Lesso 13 139 God Cares for Hagar ad Ishmael Geesis 21:8-21 T hird-ad fourth-graders take the cocept of prayer seriously. But sometimes they ca take it too far by treatig prayer as a persoal wish list. You ca affirm kids for their belief that God hears us ad does aswer our prayers while helpig them uderstad that our prayers do t always have to be about what we eed or wat. Use this lesso to guide kids uderstadig of commuicatig with God about aythig they d like ad to assure them that God always hears us whe we pray. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Blah, Blah! (about 5 mi.) Attempt to commuicate by usig oly the word blah. Wilderess Jourey (about 15 mi.) Hear about Hagar ad Ishmael, ad make bushes to hide behid. Are You Listeig, God? (about 15 mi.) Fid out what happeed to Hagar ad Ishmael, ad discuss times God has aswered their prayers. copies of the Blah, Blah hadout (at the ed of this lesso), scissors Bible, CD player, items from aroud the room, salty crackers, atibacterial gel (optioal) Teacher Pack: CD Bible, CD player, paper, pes, 1 cup of water per child, bushes from previous activity Teacher Pack: CD Cut apart the God hears us ad Talk to God phrases alog the dotted lies. Bible Poit God always hears us whe we pray. Key Verse So I say to you: Ask ad it will be give to you; seek ad you will fid; kock ad the door will be opeed to you (Luke 11:9). Weavig Faith Ito Life Childre will commuicate with God about their eeds. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 13
140 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Ope Doors (about 15 mi.) Make doors to remid them that God will aswer whe they kock. Prayer Jourals (about 10 mi.) Make Prayer Jourals to talk to God. Bible Truth Sleuth, CD player, copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso), several pairs of scissors, stapler Teacher Pack: CD pes, 2 sheets of paper ad 1 pairs of scissors per child, washable markers, stapler Tear out the Lesso 13 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. 4 Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. Bible Truth Sleuth, Prayer Jourals from previous activity Lastig Impressios Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 13 Grades 3 & 4
141 God Cares for Hagar ad Ishmael Geesis 21:8-21 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Ishmael Mocks Isaac It was typical i Abraham s culture to have a celebratio whe a child was weaed, which was usually whe the child was aroud 2 or 3 years of age. The celebratio for Isaac was probably eve bigger tha most because he was somethig of a miracle child. Ufortuately the joyous occasio soo tured bitter. We do t kow if Ishmael s mockig of Isaac happeed o the day of the celebratio, but it must have occurred soo afterward. Ishmael had bee bor to Abraham through Hagar, Sarah s maidservat, after Sarah had decided to take thigs ito her ow hads ad had Abraham sleep with Hagar to build a family (Geesis 16:2). By the time Isaac was 2, Ishmael was about 16 (Geesis 16:16; 21:5). Sarah ad Hagar had bee at odds ever sice Hagar was pregat with Ishmael (Geesis 16:4-10). Abraham s decisio to sed Hagar ad Ishmael away had probably bee a log time i comig. Abraham Casts Out Hagar ad Ishmael God Respods to Hagar ad Ishmael s Sufferig Remember that Ishmael was at least 16 by this time. If Hagar had to put him uder a bush, he must have bee terribly weakeed by fluid deprivatio. He likely was t far from death, as Hagar estimated (Geesis 21:16). It seems odd that God respoded to Ishmael s cry but set a agel to speak to Hagar. It may be that Ishmael was simply too weak to eve get water for himself. It also is likely that the well had bee there all the time but Hagar did t see it util God opeed her eyes God was actually there takig care of them ad providig the water they eeded, but they could t see it util they ackowledged their eed for God. The Jesus Coectio Pray about a challege you re facig right ow. You ca cry out to God. Because of Jesus, we ca trust that God always hears us. You ca write your prayer here. Abraham did t wat to sed Hagar ad Ishmael away. He kew it was wrog accordig to his culture ad accordig to ayoe s stadards of fatherhood. Whe God told Abraham to do what Sarah wated, God did t say it was right. But God did promise to take care of Ishmael, evetually makig a great atio of his descedats as well as Isaac s. The area where Abraham lived was desert, ad the ski of water ad the food Abraham gave them was probably as much as they could comfortably carry, but it would t have lasted very log. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 13
