Lesson on Faith and Obedience: God Calls Abraham

The Bible lesson for this week is about "God Calls Abraham." In this lesson, we will explore how Abraham demonstrated his faith and obedience to God. Though there are many stories that have happened along the life of Abraham that shows his faith, we will focus for now only on the account in Genesis 12:1-7.

Would anyone of you kids dare to do something you are not sure of? How about walking the tightrope? Would you walk a tightrope? Sometimes, it is difficult to do something when we are not sure of what the results would be. But, being able to do so is a demonstration of one's faith or belief or trust.

Our story for today is about a man who did something because he believed. The man's name is Abram. One day, God told him to leave his country, his people, his father's household and go to a place He will show him. Then, God promised to bless him. He said "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing."

Do you think that was easy for Abram to do? Would you go to a place you do not know? Why or why not? Would you leave your family and friends? Is moving all your stuff easy?

It may not be an easy decision but the Bible says Abram left as the Lord had told him. Abram was 75 years old then and he brought his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot and all the possessions he owned and the people he acquired.  When Abram and his companions reached Shechem, the Lord said "To your offspring I will give land." So Abram built an altar to the Lord and thanked Him.

Because Abram obeyed God, God truly blessed him in the land where God told him to go.

KIDS DISCUSSION
Who did God talk to? What did He say?
How did Abram respond to God's command?
What lessons can we learn from the story of Abram? (Mention: We must believe and obey God. If we obey God, He will bless us. Sometimes, it's not easy to do what God asks us to do, but we must obey.)
How can we show our obedience to God? (Mention: Know what the Bible says. Do what the Bible says. Obey our parents, etc.)

MEMORY VERSE: 

By faith, Abraham obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ~ Hebrews 11:8
For we walk by faith not by sight. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:7

KIDS ACTIVITY:

1. Abraham's journey coloring page. 
2. Color, Cut and Scramble the Bible Verse.  Page 1. Page 2. The kids can play a game using these. Two groups of children can arrange the words to form the verse. Each child will have one piece and one by one they will put their piece in the right place. The first to finish wins.
3. Role playing. The kids can do a role play of the story of Abraham. The kids can bring their things (like their bags, water bottle), then they go round and round and round the room until they stop at a certain place and there rest and thank God as Abram did when he reached Shechem.

The Story of the Tower of Babel

What are the different languages you know? English, Spanish, German, Chinese, Italian, Filipino? Why do we have different languages? We can find the answer to this question in Genesis 11:1-9.

After the flood, God told Noah to be fruitful, increase in number and fill the earth. But when they have increased in number, the people decided to stay in one place, in the plain of Shinar. Then the people said to each other that they will make bricks and build a tower.  They said that they will build a tower that reaches up to the heavens so that they will make a name for themselves and not be scattered over all the earth.

But the Lord did not approve of this plan of theirs. During this time, people still speak one common language.  Then God confused the language of the people so that they did not understand each other. They stopped building the tower and began to scatter throughout the earth.  Thus, the tower was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.

KIDS DISCUSSION
1. What did God command Noah and his descendants?
2. Did the people obey this command?  What did they do?
3. What is wrong about building the tower? shows man's rebellion and pride
4. How did God feel about the men building the tower?
5. What did he do about it and what was the result?

MEMORY VERSE: James 4:6
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

KIDS ACTIVITY
1. Ask the kids to color the Tower of Bable coloring page.

2. Using Building blocks. If the kids have building blocks to play with they can play a game. Two or three groups of kids can be given the same number of blocks and they build the tallest tower they can as fast as they could. The one who finishes first is the winner. Alternatively, if you don't have building blocks, you can just use plastic cups in playing the game.

3. The children can also review the lesson by role-playing. They can retell the stories by doing what the people in the story did. There should be a narrator and someone who will do the role of God. They can also use the building blocks or stacks of cups as props.

The Story of Cain and Abel

Next to the story about the Disobedience of Adam and Eve is the story of Cain and Abel found in Genesis 4:1-12.

Cain is the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. He grew up to be a farmer. Later, Cain had a brother named Abel and he grew up to be a shepherd.  Then came the time when both Cain and Abel brought an offering to the Lord.  Cain brought some of the fruits of his harvest while Abel brought the best of his sheep. God was pleased with Abel's offering but not with Cain's.

Want this coloring page? Download the Image by CCXpistiavos from Pixabay

The Disobedience of Adam and Eve

Last week, the children learned about the Beginning of Creation.  They saw that God created everything man needed first then He created Adam and Eve.  For this week's lesson, the children will learn what happened to Adam and Eve. 

(You can use the story sequencing card of the story of Adam and Eve from DLTK as a visual aid. Then, read Genesis 2:4 - 3:24)

Tell the story of how God created Adam - Gen 2:7  

You may use clay to illustrate how it was like for God to form man from the dust of the ground then breathe on it.

