1 0 S e s s i o n God Makes a Covenant With Abram Genesis 15:1-18 Worship Theme: God knows everything. Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will worship God for knowing everything and trust his plans. Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Sing KidsOwn Worship Kit: Let’s Praise • “Trust in the Lord” (Proverbs 3:5-6) (track 12) Songs From FaithWeaver • “Holy, Holy, Holy” (track 5) Classroom Supplies: God! • “God Is Our Help” (Psalm 33:20) (track 18) CD player, paper, pencils (up to 25 minutes) • “He Leadeth Me” (track 14) • “He Remains Faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13) (track 8) Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies What’s Inside? Classroom Supplies: Make predictions about what’s inside several Boxes, marker, items to be guessed, tape boxes. Let’s Learn the Point! Like Stars Classroom Supplies: Hear a story about Abram and God. 1 star sticker per child (up to 25 minutes) * Which Color? Classroom Supplies: Guess the colors of M&M’s candies. 2 M&M’s per child 124 FaithWeaver • Fall Quarter Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies Like the Stars KidsOwn Worship Kit: Hear the story of God promising Abram that he Glow-in-the-Dark Stars would have descendants as numerous as the Classroom Supplies: stars in the sky. Black plastic, duct tape Let’s Learn * The Potter and the Clay Classroom Supplies: the Point! Talk about making things with clay and how God Modeling clay (up to 25 minutes) is like a potter and people are the clay. * “Wilma Rudolph” KidsOwn Worship Kit: Watch a video about Wilma Rudolph. KidsOwn Worship DVD: “Wilma Rudolph” Classroom Supplies: TV, DVD player Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies The Offering KidsOwn Worship Kit: Offer their gifts to God. Songs From FaithWeaver: “He Remains Faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13) (track 8) Classroom Supplies: Offering bowls, CD player Let’s Pray! Great Questions (up to 10 minutes) Ask God questions in prayer. Like the Stars KidsOwn Worship Kit: Consider the plans God has made, and thank Glow-in-the-Dark Paint Pen God for them. Classroom Supplies: 1 index card per child * Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together. Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Let’s Learn the Point! Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities. Session 10 • KidsOwn Worship 125 Bible Background for Leaders God Makes a Covenant With Abram Genesis 15:1-18 Abram had just returned from defeating a coalition of Another interesting note is that each type of animal kings to rescue his nephew, Lot, and the Lord appeared to that was sacrificed was later used for a particular kind of him in a vision. Notice that in Haran God simply spoke to sacrifice: the heifer for the Day of Atonement, the goat for Abram; later in Canaan God appeared before Abram; now certain festivals, the ram for a guilt offering, and the dove God appeared in a lengthy vision. With each meeting, God’s for purification. plan for Abram became a bit clearer. God’s listing of all the things that were to come for Now God’s first words to Abram were words of comfort. Abram’s descendants accomplished at least two things: First, Abram had just won a big military victory; he wasn’t likely it confirmed that God’s promise would come true because afraid of any foes. What was bothering Abram, and what God could see the results more than 400 years in the future. God addressed, was Abram’s continuing lack of a son to be Second, it assured Abram that even though his people would his heir. So in response to God’s words of comfort, Abram endure hardship, they would eventually possess the land as poured out his heart. The name Abram used in his cry to God God had promised. God assured Abram that he had a plan is literally “Lord of mercy.” Abram was pleading with God to for his people—a good plan that was sure to come true! bless him in this one area in which he had not received God’s promised blessing. Devotion for Leaders When God assured Abram by restating his promise that Abram would have his own son, Abram responded in faith. God, your plans are perfect. We thank you for Jesus, He believed God, and God declared him righteous because who revealed your plans and helped us see that when of his faith! Nothing that Abram could do in obedience to we follow your direction, you’re with us at every step. God could make him righteous, but his faith in God did! Weaving Faith Into Your Life: When have you recognized God’s plans for you? It’s a special feeling To give Abram complete assurance, God made a covenant when God guides you. Sometimes it’s scary if you aren’t with him. In those days a covenant was a very serious thing. sure you can do what God asks you to do. But when The cutting in half of animals described in Genesis 15:10 was God leads you, he helps you through. Share with your to signify that the same would happen to any party breaking students how God has directed you and how it felt to the covenant. Notice, however, that Abram wasn’t asked to follow him. Encourage them that God’s plans are the pass between the animals, which would have sealed his best direction. commitment to the covenant. Only God, symbolized by the smoking firepot and blazing torch, passed and sealed God’s commitment to the covenant. Only God was required to fulfill the covenant. 