God s promise to save

Transcription

1 INFANTS 7 God s promise to save Genesis 6 8 Lesson aim To help students understand that God loves his people and always planned to save them. Lesson outcomes Students will learn about: how God keeps caring about his world and his people God s plan for his people. Students will learn to: identify how they can live God s way appreciate that we need God s help to live his way. Memory verse You know the Lord is God! He created us, and we belong to him. Psalm 100:3 (CEV)» Bible background The story of Noah is a dramatic example of a cycle throughout the Old Testament: humankind sins, God justly punishes, but in mercy and love he sends a saviour to rescue those who respond in faith to his grace. After the fall, things went from bad to worse outside the garden. Chapter 6 describes how humanity had become so wicked that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time (Genesis 6:5, NIV). God was sorry he had ever made humans, and vowed to destroy all living things (Genesis 6:6-7). Yet God s judgement is always tempered with mercy. One man pleased God, and so God chose him to save a small sample of people and animals. Noah was of the godly line of Seth, Adam and Eve s third son. Noah walked with God (verse 9, NIV) and obeyed God when he instructed him to build an ark. Noah trusted God s word that the flood was coming (Hebrews 11:7). God had promised that Noah and his family would be saved (Genesis 6:18), and Noah believed him. God was faithful to his word. Noah again acted in full expectation that the waters would recede. When the land was dry and Noah, his family and the animals left the boat, the first thing Noah did was to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Lord. God carried out his promised judgement but nothing more. His covenant promise to Noah, that he would not destroy every living thing again in that way (Genesis 8:21), was sealed with the sign of the rainbow. God announced a new world order where humanity s responsibility for the stewardship of creation was reaffirmed, where animals could now be used for food, and where Noah was made responsible for controlling lawlessness and revenge, and preserving human and animal life (Genesis 9:1 7). Humanity had been rescued from judgement through Noah s faith, but sin had not been dealt with. God knew that all [people] have evil thoughts from the time they are young (Genesis 8:21, CEV). Indeed, Noah went on to disgrace himself and his sons acted shamefully. Chapter 12 of Genesis introduces God s plan of salvation, promised through Abraham and realised through Jesus. God always keeps his promises and we can have confidence in our salvation. Just as, in Noah s day, salvation could only take place through one who was chosen by and obedient to God, people can only be saved from God s final judgement by faith in God s obedient and righteous son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16). 64 connect teacher s manual

2 » You will need The GOD S WAY, OWN WAY signposts. Optional: Visual aids on pages of Noah constructing the ark and The ark floating on the water A CEV Bible marked at Genesis 7:17,18 and Hebrews 11:7a Activity books Noah parts 1 and 2, Storm sound effects, Lesson 7 end play and Noah: CEP Infants CD CD player Materials for Taking it further Optional: Posters of Noah constructing the ark, The ark on the water, Noah leaving the ark and Noah from the Coloured Visual aid pack. Other resources If your lessons are longer than the standard, you may find the following resources useful. Love the Lord (hey hey), track 3 of Colin Buchanan s Jesus rocks the world CD. You may like to show the students pictures from a children s Bible illustrating some of the events in today s story. Do not show pictures of people perishing in the flood (see Before you start ). To help the students get an idea of the size of the ark, you could check the school environment for any distances that are similar to the measurement of the ark. For example: the distance between two buildings, the length of the playground, the height of a tree and so on. This lesson for infants does not focus on God s judgement of the world but rather looks at God s mercy in saving Noah and his family. This is linked with God s love and mercy in sending Jesus so that people today can be saved from their sin and escape judgement. When acting out the animals entering the ark, continue until all students are on board as an animal pair. If a student asks you about the fate of the people who didn t go on board the ark, you may point out that the ark was for all of the people who chose to follow God. If anyone else had chosen to follow God, they would have been saved by God too.» Teacher s prayer Pray that God will give you wisdom as you bring his word to the students, especially to those whose life experiences may make it difficult for them to believe in a loving God. 7 Before you start The Way in includes a body-percussion activity. If you aren t confident with drama, give this idea a go, as it is very simple but highly effective. Teaching tip: give all the instructions before the students move places. Make sure you are familiar with the Way in activity before attempting it. If you prefer not to have the students miming in the Bible focus, you may show the pictures from the Coloured Visual aid pack. However, we recommend that you use the signposts, as these are vital for tying the lessons of the unit together. T C E N N C O 65

