Showing posts with label God's promise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's promise. Show all posts
Saturday, February 2, 2019
God's Promise in the Night
We started off this lesson of the promise God made to Abraham by using a white crayon to draw stars in the night sky on the activity sheet I created. While reading the story, the kids watercolored the night sky over the picture. We talked a little about shadows and why purples and blues are good choices for night pictures.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Saturday, October 10, 2015
October 11: Jesus Restores God's Place
Read "Jesus Restores God's Place," part 16 of The Big Picture Story Bible.
For this lesson we focus on how God did not go back on his promises to Abraham after the Old Testament.
Review God's promises to Abraham: 1. Abraham's family would become a great nation, 2. God would give His people a special place, and 3. God will bring His blessings to other people on the earth.
Ask kiddos if Abraham's family became a great nation {Yes! In fact, their country, Israel, is still a country today! They've had lots of struggles due to their disobedience (sometimes even getting their "country" privilege taken away {When Jesus was born, the area was ruled by the Roman Empire}, but they were, and still are, a great nation.}
Ask students if God gave His people a special place {Yes! He gave them the land of Israel, and even though it was overtaken many times by many other rulers, it was still there waiting for them to obey and make better choices.}
Before Jesus came, God's special place was a land called Israel. Abraham's descendants lived there and God's word was followed for many years in this place. At the end of the Old Testament, however, we read a lot about disobedience. Solomon, and those after him, did not make good choices for God, and they were punished by losing their land. In some wars they were kicked off it, in other wars they were held as slaves, when Jesus came along they had to pay heavy taxes to Caesar Augustus, who was the ruler of the Roman Empire, a huge kingdom that had overtaken Israel. Jesus came to change that.
A lot of people thought that Jesus would come as a superhero, ready to fight the Romans and take back the land that the Israelites felt was theirs. God had another plan, though. Many people were surprised- and didn't believe- that God's Forever King came to earth as a baby. As Jesus grew up and preached His message, a lot of people didn't understand. They were still pretending to obey God, but making bad choices and sinning in secret. And sometimes it wasn't even a secret. The day Jesus went into the temple and saw people selling sacrifices for much more money than they should have, he went berserk!
He told His followers, and the people standing nearby, that the stone temple wasn't God's special place anymore. Instead, HE was God's special place. That sounds crazy, right? How can a person be a place!?
Many people were confused, so Jesus explained it like this: His body was now God's Holy Temple, and instead of people sacrificing animals to get the blood they needed to pay for their sins, Jesus would use HIS blood. Of course He hadn't died on the cross yet, so nobody knew what He was talking about.
Jesus told everyone that HE was the new place people should go to to worship. Instead of visiting a temple, we can pray through Jesus. Instead of a temple being so important, from now on the church is anyone who gets together to glorify God. Our bodies are kind of like a temple, too. Jesus is in our hearts and it's our job to keep our temple clean. Not just healthy-clean and physically-clean, but spiritually-clean as well.
For our activity, I chose one student to trace on bulletin board paper. We then took turns writing inside the body outline ways that we can take care of our bodies to worship Jesus. Ideas include eating healthy, not getting tattoos or piercings, not saying bad words or having mean thoughts in our heads, smiling instead of frowning, etc. I really had the kiddos think hard before they added to our word collage, and I think it gave them a better idea of how we can worship God when we're not necessarily at church or praying. I also didn't sway them one way or another (like over the tattoos, since some kids said they didn't see it as sinful), I let them go with what they felt comfortable saying.
For this lesson we focus on how God did not go back on his promises to Abraham after the Old Testament.
Review God's promises to Abraham: 1. Abraham's family would become a great nation, 2. God would give His people a special place, and 3. God will bring His blessings to other people on the earth.
