ANGER DANGER: Part Three (Righteous Anger)

Anger Danger

     Angry Birds Themed Series - Righteous and Unrighteous Anger

     Series Power Verse: “In your anger, do not sin.” – Ephesians 4:26 (KJV)

      For the ANGER DANGER Series Finale, all of the kids and Kids’ Church helpers
      were invited to come to church dressed as their favorite angry bird.  Our pastor’s wife and
      one of our helpers also did a hilarious skit with two of the kids’ favorite puppets: Henry
      the Rooster and his wife Henrietta.

     

      Righteous Anger (God punishes Cain.)

When the angry birds let their anger explode into violence, it became a sin.  Even though the pigs sinned first by stealing their eggs, the birds were still wrong, too.  Sometimes we think because we are wronged first that our unrighteous anger is justified.  If our sibling hits us, and then, we turn around and hit them back, it doesn’t matter who hit who first.  Our parents will punish both of us. God was not happy when Cain killed Abel.  He punished him, but God also had mercy on him.  We have consequences for our sins, too sometimes.  Just remember God is always there to forgive us, too.    

□    SNACK TIME

□    RESTROOM BREAK & WARM UP SONG/COUNTDOWN

“Spin” – Uncle Charlie (WorshipHouseKids.com)

□    WELCOME

□    COOL RULES

1.     Be kind to your neighbor

2.     Listen to your leaders

3.     Stay In your seat

□    OPENING PRAYER

□    POWER VERSE SHOUT:

“In your anger, do not sin.” – Ephesians 4:26

I ask the kids to stand during our Power Verse Shouts.  I would shake my fist like I was having a tantrum while we yelled “in your anger” and then stomp a foot with each word as I said, “do not sin”.  The kids enjoyed acting the verse out, and several of them knew the verse by heart before they went home.

□    TITHES & OFFERING: Malachi 3:10  

□    HIGH ENERGY PRAISE & WORSHIP SONG:

“Undignified” – David Crowder (Youtube.com lyrics video)

□    POWER VERSE SHOUT:

“In your anger, do not sin.” – Ephesians 4:26

□    HIGH ENERGY PRAISE & WORSHIP SONG:

“We Will Dance” – Amber Sky Records (WorshipHouseKids.com)

□    BOYS VS GIRLS GAME:

We played this game at the beginning of the series.  The kids loved it so much, we decided to play it again at the finale!  We played the Angry Birds theme song during the game.

 

Angry Birds Ball Toss

Using a large cardboard panel, we created a sort of beanbag toss game.  We cut circles out of the cardboard and taped pictures of the green Angry Birds pigs in the back.  We bought a pack of cheap plastic balls and taped angry bird faces on them.  The object of the game was to throw your “Angry Bird” at a pig.  It was very cheap to make and wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but the kids absolutely loved it!

 

□    HENRY & HENRIETTA SKIT

□    HIGH ENERGY PRAISE & WORSHIP SONG:

“Me Without You” – tobyMac

□    POWER VERSE SHOUT:

“In your anger, do not sin.” – Ephesians 4:26

□    POWER VERSE RACE:

“In your anger, do not sin.” – Ephesians 4:26

The object of the Power Verse Race is to help teach the kids how to use their Bible in addition to scripture memorization.  The kids have to find the verse in their Bible, stand, and read it.  Everyone who can gets a piece of candy. 

□    BIBLE STATEMENT:

This is my Bible!

I am what it says I am!

I can have what it says I can have!

I can do what it says I can do!

My mind is alert.

My heart is open.

I am about to receive a life changing message

And I will never be the same

In Jesus’ name!

□    SERMON

RIGHTEOUS ANGER

POWER VERSE: “In your anger, do not sin!” – Ephesians 4:26

Briefly give the kids an overview of all we have learned during the past two weeks with the powerpoint questions.

