Lesson Highlights: Scripture References: Genesis 21:1-22:19 Teaching Point: God tests Abraham by having him go to sacrifice his promised son foreshadowing God s own gift of a substitutionary atonement in Jesus Christ. Catch Phrase: God Can Test Us! Unit Memory Verse: Genesis 12:2-3 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Alternate Verse: Genesis 22:12 He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. ABC Verse: Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Story Snap Shot Abraham gets the blessing of a son after a very long wait. He and Sarah rejoice as the boy grows in body and spirit. Everything is as it should be. But could the gift of Isaac replace God as Abraham s highest treasure? This story is a test of loyalty and trust. This lesson is good for us today. We have been so blessed to live in the time after Christ; we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm (Eph. 1:3). But it is difficult to keep our hope focused on God and not on the things of this world. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). That s the blessing we have today as Abraham s children. By the grace of God, we ve been freed from sin to believe God, to love Him, and to choose Him every day rather than the riches of this world. 1 P a g e
Planet 1, PreK OT Lesson 8: God s Leaders Are Tested Write kids names on board with total attendance! Questions to Ask the Kids: Good morning how are we doing? How is everybody s family? Raise your hand if you like ice cream. Raise your hand if you like puppies. Raise your hand if you like kittens. Read: We all like kittens, puppies, and ice cream. These are good things. I have a question. Do you love these things more than God? God is going to test Abraham to see if he loves his son Issac more than he loves God! Will Abraham pass the test? Let us see! Read Genesis 21:1-3 What is the name of Abraham s son? (Issac.) Do you know what Issac means? (He laughs.) Do you like to laugh? Read Genesis 22:1-2 What is the request of God? (Abraham is to sacrifice his son.) What is the response of Abraham? (He obeys.) Do you think Abraham slept well that night? Would you? Why or Why not? Read Genesis 22:9-14 2 P a g e
Do you think Abraham and Isaac were scared? (Yes.) Do you ever get scared? Did Abraham obey God? (Yes.) Did Isaac obey his dad? (Yes.) Did God provide for Abraham and Isaac? (Yes.) Did Abraham love God more or Isaac? (Yes.) Is it hard to love God more than anything else? (Yes.) Did you know that Abraham who offers his son to God is the story of God who offers His son Jesus to us? Isn t that amazing? Read: God gave Abraham a son. However God wanted to see if Abraham loved his son more than God. Abraham passed the test! Abraham loved God more than his son! Is that true of us? Will God test us to see what we love more? When you think about it..god gave us everything when He gave us His son Jesus! Shouldn t we do the same? Do you know what I am learning? God can test us!!! End in Prayer After the Rally Idea: Pretend you hear a noise and pull out a puppet! 1. Greet the kids by reading the names on the board!!! 2. What songs did you sing @ rally? 3. What was the story about? 3 P a g e
Planet 1, PreK OT Lesson 8: God s Leaders Are Tested 4. What are we learning? (use the catch phrase.end in prayer) Prayer Time Before you pray, allow the kids time to share with you things that are happening in their lives. Be sure you write these down with their names for you to pray for as the week goes along. Ask about the things they mentioned the previous week. As the leader, open by thanking God for this lesson: Praise God for providing us with the sacrifice we needed to save us from our sins. Ask God to give us hearts that choose obedience to him over all other things. Pray for any specific requests named either by praying yourself or by opening it up to those who said they would pray. Activities and Crazy Ideas: Activity 1: Will It Work? Come up with a demonstration and before you show it to the class ask this question. Will it Work? Your demonstration can be as simple as a paper airplane. Tell the kids that God will prepare us and He will test us. Remind them of the story of Abraham. Activity 2: Good Test or Bad Test Ask the kids if they like tests. What is a good test? Math? Spelling? What is a bad test? Science? Reading? Tell the kids that tests tell us what we are good at and what we need help on. Abraham is about to take a test! It will be a test to see what He is good at! Remind them about the story of Abraham. Activity 3: What is Different? Children sit in a circle. Say One, Two, Three; All eyes on me! Have children look at you carefully. Now close your eyes. Turn around and change something about your appearance (put your shoes on opposite feet, add a scarf, take off one earing, put your watch on the other wrist, etc.) Repeat game by changing different items about yourself. Activity 4: What is Missing? After telling the Bible story, tell the children that you want to retell but they have figure out what part/parts of the story you leave out of 4 P a g e
