Manna in the Desert. Kids will understand: KNOW YOUR BIBLE

Transcription

1 Manna in the Desert Exodus 16 August 26, 2012 ON OUR PLATE TODAY Kids will understand: The story of God providing manna from heaven. That the Israelites didn t trust God and they became grumblers. That we must choose to trust God and not grumble. KNOW YOUR BIBLE Before the lesson begins, the leader will place half a piece of bread under each child s chair. When instructed, the children will pull the crust off the bread and wad the bread into a ball. Put the crust in a bag to use later for whatever (feed the birds, croutons). After the bread is in a tiny ball, the children will flatten it as much as they can. These homemade wafers represent the manna that God provided to the Israelites in today s Bible account from Exodus 16. white bread trash bag In the Bible account today, you re going to learn how God fed His children, the Israelites, while they were wandering in the desert. Every morning, this unique white stuff was found on the ground around the Israelites campsites. The Israelites saw it and said, What is it? The word manna sounds similar to the Israelites phrase What is it? So the bread that miraculously appeared on the ground each morning was called manna. Another really cool fact about this miraculous food, manna, is that there is no substance today that completely matches the food described in the Bible. God supernaturally provided a one-of-a-kind meal to the children of God every morning! The manna was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. God decided when the manna would appear, when it would spoil, and how long He would preserve it. Hold your piece of manna in your hands while the Bible account starts. You re going to use this bread to participate in the retelling of Manna from Heaven. Copyright 2010 KidzMatter Ministries Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1

2 BIBLE ACCOUNT Before the Bible account is told, the leader will place the artificial birds (or stuffed ones) under some of the children s chairs. Tell the children not to touch the birds until instructed. You will also need to make a Grumbles to Mumble sign. The leader will divide the children into different groups. Each group will be assigned a grumble to mumble. For example, the leader can assign I m hungry! to the second graders or to the front row. More examples of grumbles to mumble are listed here. I m tired. I m hungry. My feet hurt. I wanna go back to Egypt. I blame Moses. God, where are you? I d rather die. manna wafers from opening activity biblical costume large baskets artificial birds or stuffed ones Grumbles to Mumble sign The children must remember their grumbles, and speak them all together when the Grumbles to Mumble sign appears. This will sound like a roar of complaining. Moses will be in costume at the front of the lesson area talking to the children. Hello. My name is Moses. I ve been assigned by God to lead you, the Israelites, out of the Egyptians hands. I know we ve been wandering in the desert, and that you re all really hungry. Hold up the Grumbles to Mumble sign. The children will mumble their grumbles. Please, stop your grumbling. It would not have been better to have died in Egypt! Egypt is a land of sin! Stop saying such things against the Lord. Hold up the Grumbles to Mumble sign. The children will mumble their grumbles again. The Lord has heard your grumbles and has spoken to me. He told me that He will rain down bread from heaven for you all. You need to go out each day and gather enough for that day only! On the sixth day, you should gather enough for that day and the seventh day, since we re supposed to rest on the seventh day. God is testing you to see if you will follow His instructions! Hold up the Grumbles to Mumble sign. The children will mumble their grumbles one more time. The Lord also says that He is going to provide you with meat to eat in the evenings. When you see the bread in the mornings and the meat in the evenings, you ll know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt! Moses will instruct the children with the artificial birds under their chairs to throw them on the floor around Moses. Look! The Lord has provided us with quail to eat! Even though you grumble against Him, God is faithful to meet our needs! Moses will pick up the birds in a basket. Rest up now, and we will see the glory of God in the morning. 2

