January 29th lessons

9:00am DiscipleLand 

1st-2nd grade 
At Work with God Lesson 6--Weaver
God fashions His people into special creations just like a weaver weaves fine cloth.

Proverbs 31 (A Praiseworthy Woman)
God Is All-knowing

Verse Review: 

1 Corinthians 10:31; Mark 4:8; Isaiah 64:8; 1 Corinthians 3:9; Matthew 23:11

~God knows all things, He is omniscient.
~Bible time people weaved cloth using flax, camel, goat hair and wool.
~God weaves character into the lives of His people.
~God builds godly character qualities in the lives of His people.

Missionary Biography: Gladys Aylward--The Spirit of the Living God Is in You

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9:00am DiscipleLand

3rd-4th grade 

Amazing Words Lesson 9—The Christ

Matthew 16
Jesus reveals who He is and His plan.

Verse: 

Matthew 16:24

 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

Focus:

~Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.
~Jesus knew everything that would happen to Him because it was part of God's plan.
~Following Jesus means living for God and putting aside selfish desires.

Missionary Biography: Jackie Pullinger—Walk as Jesus Did

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10:45am TRU

1st-4th grade

Main Focus: God Is Victorious
David and Goliath (1 Samuel 16-17)

Anticipate: Wind It Up

We’ve been learning that God can strengthen us in whatever way we need (Candy canes experiment) and that He has the power to provide us with skills, knowledge and supernatural help to do what He wants (Joshua). The story of David and Goliath brings this all together.
The windup toys are all the same inside where there is a spring of metal that prefers NOT to be wound up. While the spring is unwound, the toy doesn’t move and has no purpose. The spring is NOT HAPPY about this because it is far more comfortable being loose. But when you put the toy on he table and let go of the winding pin, they do amazing things.  Hopping, skiing, walking—all these movements are possible because the spring was wound into an uncomfortable position that powered the toy to do lots of different things.

Sometimes we feel that there is nothing we can do or that we have no value or ability to do anything. But like the toy, God has already put something inside us that will enable us to do what He created us to do! Its not possible to DO it when unwound but if we let God wind us up, look out! Winding is not comfortable. It’s not a natural state that happens without effort. God PUTS His power into us and then we can do great things—but we have to first remember that He created us to do amazing things, second TRUST that He WILL help us do them if we are willing, allow Him to “wind us up” through the same knowledge and experience and practice David got defending his father’s sheep.

Worship with Youth Band

Game: Blow Them In!

Memory Verse: 

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."--Isaiah 40:29

In God's leadership system, God appoints those who communicate with God to lead His people (priests, prophets and judges).  However, the Israelites demanded a king so they could be just like the other nations.  In God's disappointment, God gave them a king, king Saul.  However, king Saul was not always obedient to the Lord.  Thus, God rejected him as king and asked Samuel to anoint David, the shepherd boy to be the next king.  

During this time, the Philistines raged war against the Israelites.  In their camp, the giant Goliath was their champion.  He came out everyday for 40 days to taunt and challenge the Israelite army to have someone battle with him.  The Israelite army was frightful of the giant, including king Saul.  But David, who knew that God is victorious over all things, recalled how God helped him rescue his flock from the mouths of the lion and the bear and bravely volunteered to fight the giant.  David knew who God is, and he also knew who he was.  He declined king Saul's offering of his armor and went with the weapons that he's familiar with--a sling and 5 stones.  David trusted that God is victorious and he knew that with God's empowering (like the windup toys being wound up), he could face any giant and claim victory.  With one shot, David struck down the giant and won the battle.

Respond: God Is Victorious!

Its easy to talk about a situation like David and Goliath and believe amazing things about what God did because its so far out of our daily lives. But what happen when we are living day to day and go through a situation in which we really need God in order to conquer a fear, solve a problem or right a wrong? We need to be reminded and practice proclaiming that God is victorious in our lives everyday.

Bless: 

“I put no trust in my bow,
    my sword does not bring me victory;
but you give us victory over our enemies,
    you put our adversaries to shame. In God we make our boast all day long,
    and we will praise your name forever.”—Psalm 44:6-8

May our children trust in nothing but God to give them victory in their lives.  May He be victorious in their heart and give them peace and joy.

Memory Verse Feb 05-Feb 26

January 22nd Lessons

9:00am DiscipleLand 

1st-2nd grade 
At Work with God Lesson 6--Weaver
God fashions His people into special creations just like a weaver weaves fine cloth.