            Cain killed Abel!  Wow.  That’s really letting your anger get out of control isn’t it? He didn’t follow our power verse, did he? It says, “IN YOUR ANGER, DO NOT SIN!”  Well, Cain got angry and he did not control it.  HIS ANGER CAUSED HIM TO SIN!  I’m sure his parents were really mad.  I bet he would have been punished by them, wouldn’t he?  When we mess up and let our anger cause us to sin, our parents aren’t the only ones that we have to answer to.  We have to answer to God, too.  As much as it hurts our parents’ feelings when we act out, it hurts God’s feelings even more.  Sin pushes us away from God.  God loves us so much that He doesn’t want anything pushing us away from Him.  He wants us to be close to Him all the time!  Don’t you like to hang out with your friends?  You like to hug your parents and tell them how much you love them.  God wants us to want to be around Him even more than our friends and family, but when we choose to sin instead of doing what is right, we are choosing to be close to sin and way, way, way away from God.

            That’s exactly what happened with Cain.  After he killed Abel, Cain was separated from God.  He had to leave his home and family and move far away.  Cain never asked God to forgive him for killing Abel.  When God asked Cain what happened to Abel, Cain should have felt guilty for killing his brother.  He should have really wished he hadn’t done it and realized he made a terrible mistake.  When I was a kid, after I got in a fight with my sister and called her a mean name or hit her, I would feel sorry about it later especially when my mom came in my room and gave me THE LOOK and said, “Tiffany, WHAT did you do to your sister?”  We should do our best to fight the urge to sin when we are angry.  When someone hits us, we do not have to hit them back.  When someone calls us a mean name, we don’t have to call them an even meaner name.  In the Bible God says it is not our place to seek revenge on others.  Romans 12:19 (NIV) says, “Do not take revenge”.  Unlike me, when Cain let his jealous anger get so out of control that he killed his brother, he  didn’t feel sorry.  He didn’t feel sorry right away. He didn’t even feel sorry later.  When God asked Cain where Abel was, Cain said, “I don’t know.  Am I my brother’s keeper?”  When God confronted Cain, Cain should have wanted to come clean, but he didn’t.   I can picture him doing the dramatic eye roll, the long sigh, hands on hips, having that bad attitude in his tone, two seconds away from stomping off and slamming the door… I know I’ve done that a time or two to my parents growing up.   

Show Angry Birds Theatrical Clip on youtube.com.

            I showed this video at the beginning of our Anger Danger series, but it has been a few weeks since then, so I wanted to show the video again.  Most of you have played the game.  You know the story.  The pigs come and steal the angry birds’ eggs.  The birds get mad, go to get their eggs back, and find out that the pigs ate their eggs!  Immediately, they begin destroying the pigs and the pigs’ town by launching themselves at the pigs in slingshots.  It’s a fun game, right?  I like playing it, but say someone came and stole something from you, say your brother or sister takes something from your room without asking… my sister used to do that all the time and it would make me so mad!  If I went into my sister’s room and started throwing stuff at her trying to hurt her, would that be okay?  (No)  And if I did let my anger cause me to sin and hurt her, what would happen?  My mother would come in the room and I’d be in a lot of trouble, wouldn’t I?  She’d make me apologize and clean up the mess. 

            So, we know that when the angry birds took things into their own hands and sought revenge, that was wrong.  They let their anger tempt them into sinning, doing something wrong.  But what are some things the Angry Birds could have done? Let the kids give you answers.

1.      The birds could have called the police.

2.      The birds could have talked things over with the pigs.

3.      But most importantly, the birds SHOULD have prayed.  God would have helped them forgive the pigs and move on.  Forgiving the pigs for stealing and EATING their eggs would have been hard.  Forgiving people is hard sometimes.  It is hard to just forget about it and pretend it never happened.  But we should because God forgives us when we mess up and do mean things.  When we get angry and choose to pray, God helps us forgive.  Sometimes it takes a while.  Sometimes it happens right away.  But every time we feel angry, we should pray!