Ask kiddos if Abraham's family became a great nation {Yes! In fact, their country, Israel, is still a country today! They've had lots of struggles due to their disobedience (sometimes even getting their "country" privilege taken away {When Jesus was born, the area was ruled by the Roman Empire}, but they were, and still are, a great nation.}
Ask students if God gave His people a special place {Yes! He gave them the land of Israel, and even though it was overtaken many times by many other rulers, it was still there waiting for them to obey and make better choices.}
Before Jesus came, God's special place was a land called Israel. Abraham's descendants lived there and God's word was followed for many years in this place. At the end of the Old Testament, however, we read a lot about disobedience. Solomon, and those after him, did not make good choices for God, and they were punished by losing their land. In some wars they were kicked off it, in other wars they were held as slaves, when Jesus came along they had to pay heavy taxes to Caesar Augustus, who was the ruler of the Roman Empire, a huge kingdom that had overtaken Israel. Jesus came to change that.
A lot of people thought that Jesus would come as a superhero, ready to fight the Romans and take back the land that the Israelites felt was theirs. God had another plan, though. Many people were surprised- and didn't believe- that God's Forever King came to earth as a baby. As Jesus grew up and preached His message, a lot of people didn't understand. They were still pretending to obey God, but making bad choices and sinning in secret. And sometimes it wasn't even a secret. The day Jesus went into the temple and saw people selling sacrifices for much more money than they should have, he went berserk!
He told His followers, and the people standing nearby, that the stone temple wasn't God's special place anymore. Instead, HE was God's special place. That sounds crazy, right? How can a person be a place!?
Many people were confused, so Jesus explained it like this: His body was now God's Holy Temple, and instead of people sacrificing animals to get the blood they needed to pay for their sins, Jesus would use HIS blood. Of course He hadn't died on the cross yet, so nobody knew what He was talking about.
Jesus told everyone that HE was the new place people should go to to worship. Instead of visiting a temple, we can pray through Jesus. Instead of a temple being so important, from now on the church is anyone who gets together to glorify God. Our bodies are kind of like a temple, too. Jesus is in our hearts and it's our job to keep our temple clean. Not just healthy-clean and physically-clean, but spiritually-clean as well.
For our activity, I chose one student to trace on bulletin board paper. We then took turns writing inside the body outline ways that we can take care of our bodies to worship Jesus. Ideas include eating healthy, not getting tattoos or piercings, not saying bad words or having mean thoughts in our heads, smiling instead of frowning, etc. I really had the kiddos think hard before they added to our word collage, and I think it gave them a better idea of how we can worship God when we're not necessarily at church or praying. I also didn't sway them one way or another (like over the tattoos, since some kids said they didn't see it as sinful), I let them go with what they felt comfortable saying.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Saturday, September 19, 2015
September 20: God's Promised One is Born
Last week the kids played a game to learn about the purpose of the census and why Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem. This week is the actual "Christmas Story" of Christ's birth, but since it's only September I desperately wracked my brain trying to think of what would bring everything we've learned up to the point where we FINALLY learn who God's Forever King is.
I decided to focus on the genealogy of Jesus. BORING! You say. TOO HARD! You agree with yourself. THERE IS NO WAY TO TEACH KIDS THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS! You scream in your head.
Wrong.
That's what I thought, too, until I figured out a way to do it. And I was blown away by the awesomeness my kiddos remembered from the last 3 months as we went over it. It was a PERFECT review! (Not many lessons make me as pleased as this one did).
