Monday, June 29, 2015

Faith Books Week 2: Mountaintops and Valleys


Opening Act : Popcorn Toss – Getting Closer to God
                Break group up into groups of two and give each group a bowl of popcorn. They start several feet apart and have to toss a piece of popcorn to their partner. After each toss they may step one step closer to each other until they are within arm’s reach.
                Discuss – what made it easier to reach your target: your partner? (getting closer) In what ways is this like trying to lean on God? (If you aren’t close to Him, you can’t feel His presence as well.) So in what ways can we draw closer to God?

Video: 9/11 Clip – Trading Bitterness for Peace
                Watch movie clip (4:12)  Link to purchase movie clip. Also available on Right Now Media
                Discuss questions at each table 5 mins ( handout)
Scrapbook Pages 2 and 3 – Drawing Close to God (James 4:8 printout)
                God’s Presence in your life – write down times when you felt the realness of God’s love – Mountaintop experiences – and share them with the people at your table

                God’s Absence in your life – write down times when you felt distant from God – Valley experiences – and share them with the people at your table

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Hall of Faith Lesson #4: Abraham

Lesson for LifeKeep your eyes on God and worship Him alone.  Romans 12:1-2a “ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Faith VerseHebrews 11:8 “ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”

Opening Game:  Going on to an unknown place 

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-3 (have a volunteer read)
God asked Abram to leave his home and to move. He didn’t tell Abram WHERE he was going. Let’s see how you do with a challenge like this. 
In the orange room there is a pile of things you could take on a vacation. Choose one person from your team to run into the room and select as many things as they can to take with your table. When you get back to your table, you have to dress up ONE of your team members to be ready to go on the trip we are going to send them on. You only have 10 seconds though to get your items and 1 minute to prepare your person– GO!
When everyone is back, have them pick up the number card in the middle of their table and look at a poster you now have visible – 1. Hawaii  2.  Alaska  3.  The Sahara desert  4.  The Amazon Rain Forest.  Have the room evaluate how prepared their traveler is.

Moving deeper into our Lesson: 
Remember last week we learned about Noah?  Why did God send the flood?  God had promised not to kill everyone again but He needed to bring His worshippers out to create a nation devoted to him.
Why do you think God asked Abram to do this? (There were too many distractions around him…even people in Abram’s FAMILY worshiped other gods so he would need to leave them too.)  Now even though Abram obeyed God, he did take someone outside his immediate family with him – Lot, his nephew.  Lot was a grown up…and God had NOT chosen him to leave because Lot had a weakness: he loved the things of the world sometimes more than God.

Whole Group Visual Activity: Skit with Abraham and Lot


Table Activities  
            Tables with elementary children: What is Important



      Tables with teens or no children: Worship Jenga & Jenga Slips

Bulletin Insert To put in bulletins for families and other members of congregations to participate at home with.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Hall of Faith Lesson #3: Noah

Lesson for Life:  Being a witness for God.  Matthew 5:16 – “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Faith Verse:  Hebrews 11:7a – “By faith Noah, when warned about things not seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.

Opening Act – Being a Witness:
Have someone run through the room wearing a costume screaming “I want a tomato! Not a potato! I want a tomato!” while holding a potato.  (The person does not stay in the room.)
Ask someone at each table to stand up and tell us what they just witnessed. (They stay standing.)
What is a witness?
It means when you see something happen, and you tell about it.

Ask the people who are standing to write down their answers on a piece of paper for some specific questions:
            What was the person wearing?   What color was his shirt?  What color was his hair?
            Was he carrying anything?  If so, what?  What color was it?
            What was he saying?  What emotion was he expressing?
Have the person come in again and go thru the questions. Who was the best witness? Was it easy being a witness?
Our character today, Noah, was a witness for God.  Our Faith Verse today is Hebrews 11:7a – “By faith Noah, when warned about things not seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” 
Most of us are familiar with Noah’s story, but let’s read a few verses about why he began to build the ark
Have two volunteers read Genesis 6:5-8 and 6:13-22.

