3rd-5th

March 16-17, 2013

Matthew 8:23-27 Adventure Bible (pg. 1061)

Jesus Calms the Storm

Choose faith in God instead being afraid

Hang out with kids (10 minutes): Ask kids about their week. Get kids into groups and play games together. Large Group (30 minutes): Model what it looks like to be engaged in large group. And don’t be afraid to redirect kids who aren’t! Small Group (20-30 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.

When you move from one activity to the next, set kids up for success—tell them what you expect from a good audience in Large Group, and how to participate well in Small Group.

As kids check out, remind them to tell their parents what they did in small group today (replaced their fears with faith in God!).

Today, we’re talking about choosing faith in God instead of being afraid. In small group, we’ll dig deeper into why faith in God really can erase our fear. This can be a hard concept to understand—and an even harder one to actually put into practice. Prepare to lead kids by reading Matthew 8:23-27 and the small group questions ahead of time.

                                                                                                               

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Goal: to help kids understand why choosing to place our faith in God erases all fear Why? Choosing faith in God is a daily battle, but it’s the clear best choice when we consider God’s great power and why trusting in him can replace fear.

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Tip: Today’s questions say the same thing a few different ways. Go through each one, even if it feels repetitive to you. We want to make sure we say it in a way that each kid can understand and relate to

 

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CONNECT 1. Tell me your name and one word to describe something that scares you or one word

that comes into your head when you think of fear. It can be a thing or a situation—whatever you think of when you think of being afraid.

REVIEW

2. In today’s story, why were Jesus’ friends scared? (they were on a boat and a huge storm came; Jesus was asleep; they were losing control of the boat and thought they would drown)

3. When Jesus woke up and saw the storm, why wasn’t he afraid? (he knew that he is God’s Son and can control the weather; He had faith he could control the storm)

4. Jesus asked his disciples, “Why are you so afraid?” Why do you think he asked them that? (Let kids discuss. Guide them to this: They knew he was God’s Son, so Jesus wondered why his disciples didn’t believe that he could stop the storm.)

5. How did Jesus stop the storm? (He’s God’s Son; he’s more powerful than anything; God created the waves and the weather so of course he can control it)

DIG DEEPER

We put our faith in something every day. Let’s look at some examples: a. Who here has sat on a chair? (Let kids respond.) Were you scared that it

would break? (Let kids respond.) No, you had faith the chair would hold you, right?

b. Have any of you filled a cup with water? (Let kids respond.) Were you scared the water would drip out everywhere? (Let kids respond.) No, you had faith that the cup would hold the water, right?

6. Let’s think about why we really get scared. Take today’s story. a. If Jesus’ disciples were putting faith in their ability to sail a boat, should

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they have been scared? (Let kids say: yes! the boat was out of control; on their own, they could drown. Point out that often we get scared because our faith is in something other than God.)

b. If Jesus’ disciples put their faith in God, why shouldn’t they have been scared? (God controls everything—he has all power.)

c. SAY: We get scared when we don’t put our faith in God. When we choose faith in God, we have nothing to be afraid of anymore!

7. When we are afraid, what does God want us to do? (Trust in Him! On our own, a lot of situations are scary. But with God, they don’t have to be.)

CHOOSING FAITH OBJECT LESSON 8. Think of the fear you shared in the beginning. We’re going to practice putting our faith

in God. Write your fear or draw a picture of it on this piece of paper. (Hand each kid a piece of dissolving paper and a pen.)

9. Now, let’s read our verse again: Psalm 56:3: When I’m afraid, I will trust in you. Can you guys say that with me? (Have the kids repeat it.)

10.Let’s see what happens when we give our fears to God. I’ll go first. (Model by saying, “Sometimes I am afraid of _______. I choose to trust you, Jesus.” Be authentic, but keep it kid-friendly!)

11.Throw your paper in the water and watch it disappear! 12.Let the kids go around one by one! Remind them that our fears disappear when we

choose faith in God! (If some kids don’t want to share their fears out loud, that’s okay. But encourage them to say “I choose to trust you, Jesus” out loud.)

*After everyone has thrown their fear into the water and you’ve watched them disappear, pray with the kids and thank God that we can trust him even when we don’t know what will happen next. Ask him to help you all remember to have faith in him this week. Extra time? Grab a group game and play it together as a small group!

                                                                                                               

Today’s all about choosing faith in God—and why faith erases our fear. But our story is about the disciples’ faith in Jesus. We don’t want kids to be confused in faith in God vs. faith in Jesus. After all, it’s the same thing! So be sure to refer to both as you present—and if kids ask, you can tell them that Jesus is God’s Son with all the power of God.

Small group has a really important faith activity today—make sure you begin large group on time, so small group leaders have time to finish!

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WELCOME Hi kids! Welcome to Kids’ Club! It’s so great to see you all here. Before we get started, I want you to go grab a leader’s hand. (Wait for kids to circle up around leaders.) Okay, now puuulllll them forward to sit next to you! (Let kids pull volunteers forward.) Great job! Okay, now everybody have a seat. INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS FAITH? Today, we’re going to start with a little game of opposites. I’m going to show you a picture. As soon as you know the opposite, stand up! Let’s see who can get it first. Ready? First, what’s the opposite of…this? (Show picture of fire. Give kids a chance to stand. Let those standing yell: “cold” or “ice.”) Yep! Easy, right? Sit down and let’s do another one. What’s the opposite of…this? (Show picture of a tall person on stilts and let kids stand and say: “short.”) That’s right! Okay, sit again. Those were simple. Let’s try a hard one: What’s the opposite of “fear?” (Show picture of really scared person. Let kids stand.) This is a REALLY important one because if we know what’s the opposite of fear, we can keep from getting scared! So what do you think? What’s the opposite of fear? (Guide kids toward: faith in God.) It’s having complete trust or confidence—faith—in God! The Bible puts it like this: SLIDE: Hebrews 1:11 Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. That verse is talking about being sure about God. Faith is believing that God is with us even though we can’t see him. It’s believing that He can do everything he says he can do. But it’s important to think about why we should put our faith in God—why that can take away our fear.

