As kids leave, ask them who their thank you note is for, and why they wrote it!

Connect Time (15 minutes): Five minutes after the service begins, split kids into groups and begin their activity. Large Group (30 minutes): Begin 20 minutes after the service starts. Model what it looks like to be engaged in large group. Small Group (15 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.

God wants us to recognize and thank the rescuer–Jesus!Psalm 107:1

ProphetsNovember 26-27, 2016

GOAL: Connect Time is all about engaging kids in an activity that allows them to connect with each other right away while simultaneously piquing their curiosity for Large Group and preparing their minds for what they’re going to hear.

TELEPHONE CHARADES● Break into groups of 8-10 kids.● Have each group stand in a single file line, with all kids facing forward.● Give the last kid in each line an action card with something to act out. The kid then

has to tap the person in front of them and silently act out what’s on the card. (The rest of the kids have to stay facing forward, so they can’t see behind them.)

● Once the second kid thinks they know what’s being acted out, they have to tap the next person (in front of them), and act out what they think the answer is.

● Let this process continue, with each kid acting out what they think the person before them was doing.

● The last kid in line gets to guess out loud what they think the original card said (It may be similar, or it may be completely different–that’s the fun of the game!)

● If there’s time, let’s each group play multiple times with new action cards.

TALK ABOUT IT● Was your group’s action the same by the end of the game, or different? Why?● Have you ever had big news that you couldn’t wait to share with someone? What

was it?

Goal: Kids will (1) understand who the prophets were, and how God used them as part of his rescue plan, (2) recognize that throughout all the prophet’s messages, they all pointed to Jesus and (3) give thanks to Jesus for being our rescuer.

Why? What better reason is there to give thanks than the fact that God loves us so much, he sent a rescuer to bring us close to him again!

Tip: Make a thank you note yourself! Reflect on what God has given you, and how he brought you here to Kids’ Club!

REVIEW THE STORY1. What did the prophets do? (They heard from God, and shared it with other people.)2. Why did God’s family need to hear from prophets? (They were disobeying

God/turning away from him, and they needed to be reminded of how to follow God again.)

3. What was the most important thing that God was saying through the prophets? (That Jesus would come and die for our sins.)

4. How can we hear from God today? (We can talk to him ourselves! We can pray to him and listen to him; he might say things to us, put images in our thoughts, or give us ideas; he can speak to us when we read the Bible.)

5. What ways can we give thanks to Jesus for rescuing us? (Tell him by praying to him; worshipping him; spending quality time with him; following him with our actions; telling others about him.)

MAKE IT PERSONAL● Give each kid a thank you card. Show them how to fold it in half so that the image

faces forward.● The image shows today’s verse. Read it together as a group: Psalm 107:1 Give

thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.● Next, set out markers and tell kids to write a thank you note to Jesus inside the

card. Encourage them to think about what they would say to him if they were talking to him right now. They can thank him for what’s done, and also for all the other things God has given them (Family, friends, home, school, food, etc.)

● If kids want, they can also draw a picture somewhere in the card to show thanks!● Tell kids to put their card somewhere at home as a reminder to thank God everyday.

(Continued on next page.)

Extra time? Play this game: Have the kids make a circle with chairs. Make sure that there is 1 less chair than the number of kids playing. Have on kid stand in the middle and say, “Today, I want to thank Jesus for…(Something that they are thankful for.) Have every kid who is also thankful for that thing get up and find a new seat. Once everyone has moved, there should be one person standing in the middle without a chair. It is now their turn to choose something they are thankful for. This game continues until all the kids have been picked.

Here’s a link to today’s video–God’s Story: The Prophets!

https://vimeo.com/126170774

*Click to play intro music.● Welcome: Hi everybody! Welcome to Kids’ Club. We’re so

glad to have you here! Great job acting out those action cards; it was pretty funny to see how different they ended up being by the end! Let’s have each group tell us what their first word was at the beginning of the game, and what it was by the end. (Call on a kid from each group to share.)

● Ask: So why did some of the actions change so much? (Depending on how the game went, some actions may have changed a lot, and some might have stayed the same.)

