a family-aligned curriculum for every generation GRADES 4-5 teaching guide winter old testament have faith

Transcription

1 a family-aligned curriculum for every generation GRADES 4-5 teaching guide winter old testament have faith

2 TEACHING GUIDE Welcome to the New Explorers Teaching Guide...2 Explorers Components...4 Welcome to the Winter Quarter...5 Talking With Children About Spiritual Matters...6 Special Topic God Within Us December 6, 2015 Lesson Who Is the Holy Spirit? December 13, 2015 Lesson The Holy Spirit Guides Me December 20, 2015 Lesson Jesus Is Born December 27, 2015 Lesson The Holy Spirit Is Our Helper Old Testament Have Faith January 3, 2016 Lesson Noah Built An Ark January 10, 2016 Lesson The Rain Came Down January 17, 2016 Lesson God Scattered the People January 24, 2016 Lesson God Made a Covenant With Abraham January 31, 2016 Lesson God Provided a Sacrifice New Testament Lessons From the Early Church February 7, 2016 Lesson The Church Is Born February 14, 2016 Lesson The Church Stands Together February 21, 2016 Lesson The Church Grows February 28, 2016 Lesson The Church Is Persecuted

3 Welcome to the NEW Explorers Teaching Guide! Explorers Teaching Guide is a leader s guide for those who teach grades four and five. This teaching guide will help you connect with the students in your class and challenge them to learn and apply the truths of God s Word. Explorers is part of the D6 family of Sunday School/Bible study curriculum for all ages. D6 is a reference to the Scriptural teaching that says parents are to be the primary spiritual leaders for their children (Deuteronomy 6:5-9). D6 curriculum provides a six-year study of the story of the Bible, helping lead the entire family to interact around the same biblical theme. For more than a decade now, Explorers teaching resources have been the arm of D6 curriculum for upper elementary students. However, you hold in your hands a new generation of Explorers Teaching Guide! What s New? The More You Know...This section on the front page of every lesson provides helpful information with regard to the rationale for teaching that unit s lessons, or interesting background information about the Scripture text being taught. Timeline Many lessons will include a graphic that helps you understand the period of history (both biblical and secular) in which the lesson is set. This is a good reminder that the Bible is not a book of stories or fables, but rather an accurate historical record. D6 Doorposts Each lesson will address key principles that frame a biblical worldview. We will identify how the passage being studied supports a biblical worldview so teachers will be able to reinforce these foundational concepts in age-appropriate ways. D6 Digital For the first time, D6 curriculum is available in a digital format! Now you can study from your laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Go to d6curriculum.com or call for more information. Despite the many exciting changes to Explorers Teaching Guide, the curriculum continues to be built around the CLEAR Learning System, which uses five important steps to help students participate in every lesson. These five steps are: Connect These opening activities help capture the learners attention to help them transition to class time and be ready to learn how the lesson relates to their lives. Two options are provided so teachers can choose the activity that best fits their students and their classroom setting. Learn What does the Bible say? The Learn section answers this question by digging into the biblical text and explaining it in ways students can understand. Explore The Explore section of each lesson provides additional teaching and reinforcement of biblical truths presented in the lesson. It provides a helpful perspective for understanding God s Word. Apply The Apply section provides interaction that encourages students to do more than learn facts and details. It provides emphasis on the application of God s Word in personal ways. 2 Respond The final section in each lesson encourages students to consider specific responses they can make to the lessons learned. Students are challenged to response from their hearts and take practical action.

4 Application Verse: D6 curriculum has always emphasized a memory verse for elementary students. However, there is a more intentional focus for students to apply the verse to their lives and not just memorize the words (James 1:22). Lesson Objectives: It s hard to know if you ve hit the target when you re not sure what you re aiming at. That s why ever lesson now includes three objectives that identify the lesson s threefold target. Know The biblical knowledge you want your students to learn. Think A biblical worldview you hope your students will adopt. Do The practical understanding of how to apply biblical truths to daily life. Preparation Checklist: This lists the items needed for the different parts of the lesson whether it is a Teaching Essential or items needed for activities. The More You Know... This provides the teacher with background information on a section of Scripture, rationale for teaching this topic to students, or even suggestions for creative additions to the lessons. Sometimes the more you know, the better you can prepare. D6 Doorpost: It is important to instill a biblical worldview to students of all ages. The D6 doorposts give an explanation of how the lesson supports a biblical worldview and helps emphasize the relevance of the principle for the world today. Take Note: These are additional tips and information you will find helpful when preparing and teaching the lesson. Are you making a Home Connection with your kids? Home Connection is a FREE download that gives parents a simple way to practice faith at home by providing: A weekly Bible passage to read together as a family Suggestions to help you pray together as a family Suggested activities to do as a family to put your faith in action It s a great tool for parents who want to pass their faith on to their children! Also, if your church uses D6 Curriculum, Home Connection will let you know exactly what each member of the family is learning in small group, Life group, or Sunday School each week. Try it this week by downloading it at: 3

5 Explorers Components Explorers Teaching Guide Application Verse Poster Teaching Essentials Explorers Teaching Essentials provides the resources needed to most effectively teach grades four and five. Each kit includes one Explorers Teaching Guide, teaching pictures and posters, reproducible sheets, application verse posters, an attendance poster, and reproducible take-home piece, Field Notes. Teaching Pictures Explorers Field Notes These are a weekly link between class and home. These reproducible sheets are designed to reinforce weekly lessons and themes through the use of age-appropriate activities that are used in the class and home. One side offers a worksheet activity related to the lesson to be used in the classroom. Reproducibles Field Notes Field Notes Field Notes are reproducible worksheets provided in the Teaching Essentials to be used in class and at home. This side is to be used at home. Includes a weekly activity for families to do together. This can be completed in class or at home. Part of this side is completed in class. Observations students will write what they learned in class. Response students will write possible verses for what they have learned. 4

6 Explorer s Guide Explorer s Guide is the devotional study guide for students in grades four and five. It is a tool designed to help the student establish the habit of spending daily time with God in His Word. This magazine features 13 weeks of daily Bible studies, which help reinforce the themes of the lessons they learn each Sunday. It also includes puzzles, age-appropriate jokes, and short stories and articles to help them grow as Christ followers. Welcome to the Winter quarter! Special Topic God Within Us Having a proper understanding of the Trinity cannot happen without a proper understanding of the Holy Spirit. Over the course of these lessons your students will learn of the vitally important role the Holy Spirit plays in the lives of believers who seek to live God s way. He is truly the day-to-day God who offers us guidance and comfort. He is the God who dwells within us, and we should work to get to know Him better than we do. Jesus made it possible for Holy God to live within sinful man. The Holy Spirit is the one who claims the residence. This unit also contains a lesson about the birth of Jesus and celebrates Him the greatest gift of them all! Old Testament Have Faith This five-week unit explores the lives of two celebrated Bible heroes, Noah and Abraham. Though Noah was not a perfect man, he was a man who was willing to obey God when it mattered most. It s easy to focus on the building of the ark and all the animals with the children, but the more important lesson for them to learn is that Noah was obedient to God s instructions even when it didn t make sense to him; even when all the people who knew him made fun of him for his choices. The biblical account of Noah and the ark is a story that balances grace and judgment. God made salvation available to all men, but no one but Noah s family listened before it was too late. Through Abraham God began building a nation that would one day bring the Messiah the Savior of the world. Like Noah, Abraham had to be willing to go against the expectations his family, his community, and even the desires of his own heart to follow God s plan. Also like Noah, he made many poor choices along the way. See a pattern? Willingness to follow goes a lot further in God s book than our attempts at perfection. New Testament Lessons From the Early Church When the Holy Spirit empowered believers on the day of Pentecost, nothing could stop them from spreading the Good News of Jesus death and resurrection and all the implications of those events. This unit explores the early days of the church, its leaders, and its tenacity through imprisonment, danger, and even death. Some of their biggest challenges, though, came from within the people, who had many differing opinions about what made a person godly. But through all the challenges it faced, God s church was available to all people and began to spread across the world. 5

