This Week’s Lesson

Preschool & Kindergarten

Can You Measure It?? February 10, 2013

Memory Verse: “How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
Ephesians 3:17 NIV
Key Question: Who loves you? 
Bottom Line: Jesus loves me!
Bible Story: Luke 15:11-24. A son asks his dad for his share of his inheritance and then wastes it all on worldly pleasures. When the son finally returns, filthy and poor, the father is overjoyed! In fact, he’s SO happy he gives him a big hug and throws him a big party!

Here’s something you can do while driving in the car one day this week: Jesus loves everyone. That means every person you see, as you drive along in your car, is loved by Jesus! Challenge your preschooler to say, “Jesus loves (name someone he sees)” as you drive from here to there. Each time you stop, let your child look in your review mirror and say, “Jesus loves me!”
©2012 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.ThinkOrange.com

Elementary

“Get Messy” February 10, 2013

This week’s main idea: Prove you care about others by letting go of “what’s fair.”
This week’s Bible Story: Jacob and Esau meet again. Genesis 27:41-45; 31:3, 32:1-21; 33:1-11
Memory Verse: “So let us do all we can to live in peace. And let us work hard to build each other up.” Romans 14:19, NIrV
Life Application: PEACE - proving you care more about each other than winning an argument

1st, 2nd, 3rd grade

Activity 1: Make a line on the floor with masking tape to use as a timeline. Make cards for different characters & things in this story, including Jacob, Esau, Isaac, Rebekah, a note (message), gift, sword, etc. and put them in a paper bag. Select a card out of the bag and tell what that symbol has to do with the story. Then, have him place the picture along the masking tape line near the beginning, middle or end. After all the symbols have been chosen, use them and the timeline to quickly review the story as a whole. Rearrange or adjust the symbols as necessary as you review the story.

 Discuss: “In our Bible story today, Esau chose to forgive Jacob not because he had to, but because he wanted to. Even though what happened to Esau wasn’t fair, he didn’t get revenge; he forgave instead. This week, when something isn’t fair, choose to forgive instead of getting even. (Tell kids about a time when something wasn’t fair, but you chose to let it go.) Prove you care about others by letting go of ‘what’s fair.’”

Activity 2: Say the Bible verse together. Break the verse into smaller parts (“So let us / do all we can / to live in peace. / And let us work hard / to build each other up.”), and ask kids to think of ways to act out each piece. They can watch each other as they do their motions and as a group, choose which motion they like best for each phrase. Then, move to the next phrase and come up with the best action for that phrase, until they have created actions for the whole verse. Finally, put all the actions together and say the complete verse while the kids do all the actions.

 Discuss: “We did a good job coming up with some great actions to act out our verse! Because we put your minds together, we were able to come up with some pretty cool motions to help us remember the verse. It tells us to live in peace. Part of living in peace is being willing to prove you care about others by letting go of ‘what’s fair.’  This week, try not to worry about what’s fair but instead try to care about others by putting them first.”

Pray out loud: Give your child paper and markers. Have them draw a scene where there was not peace. Encourage them to put a caption and create speech bubbles. Then, have them flip over the scene and draw how it turned out or how they wish it had turned out.

Discuss: “When peace is disturbed, everything seems off. Nothing is right until peace is restored. I hope that if peace hasn’t already been restored in the scene you drew that it will be soon.” Instruct kids to take the pictures they drew and “let go” of them by making a paper airplanes and flying them into the trashcan. “We all need to let go of the times in our lives that haven’t been peaceful. We can let go of the situations we drew in our pictures by flying them into the trash where we never have to see or think about them again.”

 Close the activity in prayer: “God, please help us to let go of the hurtful and unfair things that have happened to us and instead bring peace into our lives. Remember to let go of hurtful situations this week even if it doesn’t seem fair. Prove you care about others by letting go of ‘what’s fair.’”
©2012 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.ThinkOrange.com

4th, 5th grade

Activity: Decide who will be the “Buzzer Head” and then they are to kneel down in front of the other one of you with a paper plate on their head. Explain that the “Buzzer Head” will ask a question about today’s Bible story. As soon as the other person thinks they know the answer, they must press their “buzzer” by gently tapping the paper plate on the top of the Buzzer Head. When the Buzzer Head is tapped, he must make a loud buzzing sound, and listen to the answer to the question. If the answer is correct, move on to the next question, if not take a look at the Bible story to figure it out. Keep going until all questions are answered. You can take turns being the “Buzzer Head” if you want!

