Use Week of: Bread from Heaven BIBLE PASSAGE: Exodus 15 17 STORY POINT: God provided for the physical needs of His people. KEY PASSAGE: Matthew 22:37-39 BIG PICTURE QUESTION: What is God like? God is holy, good, and loving. Countdown Introduce the session (2 min.) Big picture question (1 min.) Giant timeline (1 min.) Tell the Bible story (10 min.) Christ connection Group demonstration (5 min.) Review (4 min.) Key passage (5 min.) Group game (5 10 min.) Sing and offering (3 12 min.) Missions moment (6 min.) Announcements (2 min.) Prayer (2 min.) Additional idea Additional resources are available at gospelproject.com. For free training and session-bysession help, visit www.ministrygrid.com/web/thegospelproject. 106 Kids Worship Guide
LEADER Bible Study The Israelites future looked bright. The Lord, through Moses, had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. He fought for them, displaying His power by parting the Red Sea and subsequently destroying Egypt s army. God was working out His plan to bring the Israelites to the promised land, the land God promised to Abraham s family. 1 But the journey from Egypt to Canaan was not direct. The Lord led His people into the wilderness. The Israelites bright future seemed to fade. Their dry mouths and rumbling, empty stomachs produced complaints and accusations. They doubted the Lord s goodness. The Israelites traveled three days into the wilderness and were unable to find water. When they found water at Marah, they must have rushed to it only to find the water was too bitter to drink. The people grumbled to Moses. Of course, Moses had no power to change the water. But the Lord did. Moses cried out to the Lord, and He showed Moses a tree. Moses threw the tree into the water, and the water became drinkable. Then the Israelites moved farther into the wilderness. Their hunger produced despair: If only we had died by the Lord s hand in the land of Egypt Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to die of hunger! (Ex. 16:3). Again, the Lord gave the Israelites what they needed. Moses and Aaron explained the purpose behind the Lord s provision: You will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Ex. 16:6). God sent bread from heaven and quail for the Israelites to eat. They ate manna in the wilderness for 40 years. The Lord is our Provider. Like He provided for the physical needs of His people in the wilderness, He provided for our spiritual needs by sending His Son, Jesus the Bread of life (John 6:35) so we can live forever. Toward the Promised Land 107
The BIBLE Story Bread from Heaven Exodus 15 17 Moses led God s people away from the Red Sea, and they came to the wilderness. They could not find good water to drink, and they complained to Moses. God said, If you obey Me and do what is right and keep My commands, I will not punish you like I punished the Egyptians. I am the LORD who heals you. The Israelites came to a place called Elim (EE lim) where they found plenty of food and water. They camped there. The Israelites left Elim and journeyed into the wilderness. They were hungry. They complained to Moses. We wish we had died in Egypt! At least there was food to eat, they said. You brought us out here to starve to death! But Moses had not brought them out there to die. God knew what He was doing. God said, I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God. So at evening, quail came into the camp. In the morning, fine flakes like frost were on the ground. What is it? the Israelites asked. 108 Kids Worship Guide
Moses said, It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. The Israelites called the bread manna, which means what is it? God gave the people instructions. He told them to collect just enough to eat for the day. If they collected too much, the leftovers went bad. He told them to collect twice as much on the sixth day, because the seventh day was the Sabbath, a day to rest. The Israelites did not always follow God s instructions. Sometimes they collected too much manna, and sometimes they tried to collect manna on the Sabbath day. Moses was angry that the people refused to obey God. The Israelites ate manna for 40 years while they were in the wilderness. The Israelites moved about the wilderness as the Lord told them to do. One day, they came to a camp with no water. Give us something to drink, they told Moses. Why are you complaining to me? Moses asked. You brought us out here to die, the Israelites said. They forgot that the Lord had a plan for them. Lord, what should I do? Moses cried out. God showed Moses a rock and instructed him to hit it with his staff. Water came out of it, and the people drank. It was a sign that the Lord was with them. Bible Storytelling Tips Display a map: Show a map of the Old Testament Mediterranean Sea region. Point out the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula to its east, where the Israelites traveled after escaping from Egypt. Change your position: Stand while reading dialogue and sit for the rest of the narration. Christ Connection: In the New Testament, Jesus said that He is the Bread of life. (John 6:31-35) God provided manna from heaven for His people s physical hunger, and later He provided His Son, Jesus, for our spiritual hunger. The Israelites needed bread to live for a little while, but whoever has Jesus will live forever! Toward the Promised Land 109