Proverbs 31 (A Praiseworthy Woman)
God Is All-knowing

Verse Review: 

1 Corinthians 10:31; Mark 4:8; Isaiah 64:8; 1 Corinthians 3:9; Matthew 23:11

~God knows all things, He is omniscient.
~Bible time people weaved cloth using flax, camel, goat hair and wool.
~God weaves character into the lives of His people.
~God builds godly character qualities in the lives of His people.

Missionary Biography: Gladys Aylward--The Spirit of the Living God Is in You

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9:00am DiscipleLand

3rd-4th grade 

Amazing Words Lesson 8—Inside Out

Matthew 15
Jesus teaches that right heart attitudes lead to right outward actions.

Verse: 

Matthew 15:18

 “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them."

Focus:

~God sees our hearts and knows what's clean and what's not.
~Jesus taught that evil thoughts instead of breaking laws that are made by men, defile a person.
~Those who honor God with merely their lips but not their hearts will be rejected by God.

Missionary Biography: Jackie Pullinger—Ah-Kei, the Triad Emperor

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10:45am TRU

1st-4th grade

Main Focus: God Is Powerful
Taking the Promised Land (Joshua 6-10)

Anticipate: Draw This

Joshua was being trained by God to lead his people into the Promise Land but he needed to listen to God’s instructions, no one else’s advice would do, nor would relying on his own judgement. God waited a whole generation until the entire Israelite people were those who would listen to Him and build a nation based
on the picture He planned. There was no way Joshua could do this without trusting that God would strengthen him (like we learned last week) and being willing to implicitly obey God’s instructions—sometimes when Joshua did know the exact way in which God would help or even the reason to do things a certain way.
Sometimes we have an idea of what needs to be done but don’t know how to do it.  Giving clear instructions is harder than it looks, especially when you aren’t directly doing the action. And listening carefully to the instructions and doing them is harder still!! Joshua job wasn’t an easy one, but when he obeyed God unleashed His power on behalf of the Israelites.

Worship with Youth Band

Game: Catch Them All

Memory Verse: 

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."--Isaiah 40:29

God commanded the Israelites to obey His instructions.  When they did, they won battles with His help.  In today's story, God demonstrated that He is powerful by giving the city of Jericho into Israelites' hands, giving them the best battle strategies over city of Ai, throwing their enemies into confusion, sending hailstones, ceasing the sun and knowing even the hidden sins.  God is powerful over all things.  He does not leave us to fight our own battles when we obey Him. 

Respond: Build This with NO Instructions

So Joshua knew that he could only be successful if he listened closely to God and obeyed God’s directions. What do you do when you don’t have any instructions at all?  God always reveals Himself to us when we are willing to do what he says, He didn’t hide his end goal from Joshua! Just like He let us know that our purpose here on earth is to glorify Him with the good works He has already prepared for us.  So God gives us the pieces of our lives to build up into something He has envisioned for us. He uses His power to ensure that His goal can be met: but the victory in each of Joshua’s battles was different and He helped them in a variety of ways. And the Israelites still had to fight their own battles, just not alone.

Bless: 

¹ Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
³ Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.
⁴ All the earth bows down to you;  

they sing praise to you,  

they sing the praises of your name.

⁵ Come and see what God has done, 

his awesome deeds for mankind!—Psalm 66:1-5

May our children know that God is powerful, and may they see His power in their lives.

January 15th Lessons

9:00am DiscipleLand 

1st-2nd grade 
At Work with God Lesson 4--Builder
God builds strong character into His people just as a builder builds a grand construction.

Genesis 6 (Noah Builds the Ark)
God Is Faithful

Verse : 

1 Corinthians 3:9
" For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building."

Focus:

~God is faithful.
~Building a project takes materials, careful planning, and hard work.
~Because Noah's faithful life that pleases God, God saved Noah and his family.
~God builds godly character qualities in the lives of His people.

Missionary Biography: Gladys Aylward--The Inn of Eight Happiness

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9:00am DiscipleLand

3rd-4th grade 

Amazing Words Lesson 7—Faith Rules

Luke 8:22-9:9
Faith in Jesus can conquer every fear.

Verse: 

Luke 8:25

 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.

In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

Focus:

~Jesus has power over nature, evil, sickness, fear and death.
~Faith in Jesus can conquer all fears and provide for the greatest needs.

