The Money Pit

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

The Money Pit Bible: The Money Pit (Parable of the rich man) • Luke 12:13-21 Bottom Line: Don’t miss your chance to give. Memory Verse: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18, NIV Life App: Generosity—Making someone’s day by giving something away Basic Truth: I should treat others the way I want to be treated. Social: Setting the Tone for the Experience (9:00, 10:15, 11:30) All Service Times Stick to Giving • “Stick to Giving” labels; 1 label for each kid • Markers • Full, unopened water bottles or juice boxes Bible: Communicating God’s Truth in Engaging Ways (9:15, 10:30, 11:45) • Bible Presentation in Large Group Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (9:40, 10:55, 12:10) 9:00 & 11:30 Here, Take Mine • Bowl • Scraps of paper • Pen • Dice • Gold plastic coins 10:15 Merry Versemas • “Merry Versemas”; 1 for each kid • Markers Prayer (9:50, 11:05, 12:20) • Gold plastic coins Dismiss (10:00, 11:15, 12:30)

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

The Money Pit Bible: The Money Pit (Parable of the rich man) • Luke 12:13-21 Bottom Line: Don’t miss your chance to give. Memory Verse: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18, NIV Life App: Generosity—Making someone’s day by giving something away Basic Truth: I should treat others the way I want to be treated.

Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Small Groups, 15 minutes) Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today’s Bible Truth. Before kids arrive, take a few moments to pray for them. Ask God to show kids where they have opportunities to be generous. Pray that kids would recognize these opportunities and act on them before they miss their chance. All Service Times Stick to Giving Made to Create: an activity that explores spiritual ideas through the process of drawing, building, and designing

What You Need: “Stick to Giving” Activity Pages, markers, water bottles What You Do: • Tell kids they will be decorating drinks to hand out to people. • Cut the stickers out and give one to each kid. • Then let kids decorate their stickers. • When kids have finished decorating their stickers, have them place their stickers on a water bottle or juice box. • Each kid should take home their decorated beverage to give away to someone this week—a friend, classmate, teacher, neighbor, etc. What You Say: “You guys made some good-looking drinks! Whoever you give them to will surely be very glad to get those. [Transition] Today in Large Group, we are going to hear about a man who had a chance to give but didn’t.” Lead your group to the Large Group area.

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

The Money Pit Bible: The Money Pit (Parable of the rich man) • Luke 12:13-21 Bottom Line: Don’t miss your chance to give. Memory Verse: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18, NIV Life App: Generosity—Making someone’s day by giving something away Basic Truth: I should treat others the way I want to be treated.

Bible: Communicating God’s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 35 minutes) GETTING READY 1. Opener/Closer What You Need: •

Host

2. Bible Truth What You Need: • • •

Historyteller Bible Lots of boxes; enough to build 3-4 fairly tall towers

3. Worship What You Need: •

Power Praise Team

Music and Sound Effects (SFX): • “Hosanna Rock” • “Go Tell It” • “Down to Earth”

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

The Money Pit Bible: The Money Pit (Parable of the rich man) • Luke 12:13-21 Bottom Line: Don’t miss your chance to give. Memory Verse: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18, NIV Life App: Generosity—Making someone’s day by giving something away Basic Truth: I should treat others the way I want to be treated.

Bible: Communicating God’s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 35 minutes) Engage kids’ hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible Truth, worship, and prayer experience in a Large Group setting. SFX: Play high-energy Christmas music as kids enter. CG: Theme Slide Host enters wearing Christmas clothes. Opener HOST: “Hey, hey, hey, everybody! Welcome to The Treehouse, the coolest, most awesome, incredible, fun-tastic place ever! My name is [Host’s name] and together, you (point to audience) and I (point to yourself) are going to have the best morning ever! “Does anyone remember what we’re talking about this month? (Hold your hand to your ear.) Yeah, that’s it: generosity. Let’s take a look at this together. CG: Generosity Slide “Generosity is making someone’s day by giving something away. Let’s read that definition together.” HOST and KIDS: “Generosity is making someone’s day by giving something away.” HOST: “How cool is that? And we all have something we can give away. I’m not just talking about money. We can give away our time, we can give away kind words; we can SHARE the things we already have. It’s not hard to be generous and make someone’s day. (Point.) You, you, you, and ALL of you can do something small to make a big difference in someone’s life.” “Please welcome [Historyteller’s Name] to tell us more.” Host exits as Historyteller enters. SETTING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: “I have two things I want to share with you today. Really, it’s a parable within a Truth. That’ll make sense in just a minute. We find our parable within a Truth in the book of Luke. Luke is one of the four Gospels in the New Testament that tell us all about what Jesus was like and why

