31 Agustus 2014

Kelas Balita

Coach (TBA)

Asst 1 : (TBA)

Asst 2 : (TBA)

Kelas 1 - 3

Coaches : Agus Rianto (Asst. Miguel)

Kelas 4 - 6

Coaches : Tjipto (Asst Dedy)

The Abrahamic Covenant

1. HOOK

• Who knows what a promise is? What do you do what you make a promise? Do you shake hands on it? Do you do a pinky-promise? Do you spit?
• When you hear someone say, “I promise,” what comes to mind? Do you sigh in relief or prepare to be disappointed? Your reaction most likely comes from your past—good or bad.
• The truth is, people will sometimes let us down, but God is always dependable. He can be trusted. Our heavenly Father is always faithful to keep His promises.
• God is a Covenant-making, Promise-keeping God!

2. LESSON: The Abrahamic Covenant

a. What is a Covenant?

• God is a covenant-making God:
  He makes promises with His people, and He keeps them!

     A Covenant is:

• More than a contract
• 2 parties/people becoming 1 (e.g. marriage)
  • What’s mine is yours; what’s yours is mine
  • Someone hurt you = someone hurting me
  • For life; till death do us part
• Usually signed by blood or exchange of personal belongings (e.g. wedding rings)
• Penalty for breaking covenant = death
• There are 3 major covenants in the Bible:
  • Abrahamic Covenant
  • Mosaic (Old) Covenant
  • New Covenant (like the name of our church, tNCC)
• Today we will look at the covenant God made with Abraham

b. God made a covenant with Abraham (Gen 12, 15)

• God had a special friend. His name was Abraham.
• God loved Abraham very much and wanted to promise him many good things:
  • A Promised Land to call home
  • Abraham’s family will be a great nation
  • Abraham’s seed/descendent will bless all families of the world
• God told Abraham not to be afraid because God was always with Him. “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” (Gen 15:1). God is our protection and source of blessings.
• All these were awesome promises! But there was only 1 problem … Abraham was already an old man (75 yrs old!) but he didn’t have any children! How was he to become a great nation?
• God showed Abraham the stars in the skies. So many stars! Have you ever tried counting the stars? Impossible right? God told Abraham that he will have as many descendants as the number of stars in the sky.
• Still Abraham wanted proof! “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
• So God decided to cut a covenant with Abraham as a guarantee of His promise.
• He asked Abraham to bring a:
  • 3-year-old heifer/cow
  • 3-year-old female goat
  • 3-year-old ram
  • turtledove
  • young pigeon

• Abraham brought all these animals and cut them into 2 and placed them opposite each other.
• The meaning? “If any of us break this covenant, we will end up like these animals … dead and split into 2.” That’s how serious a covenant was!

• Abraham thought he was going to make the covenant with God. Quite scary right? If he broke his part of the covenant, he’d die like those animals!
• But God, in His grace and mercy, put Abraham into deep sleep.
• While Abraham slept, God walked through the animal parts all by Himself in the form of a smoking oven and a burning torch!
• God was BOTH parties in this covenant. God cut the covenant to show Abraham how serious His promise was. He had promised Abraham a land, a great family nation and a Seed that will bless the whole world.
• Abraham had no part to play in making or keeping it; he was just the beneficiary!
• This covenant cannot fail because God cannot fail! Isn’t God amazing?

c. Abrahamic Covenant a picture of the New Covenant today

• On the cross, Jesus’ death was the final fulfilment of God’s covenant with Abraham — the Seed that will bless the whole world.
• On the cross, Jesus’ death was also the start of the New Covenant.
• Jesus’ body was broken and bloody just like the animals.
• God the Father walked through the broken and bloody body of Jesus to cut the New Covenant with us.
• We had no part to play in making the New Covenant or keeping it. Hence we cannot break a covenant we didn’t cut.
• We become part of the New Covenant by faith in Christ. We are just the beneficiary of the New Covenant!
• This New Covenant also cannot fail because God cannot fail. Isn’t God amazing?

3. ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

• Memory Verse Activity: Gen 15:1 “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Older kids: Video on Israel today (fulfilment of God’s promise)

Resource : TNCC

24 Agustus 2014

Kelas Balita

Coach Dewi

Asst 1 : Felicia

Asst 2 : Tasya

Kelas 1 - 3

Coaches : Sianty & Andy

Kelas 4 - 6

Coaches : Yungcien (Asst. Dedy)

I AM: Review

1. HOOK

• Teaser on the I AMs
  

2. LESSON: Jesus is the I AM

Intro

• Over the past 2 months, we’ve been going through a series on the “I AMs”. That’s how Jesus introduced Himself to those around Him. What is so important about learning the “I AMs”?