Table Activity: What Are We Witnessing?
Noah had a decision to make: Was he going to listen to a God he couldn’t see and build the ark? Noah based his decision on what he was witnessing in his life: the things that gave him faith in God vs the world around him.
We have the same decision to make today when we decide to follow God’s calling or not.  On your table you have a chart to fill out. Complete it by discussing at your table the things you witness in each category today in our world.  Note how some of the things you list on your lists are things you hear about not see…just as Noah did.  We still believe in them though because we have faith in the newscasters, etc.

Movie Break
Now it was pretty easy for Noah to have faith in God’s love because the evil in the world was pretty evident to him.  However, God asked him to build this HUGE ark – there was no way he was going to be able to hide it from people.  Let’s watch a scene from Evan Almighty that gives a glimpse at what this would have been like for him.  (Scene 16 – People’s reaction, 3:41 mins)
Noah had three sons too…how do you think they felt about this ark building project?
At your tables share some of the big challenges God has asked you to do?

Table Activities
       Tables with children
We don’t need to build an ark in our backyard to be a witness to God.  What are some things you can make to let people know you believe in God? Sometimes we may keep these things for ourselves, but other times we give them to someone else. You can decide what you want to make and what you want to do with it. Go back to the craft table and gather supplies to make something for each person at your table.  (keychains/clip, bookmarks, suncatchers, windchimes, bumper stickers (with sharpies). 
**Have different levels of craft projects…those for young kids, elementary, teens, adults**

Tables without children option
Moses’ story of building the Ark is a “Big Story” of witness. The “big stories” have their time and place, but we need to be able to identify and use our “little stories” in order to be witnesses for Christ too.
“Little stories” are the moments of God that happen in the world everyday—an answered prayer, God’s presence in a time of trouble, the joy of the sunrise, new insights from the scriptures, a cup of cold water with someone in need, etc. Additionally, aren’t the scriptures a lot of “little stories” that make up God’s big story of redemption?
Because these “little stories” happen all the time, they give youth and adults plenty to talk about. We simply have to learn to talk about these things. Shrinking Timeline Worksheet.

Take Home: 

Noah Memory game to send home with elementary kids. Game

Bulletin Insert to use for families to do at home or for other church members to follow along with.

Hall of Faith Lesson #2: Enoch

Enoch Faith Lesson

Lesson for Life:  We need to live each day as if Jesus may return that day.  1 John 2:6 – “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

Faith Verse:   Hebrews 11:6 – “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Introduction to Enoch:
Let’s read the THREE verses in Genesis about our man of faith today: Enoch.  Genesis 5:21-24
Which one little word showed the shift that happened in Enoch’s life? 
AFTER…after he became a father he walked with God
So our balloons today represent steps in Enoch’s life. (Point towards balloons sitting on a table.)
(Hold up the balloon with the words “Before a son”.) So what do you think Enoch’s life looked like before he had his first son?  Remember he was 60 years old by this time. 
Had to go to school, learn how to farm…his life was pretty much in a repetitive rut.
 Take a few minutes and at your table discuss the Before Knowing God questions Table Discussion Sheet
(Interrupt table talk as you POP! the first balloon with a pin. The balloon has a card in it. Ask someone from the table you are by read it.) “Congratulations! You are going to have a baby!!”
WHAT!? God had a surprise for Enoch. He didn’t like the way Enoch’s life was going without God so He decided to step in. 
God blessed Enoch and his wife with a pregnancy. We know babies are a gift from God, but in those days they saw babies as a sign of what God thought of them. At this point Enoch probably started spending a little more time going back to God. He probably shared with his wife some of the stories of faith he had learned in his youth from his own parents.
Go ahead and look at Sharing What You Know about God on your discussion sheet.
(Again interrupt discussion time with a POP!, but this time have the balloon filled with confetti and pop it  over someone’s head) NOW as if a baby wasn’t going to be a big enough change in Enoch’s life, God ALSO told him what to name the baby boy, and it was quite a shock. 
(Hold up a poster with the CAPS words on it) the baby was to be named METHUSELAH which means “WHEN HE DIES, JUDGMENT”.  WOW – if that doesn’t put a damper on the baby shower!  Since Enoch had named his son this and let people know that GOD told him to name the baby this, we can guess that as Enoch started to spend more time with God, God had started visiting with Enoch about things. Enoch knew that this name was no joke. God was going to judge his people for their sins. 


