TODAY S SUGGESTED SCHEDULE

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T O D A Y ’ S B I B L E S T O R Y A Matter of Trust Naaman and Elisha’s Servant

2 Kings 5

T O D A Y ’ S B O T T O M L I N E When you’re not truthful,

you lose trust.

MONTHLY MEMORY VERSE Anyone who lives without blame walks safely.

But anyone who takes a crooked path will get caught.

Proverbs 10:9, NIrV

M O N T H LY L I F E A P P Integrity—Choosing to be truthful

in whatever you say and do

B A S I C T R U T H

I need to make the wise choice.

SMALL GROUP

SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interaction

Early Arriver Opening Activity

LARGE GROUP

STORY:Communicating God’s truth in engaging ways WORSHIP:Inviting people to respond to God

Welcome/Opener Worship Bible Story Bottom Line Prayer Closer

SMALL GROUP

GROUPS:Creating a safe place to connect

Bible Story Review: Switch Places! Application Activity: Honest Scales

Memory Verse Activity: Two Paths Diverged Prayer Activity: Pray and Dismiss

HOME: Prompting action beyond the experience

GodTime Devotional for Kids Studio252.tv

Parent Cue App

25

M I N

35

M I N

15

M I N

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2 Kings 5

you lose trust.

Proverbs 10:9, NIrV

I need to make the wise choice. 15 MINUTES

Before kids arrive, take a few moments to pray for them. Pray specifically for the kids who are currently in situations of dishonesty. Ask God to give them the courage to face the lies they’ve told, tell the full truth, and ask for forgiveness. Ask God to give those kids the strength and humility to rebuild the trust they’ve lost. For other kids, pray that God would use today’s content and conversation to encourage them not just to be honest, but to work toward honesty in everything they do.

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_{EARLY ARRIVER}

W H AT Y O U N E E D : Playing cards or dominoes W H AT Y O U D O :

• •

Welcome kids to small group.

Challenge kids to build a house of playing cards or line up dominoes all along your small group space.

• As kids build and rebuild, talk about how one small move can destroy their whole project.

M A D E T O E X P L O R E

an activity that extends learning through hands-on experimentation

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2 Kings 5

you lose trust.

Proverbs 10:9, NIrV

I need to make the wise choice. 15 MINUTES

2 . O P E N I N G A C T I V I T Y

W H AT Y O U N E E D : No supplies needed

W H AT Y O U D O :

• Ask the kids to pair up, and try to make sure the pairs are roughly the same age.

• The kid in each pair whose birthday is the closest to today will be Player A, and the other is Player B.

• Call out an action for Player A to begin.

• Player B must stand right across from them and mirror their actions. Neither kid is allowed to speak.

• After pairs seem in sync, call out a different action. This time, Player B will begin, and Player A will be the mirror.

• Some ideas: tossing pizza dough, getting into a snowsuit, playing basketball, washing a car, packing a suitcase, etc.

• Play as many rounds as time allows.

W H AT Y O U S AY:

“After a while, you were able to figure out what your partner was going to do. As the game went on, you built trust together. Being able to count on someone to do what they should do means you can trust them. [Transition] Let’s go

to Large Group to see how important it is that we can be someone our friends and family can trust.”

Lead your group to the Large Group area.

M A D E T O M O V E

an activity that increases the oxygen in the brain and taps into the energy

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2 Kings 5

you lose trust.

Proverbs 10:9, NIrV

25 MINUTES

M A D E T O I M A G I N E

an activity that promotes empathy and facilitates concrete application through

role-play and reenactment

1 .

SWITCH PLACES!

[ TA L K A B O U T G O D | B I B L E S T O RY R E V I E W ]

W H AT Y O U N E E D : “Switch Places Masks” and “Switch

Places Script” Activity Pages

• Divide your group into teams of three.

ú If your group has any kids leftover after making groups of three, you can make them “directors” of a group.