Missionary Biography: Jackie Pullinger—A Drug Addict Freed!

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10:45am TRU

1st-4th grade

Main Focus: God Is Strength
Entering the Promised Land (Joshua 1; 3-4)

Anticipate: River Run

It was finally time for the Israelites to enter the Promised Land! But standing between them and the land God promised them were many impossible obstacles, including a flooded river. Water is very heavy and moving water exerts a powerful force which can wash away things as heavy as cars! Last weekend the rain was so heavy we had “flash floods” which can happen when water suddenly overflows the banks of a river.  No wonder the Israelites were afraid to move forward!  In this game, the kids were to be the flowing river that carried the ping pong balls to their destinations.

Worship with Youth Band

Game: My Biggest Fan

Memory Verse: 

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."--Isaiah 40:29

Many times in the book of Joshua, God commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous because God knew that Joshua needed to assert himself as the new young leader and that he would have to trust God's leading when facing the many enemies and battles soon after entering the promised land.  God did not mean that Joshua needed to be physically strong, but that Joshua needed to be spiritually strong.  He needed to remember that God is strength.  God is the source of strength and courage for him, for the Israelites and for us today.  When we put our trust in God's strength, God strengthens us and leads us to accomplish His purposes.

Respond: What Is Strength? 

Because He is our creator He knows how to use everything to the best of its ability and to the utmost of its strength. So maybe we need to think about strength from His perspective, if He tells us to be strong he will help us be strong in the way we need to achieve the plans He has for us!

Sometimes we think to accomplish big things like Joshua was asked to do needs us to be big and strong. Not true. All we need is God and He knows how much we can take and can give us more strength than we knew we had no matter how fragile we are or how fragile we feel.

Bless: 

The LORD is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid?"--Psalm 27:1

May our children know that God alone is the source of their courage and strength.  May they seek him every day of their lives.

Memory Verse Jan 15-29th

January 08th Lessons

9:00am DiscipleLand 

1st-2nd grade 

At Work with God Lesson 3--Potter
God molds His children to be righteous like Him just as a potter shapes soft clay.

Jeremiah 18 (Jeremiah and the Potter)
God Is Righteous

Verse : 

Isaiah 64:8
"Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
    We are the clay, you are the potter;
    we are all the work of your hand."

Focus:

~God wants His children to be righteous just like Him.
~God sent prophet Jeremiah to learn a lesson from a potter.
~Our hearts must be willing to be molded into the image of God like soft clay ready to be molded. 

Missionary Biography: Gladys Aylward--The Escape

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9:00am DiscipleLand

3rd-4th grade 

Amazing Words Lesson 6—Parables

Matthew 13
Jesus discloses secrets regarding the Kingdom of Heaven.

Verse Review: 

Matthew 5:16; 6:33; Luke 6:31; 7:50; Matthew 12:30

Focus:

~Jesus often taught truths about God's Kingdom through parables.
~God can use even small faith in God to do great things.
~Each person's response to God on earth determines his eternal destiny.

Missionary Biography: Jackie Pullinger—The Jesus Way

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10:45am TRU

1st-4th grade

Main Focus: Remember and Celebrate God as Redeemer
The Feast of Unleavened Bread

God commands His people to keep festivals and feasts so that they'd remember what God has done for them and not forget His goodness. During Moses' time, the people of Israel were slaves in the land of Egypt. They cried out to God to deliver them.  And God did.  God sent plagues in the land of Egypt so that the Egyptians would know that He is the only true God who overcomes all the idols they worshiped.  Right before the very last plague, God commanded the Israelites to eat in haste and to prepare the bread without yeast (unleavened bread).  God answered His people and delivered them from slavery.  He redeemed them to give them freedom and a new start.  Today, God is still our Redeemer.  He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross, so that we can have a new beginning, new life, and new hope in Him.

Worship with Singing: led by Youth Band
Game: Bible Verse Dressed Up

 

Memory Verse: 

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."--Isaiah 9:6

Every quarter, our TRU children participate in the review game of ZONK! to help them remember what they've discovered during the past several weeks in the Big God Story.

Review Previous Lessons:

• God Claims His People--Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19-21; 24)
• God Is Hope--Joseph and Mary (2 Samuel 7; Matthew 1; Isaiah 7:1-14)
•  Jesus Is King--3 Wise Men (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2)