God Changes Hearts BIBLE PASSAGE I Sam 24-25 (David & Abigail) REMEMBER VERSE God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 SCHEDULE Large Group 35 55 minutes Small Groups 20 25 minutes 1
Welcome// 5-10 min Jan 19/20 As kids join your group today ask them about what they are excited about for the rest of winter. Let them color the David & Abigail coloring sheet while you talk. Large Group// 20 35 min 1. Worship Through Music Open Large Group time with singing music to worship Jesus together. 1. 2. 3. 2. Large Group Welcome WELCOME VISITORS- As you welcome everyone to your day together, start by celebrating visitors! If they are a friend then have the regular attender who brought them introduce them to the group. Give all visitors a big round of applause for coming! And have a nearby leader give each visitor a high five AND a gumball (just for coming)!!! CONNECT- To finish up welcome time, let kids engage in today s connect question- our mini ice breaker to get everyone knowing each other a little better! Encourage them to ask someone they might not know yet. After a minute or two, ask several kids to tell their friends answers to the group- What is one of the best hiding spots you ever found? What if you had to hide in a dark cave, or way up at the top of a tree- which would you pick? 3. Earning Gumballs This year, we have a new community goal... Gumball Goal! Children can earn 1 gumball for the day by showing one of the following. (One gumball no matter how many things they do). Know the Word- Memorizing this month s memory verse (NO mistakes for older kids!) Share the Word- Bringing a Friend Cling to the Word- Bringing their Bible Give small groups 3-4 minutes to talk amongst themselves and earn their gumballs. After a few minutes bring everyone s attention back together and make note of how we re seeing the gumball machine get emptied week after week! Remember- when we empty our machine we get a party together!! 4. Remember Verse Go over this month s Remember Verse. Open your Bibles and read it together. Tell kids about the incentive for memorizing their verses... Colored tags of the verse they memorized! Earn all 12 this year and make a necklace, bracelet or keychain out of them! God demonstrates (Vertical hand from forehead to chest) his own love (Point finger to heaven then hug self) for us in this: (point thumbs towards chest) While we were still sinners, (hold arms outstretched forward) Christ died for us. (touch middle finger to each hand for Christ, then point thumbs towards chest) Romans 5:8 (open hands like a book) 5. Offering 2
As a response of thankfulness and trust in God, we give a part of our money to the church to be utilized in big ways for the Kingdom! It is because we thank God for all that He has given to us, and because we trust Him to provide for us no matter how much or how little we may have. Pass around the Offering Bucket. Remind kids of how God is using our offering this year- to support our overseas sponsor child- Vivian from Kenya! Challenge your kids to continue to give out of what they have so that God might give it to our campus sponsor child, Vivian. 6. Prayer Take a moment to pause, be still, and ask God to quiet your hearts and minds as a room. Encourage kids to quiet their voices and take a seat. Then ask them to pray with you as you begin the lesson. 7. The Big God Story- God Changes Hearts A note for teachers: It s amazing how God changes people s hearts. Though David s journey to become king was anything but easy, God used it to form David into a man whose heart worshipped only Him. The current king of Israel, Saul, was seeking to kill David after God had declared that David would be the next king (1 Samuel 18 19). This forced David into hiding to protect his life. Though David had the opportunity to kill Saul and take the crown that he d been promised, he continued to wait until it was God s time for him to become king. In the time leading up to David s reign, God used unlikely people such as Abigail, the wife of a wealthy businessman named Nabal, to change David s heart so he wouldn t sin. God did this so David s reputation would remain unblemished before becoming king, and one day he would be known as a man after God s own heart. In today s lesson we want the kids to interact with the different emotions of the story. Kids will make varying emotional faces each time you say a particular word. In the lesson the word pause is written each time you are to wait for the kids to make their different faces. Kids will learn today that even David needed God s help to avoid sin, and that God uses others in our lives to help us avoid sin. Engage Hey, kids! Before we start, turn to the person next to you and share a time when you really wanted to do something you knew you shouldn t do and something changed your mind before you could do it. (Encourage kids to share with each