{ "programName": "Some Assembly Required", "studyName": "Week 2", "lessonName": "Gideon", "lessonImage": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/graphic_design_content/everythingisawesomeboxmain.jpg", "name": "Large Group (3RD-5TH)", "lessonDescription": "When you start building, the pieces just start to fall into place. Kids will learn that when they give everything to God, he makes all things work together perfectly.", "sections": [ { "name": "Intro Countdown and Ice Breaker", "actions": [ { "actionType": "play", "content": "Title Slide", "files": [ { "name": "Title Slide", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/graphic_design_content/everything_is_awesome.jpg" } ] }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "Countdown", "files": [ { "name": "Countdown Video", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/video_content/5_min_countdown.mp4", "thumbnail": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/video_content/5_min_countdown_thumbnail.png" } ] }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "Welcome Video", "files": [ { "name": "Welcome Video", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/video_content/welcome_motion.mp4", "thumbnail": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/graphic_design_content/everyting_is_awesome_welcome.jpg", "loop": true, "seconds": null } ], "role": "" }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "Icebreaker Slide", "files": [ { "name": "Icebreaker Slide", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/leader_resources/series_graphics/icebreaker_ws.jpg" } ] }, { "actionType": "note", "content": "**Items Needed:**\n\nSeveral Legos", "role": "" }, { "actionType": "do", "content": "**Instructions:**\n\nPut a large pile of LEGO bricks in the center of the room and have kids sit in a circle around them. Go around the circle and have one person at a time take a LEGO piece and start building. Each person should add to the same creation. Depending on your number of kids, go around the circle a couple of times and see what masterpiece they come up with." }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "Ice Breaker Game", "files": [ { "name": "Rotten Apples", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/game_videos/rotten_apples.mp4", "thumbnail": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/game_videos/rotten_apples.png" } ] } ] }, { "name": "Worship", "actions": [ { "actionType": "play", "content": "Worship Slide", "files": [ { "name": "Worship", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/leader_resources/series_graphics/worship_ws.jpg" } ] }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "I Have Decided To Follow Jesus", "files": [ { "name": "I Have Decided To Follow Jesus", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/worship_videos/i_have_decided_to_follow_jesus.mp4", "thumbnail": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/worship_videos/i_have_decided_to_follow_jesus.png" } ] }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "I've Got The Joy", "files": [ { "name": "I've Got The Joy", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/worship_videos/i_ve_got_the_joy.mp4", "thumbnail": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/worship_videos/i_ve_got_the_joy.png" } ] }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "Jesus Loves Me", "files": [ { "name": "Jesus Loves Me", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/worship_videos/jesus_loves_me.mp4", "thumbnail": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/worship_videos/jesus_loves_me.png" } ] } ] }, { "name": "Memory Verse Activity", "actions": [ { "actionType": "play", "content": "Memory Verse", "files": [ { "name": "Memory Verse", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/leader_resources/memory_verse_graphics/memory_verse_wide_niv.jpg" } ] }, { "actionType": "do", "content": "Have the kids read the verse together. Read it normally, then in a whisper, then really, really loud!\n\n“For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.” -Hebrews\n\n3:4 (NIV)" } ] }, { "name": "OBJECT LESSON", "actions": [ { "actionType": "play", "content": "Object Lesson", "files": [ { "name": "Object Lesson", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/leader_resources/series_graphics/objectlesson_ws.jpg" } ] }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "Lesson 2 Gideon", "files": [ { "name": "Lesson 2 Gideon", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/bible_story_videos/lesson_2_-_gideon.mp4", "thumbnail": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/bible_story_videos/lesson_2_-_gideon.png" } ] }, { "actionType": "note", "content": "**Items Needed:** \n\nA jigsaw puzzle (48 pieces or less)" }, { "actionType": "do", "content": "*Spread the puzzle pieces in front of the kids and start piecing it together. Have some kids help.