Basically, we reviewed last week and read the story this week from The Big Picture Study Bible. We talked a little about Mary and Joseph, and then I mentioned that all of the stories we learned from the Old Testament have led up to this moment, and I gave them this paper I created:
I gave them a minute or so to read over it and asked if they recognized any of the names. Surprising themselves, they did. I explained that this was a list from the first man, Adam, to Jesus, following through dads {except in one or two cases where there were no males and it used the female that married back into her own tribe. I also mentioned also that this is Joseph's genealogy, but Mary's is available, too. Since we talked about Jesus being born in Bethlehem because of his dad-Joseph, I decided to take the "legal" way.}
Then I gave each student a highlighter and we reviewed, beginning with Adam, all of the names that we read about. As we read, we discussed that character and what he did... "Even though Adam disobeyed God, he still got to be part of Jesus' family line... God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many- can you believe his family line traces all the way to Jesus!?... Remember David, who killed Goliath and eventually became King?! Jesus had the royal line for a bit!" The kids were SO excited and loved highlighting the people they remembered that we've read about. Some even noticed a couple others we didn't talk about... "Hey, is that the Boaz from the Ruth lady?" I was really pleased to see how much the kids remembered as we reviewed Jesus' line.
After we finished highlighting, they cut out their book and glued it onto a piece of construction paper. Then we cut around it to make a book cover, and some chose to fold it to make their own part of the Bible.
I decided to focus on the genealogy of Jesus. BORING! You say. TOO HARD! You agree with yourself. THERE IS NO WAY TO TEACH KIDS THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS! You scream in your head.
Wrong.
That's what I thought, too, until I figured out a way to do it. And I was blown away by the awesomeness my kiddos remembered from the last 3 months as we went over it. It was a PERFECT review! (Not many lessons make me as pleased as this one did).
Basically, we reviewed last week and read the story this week from The Big Picture Study Bible. We talked a little about Mary and Joseph, and then I mentioned that all of the stories we learned from the Old Testament have led up to this moment, and I gave them this paper I created:
I gave them a minute or so to read over it and asked if they recognized any of the names. Surprising themselves, they did. I explained that this was a list from the first man, Adam, to Jesus, following through dads {except in one or two cases where there were no males and it used the female that married back into her own tribe. I also mentioned also that this is Joseph's genealogy, but Mary's is available, too. Since we talked about Jesus being born in Bethlehem because of his dad-Joseph, I decided to take the "legal" way.}
Then I gave each student a highlighter and we reviewed, beginning with Adam, all of the names that we read about. As we read, we discussed that character and what he did... "Even though Adam disobeyed God, he still got to be part of Jesus' family line... God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many- can you believe his family line traces all the way to Jesus!?... Remember David, who killed Goliath and eventually became King?! Jesus had the royal line for a bit!" The kids were SO excited and loved highlighting the people they remembered that we've read about. Some even noticed a couple others we didn't talk about... "Hey, is that the Boaz from the Ruth lady?" I was really pleased to see how much the kids remembered as we reviewed Jesus' line.
After we finished highlighting, they cut out their book and glued it onto a piece of construction paper. Then we cut around it to make a book cover, and some chose to fold it to make their own part of the Bible.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
September 13: Many Silent Years
We went outside for a big-area activity with this lesson.
Set up a cone labeling each area (You may want to use a map of Israel during Jesus' time to get an accurate-ish idea of where to set the areas in relation to each other)
-Nazareth
-Jericho
-Bethlehem
-Jerusalem
-Capernaum
-Bethany
Read part 12 of The Big Picture Story Bible, "Many Silent Years" and explain how the census works today and how it worked back then.
Take the kiddos outside and set up cones labeling different areas of Israel. I have about 25 kids, so I had 6 cities. You can always set up more if necessary.
I color-coded each one of my cities to help the younger ones out, so blue=Nazareth, green= Jerusalem, etc. Have students go to a city of their choice to begin the activity.
We are in the ancient city of Israel and the city you're in now is where you live. Our country was taken over many years ago and we're now part of the Roman Empire. Our government leader, Caesar Augustus, has declared that everyone must go to their home city to be counted for the census.
Hand out cards {mine were actually colored balls} that list what city each person must return to. Give students about 30 seconds to reach their destination. Mix the cards up and repeat, giving only 10 seconds. {My kiddos didn't need an actual challenge, they really enjoyed traveling, but read below if you're up for more adventure.}
If you want to make the game into a challenge, lay out hula hoops at each "city." Only the first 3 citizens to reach their home city are allowed to stay, the others must leave the game. Continue playing, only allowing 2 to stay, and then once more with only the 1st person. Lastly, have the remaining players all rush from their current location to Bethlehem. The first person will be the winner.
