In the Beginning... Growing into a Life of Faith UNIT 2: LESSON 6: God Can Keep the Jar Full Key Concept God can do anything. Bible Summary KEY CONCEPT MOTIONS: Every time you say the key concept during the lesson, use these motions: God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. 1 Kings 17:7-16 During a famine, the Lord told Elijah to go to Zarephath and ask a widow there for food. Elijah went and asked the woman for water and bread. She told him she had only a handful of flour and a little oil left for herself and her son. Elijah told her to bring him some bread first, and then the Lord would keep her jar of flour and jug of oil full as long as the drought lasted. The woman did as Elijah said, and the flour and oil did not run out. Bible Verse God is my helper. Psalm 54:4a (NLT) Objectives KNOW WHAT: Children will hear the story of Elijah and the poor widow. SO WHAT: Children will learn that God can do anything. He is all-powerful. NOW WHAT: Children will participate in activities that help them identify ways God helps them by providing food, water, and clothes. Spiritual Formation Trust and Prayer People Needed Teacher, Helper Supplies (Labeled items below can be found in the Lesson 6 Visual folder on the Summer Quarter CD.) CD player Music for singing Sound Effects CD #2 (optional) The Beginner s Bible 2 Dolls (1 male and 1 female) Bowl Mixing spoon Flour (1 small bag) Oil (1 small jar or bottle) Loaf of bread Sandwich on a plate Sweater Bottle of water Small table for props (optional) For each child Key Concept sticker (Lesson 6 SG 1) Two-sided take-home coloring sheet (Lesson 6 SG 2 and Lesson 6 SG 3) Snack 1 Summer Quarter 2007 Willow Creek Community Church / Sunday School Teacher s Guidebook / Lesson 6
Notes: In Advance Recruit a Helper to operate the music CDs and the sound effects CD. Determine which songs you will use and be prepared to lead the children in singing. Song suggestions: Upbeat song for transition from Activity Stations to the Creative Bible Teaching Touch the Sky (Touch the Sky CD) God is Number One (Touch the Sky CD) God You Are Great (Touch the Sky CD) Determine whether or not you will use the sound effects CD. If you prefer not to use the sound effects, or to use only a few of them, look at each sound effect listed in the lesson and determine if you will play the sound effect from the CD, encourage the kids to make the sound effect along with you, or omit the sound effect, and then modify the lesson accordingly. Please note that lessons in this unit will require quite a bit of adaptation if you choose not to use the sound effects. Gather the supplies listed above and arrange your classroom as follows: Designate one area or corner of the room as your teaching area. Set up props that will be used during the lesson and consider covering them with a sheet or a large piece of fabric to keep them from curious kids during Activity Stations. Also consider placing a line of tape on the floor to help keep kids out of the teaching area. For the lessons in Unit 2, the teaching area is the Room of Wonder. The Room of Wonder Treasure Chest sits on a fabric-covered table in the center of the room. The Music Box and Special Grab Bag sit on the floor. If you wish, add things that give your teaching area an eclectic, funky feel. You could decorate with shells, a lava lamp, glowin-the-dark stars, or anything else eye-catching and interesting for the kids to look at. Prepare the materials that will be given to each of the children. To prepare the stickers, print or copy the pages onto Avery label sheets #5294. Consider cutting the stickers apart for easier distribution. Print out the lesson and practice the teaching time. 2 Summer Quarter 2007 Willow Creek Community Church / Sunday School Teacher s Guidebook / Lesson 6
Teacher s Prep READ 1 KINGS 17:7-16. This week s Bible story tells how God provided food for Elijah when provisions couldn t be found. Have you ever gone hungry? Not the kind of hunger that comes from being too busy to eat, disliking what was served, or dieting but the kind of hunger caused by having no food for an extended time. Most of us know nothing about that kind of hunger. We aren t familiar with it because God has provided for all of our needs. He can do anything, and He chooses to take care of us. He is faithful. Our part is simply to trust Him with our needs. Activity Stations (20 MINUTES) Choose which Activity Stations you will use from the list included in the Activity Stations folder. Creative Bible Teaching (15 MINUTES) [Play upbeat music as children transition to the teaching area. Encourage kids to clap their hands along with you. Clap in a variety of styles like overhead, on your knees, on your belly, etc.] Hello, everyone! I am so excited you re here. Guess what? Today we are visiting the Room of Wonder... [SFX 11: Wonder echo.] [Look around for the sound.] The word wonder means a surprise or something amazing, and this room is pretty amazing! Today, we are going to hear a wonderful Bible story and learn some wonderful things about God. [SFX 12: Tuba theme.] Do you hear that? I wonder where that sound is coming from? [Listen, then go over and put ear to the Music Box.] Let s open the box and see...[music begins immediately as the box opens.] It s a song! Let s stand up and sing. MUSIC Song Suggestion: Touch the Sky 3 Summer Quarter 2007 Willow Creek Community Church / Sunday School Teacher s Guidebook / Lesson 6
[Invite kids to sit on the count of three.] Let s look around the Room of Wonder. [SFX 13: Wonder echo.] I love that! There are all kinds of wonderful things in this room. It s a wonderful room! I wonder what time it is. [SFX 14: Clock chimes.] Do you hear that? It s time to hear the Bible story. Let s find the Bible. [SFX 15: Extended drum roll ending in Tah-dah!] Do you hear that? I wonder where that sound is coming from? [Listen, then move toward the Treasure Chest.] It sounds like a drum roll. I think I m getting closer. It s the Treasure Chest! I wonder what s in here. Let s look! [Time it so you open the Treasure Chest on the tah-dah. Pretend to reach inside the chest, while actually leaning down to grab the Bible, two dolls, flour, oil, the bowl, spoon, and water one at a time from behind the table. Be surprised that so much stuff can fit inside. You can say things like: Whoa! How d this all fit in there? Check this out! ] Whew! I think we finally got everything. [Open