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] set his people free. He made a covenant with them that will last forever. His name is holy and wonderful.
Psalm 111:9
God makes promises to us in the Bible, but perhaps the greatest promise He makes is to forgive our sins. God kept His promise by sending His Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sins. Yet it is easy to treat God’s promises like the ones people make. If you find it hard to believe God’s promises, perhaps it is because people often do not keep their promises. How many times have you experienced broken promises?
It is easy to make a promise. However, it is not always easy to keep it. Sometimes you may have the best of intentions but things happen that prevent you from keeping your promise. Do you trust God to keep His promises? Do you believe that asking for forgiveness is enough to cleanse you of your sins? As you teach today, trust what you are telling the children is true. God always keeps His promises!
Encourage families to talk to their children about promises. Ask them to give examples of promises they have made. Ask them to talk about both the promises they have kept and those they have not.
Teacher Tip: If possible, email or text the Family Connection Card to the families of your students.
Greet the children as they enter your room. Ask them to share with 2 other children a good choice they made this past week.
Welcome to class! Today, we will talk about promises, including a very special one God made to all of us.
Allow 2–3 children to answer.
A promise is when you tell someone you are going to do something and they can believe that you plan to do it. A promise is serious.
Help the children get into pairs. It is best if you pair up children who are about the same size.
Stand facing one another. Hold both of your partner’s hands tightly. Relax and gently lean back. Repeat what I say to your partner. I promise to hold on to you (children repeat). I will not let you go (children repeat). You can trust me to keep my promise (children repeat).
The children will rely on each other to hold on to them. Tell the children to tightly hold each other’s hands, keep their bodies stiff, and lean back as far as they can without letting go or bending their bodies. Let the partners try this a couple of times.
Have the children sit down to talk about their experience. Choose 2–3 children to respond to each question.
They forget about their promises. Their plans change. They get mad at you. They do not have enough time. They do not have enough money. Their moods change.
Listen to what the Bible says about God.
Read the verse directly from your Bible.
God isn’t a mere human. He can’t lie. He isn’t a human being. He doesn’t change his mind. He speaks, and then he acts. He makes a promise, and then he keeps it.
Numbers 23:19
This verse tells us a lot about God.
Read the verse again and accept the answers of the children.
God is different from the people He created. People may break their promises. God makes a promise and then He keeps it! Always! You can trust that God will do what He says and provide what He says He will provide. It makes me feel very good inside to know that the God who created everything will keep His promises to you and me! We are very special to Him. Today, we will learn about a very special promise God made.
Last week we learned that even though God had made a beautiful world, Adam and Eve still chose to sin. Because of that sin, sickness, death, and pain entered our world. That is very sad. However, God loves us so much that He made a promise to send a Saviour to restore our relationship with Him. As you just heard in the Bible verse we read, you can trust God. He always keeps His promises.
Listen to the story of a man called Abram and hear how God keeps His promises. In this story, we will also learn about a special promise God made to everyone.
Abram was a man who listened to and followed God. God was pleased that Abram loved and followed Him. God made a promise to Abram. Let’s listen to that promise.
I will make you into a great nation. And I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing to others.
Genesis 12:2
God promised to bless Abram. He also promised Abram that his family would grow into a great nation. God told Abram to go to another land with his family, and Abram did just as God said. Abram trusted and followed God.
Children’s answers may include: People do not keep their promises. They make promises they cannot keep. They cannot be trusted since they often lie.
Allow 2–3 children to respond.
Later, Abram heard the voice of the Lord. God promised Abram a son as part of His promise to make Abram the father of a great nation. Abram believed God’s promise, and God was happy with him.
Allow 3–4 children to respond.
People do not always keep their promises. God is different. God can be trusted because He always keeps His promises.
Later, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham as part of His promise to make him the father of many nations. Abraham did not have any children when God made that promise. It took many years, but when Abraham was an old man, he had the son God promised him. His son’s name was Isaac. God tested Abraham to see if he was willing to give up his son or if he loved Isaac more than he loved God. Abraham showed that he loved God even more than his son. In return, God told Abraham:
So I will certainly bless you. I will make the children born into your family as many as the stars in the sky. I will make them as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. They will take over the cities of their enemies. All nations on earth will be blessed because of your children. All these things will happen because you have obeyed me.
Genesis 22:17–18
God promised to bless the whole world through Abraham. Over a period of many years, God did just as He had promised. He made the children of Abraham a great nation—called Israel. It was through this nation that God would send a Saviour who would restore our relationship with Him.
Many years after God made the promise to Abraham, God sent Jesus to keep His promise. God loves us so much He was willing to give up His only Son to save us. Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice so that we can be forgiven for our sins. We can be forgiven for our sins when we believe in God and say we are sorry for the wrong things we have done. God can be trusted because He always keeps His promises.
Give each child a small handful of the clay or thick mud. Set out the water and towel for cleanup later.
As we have learned today, God made a promise to restore our relationship with Him. God loves us so much! He can be trusted and always keeps His promises even if they take a long time to happen.
You will now use the clay to create something that reminds you of God’s promise. You will have just a few minutes to make something. Maybe God’s promise makes you think He is strong, so you might make a big rock. Or you might make a ring as a symbol of the promise that God kept. You can make whatever you want, but it must show what you think about God’s promise.
Give the children about 5 minutes to create their promise reminders. Then, ask the children to quickly share what they made and how the items remind them of God’s promise. If you have a large class, ask the children to turn to 2 others near them to share instead.
Optional: If you are using Student Pages, have the children colour the picture of Abraham and Isaac. As the children are colouring, remind them that God kept His promise to Abraham.
I hope you enjoyed showing what you learned about God’s promise. Remember, God always keeps His promises!
Let’s review our memory verse one more time.
Show the Memory Verse poster if you are using it.
Everything God created is good. You shouldn’t turn anything down. Instead, you should thank God for it.
1 Timothy 4:4
Note the new actions so that you can use the same ones each week of this unit.
Everything—Move your hands from your stomach in a curve out toward each side.
God—Point to the sky with your hand.
Created—Cup your hands as though an imaginary ball is between them. Rotate the imaginary ball in your hands.
Good—Smile.
You—Point to everyone else.
Shouldn’t—Motion no.
Turn anything down—Make a rejecting motion. Push your hands away from you with palms out.
If possible, show the children the Memory Verse poster. Review the first 2 sentences of the memory verse and the actions that go with them. Then, add the third sentence with the following actions.
You should—Motion yes.
Thank God for it—Smile and make a praying motion with your hands.
Lead the children in the actions for all 3 sentences of the memory verse. When you are done, end class by speaking this blessing, based on Psalm 145:13, over the children.
Blessing: May you know that God loves you so much that He will always do what He says He will. May you feel happy knowing that God always keeps His promises.
If you have time, share this song with your children to celebrate how great God is! Use this as your worship theme this quarter.
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.