Tell what God told Adam after He put him in the garden - Gen 2:15-17

God told Adam to take care of Eden and he can eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Tell what God did when He saw that Adam was alone - Gen. 2:18-22

God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, so God created Eve.

Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing / CC BY-SA 

Tell about the day when the serpent talked to Eve. What did they talk about? - Gen 3:1-5

There was a serpent in the garden that talked to Eve. The serpent tricked Eve into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve also gave Adam the fruit which he ate.

Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing / CC BY-SA 

Tell what happened to Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God. - Gen. 3:7-24

What Adam and Eve did was wrong. They covered themselves with fig leaves because they realized that they were naked. When God came, they hid. Because they disobeyed God, God punished them. Eve will have more pain in childbearing, while Adam had work hard to grow food from the soil.  They were also asked to leave the garden of Eden.

Ask the children what lesson they learned about the story of Adam and Eve.  Emphasize that we should always obey God and that sin has its consequences.  Ask also the children how they can practice what they have learned from the story.

It would be good also to let the children retell the story. Let them use the story sequencing cards.

MEMORY VERSE: Psalm 119:10
I will seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.


KIDS ACTIVITY :
God Made Me.  Let the children draw a portrait of themselves and let them write below their picture "God Made Me" or "I am Special".

Role Playing.  For older children, they can also do a role playing of the story.

Snake paper chain.  For some handicraft, the kids can make this snake paper chain and use it as a reminder that they should listen to God and not to the serpent.

KIDS SONG:  Sing this song to the tune of  A Hunting We Will Go

God made the bird
God made the bird
God made everything
God made the bird.

Then substitute "the bird" for names of other animals or the names of the kids.

Related Lesson: The Mark of Disobedience

Lesson on Faith and Obedience - Noah's Ark

This story happened a long time ago, God became very sad about His world.  The people were bad and unkind.  The only good people left were Noah and his family.  God told Noah that a great flood was coming, so Noah and his three sons went to work building an enormous ark.  The cruel people laughed at Noah but he did not mind.

When the ark was finished, God told Noah to round up and take on board pairs of all animals that lived on earth.  Two elephants, two zebras, two lions - two of every kind.  "Hurry up!" Noah said.  "The rain is beginning to fall."  Then the rain began to fall harder and harder, pitter, patter, until the ark was afloat.

It rained for forty days and forty nights and the water of the flood covered the whole earth.  At last, the rain stopped.  Noah sent out a dove and it returned with a green leaf on its beak.  This told Noah that the flood was going down and there was some dry land.

The ark gently came to rest on a mountain top.  Then Noah opened the door and all the birds and animals came out.  Noah thanked God for keeping his family and the animals safe.  God made a rainbow in the sky as a sign of hope and promise that He will not destroy the earth again by water.

Read the whole story of Noah and the Ark:  Genesis 6:1-9:17

KIDS DISCUSSION:
1.  Why were Noah and his family saved when the great rains came? How about the other people, why were they not saved?
2.  How do you think Noah and his family felt when the rains kept coming down day after day? What would it have been like to have been shut up with so many animals for so long?
3.  Do you know why God gave the first rainbow?  Does God keep His promises?

MEMORY VERSE:  Hebrew 11:7
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not seen prepared an ark for the saving of his household.

KIDS' ACTIVITY
Make a Noah and the Ark Story Book.  Color the pages that can be printed from this page then staple them together.  Use it in telling the story to the kids.

Play Animal Sounds.  Tell the name of animals that can be found in Noah's ark and the children will say the sound it makes or vice versa.

Color an Ark and a Rainbow.  Print out the template from this page.  This activity helps teach the kids about the different colors of the rainbow.

Make an Obedience Ark:  The complete instructions for this activity can be found on this page.  Print the template, ask the kids to cut out strips of brown paper, then glue the strips on the ark.  After the glue has dried, ask the kids to write about things they can do to show how they can obey God.

The Marks of Disobedience

Photo credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivewires/ / CC BY 2.0

There is an old, old story about a father who had great difficulty in making his boy obey. The boy did wrong in spite of all that the father could say or do. One day the father said to the boy, "Here is the shed door, now every time you do wrong I am going to pound a nail into the door."

One by one the nails were pounded into the door, until it was literally filled with nails. The boy did not like the looks of the door, the thought of it began to trouble his conscience. So he spoke to his father about it. "Well," said his father, "I'll tell you what we will do. Every time you are obedient, every time you do a good deed rather than a wrong one, we will pull a nail out." The bargain was struck, and as, one by one, the nails were driven in, so, one by one, they were pulled out.

Finally the day arrived when there was but one nail left. You can imagine the joy of the boy when he and his father went together to pull that nail out. With great glee the claws of the hammer were fastened about the head of Mr. Nail and, jerk, out he came.

