Lesso 1 5 The Israelites Cross the Red Sea Exodus 13:17 14:31 Third- ad fourth-graders are begiig to worry about may differet thigs, such as ot doig well i school, beig hurt by others, or eve losig a paret. Kids may feel aloe ad ot kow what to do whe they re afraid. Fear ofte comes from a belief that somethig stroger tha us will overcome us somehow. The reality could t be further from that, though, sice God is with you ad each of the kids i your group all the time. Use this lesso to help kids uderstad that they are t aloe, eve whe they re afraid. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio What Are You Afraid Of? (about 10 mi.) Work i pairs to discuss scary thigs, ad the patomime them. From Fear to Victory (about 20 mi.) Discover what the Israelites must have feared, ad participate i ruig through the parted Red Sea. Bibles,, CD player, maskig tape, idex cards, marker, 16 iflated balloos, copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) Teacher Pack: CD, Bible Timelie Tear out the Lesso 1 pages from each studet book. Place maskig tape o the floor to create a straight path leadig from Egypt i oe corer to the Promised Lad i aother corer. Write each letter of the word righteousess o a separate idex card. Place the letter R at the Egypt corer. Hide most of the letters aroud the room, but keep the remaiig letters with you. Bible Poit God helps us whe we re afraid. Key Verse I will fear o evil, for you are with me; your rod ad your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4). Weavig Faith Ito Life Kids will tur to God whe they re afraid. God Is With Me (about 10 mi.) Read the Key Verse, ad create staffs to remid them to trust God. Bibles, CD player, 12x18-ich sheets of costructio paper, markers, tape Teacher Pack: CD Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 1
6 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Kow Fear or No Fear? (about 15 mi.) Compare beig afraid with God helpig them to ot be afraid. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. 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., pes Tear out the letter to parets from each studet book. Lesso 1 Grades 3 & 4
7 The Israelites Cross the Red Sea Exodus 13:17 14:31 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS God Cares for His People As the mass of more tha 2 millio Hebrews left Egypt, God kew that facig the warlike Philisties immediately would likely have made the Hebrews lose hope ad tur back to Egypt. The pillar of cloud by day ad pillar of fire by ight must have bee awesome ad comfortig. God s Uusual Strategy God istructed the Israelites to tur back somewhat toward Egypt ad camp at a spot betwee Migdol ad the Red Sea. God had a bigger pla tha ayoe else could kow. Pharaoh would ve bee cofidet that he could easily defeat the Israelites. The Israelites were slaves of the Egyptias oly days prior to this evet. They d bee beate by the whips of the slave drivers ad were familiar with the weapos the Egyptias carried. They must ve realized that their fightig talets were othig compared with the Egyptias. Ad they were backed agaist the sea, with moutais o two sides ad the Egyptias bearig dow o them. The situatio must ve seemed hopeless. kow that mighty Egypt had bee devastated by its ow lowly slaves. The Jesus Coectio We live i troubled times whe it s easy for people to lose heart ad feel hopeless ad lost. But a relatioship with Jesus ca give us peace ad joy. Jesus is our light i dark times. Whe have you felt out of sorts ad desperate to fid some cotrol over your situatio? Perhaps the Israelites felt these thigs after they escaped from Egypt. Although they may ot have recogized it at the time, evetually they were able to look back ad see how God used that time to protect them ad brig glory to himself. What part of your life might God have his had i ow? What ca you do to coect with God durig times of fear ad desperatio? Take a few miutes to reflect o God s had i your life. Write your reflectio here. God Shows His Power We ca realize that God had all this plaed. He kew that the people would be frighteed. He kew that they would doubt him. But he also kew that his power would be remembered forever. God kew that he would prevail, that the Hebrews would be saved from Pharaoh, ad that the result would be a people growig greatly i their faith i him. It may seem odd that o record of this evet has bee foud i Egyptia history. However, it s likely that all records were wiped from the books because it would ve bee a embarrassmet for the world to Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 1
8 GETTING STARTED What Are You Afraid Of? What You ll Do Welcome kids warmly as they arrive, ad ask them how their week wet. Have kids stad o oe side of the room. Form pairs. Say: People are afraid of lots of differet thigs. Some people are afraid of heights, flyig i airplaes, skydivig, spiders, sakes, ad a variety of other thigs. Talk with your parter about somethig you both agree is scary. Allow time. Say: Take a miute to decide how you ll both act out the thig you both agreed is scary for the rest of the group. Do t use ay words. Everyoe else will try to guess what you re actig out. Give pairs a miute to pla out their short skits, ad the allow pairs to take turs actig them out for the group to guess. Cotiue util each pair has had the opportuity to share its fear. From Fear to Victory Supplies Bibles CD player maskig tape idex cards marker 16 iflated balloos copies of the lyrics page (at the ed of this lesso) Teacher Pack CD: Horses ad Chariots (track 2) Bible Timelie! BALLOON WARNING To avoid chokig hazards for youger classes meetig later, be sure to pick up pieces of ay broke balloos promptly. Balloos may cotai latex. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: Why do some people thik the thigs you ve acted out today are scary? What do you thik might help you be less afraid i scary situatios? Say: Today we ll look at a situatio the Israelites were i that was very scary for them. We ll see how God helped them ad lear that GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID, too. No matter what situatio you face, God is always with you ad he helps you all the time. 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION From Fear to Victory What You ll Do Poit out the Israelites crossig the Red Sea o the Bible Timelie. Distribute the Bible Truth Sleuth pages. Lesso 1 Grades 3 & 4