3 7» Way in Take a few moments to give all the instructions before allowing the students to move. When you have finished explaining to students how this activity works, ask them to sit in a circle on the floor, with you standing in the centre. Explain that, as you speak the narrative, you will be turning, making eye contact with students progressively around the circle. As you make eye contact, they begin doing the actions you are doing. (Different parts of the circle will be doing two different actions, but impress on the students that they must look only at you and only do the action you do when you look at them.) Be sure to make it right around the circle before changing the action. 1. It s a warm, breezy day and the trees are gently swaying. Sway gently from side to side, slowly rubbing hands together to make a little noise. 2. The wind is beginning to blow a little harder now. Make a sh-sh-sh sound with your mouth, rub your hands together faster to make noise. 3. Little raindrops are starting to fall. Continue to make a sound with your mouth, but include finger clicks. 4. (Building up the drama) Dear me, that wind is getting quite strong now and the rain is falling harder. Pat your hands on your thighs, and make the sound with your mouth louder. 5. (Raise your voice to increase the tension.) This storm must be right overhead now! Just listen to that thunder and the rain pelting down onto the roof! Goodness, it s very noisy! Tell the students to drum their hands on the floor as the storm reaches its crescendo. 6. (Dropping the volume of your voice) Oh, good, it s starting to ease off a bit now. (Return to the action at point 4.) 7. The wind and the rain are stopping. (Return to the action at point 3.) 8. It s only sprinkling a tiny bit now. (Return to the action at point 2.) 9. (Whisper) I think the storm is over. You all did a great job! Let s put our hands in our laps now and listen carefully. The Bible tells us of a time when it stormed and stormed without stopping for a very long time. Just imagine if you and your pets were stuck inside the house for weeks and you just couldn t go outside even for a minute! Today s story from the Bible is about some people who were inside with lots of animals for a long time.» Bible focus Adam and Eve s family grew and grew, spreading far and wide. And they were still living their own way! Hold up OWN WAY sign. Even though it made God unhappy to see Adam and Eve s family living their own way, God had a plan for his people to be able to live as his friends again. God saw that there was one man who loved him and wanted to live God s way. Flip sign to GOD S WAY. So God chose him for a very special job. This man s name was Noah. If desired, show the picture of Noah from the Coloured Visual aid pack. God spoke to Noah. Play Noah, part 1 (track 14): CEP Infants CD. The ark was a huge boat. It was 150 metres long, 25 metres wide and 15 metres high. You may choose to relate these measurements to objects in the school environment. For example: longer than the oval (one-and-a-half times), fivestory high modern building, compare to size of a building and so on. Noah didn t wait to see if the flood would come. He trusted what God had said and began to build the ark. Display the coloured poster of Noah constructing the ark or the Visual aid on page XX. Noah got some help from his family, and it took him a long time to build the ark just the way God had told him. There were rooms for his family to live in as well as places for all the animals and birds. God spoke to Noah again. Play Noah, part 2 (track 15): CEP Infants CD. Choose six to eight students to make an ark together with their arms above their heads (similar to an archway shape). 66 connect teacher s manual

4 On came the animals. There were two of every kind! On came a lion. Two students enter the ark, roaring and then sit down. On came the crocodiles, the seagulls and the ants. Students mime these animals as they enter the ark. Even elephants squeezed in there! Encourage all the class to mime pushing the elephants into the ark. Continue this until the whole class is on board in animal pairs. When all the animals were inside the ark, God closed the door. BANG. Encourage the students to clap their hands together to indicate the doors closing. That was when the storm and the flood began. Play Storm sound effects (track 16): CEP Infants CD. The water got deeper and the ark began to move. It began to rock from side to side. Encourage the students making the ark, and the rest of the class, to rock from side to side. If desired, display the Coloured Visual aid of the ark floating on the water. Now the ark was floating on the water but still the rains kept coming. After 40 days and 40 nights the rains stopped, exactly as God had said. Noah and his family looked out. Invite the students to act this out with you by raising their hand to their eyes and looking in the directions indicated. To the right there was only water. To the left there was only water. There was only water behind them. They looked to the front but there was only water. Display the coloured poster of The ark floating on the water or the Visual aid on page XX. Before long, a different wind started and the water started going down. Then everyone in the ark felt a bump. The ark jolts. What do you think the bump was? (Accept responses. They had landed on dry ground.) Noah wanted to see how much the water had gone down, so he let a bird fly from the ark. When the bird came back with a green leaf in its beak, Noah knew. What did Noah know? (Accept responses. There was dry land.) Noah waited another week until he told all his family and the animals, Out you come! Invite students to leave the ark. Thank students for their participation and ask them to sit down. God had promised Noah that he would be safe and he kept his promise. Noah prayed to God and thanked him. Then God put a rainbow in the sky to remind people of his promise that he would never flood the whole earth again. Why did God choose to save Noah? (Accept responses. Noah trusted God and lived God s way.) Show the signpost GOD'S WAY. Noah and his family trusted God and were kept safe from the flood. God saved his people and gave the whole world a new start. Listen to what the Bible says about Noah: Read Hebrews 11:7a from a CEV Bible.» Connections But do you know what happened before too long? People started to ignore God again, and live their own way. Show OWN WAY sign. People still had a problem with sin. *But, God never stopped loving his people. He had a plan right from the beginning and nothing could stop God s plan! One day God would send Jesus to save his people forever. Anyone who trusts in Jesus can be forgiven for not living God s way. Next week, we ll hear more about God s plan through Jesus. God s plan still works today. If we trust Jesus, God forgives us for wanting to go our own way and helps us to live God s way. Just as God kept his promise to Noah we can trust God s promise to us. 7 infants 67