*\n\nPuzzles and LEGO bricks have a lot in common. Like a custom LEGO kit, every piece of this puzzle has its proper place. It’s slow going at first, because you have to spread the pieces out and get a look at everything. But the more you work at it, the more pieces just fall into place. Soon enough, you start to get a picture of what you’re building. And before you know it, you’re done.\n\nRight now, God is building each one of us. Like a puzzle, or a LEGO kit, he’s putting our lives together one brick at a time. It’s tempting to try and make the pieces all fit on our own. We think we see the big picture, and we want to rush God’s work.\n\nDon’t get in a rush. Be patient. Let God do the building. Piece by piece, one brick at a time, he will reveal his plan for you.\n\nGod knows what he’s doing and where he is taking you. He’s seen the picture on the box of your life. Trust God, and God will fit the pieces together. One day at a time, one brick at a time." } ] }, { "name": "LARGE GROUP GAME", "actions": [ { "actionType": "play", "content": "Game Time Slide", "files": [ { "name": "Game Time Slide", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/leader_resources/series_graphics/gametime_ws.jpg" } ] }, { "actionType": "do", "content": "### **HIGH TOWERS**\n\n### **Items Needed:**\n\nA big box of LEGO bricks, two LEGO building platforms\n\n### **Instructions:**\n\nChoose two players for this game and give each one a building platform. Start the clock, and give the players 60 seconds to build a tower. At the end of 60 seconds, compare the two towers. The player with the tallest, standing tower wins. \n\nIf a tower topples before time expires or even after, measure the tower to the tallest brick left standing.\n\n### **Variation:**\n\nInstead of LEGO bricks, you can do a building contest with cardboard brick blocks.\n\n### **What’s The Point?**\n\nLet God build your life, one piece at a time, and he will build it right." } ] }, { "name": "Large Group Lesson ", "actions": [ { "actionType": "play", "content": "Lesson Time Slide", "files": [ { "name": "Lesson Time Slide", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/leader_resources/series_graphics/lessontime_ws.jpg" } ] }, { "actionType": "say", "content": "**Bottom Line:**\n\nWhen we trust God, he is able to work things out for our good.\n\n**Objective:**\n\nKids will learn to trust God to do his work in their lives.\n\n**Key Passage:**\n\nJudges 7:1-22, Gideon’s Army\n\n**Introduction:**\n\nLast week we started talking about LEGO bricks, and we talked about following directions. When you’re building a LEGO kit from instructions, it can be frustrating at first, but the more you build, the easier it gets. The pieces on the table get to be fewer and fewer. It’s easier to spot the pieces you need. The pieces come together faster. Before you know it, you’ve finished your LEGO creation.\n\nStrangely enough, the same thing happens when we freestyle, building cars and buildings and space ships without direction. At first, we may not be sure what we’re building, but as our creation starts to take shape, it gets easier. We know what piece we need next. We know where we’re going. We can see the final product before we even get there. \n\nThe whole LEGO building process is a good picture of what God is doing in our lives every day. God is our Creator, just as we create our own LEGO worlds and objects. God has a plan for each one of us, just as we have plans for our creations. But God’s creations don’t come together all at once. He puts his creations together one piece at a time. Minute by minute, day by day, brick by brick, God is building each one of us into who he wants us to be. \n\nThe difference between LEGO bricks and us is that LEGO bricks don’t meddle. LEGO bricks don’t try to add pieces on their own or rush the project. We do it all the time. We try to tell God what we want. We try to work things out on our own rather than letting God do his work. We need to trust in God and let him do all the building. \n\nOne man who learned to let God be the builder was Gideon. God called Gideon to raise an army and save Israel, but this was no ordinary army. God had a specific vision for the army that Gideon would lead. God insisted Gideon build his way, and when Gideon let God do the work, God did a miracle. \n\n**READ JUDGES 7:1-22**\n\n**MAIN