FRIDAY MORNING SESSION

9.00 to 10.00 ..... Free play with toys etc.

10.00 to 10.30 ..... Worship and a short story

(YOU COULD GIVE THE MORNING TEA NOW WHILE YOU ARE READING THE STORY, IT KEEPS THE KIDS FOCUSED AND QUIET AND CAN TAKE LONGER WITH THE STORY WHILE THEY EAT) STORY - Read THE PRODIGAL SON’S JOURNEY BOARD BOOK Ask questions at the end of the story:

1. Did the life of the prodigal son go well when he followed his own plan for his life and wasted the things his father gave him?

A: Let the kids answerAsk: Why not?A: Let the kids answer and help them form the right conclusion

2. What should we do with the life that God gave us and the gifts that He gave us?

Spend it on seeking thrill and pleasures or doing what God wants us to do with our life? A: Let the children answer and interact with them about it

PRAYER: Get everyone to pray out loud after you: Father God, help me to use my life and what you gave me to follow Your plan and not just run after pleasures.

10.30 to 10.50 .... Morning tea

10.50 to 11.30 .... Teaching and craft

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

Don't Bury Your Talent

Theme: Using our God-given gifts in order to serve God and gain rewards for eternityObject: A Frisbee - please use Frisbee provided in the bagScripture:For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. Matthew 25:29 (NIV)

TEACHING TO READ TO THE KIDS

As I am sure you know, this is a Frisbee. In a few minutes, this Frisbee will help us to learn more about what God, us and what He expects from you and me.

QUICK ACTION TO DO BY THE TEACHER:Talk about how a circle has no beginning and no end.

Ask children to close their eyes while you draw a circle on a piece of paper. When they open their eyes, ask them to tell you where you started drawing the circle and where you ended. They won’t be able to say.

What about the frisbee? Show them the frisbee. Where does it start and where does it end? The obvious answer is there is no beginning and end!

Now explain this!Just like there is no beginning or ending of a circle, there is no

beginning and no ending to God. There was never a time when God

didn’t exist.

● Psalm 90:2 “From everlasting to everlasting you are God.”● Jeremiah 10:10 “He is the living God and eternal King.”● Daniel 4:3 “His kingdom is an eternal kingdom.”

God also created us in such a way that we will live for eternity, which means for ever, either in heaven or hell. Eternity is like that circle, no end. It is living forever … and ever …. and ever …. and ever …. and ever ….. and ever ….. and ever! Is there an end to eternity? NOOOO!

This morning, our Bible story is a familiar story that Jesus told. It is called the Parable of the Talents. In the Parable of the Talents, a very wealthy man was going to go on a trip. He called his three servants together and told them that he would be gone for a long time and that he was leaving them in charge of all of his wealth. He divided up his wealth and gave it to the three servants.

To the first servant, he gave five talents. Now, that might not sound like much to you, but in Jesus' day, that was a lot of money. To the second servant, he gave two talents. Not as much as the first servant

received, but still a large sum of money. To the third servant, he gave one talent. Even one talent was worth quite a lot!

The first servant took the five talents his master had given him and put it to work and earned five more talents. The second also invested his two talents wisely and earned two more talents. The third servant took his one talent and buried it in the ground for safe keeping.

When the master returned, he was very pleased when the first two servants told him that they had doubled his money. "Well done," he said. "Because you had been faithful with what I have given you, I will give you much more."

"How about you?" he asked the third servant. "What did you do with the money that I left with you?"

The third servant said to the master, "I knew that you were a hard man and I was afraid, so I went out and hid your treasure in the ground so that it would be safe. See, here it is."

The master was angry. "You are a wicked and lazy servant. You could have at least put my money in the bank where it would earn more." He then took the one talent from the lazy servant and gave it to the one who had ten talents.

In this Parable of the Talents, God is the Master and you and I are his servants. The talents that the master gave to his servants in this story was a form of money. But God has given us talents too, hasn't he? God created each of us with special gifts and He expects us to use those gifts for the purpose for which He gave them to us.

