3rd-5th

February 23-24, 2013

Matthew 5:11-12; 5:40-45; 20:26-27 (pp. 1056, 1057, 1078 the Adventure Bible)

The Kingdom of Heaven

Loving others like Jesus did can look pretty crazy!

Hang out with kids (10 minutes) Large Group (30 minutes) Small Group (20 minutes) Video and song review (10 minutes)

Take time to listen to kids who are in your room. Ask them more than yes/no questions. Then, make eye contact and listen. Here are some questions to get you started: • What is your favorite book/movie? What do you like about it? • Who is your favorite relative? Tell me about him/her.

As kids leave, remind them to tell their parents about some of the crazy ways we can follow Jesus.

Today we’re talking about the crazy commands Jesus gives his followers! His kingdom is hard to understand in a broken world like this one! Try to help kids apply the commands to their lives.

                                                                                                               

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Goal: To discuss practical ways to follow Jesus’ commands, even when it’s hard. Why? Followers of Jesus are called to obey him, but some of his commands don’t make sense to us from an earthly standpoint. So it’s important to help kids apply them.

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*Remind kids not to use names if discussing enemies they are trying to love or even people to whom they are trying to be kind? CONNECT

1. Tell us your name and if you’ve ever tried to follow one of Jesus’ commands. What happened? How did it go?

REVIEW 2. Give me some examples of how

Jesus wants us to love others. (If somebody takes your shirt, give them your coat, too; pray for people you hate. Help kids brainstorm what that can mean today—give a kid-friendly example from your life)

3. How do we become great in the Kingdom of Heaven? (become a servant to everybody)

RELATE/REACT 4. Think of one person you could be a

servant to or be kind to this week.

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SAY: Remember how Jesus says if somebody takes our shirt, we should give them our coat, too? Well, in the same passage (Matthew 5:39-42, Pg.1057 Adv. Bible…read it together if you have time), he says if somebody wants us to walk ONE mile with them, we should walk two. And he says if somebody hits one cheek, we should just turn the other. It’s like he doesn’t just want us to be kind, he wants us to be EXTRA kind. That can be really hard, so we’re going to play a game to practice. I’m going to give you a scenario. Like I might say, “Your older brother takes your bike without asking.” Then we’re going to react with tag-team pictures! Each of you gets 30 seconds to draw. So the first person might start drawing a person telling her brother she’s glad he’s alright. But somebody else may have to finish, so they might turn it into something else!

(Continue on the next page!)

QUESTIONS ACTIVITY

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Tips: Make today’s activity fun today—let kids get crazy with their kindness ideas, make a big deal of counting down as a kid runs out of time, help them brainstorm, etc.

                                                                                                               

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Give us an example of how you can serve or be kind to him/her (help kids think of ways they can serve or be kind to siblings, parents, or friends) 5. GO TO ACTIVITY!!! 6. Why do you think it’s sometimes

hard to follow Jesus? (This world is broken, rotting, and dying—people treat each other badly and it’s not usually fun to be servants or treat people nicely when they’re mean; he is preparing us to live in a perfect world where everyone will be kind and loving and we’ll never feel mistreated or sad again.)

7. Do you think it’s worth all the hard work of following Jesus? Why or why not? (Jesus tells us it is! Read Matthew 5:11-12 again: Blessed are you when people make fun of you and hurt you because of me. You are also blessed when they tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me. Be joyful and glad. Your reward in heaven is great. One day, followers of Jesus will live in a perfect world with no sickness, sadness, death, etc!)

*Pray with the kids and ask God to help them follow Jesus this week, even when it’s hard! **If you have extra time, use the extra paper to play hangman or Pictionary. You can have the kids choose words or phrases, or pick ones that are applicable to today’s lesson in some way. Be creative and have fun!

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Maybe now a person is giving the brother a hug. We’ll keep adding and adding until we’ve all contributed and we have a REALLY kind picture! Let’s try it out. 1. Have the first kid come up to the sketch pad. 2. Give the first scenario (scenarios below) 3. Start timing—at 30 seconds, stop the kid and ask the next person to come up, whether the first person is done or not. That’ll make it funnier! 4. Brainstorm with kids who are nervous or stuck—just add anything kind. Let other kids jump in to help, too. 5. At the end of one scenario (after everyone has contributed) stop to admire the work. Remind them that it’s hard to act like this, but it’s a picture of the Kingdom of Heaven! Here are scenarios (feel free to adapt for your group of kids—and even use scenarios that they shared in response to question #4!!)

• A friend has a party but doesn’t invite you

• Your mom asks you to do extra chores—and you’re pretty sure it’s just because she’s in a bad mood

• Your little sister sneaks into your bedroom and draws all over the wall

• A kid takes your lunch money • Somebody at school starts a

rumor about you RETURN TO QUESTION #6

QUESTIONS ACTIVITY

                                                                                                               

There’s more Scripture in this lesson than usual. Since having kids read it out loud only engages a couple kids at a time, read it yourself—loudly and with great passion and excitement to engage kids in the radical love to which Christ calls us. The commands in these verses really do sound pretty crazy!

Are you losing their attention? Try sitting on the edge of the stage or walking in the crowd. Sometimes all you need is a little movement to get kids to focus.