7 6 Talking With Children About Spiritual Matters One of your most important roles as a church leader to elementary students will be to encourage and guide them in their spiritual journey. God has given parents the most important and influential role when it comes to influencing a child s path to salvation, and leaders at church have the responsibility to support and encourage this process. Ideally, parents will be the ones to help their kids navigate a decision to follow Christ, but children s ministry leaders should be prepared and ready when needed. Kids will have questions about faith at random times, so it s important for everyone on your team to be trained about leading them to Christ and answering questions they may have. Sometimes kids respond to an invitation for salvation, but when you talk with them you can tell what they really need is assurance of salvation, help understanding how to fight temptations, or some other aspect of navigating their walk with Christ. See #4 below for help with those situations. There are many methods that are effective, but the following provides general guidelines and principles with regard to leading a child to Christ. Whenever a child responds, it s important to discern the reasons for the response and the readiness of the child. Ask the child why he responded today (came forward, raised his hand, went to the back of the room, etc.). Don t make the assumption the child is responding to a need for salvation. Sometimes kids just want to tell you about an injury or a pet that is sick. Be careful not to ask leading questions like, Did you come to become a Christian? Ask questions that allow the child to word his reason for responding. If the child provides enough feedback to show readiness for this important step of faith, proceed with the next steps. If you do not feel the child fully understands, listen to why she came and pray with her about her need, but do not proceed. Walking a child through that decision before she is ready can lead to much confusion and provide a false sense of security in salvation. Here are some guidelines for talking with children about salvation: 1. We have a problem we all sin and there s a penalty for sin. What is sin? Sin is anything we think, say, or do that goes against God s Word. Sin breaks our relationship with God. Have you ever sinned? Encourage the child to recognize he has sinned and use the Bible to show that all have sinned (Romans 3:23). Do you know what punishment is? Allow the child to respond. The Bible teaches us the punishment for sin means that at some point everyone will die and be separated from God. It s a punishment earned because of sin (Romans 6:23). 2. God has a solution to the problem Jesus took the punishment for sin and made a way to fix our relationship with God. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the price for our sins (Romans 5:8). God offers the free gift of salvation and all who choose that gift can live with Him forever (Romans 6:23b). God wants to be our friend and guide us every day! 3. You have a choice to make Will you receive the free gift being offered to you? Nobody can make this choice for you. It s a personal decision to follow Jesus (Romans 10:9, John 3:16). Discuss with the child what these verses mean and ask if she believes these things and wants to receive the gift of salvation. Pray with her, but encourage her to use her own words to tell God what she is feeling and wants to do. Children are literal thinkers, so using phrases like, ask Jesus into your heart, or give your heart to Jesus can be confusing to them. Be simple and clear when choosing your words. 4. The choice to become a Christian is just the beginning of an exciting journey with the Lord. He is ready to help His children grow and learn every day. Use these five-word promises from Gods Word to encourage kids along their journey. Encourage them to use the fingers on one hand to be reminded of these truths. God will always forgive me (1 John 1:9). Children need to be reminded that becoming a Christian doesn t mean they will never sin again. Some kids think they need to become a Christian all over again every time they sin. God will never leave me (Hebrews 13:5b). Sometimes kids just need assurance of salvation and a reminder that God is with them even when they cannot physically see Him. The Lord is my helper (Hebrews 13:6). It s not easy to fight sin nature and follow Christ. Children often get discouraged if they feel alone. I can talk to God (Philippians 4:6, 1 Peter 5:7). Children need to be reminded that God cares about everything they are going through and they can talk to Him about anything. The Bible is God s Word (Hebrews 4:12, 2 Timothy 3:16). Children need to know the Bible is not just a book about God or His teachings. It is actually God s Word to us and very useful for learning to follow Him every day.

8 Old Testament Lesson 1 January 3, 2016 Noah Built an Ark TEXT: Genesis 6:5-22; 7:1-5 LESSON OBJECTIVE Know: Noah followed and was obedient to God, even when it didn t make sense. Think: Remember God is merciful, and He loves and cares for us. Do: Demonstrate your faith to God through obedience to His Word. APPLICATION VERSE: Psalm 145:8 THEME: Noah Obeyed God THE MORE YOU KNOW: Don t do your students the disservice of oversimplifying Bible heroes like Abraham, David, Mary and Noah. The sin we glimpse in some of these people is so scandalous it s not suitable to discuss with elementary school kids, but you can focus on why God chose them as the instruments of His plan even though they were sinful just like we are. God saw something special in the hearts of these individuals, but it certainly wasn t perfection. It was far more likely to be humility, teachability, and a bravery to go against the grain, among other things, but they were all far from perfect and saintly, which the Bible makes a point of showing us. God s story, above all other things, is a story of love and grace. When you skip over the sin of the ones that God held in high esteem, you miss the chance to explore the truth that God loves our hearts even when we don t make good choices; an invaluable truth that all children need to rest on. PREPARATION CHECKLIST CONNECT Option 2 q Drinking straws and tape (For Team 1) q Small plastic container with lid, straw, tape, paper (For Team 2) q Two plastic sandwich bags, straw, paper (For Team 3) q Bowl or bucket of water LEARN q TE 2-2 q TE 2-3 EXPLORE q TE 2-4 q Field Notes 2-1 q Yarn q Scissors q Tape measure q Pencils APPLY q TE 2-11 q TE 2-28 q TE 2-1 q White crepe paper roll q Small sticks of gum or wrapped candy (flat gum, such as stick gum, Tootsie rolls, Starburst, etc.) RESPOND q Field Notes 2-1 DAILY BIBLE READINGS Day 1 Genesis 6:5-10 Day 2 Genesis 6:11-18 Day 3 Genesis 6:19-22 Day 4 Genesis 7:1-5 Day 5 Hebrews 11:6-7 Copyright This study is licensed to the purchasing church and only to be used by the teacher or teaching team for one group or class. Sharing copies of this study is unethical, illegal, and hinders the efforts of the publisher to provide high quality, affordable resources to you. 29

9 Notes Choose one of these two options to help students transition into the classroom and connect with the lesson. Option 1 Use a memory game to introduce today s lesson. Arrange the students in a circle to form the order for the activity. Select the first person to start by saying, Noah built an ark like God told him to, and on this ark he took two. The student should fill in the blank with one kind of a land animal or flying creature beginning with the letter A. The second person repeats the sentence, includes the animal named by the first person, and then adds his or her own using the letter B. Continue the activity a couple of rounds or as time permits. Remember with each turn, the student must remember all the animals previously named A, B, C, etc. To help the students remember the repetitive phrase, consider writing it on the board or sheet of paper. Do you think it was easy for Noah to remember all the animals or to gather many of them by twos into the ark? Allow time for response. In today s lesson we will see that although it may not have been easy to obey God, Noah did what was right. God saw that about Noah. God sees and rewards obedience to Him. Option 2 Items Needed: Drinking straws and tape (For Team 1) Small plastic container with lid, straw, tape, paper (For Team 2) Two plastic sandwich bags, straw, paper (For Team 3) Bowl or bucket of water TAKE NOTE Remember to go to for helpful tips and additional resources. During this activity, students will attempt to build a boat that floats. It is best to organize the supplies by teams in a bag and labeled accordingly. If you have more students and need additional teams, simply add other items that float, such as Ivory Bar soap, wooden spoons, corks, etc. Divide the students into teams according to the supplies you brought. Explain that each team must use all the supplies provided in the bag to build a boat that floats. After each team is done, test each boat in a bowl or bucket of water. Do not give them any instructions other than they are to build a boat. You were given the task to build a boat. No instructions were provided, only the supplies. In today s lesson, we will learn how God instructed Noah to build an ark. He gave him the exact instructions as well as the list of supplies that would be needed. 30

10 Notes Items Needed: TE 2-2 TE 2-3 TE 2-2 TE 2-3 God began His plan to repair our relationship with Him as soon as sin brought death and destruction into the world. Noah was part of that plan. In the book of Genesis, we learned God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. We learned sin had made a mess of the wonderful world God created. People chose to follow their own selfish ways instead of God s way. Fast-forward many years to Genesis chapter 6. As God saw the people on this earth and the violence and wickedness, He was saddened. Wickedness had become so common on the earth that God was sorry He even made man. Display TE 2-2. But God saw someone who was different; a man named Noah. Read or choose a student to read Genesis 6:8-9. God saw how Noah obeyed and loved Him, and that made God happy. But God could not ignore the sin of disobedience of those around Noah and all on the earth. In Genesis 6:13, God told Noah His plan. Because the whole earth was filled with sin and violence, God would destroy it. He instructed Noah to build an ark a giant boat. God was going to destroy the world by bringing a flood of water upon the earth. He told Noah that everything on the earth would die, except for him, his wife, his sons and their wives. He also told Noah to bring two of every kind of living creature onto the ark. God gave Noah very specific instructions to follow. Read or choose a student to read Genesis 6:22. Display TE 2-3. Noah obeyed God and he built the ark just like God told him to. God then told Noah and his family to go into the ark. Noah was to take seven pairs of every kind of clean animal and one pair of every kind of unclean animal. Noah was also to take seven pairs of every kind of bird. God said that in seven days, He would send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. Through this flood, God would destroy the world. Read or choose a student to read Genesis 7:5. Noah obeyed God even though people made fun of him for doing so. Items Needed: TE 2-4 Field Notes 2-1 Yarn Scissors Tape measure Pencils Before class, cut a 18" piece of yarn. Make a copy of Field Notes 2-1 for each student. God told Noah to cover the inside and outside of the ark with pitch. Do any of you know what that is? Allow time for response. Pitch was substance made from plants that Noah used to make the ark waterproof. Distribute Field Notes 2-1 to students along with pencils. Have them follow along and fill in the blanks as you discuss the ark that Noah built. Display TE 2-4. The ark was designed to float. The Bible measured the size of the ark in cubits. A cubit was the length from a man s elbow to the tip of his finger about 18 inches. We don t know exactly how big a cubit is, but this 31