 

• Name the book of the Bible in which today’s story can be found. (Genesis)
• This guy was really hairy. (Esau)
• What does Esau’s name mean? (Red)
• Who was born first, Jacob or Esau? (Esau)
• Describe what Jacob looked like. (Smaller than Esau, less hairy)
• What did a firstborn son inherit after his father died? (Just about everything)
• Who tricked their father into giving him all of his stuff? (Jacob)
• Who vowed to kill his brother? (Esau)
• What was the name of Jacob and Esau’s mom? (Rebekah)
• What was the name of Jacob and Esau’s dad? (Isaac)
• What was the name of the uncle that Jacob went to live with? (Laban)
• How many men traveled back with Esau to meet Jacob? (400)
• What huge present did Jacob send to Esau? (220 sheep, 220 goats, 30 camels, 50 cattle, 30 donkeys)
• How did Esau respond to Jacob after not seeing him for a really long time? (Ran up and hugged him)
• What is today’s Bottom Line? Prove you care about others by letting go of “what’s fair.”

 

Discuss: “Being a ‘Buzzer Head’ was a little silly. But you were a great sport about wearing a paper plate on your head and buzzing like an oven timer. Thanks! In our lesson today, Esau chose to let go of his pride to make his relationship right with Jacob. His decision was probably viewed by some people as silly and not smart. Esau could have chosen revenge and tried to get even with Jacob. After all, Jacob had it coming, right? But Esau chose to set aside his idea of personal fairness and forgive his brother. Not an easy thing to do, but that’s the kind of wise choice we can make every day too.

“Life isn’t always fair. You’ve probably figured that out, right? (What unfair situation have you faced? Without mentioning names, tell the kids about a time you were treated unfairly.Talk about how God showed up to help you deal with the unfairness.)

“So the question you need to ask yourself is: what am I going to do when something isn’t fair? Am I going to whine and complain and try to make my friends and family feel bad about making things unfair for me? That’s one option. Some people choose it. However, God wants you to do the harder thing—the thing Esau did—and forgive. God will help you let go of the hurt and reach out to the person who’s being unfair. He wants you to choose peace. He wants you to show the people in your life that you care about them by the way you act. Prove you care about others by letting go of what’s fair.”

Activity 2: Help wrap several rows of duct tape (sticky side out) around their thumb and hands, like mittens with no thumbs. Pour a bag of beans into a bowl and place it in front of them. Place an empty bowl at the other end of the room or table. Explain that they will have two minutes to pass their beans from the full bowl to the empty bowl. When the two minutes are up, count how many beans actually got into the bowl and then count how many beans are still stuck to their hands.

Discuss: “Letting go of ‘what’s fair’ isn’t easy. It’s like trying to drop a handful of beans stuck on duct tape. Unfairness is never right, but in order to have peace you may have to let go of what you feel is fair. If you hold on to all your hurts and get wrapped up in the way others wronged you, it’ll tie you up and trap you. Like the duct tape wrapped your hands and made it hard to let go of the beans, holding on to hurt makes it hard to find peace. It keeps you from forgiving. When you get into a situation where you can choose to get even or to forgive instead, choose peace. Prove you care about others by letting go of ‘what’s fair’ in order to do what needs to be done to restore a friendship.”

 If you have a fifth grader, consider asking these discussion questions also:

• What are some things that keep kids from being peacemakers?
• What are some things from Romans 14:19 that God can use to help you in a situation where you’ve been treated unfairly?
• If we don’t learn to live in peace, what are some possible consequences or results we may face? What happens to us?

Prayer Time: Peace is something that can completely change a story. It can turn a bad story into a good one. It sure changed Jacob and Esau’s story. It’ll change your story this week if you make the choice to prove you care about others by letting go of ‘what’s fair.’ Let’s close in prayer and ask God to help us be like Esau and choose to forgive others when they are unfair to us this week. Pray along with me. When I pause, silently fill in the blank with your own words.

 Pray out loud: “Dear God, thank You for the example of Jacob and Esau. They help us better understand what peace looks like. Help me choose to forgive others when they (pause for kids to fill in the blank silently). Help me make the hard choice to choose people and peace over ‘what’s fair.’ In Jesus’ name, amen.”
©2012 The reThink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.ThinkOrange.com