ACTION POINT:Show Frisbee

You all know what this is, it is a Frisbee. What does a Frisbee do, what did the person who made the Frisbee make it for, what is its purpose? A: To fly!It was not made to be a hat, a dinner plate or something else.

The same way, we were created for a special purpose and with special gifts for that purpose. We are not supposed to hide the gifts God gives us and do nothing with them, but we are suppose to use them to serve Him with them!

When we use our God-given talent to be all that God intended for us to be... boy, can we fly! Just like the frisbee!

God gave us one life and after that comes eternity. He gave us for this life a number of gifts which is like a limited amount of money. We can spend it wisely or we can waste it, like we read about the prodigal son.

But after this life comes eternity and eternity is for ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever.God will ask us what we have done with our gifts and if we used them for what He wanted us to do. He will reward us or punish us based on what we did with our life.

Our rewards in eternity - which is for ever - depends on how we spent our life. We only have a limited amount of life to use wisely. And we have a whole eternity to enjoy the rewards of serving God and doing His will, if we choose to follow Him.

QUESTIONS:What do you want to do with your life?What gift do you think God gave you to use in serving Him?How big is eternity?Is it worth doing what God wants with your life and not what you want in order to enjoy great rewards for eternity?

PRAYER: - get the children to pray out loud after youDear Father, help us to use the talents that you have given us to be what you intended for us to be. Help me live in obedience to You so I can have a great eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

CRAFT - FRISBEE NECKLACES

What you need:

- paper plates- scissors- colouring pencils- thread to hang the frisbee around their neck- tape or glue- images of coins and money

Draw an inner circle in the paper plates in such a way to create a frisbee like outer shell.

Cut it with scissors to resemble a round frisbee like the one you showed the kids in the lesson. Best done in advance.

Write the words: USE GOD GIVEN GIFTS on the top half circle of the paper frisbee - best done in advance

Cut the money coins and pieces (images of money below to reproduce and cut in advance) - and get the kids to tape them or glue them to the paper frisbee in the second lower circle and also colour it where they want to.

Cut some strings of thread or string - in advance - and then hang the frisbee around the children’s neck

NOTE - COLOURING PAGES:

There are colouring pages below you can also reproduce.

11.30 to 12.15 ... Outdoor play - Use Frisbee for a game just to reinforce the lesson ( free play and craft if weather not good)

CRAFT IF WEATHER IS NOT GOOD

If you have loom bands, it could be a good time for that and relate to how the loom bands are a circle and circle connected to circle and to circle speaks of eternity.

Otherwise one of these 2 crafts:

An ‘ETERNITY’ Jesus and Me craft

You can see the hand draft I have done which is in the blue paper bag.

You need:- A4 light coloured sheet of paper- white paper with the word ‘Eternity’ written on it and cut out around

the word- glue- cut out of Jesus image- cut out of ‘me’ image - 2 paddle sticks per child- sticky tape- colouring pencils

Instructions:

- on the sheet of paper glue the Eternity cut out at the bottom of the page

- haf way on the sheet from the top to the Eternity cut out make 2 small cuts so a paddle stick can fit through and can move around a bit. The holes need to be situated in such a way that Jesus is right next to the ‘me’ cutout, almost like walking hand in hand

- colour Jesus cut out and the ‘me’ cut out - there is a boy and a girl, so give a girl to a girl and a boy to a boy

- on the back of the Jesus and ‘me’ cut out sticky tape a paddle stick a bit lower than the top of the stick so the image can fit through the hole in the sheet and be manipulated by hand

- put the paddle sticks through the 2 holes near each other- now have fun moving the sticks and having Jesus and you walk

together to express what eternity or eternal life is like - relationship with Jesus!

Images are below:

12.15 to 12. 45 ...lunch

12.45 to 1.00 ....story

PRECIOUS GIFT OF TIMEAn Illustration to demonstrate how quickly time passes.

TOPICS:Accountability, Choices, Godliness, Pleasing God

MATERIALS:75 coins

Clear plastic sandwich bag

DURATION:Approximately 10 minutes

PREPARATION:Before class obtain 75 coins and place them into the clear plastic sandwich bag.

WHAT YOU WILL SAY:(Show the bag of coins to the children) Guess how many coins are in this bag. (If no one guesses the correct number, tell the students that the bag contains 75 coins.)