other.) Okay, let s hear some of your stories. (Have a few kids share in front of the group, or share a story of your own.) Today we re going to hear about how David almost made a bad decision, but God brought along someone to change his mind and his heart. Last week, we heard about David and his friendship with Jonathan. Jonathan, the son of King Saul, was next in line to the throne. But God promised the throne to someone else. Who? (Encourage kids to answer.) That s right, David! But Jonathan didn t get angry about this. Instead he laid down his right to be the next king because he knew David was God s choice. Jonathan s father, King Saul, did the opposite. Saul became jealous of David and wanted to kill him. This forced David to go into hiding. Today s part of The Big God Story begins with David and his men hiding in the wilderness to escape Saul. While traveling about the wilderness, they came along a group of shepherds in a field who were watching their sheep. There were many shepherds and thousands of sheep. These shepherds worked for a wealthy businessman named Nabal. Nabal was a hard-hearted and evil man. (Everybody make an evil/angry face- wait, try to look even angrier! ). Wow! You all scared me a little with how mean you can look! Okay- so everytime I say Nabal make your angry face. Say Nabal real quick again to help the kids catch on to our game today. But, as evil as Nabal (Pause to see if kids make angry face)... was, he married a kind and wise woman named Abigail. (Everybody make the sweetest nicest face you can). Okay- everytime I say Abigail make your sweet face. 3
So... we have Nabal (pause) and Abigail (pause), and they have many sheep and shepherds out in the field. So while David and his men are traveling through the wilderness, they decide to help protect the shepherds from nearby enemies and thieves (remember- David is a great warrior!). They watched over those shepherds day and night for an entire season! And finally it came time for Nabal s (pause) sheep to come in and be sheared. Who knows what sheared means? Let kids answer. Sheared is when after all the wool on the sheep has grown and they are super fluffy, they shave off all the wool to make clothing and fabric. Then the sheep grow more wool the next year. Now every year at the time of the shearing Nabal (pause) and Abigail (pause) held a feast to celebrate the new season! So as Abigail (pause) was getting ready for this feast, David had an idea! Wait- let s make a face for David too. Everytime I say David s name pose like a warrior. Okay- let s practice. DAVID! Look around at kids poses. Great job! Okay, so David (pause) has an idea! Remember, he and his men were still in hiding in the wilderness. They had been out there all season, and they had been protecting Nabal s (pause) shepherds. Can you imagine how amazing a giant feast and celebration sounded to them?! So David (pause) sent 10 of his men to Nabal (pause) to ask if they could have some food from the feast. Remember- Nabal (pause) was a very, very wealthy man. It would have been easy for him to share the food with David and his men. Plus, it would have been a kind way for Nabal (pause) to thank David (pause) and his men for their service of protecting the shepherds. But do you think Nabal (pause) had a generous heart? (Let group answer). No! Remember, his heart was hardened and evil. He refused to welcome David (pause) and his men to the feast. So David (pause) got just a tad bit upset and told his men to put on their swords and get ready to fight! He had felt so offended that he wanted revenge and he vowed to kill Nabal (pause) and every man in his household! Wow- that doesn t exactly sound like a good king, does it? His anger was about to get the best of him. When Abigail (pause) heard how her husband had responded to David (pause), she knew they were all in danger. So she gathered together a lot of food bread, wine, meat, grain, raisins and loaded them onto donkeys to send to David (pause) and his men. She was hoping to make amends. During this time in history, it was very rare for a woman to do something that went against her husband s decision. But Abigail (pause) was a woman who followed after God. Because of this, God gave her courage and wisdom to meet David (pause) and help stop him from making a bad decision. When Abigail (pause) saw David (pause), she immediately got off the donkey and fell on her face as a sign of respect (ask the kids to bow in a similar way). She begged for forgiveness for her husband. She reminded David (pause) that God had big plans for him as king and that God would be the One to defeat his enemies. He needed to trust in what he knew about God and not act out of anger. David (pause) could see that God had given Abigail (pause) wisdom. So he said Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you May you be blessed for keeping me from bloodshed (I Sam 25:32 33). God used Abigail s (pause) courage to help change David s (pause) angry heart! As the future king, killing innocent men would have stained his record forever. But God was able to change David s (pause) anger because God had a bigger plan for his life. And you want to know what? 10 days later Nabal (pause) died, and David (pause) married Abigail (pause)! 8. What does this say about Jesus? Well what a cool story! With some very interesting people! But- we know that we need to ask ourselveswhat does this story say about Jesus?!?! 4