Describe how Mary and Joseph had to travel from Nazareth, where they lived, to Bethlehem, where Joseph's family was from. Talk about the distance and how with other travelers on the road it was a very long and at-times-confusing journey for many people.
Set up a cone labeling each area (You may want to use a map of Israel during Jesus' time to get an accurate-ish idea of where to set the areas in relation to each other)
-Nazareth
-Jericho
-Bethlehem
-Jerusalem
-Capernaum
-Bethany
Read part 12 of The Big Picture Story Bible, "Many Silent Years" and explain how the census works today and how it worked back then.
Take the kiddos outside and set up cones labeling different areas of Israel. I have about 25 kids, so I had 6 cities. You can always set up more if necessary.
I color-coded each one of my cities to help the younger ones out, so blue=Nazareth, green= Jerusalem, etc. Have students go to a city of their choice to begin the activity.
We are in the ancient city of Israel and the city you're in now is where you live. Our country was taken over many years ago and we're now part of the Roman Empire. Our government leader, Caesar Augustus, has declared that everyone must go to their home city to be counted for the census.
Hand out cards {mine were actually colored balls} that list what city each person must return to. Give students about 30 seconds to reach their destination. Mix the cards up and repeat, giving only 10 seconds. {My kiddos didn't need an actual challenge, they really enjoyed traveling, but read below if you're up for more adventure.}
If you want to make the game into a challenge, lay out hula hoops at each "city." Only the first 3 citizens to reach their home city are allowed to stay, the others must leave the game. Continue playing, only allowing 2 to stay, and then once more with only the 1st person. Lastly, have the remaining players all rush from their current location to Bethlehem. The first person will be the winner.
Describe how Mary and Joseph had to travel from Nazareth, where they lived, to Bethlehem, where Joseph's family was from. Talk about the distance and how with other travelers on the road it was a very long and at-times-confusing journey for many people.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
September 6: God's Promise Remains
Last week the students destroyed their beautiful artwork to symbolize God destroying the temple Solomon built for Him before turning his heart away. We kept the pieces in a ziploc bag for today.
Read part 11 of The Big Picture Story Bible "God's Promise Remains."
Have multiple copies of enlarged cards for each character- Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel- and also a poster for each action- "raise the Temple and give the people new hearts," "a forever King would come from David's family," "the people would return home in 70 years," and "prayed for God's promise to come true."
Students will work in small groups to match each prophet with what they said. Then go over together.
After many years and God's people finally were able to come back to God's special place, they were very sorry for disobeying Him for so long. The city and the temple had been destroyed and they had to work hard at repairing their mess.
Hand out puzzle pieces from last week along with a slightly larger sheet of construction paper and glue.
Just as God's people rebuilt Solomon's temple, you are going to rebuild your artwork today. It will take some hard work and a lot of time, but when you are done it will be cause for celebration!
After giving students time to work, have them review their final project. Does it look like it did before? How is it different? Is it better or worse? Why?
The pictures will look similar, but not identical, to their picture from last week. Students may note that their are missing pieces, open spaces, torn edges or rough spots. I had a quick mini-lesson about how this is similar to when we sin, also. Even though we say we're sorry and we try to fix our mistakes, we can't take away hurt or pain we've caused someone else. Saying hurtful things to someone can't be undone, just as the temple couldn't go back to it's original condition. Only God can fix what's been broken and make it like new, we can apologize for our mistakes and try to fix our problems, but our relationships with those we've hurt will never be "like new."
"The old men cried because they remembered Solomon's beautiful temple and knew that Israel could never completely rebuild God's place. They cried because they still longed for God's forever king to come."
Read part 11 of The Big Picture Story Bible "God's Promise Remains."
