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3.10date:____/____/____

SERVICE SCHEDULE

Explore::Welcome & Engage

10–15 minutes

Discover & Respond:: Large Group

30–40 minutes

Respond & Bless::Small Group

20–35 minutes

© 2011 David C. Cook. TruResources are developed in partnership with ROCKHARBOR Church and a national network of family and children’s ministry leaders. All rights reserved.

God’s Love Changes Everything

Bible Passage: Acts 9(Paul’s Conversion)

ENVIRONMENT: SERVING This posture of the heart asks the question, “What needs to be done?” It allows the Holy Spirit to cultivate a sensitivity to others and focuses on a cause bigger than one individual life. It helps fulfill the mandate that as

Christ-followers we are to view our lives as living sacrifices that we generously give away!

REMEMBER VERSE

Serve one another in love.Galatians 5:13b

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Inspire

A few years ago, one of my oldest and dearest friends and her husband felt the Lord strongly encouraging them to adopt their first child. After months of prayer, planning, and paperwork, they were on a plane overseas to meet their child. They had no clue of the physical and emotional journey God would take them on.

When they arrived in the Kazakhstan orphanage they met a handful of kids who needed homes. One child in particular caught their attention—a little three-year-old girl named Darina. She wasn’t necessarily the child they had anticipated God would have them adopt. Cerebral palsy had inhibited her growth and development. She was still sleeping in a crib and hadn’t taken her first steps or even spoken a word. In spite of all of the developmental challenges, they did not choose to walk away from Darina. Instead they asked God for direction and guidance for how they could best care for her. She was so full of life, but desperately needed to experience unconditional love. My friends fell in love with this small girl and knew that they were supposed to be her parents. They could not bring themselves to turn away from taking care of their little girl.

For the first time in her life, Darina was being showered with love from another human being. She began to grow used to hugs and kisses and being rocked to sleep—things she had not received the first few years of her life. In no time she began to make significant progress, leaving the orphanage staff and doctors in complete shock. The three-year-old who had never walked suddenly began to walk. She began to learn to identify colors and shapes. She started making sounds and attempting speech. The love that was being poured over her had begun to completely transform Darina.

It is now two years later and Darina is in the States with her mother and father. Every time I see her, I feel truly blessed by her joyful spirit and contagious personality. When I look at her, she is a different girl than the one my friends met the first day in the orphanage. The transformation took place when my friends followed God’s leading and asked the question, “What needs to be done?” God chose to use the love of a mother and father and their willingness to serve a child, doing anything needed for her to know she was loved and cared for.

Darina is a constant reminder to me of God’s love and how His love changes everything. God loved me so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for me, so my life might be forever changed. He did what needed to be done. And like Darina, my life is different because of the work God has done in it. No longer am I alone; no longer am I weak. Because of His great love I have a life full of hope and promise. Because of God’s love, I am forever changed.

Rae Lynn LottTruWonder Team

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Equip

In Acts 9, after Christ met Saul on the road to Damascus, Saul found himself blinded for three days. He spent these days fasting and in prayer, meditating on what he had seen and heard. This sort of consequence would have had major significance to a man like Saul. However, in a strange way, this was actually God’s way of blessing Saul.

As we know, Saul was a Pharisee. Pharisees were the strictest, most devout religious leaders. They rigidly followed several hundred laws. In fact, they even created “hedge” laws, which protected them from ever stumbling into sin. Their legality set them apart from the poor, sick, and lower classes. Ironically, blindness had huge social repercussions in the first century, especially to the Israelites. The Jews believed that most illnesses and deformities were the result of a sinful life. A Pharisee could not be blind; it would register him as unclean. Clearly, after this incident, Saul couldn’t simply go back to his old life. His physical detriment would not allow him to. But it was his conversion to Christ, far more than his blindness, that kept him from returning to his former life. Therefore he was forced to wait, pray, and think about what had happened.

Ironically, rabbis called themselves “a guide to the blind.” They used this phrase to describe the role God had given them in relation to the Gentiles. They were called to be representatives to the Gentiles as to the life they were to live. There is no doubt that physical blindness would have drawn this to Saul’s mind. God knew that Saul’s heart had been hardened to His voice. Creating blindness in Saul created an opportunity for Saul to draw near to God once again.

