Unit 2 Summary:

HeroWorship

We all have heroes we look up to in life, and it’s only natural that we want to be just like them. In this superhero-themed

unit, kids will discover that Jesus is the ultimate hero and that we can become more like Him by doing the things He did. Each week in this Hero Worship series, we’re going to look at one part of our hero Jesus’ life so that we can copy it. As we do, we will discover that doing this helps us experience more of Jesus in our everyday lives.

We will spend the first three weeks of this unit working on the Life Shape of the Triangle and see how Jesus had perfectly balanced relationships of Up, In, and Out. Then we’ll spend a week on the Semi-Circle, which will help us discover how Jesus worked from a healthy place of rest. Finally, we’ll check out the ultimate super-hero team — the church — and learn how each of us can play our own special part.

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HERO WORSHIP: LESSON 8 (Large Group)

Key Concept: God wants us to work from rest, not rest from work.

Bible Story: Jesus invites the disciples to rest. (Mark 6:31-32)

Bible Verse: I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. — John 15:5

3DM Principle: The Semicircle

Large Group Overview: Kids will brainstorm examples of work and rest and learn the importance of having a healthy work and rest rhythm.

Huddle Overview: Kids will play a game called Supercharged that will introduce them to the Semicircle Life Shape and will be challenged to examine their own balance of rest and work.

Lesson Outline

Lesson Set Up Welcome and intro (5 min)

Game Robot Recharge (5 min)

Bible Story The vine and the branches (12 min)

Application Bible verse and wrap up (5 min)

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Lesson Set Up

For the past several weeks, we’ve been talking about heroes. We have discovered that of all the greatest heroes in the world, one hero is way more awesome than the rest. Who is the most amazing hero of all? (Kids answer.) It’s Jesus, because He is the incredible Son of God who came into the world to rescue us and to help us to do heroic things like He does as we follow Him.

We all want to be like our heroes. So, today we’re going to discover another huge thing we can do if we’re going to be like our hero Jesus. Heroes charge up before they charge out. To show you what I mean we’re going to play a game called Robot Recharge.

Hero Worship Challenge: Robot Recharge

The purpose of this game is to introduce the idea of charging your batteries before you can move.

Instructions

How to Play:

Choose four kids to be the “robot” contestants. The robots will stand on one side of the teaching area, and the teacher will stand on the opposite side. When the teacher plays the robot music, kids will move like robots toward the teacher. When the teacher stops the music, kids must freeze and recharge their batteries. Anyone who keeps moving after the music has stopped is out and must sit down. The teacher then starts the music again and play continues until one of the robots reaches the teacher or until everyone is out.

Supplies:

6 Funky “robot” music. The song “Axel F” from the Crazy Frog “Crazy Hits” CD (available on iTunes) is ideal, but any fun, techno music will work.

6 Prize for the winning robot. If you use candy, be conscious of potential food allergies.

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How many of you guys have ever seen a dance called the robot? To get us ready to play this game, I’m going to need all of you to show me your best robot dance as I play some robot music.

Play funky dance music. Demonstrate to kids how to do the robot dance or bring up another adult leader to demonstrate. Encourage kids to dance along. Have fun with this.

Now that I see you’re all so good at this, I’m going to need four contestants to come up and be my robots. You’ll stand on one side of the teaching area. I’ll stand way over here on the other side. When I play the funky dance music, your job is to walk toward me like a robot. However, when I stop the music you must freeze and recharge your batteries. That means you have to totally stop. If you keep moving after the music stops, you are out. You have to stay totally frozen until the music starts again. The first robot to reach me wins the game.

Choose four contestants and bring them up to play. On one of the times you freeze the robots, leave the music off for a longer period of time (about 20 seconds) to show them how hard it is to stay still. Give the winner a prize.

Great job, robots. Before you sit down, I have a question for you. When you were playing this game, which was easier — moving or freezing? (Kids answer.) It was natural to keep moving but hard to stop and recharge your batteries. What about that time I stopped the music for a long time? Was it hard to hold still? (Kids answer.) Well, all of you did awesome with it. Thanks for playing. Let’s give our robots a big hand.

Contestants return to their seats.

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Bible Story

The teaching area should be set up with a white board, dry erase markers, and a stool with a handheld video game on it.

I don’t know about you guys, but sometimes, just like our robot friends up here, it’s hard for me to stop and recharge my batteries. How many of you think you have a busy week? Most of us do. Let’s make a list on the white board of some of the things you guys do during a typical week.