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

Jesus came to earth in the first place. At this point in Jesus’ life, no matter where He went, crowds of people followed—rich and poor, religious leaders and fisherman, scholars and shepherds. Many truly wanted to learn. Others wanted to cause trouble. And some just wanted Jesus to agree with them.” MAN WANTS STUFF HISTORYTELLER: “One day, as Jesus spoke to the people crowded around Him, a man spoke up with one such situation. The man wanted Jesus to agree with what HE thought was best. This is what he said: Teacher . . . tell my brother to divide the family property with me (Luke 12:13 NIrV). “The thing is, Jesus can see more than what we see, and He knows our hearts better than we do. He could tell that whether or not the man’s brother owed him property, the man was far more concerned with getting as much stuff as he could regardless of what it meant for his relationship with his brother. “Listen to what Jesus said back to him. (Open your Bible and read Luke 12:14-15.) “Friend, who made me a judge or umpire between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against wanting to have more and more things. Life is not made up of how much a person has” (NIrV). “Then, to make the point even clearer, Jesus told a parable. And to tell this parable today, I need some help from all of you. Think you can do that? (Pause.) Awesome!” PARABLE: BIGGER BARNS HISTORYTELLER: “The main character in Jesus’ parable was a rich man. This man had land that produced lots and lots of crops. I mean A LOT of crops. All those crops needed to be stored somewhere. That’s where some of you come in. Use these boxes to build some barns to store the rich man’s crops. Move to the pile of boxes and instruct the kids to build two or three towers. If you have a larger group, choose a few kids for each tower. “Great job! You guys can sit back down now. So this rich man’s land produced a lot every year. But this one particular year, it produced even more—like a lot more. The rich man thought to himself, ‘What am I going to do with all this food? It’s more than I can possibly store.’ “I wish I could tell you that the man decided to give the extra food away, especially to people who didn’t have enough to eat. Or even that he decided to sell it and donate the money to people who needed it. But that’s not how the Bible Truth goes. No, listen to what the man decided to do. (Open your Bible and read Luke 12:18-19.) Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. I will store my extra grain in them. I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain stored away for many years. Take life easy. Eat, drink and have a good time’” (NIrV). “Okay, I need your help again. We need to tear these barns down and build some bigger ones. I’ve got some more boxes we can use. Bring out the additional boxes. Have the kids build three or four larger towers. If you have a larger group, choose a few kids for each tower.

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

“Great job, everyone. Those look great. You guys can sit down now. “Looks like the man was set for life now, right? He had more food, more barns, and more potential for MORE money. What more could he need? Well, things were about to take a turn for the worse for this rich man. Let’s see what happened next. (Open your Bible and read Luke 12:20) “But God said to him, “You foolish man! Tonight I will take your life away from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (NIrV). “Yikes. The rich man had been determined to hold onto every single crop instead of giving some away. And now it would do him no good.” JESUS BRINGS IT HOME HISTORYTELLER: “Jesus was done with the parable of the rich man, but He wasn’t done addressing the man who was standing before Him wanting Jesus to force his brother to give him what he wanted. Listen to what Jesus said next. (Open your Bible and read Luke 12:21.) “That is how it will be for whoever stores things away for themselves but is not rich in the sight of God” (NIrV). WRAPPING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: “We don’t know how the man who asked Jesus the question chose to respond. Perhaps, like the Grinch, his heart grew three sizes that day, and he stopped fighting for more stuff. Or perhaps he chose to ignore the words of Jesus and hold tightly to everything he could get instead of freely giving what he believed to be his. Take a look at our Bottom Line for today. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line Slide] “Don’t miss your chance to give. That’s exactly what happened to the rich man in the parable. His life was over and all of the crops went to waste. He could have done so much with what he had, but instead he kept it to himself and wasted it. “We have a choice every day. Like the rich man, we can hold on to our stuff, hoard all the extra, and never share with anyone. Or we can do what Jesus wants and give freely from what God has given to us and experience the joy that comes from being generous. When you think about the rich man and the barns, I hope you’ll remember our Bottom Line: [Bottom Line] Don’t miss your chance to give. Let’s take a moment now and ask God to help us be generous.” Pray HISTORYTELLER: “Dear God, in this season of giving and receiving, it’s easy to get focused on what we want and what we hope we’ll receive. Some of us may have so many toys that we don’t even know where we’ll store the new ones. You have given so much to us. Instead of keeping everything for ourselves, help us to open our hands and give to others generously. Thank You for everything. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.” “If you have an offering with you today, raise your hand and we will bring the bucket over to you.” “Now, up on your feet and give some mad respect to our Power Praise team!”