126 FaithWeaver • Fall Quarter Why We Worship for Leaders God’s knowledge is unparalleled. There is nothing that’s a mystery to him. He understands everything that is unfathomable to us. He understands calculus and physics; he knows where the edges of the universe are; he knows what there was before the universe existed. God understands not only the deep, big mysteries, but also the smallest detail. He knows the thoughts and motivations of people; he knows about each hurt and joy we experience; he knows when a swallow falls from the sky. Such a God is to be trusted and worshipped. WEB Easy Prep for Leaders Like the Stars—If you took down the Glow-in-the-Dark Stars from Session 2, you’ll need to mount them on the ceiling of your meeting area again. “Wilma Rudolph”—Set up a TV and DVD player. Prepare the KidsOwn Worship DVD to play the clip titled “Wilma Rudolph” (8). You’ll want to watch it at least once before the children arrive. Preschool Activities—Refer to the preschool pages for preparations. Web Help—Get bonus leader tips and ideas at kidsownworship.com. Let’s Praise God! Play Songs From FaithWeaver, Fall 2011 as children arrive. Designate greeters to welcome children, particularly any newcomers, at the entrance to the room. Set out pencils and paper. As children enter the room, invite them to make these folded paper toys. Many children will know these by the name “fortunetellers,” but they’re also called cootie-catchers in some parts of the country. Most children will know how to make these, but you can use the following instructions to help children who don’t know how to make them. Step 1: Take one corner of the paper, and fold it over to the opposite edge of the paper. Step 2: Crease the small rectangular piece that sticks out beyond the folded part of the paper, and tear it off. Step 3: Unfold the paper so it lies flat—it should form a square. Fold in each corner to the center. Step 4: Turn the paper over, and fold in each corner to the center again. Step 5: Fold the small square in half and crease. Then unfold it, fold it in half in the other direction, and crease. Then unfold it again. Step 6: Number each of the small triangles (1 through 8). Step 7: Unfold the triangles. On each triangle of the square, write one of these words: “yes,” “no,” “not likely,” “try again,” “never,” “maybe,” “yes,” and “no.” Session 10 • KidsOwn Worship 127 Step 8: Refold the triangles. Then fold the square in half. Insert your thumb and index finger into the outer triangles, and gently pull the cootie-catcher out. By moving your thumbs and fingers out and in, you can make the cootie-catcher move to reveal the numbers in the center triangles. When everyone has arrived and made a paper toy, welcome the children. As you all came in to worship today, you made paper toys that some people call fortunetellers and other people call cootie- catchers. • Have any of you ever made these before? What do you use them for? (Yes, they tell how something’s going to turn out; yes, they’re just for fun; no, but they look like fun.) Today, we’re going to call them future-guessers. Let’s see how they work in guessing what’s in our future today. Get with a partner, and try to find out what will happen after worship today. One partner will work a future-guesser, and the other will ask questions that the future-guesser will answer. If you’re the one asking questions, start by saying a number between 1 and 10. Your partner will move the future-guesser in and out that many times. Then say a color. Your partner will spell that color as he or she moves the future-guesser in and out for each letter. Then ask a “yes or no” question—”Will we eat dinner at Taco Bell today?” for example—and pick a number between 1 and 8. Your partner will look under that number, and that’s what the answer will be. Then switch roles and ask the future- guesser another question. Give the children a couple of minutes to try to tell the future with their future- guessers. Then have the children put the future-guessers aside. • What did the future-guessers tell you would happen after worship today? (I would play my PlayStation; my brother would play football with me; my sister would help me with homework.) • Do you think the future-guessers gave you reliable information about the future? Why or why not? (No, my parents never let me play PlayStation after church; yes, my sister’s really nice; yes, they’re usually right.) • Do you think the future-guessers really know what’s going to happen? (No, they’re just lucky; no, they’re not smart enough.) • Would you trust the future-guessers if you needed to make a big decision? Why or why not? (No, they’d lead me the wrong way; yes, they’ve been right before; no, you have to think and pray about big decisions.) It might be fun if we could predict what was going to happen in the future, and sometimes it’d be really great if we could use something like a future-guesser to help us make really tough decisions. But it’s not a good idea for us to trust a future- guesser—it’s really just a piece of paper without any special 128 FaithWeaver • Fall Quarter powers. The Bible tells us that it’s silly for us to trust in things like this that are man-made because God himself is ready to help us and guide us. And God knows everything! It’s much better to trust the One who knows everything that ever happened in the past and knows everything that will ever happen in the future. Today we’re worshipping God because he knows everything. Let’s sing about trusting in an all-knowing God. All song lyrics are at the back of this book. Sing “Trust in the Lord” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Track 12 God is the only one in the whole world—in the whole universe—who knows everything. That is one of the reasons we call him holy. Holy means clean and right, but it also means “one of a kind.” God is the one-of-a-kind God who knows everything. We’ve learned a song called, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” It talks about God’s holiness, his mercy, and his strength or might. The fact that God knows everything makes him holy, or