A) I AM is God’s Name

• When God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, Moses asked, “If the Israelites in Egypt ask me what your name is, what should I tell them?” God answered, “I AM the I AM.”
• God’s name is “I AM”.Present tense: God of today, now, everyday.Definite: Not “I may be” or “I could be” or “I should be”.
• When Jesus used “I AM”, He was using God’s name as His own. He was telling people that He IS God.

B) I AM: Tells us who Jesus is

• When Jesus came to earth, He told his disciples and those around Him who He was through various pictures. As we learn more and more about who Jesus is, we realise that He is everything we ever need in life.

What have we learned so far? (keep it simple and just focus on key words so kids can remember)

Jesus said:

• I AM the Bread of Life
• I AM the Light of the World
• I AM the Door (we didn’t study this but included coz it’s one of the I AMs)
• I AM the Good Shepherd
• I AM the Resurrection and the Life
• I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life
• I AM the True Vine

I AM the Bread of Life

• John 6:35 Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
• Jesus’ body was broken for us. When we believe in Jesus, He fills us up. He is all we need and we don’t need to look for satisfaction elsewhere in the world.

I AM the Light of the World

• John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
• When we have Jesus, His light shows us the way to go. We don’t have to fall and stumble in the darkness.

I AM the Good Shepherd

• John 10:11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
• Jesus laid down His life for me. He died to pay for my sins.

I AM the Resurrection and the Life

• John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
• When did Jesus say this? Before He raised Lazarus from the dead
• Lazarus was dead physically and raised to life. We were all dead spiritually (in our sins), and when we believe in Jesus, He gives us new eternal life!

I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life

• John 14:6 Jesus said, “I AM the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
• Jesus opened the way for us to the Father.

I AM the True Vine

• John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

• When we stay connected to Jesus, His life and power flows through us and bears good fruit! E.g. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control etc.

Summary

Because of Jesus, the I AM …

• I AM the Bread of Life: We will never be hungry
• I AM the Light of the World: We will have the light of life
• I AM the Good Shepherd: He lays down his life for me
• I AM the Resurrection and the Life: We have eternal life
• I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life: We can come to the Father
• I AM the True Vine: We can bear much fruit

When we have Jesus, we have ALL we need!

3. ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

• Picture Montage of the I AMs

• Word Search
• Crossword
• Game: I AMs of Jesus (similar to Duck, duck, goose)
  Kids sit in a circle. One goes on the outside and taps the heads of his friends (lightly) while saying one of the I AMs — 1 tap per syllable. E.g. “I-AM-the-Bread-of-Life” (5 taps); “I-AM-the-Re-ssu-rec-tion-and-the-Life” (10 taps). The last person tapped has to get up and chase the tapper round the circle and try to catch him before the tapper sits down in his space.
• Charades
  Kids are divided into 2 teams. Each team sends a representative to act out one of the “I AMs”. The younger kids have to guess which “I AM” it is, while the older kids have to give the lesson learnt.

Resource : TNCC

17 Agustus 2014

Kelas Balita

Coach Junita

Asst 1 : Adeline

Asst 2 : Kasey

Kelas 1 - 3

Coaches : Iwan & Shevica

Kelas 4 - 6

Coaches :  Savitri (Asst. Miguel)

I AM the Resurrection and the Life

1. ICE BREAKER

• Mummy game
  Divide kids into 2-3 groups. Choose one kid from each group. Get parents/kids to help wrap up the kid with toilet paper (like Lazarus). Most creative one wins. Then get kids to remove the “grave clothes”.

• Wink, Wink, Resurrection
  Similar to wink murder. Kids sit in a circle. Choose someone to be the “resurrector” and a detective to guess. The resurrector has to discreetly wink at one of the other kids. But this time if someone is winked at, they must jump up and shout “I’m alive”, instead of dying. The detective is allowed three guesses to work out who the resurrector is before everyone is “alive”.

2. LESSON: I AM the Resurrection & the Life (John 11)

• Video of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead: Biblemations; Death and Resurrection

• What happened there? What did the messenger tell Jesus?His friend Lazarus was very sick.
• Did Jesus rush immediately to his side?No. He stayed 2 more days.
• Why? Why didn’t He stop Lazarus from dying? (get kids to think)Because there was a bigger plan — Jesus wanted to demonstrate some greater miracle of God to prove that He had victory not only over sickness, but over death
• When Jesus reached Bethany, what was the first thing Martha and Mary (Lazarus’ sister) said to Him?“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
• How long had Lazarus been dead?4 days. Ewww … stinko!
• What did Jesus ask the people to do at the grave?Move away the stone.
• How did Jesus pray? Did He beg God, “Please, please do something!!!!”?No. Jesus said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”Note: Jesus called God “Father”.