• Give each group a set of masks (one Naaman, one Elisha, and one Gehazi). Let kids decide within their groups which character they will play first. • As you read the “Switch Places Script,” prompt the kids to act the way the

character on their masks is acting in the script.

• Whenever the script calls for kids to “Switch Places!”, each group must swap masks around within their group so everyone plays a different character. • If you have “directors” in the groups, they can either take a character when

called to switch places, or they can help direct the action during the next scene. • Read until the end of the story.

• If time allows, you can read it again and let kids keep switching characters.

Note: You may want to give each kid a squirt of hand sanitizer before starting this activity, since they’ll be sharing materials. Also, remind them not to touch the masks to their faces, but rather just hold them in front of themselves.

“Did anyone have a hard time switching characters all the time? Prophet, military hero, servant, back to prophet; it’s a little tiring.

“Gehazi’s character was especially tricky, depending on where we were in the story. He was untrustworthy. He lied to Naaman, and he lied to Elisha. He was trying to get something for himself by being sneaky. How did that work out for him? (Elisha found out. He got a disease.)

“Gehazi’s story reminds us that when you’re not truthful, you lose trust. Elisha could never trust again that Gehazi would deliver messages from God just the way Elisha said them. He couldn’t trust that Gehazi wouldn’t make bad decisions when he got greedy. By those small lies, Gehazi ruined his own future with Elisha. “Sometimes we’re all tempted to be untruthful. When is a time that you were tempted to say something that wasn’t true, so you could get something cool or not get into trouble? (telling the server it’s your birthday to get free cake; telling your parents you got a good grade on a failing test; telling one parent the other one said yes to a treat or a sleepover)

“The next time that happens, think about the consequences and remember that

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2 Kings 5

you lose trust.

Proverbs 10:9, NIrV

25 MINUTES

M A D E T O E X P L O R E

and discovery

* 2 . H O N E S T S C A L E S

[ L I V E F O R G O D | A P P L I C AT I O N A C T I V I T Y ]

W H AT Y O U N E E D : “Honest Scales Diagram” and “Honest

Scales Scenario Cards,” plastic hangers, gift bags, rulers, beads or beans, and bowls

• Divide your group into two teams.

• If the teams are uneven, assign an older kid to be a “Scale Keeper.”

• If there is no extra kid, ask a teen volunteer or SGL assistant to step in and help. • Line the teams up on one side of the room, and place a deck of shuffled

“Honest Scales Scenario Cards” at their feet.

• The Scale Keeper stands at the other side of the room with the bowls of beans (or items of choice) at their feet.

• Using the “Honest Scales Diagram,” set up the scales for the Scale Keeper to hold.

ú The Scale Keeper holds a ruler in either hand, straight out to the side. ú Hang a plastic hanger on each ruler.

ú Hang a gift bag on either side of the hanger, using the “shoulder notches” to hold them in place.

ú Make sure each hanger has one bag labeled “honest” and one bag labeled “dishonest.”

• To play the game, each kid will take a card and run down to the Scale Keeper. • The kid reads their card out loud then puts the required number of beans

into the designated bag.

• Be ready to help younger kids read out loud. • Play until all the cards are finished.

• Observe whether or not each team’s scales are balanced. • Ask: Which end is heavier?

“It was hard to balance our scales in this game! For every dishonest choice, you needed to put in a LOT more things in the honest bag to try to even it all out. Life feels like that, doesn’t it?

[Make It Personal] (Share a time when you had to build back trust after a lie. Maybe you had to earn your parents’ trust after a fender-bender you tried to hide, or you had to work to fix a friendship that you’d broken by gossip, or you got in trouble at school for cheating on a test and had to be watched carefully for the rest of the year. Losing trust is awful and it takes a long time to build it up again.)

“When you’re not truthful, you lose trust. The more things you do that are dishonest, the harder you have to work to show that you’re trustworthy again and have others trust you. It’s better to show integrity right from the start, even if it means you might get in trouble or you might not get that cool thing you wanted.”