one-of-a- kind. Let’s think about that while we sing “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Sing “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Track 5 Before the next song, explain the difference between the past, the present, and the future. Use motions in each explanation. For “future,” reach as far in front of you as you can with your hand. For “present” or “now,” either point down or place your hands with your palms down in front of you to denote this current time. For “past,” reach as far behind you as you can with your hand. Let the children mimic your motions. Then list events, and have children motion to indicate whether the event happened in the past, is happening now, or will happen in the future. After naming each event, ask if God knows or knew about that event. Here are some examples: • The conversation we are having right now • Someday when you go to high school • Your supper last night • School next year • When Jesus lived on earth • Yesterday • Tomorrow God knows about everything in the past, everything that is happening now, and everything that will happen. That’s good news, but here is the best news: This great and mighty and holy God, who knows everything and can do everything, has plans for us. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ “ Isn’t it great to know that a God who knows everything and can do everything is on our side and wants the best for us? Wow! Let’s sing about God’s power, and let’s worship him for caring about our past, our present, and our future. Session 10 • KidsOwn Worship 129 Sing “God Is Our Help” (Psalm 33:20). Track 18 There is no one better to help us find our way in life than God, who can do anything and knows everything that is going to happen and cares about our lives. God even has a plan for our lives. We still get to make choices, but we can trust God to lead us and help us make decisions. Do you remember the song we learned called “He Leadeth Me”? This is a song about trusting God to help us know his plan for our lives. One line says, “Whate’er I do, where’er I be, still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.” That’s an older way of saying, “Whatever happens or wherever I am, God will lead me.” God will help us know what to do and will help us not to miss the good things he has planned for us. Sing “He Leadeth Me.” Track 14 It’s hard for us to really understand what it means to say that God knows everything. Let’s do an activity that’ll help us understand what it means. There’s a verse in the Bible that says God even knows how many hairs grow on our heads. Get with the same partner you had at the beginning of our worship time, carefully hold a small section of your friend’s hair, and count each strand. Give kids a few minutes to do this. Then get everyone’s attention. Now let’s see how well we remember how many strands of hair some people in our group have. Invite several kids to tell how many strands of hair their partners counted. Make sure you invite enough children that it will be hard for kids to remember the exact numbers. After they’ve told how many strands of hair were counted, ask the rest of the group questions such as, “How many hairs did Jordan’s partner count on his head?” “How many hairs did Madison’s partner count?” • Why did we have such a hard time remembering how many hairs these people have? (There were a lot of numbers; there’s no way to know how many hairs everyone has.) • How do you think God can remember all the things he knows? (God knows everything; God is so amazing he can remember all that.) God knows exactly how many hairs you have on your head. And when you brush your hair every morning and some of your hair comes out, God knows the new number of hairs you have on your head. Plus God knows all the baseball statistics, how much water is in all the oceans, and exactly what will happen to you every day of your life. Isn’t that incredible? We serve an amazing God. And what’s even better is that God is faithful to us. He faithfully cares for us, faithfully loves us, and faithfully plans what’s best for us. Let’s sing “He Remains Faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13). Sing “He Remains Faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13). Track 8 130 FaithWeaver • Fall Quarter Our faithful God, who knows everything that’s ever happened or ever will happen, is worthy of our praise. Let’s praise God in prayer. God, we praise you with our hands, with our feet, and with our voices because you are great and mighty. You know everything, and you’re faithful to us. We know we can trust you to take care of us. Help us now to learn more about you. In Jesus’ name, amen. Let’s Learn the Point! Preschool Activities, pages 133-134 At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let’s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They will work well with both elementary and preschool children. Elementary Activities Like the Stars There was a man in the Bible who found out that he could trust God’s knowledge. This man’s name was Abram. He was married to Sarai. When Abram was 75 years old, God promised that he would give land to Abram’s descendants, but Abram didn’t have any children. Still, Abram trusted God. Some time later, God appeared to Abram during the night. This time, God said to Abram, “I am your protection, and I will give you a great reward.” But Abram was disappointed because he still didn’t have the children God had promised him. He said, “But God, what good will it do for you to give me a reward? I have no children. When I die, there will be no one to inherit your good gift.” Then God said to Abram, “Abram, you really will have a child, a son who will inherit all you have. Come outside. I have