Have multiple copies of enlarged cards for each character- Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel- and also a poster for each action- "raise the Temple and give the people new hearts," "a forever King would come from David's family," "the people would return home in 70 years," and "prayed for God's promise to come true."
Students will work in small groups to match each prophet with what they said. Then go over together.
After many years and God's people finally were able to come back to God's special place, they were very sorry for disobeying Him for so long. The city and the temple had been destroyed and they had to work hard at repairing their mess.
Hand out puzzle pieces from last week along with a slightly larger sheet of construction paper and glue.
Just as God's people rebuilt Solomon's temple, you are going to rebuild your artwork today. It will take some hard work and a lot of time, but when you are done it will be cause for celebration!
After giving students time to work, have them review their final project. Does it look like it did before? How is it different? Is it better or worse? Why?
The pictures will look similar, but not identical, to their picture from last week. Students may note that their are missing pieces, open spaces, torn edges or rough spots. I had a quick mini-lesson about how this is similar to when we sin, also. Even though we say we're sorry and we try to fix our mistakes, we can't take away hurt or pain we've caused someone else. Saying hurtful things to someone can't be undone, just as the temple couldn't go back to it's original condition. Only God can fix what's been broken and make it like new, we can apologize for our mistakes and try to fix our problems, but our relationships with those we've hurt will never be "like new."
"The old men cried because they remembered Solomon's beautiful temple and knew that Israel could never completely rebuild God's place. They cried because they still longed for God's forever king to come."
Saturday, August 29, 2015
August 30: Another Very Sad Day
Hand out temple pictures from last week (have copies of a fancy temple available for students who weren't here) and review the story of Solomon building a special temple to honor God. Review how God was keeping all of His promises to Abraham; He made him into a great nation, he gave Israel the land, and now He was bringing God's blessing to other people on the earth.
Unfortunately, though, this story doesn't have a happy ending. Read part 10 of The Big Picture Story Bible, "Another Very Sad Day."
Even though Solomon loved God, he wasn't happy with obeying Him. Just like many others we've learned about, Solomon wanted to be happy on earth, even if it meant not listening to God's word.
Hand out scissors. (At this point some of my older kids were getting a little antsy.)
God told Solomon that his kingdom would be torn apart because they didn't obey Him. (At this point, my kids who figured it out started shaking their heads and saying, "No!" "Don't make me do what we're about to do!")
Solomon worked very hard on his temple. But he turned away from God. God's people turned away from God. They disobeyed God's word and rejected God as their king. God no longer wanted a huge temple for people to worship at if they weren't worshipping Him.... so He had it destroyed.
Last week we made beautiful temples to remind us of the beautiful temple Solomon built to honor God. But because His people did not honor Him, it was destroyed. Using your scissors, cut up your temple and destroy the beautiful artwork you created last week. (At this point my kiddos are like "WHAT!!!! I WORKED SO HARD ON THIS!!!" One of my boys even refused to do it- He said he honored God all week long and didn't think his deserved to be destroyed!)
We put the pieces in a ziploc bag to save for another week.
Review with the kiddos why God's temple was destroyed. Be sure to go over each of these points:
-God will punish sin. He punished His people back then, and there are still consequences for sinful behaviors today.
-God's people need a Savior. We cannot save ourselves. We're too weak on our own and fall into the same trap as Solomon; we're selfish and don't want to live for God.
-Only God is the true God, idols are worthless. Just like King Ahab trying to make his fake god light a fire on an altar, when we put our faith into things of this world it's not going to work!
-God blesses those who follow His word. God answered Elijah's prayer, even though He was upset with the people as a whole. Sometimes it may seem easier to go along with what others are doing, even if it's wrong, but God knows! God knew exactly who was following Him and who was not.
Unfortunately, though, this story doesn't have a happy ending. Read part 10 of The Big Picture Story Bible, "Another Very Sad Day."
