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3rd week of our Journey - On the right track

This week’s destination: ‘ KEEPING ON THE RIGHT TRACK’

• The children are introduced to the ‘On the right track’ and the Passport to Heaven this is the ‘bait’ to help the children ‘fish’ – (sharing the Gospel with their friends.)

‘Mystery Clue’ Witnessing Tool:
• ‘On the right track’ (Visual aid to be coloured as the kids arrive.)
• Passport to Heaven (Photocopy one for each child hide them around the room prior to the Session)

AS KIDS ARRIVE PRIOR TO THE LESSON:
Welcome Teacher/Trainers, Trainers and students. As the children arrive give seven of them the Tractor and trailers to colour. Ensure they each have their Treasure Chest (shoebox)

Greetings children this week we are going to teach you how to fish. And during this journey we will be giving you lots of bait. Take a look at some of these bait. (Hole up the ‘Fishing Bait’ poster preferable in colour) They look very funny, mysterious even but they work - the fish get lured by them and bite the bait.

1. GUESSING GAMES: (10 minutes) ‘Find the bait’
Hide a few of the paper bait in one hand, get the children to guess how many you have hidden or hide a bait in one hand and get the children that think its in your right hand to come and stand on the right side, those that think its in the left hand on the other side, eliminate the children that guessed incorrectly. Start the game again until there are only two children.

2. TEAM GAMES: (10 minutes) ‘Fish Relay’
Cut out the two fish found in the Visual Aid Manual use them as batons for a relay race between two teams. Have an adult stand at the far end of the field or room give her enough ‘bait’ for each child. Give the leader of each team the ‘Fish Baton’ At the start the leader runs to the far end, goes around the adult collecting a ‘bait’ and back to the team tagging the second runner handing over the ‘Fish Baton’. This is repeated until everyone has run then the entire team runs to the adult showing her their ‘bait’ as proof that they have all run in the Fish Relay

3. ACTIVE PRAISE CHORUS: (10 minutes)
Come Follow me (Use music video, and lyrics)

4. INTIMATE WORSHIP: (5 minutes)
I have decided to Follow Jesus (Use children’s music video and lyrics in Visual Aid Manual)

Prayer:
Heavenly Father we know that the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into a lake and catches all kinds of fish. Thank you for the diversity of the body of Christ. We know that sometimes you ask us to throw our net on the other side of the boat and do something different, keep us open to hearing from you, Jesus, as we follow you make us fishers of men. In Jesus name. Amen.

5. TEACHING:
a) “Back Track”

The Journey of Life verse:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
Lean NOT on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge HIM
and HE will make your path straight.
Proverbs 3:5 and 6

Optional: Sing Trust in the Lord (Use children’s music video and lyrics in Visual Aid Manual)

• God’s Word is Powerful, True and a Light for our Journey. (Use torch from Session 2 as a Visual Aid)
• Review the Scripture Ticket Verses glued onto the Treasure Map.
• Did you bring your Sword Play Track with you, let’s read it all together.

b) Sword Play (Wave the Power Sword)

Ready…Swords up… Matthew 7:14…( CHARGE!)
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:14)

(Use Sword Play visual aid to teach the vers)
(Give out the Sword Play Tracks one for each child, junior and senior)

c) Teaching the Lesson
Firstly we are going to learn the value of the ‘Mystery Clue’ tools designed to help you share your faith with friends and family. But we need to know the correct order in which to share. You need to stay on the narrow road because this leads to life.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK! You never see a trailer in front of a tractor! Today we are going to learn the correct order in which to share your faith. (Colour the Tractor and Trailers prior to the lesson, get volunteers up to hold them in order and stick them up on the wall in the correct order at the end of the class.)

This week’s Bait: – Tractor and Trailors

THE GOSPEL PLAN:
When sharing our faith we need to start by sharing about HEAVEN - a free Gift....it is not something you work for or deserve.

The Bible tells us “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23)

“For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

So what keeps us from getting this gift?
SIN

So the next step along the narrow path we need to talk about Sin. We all sin, and cannot save ourselves. “What is sin? ...Sin is anything we think, say, do or don't do that does not please God”.

The Bible tells us “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Jesus said “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

There must be a different way - God's way.

God is loving but God is also just. The Bible says “God is love …” (1 John 4:8b)
But the Bible also says “Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished.” (Exodus 34:7b)

Do you see the problem?
God solved the problem by sending His Son Jesus.

Jesus is God! He came from Heaven to earth. He lived a perfect life. He died on the cross and rose from the dead, to pay the penalty for our sins and to purchase a place - in Heaven for us. Jesus is in Heaven now offering us the FREE GIFT of eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

How do we receive this FREE gift of eternal life? BY FAITH!

Saving Faith is not just knowing about God in your head.... Saving Faith is not just temporary, Saving Faith is trusting in Jesus ALONE for our eternal life.

The Bible says “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved …” (Acts 16:31)

Does this make sense to you?

“Jesus says ‘I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…” (Rev 3:20)

Jesus is a gentleman and He will not kick in the door to your heart or come in uninvited you MUST open the door and invite Him in.