● Say: Yeah, it’s because each person probably acted it out a little differently. And then the next person might have thought it was something totally different than what it was supposed to be! Sometimes, when we try to tell people something, it doesn’t come across the way we want it to.

● Say: Let’s watch a clip from the movie, Night at the Museum. There’s one character who’s trying really hard to say something, but the other guy just can’t understand! Pay attention to how they’re able to speak together in the end.

● Video: Night at the Museum / Huns●

WELCOME AND WORSHIP

Main Goal: Review Connect Time and introduce the lesson.

Notes:

COMMUNICATING WITH OTHERS

Main Goal: Talk about the movie clip, and how it shows us that communicating with others can be difficult.

Notes:

INTRO: PROPHETS

Main Goal: Introduce the prophets of the Bible, and understand what they’re job was.

Notes:

●

● Ask: Has this ever happened to you guys? Maybe you wanted to tell someone something, but they just wouldn’t listen, or couldn’t understand you? (Let kids respond with a few examples.)

● Sound clip: 3 Noises (Continue script as the sound clip plays.) Yep, communicating with people can be hard sometimes.(Click again to make it noisier.) It can be hard to listen, or others don’t want to hear us (Click again to make it noisier) or maybe–Woah! I can barely hear myself! (Click to stop sound clip.)

● Say: There was a group of people in the Bible who dealt with this problem A LOT. They were called prophets, and today we’re going to learn more about all the different things that they told God’s family!

● Ask: Does anybody know what exactly a prophet is? (Let kids respond.) Yeah, it’s a person who hears from God, and then shares it with other people.

● Say: Now today, do we have to have prophets around to hear from God? (Let kids respond.) Nope; we can talk to God ourselves! But back BEFORE Jesus came, things were a little different. People were still separated from God, so they needed some help to hear from him.

● (Loop: Prophets) ● Say: Now let’s remember what we know of God’s family so

far. Did they always follow God, and obey him? (Let kids respond.) Nope. Even after he rescued them, and took care of them, they still made some wrong choices. And that’s why they needed prophets to remind them of how to follow God again!

● Say: Unfortunately, a lot of people didn't want to hear what God had to say, so they treated prophets as if they were speaking another language. The thing is, God's message was really important, and needed to be heard!

● Say: Let’s watch a video to find out more about all the amazing things the prophets told God’s family. As you watch, try to figure out what the MAIN thing is that God wanted his people to know.

● Video: God’s Story / The Prophets

THE PROPHETS (Cont.)

GOD SPEAKS IN LOTS OF WAYS!

Main Goal: Use a game to help familiarize kids with some of the prophet’s more fantastic stories!

Notes:

● Ask: So out of all those incredible things that the prophets said and did, what was the most important thing that they were saying? (Let kids respond.)

● Say: Yes! They told people about how one day, a Rescuer would come and save them from all the wrong choices they made. This rescuer would bring them close to God again! The prophets said it over, and over, and over again...it was THAT IMPORTANT.

● Say: Before we talk more about that, let’s talk about some of the craziest things that happened during these prophet’s lives. We’re going to play a little game. I’m going to tell you about some of these incredible events, and you have to guess which prophet it is!

● Round 1: ○ Say: Okay, here’s your first clue. This guy ate a

paper scroll, then laid down on his left side for 390 days, and then he cut off his beard with a sword, and burned it!

○ (Slide: Elijah, Ezekiel and Daniel): Was it...Elijah, Ezekiel, or Daniel? (Let kids raise their hand to vote as you repeat each name, before moving on to the correct answer.) The answer is...

○ (Slide: Ezekiel) Ezekiel! Those things may sound weird, but he was showing the Israelites they had turned away from God, and needed to turn back.

● Round 2:○ Say: Okay, onto our next prophet! This guy raised a

boy from the dead by praying to God! ○ (Slide: Elisha, Jeremiah and Hosea): Was

it...Elisha, Jeremiah or Hosea? (Let kids raise their hand to vote as you repeat each name, before moving on to the correct answer.) It was...

○ (Slide: Elisha) Elisha! God gave him the power to bring a kid back from the dead. God showed his incredible power through the prophets all the time!

● Round 3:○ Say: Okay, last one. This might be easy, but it also

might surprise you! This prophet disobeyed God, and tried to run away. When he got on a boat, he was thrown overboard, swallowed by a fish and thrown up on land!