Saul’s identity was transformed and he took on a new name: Paul. In everything that Paul did, he was an obedient servant of God. He went on to spread the good news to thousands of Gentiles. He encouraged them and helped their churches flourish. He was so transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit that it affected every facet of his life. God’s love changed (and still changes) everything.

Further Resources

Remember Verse Motions Inspired by American Sign Language; demonstrated at signingsavvy.com and http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser .htm.

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Support

As God’s chosen ambassadors, we are called to live differently. Our lives represent God: who He is and what He is like. However, we simply cannot love others without being filled up by God first. It is impossible for us to love without limits unless we are doing it through the overflow that God gives us. We are destined to fail without His leading.

Each morning this week, take a moment to pause before God. Thank Him for your transformed life—give Him all the praise He deserves! Thank Him that He first served you. Then, ask Him to be your fuel for the day, that He would fill you with His love so fully that it would overflow to each person around you. Ask how you could serve Him uniquely. Pray that He would make you aware of situations or individuals who need to be infused with His love. Ask that He would awaken you to where you could be used to serve others today, in order to bring Him glory. Request that He would lead you in each moment by His Holy Spirit.

Throughout the day, continually release your day to Him. Pray for these things again and again, until it becomes a natural rhythm.

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Lesson OverviewExperience Time Summary Supplies/Prepare

(Master Supply List under Resource Tab)

Explore::Welcome & Engage

10–15 min.

Exploration stations create space intended to transition children—to lead them from the external world into an environment where they can commune with God, just as they are with all that they are.

Focus Station: Spreading Love(per table)• plastic resealable bags• white glue• food coloring or liquid watercolors

(Optional) Station 2: Keep on Movin’• none

Discover::Large Group

20–25 min.

Facilitate interactive games, songs, and storytelling, allowing children to participate in discovering God’s Word.

• Chloe (puppet or person)• Chloe’s Rules video or script (see Resource Tab)• preschool program theme song• 2 upbeat worship songs (suggestion: “Jesus by My

Side,” TruWorship Songs from the Playhouse) • optional: countdown video• Mail Time intro clip and slide (see Resource Tab)• Remember Verse slide and cards (see Resource

Folder)• Mail Time envelope art printed and attached to a

large envelope (see Resource Tab)• Bibles (your personal and large children’s)• mailbox• Wardrobe of Wonder intro clip and slide (see

Resource Tab)• Wardrobe of Wonder• Wardrobe of Wonder sound effect (see Resource

Tab)• optional: silly hats for prop/hat box• 2 small stools or chairs• What’sIt: A Big Heart (see slide in Resource Folder)• The Big God Story intro clip and slide (see

Resource Tab)

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Lesson OverviewExperience Time Summary Supplies/Prepare

(Master Supply List under Resource Tab)

Respond::Large Group

10–15 min.

Create space for children to respond to the Holy Spirit in worship and community.

• title slide (see Resource Tab) or worshipful video loop

• instrumental music or ballad (suggestion: “Jesus I Will Follow,” TruWorship Songs from the Playhouse)

• Response Walls• heart shape master (see Resource Folder)• magnets and buckets• worship song (suggestion: “God of Love,”

TruWorship Songs from the Playhouse)

Respond:: Small Group

15–30 min.

Further process the story through discussion and interaction with others, and respond to God in worship through creative expression.

Connect: Listen Up!(per small group) • blindfold• any random small object: perhaps a toy that

the class loves

Create: Love Poem(per table/small group) • butcher paper• tape• markers• other art supplies to decorate

Wonder Questions

Bless::Small Group

5 min. Bless the children that they may experience God fully and be a blessing to others.

• Blessing/Remember Verse• HomeFront Weekly

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Explore:: 10–15 min.

Host/Small Group Leaders

EXPLORE | DISCOVER | RESPOND | BLESS

SmallGroupS E C T I O N

Exploration stations create space intended for wonder—to pique children’s curiosity and allow them to engage in hands-on experiences as they begin their time in worship.

Invite children to participate at the Focus Station (or optional stations, if available). Explore the materials with the children and engage them in open-ended questions about their observations. This will encourage them to explore and form questions on their own throughout the lesson.