            Who all was here a few weeks ago when I told everyone about the BIG fight my brother and I had on our vacation to the state capitol when we were kids?  For those of you who weren’t, my brother slammed my fingers in the truck door while I was trying to get out at a gas station to get a snack.  He said it was an accident, but I didn’t believe him.  My dad had this tiny truck and I got the bad seat right in the middle all squished up.  We’d been driving for a long time and I was all cramped in the middle.  Thankfully, my dad said we could take turns sitting in the middle.  When we left the gas station, it would be my brother’s turn to sit in the uncomfortable middle seat.   I thought he slammed the doors on my fingers because he was jealous that he had to give up the “good” window seat.  I was furious.  My face was bright red.  I was angrier than an angry bird, if that’s possible.  I just got madder and madder while we walked around the gas station.  As soon as I got my chance, I got revenge.  I slammed my brother’s leg in the truck door.  I told you how I got so wrapped up in my anger that I didn’t even realize my Dad was standing there watching the whole thing.  As punishment, I had to give up my turn in the “good seat” and had to sit in the middle all cramped up and miserable with my sore smashed fingers.  I didn’t tell you the rest of the story.  I was saving that for today.  My dad was mad at me.  I could tell by the look on his face.  He couldn’t believe that I had been so mean to my brother.  I felt so guilty.  We drove for a long while.  My fingers eventually quit hurting but I couldn’t help but wonder if my brother’s leg was still hurting.  I felt so bad.  I knew if I could do it all over again, I would have just prayed about it and forgave my brother. Now my brother’s leg might be hurting.  I hurt my dad’s feelings by doing something I knew was wrong.  Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.  I told my brother how sorry I was and I gave my dad a hug.  They both forgave me and things went back to normal.  We went back to talking and laughing and singing along to the radio. 

            I’m so glad my brother forgave me, and I’m glad that my dad forgave me, too.  But when I let my anger cause me to sin and hurt my brother, I also hurt God.  He was mad that I had chosen to do the wrong thing instead of praying for Him to help me control my anger and do the right thing...forgive my brother.  See, God understands that sometimes we get angry because sometimes He gets angry, too.  God never sins when He’s angry.  He wants us to do the same and control our anger.  Remember, when we get angry and do something mean to someone, our sin pushes us away from God.  It’s important to ask the people we hurt for forgiveness, but we also need to ask God to forgive us, too.  When we do, God forgives us.  He chooses to forgive us and in His eyes, it never happened. 

            Some of you are in here this morning, and you’ve done things you know you shouldn’t.  You’ve sinned, and your sin has pushed you away from God.  All you have to do is ask for his forgiveness, the sin is washed away, and you are close with God again.  Maybe you let your anger get out of control like Cain and the angry birds.  But anger isn’t the only thing that can cause us to sin.  Maybe your mom asked you to do something and you chose not to do it.  Maybe you told a lie.  Maybe you said something mean.  Maybe you talked back to your teacher.   You’ve asked for everyone’s forgiveness, but have you asked for God’s forgiveness?    

            God loves us so much that there isn’t anything we can do that He won’t forgive.  There isn’t a sin too big for God to come and wash away. 

  □    ALTAR SERVICE:

Play soft music

□    OFFERING WINNER PRIZE

During every series, we have an ongoing competition to see whether the boys or girls can bring in more tithes and offering.  Whoever brings in the most offering, gets some sort of prize.  During our last series, the girls one and put a pie in my husband’s face.  To go along with the Angry Birds theme, I will be dressing up like one of the green pigs and whichever group wins will get to shoot marshmallows at me dressed in my pig costume.  On Pinterest, I came across a DIY guide for making a marshmallow shooter out of a plastic cup and

 

□    PRIZE DRAWING

I found several cheap Angry Birds items on Ebay and at our local Party City to give out to the kids.  All the kids’ names went into a drawing.  We started with the smallest prize first and built up to the largest prize.  We also bought a bag of Angry Birds party favors from Party City and created giveaway bags with candy left over from Valentine’s Day.  We passed out the bags so all of the kids got a prize.