Take suggestions from the audience. Suggest any answers that may be missing such as homework, chores, sports practices or dance or band rehearsals, playing video games, watching movies, brushing teeth, taking baths, etc.

Wow, you guys do a ton of stuff. Just looking at this list makes me tired. Here’s the thing: God made us to do stuff. He made us to be active and to work with our hands and our brains. But he also made us to rest.

I’m not just talking about sleep, although that’s an important part of it. I’m also talking about

spending time with God or playing a game or drawing a picture or hanging out with a few

friends — whatever it is you do that recharges your batteries and fills you up.

Our hero Jesus had to deal with this too. There was a time when Jesus sent His friends out to do some pretty cool stuff. They were telling people about God, healing people who were sick, and even kicking demons out of people. They were so excited that when they came to Jesus, they wanted to tell Him all about what they had done.

But check this out. The Bible says, “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” (Mark 6:31-32)

Jesus cared more about His friends than about the good things they’d done. He knew it was just as important for them to rest and eat and recharge as it was to go out and do more stuff for God. In fact, at that moment resting and eating was way more important.

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It’s like this. (Show kids handheld video game such as a Nintendo DS or another current game system they would know. Make sure it’s one that is rechargeable.) How many of you guys can tell me what this is? What do you guys like to do on this? (Take answers.) Right, play games. Imagine that you’re going on a long car ride with your family, and your mom bought you a brand new game to play just for that trip. You’ve been waiting for months to get that game. You can’t wait to play it. But then, just as you pull out of the driveway, you try to turn your game system on, and it’s totally dead. Guess what you forgot to do? (Take answers.) That’s right, you forgot to charge it.

What happens if you forget to charge it? (Take answers.) It runs out of juice. If you don’t have a car charger, your game system isn’t good for anything on that road trip. It’s totally useless, and you don’t get to play your game. What a bummer!

Now imagine another situation. What if you were so paranoid that your DS was going to run out of power that you constantly kept it on the charger and never played it? That would be crazy! What good is a game system that you never get to play? It’s made for action, not for just sitting around on a charger all day long.

It’s made to charge and then play. Charge and then play. Charge and then play.

And so are you.

God designed you to charge up your batteries and then to use that energy to go out and do great things. I’m not only talking about charging up your bodies with sleep and food, but also charging up your hearts by hanging out with God and charging up your mind and your emotions just by stopping and doing something fun.

Go back to the whiteboard list.

Let’s look back at all of this stuff that keeps us so busy. If we don’t take time to charge our batteries first, when we go to do all of this, we’ll run out of juice. How do you act when you get tired or cranky or stressed? (Take answers.) In these situations, we’re usually not very much fun to be around. That means we’re not having very much fun either.

God didn’t make us to be stressed out or worried. He made us to enjoy this awesome life He has given us.

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Application / Wrap Up

Jesus is the ultimate hero, and if we’re going to be like our hero Jesus, we need to do the things that Jesus did. That means we need to make sure our batteries are charged before we go out and do the big things with God.

I’m going to give you a couple of examples of some kids like you. I want you tell me which phrase — full of rest or full of stress — describes them better.

Read the following situations to the kids, inviting them to respond aloud to each one.

Situation #1

Jenna loves helping her elderly neighbor take care of her yard. So far this week Jenna has weeded her neighbor’s garden, planted new flowers, put on fertilizer, and watered the plants every day. It was fun at first, but now she’s getting kind of sick of it. She was so tired from working all week that she actually fell asleep in class at school. What is she full of rest or full of stress? Full of stress

Situation #2

Brady is a soccer nut. He absolutely loves playing and sees it as a chance to show people that God loves them by being a good sport and by encouraging his team. Even though his team plays a lot of games and has a lot of practices, Brady makes sure he takes some down time every day just do some reading and hang out with God. He also makes sure he eats a good meal before he plays. What is he — full of rest of full of stress? Full of rest

Situation #3

Rachel used to love to perform. She’s in a choir at church and the drama club at school, and she plays the clarinet in the school band. She’s auditioning for a big part in for the community theater Christmas play, too. She’s not really sure how she’s going to fit it all in, and she’s barely getting her homework done. She has been staying up so late trying to memorize her lines that she thinks she’s getting sick. It seems like she never has time just to hang out with her friends. What is she — full of rest or full of stress? Full of stress

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Situation #4

There’s a kid sitting here today, and it’s you. When you think about your week and all you’re doing, which one do you think you are — full of rest or full of stress?