11 is a pretty good guess. Hold up the piece of yarn. This piece of yarn is 18 inches long. Using this measurement, the ark would have been 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. Let s measure how wide our classroom is to compare. Have students help you measure the length and width of your classroom. Choose a few students to help with the tape measure, while others write the measurements on a piece of paper. Look how much smaller our classroom is compared to the ark! It had a roof and three levels. The floor space of the ark would have been more than the length of 21 basketball courts or one and a half football fields. Each level had many rooms to house all the animals that were on the ark. Some people argue that there s no way the ark could have held all the animals from the size of dinosaurs and elephants to much smaller ones such as mice and rabbits. More than likely, Noah took young ones of the larger animals, allowing for plenty of room. There could have been up to 20,000 animals on the ark or more. These were only land-dwelling, air-breathing animals; fish and other sea creatures were not on the ark. Field Notes 2-1 TE 2-4 Items Needed: TE 2-11 TE 2-28 TE 2-1 White crepe paper roll (streamers) Small sticks of gum or wrapped candy (flat gum, such as stick gum, Tootsie rolls, Starburst, etc.) Before class, make the crepe ball using the instructions provided on TE In Genesis 6:22, it says Noah did everything just as God said. Did I say Noah did everything or part of the things? Allow time for response. Noah did everything. His obedience was a result of his trust. God told him the plan to save not only the animals and Noah, but also Noah s family. Noah believed God when He said He was going to destroy the earth as the judgment for man s sins. What if Noah had asked God to show him the rain before he started building? There is no way he would have finished the boat in time. It took 100 years to build the ark. Again in Genesis 7:5, the Bible says that Noah did everything just as God said when it was time to load up the animals and his family onto the ark. To build such a big boat and to get inside it without ever having seen rain certainly took a lot of trust! This is a very familiar story. Even people who never read the Bible usually know about Noah and the ark. But this story was not given for us to focus on Noah or his ark. It was given to show us what God is like. Display TE 2-28 and introduce it to the students by reading it aloud. What qualities do you see? He is gracious. He is full of compassion, which refers to His amazing love and care for us. Despite how wicked and violent the people were in Noah s day and today, God is slow to anger, which shows His patience. He has great mercy, which describes Him not giving us the punishment for our sin that we deserve. We deserve to be forever separated from Him because of our sin, but He showed mercy and sent His Son Jesus to take our punishment for sin. Wow! No wonder Noah obeyed God. 32 TE 2-11 Application Verse Poster TE 2-28

12 Bad things happen because the world is a sinful place and all the bad thing happening when Noah lived made God so sad. He wanted the people to love Him. Instead they made the world an ugly place full of hurt and pain, and He had to stop it. Noah trusted a God bigger than any ark. He trusted a God who is big enough to rescue Noah and his family. The more we know about God, the more we should choose to trust Him. Before showing the students the snowball, recite Psalm 145:8 several times together, using TE 2-28 as a guide. As you show the snowball, explain that each student will say one word of the verse and pass the snowball to the person beside him or her. The student who says the last word of the verse is allowed to unwrap the snowball until a reward is found. He or she will remove the reward and begin passing the snowball around again, continuing to say the verse. It is best to set the rule that no student is allowed to unravel the snowball for a second reward until everyone has gotten a treat. Just have that student pass it to the person to his or her right until it reaches someone who has not unwrapped a reward yet. If you have six students, say the verse six times one piece per child. If you do not have time to say it the number of times as the number of students in your class, simply allow those who have not unwrapped the snowball to come up and do so for a reward. Why is the story of Noah important today? Allow time for response. It reminds us that we should be totally obedient to God, even when it doesn t make sense. For example, when God s Word commands Christians to tell others about Him, we must obey by sharing the story of God s love, inviting others to come to church, and helping others like our missionaries to be able to go to places where we cannot. We are to do it every time an opportunity is presented, not just when we want to. When God s Word commands us to love Him and love others, we must obey. This love includes people who are different than we are and people who are mean to us. TE 2-1 Display TE 2-1. Each week this month, we will learn more of God s story. This week, we are learning God sees our actions. Just as God saw and rewarded Noah for his obedience, God sees and rewards obedience to Him today. Perhaps you are thinking of a time you obeyed and you did not receive a reward. In fact, maybe you told the truth and it caused you to get into trouble when being dishonest would have kept you out of trouble! Have you ever told a lie and felt terrible about it? Maybe you thought about it for days and days before the weight of your bad choice became too much for you and you decided to tell the truth. One reward of our obedience to God is peace. We know we are doing what is right. Another reward is trust others will trust us because we are truthful. We have the reward of joy in knowing that we are pleasing God. Being an honest person and always telling the truth is its own reward. 33

13 Notes Items Needed: Field Notes 2-1 Have you ever wondered what you would have done if you lived during Noah s time? Would you have obeyed God and spent 100 years of your life building a boat when you had never even seen flooding rain? Think about how much people made fun of Noah. What if one of your parents quit a job and spent ten years building a space ship to prepare for an alien invasion. Would you be concerned? Allow time for response. All the people who knew Noah were probably concerned about him. Would you have stood alone just as Noah and his family did so that you could do what was right and pleasing to God? It takes courage to say, Even if my friends and family make fun of believers, I am going to go to church and believe God, or Even if making bad choices is cool, I will make godly choices. Even if you feel alone, you will never be alone, because just as God was with Noah and his family in the ark, He will be with you (Hebrews 13:5c). Last month we learned about the Holy Spirit. Remember, God has given all believers the Holy Spirit to guide and give them courage and guidance. Noah was a righteous man who walked with God. At some time in his life, Noah chose to follow God s way rather than the ways of the people around him. Faith is when we believe God will do what He says, even though it may not have happened yet. Noah had faith and believed God when He said He was going to destroy the world with a flood. He had faith that God s instructions for building the ark were accurate and would keep him and his family safe. Noah demonstrated his faith in God with his complete obedience, and he was rewarded. It is exciting to think about how God sees and rewards obedience, but it would be wrong to not warn you that God punishes disobedience. You may think no one knows about your sin or you can have your own way or ignore God. You may even escape a punishment here on earth, but you will not be able to escape God s punishment except through Jesus. Be quick to confess your sin to God and turn away from it. Refer to the Next Step section on the Field Notes. Your Next Step is to demonstrate your faith to God through obedience to His Word. Next week as we continue God s story, we will see the bad result and punishment that comes from disobedience. Close in prayer, praying specifically for you and the students to make right choices to obey God to please Him even when it seems too hard. Pray you will all be reminded that God sees everything and rewards obedience. Encourage students to complete the Explore Together section of their Field Notes with their families this week. Field Notes

14 Old Testament Lesson 2 January 10, 2016 The Rain Came Down TEXT: Genesis 7:11 8:22 LESSON OBJECTIVE Know: God flooded the earth, but He spared Noah, his family, and the animals in the ark. Think: Remember God is gracious, loving, and merciful. Do: Follow Noah s example, and demonstrate faith and obedience to God. APPLICATION VERSE: Psalm 145:8 THEME: God Delivered Judgment and Grace PREPARATION CHECKLIST LEARN q TE 2-5 q TE 2-6 q TE 2-7 q TE 2-8 q TE 2-9 q TE 2-10 EXPLORE q TE 2-1 q Field Notes 2-2 q Pencils APPLY q TE 2-28 q Whiteboard and markers q Eraser RESPOND q Field Notes 2-2 DAILY BIBLE READINGS THE MORE YOU KNOW: Judgment and grace are very difficult to balance in your theology. Those in Christian communities that overemphasize judgment risk being dishonest about the sin they struggle with. The focus is far too often on outward works over inward connection to the Lord. Day 1 Genesis 7:11-16 Day 2 Genesis 7:17-24 Day 3 Genesis 8:1-5 Day 4 Genesis 8:6-13 Day 5 Genesis 8:14-22 Those in Christian communities that overemphasize grace risk abusing it and using it as an excuse to continue in their sin. Jesus always forgives, sure, but He expects believers to be engaged with the Holy Spirit as a guide to inward change and outward expression of that change. Finding this balance is as old as the church itself. James, the brother of Jesus, addresses the balance of judgment and grace in reference to faith and works in verse of chapter 2 of his letter. Consider spending some time with this passage before you teach, so that you can express the truth of God s judgment and grace to your class. Copyright This study is licensed to the purchasing church and only to be used by the teacher or teaching team for one group or class. Sharing copies of this study is unethical, illegal, and hinders the efforts of the publisher to provide high quality, affordable resources to you. 35

15 Choose one of these two options to help students transition into the classroom and connect with the lesson. Option 1 This simple activity will allow each student to individually judge each statement. Instruct the students to point their thumb up for right or point their thumb down for wrong after you read each statement (see sidebar). To ensure they are not going by what friends do, read the statement first and then on go, they will quickly indicate their answer by thumb up or down. Emphasize that their judgment is to be based on what they believe, not what their friends do! You judged these statements to be right or wrong based on what you thought about each one. In today s lesson, we will learn about God s judgment on the sins of the people in Noah s time. But what does God base His judgments on? Does He change the rules according to the people? Does He let some people get away with some sins? No, absolutely not. Display your Bible. What is right and what is truth is found in God s Word, and we base what we believe on His words. We cannot base it on what we want to do or what we feel like doing or what may even seem right. We cannot say, It is okay to lie this time in order to keep out of trouble. God will ignore that sin. No, according to the Bible, it is a sin to lie. The unchangeable truth in God s Word is how He judges whether we are right or wrong. Today s story about Noah reminds us that although God judged the people, He also had a plan to save Noah and his family. The best pizza topping is pepperoni. The easiest subject in school is math. Basketball is the best sport. Cleaning my room is fun. Homework is always quick. Playing video games is my favorite way to spend free time. Option 2 Select a volunteer to come to the front of the classroom. Instruct (and emphasize) to the volunteer that he or she must ignore all the other students by not smiling or laughing. Next instruct the remainder of the students to say or do anything to make the volunteer smile or laugh. The only rule is that they are not allowed to touch the volunteer. This is essential! When you say go, the students will have 15 seconds to try to make the volunteer smile or laugh. After that round, choose another volunteer to see if he or she can ignore the classmates and avoid smiling or laughing. Was it easy or hard to ignore your classmates? Allow time for response. What made it hard for you to ignore them? Allow time for response. Certainly funny faces and actions make it hard to ignore someone with our fun activity, but do you realize that many people ignore God? Even though He sends warnings over and over again, some people still ignore Him. In our Bible story today, we will learn about some people who ignored God s warnings and the judgment that came upon them. We will also hear about eight people who did not ignore God s warnings. God saved these eight because they paid attention to His words and believed them. Notes 36