Table Time - Poster Project
Enoch didn’t know exactly WHEN his son was going to die, nor did he know HOW God was going to judge the people, but he had enough faith to walk the rest of his life, 300 years in fact, living a life pleasing to God.  We are kind of in the same position today. WE know Jesus is coming again someday to judge us, but like Enoch, we don’t know when the Judgment will happen.
We are going to do a poster project to share with our church family to show each other some of the things God wants us to do in order to live a life pleasing to him.  Each of your tables has a poster board …turn it over and you will see the verse that I would like you to read as a table. After you read the verse, discuss what it means and draw an illustration of it on the poster.
VERSES TO USE: John 13:12-15, John 14:15, Romans 8:5-8, 1 Cor. 13:1-3, Matt 24:43-44, Matt 16:24, Luke 15:3-7
(After 15 minutes, ask each table to share their verse and poster with the whole group.)

Back to Enoch and Discussion - God’s Judgment
Now…let’s get back to Enoch and his doomsday son Methuselah.  Do you think God kept His promise?
Who wants to come up and do some math for me? (Turn METHUSELAH poster around for them to write on)
Let’s go back to Genesis 5. (Hand out verse slips ahead of time with the below verses so volunteers can read.)
How old was Methuselah when he had his first son Lamech?  (187) – (look at math volunteer) ok let’s write that…
Next let’s read Genesis 5:28 How old was Lamech when he had a son?  (182)…(looking at math voluneteer) add that to your problem…WAIT what was Lamech’s son’s name??!  That deserves a balloon POP! haha!
Ok – we are getting closer…let’s skip to Genesis 7:6. How old was Noah when the flood came?  (600)…(have the volunteer do the math.)
Hey did anyone catch how old Methuselah was when he died?? Let’s look at Genesis 5:27.  How old was he?  (969 years old!)
What was the judgment God sent when Methuselah died?!  (The Great Flood!!)

Table Activity – Application

Take a few minutes now to work at your tables with the Basket Activity on your discussion sheets.  (Play the song “Walk by Faith” by Jeremy Camp while they work thru this activity.)

Here is the Bulletin Insert to use for families and other church members to go through at home.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Studying the Bible Week #1: Why?


Opening  Activity:  New Testament Cup Challenge
Each team receives 28 Styrofoam cups. Each cup has a book of the New Testament written on it along with one cup having “New Testament” written on it.  The cups should NOT be in order.
Each team will send one person at a time to a table to create a pyramid out of the cups. The bottom row should start with “New Testament” on one end, “Matthew” next to it, and so forth until a pyramid is made with “Revelation” on top.
The first team to complete their pyramid wins chocolate!
Discussion: Reading the Bible
                Why do you read the Bible?
                When do you turn to the Bible the most?
                What are some of the reasons God gave us the Bible?
God gave us the Bible to:
                Teach us about Him and help us grow closer to Him
                Teach us about His Son Jesus Christ and to glorify Him
                Teach us about ourselves and the world we live in
                Teach us how to live Godly lives and how to live out His mission…Holy Spirit
Game Time: Bible Tic-Tac-Toe
                Have each table divide themselves into two teams.
Each table will receive a Tic-Tac-Toe board, game pieces (10 pieces for each team), a cup with slips of paper with Bible verses on it, and an index card with the 4 reasons from above.
The team with the oldest table member starts first. They will draw a slip from the cup and find the verse in their Bible. Next they will read the verse to the table and decide which of the 4 Reasons the verses matches. If the table agrees with them, they get to place one of their team game markers on a square on the Tic-Tac-Toe board.