POINT**\n\nThere’s an ancient book called the Art of War in which armies and generals teach a lot of lessons about war. One of the chief lessons is this: don’t go into battle with fewer soldiers than your enemy. If you don’t outnumber your enemy, run! \n\nGideon raised an army of 32,000 men. That’s a pretty big army! But God said he had too many men for the battle. Gideon sorted his men and sent 22,000 home, leaving him with only 10,000. God said he still had too many. Eventually, Gideon was down to a meager 300 men, not nearly enough to face the hordes that had come to attack Israel. \n\nIt seemed crazy to everyone involved that God would only allow Gideon 300 men, but God had a plan to defeat the enemy. That plan called for 300 men, no more. That’s what Gideon took into battle, and that’s what Gideon used to save Israel. Gideon won, not because he had the most men. He won because he let God build the army. \n\n**DRIVE IT HOME**\n\nOver and over, the Bible gives us stories about men and women who obeyed God and let God do the building in their lives. Sometimes God’s directions seemed strange, but when those men and women obeyed God, they saw that God’s way was the right one, no matter how strange it seemed to them. \n\nGod gave us these stories to teach us that we need to be just as obedient as the heroes of the faith. Like Gideon, we need to let God do the building. We need to trust God every step of the way. If God says to give the money you’re saving for a bike to charity instead, give it. If God says to sit down next to the kid who just moved to your school, do it. If God says to offer to pray for a friend in need, speak up and do it.\n\nAnd sometimes, God’s instructions can seem crazy to us; or even downright scary. Jesus taught us that we should love our enemies. When Jesus says “love,” he’s not saying that we should feel warm fuzzies toward them. He is saying that what we should do is serve them in loving and kind ways. We should do good things for them. That makes about as much sense as telling Gideon to face down a huge army with only a few hundred soldiers. But God knows what he is doing. And Jesus knows that by loving our enemies, like he did, we can change the world. So let’s have the faith to follow Jesus, and obey his words, even if they don’t make sense to us sometimes.\n\n**Close With A Simple Prayer:**\n\nDear God,\n\nTake our lives and make them something great. Put the pieces together for us according to your plan.\n\nIn Jesus’ name, Amen" } ] }, { "name": "Small Group Discussion", "actions": [ { "actionType": "play", "content": "Offering Slide", "files": [ { "name": "Offering Slide", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/leader_resources/series_graphics/offering_ws.jpg" } ] }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "Small Group Slide", "files": [ { "name": "Small Group Slide", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/leader_resources/series_graphics/smallgroups_ws.jpg" } ], "role": "" }, { "actionType": "say", "content": "**Icebreaker:**\n\nWhat’s your favorite thing to build with LEGO bricks?\n\n**Memory Verse Activity:**\n\nHebrews 3:4 Ask the kids what they think the writer was trying to say when he wrote these words. Then ask them how this verse is connected to today’s story.\n\n**Small Group/Game Activity:**\n\nPlay Simon Says with the kids, and see who does the best job following directions.\n\n**Discussion Questions:**\n\n**Read Judges 7:1-22**\n\n- How many men did Gideon take into battle? \n- What instructions did God give Gideon for the battle? \n- How did God defeat the army of Midian? \n- What are some instructions that Jesus gives us?\n- What are some ways we can follow Jesus’ instructions?\n\n**Simple Prayer:**\n\nDear God,\n\nTeach us to be patient and to trust you with our lives. Thank you for working all things out for our good.\n\nIn Jesus’ name,\n\nAmen" } ] }, { "name": "CRAFT ACTIVITY", "actions": [ { "actionType": "do", "content": "**CRAFT ACTIVITY**\n\nGrowing Seeds\n\nItems Needed:\n\n- 8 ½ x 11 White Paper\n- 9 x 12 Construction Paper\n- Markers\n- Scissors\n- Glue Sticks\n\n**Instructions:**\n\n- On the white paper, have kids draw a picture from today’s Bible story.\n- Then have them cut their picture into puzzle pieces.\n- Use glue sticks to glue the picture back together on construction paper.\n- Remind kids that God helps us put the pieces of our life together." }, { "actionType": "play", "content": "See You next Week!", "files": [ { "name": "See You next Week", "url": "https://files.churchpdf.com/Lift/leader_resources/series_graphics/seeyounextweek_ws.jpg" } ] } ] } ] }