9 Say: God s people, the Israelites, had waited a log time, ad they were fially leavig Egypt! But they did t take the shortest route possible to the Promised Lad. Poit to the maskig- tape lie, ad explai that it s the shortest route out of Egypt. Istead, God led them aroud the desert to the Red Sea. Make sure kids have Bibles, ad ivite a willig child to read aloud Exodus 13:17-22. Say: Hidde aroud this room are letters o idex cards. The letters will spell righteousess. Your job is to fid the letters i the correct order. To see how to spell righteousess, look at the left side of your page beside the Kow Fear colum. Stick together as a group the way the Israelites did. If you fid a letter that comes later i the word, you ca put it back ad keep lookig. As kids go through this process, preted to be Pharaoh ad slowly cout dow from 20, esurig you cout quickly eough that kids feel just a bit of pressure. This will help them uderstad the urgecy of the Israelites departure. Whe they fially fid all the letters that you ve hidde, let them look a little loger ad the say: It looks like you re stuck. You ca t seem to fid the ext letter. The timer is ruig out, ad you ca t get to the ed. Allow kids to feel a little frustratio, ad the ivite them to sit dow. Say: God did t have the Israelites waderig i circles for othig! God had a pla. He wated to show Pharaoh ad the Egyptias that he was the oe true God! Have a willig child read aloud Exodus 14:1-4 ad Exodus 14:10-12. Say: The Israelites were trapped at the edge of the Red Sea. Let s try to imagie what it must have souded like as the Israelites stood at the Red Sea. Have kids form two groups. Oe group will be the Israelites, ad the other group will be the Egyptias. Play the Horses ad Chariots segmet (track 2 o the CD), ad have the Israelites stad ext to a wall desigated as the Red Sea. Have the Egyptias move i toward the Israelites to trap them. The kids will follow alog with the CD ad act out the thigs their groups do. From Fear to Victory Easy Prep Tear out the Lesso 1 pages from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. Place maskig tape o the floor to create a straight path leadig from Egypt i oe corer to the Promised Lad i aother corer. Write each letter of the word righteousess o a separate idex card. Place the letter R at the Egypt corer. Hide most of the letters aroud the room, but keep the remaiig letters with you. Say: The Egyptias had caught up with the Israelites, ad the Israelites were trapped. They thought they were goig to die. But God had a pla to help them. Our Bible Poit tells us that GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID. Let s fid out how God helped the Israelites! Read aloud Exodus 14:13-20. Say: Let s look at what God did for the Israelites i this scary situatio. Have kids switch roles from the previous activity. The Israelites will ow become the Egyptias, ad the Egyptias will ow become the Israelites. Say: God was with his people i the cloud ad i the fire, but God did t stop there. He wet o to help the Israelites eve more. The Red Sea was still a obstacle that kept the Israelites from cotiuig o their jourey. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 1
10 Ask for two willig kids from each of the two groups to be the Red Sea. Have two kids stad facig the other two kids. Give each perso i the Red Sea two balloos to hold i each had so each Red Sea child has four balloos. Help kids hold o to the tied-off eds so they ca easily hold two balloos i each had. Have the Red Sea kids hold the balloos out i frot of themselves ad touch the balloos of the other side of the Red Sea. Have the Israelites stad at oe ed of the Red Sea. Say: God told Moses to raise his staff over the water ad the water would part. So Moses raised his staff over the water, ad it parted! The the Israelites crossed over o dry lad! Have the Red Sea pull the balloos apart so the Israelites ca pass through. The have the Israelite group ru through to the other side. Say: The Egyptias were gettig ready to follow the Israelites! So God told Moses to hold up his staff agai, ad whe Moses did, the water came crashig dow o the Egyptias! Have the Egyptia group start to ru through, but have the Red Sea push the balloos back together agai so that they ca t get through. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What was this experiece like for you? How does your experiece relate to what the Israelites wet through? What do you usually do whe you re afraid? How do you thik you ca trust God to help you eve whe it seems impossible? Say: There are all kids of times we ca rely o God to help us. We kow that GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID, ad we ca rely o him at all other times, too. The Israelites leared from a really icredible experiece that God was always with them, ad he helped them i a difficult ad scary time. God Is With Me Supplies Bibles CD player 12x18-ich sheets of costructio paper markers tape Teacher Pack CD: Psalm 23 (track 4) God Is With Me What You ll Do Make sure each child has a Bible. Say: Our Key Verse today is Psalm 23:4. Have kids fid the verse i their Bibles, ad ask a willig child to read the verse aloud: I will fear o evil, for you are with me; your rod ad your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:4). Say: Fid a parter, ad tell each other the three mai words that stad out to you i this verse. Allow time. Lesso 1 Grades 3 & 4