If you’re full of rest, that’s great. Now it’s time to ask how God wants to use that energy you have to do some good things with Him. If you’re full of stress, maybe it’s time to cut some stuff out of your day so that can rest up and have more fun with God.

In our Bible verse today Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Jesus is saying he’s like a vine that pumps all the food out to branches on a plant. If a branch gets broken off the vine, it’s just going to die. It’s definitely not going to grow grapes or pumpkins.

Jesus said that when we take time to recharge our batteries, we are staying connected to Him, our power cord. And as long as we’re connected with Him, God can do amazing things through us.

Let’s pray.

Prayer

God, thank You for caring more about us than about anything we could ever do for You. I pray that all of us here today would take time to rest with You. I also pray that if there are any kids here today who need to give up some activities to free up their week that you tell them and help them have the courage to do it.

Amen

HERO WORSHIP: LESSON 8 (Huddle)

Key Concept: God wants us to work from rest, not rest from work.

Bible Story: Jesus invites the disciples to rest. (Mark 6:31-32)

Bible Verse: I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. — John 15:5

3DM Principle: The Semicircle

Large Group Overview: Kids will brainstorm examples of work and rest and learn the importance of having a healthy work and rest rhythm.

Huddle Overview: Kids will play a game called Supercharged that will introduce them to the Semicircle Life Shape and will be challenged to examine their own balance of rest and work.

Supplies

6 Piece of paper and writing utensil for leader 6 Supercharged Game Board (1 per group)6 Game tokens (2 per group). These can be any kind of game pawns,

checkers, coins, etc.6 Six-sided die 6 Supercharged Cards (2 per group) 6 Work/Rest Cards (1 set per group)

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Lesson Outline

Welcome / Review Questions to review lesson (5 min)

Activity Supercharged (12 min)

Huddle Discussion (5 min)

Bible Verse John 15:5 (5 min)

Prayer (5 min)

Welcome / Large Group Review

Gather kids in a circle either on the floor or around a table. You’ll need a piece of paper and something to write with.

Welcome to huddle time. In our huddle we’re going to have a lot of fun unpacking what God has been saying to us in our large group time.

Today, we’ve been talking about working and resting.

6 What are things that you do that keep you busy? Make a two-column list on a piece of paper. Write these suggestions down on the right hand side.

6 What are ways we can recharge our batteries? Write these suggestions in the left-hand column. Save this list for the huddle discussion at the end of the lesson.

6 When the disciples came to Jesus to tell Him all of the amazing things they had done for God, what did Jesus tell them they needed to do? Go with Him to a quiet place to eat and rest.

6 What happens if you don’t charge up your video game before you try to play it? It runs out of batteries and you can’t play it.

6 How do you feel if you don’t you don’t get enough sleep or don’t take time to just relax?

6 What would happen if all you did was rest but never worked?

To be like our hero Jesus, we have to do the things Jesus did. Jesus rested then worked. Jesus always made time to rest and charge up His batteries before He went out and did amazing things with God.

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Huddle Activity: Supercharged!

The purpose of this activity is to help kids think about the rhythm of work and rest using fun, superhero-themed examples. The game board is shaped like a semicircle to introduce kids to the Life Shape concept you will help them unpack in the next activity.

How It Works:

Divide kids into two teams. Each team will have a superhero token they will place on the game board. On a team’s turn, someone from the team will roll the die and move the team’s token. If the token lands on a work/rest space, the roller must draw a card, read it aloud to the group, and do whatever the card says. Each team starts on the city space. The first team to travel to the secret headquarters space, collect a Supercharged Card, and return to the city wins the game.

Supplies:

6 Supercharged Game Board (1 per group)

6 Game tokens (2 per group). These can be any kind of game pawns, checkers, coins, etc.

6 Six-sided die (1 per group)

6 Work/Rest Cards (1 set per group)

6 Supercharged Card (2 per group)

Place the game board and game supplies in the middle of your circle.

Today we’re going to play a game called Supercharged. Here’s how it works: You guys are superheroes working at the city newspaper under a secret identity. That means you’re just dressed like a normal person. You don’t have your costumes or any of your superhero stuff. Suddenly everyone in the newspaper starts freaking out because they heard your archenemy, Professor Power Drain, is trying to take over the city. Only a superhero like you can stop him. The only problem is you just got done fighting a mutant alien lobster, and you’re really tired. So you have to go to secret headquarters, get your costume, supercharge your powers, and then come back to fight Professor Power Drain.