TEACH the Story SESSION TITLE: Bread from Heaven BIBLE PASSAGE: Exodus 15 17 STORY POINT: God provided for the physical needs of His people. KEY PASSAGE: Matthew 22:37-39 BIG PICTURE QUESTION: What is God like? God is holy, good, and loving. Theme Background Slide countdown video leader attire SUGGESTED THEME DECORATING IDEAS: Create a makeshift visitor s center for your city by hanging up maps of your city and pictures of local sights, destinations, and important buildings. Place a desk in the center of the visitor s center, and make a homemade sign that says Visitor Center. You may also display the theme background slide. Countdown Show the countdown video as your kids arrive, and set it to end as worship time begins. Introduce the session (2 min.) [Sharon is a kids ministry leader who is working to open a brand new visitor s center for your city. She is currently conducting research on all the important sites of your city, and has contacted a local taxi agency to pick her up right after church to take her to see these sites for herself.] SHARON Oh hi, kids! So glad to see you today! I m trying to start a brand new visitor s center for our city. I m researching different sites so I can tell others about them when they visit our city. Today I plan to check out our city s best park! I called for a taxi to come and pick me up here at church right after we finish the session today. 110 Kids Worship Guide
ZEKE [entering the stage] Somebody call for a taxi? SHARON Well, yes, I did! But I thought I requested that you pick me up an hour from now! ZEKE The way I see it, if you re an hour early, you re on time. And if you re on time, you re late. That s Zeke s motto. SHARON Who s Zeke? ZEKE I am! SHARON Do you always talk about yourself in the third person? ZEKE Zeke has been known to do that from time to time, yes. Anyway, are you ready to head to that park you requested a ride to? SHARON Well, not yet. I still need to share our Bible story with the kids here. And then I was going to get a quick bite to eat, but I guess I can skip that if you don t mind if my stomach rumbles a bit in the back of your taxi cab! ZEKE Don t worry! I have snacks in the back of my cab for just such an occasion. SHARON Wow! What a surprise! Like manna from heaven! ZEKE I m no man from heaven, Sharon. I m just a taxi cab driver trying to do his best to serve his clients. SHARON No, not a man from heaven. I said like manna from heaven. It s a saying. Stick around for today s Bible story. I think after today s lesson, you ll understand what it means! Big picture question (1 min.) ZEKE Sounds like a plan. A Bible story I guess that means we ll be learning about God? SHARON Indeed we will! In fact, we ll be trying to answer Big Picture Question Poster Toward the Promised Land 111
this big picture question: What is God like? Pay attention in today s story, and we ll answer that question together. Giant Timeline Bibles, 1 per kid Bread from Heaven video (optional) Bible Story Picture Poster Story Point Poster Giant timeline (1 min.) ZEKE I always like to have a little context when I m learning something new. Can you tell me what has happened around the time of your story today? SHARON Great idea, Zeke! The Bible is not simply a collection of stories. Together, these stories all tell one big story of God s saving His people through His Son, Jesus. Let s check out our timeline. God created the whole world, and then He formed a nation by choosing Abraham and his offspring to be His people. These people were later enslaved in Egypt, but God freed them from slavery through amazing miracles! Today s story picks up after God s people have been saved from the Egyptians when He parted the Red Sea and led them through on dry land. Tell the Bible story (10 min.) Open your Bible to Exodus 15 17. Use the Bible storytelling tips provided with the Bible story script to help you tell the story, or watch the Bible story video Bread from Heaven. ZEKE If you ask me, those Israelites were pretty big whiners! If someone in my cab was acting like the Israelites, I would have thrown him out for sure! SHARON I don t blame you, Zeke. It would be hard for me to be patient and loving too. God had just shown the Israelites His great power and love when He saved 112 Kids Worship Guide
