PLEASING GOD

Lesson 1: “keep on doing what we told you to do to please God” (TM)

List of items needed to do the lessons as written. (feel free to change as you need).

[note: this list does not include items needed for the Review Game]

LESSON 1

  • White board and markers
  • Ice cream cones, Ice Cream, scoop
  • Puppets: 1 dress as Jesus and 1 dress as a rich man

Offering Lesson: Bible

LESSON 1

(NLT) “live in a way that pleases God” 1Thess. 4:1

Objective…Intro…what can I do?

Lesson 1

BRING UP WORSHIP LEADERS

>WELCOME

Good morning, everyone! I hope that all of you have been having a great weekend…and today at Kid’s church will BE the highlight, the best thing of your weekend! IT IS MINE!

I love being in Church with you! Each and everyone of you and I miss you when I don’t see your face…

I love working and serving God. This is the greatest way I know to work, helping God’s children to know and love Him. You know love is something we never can know enough about or get enough of…I think God is like that!

I love pleasing God! The best way I know to show someone I love him or her and I believe in them is to please them. That goes for you also. To show you how much I love you…I work very hard to present God to you in a way that is fun, exciting, and still will change your life.

Ready for one more ‘I love’ statement? Here it is…

I love worshipping God!

So…stand this morning and do just that …it pleases Him when we

worship and sing to Him.

>PRAY

>WORSHIP

>TALENT TIME

>OFFERING

[A Bible]

It’s offering time again…

How can we have good success? (Allow answers)

Yes…over the course of time you have learned that your ‘giving’ brings return!

Our ‘giving’ of money, time, talent, energy brings back to us money, more time, better talent, extra energy, etc. Brings to us good success and blessings.

This morning as we collect our offerings here’s another way to get good success…

Would you like to hear?

Some of us, because we don’t have the opportunity to give money to the church, to the Lord’s work, wonder…will “I” ever have blessings and good success.

YES, you can!

Another way to obtain good success along with giving is…

To read, to speak, to think about God’s word

(Hold up Bible)

Listen:

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8 (NKJV)

In a nutshell:

1. Read, speak, and think on God’s word.

2. Do what God’s word says…and God will do number…3…

3. He will help you make your way blessed (prosperous) and with good success! Amen!

Pray, collect offering

>ANNOUNCEMENTS

>REVIEW

(Before kids arrive…put star or a baseball card or ? on the under side of 4 random chairs…2 on boys side, 2 on girls. These will be the players for today’s game. )

>REVIEW GAME ‘WATERMELON FEAST’

(A great summer game…but it’s just as fun in the winter just more expensive. Need one watermelon and 4 paper plates, towels.)

Slice a nice big chunk of watermelon for each player put on paper plate (have towels ready). On "go" first person to eat all of watermelon (red) wins.

Award prize…how about a package of watermelon

flavored gum

>LESSON

We are starting a new series this morning (today). How do you like the backdrop? (Ifyou did one.) Pleasing God…WOW…I’ll bet that could be hard? I mean look at how hard it is to ‘please’ me, or you, or our parents, or a teacher.

Pleasing God seems almost impossible! What do you think???…Can we???…Dare we try??? (Allow noise)

(Need whiteboard and marker)

Let me ask you…what are some things you do or we can do to please God?

(Write them on the whiteboard) YES…this sure is a long list! (I hope!)

Can we really do all this? Is this what God wants us to do, to please Him?

If we can do thing’s that please God. Can we do things that don’t please Him? (Allow answers)

>OBJECT LESSON

(Some ice cream…a couple of ice cream cones, tools to scoop it in the cone)

[Pick 2 volunteers…kids who are somewhat animated]

{First child}______(kid’s name) I’m going to make you a nice treat…an ice

cream cone…(put one large scoop on cone)

There you go…you may sit down and eat it…oh… Does that please you?

(Allow answer)

{Second child}______(kid’s name) I’m going to make you one also…(Put TWO

scoops on this cone) There, how’s that? Does that please you?

(Allow answer)

(Hopefully child #1 might start to complain about only 1 scoop…and you might here noise from all the other kids. But if the first child doesn’t complain, you may have to generate some type of reaction)

Three things popped into my head (pop, pop, pop)

1>______(2nd child) was reallypleased!