3 Moses will instruct the children to throw their manna at his feet. What is it, you ask? It s manna from heaven! These thin flakes appeared on the desert floor after the morning dew was gone. Gather enough for only today! Moses will pass out a few baskets to some of the children, and instruct them to pick up the bread. He approaches one of the children holding a basket. I see you didn t follow the Lord s instructions, and you picked up too much bread. He has covered your extra bread with maggots, because you didn t follow His instructions. God also saw that some of you tried to gather this bread from heaven on the Sabbath, God s day of rest. You noticed, however, that there was no manna on the ground that day. The Lord is our Provider, and He will continue to provide manna to us as long as we journey in the desert. GAME Divide the kids into teams of 5-7 kids. (No team should be more than 7 or everyone will not get an opportunity to play.) At a table at the front of the room set up a station for each team. Each station should have a plate of cotton balls, 7 cups, and 7 craft sticks. One player from each team will go to their team s station where they will put some petroleum jelly on their craft stick and then apply it to the end of their nose. At the signal, the players will press their nose against a cotton ball and try to pick it up. Once the cotton ball is stuck to their nose, they must deposit it in their cup. The first player to get 3 cotton balls in their cup is the winner of the round and will get the chance to answer one of the questions below. New players from each team will play for each subsequent question. cotton balls petroleum jelly - Vaseline craft sticks plates cups napkins Who led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the desert? (Moses) What were the Israelites constantly doing in the desert? (grumbling) Why were they grumbling? (They were hungry and tired of being in the desert.) What foods did the Lord supply the Israelites? (manna and quail) What time of day did the manna come? (in the morning) What specific rules did God give to the Israelites about gathering manna? (They were supposed to gather enough manna for only that day, except on the sixth day when they should gather enough for two days.) The Israelites did not obey God s rules regarding the gathering of the manna. What happened to the extra manna that was gathered? (It was covered with maggots.) MESSAGE (show slide #1) Trust in God. PowerPoint slide You don t know what s going to happen in your life tomorrow. You don t know what will happen in your life next week or next year. In the Bible account, the Israelites were hungry and didn t know where their food was going to come from. They had just left Egypt and didn t know where they were going to settle down. The Israelites had a lot of unknowns in their lives. They had lots of questions and they didn t see the answers. When you have a lot of unknowns in your life, you can trust God! Seek Him and trust Him to meet your needs! 3

4 ACTIVITY Beforehand, download the YouTube video called What Happens Next? Quiz, submitted by Cheese8787. If you need assistance in downloading, we have provided a separate file with instructions for both Mac and PC users. YouTube Video Show the video. We suggest you start at 1:00 with #2 and play through #7. This is a compilation of strange video clips where something outlandish happens. They will show you a little bit of a clip, then What Happens Next? will appear on the screen. Pause the video at this point and let the kids give you their guesses as to what will happen next. When you hit Play again, the clip will reveal what actually happens next. What will happen next? The Israelites were faced with that same question after escaping the sinful hands of the Egyptians. What will happen next to us? Here is the scenario God led the Israelites into the desert. What will happen next? A. God will forget about them. B. God will purposely ignore them. C. God doesn t love them anymore. D. God has a plan for them and will be faithful to them. Moses and his brother Aaron were the leaders of the Israelites at that time. They trusted God with what would happen next, but the Bible tells us that the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. They didn t trust God for what would happen next. The Israelites even made the comment that they would rather have died as slaves in the land of Egypt. That sounds crazy, doesn t it? God was so faithful to the Israelites, and He miraculously fed them every day. Still, some of them didn t trust Him with what would happen next. We know this because some of the Israelites tried to gather more food than what was needed for one day. They didn t trust God to meet their needs for the next day. They weren t sure that God would keep providing the manna like He said He would! What about you? Do you trust God with what will happen next? The Israelites were faced with an unknown. They were led out of Egypt, and they didn t know what would happen next. Your response to the question What will happen next? should always be, I will trust God! ACTIVITY Make a copy of the Charades page at the back of the lesson and cut the cards apart. The children will play a game of charades. The situations we re going to act out will be real life situations in which people don t know what will happen next. The response that we must give in each situation is I will trust God! Divide the kids into six groups, and give each group one Charades cards a situation to act out. The audience will try to guess what situation they are acting out. Then, the leader will further explain the situation in more detail and stress that the key to facing that particular situation is to respond with I will trust God! For example, if a child guesses that someone is really sick, the leader will discuss how we don t always know what will happen next when someone we love is told they have cancer, but we will respond with, We will trust God. We will refuse to grumble, and we will trust! copy of Charades page 4