These coins have some monetary value, but today we are going to use the coins to illustrate the passage of time.

An average person, in moderately good health, can normally live to be at least 75 years old. Many people can live quite a bit longer than this, but we will use 75 years as an average life span.

For each year we live, we will take one coin out of the bag. There are a limited number of coins in this bag, just as we will have a limited amount of time here on earth. None of us know exactly how long we will remain in our earthly bodies. During our time here on Earth we can choose to use the time we have to follow God and lead lives that are pleasing to God or we can choose to lead lives that sadden God.

Our earthly life will last a short time, whereas our spiritual life will last for eternity. Eternity is forever and without end. We could fill this room from top to bottom with bags containing 75 coins and this would not represent even a dot on the timeline of eternity. We could fill this entire building with bags containing 75 coins and this would still not represent even a dot on the timeline of eternity.

(Read 1 Peter 1:23-25.) Yes, our earthly lives are like blades of grass here today and gone tomorrow.

We can be wise and use the years that we have here on earth to live a life that is pleasing to God and store for ourselves treasure in Heaven that will last forever. (Read Matthew 6:19-20) Or, lead our lives selfishly and reject God; only to spend eternity separated from Him. (Read Matthew 7:22-23)

How you spend the years God has given you is up to you, but it would be foolish to misuse our time here on Earth. We do not want to be separated from God for eternity.

1.00 to 1.30 .... Group games

GET READY FOR ETERNITY TAG GAME:Best done outside where there is more space. It it a basic tag game where it starts with one child who chases all the children and when he gets to one, he tags him and says: GET READY FOR ETERNITY. Then the second child races the whole group and does the same, etc.

THE TEMPTOR AND THE TEMPTED GAME:You can say: Not only can we get ready for eternity, but we can help each other and others to stay away from the temptor (Satan) so we can get ready to be with Jesus for eternity.You need one child to be the ‘tempted one’ and another to be the ‘temptor’. The object of the game is to protect the ‘tempted one’ from the ‘temptor’.

The other kids have to lock-arms and form a circle around the ‘tempted one’ in order to protect him, while facing the ‘temptor’.The Temptor tries to tag the child in the center by reaching through the circle. Kids in the circle can maneuver to keep the Temptor out, but they must stay locked arm-in-arm. When the Tempted gets tagged, new kids get to be the Tempted and the Temptor.

FAITH TRUST WALK GAME:

Preparation: - a scarf to blindfold with - see in the blue paper bag- Chairs- 2 medals - see in blue paper bag

How to Play the Faith Trust Walk Game:1. Arrange the chairs like an obstacle course within the room.

2. Explain that the object of the game is to lead a blindfolded person to the end of the room using only their voices. The ‘voice’ person can walk alongside the blindfolded person and provide directions. If the blindfolded person touches or runs into a chair, then the person takes off his or her blindfold and is out for the round.

3. Spin the blindfolded person two or three times and start the game. Have the ‘voice’ person give instructions how to avoid the chairs and get to the end of the room. Whoever gets to the end of the room without being touching or running into a chair gets to wear the medal till the next person wins.

1.30 to 2.15 .... Teaching and craft

MOSES AND HIS CHOICESBased on Hebrews 11: 24-25:Moses grew up and became a man. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose not to enjoy the pleasures of sin that last such a short time. Instead, he chose to suffer with God’s people. He did this

because he had faith. He thought it was better to suffer for the Messiah than to have all the treasures of Egypt. He was waiting for the reward that God would give him.

Moses was born to a mother from Israel. Pharaoh had all Israeli people as slaves and decided to kill all their babies. But Moses’s mother hid Moses in a basket made of reeds and let him float inside it on the water, hoping for a miracle from God.

Pharaoh’s daughter heard the sound of a crying baby and found Moses in the basket. He asked Moses’s mum to be her nanny and look after Moses till he grew up. Moses’ mum taught him about God and how he has a plan for his life.

As Moses grew up, he had everything he wanted. He was Paraoh’s daughter’s adopted son, he could have anything he wanted, he was famous, he had money, he could have any pleasure he wanted in life.