2>______(1st child) somewhat pleased…somewhat okay.

3>The rest of you probably weren’t happy that you weren’t chosen?!?

This is how our lives please God…huh?

1>Sometimes we really CAN please God. (point at the list on whiteboard)

Especially when we are doing things like this.

2>A lot of the time the things we do are okay with Him…maybe somewhat okay.

3>and sometimes He is not happy that we don’t choose right or choose

HIM!

Did you know the Bible (hold up one) is all about “PLEASING GOD”? I know you thought it was all about…Jesus, rules, regulations, temples, Bible hero’s and villains, sacrifices, and more rules and laws. Well all that plus more is in the Bible. However, all that…plus more…was written for us “TO” please Him…why? READY for this…

Why, because He created you (point out at the kids) and me for this one main reason!

TO PLEASE HIM, to give Him delight, pleasure, JOY!

The Bible in the very last book…Revelation chapter 4 verse 11 says this…

for you created everything” I guess that includes me…you!

and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created” (NLT)

Do you know who “they” is? US!

Why were we created? (Allow answers) Right, to bring pleasure to God!

[Have puppet team go get ready for upcoming skit]

>BIBLE STORY

(My paraphrase from Matthew 19)

Even Jesus when He walked with us knew it would be hard. Jesus knew that with His help, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and with the Word of God (the Bible) we could do it!

People all through time have been trying to do it…trying to please God.

Let’s watch this…

>PUPPET STORY

[One puppet dressed as Jesus…one as a rich man, and your voice as the narrator.]

{Note: you could have the puppeteer before going into the puppet stage for this skit copy the list on the white board and then say the list in the skit OR you can just do the paraphrase written from the Gospel.}

*Jesus enters (pause)

Narrator“one day a rich man came up to Jesus”

*Enter rich man

Rich man“Good teacher, what should I be doing to please God, to get

eternal life?”

Jesus“Whoa, why are you calling me good, only God is good! But to

answer your question, you know what the Bible says to do…

(this would be the place to read the list copied from the white board or…)

‘don’t hurt your wife, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t lie or cheat,

and honor you mom and dad.’

Rich man“Teacher, I’ve done all these things ever since I was a young boy”

Narrator“now Jesus, looked right into the man’s eyes and felt genuine love

For him.”

Jesus“Yes you have…except one thing. I’m still not your first choice!

You choose money and riches first. Choose me instead! Follow

Me first!”

*Rich man shaking head looking sad…exits

Narrator-“the rich man couldn’t do that…He left because ‘pleasing God’

was not his first choice…pleasing himself was.

*Jesus looking at all areas of the audience

Jesus“it is very hard for you who have-it-all to choose pleasing God

first. But with God’s help all things are possible.”

*Jesus exits

Pleasing God is POSSIBLE! With God’s help. With the help of the Holy Spirit and with the Bible all things are POSSIBLE!

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to some people, some Christians who lived in a town called Thessalonica. He wrote this letter to us also. He had spent a lot of time helping, teaching them how to have eternal life and to please God.

Our series…for the next couple of months, we are going to look at what Paul wrote to us…to help us to ‘please God.’

>SCRIPTURE VERSE (on overhead)

Paul wrote in Chapter 4 verse 1 this exhortation, this encouragement to help us to choose right.

live in a way that pleases God” 1 Thessalonians 4:1 (NLT)

Repeat a couple of times then point at list on whiteboard.

Paul says we are to ‘keep on doing what we told you to do to please God’ (TM)

We can ‘please God.’ We can bring delight and joy to God with His help and the Holy Spirit’s help in reading, memorizing, and doing His words. We can ‘please God.’ We show by doing and living His words that… We choose Him first! We (choose to) “please Him!”

>CLOSE

Boys and girls today we are like the rich man! We have so many things that say to us…

Choose me!!! Choose me!!!

And God who loves us…watches and hopes that we would choose Him.

>PRAY

As I close in prayer, make a decision today to choose Him first!

Here is something cool…He says, God says, choose ME first and then I’ll give you all you need everyday! Pray

"live in a way that pleases God"

1 Thessalonians 4:1 NLT

“Pleasing God”

Lesson: 1

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