Station 1: Spreading LoveSUPPLIES (per table)• plastic resealable bags• white glue• food coloring or liquid watercolors

PREPARE AHEADPut a small amount of glue in each of the resealable bags. In one bag, mix yellow food coloring with the glue. Mix blue in another bag, and red in a third.

SET UPSet out each of the three bags on a table. Keep the blue food coloring out for the activity.

ENGAGEAs the children are checked in, encourage them to sit with you and play with the colors. What do you think would happen if I mix a few drops of blue food coloring in this yellow bag? Let’s find out! (Put a drop or two into the yellow bag, zip it closed, and hand it to a child to mix.) So, what happened? Right! It turned green. If we add blue drops to this blue bag, will it turn green also? (Drop blue into the blue bag, zip it closed, and hand to a child to mix.) What happened? Right! It looks exactly the same—it’s still blue! Why isn’t it different? Now … let’s try this last red one. I wonder what would happen if we added blue to the red? Let’s find out! (Drop blue into the red bag, zip it closed, and hand to a child to mix.) What happened? Good job—it turned purple! I wonder what it would look like if we kept adding blue? What happened when we added blue to the yellow and red? Did they stay the same? No, they changed! The only one that didn’t change was the blue one. Did they change instantly? Right—it took time. You had to mix it in before you saw the change.

Focus

Station

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(Optional) Station 2: Keep on Movin’SUPPLIES• none

SET UPIf necessary, clear an open space for children to be able to move about.

ENGAGEAs the children are checked in, invite them to join you in a group on the floor. Sit with the children and talk about the many jobs our legs have. Show them how your legs bend at the ankle, knees, and hips. Share one thing you can do with your legs, like walk. Invite the children to walk in place with you. Invite children to share other things we can do with our legs. As each action is shared, have the children do the motion in place with you. Some ideas: march, kick a ball, hop, skip, kneel, dance, jump rope, hopscotch, leap, etc. End with sitting cross-legged. What is our legs’ job? If you don’t use your legs, what do you use to go really fast? What do you use to go really slow? What do you do to spin in a circle? What new things would you like to learn to do with your legs?

This week, add to the activity by exploring the many jobs our arms have. Show the children how your arms bend at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist. Share things you can do with your arms. Invite the children to share things you can do with your arms and do the action with you as it is shared. What are some of your favorite things to do with your arms? What new things would you like to learn to do with your arms?

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Discover:: 20–25 min.Host/Worship Leader/Storyteller

Children move into a large group setting and participate in discovering God’s Word through storytelling, worship, and interactive experiences.


LargeGroup

S E C T I O N

REMEMBER VERSE

Serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13b

The following instructions have been condensed, but if you’d like more information about any of the components of the large group program, please see Putting It Together in the Resource Tab.

Chloe’s RulesHost/Worship Leader

Begin large group by using Chloe (a puppet or person) to review the rules of your program. It’s a great time to remind children how we can all be part of a loving community through the words we speak, sitting with our small group, and sharing. Add a theme song to your program for a fun way to help give identity to your large group program. Also choose two upbeat worship songs from a worship album that fits. The supplies you’ll want to gather for this section are the Chloe’s Rules video or script (see Resource Tab), Chloe (a puppet or person), your preschool program theme song, worship music (suggestion: “Jesus by My Side,” TruWorship Songs from the Playhouse), and a countdown video (optional).

Mail Time Host/Worship Leader

Have children retrieve mail (the current Remember Verse from the Bible) from their mailbox. Review the meaning of the verse and any unfamiliar words with the children as they prepare to memorize it. Supplies to gather include the Mail Time intro clip and slide, Remember Verse slide (for projection and Mail Time envelope), Remember Verse cards (print and distribute along with HomeFront Weekly), Mail Time envelope art printed and attached to a large envelope, a Bible, a large children’s Bible, and a mailbox.

God’s Love Changes Everything

Ponder Point

A Look Ahead …

Next week, the What'sIt is a picture of a group of people to represent the church. The church is way more than just a building; it’s made up of those who love and trust in the Lord Jesus. To illustrate this point, the What'sIt will be a picture of a group of believers gathered together.

Sometime this week, take a picture of the kids in your program during your large group gathering time, without telling them how the picture will be used. Allow it to be a surprise as part of next week’s Wardrobe of Wonder!

