WELCOME TO WEEK 3

Have you ever played a game of tag, at night? What do you need in order to find everyone? A light! A source of light will help you see where you are running and it also helps you find the other players. This week we will see how God’s light can help guide us through life and keep us on the right path.

Psalm 119:101-105 John 8:12

BIBLE STORY

We have different leaders for all types of situations. Leaders guide us to make in our communities and they help make decisions. Listen to the following clues and tell who is the leader.

-This person carries out laws, talks with other nations, and leader of a nation (President)

-Gives instructions to students, helps students learn new information, leader of a classroom (teacher)

-This person makes decisions for a school, instructs teachers, leader of a school (principal)

-This person is in charge of city departments, they help make local laws, leader of a city (mayor)

-This person helps train a team, they decide strategies for winning, leader of a team. (Coach)

-This person directs musicians how to play a song, they set the tempo of a song, leader of an orchestra. (Conductor) 

A leader guides its followers to go in the same direction. We have different leaders in our lives, but our main leader should be God. God wants to lead us and show us the best path for our lives. This week we will read a passage in Psalms and learn how God can lead us.

Read or listen to the scripture story in Psalm 119:101-105

Where did the Psalmist keep his feet? (From every evil path)

Who did the Psalmist want to follow? (God’s word)

Who gives us instruction? (God)

The Psalmist compares God’s word to the sweetness of honey. What would you compare God’s sweet words to?

What did the Psalmist hate? (Every false way)

Complete the rest of verse 105: Your word is a ______ to my ______ and a _______ on my _____.

BIBLE STORY ACTIVITY

The Psalmist described God’s word as a lamp to his feet and a light to his path. God’s word is the Bible. There, God gives instructions on how to live, how to treat others, and it tells of God’s love for us. We can read God’s words and apply them to our lives by practicing doing what it says. In that way, we are allowing God’s words to light our path and we are walking in the light. 

Activity

God’s light can guide us in the right direction, we just need to follow it. I am going to hide an object somewhere in this room. I want you to find it by following my guiding light. Stand in the beam of light from the flashlight and each time the light moves, move back into the circle of light as well. (Have child stay within the beam of light. Move the light a few feet, then stop and wait for them to stand back into the light. Continue to move the light a few feet at a time until you reach the hidden object for them to find.)

Materials: Flashlight, object to hide

Alternate

Following God’s direction can lead us toward a direction God has planned for our lives. When we do not follow his directions it can lead us down a destructive path, further from His plans. Place the printed footprints on the ground. Read the situations on each footprint. Choose to step in the direction you think God is leading you. Try not to get off of His path!

Materials: printed footprints

Independent activity:

Create a light refraction experiment. Make simple drawing of an arrow and prop it up, then place a glass filled with water in front of the picture. Look at your picture through the glass and see if your picture has changed. Move the glass closer than farther away. How has the picture changed? Draw other pictures like a face with eyes facing one direction, or a thumbs up. This is called refraction, or bending light. When light passes through clear objects, it refracts or bends. The glass of water acts as a cylindrical convex lens, and produces an inverted image. The picture may also appear smaller, larger depending on the position of the paper or glass

Materials: Glass of water, pen, paper

ARTS & CAFTS

CRAFT 1

Create a small lantern. Using a small clear plastic container ( or a small mason jar) and a small tea light. Decorate the outside of the lantern with stickers and markers. The add the small tea light to the center. Close the container with t the lid if desired.

Materials: Small clear plastic container or mason jar, battery operated tea light, stickers, markers 

Craft 2

Paper lantern. Follow the instruction on this website to create your own paper lantern. 

Materials: printed coloring sheet, crayons

Craft 3

Coloring page

Materials: Printed coloring page, crayons, markers or coloring pencils

FOLLOW-UP

Read John 8:12 

According to John 8:12, who is the light of the world? (Jesus)

If we follow Jesus what will happen? (We will never walk in darkness and have the light of life)

Why is it difficult to walk in darkness?

Have you ever had to walk a far distance in darkness?

What are some obstacles you face in darkness that you don’t have in the light?

What do you think it means to have the light of life?

Practical Application at Home

We can be confident that when we have the word of God, He will lead us in the path He has for us. We can choose not to follow God, but we will be like a person who stumbles around in the darkness with no light. We could bump into things and get hurt, or hurt other people! 

This week think of some ways you can walk in God’s light. Read each of the following scriptures and determine what God is leading you to do. Think about how these scriptures can be applied to your life and then live them out this week. Give an example of something you can do that applies to each scripture. It can be as simple as sharing with your siblings, or as thoughtful as using your money to buy food for the food bank. Let God speak to you this week and reveal the path He would have you take. Then do it confidently because God is leading you!

-Matthew 25:35-40 “When I was hungry you gave me something to eat; when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…”

-Luke 12:32-34 “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not run out, treasure in heaven that will not fail, where no thief comes in and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

-1John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or anything in world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him…”

John 15:12-13  "My command is this, love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this; to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.”

_Philippians 4:11-13 “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances…”

Jeremiah 9:23-24 “…but let the one who boasts boast about this; that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,: declares the Lord”

1 Timothy 6:18-19 “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share…”

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Additional Resources

Outings to Reinforce Lesson

Go to a park and spend time in worship and prayer. Ask God to show you ways to trust him and listen to his voice.