16 Items Needed: TE 2-5 TE 2-10 TE 2-5 TE 2-6 I cannot save myself, I need a Savior God saved Noah and his family from death and Jesus saves us from eternal death. TE 2-7 TE 2-8 In last week s lesson, our Bible verses took us to the point where Noah obeyed God and built the ark. He gathered the wood and hammered day and night for many, many years. When it was time, Noah loaded up his family and the exact amount of animals just like God said. Display TE 2-5. After seven days, the rain began. The Bible says it rained for 40 days and 40 nights and water even came up from the ground. The waters flooded everything on the earth, and then the rain stopped. Display TE 2-6. The mountains were covered with water, and the ark floated above them (Genesis 7:19). It all happened just like God said. Creatures that breathed air did not survive on the earth, but only two of each kind were saved. And of all the people on earth, only Noah s family was saved. That may seem like a harsh judgment or punishment, but none of these people were interested in serving God, and they ignored His offer to be saved inside the ark. God would not have destroyed the earth like He did if there had been another way to clean up all the wickedness. After the flood continued for 150 days the floodwaters began to go down (Genesis 8:1-3). As the floodwaters went down, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. Display TE 2-7. Noah opened the window and sent out a raven. It kept flying back and forth. Noah also released a dove to see if the waters had receded and it could find dry ground. It came back because there was no place for it to land. Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove again. This time the dove returned with an olive leaf in its mouth, which meant that some of the plants were out of the water. Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove again, but this time the dove never returned, which meant that the dove had found a new home. Next, Noah listened to God s instructions. Read or choose a student to read Genesis 8:16-17 aloud. Display TE 2-8. It was time for every person and every living creature to leave the ark. They had dry land available to them once again! It is estimated they were in the ark for one year and ten days. What would you have done when you finally got off the ark? Maybe kissed the ground? Run laps around the ark? What do you think Noah did after all those days in the ark? Display TE 2-9. After Noah obeyed God and got everyone and everything out of the ark, he built an altar. On that altar, he offered a special sacrifice to God. By doing this, he was praising God, showing God that he knew they were only saved from the flood because of His grace. TE 2-9 TE 2-10 God was very pleased with Noah when He saw the altar and the offerings (Genesis 8:21). Obedience makes God happy and He blesses us for it. In fact, God promises good things for those who obey Him. Because of their violence and wickedness, He destroyed every person except the ones in the ark. Judgment and punishment come to those who sin against God. Although that is terrible news, the good news is that God saves those who trust and obey Him. Display TE God gave Noah and us a wonderful promise that He would never destroy the earth again with a world-wide flood, and He put a rainbow in the sky as a reminder of that promise. 37

17 Items Needed: TE 2-1 Field Notes 2-2 Pencils Before class, copy Field Notes 2-2 so each student will have one. Distribute Field Notes 2-2 along with pencils to students. Allow time for them to read the sentences and decide if they are true or false. Display TE 2-1 and point to God saves. Today we learned God saves. When Noah and his family boarded the ark and shut the doors, they were saved from the flood. You and I do not need an ark because God promised to never destroy the earth again by using a flood. However, we still need saving. We need to be saved not from a flood, but from sin. Romans 3:23 says all have sinned. We have all ignored and disobeyed God s commands. Jesus is God s rescue plan for all people. He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to take our punishment for sin. Jesus was the only one who could have been the sacrifice because He was without sin and is the only person who ever lived who accomplished that. Allowing a sinful person to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world would have been like trying to clean dirty dishes with muddy water. Would that ever work? Allow time for response. A sinful person simply could not have paid the price to make all the sinful people clean. Field Notes 2-2 TE 2-1 Items Needed: TE 2-28 Whiteboard and markers Eraser Before class, write Psalm 145:8 on the whiteboard. We should praise and thank God that He is a God who saves! Let s say that together: Thank You, God! We may not know what God looks like but we know from the Bible, His story, what He is like. Display TE We know from Psalm 145:8 four specific things about God that would cause Him to save us. Have students tell you what those four things are. Choose a student to come to the whiteboard, erase a word, and say the verse together again. Choose another student to erase another word, and repeat the activity. Continue until all of the words have been erased. Application Verse Poster TE 2-28 Over and over in the Bible, God proves who He is by what He does. For example, we know the Bible says God is gracious, loving, and merciful, but it is also exciting to see how He proves it through His saving of Noah and his family. What are some things we can learn from the people in Noah s time? Allow time for response. Why do you think they ignored God s instruction to get in the ark? Allow time for response. Do we ever ignore God s instruction or warnings? Allow time for response. Let s look at two important truths to remember. 38

18 Since the Bible is God s Word, we know about His love for us. He wants for us to serve Him so He can use us to heal the world from sin. Be ready, and remember that God judges sin! In 2 Peter 3, Peter compared the time of the flood where people ignored God s way and were destroyed to Jesus return. There will be people left behind because they reject and ignore God. God saves, but He does not force Himself on anyone. It is a choice everyone must make. Item Needed: Field Notes 2-2 Field Notes 2-2 Put God first! The people in Noah s time, and even people today, make other people and things more important than God. Read Luke 17: In Jesus own words, the things the people were doing were everyday things. The problem was they ignored the command to put God first. Think about what you spend most of your time doing. Is God part of your life every week or only part of your Sunday? If you had lived back in Noah s time, would you have been on the ark, or would you have been one of the ones that made the choice to ignore God and make fun of Noah? You may think no one knows about your sin or that you can have your own way and ignore God s truths, but you will not be able to escape His judgment except through the blood of Jesus. That is how God saves. Although God does not want anyone to ignore Him, each person must make his or her own choice. God loves every person and He wants us all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9). If you would like to know more about this, please come to me after class, and I will tell you more about how God saves. For those who have accepted and trusted in Jesus, what can you do this week to demonstrate God has first place in your life? Do you need to set aside a special time to read Bible verses or a devotional study guide? Do you spend some time each day praying and talking to God? Do you have a loving and kind attitude that makes God happy? Our relationship with God grows as we spend time with Him. Noah put his hope in God, and we should too. Refer to the Next Step section on the Field Notes. Your Next Step for this week is to follow Noah s example, and demonstrate faith and obedience to God. As teachers, our responsibility is to tell God s story; it is the Holy Spirit that uses God s story to draw people to Him. Be sensitive to His guidance. Close with prayer, asking God to make each student aware of his or her need for a Savior. Encourage students to complete the Explore Together section of their Field Notes with their families this week. 39

19 Old Testament Lesson 3 January 17, 2016 God Scattered the People TEXT: Genesis 11:1-9 LESSON OBJECTIVE Know: God confused the language of the people who allowed pride to influence their choices. Think: Remember that pride leads people away from God. Do: Praise and thank God for His blessings each day. APPLICATION VERSE: Psalm 145:8 THEME: God Scattered the People THE MORE YOU KNOW: Some speculate that Nimrod was the instigator of the Tower of Babel, since Genesis 10:10 lists Babel as the beginning of his kingdom. He was the grandson of Noah s son Ham, so though he himself wasn t on the ark, His grandfather and possibly one of his parents were, so he certainly had first-hand accounts of God s justice in his life, but it did nothing for his humility or respect for God. Nimrod does seem to be a leader who set himself up against God s desires, and the people willingly followed the ill-advised plan. The Tower of Babel was the manifestation of the mindset of Noah s descendants. Every shred of evidence supported the idea that the people of the world had learned nothing from the flood, so God confused their language before they could further enslave themselves to their own sin. PREPARATION CHECKLIST CONNECT Option 1 q Toothpicks q Mini marshmallows or gumdrops q Ruler (or measuring tape) Option 2 q TE 2-12 q Bag or basket LEARN q TE 2-13 q TE 2-14 q Five boxes (Any size will do. They will be used for stacking.) q Tape q Scissors APPLY q TE 2-28 q Field Notes 2-3 q Blocks or Legos (borrow some from the nursery or preschool department if you don t have any) q Small slips of paper with a letter of the alphabet written on each one; two extra with a smiley face on them q Bag or basket (to hold the alphabet papers) RESPOND q TE 2-1 q Field Notes 2-3 DAILY BIBLE READINGS Day 1 Genesis 11:1-4 Day 2 Genesis 11:5-9 Day 3 Psalm 10:3-7 Day 4 Psalm 33:8-12 Day 5 Isaiah 55: Copyright This study is licensed to the purchasing church and only to be used by the teacher or teaching team for one group or class. Sharing copies of this study is unethical, illegal, and hinders the efforts of the publisher to provide high quality, affordable resources to you.