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Wardrobe of Wonder Storyteller/Host/Worship Leader

Hide the What’sIt connected to The Big God Story within the wardrobe. Together as a community, the children will discover the identity of this object as they begin to ask questions from their observations and experiences. You’ll need to have ready a Wardrobe of Wonder, Wardrobe of Wonder intro clip, slide, and sound effect (see Resource Tab), silly hats for the prop/hat box (optional), and two small stools or chairs. For this What’sIt you’ll need a heart (see optional slide available in Resource Folder).

ASK(Insert child’s name here), why do you think the What’sIt is a heart? (Allow volunteer to give you some suggestions.) Hearts represent love, right? Who are some people who show us love? Mommies? Daddies? What about God? I wonder whose love we’re going to talk about today … Maybe the What’sIt has something to do with what we’re going to hear today from The Big God Story! Friends, I think it’s time to find out because, do you know what time it is?

What’sIt: A Big HeartHearts are a cultural representation of love. God lavishes His love on us, which in turn leads us to want to live lives that serve Him in response.

Serve: Put hands up to chest, then unfold arms and extend them out in front of you.

one another: Use your index fingers to point quickly to “many people” around you.

in love: Cross arms over your chest to symbolize love.

RememberVerse Motions

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Prayer of Release

The Big God StoryActs 9Storyteller

SUPPLIES• The Big God Story intro clip and slide (see Resource Tab)• Bible (adult or children’s to use during teaching)• What’sIt: A Big Heart (see slide in Resource Folder)

I’m so glad you’re here today. I love being with you and talking together about God and His big story. You know, no matter how old you are, or how big or how small, there’s always something new to learn about God. So, let’s pray and invite God’s Spirit to teach us. (Lead children in a Prayer of Release.)

We’ve been learning so much about Jesus these last few weeks. Each part of The Big God Story helps us know more about God and just how much He loves us. Last week we heard how God used two disciples, Peter and John, to heal the man at the temple. God’s power healed the man and made his life so much better! God’s power changed everything. God shows us His power so we can know Him and His great love for us.

Today we’re going to take another look into The Big God Story. This part of God’s story shows us how God’s love changed everything for a man named Saul. (Open your Bible.)

After Jesus had gone back to heaven, His disciples continued to serve God throughout the land. They healed people and told them that The Promise had come. Who is The Promise? (Children will answer.) Jesus is The Promise, that’s right! Many people decided to trust in Jesus and follow Him. There were many people who were happy about the things the disciples were saying. Can you show me your happiest happy face? (Interact with the children.) But there were also many people who were not happy about the things the disciples were saying, not at all. Now can you show me your very unhappiest of unhappy faces? (Interact with the children.)

There was one man who was very well known for being unhappy with the things the disciples were teaching about God. His name was Saul. He wanted to stop the disciples from talking about Jesus. Saul knew a lot about God and His laws, but He didn’t know or understand God’s love. God loved Saul and wanted him to know Him and His love. God was going to change everything!

A Prayer of Release is a prayer asking God to remove any distractions that would get in the way of hearing from and responding to Him. As we pray, we dedicate this time to the Lord and quiet ourselves, so that we might hear specifically from Him. In this way, we are consciously laying aside our worries, successes, and requests for the moment. We ask to be filled with knowledge and understanding from Him, giving God His rightful role as teacher. Then as we move into Respond, we can better create space to interact with His Holy Spirit.

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One day Saul was walking on the road with some of his friends. They were headed to a town called Damascus. Suddenly there was a flash of light from heaven all around him and Saul fell to the ground. He heard a voice speak to him. “Saul! Saul!” the voice said. “Why are you fighting against me?” “Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus,” He replied. “I am the one you are opposing and trying to stop. Now, get up and go into the city. There you will be told what you must do” (paraphrase of vv. 3–6).

The men traveling with Saul stood there. They weren’t able to speak at first. They had heard the sound, but they didn’t see anyone else on the road. Saul got up from the ground. He opened his eyes, but he couldn’t see anything. He was now blind! So his friends had to lead him by the hand into Damascus. For three days Saul was blind. He didn’t eat or drink anything. Saul spent his time praying.