● (Slide: Amos, Micah and Jonah): Was it...Amos, Micah, or Jonah? (Let kids raise their hand to vote as you repeat each name, before moving on to the correct answer.) It was…

● (Slide: Jonah) Jonah! Now some of you may have heard his story before, but did you know he was a prophet? (Let kids respond.) The thing is, the prophets weren’t perfect. They made mistakes just like us, but God still loved them no matter what.

● Say: So we’ve heard about all these different, sometimes strange, ways that God spoke through prophets. But now let’s go back to the one thing that God kept saying through all of them. What was it? (Let kids respond.)

● (Image: Prophets/crowns.) Yep, he wanted people to know that the Rescuer was coming. He wanted to prepare his family for the day when Jesus would arrive, and save the entire world. And now, because Jesus has rescued us, we can talk to God whenever we want, and we can even share what he says with other people!

● Ask: When you guys hear about how Jesus came to the world, and took the punishment for our sins, how does that make you feel? (Let kids respond.) Yeah, probably excited, glad, happy, and loved by God!

● Ask: Now normally, when someone does something really nice for you, what would you say to them? (Let kids respond.) Yeah, you might say “Thank you!” So if Jesus did the hardest, most loving thing that anyone could ever do for us, should we give him our thanks too? (Let kids respond.) Of course!

● Ask: What are some ways that we can give thanks to Jesus? (Let kids respond.) Yeah; we can tell him thank you by talking to him, we can worship him, we can spend quality time with him, and we can follow him!

● Say: Let’s all take a minute to thank Jesus right now. I’m going to play a song that’s all about how Jesus gives us peace, even when times are tough. We’ll all stay seated, and take some time to tell Jesus how thankful we are that he rescued us. If you want, you can close your eyes, lay down….whatever helps you focus on Jesus.

● Music Video: Kids’ Club Acoustic / It Is Well

GOD SPEAKS IN LOTS OF WAYS! (Cont.)

IT ALL POINTS TO THE RESCUER

Main Goal: Understand that the most important message the prophets had, was that Jesus the Rescuer would come to save the world.

RESPONSE TIME / GIVING THANKS

Main Goal: Give kids a chance to actively respond to what they’ve heard by giving thanks to Jesus.

● Say: Since we’re in the middle of giving thanks to God, let’s look at a verse that tells us one of the many reasons that he deserves our thanksgiving!

●

● Say: You guys have done great today! Let’s bow our heads and pray, and then we’ll give thanks one more time, by worshipping!

● Pray: Dear God. Thank you for sending Jesus to rescue us, and bring us close to you again. We’re so glad that we can speak to you right now, because of what Jesus did for us. Amen!

● Music Video: All Our Hope

Dismiss kids to small groups.

PRAYER AND WORSHIP

Main Goal: Close the lesson with prayer and worship.

Tell me about the Prophets.Why can we speak to God today?

1. Song slide: for when kids enter the room (All that You Need instrumental; mp3 only; can be downloaded on website)2. Video: Night at the Museum / Huns (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yKjTW8Kk8c)3. Sound: 3 Noises (KC/SM media videos songs>loops>sounds)(Cover all with KC logo)4. Loop: Prophets (1:07-1:11, no sound, repeating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sumaXbjP2Kg)5. Video: God’s Story / The Prophets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sumaXbjP2Kg)6. Slide: Elijah, Ezekiel, Daniel (List the three names in bullet format)7. Slide: Ezekiel8. Slide: Elisha, Jeremiah, Hosea (List the three names in bullet format)9. Slide: Elisha

10. Slide: Amos, Micah, Jonah (List the three names in bullet format)11. Slide: Jonah12. Image: Prophets/crowns13. Music Video: Kids’ Club Acoustic / It Is Well (0:47-end; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbZHlR6oEzw&feature=youtu.be) 14. Slide: Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.15. Music Video: All Our Hope (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul1oRGws1io&feature=youtu.be)

Per group of 10 kids: 1 action card set (1 page of 12 different action cards, BW, 8.5x11 cardstock, page 11), reused

Per Group: BiblePer kid: none