Play will continue until a team earns a Tic-Tac-Toe.  There are enough slips to play the game multiple times.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Navigating the Bible Week #2

Navigating the Bible Wk 2
    Putting the Books in Order Game
                                Each table has the Old Testament books of the Bible on cards
                                One person divides the cards up evenly between everyone
                                Whoever has Genesis calls out "Genesis!" and lays their card in the middle
                                Whoever has the next book of the Bible, Exodus, does the same, and the game                                           continues until all cards are laid out in the correct order.
                                Whichever table gets their cards in order first wins!

Breaking the Code 
                 What are the different parts of a Bible reference?
a.       Book – Chapter – Verse
b.      Put together Bible Reference puzzle
c.   Get in groups of twos at table and have a race to see who can look up each of the verses from               the puzzle first
d.  Verses to use for puzzle sheets:
     1.  Numbers 6:25-26, Psalms 46:10 and Job 19:25
     2.  Job 36:11, Psalms 32:8 and Lamentations 3:22-23
     3.  Proverbs 6:16-19, Joshua 1:9 and Isaiah 40:31
     4. Deuteronomy 7:9, Proverbs 16:3 and 1 Samuel 16:7
     5. Malachi 3:10, Isaiah 53:6 and Psalms 119:11
     6.  1 Chronicles 16:27, Psalms 55:22 and Isaiah 9:6
     7.  2 Samuel 22:33, Proverbs 3:5-6 and Isaiah 41:10
     8.  Jeremiah 29:11, Psalms 27:11 and Zephaniah 3:17

New Testament Bookshelf
4 Gospels (red)
    a.       Who knows what the 4 Gospels are?
    b.      What does Gospel mean?
1 History  (green)
    a.      How many books of History were their in the OT?  12
    b.   What is the one book of History in the NT?  Acts
    c.      Written by? Luke
13 Letters from Paul (yellow)
     a.       Romans
     b.      Ians
                                                               i.      1 & 2 Corinthians
                                                             ii.      Galatians
                                                            iii.      Ephesians
                                                           iv.      Phillipians
                                                             v.      Colossians
                                                           vi.      1 & 2 Thessalonians
     c.       1 & 2 Timothy
     d.      Titus
     e.      Philemon
8 Letters from Others  (orange)
   a.       Who can name the other authors of letters in the NT? 
   b.   Hebrews (unknown author)
   c.      James
   d.       1 & 2 Peter
   e.      1, 2 & 3 John
   f.      Jude
 1 Book of Prophecy (purple)
   a.       What were the 5 books of Prophecy in the OT?  What did they prophecy? (Coming of the Messiah) 
   b.   Revelation – written by? John
   c.      What does Revelation prophecy?  (2nd Coming of the Messiah)

Take Home
              Kids – NT Popsicle sticks

             PRACTICE!! Next week NT challenge 

Monday, June 8, 2015

Navigating the Bible #1

Navigating the Bible Wk 1
Opening Acts (10 mins)
1.        Lyrics game – I start a song while they see who can complete the lyric
a.       There was a farmer had a dog… (and Bingo was his name-o)
b.      Somewhere over the rainbow….(way up high)
c.       It’s fun to stay at the….(YMCA!)
d.      Do you want to build a snowman?...(Come on, let ‘s go and play)
2.       Each group can work together on Bible Quiz. Go over answers. 


Breaking Down the Bible Part 1 (20 minutes)
1.       What are some of your favorite Old Testament stories?
2.       Let’s page through together…and start putting together our table bookshelf
e  Each table will have a poster board and 39 slips of paper to represent their Books. Each group below has a different color. Adults can write the names on each slip while children will tape them onto the poster board to create a bookshelf of books.
a.       5 Books of Law (Brown): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy
                                                               i.      Contain the laws of God to his people
                                                             ii.      10 commandments
                                                            iii.      Priestly laws
                                                           iv.      Famous people? (Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses…)
b.      12 Books of History (Dk Green): Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther
                                                               i.      Israel from settling of Promised Land
                                                             ii.      To return from slavery in Jerusalem
                                                            iii.      Who are some famous people from this era? (Sampson, Saul, David…)
c.       5 Books of Poetry (Blue): Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon
                                                               i.      Written as verses or poetry
                                                             ii.      Famous people? (Job, David, Solomon)
d.      5 Books of Major Prophets (Dk Purple): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel
e.      12 Books of Minor Prophets (Pink): Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi
                                                               i.      Called Prophetic because filled with prophecies (What are prophecies?)
                                                             ii.      Famous people? (Daniel, Jonah, …)
**Book case posters will then be kept for next week's lesson.