20 Notes Choose one of these two options to help students transition into the classroom and connect with the lesson. Option 1 Items Needed: Toothpicks Mini marshmallows or gumdrops Ruler (or measuring tape) Before class, put the toothpicks and mini-marshmallows or gumdrops on the table. Divide the class into groups of three or four. Tell the students that their job is to build the tallest tower with the toothpicks and the marshmallows or gumdrops. The tower must be able to stand on its own. They will have three minutes to complete their creations. There is only one rule: they must do this without talking to one other. Give them a one-minute warning before the time is up. Then measure each tower to determine the tallest one. What was the hardest part of building the tower? Allow time for response. How were you able to work together without using your words? Allow time for response. How would it have been easier or harder had you been able to talk? Allow time for response. Why is speaking the same language important when working together? Allow time for response. Do you think it would be hard to build a real tower if you were not able to speak the same language? Today s lesson is about a time just after the flood when people joined together to build a tower. Option 2 Items Needed: TE 2-12 Bag or basket Before class, cut apart the strips from TE 2-12 and place them in a bag or basket. Take turns letting students choose one and act out the activity, making sure they do it without talking. TE 2-12 What made it hard for others to guess? Allow time for response. Would it have been easier if you could have used words? Allow time for response. We use words to communicate, and without words it is hard for others to understand what we are thinking. Today s Bible story is about a group of people trying to build a tower without using words. 41

21 Items Needed: TE 2-13 TE 2-14 Five boxes (Any size will do. They will be used for stacking.) Tape Scissors Shinar is the plain where Babylon was built in southern Mesopotamia. This area is now modern Iraq. Before class apart the strips from TE Tape each word strip to a box as you tell the Bible story. Keep each box and word strip out of sight until you add it to the tower. Start with E on the bottom box, and continue building up to spell the word pride. If you don t have boxes, just add the word strips to a bulletin board one at a time, starting with E, to spell out the word from the bottom up. Display the letter E from TE After the flood, God told Noah and his family to multiply and fill the earth. Many of the people had settled in the plain of Shinar. The people living in Shinar had the idea to build a great city and a tower so they could make a famous name for themselves. Instead of living to worship God, these people wanted others to see their fabulous tower and praise them. They were eager to get attention and wanted to show all they could do. Display the letter D from TE The people in Shinar were not content to spread out across the world. They were not happy with what God had told them to do. They desired their own way. They wanted to build a tower so tall it would reach Heaven, so they began to make bricks, bake them, and use mortar to make a sturdy tower. TE 2-13 Display the letter I from TE Wait a minute! Why were they so concerned about this tower? What made them think of this whole plan? Why were they not obeying what God said? This city and tower were a direct disobedience to God s instructions. They had no desire to listen to God because they had their own plans. They had no interest in following His way and bringing Him glory. They were interested in their own glory. Display the letter R from TE They thought they were so awesome because they believed they could do whatever they wanted to do. This tower showed their strength and how smart they were. They thought they would no longer need to listen to God. Having their own way replaced obeying God. They worshiped their own efforts instead of Him. Display the letter P from TE They pushed God away. They thought their plan was more important than His. They were following their selfish ways over God s way. God saw what the people were doing, and He was not pleased. He would stop them before they caused more trouble. He confused their language so they were unable to understand one another (Genesis 11:7) so they could no longer work together to build the tower. Can you imagine trying to work together but not being able to understand each other? They may have been working on the tower one day when all of a sudden one man asked another for a brick and could no longer understand what his co-worker was saying. 42

22 TE 2-14 Because they couldn t communicate with each other, they were no longer able to put their heads together and make plans. Display TE It only got worse, and the people finally decided to stop building. They called the place Babel, which means confusion. God scattered the people over all the earth. Point to the strips from TE What word do you see when you look at the first letter of each word strip? Allow time for response. What is pride? Allow time for response. Pride is the attitude where we think our way is better than God s way. As if that could ever be true! But we all struggle with pride sometimes. God created the world and everything in it to serve Him and bring Him glory. The people who built the tower only cared about their own glory. Pride is a terrible thing because it keeps people from God. People who are filled with pride do not even see their need to know God or ask Him for forgiveness. They don t realize how badly they need God. They want their own way. Their eyes are on themselves. Pride leads people away from God s gift of salvation and friendship. If they continue in their own way, they will eventually be separated from God forever. This reminds me of someone who insisted on his own way instead of God s way. Listen to these Bible verses. Read Isaiah 14:13-14 aloud and ask students to listen to Satan s statements to see whose way he wanted. What word do you keep hearing Satan say? He constantly referred to himself, using the pronoun I. Instead of worshiping and following God, Satan wanted his own way. Read or choose a student to read Psalm 10:4. The Bible warns us about pride. When we turn from giving God the worship He deserves and make it about ourselves, we push God away. Eventually it becomes all about us and not God. Notes Items Needed: TE 2-28 Field Notes 2-3 Blocks or Legos (borrow some from the nursery or preschool department if you don t have any) Small slips of paper with a letter of the alphabet written on each one; two extra with a smiley face on them Bag or basket (to hold the alphabet papers) Before class, copy Field Notes 2-3 so every student will have one. Write each letter of the alphabet on a small slip of paper and include two slips of paper with a smiley face on them. Toss them into a small bag or basket. What is pride? The pride we are talking about is not the good feeling we have when we do a job well. It is the attitude that we don t need God and want our way more than His way. Proud people may not even realize how badly they need God. They want 43

23 their own way, so they never call out to Him. If they would just come to Him, He would give them mercy and forgiveness (1 Peter 5:6). One of the ways to understand more about a word is to look at its opposite. What is the opposite of pride? Allow time for response. Humble people know they need God because they understand that, no matter how smart they are, they will never know or understand all that He does. They want to live to please God instead of themselves because they are grateful for Him and know that His way is always best. They are content to follow God s way and are thankful to have God in charge. Let s look at some statements that proud and humble people might say. Distribute Field Notes 2-3 to students along with pencils. As you read the statements, have the students cross out the proud statements and circle the humble ones. Pride leads to trouble with God and with those around us. It distracts us from God s way and focuses our attention on our selfish ways. The Tower of Babel is a perfect example of that. Display TE 2-28 and review the verse with the students. What are the things this verse tells about God? Allow time for response. He is gracious, merciful, compassionate, patient, full of mercy, and love. Divide the class into two teams and tell the students their goal is to build a tall tower as they review the verse. Explain that each team will take a turn to draw a letter from the bag, and that letter determines how many blocks their team will receive. For example, if Team 1 draws the letter T the team should say the verse, counting each word with a T in it, then stack the number of allotted blocks. More than one T in a word still counts for just one block. Continue going back and forth until each team has three or four turns. If a team draws a smiley face, they can choose any letter they want. See which team can build the tallest tower without it falling down. End the activity by saying the verse together. Pride is one of the main things that pulls us away from God. Pride is the lie we sometimes believe that we can do it better than anyone else even God. I am engaged in spiritual warfare. Field Notes 2-3 Application Verse Poster TE 2-28 Items Needed: TE 2-1 Field Notes 2-3 We can learn from the people turned away from God and toward their own selfish desires. We can learn from the pride they demonstrated when building the great tower and the resulting consequences. James 4:6 tells us God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. When we really see how great He is, we will see what a wonderful privilege it is to have a relationship with Him. When we see how much He loves us, we will draw close to Him instead of searching for so many other things to make us happy. When we see how wise and good He is, we will trust Him to do what is best for us. Display TE 2-1 and point to the words God rules. This week we learned how God rules. There is only one God and there is no one like Him. He is the Creator, and He rules the universe. We must always remember God is in charge, and He knows what we need 44 TE 2-1

24 Notes better than we do. He will help us if we just believe in Him and follow His way. God saw the people going away from Him and He confused their language so they would stop building the tower. They were filled with pride and didn t realize how much they needed God s guidance and help. Sometimes when things are going well, we can almost forget about God. We make our own plans and do what we want. We shouldn t brag about what we are going to do that s a proud attitude. Instead, we should live every day for God and make Him happy. It is important to trust God and do His will. God loves it when we believe in Him and trust Him to guide us in the right way. There are many things that only God can do for us. We need to humble ourselves before God and ask for His help and guidance. What are some things we need God to do for us that we can t do ourselves? Allow time for response. He forgives our sins, helps us obey, and guides us in the right way, just to name a few. But we have to be willing to ask and accept His help. Have students look on the right side of their Field Notes as you read the text: I,, believe that God is alive and rules the universe. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. I believe He loves me and wants what is best for me. I want Him to be in charge of my life. When I go my own way, I want God to help me make a different choice and choose what He wants me to do. I won t always get it right, but I let the Holy Spirit help me. Field Notes 2-3 Tell the students if they are willing to let God be in charge of their lives, they should sign the pledge. We can praise God because He is in charge. No matter how bad things get in the world, God is still in control. He will still do what is right. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, no matter what happens. We can trust Him to lead us and to take care of us. We need to keep pride out of our lives by keeping our focus on God. Refer to the Next Step section of the Field Notes. Your Next Step is to praise and thank God for His blessings each day. Close with a prayer of praise to God. Encourage the students to do the Explore Together activity with their families this week. Are you on Facebook? Join the D6 Curriculum Teachers group, a place of community for you to share stories, ask questions, get advice, and engage in conversations with other D6 curriculum teachers. 45