• What happened when Jesus said, “Lazarus, come out!”Lazarus came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

• Isn’t Jesus wonderful? Even when no one around believed that He could do it, when people doubted and complained, He still did a great miracle and raised Lazarus — who had been dead 4 days — from the dead! He resurrected Lazarus!
• Jesus IS the Resurrection and the Life!

JESUS CAME TO GIVE US THE “JESUS LIFE”

• What did Jesus say to Martha? <get kids to read>“I AM the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
• What is resurrection? Resurrection means being brought back to life.
• Jesus said those who believed in Him will live, even though they die. Then He says if they believe in Him, they will never die! What do you think Jesus meant by that?
• Jesus didn’t just mean that when we die, we will go to heaven. He didn’t mean we will never die physically — all of us will die one day; even Lazarus died physically later.
• Jesus wanted to tell Martha something very important and wonderful. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He wanted to prove something even more awesome and miraculous — that He can give life to those who are spiritually dead!
• Flashback: Garden of EdenGod told Adam that if he ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, he will surely die. When Adam disobeyed God, he died spiritually. And because of that, we ALL were dead spiritually. We were all like Lazarus … dead!
• Jesus came to die on the cross, taking all the punishments for our sin. Three days later, He rose again. By His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated sin AND death!
• More importantly, Jesus’ death and resurrection brought us back to life from spiritual death. Jesus put His life into us — the Jesus Life. This is an everlasting life that will never die.
• When we believe in Jesus, we have His Jesus Life in us today! And even when we sin, even when we sometimes do things our way, even when our physical body dies, we will always have this Jesus Life in us forever!
• Do you want to believe in Jesus today?

3. Suggested Activities 

Memory verse activity/game: John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

• Worksheet

10 Agustus 2014

Kelas Balita

Coach Susan

Asst 1 : Awan

Asst 2 : Jemimah

Kelas 1 - 3

Coaches : Lily Bun (Asst. Santi)

Kelas 4 - 6

Coaches : Lusiana (Asst. Theresia)

I AM the True Vine

1. ICE BREAKER: Vine Tag

• Choose someone to be ‘in’. When you say ‘Go’, the person who is in must try to tag someone. When they succeed, they must link arms/hold hands with the person they tagged. Now both of them can tag people with their free hands. Each time some gets tagged, they link arms/hold hands and carry on until everyone is in one big chain.
• Isn’t it nice to all be connected with each other?

2. HOOK (Items: lamp, extension cord)

• We’ve learned some of the “I Am”s of Jesus. <Ask kids to name a few; lead them to remember “Light of the World”>
• Yes that’s right, Jesus is the light of the World. Because Jesus is in us, we have His light shining through us too.
• Sing: “This Little Light of Mine.”
• <Hold up the lamp> While we sing it, I’m going to hold this light up and let it shine all around. <Start to sing the song, but stop when you notice that the light isn’t shining.> I wonder what is wrong, my light isn’t shining.
• <Someone will probably notice that it isn’t plugged in.> Oh, here’s the problem, my light isn’t plugged in.
• Now that we are plugged in, let’s try it again. <Sing> Oh, that was much better. The lamp was shining brightly, wasn’t it? It’s pretty hard for a light to shine when it isn’t connected to the power source, isn’t it? Well, actually, it isn’t just hard — it’s impossible!

3. LESSON: I AM the True Vine (John 15:1-8)

     A. Jesus is our True Vine

• In our Bible lesson today, Jesus told his disciples a story to teach them the importance of staying connected to him. Of course Jesus didn’t use a lamp to tell his story, because electricity hadn’t even been invented yet. Instead, Jesus used an example that his disciples would understand. He used the example of a vine.
• You know what a vine is, don’t you? It is a plant with a lot of branches growing out from it. The branches have fruit on them. If it is a grapevine, the branches should have grapes on them. (objects such as grapes, branches, plants would be useful as visual aids )
• John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

     B. The branches need to stay connected to the vine to live and bear fruit.

• God is the Gardener in the garden of life. Jesus is the Vine who grows good branches. Christians are those branches. If you have asked Jesus to be your Savior, you are like a branch on a vine in God’s garden.
• Branches need water and food to grow. How do the branches get these things? (through the roots) The vine sends food and water from the roots to the branches. Then the branches send food and water to the flowers that will produce grapes. (Pass around a bowl of raisins/grapes and let each child take some.)
• Have you ever seen a branch that has been broken off of a tree or a vine? What happens to it? That’s right, it withers up and dies. Can it ever have any fruit on it again? No, it isn’t any good for anything — except fire wood.
• Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me, you will have much fruit, but apart from me, you can do nothing.”
• With Jesus = Fruit. Without Jesus = Nothing. That’s right. Like the light that’s not plugged into the electrical source.