Truth of the Bible : Red Sea Crossing Powerpoint (10+ minutes) 
Give cards with the following scriptures to various groups. They will read their verse as the corresponding picture comes up on the screen.
          Exodus 13:18 and Exodus 14:3
          Exodus 14:1-4
          Isaiah 19:19-22
          Exodus 14:23-28
Script for Powerpoint
1. Points on a Map
     a.       When travelling through "the wilderness of the Red Sea" Ex.13:18, escaping Pharaoh's army, God told Moses to turn south, so they headed through a wadi or canyon area that is called the Wadi Watir which led to the sea. 
     b.      The Bible in Ex. 14:3 says, "They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in."  When arriving at the beach, the children of Israel felt trapped, as they could not turn back, nor head north because at the northern end of the beach was a three story, Egyptian military fortress which is still standing today undergoing restoration.  Additionally there were mountains obstructing their escape.
     c.       To the south the mountains came down to the sea, as mentioned by Josephus, "For there was [on each side] a [ridge of] mountains that terminated at the sea, which were impassable by reason of their roughness, and obstructed their flight" Antiquities of the Jews, Bk. 2, 15-3. You can see the mountains at the beach today. The people were about to turn against Moses because he had led them to an area where they were trapped and would surely die, or so they thought.
2.   The Beach
     a.       If one looks on a map for a beach area large enough for 2 million people to encamp on the gulf there is only one candidate:  Nuweiba Egypt.  The beach at Nuweiba is extremely large and could have accommodated a large number of people at the time of Moses.  
     b.      Pi-Hahiroth means, mouth of the hole, which we would apply to the mouth of the canyon above, as mentioned in The Exodus Revealed DVD. 
     c.        Migdol is a fortress, which we would apply to the ancient fort which is located at the  narrowest point on the beach where the gulf and the mountains are in close proximity.
3.       The  column lying at the edge of the water was discovered in 1978.  It matches one on the other side of the gulf in Saudi Arabia which had the inscriptions intact. 
     a.       The Hebrew words Mizram (Egypt), death, water, pharaoh, Edom, Yahweh, and Solomon were on that column.  Apparently one can conclude King Solomon had these columns erected 400 years after the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea on dry land. 
     b.      Solomon's sea port was at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba at Eilat (I Kings 9:26) and he was very familiar with the Red Sea crossing site, as it was in his neighborhood.   
     c.       The Bible even mentions this column!  Isaiah 19:19, "In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border." 
4.       Chariot Wheels
     a.       The Bible says the Egyptians pursued the Israelites into the opened sea.  But it was a trap set by God. 
     b.       It says when they were fully into the crossing, "He threw the army into confusion caused the wheels of their chariots to fall off". 
     c.       He then caused the sea to return to its place and the entire Egyptian army was swept into the sea.  Based on this account, we should find chariot parts at the bottom of the sea at the supposed crossing point, right?
                          i.      Above, left, photo taken of a gilded chariot wheel that remains on the sea floor.  It was found by Ron Wyatt using a molecular frequency generator from his boat above, after he set the equipment to search for gold.  
                            ii.       The Bible said all the chariots of Egypt and 600 "choice chariots", or gold veneered models, were in the army pursuing God's people.  It is speculated there were 20,000 chariots destroyed that day. 
                            iii.      Above, right, is a drawing of a four spoke chariot found in an Egyptian tomb
                             iv.      from the same time period.  According to ArkDiscovery.com, four, six and eight spoke wheels are found here in the gulf, and were only used at the same time during the 18th dynasty or 1446 BC when the exodus took place.

Take Home:
1.        Families with Kids – Small Gift Bag with 39 popsicle sticks each with a book from the Old Testament and in colors corresponding to the bookcase project above.
2.       Adults – Bookmarks
3.       Be ready for an OT challenge next week!!