While Saul was waiting, the Lord Jesus appeared to a man named Ananias, who lived in the same town, in a vision. He told Ananias to go to the house where Saul was staying. Ananias obeyed and went to serve Saul as he was instructed. When he found Saul he placed his hands on him. Ananias told Saul that Jesus had sent him with the message that he would be able to see again. Right away something like fish scales fell from Saul’s eyes so he could see again. Saul decided to follow Jesus every day for the rest of his life. Saul had the happiest of happy faces!

God wanted Saul to know Him and His great love for him. When Saul accepted God’s love and said yes to Jesus, everything in Saul’s life changed. He was no longer unhappy with the things the disciples were teaching about Jesus. In fact, Saul began to teach people about Jesus too! He traveled all over the world serving God and telling people that the promised Savior had come. It wasn’t long until even his name changed—from Saul to Paul! He now knew God and His great love firsthand. He now lived each and every day serving God. Paul wanted everyone to know that God’s love changes everything!

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Respond:: 10–15 min.

Children have the opportunity to respond to God and to what they have heard and experienced through His Word. Special attention should be given to create space for the Holy Spirit to minister to each child.

Worship Leader

LargeGroup

S E C T I O N

The worship response time in large group varies from week to week. Some weeks children will respond in worship through music, while other weeks are designed for more specific interactive expressions of response. This time is intended for children to freely express their worship as God’s Spirit leads them.

SUPPLIES• title slide (see Resource Tab) or worshipful video loop• instrumental music or ballad (suggestion: “Jesus I Will Follow,” TruWorship Songs from

the Playhouse)• Response Walls• heart shape master (see Resource Folder)• magnets and buckets• worship song (suggestion: “God of Love,” TruWorship Songs from the Playhouse)

Worship-through-ResponseFriends, God’s love changed everything in Paul’s life. He was filled with God’s love and was so different that he even got a new name! Because of God’s love, Paul went out into the world and taught people about Jesus. He served God with all of his heart, mind, and strength! Because of God’s love, everyone—me, you, and everyone else—can play a special part in God’s story too! We can love and serve God each day.

Today we’re going to have a chance to respond to God and His love. One of the ways we can do that is by using our Response Walls. (Direct children to the wall by standing and demonstrating what they will do as you explain it to them.) After we pray together, when you’re ready, you can walk over to the Response Wall. Then you can take a heart shape out of the bucket and put it on the wall with a magnet. After you’ve placed it on the wall, cover it with your hand and take some time to talk with God. You can tell Him thank you for His love for you or anything else you would like to share with Him. (Demonstrate this for the kids.) After you’re finished, come back and sit down with your small group. Let’s talk to God right now as we worship Him together.

Pray with the children, opening this time up for response to God’s Spirit. Cue the instrumental song and place on a loop (quiet and reflective) in the background to help facilitate the moment. After you pray together, allow for some silence (music still playing low) so the kids can hear from God as they prepare to worship at the Response Walls.

After a moment or two, dismiss children to the Response Walls. When it seems that most of the children have returned to the group, begin the closing song “God of Love.” Pray a prayer of corporate blessing and dismiss children to their small groups.

Give some verbal cues and reminders to the children as a way to encourage them to interact with the Response Wall when they’re ready. As children finish at the wall, remind them to come sit down and join you. These statements can be made throughout the song within the flow of the music.

Your tone should remain the same as it is when you’re singing and praying, and does not need to transition to that of a directive voice. Help the kids understand the freedom they have to choose how they’re going to respond, while at the same time they’re being encouraged and led into participation.

Helpful Hint

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Respond:: 15–30 min.

Children have an opportunity to reflect (within the faith community) on what they have heard, and to respond to God individually or corporately. This time is focused on the wonder of God and the foundational Truth of His Word.

Small Group Leaders


Your small group time is designed to encourage conversations between you and your children about what God is doing in them. Some children will be more responsive when they’re engaged in something artistic. Others will be more open once their bodies get moving. Choose from the options given here or use your own ideas. The Wonder Questions may be used to start conversations during any of these activities or in a quieter, more contemplative time.

Connect: Listen Up!(Optional Game: 5–10 min.) After a time of responding to God on a personal level, increase the energy by allowing time and space for children and leaders to connect with each other in a lively large-motor-skills activity. Fun and challenges foster unique opportunities for conversation and growing your faith community.

