God's Wonderful Love For Us - Noah's Ark

Circle Time

            Opening prayer

            Hello song.

Introduction to Bible Lesson

Each one of us is very special to God. We heard all about this wonderful world God created for us – Earth. We also heard about God’s wonderful gift he gave us – Jesus. Now we are going to learn about the wonderful love God has for us. We will start with stories from Genesis, the first book of the Bible and we will finish with a story from Revelations, the last book of the Bible. All of these stories will be teaching us about the love God has for each one of us.

Our first story begins in the  book of Genesis after Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden because of they chose to disobey God.

Bible Lesson

The first book of the Bible, Genesis tells us that about 1500 years after God made Adam and Eve, the world was full of people. But the people had forgotten about God. They did bad things and made God very disappointed.  In Genesis chapter 6 it says that God was very sorry that he had made people on the earth and it made him very, very sad because he loved people.  But he had to stop all the wickedness – all the evil in the world. God decided that he would get rid from the earth people, animals, creeping things and birds of the air because he was sorry that he created them.  But God was very, very happy with the one man that remembered him. Out of all of the people in the whole world, only one person remembered that God had made everything for people because he loved people. This man’s name was Noah.

Noah was a good and kind man and father to 3 boys. Noah loved God and remembered the stories that his father and grandfather had told him about God and God’s love. Noah remembered to thank God every day. He also taught his children about God and they grew up knowing that God loved them. Everyone in Noah’s family prayed and worshipped and thanked God.

God told Noah that he was going to send a flood to cover the whole earth because the whole earth was at war and it was evil. He told Noah to build a great big boat because he would be covering the whole earth with water. Noah was only a farmer but God gave him the skills and instructions on how to build this big boat called an ark. God also promised Noah that his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives would be saved. And two of every animal and 7 of every kind of bird would also be saved.  He also told Noah to get his family to gather every kind of food that was eaten and store it up for all of them. Noah did everything that God told him to.

Genesis 7 says that when the Ark was finally done and God sent all of the animals to come to Noah. It took seven days for all the animals and birds to come. Then drip, drip, drop. It started to rain. God shut the door of the ark once the animals and Noah’s family were safe inside. It rained heavily for forty days and nights. The waters rose and the ark started to float. It floated on the waters high above all of the trees and then even above the highest mountain. Only Noah everything with him in the ark was safe.

Genesis 8 tells us that or 150 days, half a year, the wind blew and the water started to go down. Finally the ark rested on top of a mountain. Then God told Noah that it was safe to go out and he opened the door of the ark. All the animals and Noah’s family left the ark.

Genesis 9 tells us that the first thing Noah did was to thank God.  This pleased God and God promised to Noah that never again would he send a flood to cover the whole earth to destroy it.  God placed a rainbow in the sky so he would never forget his promise. 

This is such a wonderful promise because it is a promise of God’s love for all people and all creation. Just like his love for Noah, God has a very special love for each one of us. God’s love is all around and every time we see a rainbow, we can see God’s great love for us.

     

Crafts

1.      Noah’s Ark Sticker Scene

Materials: Noah’s ark stickers, background sheet

Have children put stickers onto background and make their own noah’s ark scene.

Snack Time

Circle Time

            Song 1 – Theme song “God Made Me Special”

            Song 2 – God made me

            Book “I can do it by myself”

God Made Me Special Activities

            Everyone can do special things with special abilities that God has given us. Some people can sing, some people can play sports, some people can make crafts, some people can play musical instruments. God gave us these abilities. Today, I want us all to take a turn to show and tell something that we can do.

(Each person gets a chance to talk)

Next time we come to class, we are going to do something a little special. I would like for each of you to show us something you have made or show us something you can do. Take some time and talk it over with your parents. Next week we will have show and tell.

 
Closing

                        Closing prayer

Virtue to work on: Using our talents to help others.

God's Greatest Gift to me - Jesus and the Wisemen

Circle Time

            Opening prayer

            Hello song.

Introduction to Bible Lesson

Each one of us is very special to God. The last few weeks we have heard about the wonderful world God created for us. We also learned about the garden that God created for people to live with him in. But Because of Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey, people could no longer live with God. They were sent further out into the world God created and could not live with God anymore because they had sinned. But – God had a special plan. He planned to give a special gift to all people, including you and me, so that we could live with him once again. Let’s hear about God’s special gift to us.

Bible Lesson

 In the desert, wise men were traveling with their camels. On the night that Jesus was born, the wise men looked up into the sky and noticed a very different star. They knew that this star meant a new king had been born. They followed the star all the way to Judea.