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WELCOME AND INTRO Hi everybody! Welcome to Kids’ Club. We’ve been talking about Jesus’ life on earth and how he brought the Kingdom of Heaven to earth and showed us how to treat God as King. And he taught us how to act if we’re part of the Kingdom of Heaven. I’m going to warn you right now, some of Jesus’ commands are really hard to follow! Some of them don’t make sense to us. It kind of reminds us of the movie Karate Kid. Have any of you guys seen it? (Let kids respond.) Well, a kid named Dre wants to learn Kung Fu, so he takes some lessons. But his teacher just makes him do chores like waxing his car or taking his own jacket on and off. It makes no sense to Dre, and he gets mad. Let’s take a look: Video: Karate Kid clip (2 min.) Turns out, even taking his jacket on and off is helping Dre learn King Fu, isn’t it? His teacher told him Kung Fu is in everything. That’s really how it should be as followers of Jesus who treat Jesus as King. We should be following him ALL the time, in everything, always building the Kingdom of Heaven. But to be a part of his Kingdom, Jesus asks us to do some pretty crazy things. Let’s look at a FEW examples. BE KIND TO OTHERS Jesus wants us to be kind, right? (Show picture of shirt.) Let’s pretend somebody takes your very favorite, brand new shirt? You got the last one at the store—and your friend wanted it, so he or she just takes it from you. In fact, they sue you in a court to get it legally so nobody blames them for stealing! Which is silly because it’s obviously your shirt!

                                                                                                               

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Well, what should you do? Get a lawyer to fight them back? Just give it to them? Turn and tell a friend what you think you should do. (Let kids tell their friends.) Here’s what the Bible says in Matthew 5:40: SLIDE: Suppose someone takes you to court to get your shirt. Let him have your coat also. Suppose someone forces you to go one mile. Go two miles with him. Wow, Jesus says if someone wants your shirt, give it to them—AND add your coat! When Jesus tells us to be kind to others, he means EXTRA kind! Does anybody here think that kind of love and kindness sounds crazy?? (Let kids respond.) LOVE YOUR ENEMIES Jesus also tells us to love our enemies. Can you guys think of somebody who you struggle to like? Don’t say their name—just think in your head. Maybe it’s a school bully. Maybe it’s somebody who treats you badly—or you see treating others badly. How do you think Jesus wants us to treat them? Turn and tell a friend how you think Jesus wants us to treat people we don’t like. (Let kids turn and tell a friend.) In Matthew 5:43-45, Jesus says: SLIDE: You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor. Hate your enemy.” But here is what I tell you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you. Then you will be sons of your Father who is in heaven. Do any of you guys pray for good things to happen to people who are mean to you? (Let kids respond.) If you do, that’s awesome! But it sure is hard, isn’t it?? Well, Jesus asks us to do it, even though it’s hard. It’s how we follow him, even though it doesn’t make sense. BE A SERVANT Another crazy command Jesus gave us is about being famous or important. Who do you think is “great” in our world? Who do you think people would call important? …An actor or actress? An athlete? The President? A band? Turn and tell a friend who you think people would call important in our world. (Let kids turn and tell a friend. Kids may want to share this—you can ask a few kids to share responses.) In this world, a lot of people want to be noticed or popular or well-liked. But Jesus tells us what we must do to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew 20:26-27: SLIDE:If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. That doesn’t make any sense, does it? If you want to be great, serve others?? Hmm. It sounds crazy. But Jesus would know! He is the GREATEST in the Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, he’s the King! And remember what his life was like on earth? He served US by giving up his life to rescue us!

                                                                                                               

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Who thinks it would be hard to act like a servant to everyone in this world? …A servant to your mom or dad? …A servant to your brothers and sisters? …A servant to your friends? (Let kids respond.) But Jesus goes even farther. In Matthew 5:11-12, he says: SLIDE: Blessed are you when people make fun of you and hurt you because of me. You are also blessed when they tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me. Be joyful and glad. Your reward in heaven is great. Jesus knows that following him sometimes looks crazy in this world. People might even make fun of us. But remember, we can be the Kingdom of Heaven on earth when we treat Jesus as King. And we can obey his commands, even when they don’t make sense. We can trust that he’s just getting us ready to live forever in the perfect world he’ll on day re-create for everybody who follows him! WORSHIP Let’s sing to Jesus together and thank him for rescuing us so we can one day live forever in his perfect kingdom. And let’s remember that sometimes living for him takes courage! But he can help us be brave and follow him, even if it looks crazy! Music Video: Crazy Love (video includes dance moves) Song: Brave-A-Ree (learn hand motions ahead of time) PRAY Will somebody pray and ask Jesus to help us follow his commands this week?

                                                                                                               

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Per small group: Large sketch pad Several markers The Adventure Bible (pp. 1056, 1057, 1078)

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Adventure Bible

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1. Video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T10ycFr770g 2. Image: shirt (jpeg in curriculum folder) 3. SLIDE: Matthew 5:40-41: Suppose someone takes you to court to get your shirt. Let him have your coat also. Suppose someone forces you to go one mile. Go two miles with him. 4. SLIDE: Matthew 5:43-45: You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor. Hate your enemy.” But here is what I tell you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you. Then you will

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be sons of your Father who is in heaven. 5. SLIDE: Matthew 20:26-27: If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. 6. SLIDE: Matthew 5:11-12: Blessed are you when people make fun of you and hurt you because of me. You are also blessed when they tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me. Be joyful and glad. Your reward in heaven is great. 7. Music Video: Crazy Love (with dance moves) 8. Song: Brave-A-Ree (live lyric worship video)

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Tell me how Jesus wants us to love others. What are some of Jesus’ “crazy” commands?

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Some of Jesus’ commands sound pretty “crazy.” Like when Jesus said that in order to be great, we should be like servants or when people are cruel to us, we should pray for them. But Jesus reminds us that following him is worth it! Ask your kids about how they plan to love like Jesus this week. And if you want to know more about what we talked about today, read Matthew 5:11-12; 5:40-45; and 20:26-27 together.