Lesso 2 17 Jesus Feeds Thousads Joh 6:1-15 T hird- ad fourth-graders have a kee sese of what they wat sometimes so much so that they believe they eed those thigs that are really wats. They also probably kow their basic eeds for food, shelter, ad safety. May assume that their parets (or others) will provide for those eeds, which is true to a poit. Use this lesso to help kids uderstad that ultimately, God meets their eeds ad helps them kow the differece betwee eeds ad wats. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio I Need Relay (about 15 mi.) Ru a eeds relay, draw true eeds, ad discuss who provides for their eeds. A Lot From a Little (about 20 mi.) Preted to be hugry, make baskets, ad see how a little becomes a lot. paper, markers, table, 2 each of the followig: Bibles, sweatshirts, staplers, plates, tissues, pes, apkis, toothbrushes, highlighters, cups Bibles, Bible Truth Sleuth, CD player, paper, pes, scissors, tape, upopped popcor kerels, bags of popped popcor, basket, copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) Teacher Pack: CD Jumble the 20 items o a table at the far ed of your room. Tear out the Lesso 2 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. Bible Poit God meets our eeds. Key Verse Ad my God will meet all your eeds accordig to his glorious riches i Christ Jesus (Philippias 4:19). Weavig Faith Ito Life Kids will lear that God provides. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 2 Sprig Quarter
18 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life My Needs Met (about 15 mi.) Play a game to share how God has met their eeds. I Ca Provide (about 10 mi.) Lear from examples how they ca meet eeds for God. 1 pey per child Teacher Pack: Jesus Ca game board scissors, 1 copy of the God s Hads hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Cut the God s Hads hadout alog the lies as idicated. 4 Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Commit to showig others they ca cout o God to meet their eeds. Bible Truth Sleuth, pes, paper, baskets from the A Lot From a Little activity Lastig Impressios Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Sprig Quarter Lesso 2 Grades 3 & 4
19 Jesus Feeds Thousads Joh 6:1-15 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS A Great Crowd The Jesus Coectio The evets i this passage took place at the height of Jesus miistry. The people followig Jesus aroud the lake o foot after Jesus ad the disciples had crossed i boats were ow a great crowd of te to fiftee thousad if wome ad childre had bee icluded i the cout. Jesus apparetly had crossed the sea to be aloe with his disciples. From Matthew 14:13, we lear that Jesus had just leared of Joh the Baptist s executio, ad he may have bee thikig about what was to come i his ow life. However, oce the crowd arrived, Jesus focused o the people s eeds. Feedig the Crowds Whe hope seems impossible, Jesus sees a opportuity to grow our faith ad eable us to do his good work. Just as he did with Philip, Jesus ivites us to thik bigger ad cosider how God ca make the impossible possible. What s the large, hugry crowd i your life right ow? Are you strugglig with your fiaces? your marriage? your job? your health? What if Jesus respoded as he did to Philip ad asked, What should we do to pay your bills this moth? What would it mea to trust Jesus to respod that way? Trust him ow as you ask him to provide you with just what you eed maybe he ll eve surprise you with abudat leftovers. You ca write your prayer here. This miracle is recorded i each of the Gospels, but the dialogue betwee Jesus ad Philip is foud oly i Joh. Jesus likely directed his questio to Philip because Philip was from Bethsaida, which was i the area. Jesus simply had people sit dow, thaked God for the food, ad the bega to distribute it. Oly those who were earby would ve see what was happeig at first. But the disciples kew ad the word certaily spread quickly through the crowd. Jesus abudatly met the eeds of those who came to him. The Lesso of the Miracle I the ed, Jesus slipped away agai. He was t there to build a earthly kigdom or to begi a revolt. His priority was to build the kigdom of God. Jesus was costatly tryig to show his disciples that they could trust him to take care of them. It was a lesso that the disciples leared slowly ad that we eed to lear, too! Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 2 Sprig Quarter