Some sins we make can be very pleasurable, but that pleasure does not last forever. In the end the sin will bite us and affect our life, just like it happened with the prodigal son. He had pleasure for a while wasting his money on sinful pleasures, but in the end he ended up poor and homeless.

Just like that, sin can give us some pleasure for a while, but after that, it will harm us. God in the Bible told us how He expects us to live and when we follow our own way, because we enjoy it, even when we know it’s against God’s way, we might find pleasure in that sin for a while, but in the end we will suffer because of that sin.

Have you heard of the Christian singer, Colin Buchanan? He said in a song (teacher, please try to enact this by looking mean and looking for a prey and at ‘SNAP’ make with both hands the hand of a crocodile mouth which suddenly closes):SIN IS LIKE A GREAT BIG CROCODILESIN IS A DANGEROUS TRAPSIN IS LIKE A GREAT BIG CROCODILEALL OF A SUDDEN ….. SNAP!!

But when Moses grew, he decided that he wanted to give his life to what really matters for eternity, to do the will of God here on the earth. So he decided he will not go after the pleasures of sin, but after God’s will for his life. He knew that sin in this life only gives you pleasure for a while and then

it hurts you. He also knew a great reward will be waiting for him in heaven which he can enjoy for eternity!

God spoke to him from a burning bush and told him what to do with his life. Moses obeyed. God can also tell you what He wants you to do with your life, if you have listening ears. You need to ask God what His will is for your life and you need to listen quietly to hear His response to your question. You need to put your listening ears on, and we will make some today.

If you do so, you can avoid wasting your life like the prodigal son, you can use your life and the talents and gifts God gave you well and like Moses, you can get a great reward in heaven which you can enjoy for ever, for eternity!

CRAFTMOSES AND YOUR CHOICES - see draft made on white sheet of paper in the blue paper bag

What you need:- a A4 light coloured sheet of paper- the cut out of the image of Moses by the burning bush- the cut out of the phrases ‘THE PLEASURES OF SIN’ AND ‘DOING THE

WILL OF GOD’ just typed on normal paper and cut up- a small white round piece of paper the size of the face of Moses in the

image to cover the face of Moses with it- glue- colouring pencils- the stamper pad provided in the blue paper bag- wet wipes, in the paper bag

Instructions:- take the A4 light coloured sheet of paper and use it in landscape

position- glue the image of Moses by the burning bush on the right side of the

sheet- draw 2 paths on each piece of paper like in a crossroads intersection

starting at Moses, like a V with 2 different paths to take- Glue the cut out ‘The pleasures of sin’ on the path below and ‘Doing

the will of God’ on the path above

- take the round circle cut out and paste it over the face of Moses- write the child’s name inside the circle- tell the child that now this is about what choice he will make, so ask

him which path does he want to take in life, the one with doing the will of God or the one below. I think all will answer the one above, but if any say the one below. Tell them to think more about it and live it at that.

- if they choose the path above, then tell them to mark using their fingers and the stamper pad, like footprints on the page showing the path they decided to take

2.15 to 2.30 ... Prayer timeTEACHER ACTION POINT:

- ideally if you can, put on the youtube song of Colin Buchanan called ‘Peace with God’ from http://dnstube.tk/watch.php/jPMwpvJ3loU, at least on an Iphone with external speaker or a laptop or if internet works through the TV

- then invite the children who want to make peace with God their treasure to raise their hands and lead them in prayer to receive Jesus as their Lord and saviour

2.30 to 3.00 .... Afternoon tea

3.00 programme finishes but children are able to stay until 5 pm so this time will be used for free play ( indoors and outdoors) and crafts / movie

CRAFT - LISTENING EARS

It has to look like this:

Template is below. - piece of paper with the words typed ‘My Listening Ears!’ cut out- - some carton to make a crown like around their head and a stapler to

staple it together. - the template below- glue

MOVIE

Use CHERUB WINGS- MODLY GOLD - EPISODE 7

Select English, then Scenes and start from 3rd scene, otherwise it gets stuck. I chose this DVD cause the message in it is in line with today’s teachings.

+