Remember that David s reign as king was a tiny reflection of what it would look like when Jesus is king, so it was important to keep David s reputation intact. That he would be a good and kind king like Jesus. Now David wasn t perfect- and he would make some very serious mistakes as king- but this was one instance that God kept him pure and helped him to walk away from his enemy. Jesus is our perfect example of how we should treat our enemies though. Even better than David, Jesus showed us how a heart that is truly God s can actually LOVE our enemies! Imagine if David had loved Nabal instead of getting angry and wanting to kill him? David was a good man, but Jesus is our perfect example! We want God to change all of our hearts to look more like Jesus. We may not have enemies like Nabal, but I bet we all have people that make us angry sometimes. What would it look like for us to love these people instead of become angry? Let s pray today that even more so than David, we would have changed hearts that love our enemies like Jesus, and obey God s plans and wisdom. Pray to close. Small Group// 15 20 min. Small group time is not only a time to go deeper into the lesson and find some take home application together, but it is also a time for you to grow in relationship with your kids. As you spend time together the rest of today, go further than just the review questions and the Create project. Spend time asking kids what they thought about the lesson. What surprised them? What questions do THEY have about this part of God s story? How do they learn more about Jesus through this story? What was is their faith challenged by today? Talk about these things as you work on the project. Kids are much more apt to talk while their hands are busy. 1. Review Questions Why was David hiding? David chose to hide in the wilderness. Where is your favorite hiding place? What kind of man was Nabal? And what kind of woman was Abigail? (I Samuel 25:3) How did David feel when Nabal refused to have David s men come for the feast? (1 Samuel 25:13) How did God use Abigail in David s life? (1 Samuel 25:26 33) When was David a good example of how to treat our enemies? (with Saul- he let God deal with Saul rather than get angry and attack him). When was he a bad example? (with Nabal) Who is our perfect example of how we should treat our enemies? What is one example of how God has changed your heart before? or how He needs to change your heart? 2. Prayer After you finish with your review questions read this Bible verse as a blessing and close in prayer. Have one of the children in your group pray, or if you have older kids maybe even take some prayer requests and then do popcorn prayer! Eph 1:18-19: I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. 3. Create: God Changes Hearts SUPPLIES- poster board, markers, thick black marker, thick red marker, air dry clay, camera phone SETUP- In the center of your poster board write God Changes Hearts in black marker and draw a red heart around it. ENGAGE- Today we saw how God used Abigail to change David s heart. And we talked about how Jesus was the perfect example of a heart like God s. Let s brainstorm ways together that God changes hearts. Have kids in your group share thoughts out loud of how God changes our hearts. It could be words or phrases or stories. Write these all around the poster board as kids share them. If some of your kids can already write then let them 5
write too. Use different colored markers. If you have a permanent space, hang this poster boards up in the room. Now we are going to use air dry clay to mold a small heart! It will remind us that God changes our hearts to look more like His. This clay will dry overnight so that it is hard, then you can paint it at home if you want or color it with markers! Give each child a small ball of clay to mold a heart. As you re molding ask kids how they think God might want to change their hearts. Maybe towards friends/siblings/parents? Ask them where they are going to put their heart to remind them that God can change their hearts? When you re done, with your poster board taped against the wall, have someone take a picture of your group around your poster board and holding your hearts! Email that picture to your campus coordinator. They will email the picture out to you and your small group this week. 6