     C. The fruit you get depends on the tree you’re connected to

• What is this fruit?
• A rambutan tree will bear rambutan fruits. A durian tree will bear …? A papaya tree will bear …? These trees bear these fruits because that’s who they are. What their DNA is.
• Jesus promises us abundant life — one overflowing with His love, grace, strength and power. When we depend on Him and trust in Him, our life is fruitful; our work is fruitful; our relationships are fruitful; our ministry is fruitful.
• When the Holy Spirit lives in us, it bears the fruit of the Spirit — fruits like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control (Gal 5). When we bear these fruits, we will be kind and generous and loving to others.
• All these are not things that we can do on our own. It’s not something we have to force out of ourselves. It comes naturally because of who we are in Christ — the temple/house of the Holy Spirit.
• The key thing is to stay plugged in, stay connected, and let the Spirit’s life flow through us — the foods and water we need to grow strong, healthy and fruitful.
• When we depend on our strength, we will feel tired and frustrated and be unfruitful.
• Instead, let’s look to Jesus. Trust Him. Rest in His finished work. He has done the work for us. We just need to plug in and let the Holy Spirit flow through us.
  • If you cannot love someone, say, “Holy Spirit, please love that person through me.”
  • Whatever work you are doing, say, “Holy Spirit, please help me.”
  • When you are feeling sad or discouraged, say, “Jesus, thank you for being my strength and my joy.”
• As we learn to look to Jesus and rest in Him, we allow Him to do the work of bearing fruit in our lives!

4. SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

• Memory verse activity/game: John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

• Song: Abiding in the Vine
• Close in prayer

Resource: Sermons4kids & TNCC

3 Agustus 2014

Kelas Balita

Coach Carrie

Asst 1 : Felianty

Asst 2 : Laila

Kelas 1 - 3

Coaches : Susi Tjio (Asst. Fenny)

Kelas 4 - 6

Coaches : Swanky

I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life

1. HOOK

• Using masking tape or chairs, set up an obstacle course for a kid volunteer. Take your volunteer outside of the class and tell them that the class will shout directions to them to help them get through the course.
• While you or your helper has the volunteer outside of the class, give instruction to the class to give wrong directions. Put your volunteer at the entrance to the maze and blindfold them. When your volunteer begins to make his way through the maze, he will undoubtedly get off course or bump into chairs. When it is obvious that he will not be successful, stop the class and ask him what the problem is. He will say that he can’t understand the directions to get through. Now, start over again, but this time you take the hands of the child and walk him through the course. He will still be blindfolded and the class will still be shouting out the wrong directions, but this time he will be successful because of your direction.
• Explain to the class: When we are on our own, we cannot find our way because of all the wrong directions from the world. We need someone to show us the way. Who is this someone? Jesus

2. LESSON: I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14)

• One night, Jesus and his disciples were eating together. It was the night Jesus was going to be betrayed.
• Jesus was preparing His disciples about what was going to happen next. He knew it would be a troubling time, so He wanted to reassure them. He also told them that He will be going back to God, the Father, to prepare a special place for all of them and He is coming back for them.
• “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:1-4)
• One of His disciples, Thomas, asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
• That’s a good question. How would the disciples know where Jesus was going? How were they supposed to find their way to God? Do you think they had a map? Or a GPS?
• No, they didn’t have all of that. But they had the one thing they needed. Jesus.
• Jesus said, “I AM the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
• Just like in the game we played earlier. Man was separated from God, and man has always tried to find his way back to God. But the world shouts all sorts of wrong directions. And in our own strength, we cannot find the way.
• But when Jesus is in us, He becomes our (only) WAY to the Father;He is our TRUTH (so we don’t have to listen to the lies the world tells us); and He gives us LIFE forever with Him.

• Jesus had to die on the cross to open the WAY for us to the Father.Jesus is the ONLY way. We can’t reach God by our own good behaviour or works, or by any other religions and beliefs. Only Jesus.
• Jesus’ death made us holy/righteous/clean because He is the TRUTH — the perfect man who was punished for the sins of the world.
• After Jesus rose again and returned to heaven, His Holy Spirit came to live in us forever. This Holy Spirit is His LIFE living in us.

• For older classes:How can Jesus claim to be the Way, the Truth and the Life? How can Jesus claim to be the ONLY way to God? Because He is GOD.

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.”

• And when we receive Jesus into our hearts, the Holy Spirit lives in us. Jesus said, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” (John 14:20) God — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit — lives in us today! He is our life!

Conclusion

• Jesus = the Way, the Truth, the Life
• Jesus is ALL we need. We just need to believe and receive Him.
• Jesus + Nothing = EVERYTHING!

3. ACTIVITY SUGGESTIONS

• Memory verse activity/game: John 14:6 Jesus said, “I AM the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
  

• Song: One Way, Jesus   
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• Resource: Sermons4kids  &TNCC