Even though Solomon loved God, he wasn't happy with obeying Him. Just like many others we've learned about, Solomon wanted to be happy on earth, even if it meant not listening to God's word.
Hand out scissors. (At this point some of my older kids were getting a little antsy.)
God told Solomon that his kingdom would be torn apart because they didn't obey Him. (At this point, my kids who figured it out started shaking their heads and saying, "No!" "Don't make me do what we're about to do!")
Solomon worked very hard on his temple. But he turned away from God. God's people turned away from God. They disobeyed God's word and rejected God as their king. God no longer wanted a huge temple for people to worship at if they weren't worshipping Him.... so He had it destroyed.
Last week we made beautiful temples to remind us of the beautiful temple Solomon built to honor God. But because His people did not honor Him, it was destroyed. Using your scissors, cut up your temple and destroy the beautiful artwork you created last week. (At this point my kiddos are like "WHAT!!!! I WORKED SO HARD ON THIS!!!" One of my boys even refused to do it- He said he honored God all week long and didn't think his deserved to be destroyed!)
We put the pieces in a ziploc bag to save for another week.
Review with the kiddos why God's temple was destroyed. Be sure to go over each of these points:
-God will punish sin. He punished His people back then, and there are still consequences for sinful behaviors today.
-God's people need a Savior. We cannot save ourselves. We're too weak on our own and fall into the same trap as Solomon; we're selfish and don't want to live for God.
-Only God is the true God, idols are worthless. Just like King Ahab trying to make his fake god light a fire on an altar, when we put our faith into things of this world it's not going to work!
-God blesses those who follow His word. God answered Elijah's prayer, even though He was upset with the people as a whole. Sometimes it may seem easier to go along with what others are doing, even if it's wrong, but God knows! God knew exactly who was following Him and who was not.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
August 23: God's Blessings Grow
Ask students to describe a really fancy house- keep notes on chart paper for reference. Encourage ideas of grandeur, shiny, gold-encrusted things; things they've seen on TV or movies but likely don't have at their houses.
Review with kiddos that God had promised Abraham three basic things: 1. His family would become a great nation 2. God would give them a special place to live and 3. God would make them a blessing to all the people on the earth.
A few weeks ago God began giving Abraham his great nation. Last week God gave them a special place to live. This week we're talking about how God continued to bless His people.
Read Part 9 of The Big Picture Story Bible "God's Blessings Grow." Discuss how King David {remind them of the kid-David we've talked about previously and explain this is him all grown up!} wanted to build God a special house, but God wanted David's son, Solomon, to build it instead.
Go back to your brainstorm list and explain that students will be drawing the temple Solomon built for God. Read over a few specifics and have kids discuss why he made it so fancy. Encourage students to take their time and use the whole sheet of paper to show details.
Make sure students put their names on their temples- we'll need them next week!
Review with kiddos that God had promised Abraham three basic things: 1. His family would become a great nation 2. God would give them a special place to live and 3. God would make them a blessing to all the people on the earth.
A few weeks ago God began giving Abraham his great nation. Last week God gave them a special place to live. This week we're talking about how God continued to bless His people.
Read Part 9 of The Big Picture Story Bible "God's Blessings Grow." Discuss how King David {remind them of the kid-David we've talked about previously and explain this is him all grown up!} wanted to build God a special house, but God wanted David's son, Solomon, to build it instead.
Go back to your brainstorm list and explain that students will be drawing the temple Solomon built for God. Read over a few specifics and have kids discuss why he made it so fancy. Encourage students to take their time and use the whole sheet of paper to show details.
Make sure students put their names on their temples- we'll need them next week!
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Saturday, August 1, 2015
August 2: God's People Become Great
Last week we learned that Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers, actually saved Abraham's entire family. Joseph was in charge of the food during a great famine, when there was no food available for those who hadn't saved up.
Joseph invited his brothers and their families to live with him in Egypt. Let's read what happens next.
