass (OT: IN-16/629) Per group Markers 1 Bible verse card (Jeremiah 29:11) Bible Video: Outdoor Loop Song slide: for when kids enter the room (All that You Need instrumental; mp3 only; can be downloaded on website) Video: Homemade Compass SLIDE: Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Video: Moses ( Video: Verse-O-Dome (Jeremiah 29:11) Music Video: KC Acoustic / Follow the Leader ( Tell me about Moses. How did God lead Moses? Daily Talk Starts separate document Song: Before I Go Video: Outdoor loop