Unit 3 Session 1 the promise reaffirmed

Craft: Jacob's ladder

Verse:  

 AND HE DREAMED, AND BEHOLD, THERE WAS A
 LADDER SET UPON THE EARTH, AND THE TOP OF IT REACHED TO HEAVEN. AND BEHOLD, THE ANGELS OF GOD WERE ASCENDING AND DESCENDING ON IT!
GENESIS 28:12

Supplies needed:

strips of paper (1’’ thick and 11’’ long), tape, scissors.

Instructions: 

 1. YOU WILL NEED
TWO STRIPS OF
PAPER.

2. TAPE OR GLUE
THE STRIPS
TOGETHER MAKING
A RIGHT ANGLE.

3. FOLD THE BOTTOM STRIP OVER THE TOP STRIP AGAIN AND AGAIN. STEP BY STEP IT WILL FORM JACOBS LADDER.
 

 4. WHEN YOU GET
TO THE END OF THE PAPER STRIPS, CUT OFF ANY EXCESS AND GLUE OR TAPE THE ENDS. 

Purpose: God's wonderful promise to Abraham to make great nation from him was passed down to his son and his grandsons. Jacob was reminded of the promise though a dream or a ladder to heaven. God keeps his promises and just when we forget he is there to remind us just how great he is. I love the covenant God made with Abraham because it was not about Abraham at all. God made a covenant with himself and that just amazes me. Just the amount of love God has for us blows me away. God keeps his promises and he is active in our lives.

Unit 2 Session 3 God tested Abraham

craft: cotton ball ram

verse:
For you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
                                          James 1:3

Supplies needed: Ram template (i obviously found one on the internet...got to love Google search!), cotton balls, glue, markers.

Instructions:
1. GET A BLANK RAM PAPER.

2. GET 8 TO 10 COTTON BALLS AND STRETCH THEM OUT A LITTLE BIT.

3. GLUE THEM ON THE RAM TO MAKE HIM FLUFFY.
older kids can cut ram out first if they want to. if you need more bust work...cutting the whole thing out is a great idea.

Purpose: God is always swooping in and saving the day! This story is no exception! God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, the son he had been waiting and waiting for. The last thing that Abraham wanted to do was kill his son...but he was obedient. They walked up that mountain the wood for the fire on Issac's back, Abraham knowing that he would be walking back down alone. What a solemn time.   BUT GOD!!!!  provided a perfect ram to be sacrificed in the place of Issac. This has story has so many parallels to Jesus it is crazy.  Jesus is our perfect lamb. The perfect lamb that took our place on that cross. Our spotless lamb that took all of our spots and washed us clean with his precious blood. We are white as wool. Thank you Jesus!!!

Unit 2 Session 2 The sons of Abraham

Craft: Play Dough baby

  Verse: IS ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR THE LORD?
 AT THE APPOINTED TIME I WILL RETURN TO YOU,
ABOUT THIS TIME NEXT YEAR, AND SARAH
SHALL HAVE A SON.
GENESIS 18:14


Supplies needed: several colors of play dough (store bought or home made).

Instructions: shape a baby using the play dough.

Purpose: Issac, son of laughter...it is pretty laughable to think about at 99 year old woman give birth, but hey it happened and a whole nation followed. I really love that we can look in scripture and see God fulfilling his promises. No matter how long it takes they are always fulfilled. No matter how much doubt we have God is always secure. God never has to guess and never does things spur of the moment. It is all planned and under His control. Giving up the control we think we have is really hard. We want to do it when we want and how we want but God doesn't do things in the way man does things. God can see the whole picture when we can only see a small piece. If Abraham and Sarah weren't old we probably wouldn't be talking about them right now. If Abraham would not have waited so long for a son it would not have been so tragic for him to walk up that mountain in silence knowing only he would walk back down. This lesson teaches us that we can with out a single doubt trust God. Through Abraham we see that God is dependable and never breaks a promise. Issac was Abraham's hope...his legacy! Jesus, born as a baby, is our hope and our legacy! Jesus is the baby we were promised all those years ago. Our King, born in a manger, creator of the universe, and a friend of mine. We can watch and wait for His return, confident that it will happen. Why with confidence? because God promised! I remember as a kid I was almost afraid to go to Heaven. Not that I would rather go to hell but because I didn't want to leave my life. I would try to make deals with God "please God wait till I am married or wait till I have kids". I wish I longed for Heaven then like I do now. I long for Heaven because I am in love with Jesus and I long to praise Him with no distractions. I want to sing at the top of my lungs about His love without stupid thoughts running through my head! I want to melt in His arms. I want to rest...really rest...like really rest. And one day I will. I know I will because God's promises are as good as done.

Unit 2 Sesson 1 God’s Covenant with Abraham

Craft- Abraham's stars

Supplies needed- Star stickers, Abraham pictures, and markers.

Instructions-
 1. GET AN ABRAHAM PICTURE (I made my Abraham pictures by editing an online coloring page) 

2. COLOR THE PICTURE.

3. DECORATE THE SKY WITH THE STAR STICKERS.

4. WRITE THE VERSE ON THE PAGE.

Verse- "Look toward Heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Genesis 15:5

Purpose- Can I just say that I love this verse? I love love love God's sense of humor " number the stars, if you are able to number them" He knew Abraham could never number all the stars in the heavens. Have you ever gone camping? When you go away from the city, away from the lights the sky is just a huge blanket of stars. So bright and so many. Even if you started counting you would loose track or the sun would come up before you even got a tiny section counted. Abraham lived before there was even electricity. I can just see him sitting in the field with his fire extinguished gazing into the bright night sky listening to the promises of God. It must have sounded too good to be true...but is anything too good for God? What an amazing moment...being in the very presents of God under the beautiful sky that He spoke into place. Under the complex solar system that our almighty creator created. Thinking about how He was going to use him in His amazing story. My church had a summer program last week for the kiddos and their families and it was great time but my favorite part was when we got to sing out loud what we believe in. In one of the songs it talked about how God created the whole world and everything else and how it is an "amazing story with a developing plot". Well Abraham was a huge part of that developing plot. Seriously...if there was no Abraham there would be no Jesus (yes, I know God would have made it happen with or without Abraham but God chose Abraham). Abraham was the father of the nation that Jesus was born out of. Abraham's faith in God's promises were counted as righteousness in God's eyes. Abraham's faith and righteousness were not perfect, remember when he took matters into his own hands and knocked up his servant because Sarah wasn't getting pregnant? But Jesus is perfectly righteous! And when we put our faith in Him, that perfect righteousness is ours. It covers us completely. so completely that when God looks at us He sees His perfect son. He doesn't see ruined people that take matters into our own hands and fail horribly. He sees Jesus.