During the lesson, the information for you to know is written in regular type, and what we suggest speaking or reading aloud to children is in bold. All resources for this lesson, including the Teacher Guide, Student Page, Family Connection Card, and other resources can be downloaded in a ZIP file by clicking on the following link:
In some lessons you will find "resource articles." These are articles written by experts from around the world to help equip you for your work with children and adolescents. Share them with parents or guardians if you consider it appropriate.
The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17
Sometimes it would be nice to have a hero come and save the day. When you cannot find a way through a hard circumstance. When you feel hopeless. When you do not know what to do. These are the times when you need someone you can rely on, someone who will come to your rescue. Thanks be to God, because He is that One!
Read the verse from Zephaniah again. Think about all this verse shows us about God. He is with you. He is mighty to save. He delights in you. He quiets you with His love. He rejoices over you. He is the Hero who sacrificed everything to rescue you.
Pray for the children you will teach today. Many of these children come from difficult circumstances. They think there is no one who will stand up for them, protect them, love them, or delight in them. Pray that the Holy Spirit would draw many of them to the Lord today and begin to heal their hearts.
Encourage the children to point out hero qualities they see in their family members. They can talk with them about God’s hero qualities too!
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
As the children come to class today, ask them to think of what makes someone a hero. Place the children in groups of 4. Ask each group to come up with at least 3 qualities of what makes someone a hero. For example, a hero protects others. Give the groups about 2 minutes to discuss the ideas. When the time is up, ask 1 person from each group to tell the 3 qualities they think a hero has. If possible, write their ideas down on a board or a large paper.
Here is a list of some qualities that you can add to the list if children do not mention them:
We would all like to have a hero in our lives. Sometimes in life we may face hard circumstances. We do not have someone to stand up for us. We do not have someone who truly cares for us. We may not have anyone who can give us wise advice about life. Today we will hear about the biggest, best hero of all who has given everything to be the hero of our lives.
Tell or read this story to your children from Genesis 14. Even children who know a lot of Bible stories may not have heard this one.
Remember the stories we have already learned about Abram and his beautiful wife, Sarai? God had an important and special plan for their lives. God told Abram to move to a new country called Canaan with all of his servants and animals. The Lord promised Abram that all the land would belong to him some day. In fact, God promised to bless the whole world through Abram’s descendants! Abram trusted that God could do all that He had promised. Abram brought his nephew, Lot, with him. Both Abram and Lot became very, very wealthy.
Soon trouble came to the land of Canaan. Four powerful kings joined together to wage war against 5 kings of Canaan. The invading army was far more powerful. They took captives and forced them to march north. Lot and his family were among the captured people. The Bible does not tell us, but we can imagine the sadness and fear the Canaanites might have felt as they marched farther and farther from home.
One man escaped and ran to find Abram, Lot’s uncle. When he told Abram what had happened, Abram immediately gathered 318 men from his household who were trained to fight skillfully. God was going to use His servant Abram to do something great. In the end, the Most High God of Abram would receive the glory. God is the real Hero of the story.
Have the children cheer, “God is the Hero!” with enthusiasm before continuing.
Abram and his men marched to catch up with the conquering army. He and his men attacked at night, and the army fled before them. Abram recovered all the captive people and their possessions. Abram’s victory meant that all of the captured people and all of their possessions now belonged to Abram.
As Abram returned in victory, Melchizedek, the king of a Canaanite city called Salem, came out to meet him. Melchizedek was also a priest of God Most High. He brought Abram some bread and wine to honour his victory.
Listen to what Melchizedek said to Abram:
Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.
Genesis 14:19–20
Have the children cheer, “God is the Hero!” with enthusiasm before continuing.
Imagine this moment. Melchizedek, a priest of God Most High, prayed for God’s blessings on Abram. Abram returned the great honour by giving Melchizedek one-tenth of the riches he had gained from the battle. Imagine all the gold and silver and spices and cloth and animals and weapons!
The king of Sodom also came to Abram. Remember, the captured people of his city and everything they owned now belonged to Abram. He asked Abram to return his people and offered to let Abram keep the rest of the plunder. Abram refused to keep any of the plunder of Sodom for himself. He said to the king of Sodom:
With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich”
Genesis 14:22–23
Wow! Abram made sure that only God received credit for the blessings in his life. Abram knew who had promised to bless him, and it was not another man. The real Hero of Abram’s life was God.
Have the children cheer, “God is the Hero!”
Among other things, he was compassionate, courageous, and wise.
Help the children understand that because Abram knew God and trusted Him, he wanted God alone to get the glory for the good things in his life.
If children need help, point out that God, who had promised to provide for Abram, fulfilled His promise, gave wisdom, etc.
Often we live life without thinking about who we are honouring. But everyone honours someone by how she lives. Maybe you live only for yourself because there has been no one else to look out for you. Maybe you live for your family because honour is very important. Maybe you live without thinking about this because you are just trying to survive the hard circumstances of life.
Now think about the list we came up with of hero qualities. Shout out what hero quality you see after I read each verse.
The answers are the underlined words in the verses.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:16
For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 2:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty and your faithfulness surrounds you.
Psalm 89:8
But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
Psalm 86:15
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:10
As we can see in all these verses and many more in the Bible, God is the greatest Hero. He never fails.
Have the children pair up and answer the following question.
Optional: If you are using the Student Pages, have the children draw pictures of how God is the Hero of their lives on them.
Let 2–3 children share their answers. Then close by praying this blessing based on Zephaniah 3:17. If any children express interest in letting God be their Hero, be sure to talk with them after class and share the Salvation Path with them.
Share the following verse with the children again and help them to memorize it.
Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty and your faithfulness surrounds you.
Psalm 89:8
Blessing: May you know God as the Hero of your life. He is with you. He is the mighty One who is for you. He delights in you. His love will calm your fears. He rejoices over you with joyful singing.
Lead the children in singing this quarter’s song if possible.
Life on Life ©2020 David C Cook. Reproducible for home or classroom use only. All other uses require written permission from David C Cook [email protected]. All rights reserved.