5 Someone you love finds out he is really sick. (Response: I WILL TRUST GOD!) Your family is moving to a new town. (Response: I WILL TRUST GOD!) Your parents want to get a divorce. (Response: I WILL TRUST GOD!) A friend does not include you in their playtime anymore and stops talking to you completely. (Response: I WILL TRUST GOD!) You re on a family trip and you get on the wrong highway. (Response: I WILL TRUST GOD!) Your favorite cousin is shipping out to fight in a war. (Response: I WILL TRUST GOD!) In any of the tough situations you just acted out, it would be easy to become a grumbler. The Israelites didn t trust God, and they became grumblers. We don t want to become grumblers, because our behavior is contagious. If we re positive and trust God in difficult situations, the people around us are more likely to be positive and trust God. But, if we grumble during times of trouble, the people around us will likely grumble, also. MESSAGE (CONTINUED) (show slide #2) Grumbling is contagious! PowerPoint slide Our attitudes and reactions to any situation are contagious! If you stand in front of me laughing, I m probably going to crack a smile, too. But, if you stand before me complaining, I m probably going to be influenced by your complaints and find something to complain about myself. The Israelites were grumblers. More than likely, not all the Israelites started off grumbling and complaining. But when a few of them voiced their complaints and negative attitude, I bet grumbling spread like crazy through their whole community! PUPPETS #1: (filled with excitement) Oh man! That movie was great! #2: (negatively) Ya think so? 2 puppets 1 actor #1: Oh yes! I loved everything about it! Especially the part where the lion spoke to the kids. #2: I thought that looked a bit fake. His mouth didn t always line up with the words. And his fur got in the way. #1: (hesitant to agree) Well, maybe a little. But the idea of a lion leading the good guys that was super! #2: Just think if it had been a human knight. Now that would have been super! That I could believe! Not some fake lion leading all those people. #1: Yeah, I guess. A human leader may have been more believable. But hey, we had great seats! #2: Speak for yourself! I won t be able to sleep a wink tonight. My neck is already killing me, because we were too close to the front. #1: (awkwardly moving his neck around) I guess my neck hurts a little bit too, now that you mention it. We would have been way better off sitting in the middle of the theater, wouldn t we? But you gotta love the popcorn! That s always a highlight at the movies! #2: The workers put way too much salt on mine! My throat is so dry right now I can barely talk. 5

6 #1: (clearing his throat several times) Now that you bring that up, my throat feels a little scratchy from all that salt. But I still loved the ending! The good guys always win! #2: Yeah, but that s so boring and predictable. I knew how the movie would end from the very beginning. #1: (mumbling) I guess it was a bit too predictable Actor: (approaches the puppets all excited) Hey guys! I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies with me. I heard it was fabulous! #2: (with a bad attitude) No thanks. We just saw it and I thought it was pretty lame. Actor: Are you kidding me? Every person that I ve talked to absolutely loved the movie! (addressing #1 puppet) What about you? Do you want to come with me? I know that you were so excited about it when we saw the previews on TV. #1: (sad) Yeah but he s right. I guess I really didn t enjoy it that much. Don t waste your money on that movie. Actor: Really? Okay. If it s that lame, I guess I won t go see it. Ya know, I bet that movie really is terrible. Grumbling is contagious! Which puppet was a grumbler? How did the first puppet feel about the movie originally? (loved everything about it) After listening to the grumbler, how did the first puppet feel about the movie? (He ended up thinking it was bad.) How did the attitudes of the two puppets affect the attitude of the actor? Do you think the grumbles from the Israelites were anything like these puppets? How? OBJECT LESSON Before you begin, sprinkle a thin coat of glitter on a paper plate. Prepare another plate with a different color of glitter on it. The way we respond to what happens in our lives is contagious to the people around us. What does contagious mean? It means that it s catching. If you have a positive reaction and can think of the good instead of the bad, even when you re going through something challenging, that attitude will be contagious. But grumbling during times of trouble is also contagious! This lotion represents the challenges that come up in our lives, whether that s at school, at home, or with your friends. The leader will rub some lotion on their hands. lotion black glitter red glitter 2 paper plates wet wipes Next, the leader will pat their hands in the red glitter. This glitter represents my attitude and reaction to my difficult situation. If I am focused on God and His goodness during my difficult situation, that attitude will spread to others around me. God is good! All His works are done in kindness. He will work this situation out for good in my life. God will be with me through everything. I am not alone. While speaking these positive statements, the leader will approach several kids and shake some of the glitter from their hands, gently touch their cheeks, or pat them on the back. Look how some of my glitter was left behind on each one I touched or got close to. The glitter represents my attitude, and you got some of my attitude on you. This shows how my positive attitude is contagious, because I trusted in God. 6