11 Say: Today we saw how God helped the Israelites whe they were i a difficult situatio ad were very scared. God had Moses use his staff to part the Red Sea. Our Key Verse tells us that whe we re afraid, God s staff comforts us. That meas God s with us ad he s strog eough to help us i ay situatio. Let s make our ow staffs as a remider of how God helps us wheever we re afraid. Give each child oe sheet of costructio paper, ad have kids roll the sheets ito tubes legthwise ad faste with tape. Play Psalm 23 (track 4 o the CD) while the kids work. Say: Use markers to write our Key Verse o your staffs, ad decorate them i a way you thik will remid you that God helps you whe you re afraid. Show the importace of the words you told your parter earlier. Whe kids fiish decoratig their staffs, have them each bed the top part of the tube to form a crook to resemble a shepherd s staff. Say: Hag your staff up someplace where you ll see it at home to help you remember that you ca place your trust i God wheever you re afraid. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: How do you thik this staff will help you remember to tur to God whe you re worried or afraid? What s oe way you ca let your trust i God take the place of fear i your life? Say: The staffs you made ca be a good remider of our Key Verse, which tells us that GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID. Whe we give our fear to God, he ca give us courage ad help us i those scary times. God did miracles to show the Israelites that he would always be with them. That same amazig God wats to be part of your everyday life. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Kow Fear or No Fear? What You ll Do Have kids form pairs. Say: We all kow what it s like to be afraid. Earlier we talked about thigs that are scary to us. But we ca tur to God whe we re afraid. Kow Fear or No Fear? Supplies pes Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 1
12 Have kids take a miute to tell parters about a way they were comforted the last time they were afraid. Say: Oe way God helps us whe we re afraid is with his words ad promises i the Bible. Whe we read the Bible, we see may verses that promise God s help whe we re afraid. Let s look at some of those verses today ad at how they ca help us with some of our fears. Make sure everyoe has a pe, ad have kids tur to the Kow Fear/No Fear activity o their pages ad complete it. Talk With Kids Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: How ca readig Bible verses help you whe you re afraid? What s easy or difficult about trustig God whe you re afraid? What ca you ask God to replace your fear with? Say: These verses help us see how God has a lot to say about fear, ad we eed a lot of remiders to trust God istead of beig afraid. GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID, ad there s o better help tha that! The Israelites faced a truly impossible situatio, but God was with them ad brought them through it. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: Cosider this week how GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID. Have kids fid this week s Daily Challeges o their pages ad choose oe to do this week. They ca choose oe or more of these three optios: Pay attetio this week to areas of your life i which you feel afraid. Pray ad ask God to help you lear to trust him istead of beig afraid. Look up fear i the dictioary. Write dow the defiitio. The look up atoyms of fear. Write those dow, ad pray that God will help you become more filled with trust ad hope i God. Put these defiitios i your joural or Bible to remid you to ask God for help whe you re afraid. Use yar to make yourself a bracelet. As you make the bracelet, pray that God will help you whe you re afraid. Aytime you feel afraid, let the bracelet remid you to trust God istead. Lesso 1 Grades 3 & 4
13 Make sure you choose a Daily Challege as well, ad tell the 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 Lead kids i this discussio. Ask: What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Let s follow through o our Daily Challeges ad remember that GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID. Weavig Faith at Home Sed the letter to parets home with your kids or give it to parets whe they pick up their childre. This is a great way to show families they re importat to your church ad to support their role as spiritual leaders to their childre. Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about trustig God istead of beig afraid. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their pages with their families. Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Have kids form groups of three or four ad pray for the perso o their right. Remid kids to pray for God to help them trust him whe they re afraid. Weavig Faith at Home Supplies Weavig Faith at Home Easy Prep Tear out the letter to parets from each Bible Truth Sleuth studet book. Grades 3 & 4 Lesso 1