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.

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!

August 16: Going into God's Place

August 9: God's Great Sign

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!

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?

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.