them from the Egyptians. He sent plagues to the Egyptians and parted an entire sea so that they could be free. They knew that God was able to do those amazing things, and they knew that God used His power for their good. ZEKE Right! If God was willing to do all that to save them, did they really think He was going to let them die of hunger and thirst? I would be so angry! SHARON Well it s a good thing that God is not like you and me. While we would be impatient or even angry with the Israelites, God chose to be patient and loving to the Israelites. He is not like us. That s what it means when we say that God is holy. He is pure, without any sin and set apart from all of His creation. He is perfectly good and loves us. That s the answer to our big picture question, What is God like? God is holy, good, and loving! ZEKE And if I, a human cab driver, provide snacks for passengers, then God will definitely feed His people! SHARON God provided for the physical needs of His people. And we can trust that He still cares for His people today just as much as He cared for the Israelites in our story. Anyone who trusts in Jesus to save them from their sins is a member of God s family, and God cares for them! Christ connection ZEKE So why don t we find manna on our front lawns every day? SHARON The manna was just for the Israelites to meet their needs at the time. God provided for our biggest need by sending His Son, Jesus. In the New Tip: Consider using your Bible and the gospel poster provided to explain to kids how to become a Christian. Anytime you invite kids to respond in a large group setting, make sure you have counselors available to speak with kids individually to answer questions. Toward the Promised Land 113
Testament, Jesus said that He is the Bread of life. (John 6:31-35) God provided manna from heaven for His people s physical hunger, and later He provided His Son, Jesus, for our spiritual hunger. The Israelites needed bread to live for a little while, but whoever has Jesus will live forever! food items with expiration dates Group demonstration (5 min.) Prior to the session, gather several food items with expiration dates printed on them. Invite a couple of kids up to the stage to sort the items into three categories: food that should be eaten in the next week, food that should be eaten in the next two weeks, and food that could be eaten after two weeks have passed. To add interest, you could also bring spoiled or moldy food and add a fourth category: food that should not be eaten. After the kids have sorted the food, ask them why they sorted the items the way they did, and then invite them to have a seat. ZEKE Great job sorting these foods! SHARON It s important to eat food before it goes bad, and all food will spoil if enough time passes. But it was surprising that manna went bad after just one day! ZEKE So why did God make the manna go bad so quickly? If He is powerful enough to make bread out of nowhere, surely He can make it last longer than one day. SHARON God provided for the physical needs of His people, but He didn t want them to trust in the manna to save them. If they could save up manna and keep it for a long time, then they wouldn t learn to trust God for their food each day. Because the manna spoiled quickly, God s people had to rely on 114 Kids Worship Guide
Him and not in the food itself to save them. ZEKE You know, Sharon, I think that s a good lesson for us, too. God gives us a lot of good things, but we shouldn t trust in those things. We need to trust in God who is the giver of all good things! Review (4 min.) ZEKE Let s take a moment to see how well our friends here were paying attention to our story today! 1. What did God provide when His people were hungry? (manna and quail, Ex. 16:13-15) 2. How much manna was each person to gather? (enough for one day, except before the Sabbath when they would gather enough for two days; Ex. 16:16-26) 3. What does this story teach me about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or the gospel? 4. What does this story teach me about myself? 5. Are there any commands in this story to obey? How are they for God s glory and my good? 6. Are there any promises in this story to remember? How do they help me trust and love God? 7. How does this story help me live on mission better? Key passage (5 min.) SHARON Our key passage tells us the two greatest commandments of all time. Jesus said that the most important command to follow is to love God; the second is to love others. ZEKE Knowing that God has provided Jesus to save us makes these commandments easier to obey! I love God for who He is and all He has done. Since I know God loves me, it is easier to love other people. Key Passage Poster Love the Lord Your God song Toward the Promised Land 115
Read Matthew 22:37-39 and encourage the kids to read along in their Bibles. Display the key passage poster for kids to read. You may also sing the key passage song. spoons, 1 per kid pom-poms containers, 1 per team This Is My God and other songs of your choice Group game (5 10 min.) MANNA RACE SHARON It must have been quite a sight to see all the Israelites getting up and gathering manna first thing in the morning every day! ZEKE I ve got a fun idea. Let s have a gathering race! Form four teams and instruct each team to wait in a corner of the room. Give each team a large, empty container, and give each kid on each team a plastic spoon. Scatter pompoms all over the floor of your worship space. Instruct kids to gather as many pom-poms as possible and put them in their team s container. Kids must gather the pom-poms using only the spoon. Once all the manna is gathered, compare the containers to see which team gathered the most. Continue playing as time allows. SHARON That sure was fun to race to gather manna! But don t forget that the Israelites did not have to race to gather manna. God provided for the physical needs of His people, and there would have been plenty available for each person! In fact, they had no reason to gather more than they needed for each day, because it would spoil the next day! Sing and offering (3 12 min.) SHARON Knowing how God provides for all the needs of His people makes me want to sing! Sing This Is My God or Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah. You may choose other songs as time allows. 116 Kids Worship Guide