Read part 6 of The Big Picture Story Bible about Jacob's family of 70 moving to Egypt, and how over the course of 400 years the Egyptians began hating them.
Why did the promised family go down to Egypt?
What does this story add to what we know about God's promise? (God had promised Abraham that his family would be God's People and they would live in God's place. God wants to bless all the people).
While part of the promise is being held up, that God's people keep growing bigger and bigger, they did not yet have their own land. They became slaves in Egypt and were forced to work for the evil Pharaoh.
How did God take care of His people? What job did He give Moses? Did the Pharaoh listen?
What did God do to make Pharaoh listen to His word?
We read today about 9 of the plagues God sent on the people of Egypt: God made the river turn to blood, the entire land swarmed with frogs, the dust turned into gnats, God made the houses full of flies, the animals of Egypt got sick and died, and the people got painful sores on their bodies. Then, God made hail fall from the sky, locusts covered the ground, and then darkness spread out over the land.
Students will make a booklet outlining the plagues, then predict what will finally happen to help His people escape.
Can you imagine watching those things happen!? Would you rather be an Egyptian, or one of God's people?
Many people respect Moses for listening to God. Sometimes God calls us to do things and we might feel nervous or afraid, but if we trust in Him like God's people trusted in Him back then, we can be sure everything will turn out favorably. God loves us and wants to bless us, just like He wanted to bless His people long ago. We are all God's people!
Joseph invited his brothers and their families to live with him in Egypt. Let's read what happens next.
Read part 6 of The Big Picture Story Bible about Jacob's family of 70 moving to Egypt, and how over the course of 400 years the Egyptians began hating them.
Why did the promised family go down to Egypt?
What does this story add to what we know about God's promise? (God had promised Abraham that his family would be God's People and they would live in God's place. God wants to bless all the people).
While part of the promise is being held up, that God's people keep growing bigger and bigger, they did not yet have their own land. They became slaves in Egypt and were forced to work for the evil Pharaoh.
How did God take care of His people? What job did He give Moses? Did the Pharaoh listen?
What did God do to make Pharaoh listen to His word?
We read today about 9 of the plagues God sent on the people of Egypt: God made the river turn to blood, the entire land swarmed with frogs, the dust turned into gnats, God made the houses full of flies, the animals of Egypt got sick and died, and the people got painful sores on their bodies. Then, God made hail fall from the sky, locusts covered the ground, and then darkness spread out over the land.
Students will make a booklet outlining the plagues, then predict what will finally happen to help His people escape.
Can you imagine watching those things happen!? Would you rather be an Egyptian, or one of God's people?
Many people respect Moses for listening to God. Sometimes God calls us to do things and we might feel nervous or afraid, but if we trust in Him like God's people trusted in Him back then, we can be sure everything will turn out favorably. God loves us and wants to bless us, just like He wanted to bless His people long ago. We are all God's people!
Saturday, July 25, 2015
July 26: God's People Grow
After reviewing the last 4 weeks, read "part 5" of The Big Picture Story Bible. I started out by giving each child a coloring page of Joseph. I explained that the this story begins when his dad, Jacob, gave him a coat of many colors. I encouraged the kids to color the picture while I listed several reasons Joseph's brothers hated him, before beginning the story.
After reading, we discussed what happened.
What did Joseph's brothers do to him? Why? Was Joseph alone in Egypt? Who was with him?
How did God take care of Joseph? Why do you think God made Joseph a helper to the Egyptians?
When Joseph's brothers came for food, how did he respond?
What parts of God's promise to Abraham can we see in this story?
If Joseph had chosen to be spiteful to his brothers and turn away their request, God's promise to Abraham could have ended right there. He would've had his revenge on his brothers, but would have (unknowingly) lost God's blessing for the family to become great. God's people kept growing!
Do you think Egypt will be the promised land for Abraham's family?
After reading, we discussed what happened.