25 Old Testament Lesson 4 January 24, 2016 God Made a Covenant With Abraham TEXT: Genesis 12:1-9, 15:1-6 LESSON OBJECTIVE Know: God made a covenant with Abraham to bless all the families of the earth through him. Think: Remember God is faithful to keep His promises. Do: Trust God s goodness and presence in your life, and know He always keeps His promises. APPLICATION VERSE: Titus 1:2 THEME: God s Covenant PREPARATION CHECKLIST CONNECT Option 1 q One long scarf (can substitute with a piece of ribbon or rope approximately 24 in length) Option 2 q Chair (very sturdy) LEARN q TE 2-15 q TE 2-16 q TE 2-17 q A one-dollar bill q Whiteboard and marker EXPLORE q TE 2-18 q TE 2-19 q TE 2-20 APPLY q TE 2-21 q TE 2-22 q TE 2-1 THE MORE YOU KNOW: Covenant theology, with as boring as it sounds, is one of the most clear and fascinating ways of seeing God s unfolding plan to mend our broken connection to Him from Genesis to Revelation. So what is a covenant you ask? Simply put, it is a agreement or a promise between two people; like a contract, but more binding and typically between individuals of unequal power, as a ruler with a subject. In Biblical covenants, one of the parties is always God. From the covenant God made with Adam in Genesis 3:15 to the New Covenant He offers us with Jesus death and resurrection, you can see a clear unfolding of the answer to the question, What now? that presented itself when sin became a problem. The big thing that God did in the Abrahamic covenant is outline His plan to establish a nation that would follow Him and be blessed by Him among the people of the world. Read more about the Abrahamic Covenant here: q TE 2-29 q TE 2-30 q Field Notes 2-4 q Colored pencils RESPOND q Field Notes 2-4 DAILY BIBLE READINGS Day 1 Genesis 12:1-4 Day 2 Genesis 12:5-9 Day 3 Genesis 15:1-6 Day 4 Genesis 21:1-7 Day 5 Galatians 3:16; Galatians 4:4-5; Romans 3: Copyright This study is licensed to the purchasing church and only to be used by the teacher or teaching team for one group or class. Sharing copies of this study is unethical, illegal, and hinders the efforts of the publisher to provide high quality, affordable resources to you.

26 Choose one of these two options to help students transition into the classroom and connect with the lesson. Option 1 Items Needed: One long scarf (can substitute with a piece of ribbon or rope approximately 24 in length) This will need to be practiced at home so you will be able to show you can tie a knot in a scarf with each end in each hand without letting go of the ends. The picture in the sidebar will help you visualize the exact placement of your hands. The most important thing to remember is when your arms are criss-crossed against your chest, one hand must be able to grab one end of the scarf from the top, and the other hand must be able to pick up the other end of the scarf from the bottom. When you have the ends of the scarf (one end in each hand), uncross your arms, and extend them out to see how the knot is formed. To begin this option, ask for a volunteer to come forward and try to tie a knot in the scarf. But emphasize they are never allowed to let go of the ends of the scarf. To engage the other students, have them watch each volunteer to be sure they do not let go of the ends of the scarf. After everyone who wants to try has had a turn (or as time permits), tell the students that you can tie the knot without letting go of the ends. Proceed to show them how. I said I could make the knot and I proved it. This reminds me how the Bible shows us how God proves He keeps His Word. God always keeps His promises. So we know when He gives us one, we can trust His word just like you could trust mine! Today we ll learn about a man named Abraham and God s promise to Him. Option 2 Items Needed: Chair (very sturdy) Notes Do a simple illustration to help students understand what it means to completely believe in God. Ask a volunteer to come to the front of the room. Put a sturdy chair in front of him or her. I sat in this chair and it held me up. Do you believe this chair will hold you up? If you have faith that the chair will hold you up, sit in it. Allow time for the volunteer to sit in the chair. Why did you have faith that the chair would hold you up? Allow time for response. What is faith? Allow time for response. Faith is a confidence in something that you have yet to experience. Just as I sat in the chair and it held me, you could have confidence in the chair because it has been tested. What is faith in God? Allow time for response. Faith in God is trusting in Him and believing He is real and will do what He says. Some people find it hard to believe in God because they cannot see Him. God does not ask us to have a blind faith, believing with no proof. He has given us many reasons to believe in Him. Many people throughout history have believed in God and have told us their experiences. What are some reasons we should believe in God? Allow time for response. Today we ll learn about a man named Abraham who believed in God. 47

27 Notes To learn about Abraham s story in Genesis chapters 12 and 15, the students will visit four stations to learn about God s call to him. It would be best if you could set up each station at a different spot in the room or church and move to each one. Talk about Abraham at each station and then move to another station to talk about the next part. Even a simple move can add interest to the lesson. Begin at Station 1. Items Needed: TE 2-15 TE 2-17 One-dollar bill Have you ever played a game and yelled out, pick me, pick me to the people who are choosing teams? Today we are going to learn about the very beginning of God s plan to create a nation that would serve Him. Display TE A man named Abraham lived with his family in a place called Ur. Terah, Abraham s father, and many of the people there worshiped idols (Joshua 24:2). They did not know the one true God. But God had been watching the people in Ur and He saw something good in the heart of Abraham. God knew all about Abraham and loved him. He wanted Abraham to leave the false idols and begin to know Him, the one true God, so He began showing Himself to Abraham so that Abraham would know and trust Him. God told Abraham to leave his country and his people and go to a land that God would show him. Do you think this would be hard to do if God said this to you and your family? Allow time for response. It might have been easier if Abraham knew exactly where he was going, where he would live, or what the place would be like, but Abraham didn t know any of those things! Even though Abraham did not know all of the details, God had a big plan for Abraham and knew all the details of His plan. Display TE So Abraham made the choice to pack up all his belongings and his family and obey God. Life is filled with choices. Sometimes the choices are simple ones, like choosing your meal at a restaurant. Other times the choice we are faced with require us to consider what God s Word teaches. We don t always have to move to a new place to serve God, but we do have to leave sin behind in order to obey Him. We can t serve two masters. We can t follow God and hold on to our sin. God deserves our total loyalty. Ur is an ancient city in what we know today as Iraq. TE 2-15 TE 2-16 Move to Station 2. Item Needed: One-dollar bill After God told Abraham to move, He gave Abraham some promises. God told him: I will make from you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you. 48

28 Notes God made plans for Abraham to be the first family of His new nation. God established the home to make disciples and transfer the faith. God told Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, but Abraham and his wife, Sarah, had no children. How could Abraham be the father of a great nation? Abraham did not know how this was going to happen, but he believed God was able to make it happen. God also said that all the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. This promise was fulfilled hundreds of years later when Jesus was born from the family tree of Abraham. Because Jesus was born and died for the sins of the whole world, all who believe in Him can live forever in Heaven. Abraham could count on God because He is completely trustworthy. I will give a dollar bill to the first one to come and stand by me. Give the dollar bill to the first one to stand by you. Why did you believe my promise to get the dollar bill? Allow time for response. You know that I am trustworthy, so you believed in my promise. The most important part of a promise is the person making it. Why it is hard for us to believe God will keep His promises? Allow time for response. It is hard for us to understand how someone could keep every single promise made, but God does just that. We can look at the examples given to us in the Bible of how God kept every single promise He made. We can rely on Him because He always keeps His promises. Move to Station 3. Items Needed: TE 2-17 TE 2-17 Abraham had traveled from Ur to Haran with his father, Terah, his wife, Sarai, and his nephew, Lot. They also had many things and servants and workers to help them. We don t know how long they stayed in Haran, but Abraham s father died there. Abraham was 75 years old when they left Haran. They continued traveling into the land of Canaan to a place called Shechem in the plain of Moreh. It was there the Lord appeared to Abraham and told him He was going to give this land to his children. Display TE Abraham believed God and built an altar to worship Him. What is worship? Allow time for response. When we see how awesome, powerful, wise, and loving God is, what should we do? Allow time for response. We should worship Him. Worship is our response to God. How did Abraham worship God? Allow time for response. He obeyed Him, he built an altar to Him, and he trusted Him. How do we worship God? Allow time for response. Some of the ways we worship God are through our praise, through serving others, and by the giving our time and money. There are many ways to worship our great God who deserves our worship! Move to Station 4. Items Needed: Whiteboard and marker As Abraham continued his journey, God appeared in a vision to assure him that He would protect and reward him. He told Abraham to look at the stars. God said that just as Abraham could not count the stars, he would not be able to count all those in his family his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren and so on. He was going to reward Abraham with countless numbers of people in his family. 49

