Getting to Know God: Who God Is Week 12: God Is Our Refuge LEADER PREPARATION

Transcription

1 Getting to Know God: Who God Is Week 12: God Is Our Refuge This includes: Leader Preparation Lesson Guide LEADER PREPARATION BIBLE BASIS Finding in God a source of refuge is a lifelong discovery. Anchoring our trust to the unshakable rock of God s protection and care is a timeless lesson for children as well as adults. Use this lesson to give your kids an understanding of the stronghold available to them when things in their world seem uncertain or too big to conquer. Remind them that God is always bigger than any problem. DISCOVERY POINT God is our refuge. BIBLE FOCUS Psalm 46:1-7 KEY VERSE The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him (Nahum 1:7). TEACHING PREP The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. Supplies You ll Need: Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD, LIVE Children s Curriculum (Year 2) DVD, CD player, TV/DVD player, balloons, masking tape, paper plates, newspaper, Bibles, pencils, scrap paper, and markers Before This Lesson Set several balloons in a safe place in case replacements are needed during the activities. Assemble Bible Exploration Kits (one per four kids): one small non-inflated balloon, one roll of masking tape, two paper plates, four sheets of newspaper, pencils, markers, and scrap paper. Review Psalm 46:1-7. Cue "Into the Bible" (Track 1) on Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD or (Quarter 5/Track 1) on the LIVE Children s Curriculum (Year 2) DVD. Huddle briefly with your volunteers beforehand. Answer any questions they have. Encourage them and pray.

2 PARENT We ve provided you with a Family Devotion handout to send the Bible learning and faith discovery home. When kids and parents have faith discussions regularly, kids faith multiplies. So we ve given you two options: Print the Family Devotion handout and make enough copies for each child to take one home. the Family Devotion to families before or after the actual lesson. Or why not do both? That way you ll double the opportunities for parents to actually get the handout.

3 Getting to Know God: Who God Is Week 12: God Is Our Refuge LESSON GUIDE WELCOME! Supplies: assembled Bible Exploration Kits, Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD, LIVE Children s Curriculum (Year 2) DVD, CD player, TV/DVD player 1. Play Into the Bible (Track 1) from the Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD or (Quarter 5/Track 1) from the LIVE Children s Curriculum (Year 2) DVD as kids arrive. Into the Bible Makes me wanna jump! Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump! Makes me wanna sing! Hallelujah! It s the greatest book. Come and take a look. Makes me wanna shout! Shout! Shout! Shout! Shout! So that everyone will see I m getting into the Bible And the Bible...is getting into me! We re discovering a brand-new world As we dig a little deeper (deeper), Finding out about who God is. Open it up and see it (see it)! There s nothin like God s Word, and I get So excited. It makes me wanna, Makes me, Makes me wanna jump! Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump! Makes me wanna sing! Hallelujah! It s the greatest book. Come and take a look. Makes me wanna shout! Shout! Shout! Shout! Shout! So that everyone will see I m getting into the Bible And the Bible...is getting into me! Into the Bible by Jay Stocker Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to use lyrics granted for local church use only. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

4 2. As the kids arrive, form Bible Crews, and have them remove the balloons from the Bible Exploration Kits. (WARNING: Choking Hazard To avoid choking hazards, be sure to pick up pieces of any broken balloons promptly.) 3. SAY: A balloon is not very strong even a little child is able to pop it. Let s build safe places, or refuges, for our balloons that will protect them. Take out the tape, plates, and two of the newspaper sheets from your Bible Exploration Kits, and work together to build a safe place, or refuge, to protect your balloon. When you ve finished, inflate your balloon and put it in your refuge to keep it safe. After five minutes, invite Bible Crews to show one another their balloon refuge and set them in different places around the room. 4. SAY: Great job making a refuge for your balloons! Let s see how safe your refuges are. Take the other two newspaper sheets from your Bible Exploration Kits and make enough paper wads so each person on your crew has one. As a crew pick out a different balloon refuge and stand near it. Once all crews are in place, instruct crews to move three giant steps away from the balloon shelter and take turns throwing their paper wads at the refuge. How well did your refuge work? What was it like when others were throwing things at your balloon? If you could build the strongest possible refuge, what would you use? SAY: God is a safe place for us. That means that God is our refuge. When we feel as weak as your balloon, we can ask God to protect us. Let s continue to work on our balloon refuges as we discover more about the way God is our refuge. 5. Play the Rocket Countdown (Quarter 5/Countdown Track 1) the LIVE Children s Curriculum (Year 2) DVD, and have kids call out the numbers as they appear. LET S EXPLORE! Supplies: assembled Bible Exploration Kits 1. SAY: When we think of a refuge, we think of a place we can go to be safe. Describe the place you feel most safe. What do you think makes a good refuge? SAY: It s great to have a place where we feel protected and safe. Even if your earthly refuge fails, God can never fail. Let s open our Bibles to Psalm 46:1-7 and read how God is our refuge. Let the kids take turns reading the passage out loud in their crews. After each verse, have kids tear off a strip of masking tape and add it to their balloon refuge to reinforce it. 2. When the crews have finished reading, According to these verses, how is God a good refuge for us? How is God like or unlike the refuge you made to protect your balloon? How are we like or unlike the balloon? 3. SAY: The passage we just read helps us know more about who God is. The more we read and believe God s Word, the stronger our faith becomes. Just as each strip of tape helped reinforce your balloon refuge, reading God s Word helps to strengthen our faith. God is our refuge, and he is strong enough to protect us in