7 Wipe your hands with a wet wipe, dry them thoroughly, and reapply the lotion. Dip your hands in the black glitter. Now, this glitter represents my grumbling. This situation stinks. Nothing ever goes my way. I d rather be dead. We should ve stayed in Egypt. This manna is really getting old. God, don t you love me anymore? While making these negative statements, the leader will touch several children again. Once again, the glitter was left behind. You see, your bad attitude is contagious, also. When you grumble, it s like spreading glitter all over people, and they ve got it on them, too. You grumble and then they join in. Do you see how a grumbling attitude can easily spread? This must ve happened to the Israelites when they were wandering in the desert. They stopped focusing on God and what He was miraculously providing. They should ve been thanking Him every morning when they pulled back the flap on their tent and saw the ground covered one more day with something for them to eat! The Israelites didn t trust in the Lord, and they started to grumble. We grumble when things aren t the way we thought they would be if we followed God. Sometimes we think that everything will be perfect and there won t be any challenges if we believe in God. The Bible tells us that we ll have troubles, too, but we have God to help us overcome them. That s a HUGE difference! We have no reason to grumble when God is on our side! ACTIVITY Beforehand, download the YouTube video called Very Contagious Laugh, submitted by NegusFungus. YouTube video Without any introduction, play the video and observe the children s reactions. You can stop it at 2:00 or play until the end. Tell me what you noticed by watching the faces of the people on the bus. Do you think the people felt any differently by the time they got off the bus? How? Did any of you start laughing along with the people on the bus? Why? Describe how your attitude can be contagious. MESSAGE (CONTINUED) (show slide #3) Focus on God. PowerPoint slide The Bible tells us that God is good. He is good all the time. During difficult times, if we keep our focus on God, we will see good. We will see God working in our lives. But, when our focus stays on our problems, we forget how good God is, and we focus on how huge the problem looks to us. The Israelites were so focused on their complaining that they didn t recognize the miracle of the manna supernaturally appearing on the ground every single morning! OBJECT LESSON The leader will study a piece of paper on the clipboard and dramatically make a large check on the paper with every great thing read. Okay! I am a Christian! Yes! Let me see since I trust Jesus as my personal Savior and I am committed to following Him and His Word, I will now never get sick. (make a check) clipboard paper pencil I also know that everyone will love me! (make a check) 7

8 No one will ever tease me or pick on me. (make a check) School will be a piece of cake now. I ll probably get all A s. (make a check) All my prayers will get answered just the way I want them to! (make a check) This is gonna be great! Let s see I m going to get rich now that I m a Christian. Woo-Hoo! (make a check) I even bet that I ll become a famous singer. (make a check) My family s going to have peace all the time. (make a check) Everything will just be perfect! Is this really what being a Christian is all about? That we get everything we want and that every prayer will be answered just how we want it to be answered? Have any of you or your family members prayed very hard for something, but the answer that you wanted didn t come? I prayed and prayed for someone who I love to be healed of his illness, and that didn t happen. Being a Christian doesn t mean that you get to choose how everything will be in your life. Being a Christian means that you re going to trust God during the good times and the difficult times. Sometimes, we grumble because things aren t the way we thought they would be if we followed God. That s what the Israelites experienced. They followed God out of slavery in Egypt, and then they ended up wandering around the desert for 40 years. They probably wanted to walk out of Egypt and right into a perfect world with no troubles! When things didn t go their way, they became grumblers. God wanted the Israelites to be different, and God wants you to be different. When you crash head-on into a difficult situation in your life, God wants you to react differently to that situation than people who are not Christians. He wants you to seek and trust Him! God wants you to keep your focus on Him! The leader will dramatically make a check on the paper again with every sentence read. If I get sick, I will trust God! (make a check) Some people in life are going to like me, but others may not. I m going to continue to trust God. (make a check) I may never get straight A s, and I may never be able to sing like a bird, but I m trusting God with the abilities He does give me! (make a check) I m going to follow God no matter what s going on in my life! (make a check) I m going to keep my focus on God! PRAYER In the Bible account, God sent manna to meet the needs of the children of God. This miraculous bread was sent to the Israelites in the Old Testament. The New Testament talks about manna that was sent down from heaven for you and me. Bibles PowerPoint slide white board Read John 6:31-35a, Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from dry erase heaven to eat. Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread markers from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down bread from heaven and gives life to the world. They said to him, Sir give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. 8