Bible.] Today we ll learn that God can help us because God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. Friends, say that with me. God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. Click on your listening ears, friends. Click! Click! [Tug on each earlobe.] Now let s put on our special eyes. Shookum! Shookum! [Shape glasses around each eye with your hands.] Today s story is about a man named Elijah. [Show male doll.] God helped Elijah find food. There was no food to eat or water to drink anywhere. No one had any food or water. [Hold up Elijah doll; always use a low voice for Elijah.] I m hungry and thirsty! But God sent a message to Elijah. God said, There is a woman in town. Go find her. She will help you. [Hold up female doll.] This is the woman God told Elijah to find. Elijah listened to God. [Elijah doll.] I listened to God. I went to find the woman! Elijah walked to town. [Walk Elijah to the opposite side of the teaching area. Pick up the woman doll.] When he got there, he saw a woman. Elijah said to her... [Elijah doll.] I m thirsty. I need some water. 4 Summer Quarter 2007 Willow Creek Community Church / Sunday School Teacher s Guidebook / Lesson 6
The woman listened to Elijah. She said: [Woman doll. Use a high voice for the woman.] I will get you some water. [Elijah doll.] I m hungry, too. Can I have some bread to eat? [Woman doll.] I don t have any bread. All I have is a little flour and oil. It s all I have for me and my son to eat. [Elijah doll.] Go home and make bread. Make my bread first. Then make bread for you and your son. [Woman doll.] But there isn t enough to make bread for all of us. [Elijah doll.] God will help us. God can do anything. [Put dolls down.] The woman went back home. She poured the flour into a bowl. [Pour the flour in the bowl.] Then she poured in the oil. [Add the oil.] She stirred the flour and oil together. [Stir.] Then she baked the bread. [Place the bowl back on the table.] When she was done, she had enough bread for Elijah. [Take loaf of bread out of chest and walk over to Elijah.] The woman gave Elijah some bread. [Hold up Elijah doll and bread. Pretend to have Elijah eat the bread and make chewing noises. Set down Elijah and pick up the woman.] And there was more bread, so the woman ate some bread. [Pretend to have the woman doll eat a bite of bread.] And there was even more bread, so the woman s son had bread to eat, too. Elijah was right! God helped them by giving them food to eat. God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. Friends, say that with me. God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. Let s say it in our high voices. God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. Let s say it in our low, low voices. God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. [SFX 16: Tuba theme.] Do you hear that? Where is it coming from? [Kids point to the Music Box. Go over and listen.] Hey! I think you re right. Let s open the box and see...[music begins immediately as the box opens.] It s a song! Let s stand up and sing. MUSIC Song Suggestion: God is Number One [Invite kids to sit in a circle.] 5 Summer Quarter 2007 Willow Creek Community Church / Sunday School Teacher s Guidebook / Lesson 6
Life Application Activity (10 MINUTES) Let s say our special words. God [point up] can do anything [spread hands from side to side]. [SFX 17: Clock chimes.] That wonderful sound means it s time to open our Special Grab Bag! We can learn about ways that God helps us. I ve got an idea. Let s get started. Boy, I m hungry. [Open bag and pull out plate with sandwich. Pretend to eat it.] This is good! Yummy, yummy, yummy! Friends, what am I doing? [Kids respond.] That s right! God helps us by giving us food to eat. What are some of your favorite foods? [Allow kids to respond.] Those are great answers! God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. O.K. Let s try another one. Brrrr, I m cold. [Open bag, pull out sweater, and put it on.] Look at my new sweater. It s so nice. It keeps me warm. I love it! Friends, what am I doing? [Kids respond.] That s right! God helps us keep warm by giving us clothes to wear. What kinds of clothes do we need? [Allow kids to respond.] You re right! We need all those things. Let s say our special words. God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. All right! Last one! Boy, am I thirsty! I need a drink of water! [Open chest, pull out water bottle, and drink.] Friends, what am I doing? [Kids respond.] That s right! God helps us by giving us water to drink. What do you like to drink when you are thirsty? [Allow kids to respond.] You give good answers! God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. [SFX 18: Tuba theme.] Ah, ha! I think I know what we get to do now. Do you hear that, friends? [Go over to Music Box.] Let s open the box and see...[music begins immediately as the box opens.] Yup, it s a song! Let s all stand up and sing. MUSIC Song Suggestion: God You Are Great [Invite kids to sit on the count of three.] We learned that God helps us! And that God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. Let s say our special words one more time. God [point up] can do [make fist by shoulder] anything [punch up]. Good job! Let s pray and thank God for helping us! 6 Summer Quarter 2007 Willow Creek Community Church / Sunday School Teacher s Guidebook / Lesson 6
[Do Open them, close them. Children will say the finger play with you and repeat each line of the prayer after you.] Give a little clap. [Clap hands.] Fold them in your lap. [Fold hands in lap.] Dear God, Thank You for helping us. Thank You for our snack. We love you. In Jesus Name, Amen. God can do anything! Snack and Coloring Activity (15 MINUTES) This is the time for you and the children to build community. A great way to let the kids know you care about them as individuals is to ask them questions about themselves. Lesson 6 SG 1 God can do anything. GIVE each child a snack to eat. GIVE each child a Key Concept sticker to put on their shirt while they are eating their snack. GIVE each child a coloring sheet to color while they are waiting to be picked up. ASK each child a question or two: What was your favorite part of the Bible story? What is your favorite food? God Gives Elijah and a Widow Food (I Kings 17:7-16) Lesson 6 SG 2 7 Summer Quarter 2007 Willow Creek Community Church / Sunday School Teacher s Guidebook / Lesson 6