Make It True (Large Group, 15 Minutes)

First Look 3- through 5-year-olds, August 2016, Week 4 Stage August Week 4

Basic Truth: God made me. God loves me. Jesus wants to be my friend forever. Key Question: Who loves you? Bottom Line: God loves me. Memory Verse: “Nothing can separate us from God’s love.” Romans 8:39, NIrV Bible Story Focus: Jesus loves me no matter what. Zacchaeus • Luke 19:1-8

Make It Fun 1. Climb a Tree What You Need: No supplies needed

What You Do:  Have the children stand in front of you.  Make the motions of climbing a tree.  Move your feet upward while moving your arms in a climbing motion.  Then reverse the motions as you are climbing down the tree.  Ask the children to mimic you. Repeat several times.

After the Activity: “You are all great climbers. Today in our story we are going to hear about someone else who climbed a tree. Let’s get ready to find out what happened!”

2. Hopscotch Verse What You Need: 8 pieces of construction paper in any color, a coin, and tape

What You Do:  Tape the construction paper to the floor like a hopscotch board.  Tape down all four sides of each page.  Demonstrate how to play by jumping through the course—hopping on one foot when there is one square and putting down both feet when there are two squares side by side.  For the first round, let every child jump through the course as you repeat the words of the verse.  For the second round, encourage each child to toss the coin onto the hopscotch board.  Explain that they must jump over the square the coin lands on.  Continue allowing the children to take turns jumping on the course and repeating the verse as time and interest allows.

After the Activity: “I’m SO glad that nothing can separate us—or move us away—from God’s love. He loves you and me no matter what! Who loves you? [Bottom Line] God loves me.”

“Hello, hello, friends. I’ve had the best time blasting off into the new year with you. Let’s say our three basic truths one more time together.” “God made me, God loves me, and Jesus wants to be my friend forever.”

Tell me: Who loves you?” “God loves me!”

“Yes indeed, God loves me! Who can help me remember what we do next? We sang our first song. What do we do now? Yes! We say our memory verse. Are you ready to say it with me? ‘Nothing (shake your head side to side and wave your arms in front of you like you’re saying “no way”) can separate us (lock your fingers together in front of you and act like you can’t pull them apart) from God’s love’ (point up with one finger and then hug yourself), Romans 8:39. (Open your hands like a book.) Let’s do it again.” (Repeat several times.)

“Yes! You’ve got it totally memorized now! Way to go! I love singing about God with you. He is so big and so powerful and He loves us so much.

“Remind me one more time: Who loves you?” “God loves me!”

Bible Story What You Need: Bible

“Hi, friends! Are you all ready to hear a fantastic and true Bible story today? Ohhh, it is a good one! I’m going to need some help telling this story today, so make sure you are listening extra good. Our Bible story begins with a (show little by demonstrating with fingers) weeee little man. That’s fun to say. You wanna try? Say, “weeeee little man” Weeee little man. It’s fun, right? His name was Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector. And he was short. His job was to go around to everyone in town and collect money. The problem was that Zacchaeus was selfish. And he made people pay him extra money so he could keep it for himself. Friends, say, ‘OH, NO!’ It is not nice to be selfish and take things and keep them for ourselves, is it? What Zacchaeus was doing wasn’t right and it made everyone mad at him and they did not want to be his friend.

“But one day, something amazing happened. Jesus came to town! And everyone wanted to see him. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus too but he was too short to see around the crowd and no one would let him in. So Zacchaeus got an idea and he climbed a TREE! Would you guys like to pretend to climb up a tree too just like Zacchaeus did? Oh, good! Okay, let’s stay seated but use our arms to climb, climb, climb. Ready? Climb, friends! Climb, climb, climb! Oh, grab that branch and then the next one. Almost there. Keep climbing! Okay! We made it! Great climbing, friends. Whoa! (Pretend to look around in amazement.) You can see everything from way up high in a tree!

“Do you know why Zacchaeus climbed a tree? Now he could see Jesus! And Jesus could see him. All of sudden, Jesus made His way through the crowd right to Zacchaeus. And then He called him. (In deep voice.) ‘Zacchaeus! Come down right away,’ Jesus said. ‘I must stay at your house.’ Could you believe it if Jesus said He was coming to YOUR house?! Wowzers! “The crowd didn’t understand. Why would Jesus want to go with him? Did Jesus not know that Zacchaeus had been stealing money? That he was a bad guy? Of course He did! But do you think there is ANYTHING we can do to make Jesus stop loving us? No.

Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds • ©2016 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com 2 First Look 3- through 5-year-olds, August 2016, Week 4 Stage “Even if we get put in timeout, does Jesus still love us? Yes! Even if we don’t share our toys, does Jesus still love us? Yes! Even if we forget to obey our mommies and daddies, does Jesus still love us? Yes! Jesus loves us no matter what. And he loved Zacchaeus too. So Zacchaeus came down from the tree and took Jesus to his house for dinner. Jesus became Zacchaeus’s forever friend and Zacchaeus didn’t want to do wrong things any more. So he gave back all the money he stole. Everybody say, ‘Yay!’ In fact, the Bible says he gave back even more than he had stolen! Everybody say, ‘Yay! Yay!’ Jesus loved Zacchaeus no matter what. And the best thing is that God loves us no matter what too. God loves me and God loves you. Who loves you? God loves me! Say it with me! Who loves you?” “God loves me!”

“It’s true, friends! God loves each and every one of you! Let’s pray. Dear God, thank You for this amazing and true Bible story. Thank You for loving us no matter what. We love You, God! Amen. Make It Stick 1. Rocket Face What You Need:  “Rocket Frame” Activity Page on white cardstock  crayons

What You Do:  Copy the “Rocket Frame” Activity Page onto white cardstock.  Encourage the children to draw their portrait in the window of the rocket ship.  Allow children to use crayons to color and decorate their rocket ship.

After the activity: These rockets are a BIG reminder that God made you and that He LOVES you. It’s true. God loves you no matter what! Who loves you? [Bottom Line] God loves me!”

Make It Real Small Group Time What you Need: Provide a journal and a pen. You will also need a hand-stamp or reward stickers.

“The story of Zacchaeus climbing a tree just so he could to see Jesus is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. Jesus still loved Zacchaeus and wanted to be his friend, even though Zacchaeus had done wrong things. Jesus wants you to know that not even the wrong things you do can separate you from God’s love. God’s love for you is that big! Who loves you?” “God loves me!” That’s right! Jesus loves you no matter what, because God loves you no matter what. So tell me one more time: Who loves you?” “God loves me!” YES! God loves YOU!”

“Now it’s the time I have been waiting for all month. Today is the day you can try to say our memory verse all by yourself for a sticker/hand stamp. Are you ready? Let’s say our verse together with the motions one time and then everyone can have a turn saying it.”

“‘Nothing (shake your head side to side and wave your arms in front of you like you’re saying ‘no way’) can separate (lock your fingers together in front of you and act like you can’t pull them apart) us from God’s love’

Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds • ©2016 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. • www.ThinkOrange.com 3 First Look 3- through 5-year-olds, August 2016, Week 4 Stage (point up with one finger and then hug yourself), Romans 8:39.” (Open your hands like a book.) (Repeat several times.)

“Awesome! That was perfect! Now you can try and say it by yourself. Give each child the opportunity to say the verse on his own. Have your stickers/hand stamp ready to give when they say it. “I am so proud of you! And I am so glad you have that verse in your heart. I hope you always remember that God will never stop loving you, no matter what!”

“Today we’re going to make a list in our prayer journal that won’t be fun to make at first, but when we think about how much God still loves us, it will make our list special. When I call your name I want you to tell me one wrong thing you’ve done. I’ll write it down and then when we pray we can thank God for loving us, even though we’ve done wrong things. Can we do that? Sure we can! I’ll go first. (Write down your name and one wrong thing you’ve done.) Write each child’s name and what they say beside their names. Remember to print the words they say so the children can recognize their names and the letters.

“It’s very special to think about how much God still loves us even though we’ve done wrong things. Would any one like to pray before I pray? Give each child that wants to pray the opportunity to do so. Now I’ll pray.”

Prayer “Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to show us how big Your love is. It’s bigger than any wrong we could ever do. It’s bigger than (read the list the children made). None of these wrongs can separate us from Your love. Help us to never forget that. We love You, God. In Jesus’ name, amen.”