5 7 Noah showed he trusted God by living God s way. How can we know how to live God s way today? (Accept responses. By reading the Bible and praying.) Say the poem learned in Lesson 1. Distribute the Activity books and direct the students to page 7. Explain to the students how to complete the activities. Play the Lesson 7 end play (track 23): CEP Infants CD. In this play, Joshua and Naomi help to build an understanding of the term, faith.» Concluding prayer Thank you, God, that you saved Noah and his family from the flood. Help us to trust you and live your way. Amen.» Taking it further Singing Noah (track 5): CEP Infants CD. Supplementary songs are also included in Other resources at the start of the lesson. Hidden names Write the following words on the board or on a large sheet of paper: grape flying catch plant scowl kayak dandelion. Ask the students to find the name of a creature hidden in each word. You may need to read some of the words for the students. Rhyme Say the following rhyme with the students. Read it through once and then ask the students to join in by supplying the rhyming words. If you have time you may choose to play the following game. Ask the students to sit in a circle. Point to each student as you say the name of each animal. The students you point to when you say cat and that are out of the game. Continue until only one student is left in the game. Rhino, hippo, elephant, cat, Lion, tiger, buffalo, bat. Crocodile, cow, Monkey, rat. All on the ark, How s that! Crossword puzzle Photocopy the puzzle on page XX of this manual and distribute it to the students. Read out the clues in the following order. Fill in the correct answers as you go. 1 Across: God.. (created) the world. 2 Down: The first man God created was named (Adam). 3 Across: God loved his people and invited them to live as his. (friends). 4 Across: However, Adam and Eve chose to ignore God and they decided to live their own (way). 5 Down: More and more people were born but they didn t live God s way. They were just like Adam and.. (Eve). 3 Down: God was going to send rain for 40 days and 40 nights. The whole earth was going to be covered by a. (flood). 6 Across: Noah was the only one who trusted God and (loved) him. 7 Down: Noah loved God because God was so wonderful. God showed his love to Noah and he (saved) Noah and his family. 68 connect teacher s manual

6 Matchmaking Bible exploration Make two photocopies of the Visual aid on page XX. Give an animal to each student, making sure there is a pair of each animal. Then ask the students to move around and look for the student who has an animal the same as theirs. When they should have formed pairs they sit down until all the students have paired up. Each pair must then pair up with a different animal to form a group of four. In their groups, students should discuss the unique characteristics, similarities and differences of each animal. Organising the ark There were many different animals on board the ark. Imagine you were Noah and had an elephant, mouse, monkey and python and only two rooms left. Which animals would you put together into the rooms and why? Noah had faith in God. He listened to God and trusted him. God kept his promise. Noah and his family were kept safe from the flood. The Bible tells us that we need to have faith in God s son, Jesus. Listen to these verses to see what God promises people who trust Jesus. Read John 3:15-16 and 1 John 5:11 from a CEV Bible. You will need to tell the students that the Son of Man is another name for Jesus. The following questions may be used to help discuss the verses. What is meant by eternal life? (To live forever as God s friends.) How can people live forever as God s friends? (By putting their trust in Jesus death on the cross so that we can be forgiven for not always choosing to live God s way.) 7 Timeline Create a timeline of events to revise the lessons taught so far in this unit. For example: *Creation. *People lived as God s friends. *Adam and Eve disobeyed God. *Adam and Eve were sent from the garden. *People continued to live their own way *God spoke to Noah *Noah obeyed God and built the ark. *God sent the flood. *Noah was saved by God. *People continued to live their own way. Fold an ark Give each student a double sheet of newspaper. Follow the directions on the Visual aid on page XX to make paper arks. If you wish to make a classroom display, make the arks from colourful Brenex paper.» Teacher reflections At the end of each lesson, take some time to think about the activities that went well. This may help you to decide on which activities you should choose for future lessons.» For next lesson Familiarise yourself with the Sketch and Tell approach. You may like to have some parts of the pictures pre-drawn. infants 69

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12 Fold an ark 2010 The purchaser of this manual is entitled to photocopy this page for classroom purposes. infants 75