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25 MINUTES

**( * 2 . H O N E S T S C A L E S , C O N T I N U E D )**

Optional Discussion Questions for Older Kids

If you lead 4th, 5th, or 6th graders, consider asking these discussion questions:

• Has someone ever lost your trust by lying to you? What did that feel like? How did they gain your trust again? • Have you ever lost someone’s trust? Your parents’? A teacher’s? What is that like? How did you, or could you,

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2 Kings 5

you lose trust.

Proverbs 10:9, NIrV

25 MINUTES

M A D E T O M O V E

an activity that increases the oxygen in the brain and taps into the energy

in the body

3 . T W O PAT H S D I V E R G E D

[ H E A R F R O M G O D | M E M O R Y V E R S E A C T I V I T Y ]

W H AT Y O U N E E D : Masking tape paths, cotton balls,

straws, Bibles

• Divide your group into two teams. Try to mix them up from the teams in “Honest Scales.”

• Read Proverbs 10:9 out loud and tell kids you’re going to play a game that shows just how much better that straight path is than the crooked one! • Line the teams up at one end of the masking tape paths.

• At the other end of the paths, designate a spot for each team to deposit their cotton balls. (You can mark this with masking tape to make it clear.) • Set a large pile of cotton balls by each team, making sure each team has the

same amount.

• Give everyone their own straw.

• The first kid in each line will get on their knees and blow a cotton ball along the masking tape path to the end.

• Choose one kid to start on the straight path, and the other kid starts on the crooked path.

• The kids blow their cotton balls along the paths to the end, then put the balls in their team’s designated spot.

• Then the kids run back to their team.

• The teams MUST alternate the paths they blow the cotton balls along. ú For the team that started on the straight path, the second kid must now

take the crooked path.

ú The third will take the straight path, and so on.

• It’s okay for multiple kids to be working on the same path, just make sure they don’t pile in and crowd each other.

• If the cotton ball blows off the path, the kid must retrieve the cotton ball and place it back on the spot of the path where it blew off.

• The first team to have all their cotton balls on the other end of the paths, wins.

“Which path was fastest to move your cotton ball along? (Allow for answers.) Yes, the straight path! With the crooked path, it took a lot more work to get to where we wanted.

“We have seen today that when you’re not truthful, you lose trust. You end up on that crooked path, trying to gain back your relationships and work to show you can be trusted again. Building friendships, working hard at school, showing your parents that you can be responsible, all of those things end up taking twice as long if you’re not truthful and trustworthy—if you don’t show integrity in what you say and do.

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25 MINUTES

( 3 . T W O PAT H S D I V E R G E D , C O N T I N U E D )

“How can you stay on that straight path when you’re tempted to be dishonest?” (think of the consequences of your actions, remember this verse, ask God for help, ask your parents or teacher for help)

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2 Kings 5

you lose trust.

Proverbs 10:9, NIrV

25 MINUTES

M A D E T O E X P L O R E

and discovery

4 . P R AY A N D D I S M I S S

[ P R AY T O G O D | P R AY E R A C T I V I T Y ]

W H AT Y O U N E E D : Quarters, (optional) paper plates W H AT Y O U D O :

• Show kids how to spin a quarter on its edge.

• Use the paper plates if you don’t have a smooth surface in your small group area.

• After kids have had a chance to practice for a while, ask them to lay their quarters flat.

“These quarters spin because they are perfectly balanced—no side is heavier than the other. The quarter is balanced by the even force of your fingers on the balanced coin along the even surface of the table. If one of these was out of balance—the table was bumpy, you spun one finger too fast, or the coin was damaged in some way—it would not spin. If you tell just one lie, or cheat on just one test, or act two-faced around just one friend, you can end up out of balance, and =when you’re not truthful, you lose trust. Let’s pray that God will help us keep our lives balanced on integrity and following Him.

“Dear God, thank You for always being in balance. We can trust You, no matter what. Please help us show integrity and be trustworthy friends, family members, teammates, and students. Amen.”