5 any situation. That s why we can always count on God. Let s make our refuge even stronger as we look back over our Bible passage and find words that describe God. Write each one on a piece of masking tape and attach it to your refuge. Allow time. SAY: This psalm declares God as totally able to keep us safe when everything seems to be falling apart. God is stronger than any of our difficulties. Have kids take the scrap paper from the Bible Exploration Kits. Look at the passage again. This time, find words that describe situations of trouble or danger. Write the words or draw pictures that illustrate the trouble. 4. Have the kids come together and share what they ve written. When do you need God to protect you? How does Psalm 46 help you know that God can be your safe place? What can you do to show you re trusting God to be your refuge? After the kids respond to the final question, have them wad up their papers to illustrate how God is stronger than any problem they face. 5. Invite Bible Crews to play a game of Balloon Bombardment. Explain that they can throw the wads of paper at another crew s balloon refuge, but they must protect their own from being hit. Play the game for a few minutes then stop. What did you do to protect your balloon refuge? How safe was the balloon? Explain why you think we are or aren t safe with God. SAY: Great job protecting your balloons! Like the wads of paper, troubles can come at us from all directions, but they ll never be bigger than our God. Even if our problems are as big as an earthquake, God is our refuge and strength. Even if mountains crumble, the earth melts, and the oceans rise up, we re still safe with God. That makes us want to praise our wonderful God and thank him for being a strong refuge for us. LET S PRAISE! Supplies: Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD or LIVE Children s Curriculum (Year 2) DVD, CD player or TV/DVD player 1. SAY: Knowing that God is our refuge fills me with joy. Let s sing some praises because God is our refuge! 2. Set up the Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD or the LIVE Children s Curriculum (Year 2) DVD. PLAY: Nothing Is Impossible (Luke 1:37) (CD Track 3) (DVD Quarter 5/Track 3) Sometimes when you don t know what to do, It feels like you don t even have a clue. That is when you ve got to turn to God, Because you know that he can do anything! Nothing is impossible with God! Nothing is impossible with God! Yeah! (Repeat from the beginning.)

6 Nothing Is Impossible (Luke 1:37) by Jay Stocker. 2005, 2008, 2011 Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to use lyrics granted for local church use only. No unauthorized duplication permitted. We Can Trust Him (Psalm 33:4) (CD Track 5) (DVD Quarter 5/Track 5) Yeah! If there s one thing we can count on, It s that God will never let us down, and We can trust everything he does. He keeps his promises. We know because Yeah, the Word of the Lord holds true. Yeah, the Word of the Lord holds true. We can trust him. Yeah, the Word of the Lord holds true. Yeah, the Word of the Lord holds true. We Can Trust Him (Psalm 33:4) by Jay Stocker. 2007, 2009 Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to use lyrics granted for local church use only. No unauthorized duplication permitted. Give Thanks to the Lord (Psalm 107:1) (CD Track 7) (DVD Quarter 5/Track 7) Every day he watches over us, And every night God is there. When I sleep and when I rise, He is always by my side. O give thanks to the Lord For he is good, he is good. O give thanks to the Lord For he is good, he is good. Every day he watches over us, And every night God is there. When I sleep and when I rise, He is always by my side. O give thanks to the Lord

7 For he is good, he is good. O give thanks to the Lord For he is good, he is good. Give Thanks to the Lord (Psalm 107:1) by Maggie Hold You Music Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to use lyrics granted for local church use only. No unauthorized duplication permitted. LET S PRAY! Supplies: Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD, CD player 1. SAY: Psalm 46 was written as a song of praise to God for his protection. It was sung as much for worship as it was to remind God s people not to fear. Let s use this psalm as our prayer to God as we use motions to represent the way God is our refuge. Let kids review the different words used in the psalm that portray the images of danger or trouble and then use motions to demonstrate the waves of the ocean, a mountain rising to the sky and crumbling to the ground, and so on. Play Psalm 46:17 (Track 21) from the Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD, allowing kids to do their motions and then pray silently. HIGH FIVES Supplies: none SAY: God is our refuge. Or, to say it another way, God s got our back. In fact he has more than our back. He has our front, our left, our right, and everything above and below us! We have a great God watching over us. Have the kids stand back to back with a friend and high five the friend as they say, God s got your back. FOR EXTRA-TIME ACTIVITIES The God Factor Supplies: The God Factor handout, scissors, pencils Print and cut out The God Factor handout page, one for every two children. Have kids work with a partner to play the God Factor Matching Game. Explain that the God Factor cards contain quotes from Psalm 46:1-7. Ask kids to match each Fear Factor card to a God Factor card that contains proof from the Bible that God is our refuge. Encourage them to fill in one of the blank cards themselves and match it to a God Factor. There is more than one correct combination of answers. Potato Chip Protection Supplies: potato chips, index cards, wads of paper from Let s Explore! Give each child an index card and a paper wad. Put a potato chip on each index card. Explain that the object of the game is to throw the wads of paper at one another while keeping the potato chips safely on the cards. Kids may pick up paper wads from the floor and continue to throw them, but they must be careful to keep the chips from falling off the index cards or breaking. Remind everyone that God is our refuge and he keeps us safe. Create a Bible Dictionary

8 Supplies: paper, markers, dictionary, CD player, Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD Ask kids to create one or more pages, each with a new word, for a Bible dictionary. Have kids suggest words from today s lesson refuge and fortress are two suggestions. Have them write each word on a sheet of paper in fun letters, add a definition, list Scripture references, and make illustrations. Play The Books of the Bible Song (Track 8), from the Getting to Know God: Who God Is (Year 2/Quarter 5) CD while kids work. Add each page to a three-ring binder, and watch the dictionary grow!