Seek first His Kingdom

1. Icebreakers

• Play a simple age-appropriate icebreaker. Some examples:
• Freeze!
  Play praise music and lead the children in movements (stepping side to side, clapping their hands, stomping their feet, tiptoeing, following the teacher in a circle, slapping their legs, doing jump and jacks, reaching up high and down low, etc). Have an assistant shut the worship music off and have the students freeze, standing completely still.  Play the music again and repeat multiple times.  For an added challenge, while students are freezing, recite a memory verse and begin again.

• Simon says 
  One teacher is Simon.  Simon yells out a command such as, “Simon says, march in place!”  The students would then follow the command because “Simon says” to do it.  If Simon does not use the phrase “Simon says” before stating the command and a child still follows, then that child will be seated and is out of the game until the end of the round.  Play continues with eliminations until one child remains who will become the next Simon.

• I spy with a little eye
  Get kids to take turns spying out objects or people in the room. You may want to put some props around (e.g. stuffed animals, pictures from Bible lessons from last year etc) or get kids to sit in a circle and spy out each other. E.g. “I spy with my little eye someone wearing a red dress.”

• Blanket game
  Get all the kids to introduce themselves. Divide class into 2 teams. Hold a large blanket in between. Each team sends a representative to sit in front of the blanket. When blanket is dropped, first side to shout out name of the other wins a point for their team.

2. Lesson

• At Christmas time, some of you had a list of presents that you wanted. Maybe it’s a new Transformers. Or a Barbie doll. Or a truck. Or a book.
• As we enter this new year, what is it that we want? Is it good results? Favour with your parents? Good health? Nice new clothes? A holiday? PSP?
• We all want and need good things in our lives. And God our Father wants to give us good things. He wants to bless us tremendously every day. We just need to look to Him. He is the source of everything.
• Jesus tells His disciples (Matt 6:25-33): DON’T WORRY! 
• Don’t worry about: 
• What you will eat 
• What you will drink
• Your body
• What you will wear

 

• Jesus gave us 2 examples: 
• Birds of the air: They don’t sow or reap or store, but the Heavenly Father feeds them.
• The flowers of the field: They don’t labour or spin. They are here today and gone tomorrow. Yet God dresses them in more splendour than King Solomon.

Do not Worry (Pt 2)

Lesson: God takes care of the flowers. God takes care of me!

Luke 12:27-31. Matt 6:28-34

1. Intro: Show pictures of King Solomon and/or models in beautiful dresses

• Take a look at these pictures of these beautiful clothes.
• Do you know that all these splendid clothes needed a lot of money and effort to be made? All the silk and sequins and satin and sashes.
• But do you know that they cannot compare with the flowers of the field, with the beauty of God’s creation?

Do not Worry (Pt 1)

Lesson: God feeds the birds. And I am more valuable than birds.

1.  Intro: Fun facts about birds or Fun facts about ravens <use pictures, soft toys etc to illustrate; or as pop quiz>

     e.g.

• The raven is the largest bird of the crow family: it is 2x heavier than a common crow at 1.3kg
•  Ravens can live 40 years in the wild and 70 in captivity
•  Ravens can soar high above the trees and are capable of aerial stunts 
•  Ravens can live from deserts to forests and cliffs, nesting in either stick-made nests or rock cavities
• Ravens feed on almost anything — fruits, seeds, nuts, fish, carrion, small animals, food remains and garbage. They even dig on snow to inspect plastic bags with waste. They also follow fishers and hunters for days to “glean” from their hunts
• Ravens are considered one of the most intelligent birds in puzzle solving or performing series of complex actions, such as counting or opening a zipped bag
•  They often get other animals to do their work for them — e.g. making calls to attract wolves and foxes to break the carcass of a dead animal so that they can access the meat inside
•  Ravens have different dialects according to the area they are in
• In the Bible, the raven was the first animal to fly or leave Noah's Ark, to see if the flood had died down.
•  Ravens are mentioned in 7 verses of the Bible

Ask, Seek, Knock (II)

1.       Lesson: Daddy God Gives Good Gifts

• Based on Luke 11:11-13, Matthew 7:9-12.
• Intro: Prepare 3 paper bags/boxes. Inside each bag/box:

Label on the bag/box	Inside (either put object or a picture of it)
Bread	Stone
Fish	Snake
Egg	Scorpion

• Tell the kids that it’s “Snack time”. Three kids get to choose which “snack” they want.
• As each kid choose, give them the unopened bag/box and have them stand in front.
• Then have each kid open the bag/box one by one and show the class what’s inside.
• Ask them how they feel when they ask for something good and get something bad.

The Magi's Gifts

Lesson: Jesus' Divinity, Holiness and Death

This is a good lesson to use for Christmas or to start off a series on Jesus' life and ministry.
1. Story: 
Tell the story of the 3 Magi (wise men) based on Matthew 2:1-12.
You can use simple props like crowns or boxes in Christmas wrappers.
You can have a picture card of each box to depict the Magi's gifts or something to symbolise the gift (e.g. a gold ring/coin, incense sticks, and a small perfume bottle)

2. Lesson:

• The 3 Gifts: Gold, Incense, Myrrh
• These are unusual gifts to give a baby. But these gifts foretold what the baby will do when He grows up.