                                                                                                               

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Today, we’re going to hear a story that shows us why we can have faith in God. This is the story of a time Jesus’ disciples got really, really scared…they were choosing to be afraid instead of having faith in God! PART I: JESUS’ DISCIPLES GET SCARED One day, Jesus got on a boat with his friends and sailed out into the water. Jesus was tired, so he took a nap. While Jesus was asleep, a HUGE storm rolled in. The seas got rocky, and Jesus’ friends were terrified! Let’s watch a short video clip to help us imagine what they felt like: Video: Calming the Storm Part I (about 45 seconds) Wow, did that look scary to anyone else? (Let kids respond.) Turn and tell a friend why you would be scared. (Let kids tell a friend. Then take 1-3 answers.) The waves were too big for the boat—it could easily shipwreck us or even cause us to drown, right? We can’t control waves, so it seems scary! Well, the disciples woke Jesus up and said, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” Jesus woke up…and you know what he did? He looked at the storm and he wasn’t scared. And he didn’t think they should be either! Matthew 8:26 tells us what He said to them: SLIDE: Matthew 8:26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” PART II: WHY THEY DIDN’T NEED TO BE AFRAID Jesus was saying that if the disciples had faith in God, they wouldn’t be scared! Let’s watch the rest of this story. As we watch, see if you can figure out WHY they didn’t need to be scared. Video: Calming the Storm Part II (about 45 seconds) So why didn’t they need to be scared? Turn and tell a friend why you think the disciples didn’t need to be scared in that storm. (Let kids tell a friend. Take 1-3 answers, if you have time.) They didn’t need to be afraid because Jesus could STOP storms! He was with them and Jesus controls the weather. That means he can make it storm or stop storming anytime! Remember, Jesus wasn’t just a man…he was God’s Son! And who created the waves and the wind and the weather? (Let kids say: God!) Yes, God! So of course he and Jesus can control it! And what else did God create? (Let kids respond: anything goes!) Yes, they made everything, every person, every rock, every speck of dust. Literally everything has to obey him! FAITH IS A CHOICE WE CAN ALL MAKE Now, we do live in an imperfect world. Storms and other bad things do happen. So we have to CHOOSE faith in God. We have to CHOOSE to believe that God has full control over everything. We have to choose to believe that He’s always with us, like he says he is. Let’s look at those opposites again…(show picture of fire and stilts). If you feel hot, can you CHOOSE to get cold? (Let kids say yes.) How? (Let kids say: you can stand next to a fan or

                                                                                                               

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find some ice or take off a sweatshirt, etc.) If you are tall, can you CHOOSE to get short? (Let kids say: no!) Nope, we don’t have a choice about everything. But if you are scared, can you CHOOSE to have faith? (Let kids say: yes!) Yes, definitely! The Bible tells us how: SLIDE: Psalm 56:3: When I’m afraid, I will trust in you. We can CHOOSE to put our faith in—trust—the one who is always with us and can control everything—God, and Jesus. We can choose to believe He’s in control even though we don’t know what will happen. Whenever we’re scared, we can whisper: “I trust you, Jesus” or “I trust you, God.” And the good news is, when we do that, we really don’t have to be scared at all! WORSHIP Now let’s stand and ask God to help us have faith in him—to help us be brave and trust him, no matter what! Music Video: Bravery (live lyrics with hand motions) Music Video: Because Of Your Love (music video for kids to watch) Before we head to small groups, let’s pray together. PRAY Ask somebody to come and thank God that we can put our faith in him instead of being scared.

                                                                                                               

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• A 2”x2” square of dissolving paper for each kid • A pen for each kid • A small, clear bowl of water for each small group • Water pitcher for sites that don’t have a sink

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Adventure Bible (pg. 1061)

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1. Image: fire (jpeg in curriculum folder) 2. Image: tall person (jpeg in curriculum folder) 3. Image: scared person (jpeg in curriculum folder) 4. SLIDE: Hebrews 1:11 Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 5. Video: Calming the Storm Part I (KC Media folder, Video, Miscellaneous) 6. SLIDE: Matthew 8:26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” 7. Video: Calming the Storm Part II (KC Media folder,

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Video, Miscellaneous) 8. Split screen with two images: fire and tall person (same images as in slides 1 and 2, but this time on one slide) 9. SLIDE: Psalm 56:3: When I’m afraid, I will trust in you. 10. Worship Video: Bravery (live lyrics) 11. Worship Video: Because of Your Love (music video)

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Tell me about the disciples and the storm. How can we keep from being afraid?

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In today’s story, Jesus’ disciples got caught in a storm and grew terrified that they would drown. Jesus asked them why they were so afraid. See, even though we live in an imperfect world where scary things happen, we can choose to put our faith in God. After all, He created everything and has power over everything. Ask your kid about it. And read the story together in Matthew 8:23-27.