"Oh," exclaimed the boy, "the marks are left." Yes, it was true, for every nail driven in and pulled out a mark was left, and it was an ugly looking door. "That is the sad thing about it all," said the father, "every time you do an evil deed a mark is left upon the life. It is never the same as if the evil deed had not been committed. It is fine that we have all the nails out, but it would have been much better had they never been driven in."

Relate this object lesson to the story of Adam and Eve's disobedience (Genesis 3).  What mark did their disobedience leave for us to remember?  death, sin, no tree of life, pain in childbearing, work to eat, etc.  Share also the blessings of what Jesus did on the cross. 

MEMORY VERSE:  Romans 5:12

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—

KIDS CRAFT: 
Make a mini-book of the story of Adam and Eve.  Go to DLTK for templates and instructions.
Apple Stamp Craft:  Tell the children to follow carefully the instructions because "Obedience makes things beautiful."

Hear and Obey God's Call

God calls each one of you. He asks you to give your life to him. He has a special work for you to do. You have heard of Wendell Phillips who did so much to make slavery unlawful in America! When He was still a 14-year old boy, he heard Lyman Beecher preach. In one of his sermons, the preacher said, "You belong to God." The boy Wendell thought that the preacher looked straight at him when he said that. He went to his home at the close of the service, climbed the stairs to his room, shut the door, and knelt in prayer, saying, "O God, I belong to You, take what is Your own." He heard and answered God's call.

Many, many years before Wendell Phillips lived, there was another boy. His name was Samuel.  He worked in the temple. He was a young assistant to the High Priest Eli. I suppose he ran errands for him, and performed any and every service about the temple that Eli desired.

One night, as usual, the boy went to bed and fell asleep. As he slept, he heard a voice calling him. Now he was an obedient boy, and though it was hard for him to get himself up from a sound sleep and leave his comfortable bed, he did so.

He ran to Eli saying, "Here I am, you called me, what do you want?" Eli said, "No, my boy, I did not call you, go back to bed." The boy returned to his bed and again went to sleep. A second time, and even a third time he was called. Each time the faithful, obedient Samuel leaped from his bed and ran to the minister.

On the third time, Eli realized that the voice the lad heard was the voice of God, calling him to himself and to his special service. Being a wise and loving man he said to the boy, "Return to your bed, and if you hear the call again, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening'" The boy did as instructed and that night was forever memorable in his life, for that was the night God called Samuel and Samuel answered.


MEMORY VERSE: 1 Samuel 3: 10
The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"  Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."

KIDS ACTIVITY:  

• Play the telephone game. Form 2 groups with about 4-5 kids each.  Whisper the verse or a sentence like "I will listen to my parents and obey" to the first person and they must whisper it to the next person. Then, that person whisper it to the next person etc. until it gets to the last person who must share out loud what the verse or sentence is. Hopefully, it will be correct.
• Play Jesus says.  You will give instructions to the kids starting with the phrase "Jesus says" like Jesus says clap your hands or jump 3 times and the kids should do it.  If you say an instruction without "Jesus says", they should not do it.  If they do it, they will be disqualified.  See how attentive the kids are and obedient to what you are saying.  Then talk about how we should listen to God and obey Him.
• Coloring Page of Samuel listening to God.
• Take home Activity - Samuel Listens to God

Two R's and an A - Responding to God's Word

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abcdz2000/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Do you know what week this is? We have all sorts of weeks, don't we! There is Sunday School week, Go to Church week, Boy Scout week, Red Cross week, Social Welfare week, Hospital week, Y.W.C.A. and Y.M.C.A. week. Sometimes we wish we could have one week all to ourselves.

Well, this is a special week. It is called Good Literature week. I want to tell you about Good Literature week by the use of these three letters, two R's and an A.

The first R stands for Read. By all means read. There is no excuse for not reading, there is so much to read. Indeed I think that is the chief difficulty, we have too much, at least too much of that which is not good to read. Here's the bulky daily paper. When it is delivered there is a rush for it. The children want the comic section. So do some of the grown-ups.

"A little nonsense now and then,
Is relished by the wisest men."

That is true, and all right, but read something beside the comics.

The second R is Remember. You cannot remember all that you read. You can remember much. You should train your mind to remember the best. John Ruskin, one of the most gifted of Englishmen, said, "To this I owe all that I have of power, to the fact that when I was a boy my mother made me learn, every day, and remember, a verse of the Bible."

Now the A. The A stands for, can you guess? It means Action. Read, remember what you read, and then apply it, put it into action. It is a fine thing to read a story like Pollyanna and get all excited over it. It is much finer to read Pollyanna and then put her spirit into action in the daily life of the home.

MEMORY VERSE: Psalm 119: 11
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

KIDS ACTIVITY
Visit Kids Sunday School dot com to find lots of activity like games, crafts, skits and songs that reinforces teaching the importance of hiding God's Word in our hearts. Just click on the free resources provided by the site that is marked by a blue dot on the left.