What did Joseph's brothers do to him? Why? Was Joseph alone in Egypt? Who was with him?
How did God take care of Joseph? Why do you think God made Joseph a helper to the Egyptians?
When Joseph's brothers came for food, how did he respond?
What parts of God's promise to Abraham can we see in this story?
If Joseph had chosen to be spiteful to his brothers and turn away their request, God's promise to Abraham could have ended right there. He would've had his revenge on his brothers, but would have (unknowingly) lost God's blessing for the family to become great. God's people kept growing!
Do you think Egypt will be the promised land for Abraham's family?
Saturday, July 18, 2015
July 19: God's Big Promise
We reviewed how so far God had created humans and they chose to disobey Him. Over time, people continued to disobey so He sent a great flood and save the only obedient family: Noah's. After some time, people began to disobey God again and He wanted to honor Abraham, who had chosen to obey Him when so many others chose not to. He had a big blessing promised for Abraham and his wife, Sarah.
How many stars are there in the sky? After reading the story, we discussed that God told Abraham that he would have many descendants (kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, etc.) The kids estimated about how many descendants they thought he might have. Many thought that 2-3 kids, 5-10 grandkids, and about 20 great-grandkids would be adequate for God's blessing.
We discussed how God told Abraham to look at the stars in the sky- he would have as many relatives as there are stars! Most of the kids guessed 10-1,000,000 stars, so we created our own starry nights to see about how many stars there might be.
We did this by going outside and flicking white paint from dollar-store toothbrushes onto blue or black construction paper. The older kids had a blast using the toothbrushes for "play" instead of work (haha!) and although some of the little ones used it more as a paintbrush, everyone agreed their artwork looked like a night sky.
Then week came back inside and had snack as our paintings quickly dried. After eating, I asked the kiddos how many stars were in their skies. Many started (and tried miserably!) to count but everyone decided there were just too many to count.
And that's the whole point, I told them! God wanted to bless Abraham, just like he wants to give us blessings today. We are okay with little things in our lives, just like Abraham would be happy with an extended family of 50, but God wants SO MUCH MORE for us. If we love and obey God He wants to give us His blessings. They might not come in the way of money or fame, but He gives us mercy, grace, patience, love, the list goes on. And the more we honor God, the more He will bless us by giving us the things we really need while we're on this earth.
Saturday, July 4, 2015
July 5: A Very Sad Day
God put Adam and Eve in a place called the Garden of Eden. Some people think that its where the Middle East is, now. It was not a desert then, though, it was the most wonderful place on earth! God told Adam and Eve that they were in charge of all of the plants and animals- they got to pick out names for them, and everyone there lived peacefully. There was a big tree that God put in the center of the garden. Their only rule was that they could not eat the fruit from that tree. As long as they obeyed God's rule, then they were in charge of everything.
{Read the story from The Big Picture Story Bible.}
Some people say, "Oh, I would never have eaten the fruit from the tree!" but honestly, we likely would. Have any of you ever done something you shouldn't have? Our hearts want to follow God's rules, but sometimes we still mess up and sin. Even though we know something is wrong, we choose to do it anyway.
God does not want us to live like that. He wants us to obey Him. God had to punish Adam and Eve so they would learn an important lesson about obedience. Sometimes our parents punish us to teach us to follow the rules too!
{I also showed "Creation" from The Beginner's Bible: Volume 2 DVD that I picked up at Sam's Club this week. It has the story of Creation through the Fall. It was a little long, but all 23 kids ages 3-12 sat in their seats and watched the whole thing!}
While the kids were watching the dvd, they colored an important reminder to take home with them.
{I also showed "Creation" from The Beginner's Bible: Volume 2 DVD that I picked up at Sam's Club this week. It has the story of Creation through the Fall. It was a little long, but all 23 kids ages 3-12 sat in their seats and watched the whole thing!}
While the kids were watching the dvd, they colored an important reminder to take home with them.
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