MEMORY VERSE: 1 Thess. 5:17 (If there is extra time at the end of class, have children trace one of their hands and write the memory verse on it to take home to practice. Children should also be able to say where the verse is found in the Bible - 1 Thess. 5:17.)
BOOK TO REMEMBER: "Genesis" - The first book of the Old Testament and the first book of the whole Bible.
PRAYER: Remember to thank God for listening to our prayers and giving us those things that we need.
SPECIAL SONGS: "Books of the Old Testament" (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog) and "How Does God Talk To Us?"
HOW DOES GOD TALK TO US?
How does God talk to us?
The Bible is His way.
How do we talk to Him?
We bow our heads and pray!
VISUAL AID: Take or find pictures of people praying. Attach them to your chalkboard or wall. It is nice when the pictures are large enough for all to see. Enlargements can be made at an office supply store or copy center for a minimal price.
LESSON POINTS:
- Do you remember from last week how God talks to us today? That's right! Only through the Bible! He doesn't talk to us through our dreams at night or by giving us a vision or He doesn't talk to us like I'm talking to you right now. He doesn't call us up on the cell phone and talk to us. How does God talk to you? Only through the Bible!
- So, now we know how God talks to us, but how how do we talk to Him? Do we write Him a letter? No. Do we call Him up on the cell phone? No. We talk to God through prayer! We can fold our hands together--can you do that? Yes, you can! We can close our lips. Can you do that, too? Yes, you can! We can bow our heads like this...we can close our eyes...then we can talk to Him with our words!
- What should we say to God? The Bible says we can tell God how great He is. (Heb. 13:15) Is God great? Yes! He created this whole world and the sky and the ocean and everything! He is very great! Do you like it when your mom or dad tells you about all the good things you have done for them? Of course! God likes to hear us tell Him that we notice how beautiful everything is and how we like the rain and the sunshine and we know that He made all those things just for us.
- We can also say, "Thank you!" to God. (Col. 3:17) We can say thank you for the food that He gives us--not just one time when we eat our food, but every time we eat, even in a restaurant or McDonald's. God loves us even more when we are thankful! We can thank Him for the shelter He provides for us. What is 'shelter?' It is our home where we are safe and loved and don't get rained on. We can say thank you for the people that we love and that love us back. We can say thank you for us not being sick, that we are able to walk around, that we can go to school, and that we live in a safe country. There are many, many things that we can thank God for! Can you think of something?
- Did you know that we can ask God for things, too? (Mt. 6:12; 7:7,8) We can ask Him to help our friends who are sick, to protect our soldiers who are far away from us, and to help us with a problem we might have. God listens to our prayers and he answers our prayers, too. Sometimes He answers, "Yes," but sometimes He answers, "No." Why would God say no to something we have asked for? (Might be unsafe, too extravagant, etc.) The Bible says that we can ask Him for forgiveness for the bad things that we might have done. We must be really sorry for what we did and choose to never do that again. We ask God to erase that bad thing and the Bible say He will forgive us. We can talk to God and He will listen when nobody else will listen. God is a good God!
- Let's pray right now, so we will know how to pray when we get home.
Materials needed: White typing paper, any color construction paper, glue, scissors, crayon
- Children trace both hands on white paper.
- Children cut out both hands.
- Glue hands on construction paper, overlapping.
- Children write "How We Talk To God" and 1 Thess. 5:17 on colored construction paper.
- It's fine if the hands are not carefully cut out and are missing fingers. That is what makes this project sweet!