142 GETTING STARTED Blah, Blah! Supplies copies of the Blah, Blah hadout (at the ed of this lesso) scissors Blah, Blah! Easy Prep Cut apart the God hears us ad Talk to God phrases alog the dotted lies. Blah, Blah! What You ll Do Welcome kids warmly as they arrive, ad ask them how their week wet. Have kids spread out aroud the room i pairs. Say: I this game, you ll get a slip of paper with a phrase you eed to share with your parter. But the oly way you ca commuicate will be by makig motios with your body ad sayig the word blah. You ca t use ay other words. If your parter guesses what you re tryig to say, raise your had ad I ll give your parter somethig to say to you i retur. I your pair, decide who ll go first. Give a God hears us slip from the Blah, Blah hadout to the first perso i each pair, ad allow kids time to read ad pla what they ll do. Ready? Go! Allow time. The give a Talk to God slip to the other perso i each pair ad repeat the activity. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. What was it like to try to get your parter to uderstad? What was it like to try to uderstad your parter? Tell about a time you had a hard time uderstadig someoe. Say: It s difficult to commuicate whe we re usure if the perso we re talkig to uderstads us. Because of that, it ca be hard to commuicate with God. Whe we ca t see him i frot of us or hear a voice talkig back to us, we might woder if the words we say to God are actually heard. The truth is, GOD ALWAYS HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY. God hears our prayers clearly ad perfectly, every time. Let s look i the Bible to fid out what happeed for a mother ad so who desperately eeded to commuicate with God. Lesso 13 Grades 3 & 4
143 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Wilderess Jourey What You ll Do Have kids sit i a circle. Say: Today we ll hear about a boy amed Ishmael ad his mother, Hagar. Let s sit back ad liste to the CD as we fid out what happeed to Hagar ad Ishmael. As you liste, thik about what prayer requests you d list for Abraham i this situatio. Play Hagar ad Ishmael, Part 1 (track 24 o the CD), pausig the CD whe prompted. What prayer requests did you thik of as you listeed to this track? Tell about a time you were worried like Abraham. What did you pray about? God assured Abraham that Hagar ad Ishmael would be okay. What does that tell you about God s ability to aswer prayers? Wilderess Jourey Supplies Bible CD player items from aroud the room salty crackers atibacterial gel (optioal) Teacher Pack CD: Hagar ad Ishmael, Parts 1 ad 2 (tracks 24 ad 25) Say: Hagar ad Ishmael wet out ito the wilderess with very little food ad water. Let s tur our room ito a sort of wilderess, too, ad the we ll fid out what happeed to Hagar ad Ishmael. Let s use items from aroud our room to build thigs that represet bushes ad rocks i the wilderess. Allow time. Have childre clea their hads, ad give two salty crackers to each child ad allow them to eat. Say: Now hide behid your bushes so that o oe ca see you, ad quietly liste to what happeed ext for Hagar ad Ishmael. As you liste, thik about what the most urget prayer is i this situatio. After all the kids are hidde behid their bushes, play Hagar ad Ishmael, Part 2 (track 25 o the CD), pausig whe prompted. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. What do you thik the most urget prayer i this situatio would be? Eatig salty crackers ca leave your mouth feelig very dry. Why do you thik that might be similar to what Hagar ad Ishmael experieced i the desert? Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 13
144 What do you thik about the dager Hagar ad Ishmael faced i the desert? Tell about a time you were very scared, like Hagar. What did you pray about? Say: Hagar ad Ishmael were i a scary situatio beig i a blisterig hot desert without ay water. Hagar was afraid she ad her so were goig to die. We ll face scary times i life, too, but o matter where we are or what we re goig through, GOD ALWAYS HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY. Are You Listeig, God? Supplies Bible CD player paper pes 1 cup of water per child bushes from previous activity Teacher Pack CD: Hagar ad Ishmael, Part 3 (track 26) Are You Listeig, God? What You ll Do Allow kids to remai behid the bushes they created, ad give them paper ad pes. Say: Hagar ad Ishmael were all aloe, rejected by their ow family. Thik about a time you felt loely or rejected. Close your eyes ad imagie you re the oly oe i the room right ow. Picture that experiece, ad remember how you felt as you wet through that time. Allow time. Describe loeliess ad rejectio. Say: Now thik about times you ve felt as if you really eeded God to aswer your prayers. Write about those times o your paper. Give kids a chace to write. The say: As we hear what happeed to Hagar ad Ishmael, liste for God s aswers to the prayer requests you listed earlier. Play Hagar ad Ishmael, Part 3 (track 26 o the CD). Say: God aswered the cries of Hagar ad Ishmael! God gave them the water they desperatedly eeded ad aswered their prayers. Ask kids to list some of the aswers to prayer requests that they oticed. Give each child a cup of water ad allow kids to drik. Say: Now thik about times God has aswered your prayers. Write about those aswered prayers o the other side of your paper. Allow time. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. God heard Ishmael s cries ad the helped Ishmael ad Hagar. What does that tell you about God? Describe what it was like to get a drik of water after havig a salty sack. What makes that water similar to your feeligs whe God aswers a prayer? What did you write about times you really eeded God to aswer your prayers? Lesso 13 Grades 3 & 4