the second version. Do this as many times as they will let you!! It s a great way for them to hear the story multiple times. Activity 5: Can you do this? Begin with a simple clap..then snap.begin to add more to your rhythm. The goal is to make it more and more difficult even beyond what the kids can do. Ask that was hard wasn t it? That is exactly how Abraham felt! God was asking Abraham to do something hard, and Abraham obeyed because God provided! Activity 6: Lightning Lines. For this game, the leader will call out different ways to line up and the students will do it at a lightning speed. For example, the leader could say, shortest to tallest. Continue to do this many times. After explain how God asks us to do many things and as His leaders we are to be willing to do what he says. Activity 7: Can You Retell It? See if the kids can retell the story on the dry erase board but they can only draw pictures and use one word audibly that the teacher gives them. They have 1 minute. The kids will laugh out loud as one kid races to describe the story on the board while saying pizza over and over! Suggested Follow-up Activities Teachers are free to choose the activities that they feel are best for their group. The idea is that as the children work and play, remind them of the truths they just learned. Scripture Memory: Figure out your reward system for memorizing the Scriptures provided in this section. Give the children several opportunities to tell it to you either when they first arrive or at the end of class. Craft: Ram s Head Remind the kids that we talked about the sacrifice of Isaac. God was testing Abraham s loyalty to Him by calling him to give up his one and only son. This points to the true and final sacrifice of God s only Son, Jesus, for us sinners who are bound and enslaved in our sin. 5 P a g e
Planet 1, PreK OT Lesson 8: God s Leaders Are Tested Give each child either a large, brown, cardstock circle (or a large paper plate and some brown paint and brush and have them paint it brown). Have them hold the circle up to their eyes and point on the paper where they would cut out one eye. Keeping their finger on it, have them lower it to the table and then draw a circle to cut out. Once that one is cut, have them hold it back up and repeat for the other eye. Have them then color the eye brows, nose pieces and mouth as they d like. Next, they ll cut out and glue the horns onto either side of the top of the circle as well as gluing the tuft of hair in between those. Then have them add the eyebrows above the holes and the nose and mouth below. They can then use glue and tape to add a paint stick or large craft stick to the bottom for a handle. Younger Child Option: Use the circle template provided and cut out the ram horns and tuft of hair for each child. Have them color them as they d like and help them to glue or staple the pieces into place. Use extra large, googly eyes in place of the holes and glue them into place. Materials: cardstock copies of the templates; brown cardstock circles; scissors; markers or crayons; stick glue; paint stick or large, craft sticks; optional plate craft: large paper plates, brown paint, paint brushes, newspaper to cover tables; young child option: stapler; extra large, googly eyes Craft: Substitute Remind the kids that we talked about the sacrifice of Isaac. God was testing Abraham s loyalty to Him by calling him to give up his one and only son. This points to the true and final sacrifice of God s only Son, Jesus, for us sinners who are bound and enslaved in our sin. Give each child a cardstock copy of the ram. Have them color the rams legs and horns and then glue on googly eyes. Provide them with cotton balls and have them spread them somewhat and then glue them in place on the body of the ram. Older children can cut out their ram prior to this if they d like. Materials: cardstock copy of ram; crayons or markers; googly eyes; liquid glue; cotton balls; optional: scissors Activity: What Will You Sacrifice? Remind the kids that we talked about the sacrifice of Isaac. God was testing Abraham s loyalty to Him by calling him to give up his one and only son. This points to the true and final sacrifice of God s only Son, Jesus, for sinners who are bound and enslaved in our sin. 6 P a g e
Gather some supplies of varying value. You might have a small package of candy, gum, a small toy like one toy soldier or a tiny ball, a larger piece of candy, a larger toy, etc. Have one final offering of a large item that you know they will give up anything to have. (They don t actually go home with it unless you re feeling really generous!) Call up a child. Tell them that they learned in the lesson that Abraham had to sacrifice what he had to God. Tell them you re going to play a game to see what it would take to get them to sacrifice what they have. Begin by giving them an item of very low value. Tell them they can keep it or choose at any point to trade it with something else you have. Next offer them something of higher value like a larger piece of candy. Next offer something which to you is of much lower value. Go through this 5 or 6 times. Ask them as you go to tell everyone why they would or would not choose to give up what they have. At the end, offer the thing of highest value you have. Ask them why they d be so willing to give up something they obviously like. Reveal to them that they can t really have the last thing, but that for playing they can keep the last item. Tell them that they decision they faced is the same one Abraham faced. He had something in his life that he really valued his son. But he was willing to give him up because he valued something more God. Obeying God meant more to him than the life of his son. That s what we have to focus on. When we choose to disobey God, we show that something else has a higher value to us than He does. That s the essence of sin valuing anything above God. God deserves to always be chosen because He is the most valuable thing there is above all of creation, above all our family and friends, above heaven, above everything we want, above everything we are. God is worth all of us and is worth the loss of anything to get Him. Materials: 5-6 items ranging in value from a single piece of candy to a larger toy (keep all the items under the $1-$2 range); one, larger, more expensive item 7 P a g e