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

Power Praise team enters as Historyteller exits. Worship SFX: “Hosanna Rocks” SFX: “Go Tell It” SFX: “Down to Earth” Historyteller exits as Host enters. Closer HOST: “Great singing, everyone! You can have a seat. You know, as I think more about the parable Jesus told, I’m reminded of something super important: people are more important than money and stuff—like family, friends, and neighbors. Now, I’m pretty sure this is something that we already know, but we don’t always get it right, do we? We still argue with others, we complain when we have less than someone else, or we hang on to what’s ours and figure out how to get more instead of sharing what we do have with others. “Instead, we can look for chances to be generous, because if we’re not careful, we’ll miss our opportunity. Let’s take another look at our Bottom Line for today. CG: Bottom Line Slide [Bottom Line Slide] “Don’t miss your chance to give. Say that with me.” HOST and KIDS: [Bottom Line Slide] “Don’t miss your chance to give.” HOST: “That’s right. You won’t always be in the same class as your best friend. You won’t always get to share a room with your younger brother. Don’t be like the guy in Jesus’ parable who missed his chance to give because he ran out of time. Use the time you have right now to be generous. Take time to practice generosity. You’ll talk more about how you can do that in Small Group. Have fun together, and we’ll see you next week!” Dismiss children to their Small Groups. CG: Small Group Slide

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

The Money Pit Bible: The Money Pit (Parable of the rich man) • Luke 12:13-21 Bottom Line: Don’t miss your chance to give. Memory Verse: “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18, NIV Life App: Generosity—Making someone’s day by giving something away Basic Truth: I should treat others the way I want to be treated.

Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (10 minutes) 9:00 & 11:30 Here, Take Mine [Talk about God | Bible Review | Application Activity] Made to Imagine: an activity that promotes empathy and facilitates biblical application through role-play and reenactment

What You Need: Bowl, paper scraps, pen, dice, gold coins What You Do: • Write down all kids’ names on strips of paper and put them into the bowl. Set aside. • Tell kids that they will have a chance to roll the dice to get coins. • Give each kid a turn to roll the dice. • Whatever number they get, give them that number of coins. • If time allows, go around the circle a second time. • After each kid has rolled, let them count up their coins and see who has the most. • Then tell kids it’s time to draw a name out of the bowl, but don’t tell them why. • Randomly draw a name out of the bowl. Instruct that kid to give some of their coins to someone else. • Replace the name and draw again. Instruct that kid to give some of their coins to someone else. • Repeat the process 8-10 times. • If a kid’s name is drawn and they don’t have any coins, draw someone else. • When you are finished drawing names, instruct kids to count up their coins again. • Then dramatically declare that the winners are NOT the people who have the most coins, but rather the people who have the least coins. What You Say: “When we first started that game, it seemed like the goal was to get the most coins, but in the end it turned out that the real winners were the ones who gave their coins away. In our parable, inside of our Bible Truth today, we heard about a man who didn’t want to give up any of what he had. But having all that stuff didn’t bring him happiness. Jesus tells us through His parable: [Bottom Line] Don’t miss your chance to give. We have chances to give things to others every day. [Make It Personal] (Tell kids about a time you gave something away and were glad you did.) We could give a smile to someone who is having a bad day or give a nice note to a teacher or coach who helps us or give a hug to our brother or sister who is upset.”

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

10:15 Merry Versemas [Hear from God | Memory Verse Activity] Made to Create: an activity that explores spiritual ideas through the process of drawing, building, and designing

What You Need: “Merry Versemas” Cards, markers, scissors What You Do: • Ask kids if they have handed out any Christmas cards yet. Have they gotten any? • Tell them that today they will be making Christmas cards for family members: parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles/cousins, whoever they will see in the next couple weeks. • Give each child two Merry Versemas cards. • Guide the kids to fill in the missing words on the cards. • Then instruct kids to write “Merry Christmas” on the front and encourage them to decorate the cards to make them look nice. • Each kid should take home both cards: one to keep and one to give away. What You Say: “This verse tells us that it is more important to DO good things than to HAVE good things. God’s Word says: [Bottom Line] Don’t miss your chance to give. These cards are a great way to share with others what we have learned here today. Take one of the cards home this week and put it in your room so you will remember the verse all week. Then you can give away the other card to someone in your family so they can learn the verse too.”

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SUNDAY MORNINGS

December 10, 2017, Week 2 Grade: 1-2

All Service Times

Pray and Dismiss (10 minutes) [Pray to God | Prayer Activity] Made to Reflect: an activity that creates space for personal understanding and application

What You Need: Gold coins What You Do: • Ask kids what things they have that they are thankful for. • Go around the circle and have each kid say one thing they are grateful to God for giving them. • Give each kid a coin and have them hold it as you pray. What You Say: “God, thank You for giving us the things we need, like food and water and places to live. Please help us to be grateful for what we have and remember not to miss our chance to give. We ask that You would help us to focus on what we have and what we can give, not how much we can get. Remind us this week that coins like these and the things they buy are not what really matters. Your Son Jesus and His sacrifice for us on the cross is what truly matters. Amen.” As parents arrive, pass out Parent Cues and God Time Cards. Encourage the children to complete and return the God Time cards for a trip to the treasure box.

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