145 What are some of the aswered prayers you wrote about o the other side of your paper? Say: Sometimes we may feel aloe i our circumstaces, as if we re hidig behid a bush where o oe, ot eve God, ca see us. Hagar ad Ishmael probably felt very aloe ad scared i the desert. But God heard Ishmael ad Hagar ad cared for them. GOD ALWAYS HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY, too, ad cares about everythig we say to him. Let s take a look at our Key Verse ad fid out more about talkig to God. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Ope Doors What You ll Do Say: Our Key Verse today, Luke 11:9, tells us how much God wats us to talk to him. Liste as I read the verse: So I say to you: Ask ad it will be give to you; seek ad you will fid; kock ad the door will be opeed to you (Luke 11:9). Let s say it agai together. Lead kids i repeatig the verse. Say: God ofte uses examples i the Bible of thigs we re familiar with to help us uderstad ad remember what he s sayig. I this verse, God uses the image of a door opeig to represet his willigess to liste to our prayers. To help us remember that GOD ALWAYS HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY, we re goig to make doors of our ow. Distribute today s Bible Truth Sleuth pages, ad have kids fid the Ope Doors sectio. Lead kids through these istructios to make their doors: First, cut out the picture of the two doors. Allow time. Next, cut betwee the two doors. Allow time. Cut out the rectagle with the Key Verse prited o it. Allow time. Now place your two doors o top of the Key Verse piece. Allow time. Staple the pieces together alog the dotted lies to form door higes. Allow time. The fold the doors back alog the dotted lies so the doors ope ad close. Allow time. Ope Doors Supplies Bible Truth Sleuth CD player copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) several pairs of scissors stapler Teacher Pack CD: God Is Our Help (Psalm 33:20) (track 27) Ope Doors Easy Prep Tear out the Lesso 13 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. Whe kids ope the doors, the Key Verse should show udereath. The Word for the Week will be visible o the back of the doors. Whe kids fiish makig their doors, have them form a circle. Pass out copies of the lyrics, ad play God Is Our Help (Psalm 33:20) (track 27 o the CD). After they liste oce, sig alog with the kids. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 13
146 We ca deped o the Lord aloe to save us. Oly he is the oe who will protect us. Like a shield that will ot budge, He is watchig over us. Every momet of the day, He keeps us safe. (Repeat.) I ca deped o the Lord aloe to save me. Oly he is the oe who will protect me. Like a shield I caot see, He is watchig over me. Every momet of the day, He keeps me safe. God Is Our Help (Psalm 33:20) by Jay Stocker. 2004 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. How could the words of this sog help you to believe that God will always hear you whe you pray? I what ways are God s aswers to prayers like someoe opeig a door whe we kock? What ca you do with this door you ve made to help you remember that you ca pray aytime ad aywhere, ad God will be listeig? Say: Wheever we kock o God s door, he s waitig there to aswer. It did t matter where Hagar ad Ishmael were or eve if they used words i their prayers. God heard their cries ad protected them. God does the same for us today. These doors are for you to take home as a remider that GOD ALWAYS HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY, aytime ad aywhere. Ad whe you ope the doors, you ll see Bible verses that you ca read this week to hear back from God. Alog with your doors, let s make oe more thig for you to take home ad practice talkig to God. Lesso 13 Grades 3 & 4
147 Prayer Jourals What You ll Do Say: God cares for us so much that GOD ALWAYS HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY. God wats us to come to him with our eeds, our joys, our questios, our fears all of it! God loves it whe we talk to him. Whe we commuicate with God, we ca get to kow him better ad stay close to him. What do you thik it meas to commuicate with God? What kids of thigs do you like talkig to God about most? Say: We re goig to focus o commuicatig with God this week. To help you do that, you ll each create a Prayer Joural. Prayer Jourals Supplies pes 2 sheets of paper ad 1 pair of scissors per child washable markers stapler Have kids spread out ad fid a place to sit away from others. Give each child paper, scissors, a pe, ad several markers. Show kids how to make prayig hads ad the, leavig oe had held like a prayig had, place it o a piece of paper to trace aroud it. Say: Repeat tracig your prayig had o each piece of paper ad the cut out your traced hads. Allow time. Circulate with the stapler ad help kids staple their papers together for the Prayer Jourals. Say: Write o the first page of your Prayer Joural some thigs you d like to talk to God about this week. They ca be eeds, prayers for frieds ad family aythig you d like. Allow time. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. As you were writig your prayers ad thikig about what you wat to talk to God about, he could hear your prayers eve the! What do you thik about that? Other tha talkig ad writig, what are some ways you ca thik of that we ca talk to God? Say: We kow ow that GOD ALWAYS HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY ad that our prayers do t always have to be put ito words. Ad we ca pray aytime, aywhere, about aythig. Just as God heard Ishmael ad Hagar s cries i the desert, God hears us ad cares for us. Keep addig to your Prayer Joural this week. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 13
148 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies Bible Truth Sleuth Prayer Jourals from previous activity Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: Take home your Prayer Joural, ad keep it by your bed. Every day whe you wake up or before you go to bed, write i your joural as you follow through with your Daily Challege. Practice talkig to God ad remember that GOD ALWAYS HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY. Have kids fid this week s Daily Challeges o their Bible Truth Sleuth pages ad choose oe to do this week. They ca choose oe or more of these three optios: Write i your joural a prayer to God each day. Write i your joural how God has aswered oe of your prayers. Write i your joural a prayer for a family member or fried. Make sure you choose a Daily Challege as well, ad tell kids what you chose. Kids will be more iclied to follow through o their commitmets whe they see you doig the same. Talk With Kids What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Share a time, a place, or other ideas. Allow time. Say: God heard Hagar ad Ishmael s cries of desperatio. We ca talk to God about aythig ad GOD ALWAYS HEARS US WHEN WE PRAY. As we pray to follow through o our Daily Challeges this week, we ca trust that God will hear us. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about talkig to God. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their Bible Truth Sleuth pages with their families. Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Take a couple of miutes to pray with your kids, ad ivite them to add to the prayer with what they wrote o the first page of their Prayer Jourals. Close your prayer with: i Jesus ame, ame. Lesso 13 Grades 3 & 4
149 Blah, Blah! OK TO COPY Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 13
150 Lyrics God Is Our Help (Psalm 33:20) We ca deped o the Lord aloe to save us. Oly he is the oe who will protect us. Like a shield that will ot budge, He is watchig over us. Every momet of the day, He keeps us safe. (Repeat.) I ca deped o the Lord aloe to save me. Oly he is the oe who will protect me. Like a shield I caot see, He is watchig over me. Every momet of the day, He keeps me safe. God Is Our Help (Psalm 33:20) by Jay Stocker. 2004 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved.! OK TO COPY Lesso 13 Grades 3 & 4
Fid the disciplie aswers you eed! The Quick Guide to Disciplie for Childre s Miistry: 101 Good Ideas for Bad Behavior The most effective disciplie tips for every issue you ll face so you ca focus o teachig kids ad ejoyig your class! You ll love this at-your-figertips hadbook for disciplie issues that frazzle your erves ad leave you woderig what to do. Look to this guide for effective techiques that elimiate ad redirect behavior challeges. We ve also mixed i some humor for comic relief so take a peek whe you re i eed of light-hearted ecouragemet, too! Each disciplie issue featured offers istat, effective solutios i this quick-flip referece guide. Efficiet & easy to use! You ll fid help for: Put-dows Back talk Not listeig Bitig Kickig Hidig Hittig Spittig Profaity...ad every other disciplie issue you ll face! ISBN 978-0-7644-4004-5 $14.99 I Caada $16.49 Get oe for EVERY teacher! Order today! Visit group.com or your favorite Christia retailer.
Games that ll help kids actually remember what they leared! NEW! The Giat Book of Games for Childre s Miistry 200 Over GIANT-SIZED games! This JAM-PACKED, CHOCK-FULL book of more tha 200 GIANT-SIZED games will fill your miistry with TONS of fu ad laughter! With a variety of games for preschoolers through pretees, you ll fid the perfect game for every occasio! Each of these fu-filled games is tied to a differet topic, with a Scripture coectio ad discussio to help kids uderstad the Bible poit. Every game icludes a overview that details the game s eergy level, supply level, age level, ad preparatio eeded, so you ll be able to fid the best fit for your eeds. Your kids will love them ad you will, too! ISBN 978-1-4707-0424-7 Oly $29 99 Order today! Visit group.com or your favorite Christia retailer.