SUPPLIES (per small group)• blindfold• any random small object: perhaps a toy that the class loves

ENGAGEGather the children together, sitting in one area of the room. Ask the small group if anyone would be willing to be a brave volunteer. Once you choose someone, explain to her that she’s going to be blindfolded (or she can just keep her eyes tightly closed). Tell her that you’ll put a secret object somewhere in the room. Then, with her eyes closed, you’ll help guide her to find the object even though she can’t see. Encourage the group to play a part in cheering the volunteer. Stay by the child’s side, gently leading her. Continue the game with different children as time allows.

Lead a discussion with the children: What was it like to be blindfolded and not able to use your eyes? Was it hard or easy? Because you followed our leading, you were able to find the secret object—and you did a great job! I wonder if this is how Paul felt when he was blind. How do you think he felt when his eyes couldn’t see? (Children will answer.) God was with him. Paul just had to listen to God and follow as He led him. Then, even after Paul got his sight back, he trusted in God and followed Him wherever He led.

Create: Love PoemCreate is more than just a time to make a craft. It’s a hands-on opportunity for children to give artistic expression to what God is doing within them. What is created can then become a physical reminder of time spent responding to God.

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SUPPLIES (per table/small group)• butcher paper• tape• markers• other art supplies to decorate

PREPARECut a piece of butcher paper. Set out art supplies.

SET UPHang the sheet of butcher paper on a wall.

ENGAGEGod has so much love for us! He loves us no matter what. Let’s spend some time telling God how we feel about Him and His love. Have you ever read or heard a poem before? People write poems to help share what they think or how they feel. Sometimes the words in the songs we sing are poems. Sometimes people write poems for someone they love. Today we’re going to write a poem for God, from our hearts to God. We can work together to write a poem that tells God how much we love Him!

Let the children spend some time thinking about things they love about God, things they would like to say to Him, or how they would like to thank Him. Ask them to raise their hands if they have a line they’d like to add about God. As they share their ideas, write them on the butcher paper to form one big poem. When you’re finished constructing the poem, read it aloud for the children. After the children have heard their poem, place the paper on a table so they can draw, paint, or decorate the space around the poem. Consider hanging the poem in the room as a reminder of their love for God. If you’re unable to keep the poem in the room, place it in a Create bin and save it for the Remember and Celebrate weekend (lesson 3.13).

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Wonder QuestionsDiscuss the following questions with the children. Wonder Questions are meant to prompt further conversation about what children have been experiencing. They also invite children to ponder this truth and dwell with the wonder of God. Be sure to pause long enough after each question to allow the children time to wonder. Encourage them to share their unique perspectives with the group.

In this part of The Big God Story we heard about a man named Saul who wanted to stop the disciples from talking about Jesus. But God changed everything! Once he really knew God and His great love firsthand, Paul wanted to live each and every day serving God.

I wonder … Who does God love?I wonder … How does God show you His love?I wonder … How can you show God love?I wonder … How can you serve God?

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Bless:: 5 min.

A blessing can be a prayer of commission, a portion of Scripture, or words of encouragement and guidance. A blessing can be offered in order to ask God’s Spirit to overflow from the child’s life in such a way that blesses others, while it can also be prayed over a child for the purpose of declaring God’s protection, joy, or wisdom.

Small Group Leaders


Today, send your little ones out with a blessing by praying Scripture over them. The time of blessing is an opportunity for children to practice another physical posture of worship. Have children place their hands out in front of themselves, palms up as if cupping them together to hold water. This is a posture that demonstrates our expectancy in receiving what God has for each of us. Read the Remember Verse over the children and then close your time with a prayer of blessing. (You may choose to read through the Scripture more than once as God’s Spirit leads you.)

Children, God loves you so much. May He fill you with His love and may you share His love with the people He brings into your lives. May you serve Him with this love each day of your life.

Serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13b

Use this time to allow both volunteer leaders and parents to participate in blessing each child before they conclude their time together. Parents should be invited into the time of blessing at the end of the service and encouraged to continue to bless their children throughout the week.

The Power of Blessing

HomeFront Weekly: Be sure to send home the HomeFront Weekly for next week’s lesson! This preteaching tool for parents encourages families to spend time in God’s Word together before children arrive at church.