29 How could Abraham be the father of a great nation if he had no children? God reassured Abraham that it would not just be someone from his household, but that it would be Abraham s own son. Read or choose a student to read Genesis 15:6 aloud. How did Abraham react to God s promises? Allow time for response. Abraham believed God. When God said his family would be as plentiful as the stars, Abraham believed God s words. Abraham did not say things like, This is impossible. I am already an old man. God, are You really sure You can do this? or Show me the exact plan of how You are going to make this happen, then I will believe You. Abraham believed God s words and that acceptance and belief brought him righteousness. Do any of you know what righteousness means? Allow time for response. Write the word righteousness on the whiteboard. What word is within this word? Allow time for response. Circle the word right. Righteousness is a right standing with God. Abraham really believed God s promise. God said that Abraham was righteous because of his faith. Faith is when we believe God will do what He says He will do. Faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). Even though it had not happened, even though he didn t see how it could happen, even though he had to wait a long time, Abraham still believed God. Notes God had high expectations of Abraham, but God is a personal, spiritual being who never asked Abraham to do it alone. He is with us always. It was probably very hard for Abraham to continue to believe that God would keep His promise and give him a child. In fact, He had to wait 25 years from the time he left Haran until the promised son was born! We may not always understand when and why God does things, but we can know for sure that He will do what He has promised! Items Needed: TE 2-18 TE 2-20 Abraham and his wife, Sarah, had been in Canaan for a long time, almost twenty-five years. Do you think they had given up on God s promise? Allow time for response. Display TE One day, Abraham was sitting outside of his tent when Jesus and two angels appeared. They asked where Sarah was, and he told them she was in the tent. Jesus said they would return in one year, and by that time, they would have a baby boy. Do you know what Sarah did? Allow time for response. Display TE She laughed. She had heard what Jesus said, and she laughed. Why do you think she laughed? Allow time for response. She laughed because she was ninety years old, and Abraham was ninety-nine. She thought they were too old to have children. But Jesus told Abraham nothing was too hard for God. Display TE Sarah had her baby that year, and his name was Isaac. God kept His promise to Abraham, and He is faithful to keep them for us too. TE 2-18 TE 2-19 TE

30 Items Needed: TE 2-21 TE 2-22 TE 2-1 TE 2-29 TE 2-30 Field Notes 2-4 Colored pencils TE 2-1 TE 2-21 TE 2-22 Field Notes 2-4 God never said bad thing wouldn t happen to believers. Bad things happen because the world is a sinful place. Before class, cut apart the strips from TE Also, make a copy of Field Notes 2-4 for each student. Display TE 2-1 and point to the words God s Promises. We can read about God s promises in the Bible. We will discuss four of those promises today. Distribute the strips from TE 2-21 to four good readers. Distribute Field Notes 2-4 to students along with pencils. Have them fill in the blanks as you read and discuss each verse. Display TE 2-22 and point to God s promise after each verse is read. Have the student with Isaiah 41:10 read the verse to the class. God has promised to be with us. God has not promised that we will not have trouble or hard times. Some people might feel disappointed with God when bad times come because they feel rejected, lonely, sad, or hurt. Do these feelings mean God doesn t love us or that He isn t really big enough to stop life s disappointments? No, it means that we live in a broken world that is full of sin. Sinful people in a sinful world are absolutely going to say and do wrong things that lead to disappointment and pain. Jesus, in fact, promised that in this world we would have trouble (John 16:33). But God does promise to be with us in every situation and can give us comfort and hope. We can face whatever comes, because our powerful God is with us and will help us! Have the student who has 1 John 1:9 read it aloud. God has promised to forgive our sins when we confess to Him. God does not want us to keep or hide our sin. He wants us to come to Him and He will completely take it away. God wants us to be free from the guilt and hurt that sin brings, so He made a way for us to have our sins forgiven through Jesus death on the cross. All we need to do is confess tell Him we are sorry, and ask Him to forgive us. We can be right with God because of this promise. Have the student who has Jeremiah 33:3 read it aloud. God has promised to answer our prayers and do good things for us; more than we can imagine. We should not feel disappointed when we pray and do not get what we wanted. God has not promised to give us everything we want. God has promised to listen and answer us, and we can trust Him to give us what we need. Sometimes the best answer is yes, and sometimes it is no. Other times the best answer is for us to wait. Just as it must have been hard for Abraham to wait 25 years for Isaac to be born, it may be hard for us to wait for God to answer our prayers. But because of this promise, we must never doubt that He doesn t listen or care when we pray. Have the student who has John 14:3 read it aloud. God has promised to bring those who believe in Jesus to Heaven someday. We feel sad when people we love die, but this promise tells us that those who 51 51

31 believe in Jesus will immediately go to live forever in Heaven. They will be more alive than ever! It is normal to feel sad when those we love die because we will miss them, but we can have comfort knowing they are with God, and we will someday be with them again. God never promised that there would be no sickness or death here on earth, but He did promise that there will be no sickness or death in Heaven. Notes God has made many more wonderful promises and we can find them in the Bible. As we find and believe His promises, we can have comfort, joy, and peace. We can get more faith as we read the stories of what God did in people s lives in the Bible. Just as God made and kept His promises to Abraham, God has made promises to us and He will always keep His Word. Display TE 2-29 and introduce the verse by reading it aloud. This verse tells us God cannot lie, and He promised eternal life before the world began. This is an amazing truth that we can count on. Has anyone ever made and broken a promise to you? How did you feel? Allow time for response. There is no need to be disappointed with God. God is 100% reliable, and we can count on Him to keep His promises. A promise is only as good as the person making the promise. We have an entire Bible full of stories of how God made and kept His promises. Do you think Abraham heard the story of how God kept His promise to judge the world with a flood? Do you think he remembered God s promise every time he saw a rainbow? God kept His promise to Abraham and He will keep His promises to us. The more we learn about God, the more we can trust Him to keep His Word. Have students say the verse with you several times using TE Then distribute TE 2-30 and colored pencils to them. Allow time for them to color the words and decorate the page. Encourage them to hang it somewhere so they will see it often. Application Verse Poster TE 2-29 Application Verse Activity Pieces TE 2-30 Items Needed: Field Notes 2-4 How would feel if you told your friend a very important and true statement but your friend said he or she didn t believe you. Allow time for response. Do you think God wants us to doubt Him? Allow time for response. Of course not! In fact, the Bible says that a man who doubts is like a wave of the sea, being tossed about by the wind. One day he believes, the next day he doubts. That man should not expect to receive anything from God (James 1:6-8). God want us to believe in Him even though we cannot see Him. God wants us to believe that He will do what He says He will do. Have students read the statements on the right side of their Field Notes with you. I believe God is real. I believe God is good. I believe God s words are true. I believe God will do what is best for me. is a simple way to link your family together spiritually. Through FREE weekly s packed with ideas, Splink helps you and your family engage in conversation. Whether it s making memories or having fun together, Splink allows you to capture those teachable moments to impress spiritual truths and life lessons on your kids. No matter where you are, there s always time to Splink! Sign up for Splink at: D6family.com/Splink. 52

32 God has many good promises for us. We can believe His words and trust Him. Refer to the Next Step section on the Field Notes. Your Next Step is to trust God s goodness and presence in your life, and know He always keeps His promises. Pray for your students that they will trust God and rely on His promises for their lives. Encourage them to do the Explore Together activity with their families this week. Field Notes 2-4 Are you making a Home Connection with your kids? Home Connection is a FREE download that gives parents a simple way to practice faith at home by providing: A weekly Bible passage to read together as a family Suggestions to help you pray together as a family Suggested activities to do as a family to put your faith in action It s a great tool for parents who want to pass their faith on to their children! Also, if your church uses D6 Curriculum, Home Connection will let you know exactly what each member of the family is learning in small group, LIFE group, or Sunday School each week. Try it this week by downloading it at: Notes 53

33 Old Testament Lesson 5 January 31, 2016 God Provided a Sacrifice TEXT: Genesis 22:1-19 LESSON OBJECTIVE Know: Abraham truted and obeyed God, and God provided a ram to be used for a sacrifice. Think: Remember that God gives us grace. Do: Choose to obey God with a good attitude. APPLICATION VERSE: Titus 1:2 THEME: God Provided a Sacrifice PREPARATION CHECKLIST CONNECT Option 1 q TE 2-23 Option 2 q 1 liter plastic bottle (you can find soda pretty commonly in this size now) q 1 ketchup packet q Salt (kosher works best) LEARN q TE 2-24 q TE 2-25 q TE 2-26 APPLY q TE 2-1 q TE 2-27 q TE 2-29 q Field Notes 2-5 q Pencils q Paper bag q Treats (one treat/student) THE MORE YOU KNOW: It feels weird to teach children that God asked a man to sacrifice his only son on an altar to Himself, doesn t it? Sure the foreshadowing to Jesus is beautiful, but that doesn t mean it can t make you feel a bit strange. It feels like a joke gone too far, or an emotionally manipulative object lesson. The thing is, sacrificing your first born to the gods of the day was a common thing in the pagan religions Abraham s contemporaries practiced. Though it would have filled Abraham with dread, it wouldn t have hit his ears the same way it does ours today. When God stopped Abraham from moving forward with the sacrifice, He was showing Abraham that He was not the status quo. Not only would He not require Him to do such an abhorrent thing, He would also provide the alternative plan with the ram. Abraham would have seen this as an act of grace, not an inappropriate command. RESPOND q Field Notes 2-5 DAILY BIBLE READINGS Day 1 Genesis 22:1-6 Day 2 Genesis 22:7-12 Day 3 Genesis 22:13-14 Day 4 Genesis 22:15-19 Day 5 1 John 4: Copyright This study is licensed to the purchasing church and only to be used by the teacher or teaching team for one group or class. Sharing copies of this study is unethical, illegal, and hinders the efforts of the publisher to provide high quality, affordable resources to you.