something to show you.” Abram went outside, and God said to him, “Abram, look up into the nighttime sky.” Turn off the lights so the Glow-in-the-Dark Stars on the ceiling glow. God said, “Abram, there are so many stars in the nighttime sky that it’s impossible for you to count them all. I promise that you’ll have a child. And your descendants—grandchildren Session 10 • KidsOwn Worship 131 and great-grandchildren—will be so many that they’ll be as numerous as the stars in the nighttime sky.” When Abram heard this, he believed God. Abram knew that God knows everything. Abram knew that God could be trusted, so Abram put his faith in God. And what God said really was true. In time, Abram did have a son. And that son grew up and had children. After many years, Abram’s descendants were as numerous as the stars in the sky. God could tell Abram the truth about what would happened in the future because God knows everything that has happened and everything that ever will happen. * The Potter and the Clay Have kids form discussion groups of three to four. If each group will have a teenage or adult helper, you can have kids form groups of five to six. Give each group a hunk of modeling clay or Play-Doh. You have two minutes to think of all the different things you could make with this modeling clay. Pass the clay around your group. As each person holds the clay, he or she will mention something you could make out of the clay. Think up all kinds of ordinary things and wild and crazy things you could make with it. Ready? Here we go! Give the children two minutes to brainstorm. If time permits and you have enough clay, let kids mold some of their ideas and share them with the group. • How many ideas did your group come up with? (Only a few, but they were good ones; we had a lot of ideas.) • What were some of the ordinary ideas you had? (A house; people; cubes; jewelry.) • What were some of the wild and crazy ideas you had? (Aliens; a video game system.) Each group had a hunk of clay that was pretty much the same as every other group’s clay. And every group came up with a ton of really different ideas about what could be made from the clay. The Bible talks about clay and what it can become. The Bible says we are like clay and that God is like the potter—the one who makes things with the clay. • What do you think it means that God is the potter and we are the clay? (God makes us into something beautiful; God forms us into who we are.) • What do you think will happen when we ask God each day to mold us like clay? (We’ll follow God; God’s plans will come true in our lives.) (continued on page 135) 132 FaithWeaver • Fall Quarter Preschool Activities God Makes a Covenant With Abram Session10 Genesis 15:1-18 Worship Theme: Using Theo God knows everything. Consider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways: Easy Prep for Leaders • Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the What’s Inside?—You’ll need a marker and several boxes or bags with various main worship area to the items inside. For example, you might put a natural item such as pine cones inside preschool room. one box and small, metal toy cars in another. Try to provide at least five different • Have Theo predict boxes, and make sure the items inside will make different sounds when the boxes what’s inside the boxes are shaken. Tape the boxes shut so the children can’t peek inside. during the “What’s Inside?” activity. • See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today’s worship session. What’s Inside? After a few minutes, Now let’s see if we guessed correctly. Have the children sit in a circle. Put the boxes in the center of Remove the tape, and look inside each box. the circle. • Did any of us guess correctly? I wonder what’s in these boxes. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s inside without looking • Why do you think it was so tough to know inside. what was inside the boxes? • What do you think might be inside these boxes? We had lots of ideas about what might be in the boxes, but none of us knew for sure until • What can we do to help us figure out what’s we opened them up and saw what was inside. inside these boxes? But there is someone who knew from the very If the children don’t mention shaking the boxes, you can beginning what was in these boxes. Even though suggest it. Other ideas are to feel how heavy they are or smell the boxes were closed up tight, God knew what was inside because God knows everything. Let’s them. Have the children take turns investigating the boxes. As listen to a story about a time God told a man the children make predictions about what’s inside, write their what would happen to him in the future. ideas on the boxes or bags. Like Stars on your gifts to him. Since I have no children, though, I don’t want anything.” A long, long time ago, there was a man named Then God said to Abram, “But Abram, you will Abram. He was married to Sarai. They were have a child! In fact, I have something to show very, very old. But they were also very sad you. Come outside.” because they didn’t have any children. For So God and Abram went outside, and God told many years, they’d wished for a baby, but they Abram to look up into the nighttime sky. still didn’t have one. • What do you see in the sky at night? One day God appeared to Abram. God said, “Abram, I will protect you, and I will give you a God said to Abram, “Look at the heavens and great reward.” count the stars. You’ll have so many children that they’ll be like the stars in the sky—so But Abram was so sad about not having any many that it will be hard to count them.” children that he said, “God, it doesn’t matter what you give me. If I had a child, I could pass Session 10 • KidsOwn Worship 133