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We’re going to divide our group into two teams. Each team gets a token on the game board. You will start at the city and try to go around the semicircle to the secret headquarters. When you get there, you will get supercharged, and I’ll give your team a supercharged card. Then you have to return to the city.

When it’s your team’s turn, someone from your team will roll the dice and move the token. If you land on a Work/Rest space, you have to draw a card and do what it says.

6 Professor Power Drain is on the loose and time is running out. It’s time to get supercharged!

Have kids take turns playing the game until one team reaches their secret headquarters, gets a Supercharged Card, and returns to the city square. When each team reaches the secret headquarters, award a Supercharged Card. Tell the team, “You just got supercharged! You’re all rested up and ready for action!” Play until the first team returns to the city. Tell that team, “You did it! Because you took time to charge up your powers, you were able to defeat Professor Power Drain and win the game.”

Work/Rest Cards

You stayed up all night playing video games with Captain Commando. You didn’t get enough rest. Go back two spaces.

You were so busy fighting crime that you forgot to eat a good breakfast. You’re tired and cranky. Lose a turn.

You slept too much last night. Now you feel kind of lazy. You figure someone else can go fight Professor Power Drain. You just want to watch TV. Go back one space.

You’re so busy adding new gadgets to your super-mobile that you don’t take time to hang out with God. Go back three spaces.

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You decide to stop and enjoy a super snack. Move forward two spaces.

You just got a text from the League of Heroes. They want you to join their team. You’re already a member of the Super Squad so you wisely tell them you don’t want to be too busy. Move forward one space.

The journey back to your headquarters is taking so long that you’re getting sleepy. You stop for a short power nap so you’ll be at your best for the rest of the trip. Move forward one space.

You get a distress call from the coast guard that the mutant alien lobster has escaped from the net you caught him in. They ask if you can catch him again or if they should call Meteor Man. You say you can handle it and take on Professor Power Drain even though you know you don’t have time for both. Go back two spaces.

You notice the super-mobile is running low on gas. You might be able to make it your headquarters, but you pull over and gas up just in case. Move forward one space.

You stop for a picnic lunch and decide to take a few minutes to read your favorite magazine Hero Weekly. You totally lose track of time, and the next thing you know, a couple of hours have passed. Too much rest. Lose a turn.

You remember that you didn’t finish your Hero School homework that’s due tomorrow. You figure you can do it while you’re driving your super-mobile. You crash into a tree because you’re trying to do too much at once. Lose a turn.

This whole Professor Power Drain thing is really stressing you out. Then you remember that you haven’t taken any time to pray today. You pull over and spend some time talking to God. You feel a lot better and are ready to go. Move forward two spaces.

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Huddle Discussion

Great job on the Supercharged game! That was a lot of fun, but really, we face the same kinds of challenges in our lives every day. God has made us to rest or charge up before we spring into action with Him.

You’ll notice our game board has a special shape to it. Does anyone know what this shape is called?

Kids answer.

It’s a semicircle. We’re going to use the semicircle not only to remind us of a city and secret headquarters but more importantly to remind us of work and rest.

Write WORK beside the city and REST by the headquarters.

Just like a superhero that has to charge up at her secret headquarters before she can fight a villain, we have to get charged up by resting and spending time with God before we go serve people or do the things that keep us busy.

If we spend all of our time busy, we’ll crash. But if we spend all of our time resting, we’ll miss out on the adventure God wants us to experience. So at different times, God wants us to do some of both work and rest.

Imagine that you’re looking at the side of a swing set and someone is swinging back and forth, back and forth. If we push ourselves really hard up this side that says work (circle the word work) and stay too busy without taking time to recharge, we’ll end up crashing. We’ll make ourselves sick or end up getting ourselves into trouble because we have a bad attitude from being too tired.

But if we start on this side (circle the word rest) and push way up into the rest and recharge zone, we can power up and then swing over here and do all the cool stuff that God has made us to do. Then we go back and recharge some more to be able to do even more. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Take out the two column list you made during the opening questions.

So think about this list we made at the beginning of our Huddle today. The right side is our work — the activities keep us busy. The left side is our rest. Maybe God wants you to give up some of the things on the work side so you can charge up with Him. Or maybe you’re all rested and charged up and God wants you to step out and serve somebody or do something big with Him.