34 Notes Choose one of these two options to help students transition into the classroom and connect with the lesson. Option 1 Items Needed: TE 2-23 Arrange the students in a circle. The purpose of the circle is to keep everyone in order. Explain how Story Starters works. Use one of the suggestions from TE 2-23 or come up with your own. The first person in the circle will add to the story with two to four sentences. The second student will then add two to four sentences to the story. Continue on allowing the students to provide details to the story, including the ending. If you have a small class, you may want to go around the circle twice. TE 2-23 Story starter suggestions: I went to the zoo on a quiet day. But all that changed when the monkeys escaped and were headed my way. As soon as I finished my classwork, I saw with my very own eyes that the person beside me looked like a dinosaur; it wasn t a mask or a disguise. I started laughing as I was walking in the park, because I remembered a dream where I was... It can be fun to make up stories, not knowing which direction or how they would end. In today s lesson, we will learn about how Abraham and Isaac were part of an important true story, but they didn t know how it would end. There was suspense, excitement, and perhaps fear. Although Abraham did not know the ending of the story, He knew God and trusted Him to provide. Option 2 Items Needed: 1 liter plastic bottle (you can find soda pretty commonly in this size now) 1 ketchup packet Salt (kosher works best) Remove the entire label from the bottle (Goo Gone will help with the glued part). Fill the bottle all the way to the top with water and add the ketchup packet. There needs to be as little air as possible in the bottle. If the ketchup packet floats, then great! If it sinks to the bottom of the bottle, add 3 tablespoons of salt to the bottle and see if that makes it rise to the top. (Kosher salt will keep the water from getting cloudy, but as long as you prep far enough in advance, regular table salt will clear up after it sits a while.) Continue adding salt 1 tablespoon at a time until the packet is floating, just barely, to the top. Now recap it and squeeze the sides. The packet should begin to sink to the bottom. If the bottle is full enough, your squeezes will be imperceptible to your students. Squeeze it again and it will go back to the top. With some practice you can even make it stop in the middle, and go fast and slowly. Learning about God isn t enough. I love that you come to Sunday School every week, but if all you do is learn about God then you will just end up with a big head full of information! You must also obey God. Show the students the bottle with the ketchup packet. Do you see Mr. Ketchup, floating in my water bottle? I can make him obey me. Watch. Mr. Ketchup, go down to the bottom of the bottle. Squeeze the sides of the bottle and make the ketchup go down. Then make him come back up. Then make him stop in the middle. Make him go quickly and slowly, all at your command. Now ask your stu- 55

35 dents to try and control Mr. Ketchup, but don t make him follow their instructions. Mr. Ketchup knows who his boss is! He only listens to my instructions! Does it make sense to you why Mr. Ketchup listens to me and not you? Abraham was a man who obeyed God even when it didn t make much sense to other people. I m sure his family thought it was crazy for him to follow God s command to leave Ur when they didn t know God. Today we are going to see an even crazier thing that God asked Abraham to do. Abraham was not perfect, but he tried to live his life obeying God. God was pleased with Abraham. Notes Items Needed: TE 2-24 TE 2-26 Last week we learned God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah had a baby boy they named Isaac. Just like you, Isaac grew and in our lesson today, he was probably a young man. In Genesis 22, God provided Abraham with instructions for a special trip. He was to take Abraham and Sarah s only son, Isaac, and go the land of Moriah. But what was so special about this trip? God told Abraham to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice on one of the mountains. What is a sacrifice? Allow time for response. A sacrifice is the act of giving up something highly valued for the sake of something or someone else. What do you think he did? Allow time for response. Display TE Abraham obeyed God as he got up the next morning and began their trip. He took his donkey, two of his young servants, wood for an altar, and Isaac. On the third day, Abraham saw the place where the sacrifice was to be made. Abraham instructed his two servants to stay with the donkey because only he and Isaac would go the mountain and worship God. Display TE As Abraham gave the wood for the offering to Isaac, he carried the fire stick in one hand for the altar and a knife in the other. Isaac obviously wondered why they had fire and wood for a sacrifice, but no animal for the offering. So he asked his dad, Where is the lamb? Abraham responded that God would provide and they continued on. When they got to the place God instructed, Abraham built the altar and laid the wood in order. Display TE Then came the hardest part of his test of obedience and that was to lay Isaac on the altar. Abraham put the knife in his hand and suddenly an angel of the Lord called Abraham s name twice. Abraham! Abraham! The angel told Abraham not to hurt Isaac. Abraham demonstrated his obedience and willingness to give up his son. Abraham had passed the test. Point to the ram on TE As he looked around, he saw a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. The ram would be the sacrifice. Abraham was so excited and joyful by what God had done that he named the place Jehovah-Jireh, which means God has provided. God provided a way for Abraham to keep his son through the sacrifice of a ram for the altar. As the angel of the Lord called out to Abraham a second time, God promised Abraham that his family would have as many members as there were stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore. Abraham 56 TE 2-24 TE 2-25 TE 2-26

36 Notes had just experienced this life and death situation with his son, and now to hear these words from God that Isaac would live caused him to be thankful. Abraham could not save Isaac but God did! He provided a ram for Abraham just like He provided Jesus for us. I cannot save myself, I need a Savior. God continued to bless Abraham for his obedience. God said it would be through Abraham s family that all the nations would be blessed. Do any of you know about whom God was referring? Allow time for response. God s promise was pointing to Jesus. Do you know the difference between a ram and a lamb? They are both sheep, but a lamb is a baby sheep and a ram is an adult male sheep. Just as God provided a ram for the sacrifice, He also provided our sacrifice, Jesus, a man who lived His whole life without sin. Before the world began, God knew that man would sin and follow his own way. Adam and Eve chose to do the very thing God said not to do. But God still loved them, and, in the same way, our sin does not stop God from loving us. But because God is holy, sin must be punished. God sent His Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice as payment for our sin. Our sin keeps us from being able to go to Heaven, so Jesus provided the way for us to become part of God s family. Do you notice anything similar between Isaac and Jesus? Isaac was Abraham s only son. Jesus is God s only Son. Isaac carried the wood for the altar for the sacrifice, and Christ carried the cross for His. God provided a substitute of a ram for the sacrifice of Isaac. God provided a substitute for the punishment for our sin in Jesus. God had a plan no one saw coming! Both for Isaac and for Jesus. We may not always understand God s plan, but we are to trust it and be obedient to it. Items Needed: TE 2-1 TE 2-27 TE 2-29 Field Notes 2-5 Pencils Paper bag Treats (one treat/student) Application Verse Poster TE 2-29 Display TE 2-29 and review the verse with the students by having them read it with you. Last week, we began learning this verse. It tells us that before the world began, our God promised us an eternal life. We have the hope of that eternal life in Heaven because of Jesus. Have students sit in a circle. Give the bag to one student and have him or her say the first word of the verse. Then have the student pass the bag to whoever is on his or her right. That person will say the second word of the verse. Continue passing the bag around until the last student says the Bible reference. That person will choose a treat from the bag, and step out of the circle. He or she will stand outside of the circle. Repeat the activity saying the verse a little faster. Continue the activity until every student has received a treat. Be sure even the students standing outside of the circle continue to say the verse. 57

37 Display TE 2-1 and point to the words God provides. This week we learned that God provides. Just as the ram took Isaac s place on the altar, Jesus took our place on the cross. Our sin separates us from God, but God provided His Son as a sacrifice. Distribute Field Notes 2-5 to students along with pencils. Have them fold them on the solid line, and turn to the inside. Ephesians 1:3-14 describes many of the good things God provides for us through Jesus. Have them look up the verses and use the word bank to fill in the blanks on their Field Notes. When we follow Jesus, God makes us holy. When He looks at us, He sees Jesus holiness. Even if we try really hard, we can never be holy without Jesus. We are also adopted into God s family. He loves us and wants us to live with Him forever. He is a loving Father who provides what we need. God gives us grace. Display TE One way to explain grace is by remembering this: God s Riches At Christ s Expense. G-R-A-C-E! God provides for us through Jesus sacrifice. Jesus provides forgiveness for us. He was the only perfect sacrifice God required so every person could have his or her debt of sin forgiven. God provides wisdom through His Word so we will know the right way to live. We have the Holy Spirit. This is one of the best things God has provided for us. When we receive Jesus, His Holy Spirit comes to help us. He is with us always. He guides, comforts, instructs, and slowly changes us to be like Him. We have all these wonderful things because God provided Jesus, the perfect sacrifice. TE 2-1 TE 2-27 Application Verse Poster TE 2-29 Items Needed: Field Notes 2-5 We know from Abraham s story that God tested his obedience. We can learn from his example what true obedience to God is. What if Abraham had told God he would obey Him in every other area of his life, except this one? God wants us to fully obey Him and do it with the right attitude. We can t pick and choose which areas and commands we want to obey. We can t just choose the easy ones and not include the hard ones. We can learn from Abraham to trust and obey God even when it s extremely difficult and we don t understand. On the right side of your Field Notes are some verses with commands God has given us. They are not always easy to obey, but it pleases God when we choose to obey. Have students refer to the Next Step section on their Field Notes. Your Next Step is to choose to obey God with a good attitude. Ask God to help you demonstrate obedience like Abraham s so you can live a life that is pleasing to God. End class with prayer for your students that they will remember the story of Abraham and the difficult sacrifice he was willing to make. Encourage them to focus on Jesus and the sacrifice He made so that they could have eternal life in Heaven. Encourage students to do the Explore Together activity with their families this week. Field Notes 2-5 Field Notes