I WILL PRAISE GOD IN ALL SITUATIONS! LESSON GOAL: The children will learn that we should spend time praising God no matter if our circumstances are good or bad. MAIN POINT: I Will Praise God In All Situations! BIBLE LESSON: Paul and Silas in Prison - Acts 6:6-0 BIBLE VERSE: Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. James :2 (NLT) WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THESE ACTIVITIES? EPIC BIBLE SKILLS DRILLS (WEEKLY OPENING ACTIVITY) This activity will challenge the children to learn Bible skills while competing to win pieces of today s Main Point. WHAT S WORSE? (OPENING ACTIVITY) This activity will introduce the children to the lesson of the day. SKIT AND BIBLE LESSON (LARGE GROUP ACTIVITY) This Skit and Bible Lesson will teach the children that we should spend time praising God no matter if our circumstances are good or bad. EPIC BIBLE VERSE SEARCH (WEEKLY REVIEW ACTIVITY) This activity will challenge the children to remember details of the lesson and use Bible skills to help solve a scrambled version of a phrase similar to the Main Point. WHAT CAN YOU DO? (APPLICATION ACTIVITY) This activity will remind the children that we have so much to praise God for and that there is no situation in which we cannot praise Him. PRAISE CUBE (APPLICATION ACTIVITY) This activity will give the children a reminder of ways that they can praise God no matter what situation they are in. BUILD YOUR OWN SITUATIONS (APPLICATION ACTIVITY) This activity will help the children imagine many different situations and remind them that we can praise God in any situation. REVIEW GAME OF DOOM AND/OR GLORY (WEEKLY REVIEW GAME ACTIVITY This is a strategic time to review and reinforce the content of the lesson.
Single Teacher using the Watch It/Train DVD WATCHING THE BIBLE LESSON AND SKIT ON DVD. PURPOSE STATEMENT: This Skit and Bible Lesson will teach the children that we should spend time praising God no matter if our circumstances are good or bad. MATERIALS/PROPS NEEDED: None. Lead the children through the Opening Activity. logo Begin Large Group Time. 2 Is everyone here? Good. Because I have some very big, bad news and some very big, good news as well. The bad news is that today is the last of our Epic Bible Lesson series. The very big good news is that we re not finished yet! And I am ready to get started. How about you? Are you ready? (allows children to respond) I said ARE YOU READY?! (allows children to respond) Now that s more like it! Everybody up for our epic opening song! Teacher leads the children in in singing the song. 2 song An epic performance for an epic opening song! That was truly, epicly done, my epic friends. This being the last of our epic Bible Lessons, I m trying to savor the epic experience and make it as epic as possible by saying the word epic as many times as I can...epic. Now, I hope you re ready for our epic Bible Lesson because this one gets intense! This one has an angry mob, two heroes trapped in prison, and even an earthquake! This lesson can be found in the book of Acts, chapter 6. Let s find out what happened. Note: Play Bible Lesson Video chapter #. Bible Lesson Intro slide
Paul and Silas set an incredible example for us. They showed us the attitude we should have no matter what our situation is. We should have an attitude of praise. It s easy to praise God when things are going good in life. But when things get unpleasant, uncomfortable, inconvenient, or just bad, we usually don t think to praise God at those times. We usually just whine and complain. But Paul and Silas showed us that even when things get bad, we can and should still praise God. The takeaway from this lesson is that we should praise God in all situations. And that is our Main Point for today s lesson! [] I Will Praise God In All Situations! Everybody, help me out one last time by making this a truly epic Main Point. Let s stand up tall, and shout this loud! Main Point animation The Teacher works with the children to make up cheerleader-type hand motions that go along with the Main Point. Once everyone has gone over the Main Point, have the children repeat it with motions two or three times. 5 6 7 So just to be clear, when we re having a having a good day, what should we do? (allows children to respond) Right. We should praise God. And even if we re having a bad day, what should we do? (allows children to respond) Right. We should praise God. And even if we re having a truly awful day full of horrible moments like being stuck in the car with my mean brother, finding out my little sister just ate all of my favorite snacks, getting yelled at by my parents for something my brother did, and even not being able to watch TV, what should we do? (allows children to respond) Right. We should praise God. If Paul and Silas can still praise God after going through what they experienced, then we can praise God when we have bad days, too. Hmmmm, I wonder what would have happened if Paul and Silas had just whined and complained like anyone else probably would. I think I need to give the guys at Not So Epic Theatre one more chance to demonstrate how things could have been different in the Bible Lesson. It s time for the last episode of Not So Epic Theatre! Note: Play Skit Video chapter # 5 followed by Epic Field Game chapter # 6. Wow, that was really annoying to listen to. I m glad Paul and Silas weren t whiny like that in the real story. If they had been, the jailer and his family might never have learned about Jesus. Remember that the next time you re tempted to whine and complain. Nobody wants to hear that. Complaining might cause you to miss a chance to tell someone about Jesus. And to help us out with having a good attitude, we have another epic Bible Verse. Listen to this. Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. James :2 (NLT) 5 6 7 skit intro video and first narrator video epic team challenge Bible Verse 2
According to this verse, when we experience troubles, we can have joy, too! Now, don t misunderstand. We re not going to be happy that we re having problems, but we should recognize that those problems are an opportunity for something good to happen. Paul and Silas knew that. Their being in prison provided an opportunity to share Jesus with the jailer. Try to think about your problems like that instead of complaining about them. And always spend time praising God. In fact, let s do that right now by singing a song and then taking up our offering. 8 song 2 8 Teacher leads the children in singing the song. After the song, the Teacher begins the offering time. Thank you for singing. Now we ll continue to worship God by giving our tithes and offerings. This is the time to think about everything that God has blessed you with. This is a time to be thankful and to show our thanks by giving back to Him. Please bow your heads and pray with me as we prepare to give. 9 offering 9 OFFERING Note: 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 praising God. So, you might say, God, we know that we will face troubles and problems in life. But no matter what, please help us to have an attitude that pleases You. Amen. Take up the offering. 0 Thank you. And now we re going to take a break from our Large Group and hang out in our Small Groups! Learn from your leader and have fun in today s Small Group Activity. [0] In the meantime, I ll get your Review Game ready to play. 0 small groups Note: If the children do not change rooms for the Small Group time, review the Main Point before you begin the activities. If the children do change rooms for the Small Group time, have the children review the Main Point while they exit. Also, encourage the children to exit the room while performing some sort of creative motion. MP still SMALL GROUPS Teacher greets the children as they return from Small Groups. 2 Welcome back everyone, I hope you learned a lot because it s time for us to review. We need to have one last Epic Review Game of Doom And/Or Glory! 2 review game
Note: For specific instructions on how to lead the children through this Review Game, you will need to print out Epic Review Game Of Doom And-Or Glory Help Sheet L8 from your Lesson Materials CD-ROM. Lead the children through the questions. Press Play when a child has given you the right answer. CLOSING Great job today, everyone! To help us remember what we learned today, let s all say our Main Point together one last time. I Will Praise God In All Situations! See you back here next time as we kick off a new series!