20 GETTING STARTED I Need Relay Supplies paper markers table 2 each of the followig: Bibles, sweatshirts, staplers, plates, tissues, pes, apkis, toothbrushes, highlighters, cups I Need Relay Easy Prep Jumble the 20 items o a table at the far ed of your room. I Need Relay What You ll Do Welcome kids warmly as they arrive, ad ask them how their week wet. Say: We re goig to talk today about eeds, so let s start by thikig about the thigs we eed for differet situatios. To make it more iterestig, I ve placed some items o this table. Poit to the items. Now let s go to the other side of the room. Move to the other side of the room, ad divide kids ito two groups. Try to balace teams so kids are evely matched i athletic ability. Say: This is the I Need Relay. I ll shout out a clue about a eed that I have. Your team will figure out the item I eed ad have oe perso ru over to the table, get it, ad brig it to me. Ready? Let s go. Here are the clues to shout out: I eed somethig to faste two papers together! (stapler) I eed somethig to put my water i! (cup) I m cold! I eed somethig to warm me up! (sweatshirt) I eed a word from God! (Bible) I m hugry! I eed somethig to put my breakfast o! (plate) I thik I m goig to cry! (tissue) I eed to write a ote to my best fried! (pe) I fiished my breakfast! I eed to wipe my mouth! (apki) I had oios i my breakfast! I eed to make my breath bearable! (toothbrush) I eed to mark somethig importat i my Bible! (highlighter) At the ed of the relay, thak everyoe for their participatio, ad the gather together. Give each child a piece of paper ad a marker. Have kids draw the outlie of a perso. O ad aroud the outlies of the people, ask kids to draw items that meet their eeds clothig, shelter, ad food, for example. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: How did our relay reflect wats? true eeds? How ca you tell what kid of eeds people have? What kids of eeds did you draw o your paper? Sprig Quarter Lesso 2 Grades 3 & 4
21 How do you kow those eeds will be met for you? How have you experieced God meetig a eed for you? Say: Depedig o our situatios, may of us feel as if we really eed certai items. But whe we thik about what people truly eed, we realize that a lot of thigs we thik we eed are actually just thigs we wat. GOD MEETS OUR NEEDS. Let s lear what Jesus did to provide for a huge group of people with big eeds. 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION A Lot From a Little What You ll Do Say: I our Bible passage for today, Jesus met a huge eed by feedig more tha 5,000 people. To thik about our passage, let s go o a walk. We ll preted we re the people who wet to see Jesus. Have kids stad up, fid a parter, form a lie of parters, ad play Follow the Leader. Ask the first pair i lie to act as if they had bee walkig for a log, log time. Explai that by the time they reached Jesus, the people were probably tired, hugry, ad thirsty. Kids ca clutch their stomachs, take shufflig steps, growl the way stomachs growl, fall over, ad whie about beig hugry. Allow several differet pairs to take turs as the leaders. After a few miutes, take the place of the leaders, ad lead kids back to their seats. Parters will sit together. Say: While we do t kow exactly how the people felt i our passage, the Bible paits a picture of desperate eed that the disciples bega to grow icreasigly worried about. Had out Bibles, paper, ad pes. With their parters, have kids ope their Bibles to Joh 6:1-7. Say: We re goig to read a passage where a lot of people were i eed. As you read Joh 6:1-7, make a list of all the eeds you see. Wheever you fid a eed, pause ad jot it dow o the left side of your paper. After a couple of miutes, ask for willig kids to share what they wrote dow. Explai that kids will make empty baskets to represet the eeds of all the people i the Bible passage. Have kids tur to the Pass the Basket activity o their Bible Truth Sleuth pages. Distribute scissors, ad have kids cut out the square shape. Poit out that the Key Verse is i the ceter. Have kids fold two opposite corers of the square to meet i the middle, crease the folds, ad the ufold. The have kids fold the other two opposite corers of the square A Lot From a Little Supplies Bibles Bible Truth Sleuth CD player paper pes scissors tape upopped popcor kerels bags of popped popcor basket copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) Teacher Pack CD: Do Not Be Axious About Aythig (Philippias 4:6-7) (track 21)! ALLERGY ALERT A Lot From a Little Easy Prep Tear out the Lesso 2 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 2 Sprig Quarter
