Kids

Week of may 24

“I double dog dare you!” Those five words can either make us really nervous or make us really brave. In this series, we’re not talking about the kind of dares that challenge you to drink a liquified Happy Meal or lick a frozen telephone pole. We’re talking about a better kind of dare — the kind of dare God gives us when He calls us to do something big and bold in His name.

Read these Scriptures!

We can obey God even when others don’t.

Read these Scriptures!

I recommend the International Children’s Bible (ICB) for kids. It is translated for kids and easy to understand! This version is on the free Bible app you can download here.

Genesis 6:5-22, 7:1-24, 8:1-22

Talk About It!

What was the dare, or challenge, Noah was given? God told him to build a big boat.
Do you know why this happened? People were not following God’s commands. God was heartbroken when he saw that the people He created and loved were full of violence and disobedience. They weren’t obeying him by loving others and doing what was right. Instead, they were living in sin.
But Noah found favor in God’s eyes. What did you notice about Noah that set him apart from everyone else? That’s right! He was righteous and lived a life that honored God.
Why do you think it was important to Noah to live his life in obedience to God?
Do you think he lived this way because he wanted to earn God’s favor? No, Noah lived his life obeying God because he loved God.
But it was probably hard for Noah to live around so many people who didn’t obey God. Do you think Noah might have been nervous when God told him to build the ark? He might have wondered if people would make fun of him or get upset with him or think he was crazy. But Noah did what God wanted him to do, even when he was the only one following God.
We can follow God too. Do you ever feel like it’s hard to do the right thing and obey God when others aren’t?

Video

Here is a video you can watch as a family that talks more about this lesson. You can find that HERE!

Activity

God gave Noah very specific instructions on how to build the ark. Can you imagine how challenging it would have been if God didn’t give Noah any instructions or Noah didn’t follow the instructions? He might not have built something big or sturdy enough for his family and all the animals. The ark may not have even floated!
INSTRUCTIONS: Tear a short piece of aluminum foil off the roll and lay it on top of a bowl of water, then add pennies on top until it sinks. Have the kids help you count how many pennies it can hold before sinking. Then ask the kids if it would be easier to build a better boat if they had better instructions. Invite a kid to come help you as you make a bigger boat like this one. Tell them to start with a big square of foil and fold it in half. Then they will fold down the top two corners, and fold the bottom flap up. They will turn it over and fold the other flap up on the other side. They will then open the bottom of the boat and unfold it just enough to make a boat shape.
Noah knew that God knows what’s best. God loved Noah and only gave him those instructions so he and his family – and all the animals – could be saved.. Noah obeyed God’s instructions and was able to build a huge, study boat that could float for a long time!
If we follow the right instructions to make a boat, I’m sure it’ll hold more pennies than the first boat did. Let’s give it a try! Did the second boat hold more pennies? Yes!

Memory Verse

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5

Prayer Time

Take some time to pray together as a family that you can obey God even if the people around you are not!

STUDENTS

Week of May 11

Scripture

2 Corinthians 11:24-28
Philippians 2:3-8
Colossians 1:9-12

Pathway Document Benchmarks

-Scripture Memory for May:
Philippians 4:6-7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

DISCUSSION

What is the first thing you will do when the quarantine is over?

SCRIPTURE: 2 CORINTHIANS 11:24-28

“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.”

DISCUSSION TIME

Paul was thrown in prison several times. Prison was like quarantine on steroids.
The enemy was trying to shut him up by throwing all these difficulties at him, all in an effort to get him to think of himself above others and stop living his life to spread the news of Jesus.
The enemy is probably doing that to some of you, too, probably now more than ever.
What is the enemy throwing at you to try to shut you up?
1. Isolation
2. Setbacks in your life
3. Family conflict and issues
4. Broken relationships
5. Temptation and struggles
Is it working?
1. Has he been effective in keeping you from sharing Jesus with others?
2. Has he been able to get you to think your life is all about you, your comfort, and your happiness?
The enemy threw all these things at Paul to get him to shut up, but instead, Paul used these circumstances to get fired up even more about the gospel.
“Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:28 (ESV)
He ended that long list of things that had happened to him with saying he still had a deep concern for all the churches. All those other things were just things that had happened to him. His main concern was for people.
While in prison, Paul wrote four letters that end up becoming books of the Bible: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

SCRIPTURE: PHILIPPIANS 2:3-8

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

DISCUSSION TIME

What can you do to serve others?
1. Think! What skills do I have? What abilities do I have? What access do I have?
2. Most importantly, pray and ask God what He wants you to do. He is creative, so let His creativity shine through you! Use your resources, your technology, your friends, whatever you can to shine Jesus even while on lockdown.
Prayer is essential to success!
1. “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” Colossians 1:9-12
2. How can you use prayer to serve others?
Who will you ask to pray for you? Who will pray for you?
1. We need to encourage one another through our conversations but more importantly through prayer.
2. We not only need to pray for others, but we need others to pray for us too.