Missions moment (6 min.) ZEKE God provided for the physical needs of the Israelites, and He provides for our needs today. Pastor Jamie started Reborn Community Church in Garfield Park, Illinois. Since then, God has been using the church to meet the needs of people, like Frank, who live in that community. Most importantly, through the church, people are hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Watch this video to hear Frank s story. Show the missions video I Am Not Alone. I Am Not Alone missions video Announcements (2 min.) SHARON Well, Zeke, thanks for your patience and letting me share our Bible story with my friends here today. I hope you learned something today, too! ZEKE I sure did! I learned a lot, including that God is holy, good, and loving. SHARON That s right! We will learn more about God next week! It s about time we go check out that park so that I can keep developing my visitor s center, but let s share these important announcements with the kids first. Make any announcements from your kids ministry. Prayer (2 min.) ZEKE Sharon, will you pray for us before we head out? SHARON I would love to. God, thank You for Your Word, the Bible. We praise You for providing for the needs of Your people and for providing Jesus for our greatest need to be saved from our sins. Amen. Toward the Promised Land 117
Additional idea REVIEW THE BIG PICTURE QUESTION Invite all kids to think of a time that God showed how He is holy, good, and loving to them. It does not have to be something miraculous or amazing because God is the Giver of all good gifts, great and small. Invite kids and leaders to take turns sharing how God has been good to them. After each person shares, lead the entire group to repeat the big picture question and answer. ZEKE One thing that amazes me about the story today is how quickly the Israelites forgot how good God was to them! SHARON What do you mean, Zeke? ZEKE These men and women had just seen God do amazing things! He sent the plagues to the Egyptians. He parted the Red Sea so they could cross through on dry land. He was leading the people by a pillar of fire at night and a pillar of cloud in the day. And after all that, they are still worried about what they are going to eat? It seems crazy to me! SHARON It does sound a bit strange to me, too, but we are all quick to forget all the good things God has done for us. Remembering and sharing ways God has been good to us helps us trust that He will keep providing what we need in the future. 118 Kids Worship Guide
The Gospel: God s Plan for Me Ask kids if they have ever heard the word gospel. Clarify that the word gospel means good news. It is the message about Christ, the kingdom of God, and salvation. Use the following guide to share the gospel with kids. God rules. Explain to kids that the Bible tells us God created everything, and He is in charge of everything. Invite a volunteer to read Genesis 1:1 from the Bible. Read Revelation 4:11 or Colossians 1:16-17 aloud and explain what these verses mean. We sinned. Tell kids that since the time of Adam and Eve, everyone has chosen to disobey God. (Romans 3:23) The Bible calls this sin. Because God is holy, God cannot be around sin. Sin separates us from God and deserves God s punishment of death. (Romans 6:23) God provided. Choose a child to read John 3:16 aloud. Say that God sent His Son, Jesus, the perfect solution to our sin problem, to rescue us from the punishment we deserve. It s something we, as sinners, could never earn on our own. Jesus alone saves us. Read and explain Ephesians 2:8-9. Jesus gives. Share with kids that Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again. Because Jesus gave up His life for us, we can be welcomed into God s family for eternity. This is the best gift ever! Read Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21; or 1 Peter 3:18. We respond. Tell kids that they can respond to Jesus. Read Romans 10:9-10,13. Review these aspects of our response: Believe in your heart that Jesus alone saves you through what He s already done on the cross. Repent, turning from self and sin to Jesus. Tell God and others that your faith is in Jesus. Offer to talk with any child who is interested in responding to Jesus. Provide I m a Christian Now! for new Christians to take home and complete with their families. Toward the Promised Land 119