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Which side do you spend of your week on? Rest or work? Or do you have plenty of both? Do you think God is nudging you to cut back on some activities, or is He is telling you it’s time to get in the game and serve Him in some way?

Encourage kids to discus this idea. Help them process and determine if God is telling them to take more time this week or this season for rest or for work.

Bible Verse

Pass out Bible verse cards to kids.

In our Bible verse today Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Have kids repeat Bible verse.

Sometime you have to cut back a vine so it can grow more fruit, and sometimes we have to cut back some of the activities we do we can rest up too. As long as we’re taking time to connect with Jesus, God can do amazing things through us.

Prayer

Take prayer requests. Write them down so that you can pray over them during the week. Take time to pray together as a group. You may want to close with a prayer like the following one:

God, thanks that you love us enough to want us to rest before we work. Please help us take time to rest, relax and have fun, but to also have fun serving and doing the good work You have for us.

Amen

Lesson 8 Huddle

BibleVerseCards

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him he will bear much fruit; apart from

me, you can do nothing. — John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him he will bear much fruit; apart from

me, you can do nothing. — John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him he will bear much fruit; apart from

me, you can do nothing. — John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him he will bear much fruit; apart from

me, you can do nothing. — John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him he will bear much fruit; apart from

me, you can do nothing. — John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him he will bear much fruit; apart from

me, you can do nothing. — John 15:5

You stayed up all night playing video games with Captain Commando. You didn’t get enough rest.

Go back two spaces.

You slept too much last night. Now you feel kind of lazy. You figure someone else can go fight

Professor Power Drain. You just want to watch TV. Go back one space.

You decide to stop and enjoy a super snack.Move forward two spaces.

You were so busy fighting crime that you forgot to eat a good breakfast. You’re tired and cranky.

Lose a turn.

You’re so busy adding new gadgets to yoursuper-mobile that you don’t take time to hang out

with God.Go back three spaces.

You just got a text from the League of Heroes. They want you to join their team.

You’re already a member of the Super Squad so you wisely tell them you don’t want to be too busy.

Move forward one space.

The journey back to your headquartersis taking so long that you’re getting sleepy.You stop for a short power nap so you’ll be

at your best for the rest of the trip.Move forward one space.

You notice the super-mobile is running low on gas. You might be able to make it your headquarters,

but you pull over and gas up just in case.Move forward one space.

You remember that you didn’t finish your Hero School homework that’s due tomorrow. You figure

you can do it while you’re driving your super-mobile. You crash into a tree because you’re trying

to do too much at once.Lose a turn.

You get a distress call from the Coast Guard that the mutant alien lobster has escaped from the net you caught him in. They ask if you can catch him again or if they should call Meteor Man. You say you can handle it and take on Professor Power

Drain even though you know you don’t have time for both. Go back two spaces.

You stop for a picnic lunch and decide to take a few minutes to read your favorite magazine Hero Weekly. You totally lose track of time, and the next thing you know, a couple of hours have passed.

Too much rest. Lose a turn

This whole Professor Power Drain thing is really stressing you out. Then you remember that you

haven’t taken any time to pray today. You pull over and spend some time talking to God. You feel a lot

better and are ready to go.Move forward two spaces.

LESSON 8 (Family)

Today I Learned: God wants us to work from rest, not rest from work.

Bible Story: I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing. — John 15:5

Family Challenge

Brainstorm a list of the ways you ”rest” as a family. These can as simple as watching a movie together, going for a walk, or just having some down time playing in the backyard. Make another list of the “work” activities that keep you busy — things like school, your job, homework, sports, or extracurricular activities. Talk about the healthy rhythm of working from a place of rest rather than just resting from busyness. Discuss how well you do this as a family.

Plan • • Discuss

LearningCulture

Act • • Observe

Account • • Reflect

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* The five questions you are asking are ways offiguring out what your kids’ Kairos moment was

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Dinnertime Discussion

At dinnertime this week, ask one of these questions to get your family talking.

1. What are things that keep you busy?

2. Who gets the most sleep in our family? Who sleeps the least?

3. What are the fun things you do that make you feel rested?

4. Which do you think our family does more, work or rest?

5. How can we honor God by doing both?

Use these questions to evaluate if you need to cut any activities as a family or maybe plan some special family time to recharge your batteries if you’re about to go into a season of more activity.

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