HomeFront Monthly: Every four weeks we highlight one of the 10 environments. For each new environment, parents should receive HomeFront Monthly. This resource gives families ideas for how to create fun, spiritually forming times in their home—setting aside a sacred space for family in the midst of their active, everyday lives!

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Inspire (for parents) WWJD? What Would Jesus Do? This catchy phrase became popular in the 90’s. WWJD was on bracelets, bumper stickers, and co-workers’ coffee mugs. It started with a youth group from the Calvary Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan. Inspired by the 1896 Charles Sheldon book, In His Steps, which asks the same question, the youth group began to apply this question to the everyday choices in their lives. I was raising my three children during the decade when WWJD became a household phrase. I must admit that as a parent it was a wonderful question to ask in numerous situations. When my children were selfish and put their own needs in front of some one else, “WWJD?” was all I would have to say and they would pause long enough to ponder if their actions and Jesus’ response matched up.

Unfortunately, I can clearly remember hearing, “Mom, Kyle’s not doing what Jesus would do!” I would have to remind my daughter at that point that most likely Jesus wouldn’t be tattling either. My daughter was missing something important. To do what Jesus would,

you need His heart, His priorities, and His attitudes. In John 13, Jesus tells us, “to love one another as I have loved you.” And, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” What did Jesus do? He did what needed to be done—He demonstrated God’s perfect love by laying down His life for us. He showed us how to love God with our whole being and to love others more than ourselves. So, What Would Jesus Do in any and all situations? He would love and He wants us to do the same.

by Debbie Guinn

© 2010 David C. Cook. TruResources are developed in partnership with ROCKHARBOR Church

and a national network of family and children’s ministry leaders. All rights reserved.

PRESCHOOL &KINDERGARTENKIDS & FAMILIES

Getting StartedScripture: Luke 10:25–37

(The Good Samaritan)Main Point: Jesus Tells Us How to Love

This resource is designed to allow your family to have time in God’s Word before your children attend church. Because God’s plan is for parents to be the spiritual nurturers of their children’s faith, we know that as you grow spiritually, your children will grow spiritually as well.

REMEMBER VERSE

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Equip (for parents)In Luke 10, a lawyer challenges Jesus with the question: What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus responds in a fashion typical of lawyers and scribes discussing points of law: “What is your reading of it?” The lawyer responds with the only possible correct answer based on an accurate interpretation of the law and quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”; and, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” When Jesus affirms his answer, the lawyer feels he must justify why his actions do not correspond with what he knows is truth. And so, he asks, “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus does not respond to this question. Instead, He tells a parable that illustrates the truth as stated in the law—what it means to love God and love others. In the illustration, a traveling man is robbed, beaten, and left on the road to die. Two men, first a priest and then a Levite (men, like the lawyer, who were well-acquainted with the law), pass the man on the road with complete disregard. At last, a Samaritan stops and shows compassion to the victimized man.This parable would have been highly controversial to first-century Israelites. Samaritans were a mixed culture—Jewish and Gentile. Therefore, this parable would have been difficult for Jesus’ audience. To consider camaraderie between Israelites and Samaritans was unthinkable. To cast the Samaritan as the hero in the story, as Jesus did, would have made His point about the nature of God’s mercy even more dramatic. Jesus was calling the Jewish people to love others radically, leaving behind their preconceived ideas and misconceptions, in order to glorify His kingdom.

Support (for parents & kids)JUST FOR FUN this week, act out the parable of the Good Samaritan. Have one person lie down pretending to be injured. Have family members walk by ignoring the injured person. Then choose someone to play the Good Samaritan and stop and help the injured person. If your family is small you can even take turns and have the same person play all three roles; the priest, the Levite, and the Good Samaritan. When you’re finished acting out this part of The Big God Story, ask your children which of the three they think did the right thing. Talk about who showed love and how they showed it.Together, read the account of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37. Discuss some ways that as a family you can show love to others. Share with your children that what they just heard from the Bible is part of The Big God Story, and they’ll hear more about in church this week. Pray and thank Jesus that He tells us how to love others.

He showed us how to love God ... and to love others more than ourselves.

Serve one another in love.

Galatians 5:13b NLT

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