22 to meet i the middle, crease the folds, ad the ufold. The have kids fold i the four corers of the square so the four poits meet. Next, have kids fold the ew four corers of the square so those four poits meet i the ceter. The have kids fold two opposite triagles out. Have kids lift the two edges of paper that are ruig dow the middle of the paper to form two sides of the basket. Fially, have kids tape these sides up. Have kids write their ames o their baskets. The have parters ope their Bibles to Joh 6:8-15. Ask pairs to read the passage ad make a list ext to their eeds list of ways that the eeds of the people were met. After a couple of miutes, ask for willig kids to share what they see happeig i the Bible passage with Jesus, Adrew, the boy with the food, the disciples, ad the crowds. Say: God provided for those people s eeds by makig a huge meal from a boy s small luch. Your basket represets what the boy brought that day that Jesus tured ito food for all. Let s see what it s like to get a lot from a little. Place some upopped popcor kerels i a basket, ad pass aroud the basket. Ask kids if it looks as if those few kerels of popcor will feed the whole group. Whe everyoe has see the popcor, pray as Jesus did to bless the food. The hold up bags of popped popcor, ad have kids pass the popcor aroud ad fill their baskets. Let the kids ejoy their popcor. Sprig Quarter Lesso 2 Grades 3 & 4
23 Say: The disciples leared a lot that day about how GOD MEETS OUR NEEDS. But they also leared to ot be axious about aythig. Our Key Verse for today is Ad my God will meet all your eeds accordig to his glorious riches i Christ Jesus (Philippias 4:19). Ask kids to repeat the Key Verse with you a few times. Say: Let s sig a sog to thak God for sedig Jesus to show us how we ca trust him with our worries ad how he will meet our eeds. Pass out copies of the lyrics, ad play Do Not Be Axious About Aythig (Philippias 4:6-7) (track 21 o the CD). After they liste oce, have kids sig alog. Do ot be axious about aythig, But i everythig, by prayer ad petitio, With thaksgivig, Preset your requests to God. Ad the peace of God, (peace of God) Which trasceds all uderstadig, (trasceds all uderstadig) Will guard your hearts (guard your hearts) Ad your mids i Christ Jesus. (mids i Christ Jesus) Do ot be axious about aythig, But i everythig, by prayer ad petitio, With thaksgivig, Preset your requests to God. Ad the peace of God, (peace of God) Which trasceds all uderstadig, (trasceds all uderstadig) Will guard your hearts (guard your hearts) Ad your mids i Christ Jesus. (mids i Christ Jesus) Do ot be axious about aythig, But i everythig, by prayer ad petitio, With thaksgivig, Preset your requests to God. Yeah, yeah. Do ot be axious about aythig, But i everythig, by prayer ad petitio, With thaksgivig, Preset your requests to God. Do Not Be Axious About Aythig (Philippias 4:6-7) by Jay Stocker. 2007 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 2 Sprig Quarter
24 Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What was it like to see a small sack tur ito a big oe? How is our popcor like the boy s luch? How is it differet? What ca you lear about Jesus from this Bible passage? I what ways ca we remember to rely o God whe we re i eed? Say: Ulike our popcor sack, the feast for the people listeig to Jesus was a miracle. Ad GOD MEETS OUR NEEDS with miracles the miracles that are part of God s creatio. God gives us clea water to drik, food to eat, ad techology to make everythig work. Although God helps us i differet ways ad at differet times, we ca cout o God to help us always. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE My Needs Met Supplies 1 pey per child Teacher Pack Jesus Ca game board My Needs Met What You ll Do Say: Let s play a game to help us thik about how may times God has persoally met our eeds. Set out the Jesus Ca game board, ad give a pey to each child. Explai that each child will take turs droppig his or her pey from above the board ad the cout how may squares away he or she is from the ceter. Tell kids that for each square, they ll ame oe way God has met a eed i their lives. (If the coi lads outside a square, have the child re-drop the coi.) Ecourage kids to give suggestios if someoe has trouble thikig of thigs. To get kids thikig about eeds God has met i their lives, you might wat to toss a pey oto the board at the begiig of the game ad share how God has provided for you. Your example will ecourage kids to share. After each perso tosses a pey ad takes a tur, have the etire group repeat the Key Verse together: Ad my God will meet all your eeds accordig to his glorious riches i Christ Jesus (Philippias 4:19). As kids play, help them to thik of God s atural provisios, such as sulight ad rai, as well as persoal provisios, such as help i a time of trouble or a fried to lea o. If you have time, play aother roud of the game. After the game, gather everyoe s attetio. Sprig Quarter Lesso 2 Grades 3 & 4
25 Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What was it like to focus o so may differet ways God meets our eeds? Explai whether you were surprised to hear so may differet aswers. What do you thik are the glorious riches i Christ Jesus i our Key Verse? What are positive ways we ca respod to God for meetig our eeds? Say: Though God helps us i differet ways ad at differet times, GOD MEETS OUR NEEDS always. We heard may ways God has met eeds i our group ad for people i the Bible today, fulfillig the promises i our Key Verse. Let s look at how we ca respod to God s geerosity toward us. I Ca Provide What You ll Do Say: I ca thik of a very special way God meets people s eeds. God ca meet eeds by usig you ad me. Let s lear about some ways people have acted as God s hads by reachig out with love to others ad meetig other people s eeds. Have kids form three groups, ad give each group a sectio of the God s Hads hadout. Ask groups to ame the eed or the eeds the people are meetig. Give kids a few miutes to discuss, ad the ask each group to share what they ve leared about God meetig eeds through the people i the hadouts. The cotets of the hadout are prited here for your coveiece: 1. Despite sufferig from somethig called complex regioal pai sydrome, Mackezie speds her days collectig ad doatig books to homeless shelters. Mackezie, who lives i Georgia, has doated more tha 38,000 books to homeless shelters across the Uited States. To get the books, Mackezie goes to garage sales o weekeds ad asks for books that do t sell. She ad her youger brothers the sort the books ito age rages ad fid homeless shelters i eed of books. I Ca Provide Supplies scissors 1 copy of the God s Hads hadout (at the ed of this lesso) I Ca Provide Easy Prep Cut the God s Hads hadout alog the lies as idicated. 2. Eleve-year-old Wesley of Otario, Caada, camped out i the cold for 24 hours durig a March school break. His father shared the cold, wet adveture. Wesley s goal was to raise $2,400 ad awareess for the coditios i Attawapiskat, Otario a First Natio Reserve o James Bay. I fact, Wesley raised over $3,500! The Attawapiskat reserve is far to the orth ad ca get very cold. The people who live there are very poor, ad may are homeless. Wesley has committed to makig his campout a aual evet. He ad his father have also come up with other ways to raise both fuds ad awareess. 3. Joatha s church i West Virgiia does missio work i Peru each summer. Joatha was too youg to go o the missio trip, so he foud aother way to help the people of Peru. He ad his mother created ad sold a cookbook titled H.U.G.S. (Help Us Give Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 2 Sprig Quarter
26 Support). Joatha ad his mom cotacted celebrities, politicias, ad other well-kow people ad asked them to submit recipes. May of the people they cotacted did sed recipes. The cookbook, which sells for $15, cotais more tha 100 recipes ad has raised more tha $3,000 to help Joatha s church help the people i Peru. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: How do these people show us that God meets our eeds? Tell about someoe who has helped show you that God meets our eeds. How have you helped other people i the past? How ca God use you to meet someoe else s eeds this week? Say: Jesus fed thousads of people o that day log ago. It truly was a miracle. The great ews is that the miracle keeps goig i people like the oes we just leared about. GOD MEETS OUR NEEDS. We may ot get everythig we wat, but God always provides for our eeds. Ad guess what? God will use you to help meet other people s eeds, too. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies Bible Truth Sleuth pes paper baskets from the A Lot From a Little activity Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: Let s thik about how GOD MEETS OUR NEEDS this week. Have kids form pairs ad discuss oe thig they ca do i the comig week to show others they ca cout o God to meet their eeds. Distribute pes ad paper, ad ask kids to write their commitmets, put them i their baskets, ad take them home as remiders. This will be their Daily Challege for the week. Make sure you make a commitmet also ad share it with the kids. Kids will be more iclied to follow through o their commitmets whe they see you doig the same. Talk With Kids Ask: What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Share a time, a place, or other ideas. Allow time. Say: Whe Jesus fed thousads, the disciples leared that whe they trusted i God with what they had, God multiplied those resources. GOD MEETS OUR NEEDS, too. Let s show that we trust God to meet our eeds by followig through with our commitmet this week. Sprig Quarter Lesso 2 Grades 3 & 4
27 Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about the commitmet they made to doig somethig to show others that they ca cout o God to meet their eeds ad what they leared about how God meets eeds. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their Bible Truth Sleuth pages with their families. (They ll eed to ufold their baskets to see some family activities.) Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Close i prayer. Thak God for givig us so may thigs ad people to meet our eeds, ad ask for help showig others that they ca cout o God. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 2 Sprig Quarter
28 Lyrics Do Not Be Axious About Aythig (Philippias 4:6-7) Do ot be axious about aythig, But i everythig, by prayer ad petitio, With thaksgivig, Preset your requests to God. Ad the peace of God, (peace of God) Which trasceds all uderstadig, (trasceds all uderstadig) Will guard your hearts (guard your hearts) Ad your mids i Christ Jesus. (mids i Christ Jesus) Do ot be axious about aythig, But i everythig, by prayer ad petitio, With thaksgivig, Preset your requests to God. Ad the peace of God, (peace of God), Which trasceds all uderstadig, (trasceds all uderstadig) Will guard your hearts (guard your hearts) Ad your mids i Christ Jesus. (mids i Christ Jesus) Do ot be axious about aythig, But i everythig, by prayer ad petitio, With thaksgivig, Preset your requests to God. Yeah, yeah. Do ot be axious about aythig, But i everythig, by prayer ad petitio, With thaksgivig, Preset your requests to God. Do Not Be Axious About Aythig (Philippias 4:6-7) by Jay Stocker. 2007 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved.! OK TO COPY FaithWeaver NOW group.com Sprig Quarter Lesso 2 Grades 3 & 4
29 God s Hads 1. Despite sufferig from somethig called complex regioal pai sydrome, Mackezie speds her days collectig ad doatig books to homeless shelters. Mackezie, who lives i Georgia, has doated more tha 38,000 books to homeless shelters across the Uited States. To get the books, Mackezie goes to garage sales o weekeds ad asks for books that do t sell. She ad her youger brothers the sort the books ito age rages ad fid homeless shelters i eed of books. 2. Eleve-year-old Wesley of Otario, Caada, camped out i the cold for 24 hours durig a March school break. His father shared the cold, wet adveture. Wesley s goal was to raise $2,400 ad awareess for the coditios i Attawapiskat, Otario a First Natio Reserve o James Bay. I fact, Wesley raised over $3,500! The Attawapiskat reserve is far to the orth ad ca get very cold. The people who live there are very poor, ad may are homeless. Wesley has committed to makig his campout a aual evet. He ad his father have also come up with other ways to raise both fuds ad awareess. 3. Joatha s church i West Virgiia does missio work i Peru each summer. Joatha was too youg to go o the missio trip, so he foud aother way to help the people of Peru. He ad his mother created ad sold a cookbook titled H.U.G.S. (Help Us Give Support). Joatha ad his mom cotacted celebrities, politicias, ad other well-kow people ad asked them to submit recipes. May of the people they cotacted did sed recipes. The cookbook, which sells for $15, cotais more tha 100 recipes ad has raised more tha $3,000 to help Joatha s church help the people i Peru.! OK TO COPY FaithWeaver NOW group.com Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 2 Sprig Quarter