9 According to this scripture, what manna did God send down for you and me? The children will study this scripture and write down on the white board all the details given about the New Testament manna. Our Heavenly Father gives you the true bread. The true bread is from heaven. The bread of God gives life to the world. Jesus is the bread of life. I want to receive this manna. I want to receive Jesus as my Savior. I want to surrender my life to Jesus and place my trust in Him. The leader will invite any child who wants to receive Jesus as his personal Savior and any child who has already received this manna from heaven to kneel in prayer. The leader will pinch off a piece of bread and give it to the kneeling children, symbolizing their trust in God. BLESSING Guard yourself against grumbling. EXTRA ACTIVITIES SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION Psalm 34:8-9 (NLT) Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him! Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. How do you think our scripture for this unit relates to today s account from Exodus 16? The Israelites literally tasted that the Lord was good when He sent them the manna and quail. And, He literally provided all they needed. But, the Israelites needed to be reminded that there is joy in relying on God; instead, they chose to grumble against God. PowerPoint scripture slide minimarshmallows small bowls Let s pretend that these mini-marshmallows are manna that has been picked up off the ground as our daily supply. Now, it s time to eat the manna. Break the kids into groups. One person from each group will hold a bowl of mini-marshmallows. At the signal, they will toss one at a time in the air and try to catch them in their mouths. The first player to catch two marshmallows, eat them, and swallow will lead their group in reciting the memory verses. Choose new players from each team and do it again. TAKE HOME REMINDER Fill a small canning jelly jar with mini-marshmallows for each kid. Then, print on address labels Manna for a grumbling people. Apply one of these labels to each jar. When the Israelites continued to grumble about being hungry and out in the desert, God provided them with something to eat. Each morning He sent them manna, which they could pick up off the ground. They could only collect what they needed for that day, except on the sixth day when they collected for two days. This is some pretend manna for you and your family to enjoy today. jelly jars minimarshmallows self-adhesive address labels 9

10 MUSIC You are provided with some great Yancy songs for this quarter: All I Need is You and Every Good and Perfect Thing. For more information about Yancy, go to her website at yancynotnancy.com. DVD music downloads CRAFT Give each child a large piece of white construction paper and access to all kinds of drawing implements (markers, colored pencils, crayons). God provided manna for the people to eat every day. If everything had to be made with manna in it, then I wonder what kind of menu a Manna Restaurant would have. Would there be Ba-Manna Muffins? Or, how about Manna and Meatballs? Could you get a side order of Mashed Manna? The kids will create a Manna Menu of different dishes they come up with made from manna. They should name the dishes and describe them, like you would see on a menu. They can also include a picture, if they like. For inspiration, show the kids some sample menus you have collected from local restaurants. large white construction paper markers, colored pencils, crayons pencils sample menus SERVICE PROJECT Beforehand, collect the labels from cans and a supply of magazines. Give each child a brown paper grocery sack. They will decorate their bag by gluing on labels from cans and pictures of food they cut out of magazines. Once the bags are decorated, encourage the kids to take them home to fill with nonperishable food. Determine a collection day when the full bags should be returned. Take some of the kids with you when you donate the bags of food to a local food pantry. If your church has a food pantry on site, this would be a wonderful time for the coordinator of the pantry to help the kids stock the shelves with what they ve brought in. magazines paper grocery sacks glue sticks scissors labels from cans 10

11 Someone you love finds out he is really sick. You re on a family trip and you get on the wrong highway. Your family is moving to a new town. Your favorite cousin is shipping out to fight in a war. Your parents want to get a divorce. A friend does not include you in their playtime anymore and stops talking to you completely.