Optional: Marching Cadence: (Get the children up and marching to Rev 3:20 Marching Cadence, found in Visual Aid Manual)

“… he who believes has everlasting life.” (John 6:47)

We have been told Jesus is waiting patiently He is knocking at the door of the hearts of all those who will invited Him in… its time to KNOW… GROW… GO!

Give each child a ‘Tractor and Trailers strip’ and a match box, having cut a rectangle out of one of the flat side of the matchbox making a make believe TV.A ‘Treasure Box TV’! Show them how to roll up their strips and place it in the match box and how you can slowly unroll it and share your Faith with your friends.

Optional: Eddie the Salvation Skit

“Fishing Trips”

Instead of catching fish Jesus wanted us to start catching people! He wanted us to tell others about Him and bring them along as followers. Instead of bringing fish into the boat He wanted them to bring people into the church and into the Kingdom of God. I want to show you what I mean. I need a few of you to come over here.

(Have some of the children stand a little ways away from the group.)

Let’s pretend that you don’t know anything about Jesus and his love. OK. Now let’s have some more of you stand over here. (Have another small group stand off to the other side)

Let’s pretend they don’t know about Jesus and His love either.

Now the rest of us here will be the “fishers of men.” Some of you can take the corners of this blanket. Perfect! Now let’s go and do some fishing. Follow me. Hey! Look over here. “These people look a little lost. I think we need to bring them into the Kingdom of God. Let’s come around them and bring them into the church.” (Scoop them up and bring them front and center.)

Great. However, there are still some more people over there that look like they are on the outside. Let’s go and fish for those people. (“Net” these people and bring them in so you are all together as a big group.)

You did a good job being fishers of people.

Although we don’t use a real net to bring people to Jesus he does want us to go out and “catch” people and bring them in the Kingdom. There are many things we can do to be good fishers of people. We can show love and care to other people. We can tell them about Jesus and his wonderful love. We can pray for them.
And we can invite them here to church where they can experience some of the love and joy of the family of God. With the Holy Spirit’s help they may decide to be followers of Jesus, just like the rest of us fish!

If you have ever been fishing, you know what a thrill it is to catch a big fish. Can you imagine what a bigger thrill it must be to go fishing for people and to help someone else come to know Jesus and become one of his followers? Even though this story in the Bible is about Jesus calling the first disciples, it is for us too. It is a message from Jesus that he wants us to go and make disciples. Will we return his call? What will our answer be?

Extracts from www.sundaychildrensfocus.com/childrens-sermon-fishers-of-men

Fishermen sometimes use worms, like wiggly fingers. We are going to learn about that next week. We are going to show you how to use this bait to entice a ‘fish’ (your friend). First we have to find the ‘worms’ so let’s try and find the hidden bait in the room.(Children search for the Passport.)

To go on a Fishing Trip abroad you will need a Passport. It is a form of identification that allows a traveler to physically pass from one country to another, (Show a real passport) Imagine if you had loss your Passport, you would look everywhere until you found it! We are spiritual travelers along this journey who travel from a physical place (earth) to an eternal place (Heaven). We want to help you learn how you can reach your spiritual destination, Heaven.

Passport to Heaven:

Demonstrate how to fold the Passport to Heaven
Open the track on the side that demonstrates HEAVEN/SIN/GOD/JESUS. Fold the left hand side over so that HEAVEN/SIN are exposed. Fold the right hand side back so HEAVEN/SIN are still exposed. Turn the track over and fold the right hand side to the left so GOD/JESUS should all be seen at the front. The front of the track asks the question “Do you know God has a FREE gift for you?” (Once the children have folded their track demonstrate to them how to use it)

Demonstrate how to use the Passport to Heaven
Start with the first question “Do you know for sure that you are going to be with God in Heaven some day?”
“If God asked you, “Why should I let you into my Heaven?” What would you say? (Allow them to answer)

(Open the track and continue to read) Heaven is a FREE gift… (read Romans 6:23 and Ephesians 2 : 8 – 9 after completing the HEAVEN section share on the SIN section read Romans 3:23 and Matthew 5:48 open the track again.)

There has to be a different way. (Start explaining the GOD section read 1 John 4:8b and Exodus 34:7b) WOW we have a BIG problem! Share how God solved that problem by sending His son JESUS. (Read John 3: 16. Turn.)

How do we get this gift of eternal life? BY FAITH. (Share the FAITH section read Acts 16:31)

Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. Read Rev. 3:20

Ask your friend if they would like to let Jesus into their lives. Would you like to pray now? To ask Jesus to forgive your sins and to give you the gift of eternal life? This means that you want to trust in Jesus, turn from your sins, and follow Him. “He who believes has everlasting life… “ (John 6:47)

Now its time to GROW by reading the Bible, praying, worshiping, fellowshipping with other believers and witnessing to others about Jesus.

(If time allows get volunteers to come up in pairs to use the Passport to Heaven to share their faith with a friend)

6. APPLICATION/ENCOUNTERING GOD: Refer to our Encountering God Handbook for ideas for this important section of the session. Experience the Holy Spirit Learning Centers creating an atmosphere for this experience.

CLOSING PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to be good fishers for people – willing to go with our bait, patiently waiting, and trusting you to bring in the catch, we want all of our friends to know about Jesus and His love for them. Amen.

TAKE HOME PAGE:
• Tractor and trailers slips
• Passport to Heaven

CLICK to view Session #4.