The wise men started to ask people where the new king was. When King Herod, the ruler of the land, heard about their inquiries, he called a secret meeting with the wise men. He asked them when the star had appeared and if they had found the child yet. King Herod was very worried because he wanted to stay king. He told the wise men to find the child and to come back and let him know so that he too could worship him.

After the wise men spoke to King Herod, they left to find the child. They didn't know where he was, but they followed the star until it stopped over the place where the child was living.

The wise men were very excited and happy. They found Jesus in Mary's arms and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they gave the gifts that they had brought Jesus. These were very expensive gifts that you would give a king. There was gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Mary thanked them for the gifts.

The wise men decided not to tell Herod about God’s precious gift and left by a different way.

Crafts

1.      Frankincense and Myrrh Christmas Ornaments

Materials: 4 inch round circles of gold material with gold cording threaded through it approx 1 inch in., potpourri, small satin flowers

Put a 1 tbsp potpourri in the center of a material round. Pull the ends of the cording and gather round into a small bag. Stick small flowers onto bag.

2.      Gold Wreath Christmas Ornament

Materials: Gold, pearl and clear craft beads, white chenille stem, gold cording

Children string beads onto chenille stem. Tie into wreath shape. Tie a piece of gold cording on to hang.

Snack Time

Circle Time

            Song 1 – Away in a manger

            Song 2 – We three kings

            Book “The Animal’s Christmas Eve”

Christmas Activities

1.      Nativity Scene

Materials: stickers, nativity scene backgrounds.

Children put stickers on background and make their own nativity scene.

Closing

                        Closing prayer

 Virtue to work on: Thankfulness. Being thankful for every gift we receive.

God's Special Gift To us - Baby Jesus

Circle Time

            Opening prayer

            Hello song.

Introduction to Bible Lesson

Each one of us is very special to God. The last few weeks we have heard about the wonderful world God created for us. We also learned about the garden that God created for people to live with him in. But Because of Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey, people could no longer live with God. They were sent further out into the world God created and could not live with God anymore because they had sinned. But – God had a special plan. He planned to give a special gift to all people, including you and me, so that we could live with him once again. Let’s hear about God’s special gift to us.

Bible Lesson

God loved us so much that he planned a special gift for us. One of the books in the Bible is called Luke. Luke 2:1-20 tells us the story of God’s special gift to us.

Mary was going to have a baby. It was a very special baby, God's son. She and Joseph had to travel far away to Bethlehem because the ruler of the land told everyone that they had to go to the place of their birth to get counted.

When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, they couldn't find a place to stay; however, one innkeeper saw that Mary was going to have a baby and let them stay in the stable with the animals. That night Mary gave birth to Jesus. Mary wrapped him in cloths to keep warm and laid him in the manger for a bed. (A manger is a little box where animal food was put.)

At the same time Jesus was born something else was happening. In a field close by some shepherds were watching their sheep, just as they always did. But tonight was different. The shepherds looked up in the sky and saw a bright light. It was an angel. They were afraid. The angel told them not to be afraid and told them to go to Bethlehem where they would find a baby lying in a manger. Then the shepherds heard a beautiful song. Lots of angels were in the sky singing praises to God. Soon it was very quiet again. The angels went back to heaven and the shepherds were excited about the news. They went to Bethlehem to see for themselves.

When they got there, they found Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. He was lying in the manger just like the angels told them. The shepherds were so excited that they told everyone about baby Jesus, the savior who had been born that day. They told the people about the angels too and everyone believed them. The shepherds went back to their fields to watch over their lambs and they sang praises to God.

When the angel told the shepherds about Jesus, they said that God was telling us he was bringing peace to the earth. When we trust in God, he promises to give us peace too.

Just like God watched over baby Jesus in the manger, God watches over us too. This is because he loves us very much. 

Bible Crafts

1.      Angel Ornament

Materials: doily, gold card, foam hands and face, silver or gold chenille stems, yarn for hair, markers for face, glue

Make body from gold card. Make dress from doily. Glue foam hands to body and dress to body. Draw face on foam circle. Glue to body. Glue hair to face. Make halo out of chenille stems.

Snack Time

Circle Time

            Song 1 – Theme song “God Made Me Special”

            Song 2 – God Made Me

            Book “My little golden book about God”

God Made Me Special Activity

1.      Page 10

My happy heart. Children put foam stickers on page and draw smiley faces on the hearts. Pages are put into book and children can now bring them home.

Closing

                        Closing prayer

Virtue to work on: Thankfulness. Being thankful for every gift we receive.