Promise Keeper
Hi Werb’s Kids and Werb’s Parents!
How are we doing this week?
I have absolutely loved being in the sunshine and I hope you have too!
Who enjoyed our May half term holiday club?
If you missed it you can still watch our instagram lives (@werbskids) as well as all the content on the session to do at home.
‘I SPY HALF TERM’
It’s worth checking out even if just for the videos of me dressed up as David from the bible!!
We also had so much fun last week celebrating Pentecost!
I absolutely loved seeing everyone and I think the youth and student choir was just incredible and worth a watch if you missed out.
One thing I have loved seeing during lock down is all the rainbow drawings still in the windows of many houses whenever I’ve been out on my walks. To me they are a symbol of hope and how we as are together going to get through this.
A rainbow needs every colour or it is not a rainbow and similarly we need each other to get through this.
So be kind, stay safe and stay connected!
Love Amy
PROMISE KEEPER
This week we are looking at a very well known story. Most of you might even already know what it is just by seeing the picture of the rainbow.
We’re looking at the story of Noah and the ark but more importantly we are looking at the promise that God makes.
Do you know what a promise is? How would you define or explain it?
A promise is a commitment to do some thing for someone.
A promise is special and something that you tell someone you will do for them
The best promises are when someone says they will do something and they follows through with it and don’t back out or go back on their word.
BUT BEFORE WE ANY DEEPER, LET’S PLAY A GAME!
This is one of my favourite games to play with others - THE ALPHABET GAME!
As we are looking at Noah let’s see if you can name an animal for each letter of the alphabet?
If this is a little tricky then PARENTS you name the animal and KIDS you have to act out that animal! GO!
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
I think God wants to talk to us about his promises to us.
When God makes a promise he never forgets it AND WILL NEVER break it! He is a promise keeper and will never let us down.
We’ve probably all made promises before. I promise I will go to bed on time or I promise not to hurt my brother or sister or I promise to be good. But if we are honest we aren’t the best at promises and being true in what we say. We all break promises and quite often too.
God however is NOT like that. God has never and will never break a promise. He is a PROMISE KEEPER!
The bible is full of loads God’s promises to us! Here are just a few!!
2 Samuel 7:28 For you are God, O Sovereign Lord. Your words are truth, and you have promised these good things to your servant.
Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.
Deuteronomy 31:8 Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
John 14:27 I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Today we are looking at one of God’s promises.
Did you know whenever you see a rainbow it is a sign of God’s promise to the world that he will look after us!?
Remind yourself of the story of Noah. He was a good man who loved God and tried to live right even when everyone else lived wrong and did bad things.
Have you ever started to draw a picture and you’ve made a mistake? Then you go wrong again and again and again, so much so that it’s all too hard to rub out that you decide it is best just to start over with a new piece of paper? God felt a bit like this in our story today.
In our story today God looks at the world and he was sad. All the people were only doing bad things and they did them all the time. No one loved him; no one wanted to live a good life. God was sorry that he had made the world and he decided to start again.
Except 1 person: NOAH!
Noah was the only person who loved God and so God chose him to help with his plan.
God wanted to get rid of just the bad things in the world so he asked Noah to build an Ark.
Now think for a minute of the biggest boat you’ve ever EVER seen. Where did you see it?
Because the Ark was HUGE and God to Noah to build it in the desert - the furthest place from the sea.
What did Noah say? OKAY!
It may have been a crazy idea to build such a huge boat in the middle of no-where but Noah trusted God.
And even though lots of people laughed at Noah and his family for building the boat they still trusted God.
Then once the boat was built it was time for it to be filled so God sent 2 of each animal to enter the boat!
Every kind of animal you can think of!
What is your favourite animal? They were definitely in the boat!
Once everyone was safe inside the boat - all the animals and Noah and his family - God shut the ark door. Do you remember what happened next?
It rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained!!!
It kept raining until the whole world was under water.
It rained for 40 days and 40 nights but Noah, his family and all the animals staying in way longer than that as they then had to wait for the water to go down.
We totally can imagine how Noah must have felt as we have been stuck inside for over 40 days too!!
But Noah knew staying inside was good as that was where him and his family and all the animals would be safe and the same goes for us!
After a while Noah sent out some birds. If the birds came back Noah knew there was nowhere for the birds to land meaning that the earth was still covered in water. BUT if the birds didn’t come back then he new they had found dry land.
Eventually the birds didn’t come back. He even sent out a bird called a dove and this returned with a branch to prove it was now safe to go outside.
They all left the ark and found the earth was like new.
And God put a rainbow in the sky to promise the world that he would never ever send a flood again.
Things to think about:
What orders did God give Noah? Why did Noah obey them?
How do you think Noah felt about making the boat in the desert?
Why did God save Noah, his family and some animals?
What was the promise God gave to Noah?
Do you think Noah found it easier to trust God the next time he was asked to do something? Why/why not?
What does the rainbow promise mean for us?
God will always want to be our friend and challenges us to be like Noah – and love God even when its hard and even when we get laughed at.
Memory Verse
This is God’s promise! Can you try and lean it from memory!?
“When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, and I will remember my promise with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.
Genesis 9v14-15”
CRAFT IDEAS
Something to do during the talk
- Colouring Sheets ONE and TWO
- Maze
- Dot to Dot
- Fill in the words
- Play BINGO or SNAP!
You’ll need THIS sheet to play. Or cut up the characters and play pairs instead!
- Draw your favourite animal OR make up your own animal!Rainbow Mobile
HERE is a great video to watch!
To make this mobile you will need to print off THIS rainbow and THESE raindrops.Make an animal mask
You’ll need: a piece of card, some coloured paper, pens and pencils, string or lollipop stick, glue and tape.
First you need to think of what animal you want to be! Draw out your mask and don’t forget the eye holes. Cut this out!
Now its time to decorate, colour in your mask or glue on some paper to make your mask look amazing. Think about what animal you have chosen and choose colours that match that animal.
Once you’ve finished decorating you can either add string or a stick to complete the mask!
HERE is a great video you might want to watch to help.Amy made herself an elephant from things she found in her recycling as you can see from the images below! Get creative and make your own animal too! To make your animal strong and if you want to be able to paint it later you can paper-mache it. This is when you stick lots of small pieces of paper over your model with glue. Now Amy didn’t have any PVA so she used a flour water mix! It works really well but a little goes a long way so don’t waste flour!!
NEW SONG
This song is called Yes and Amen! It speaks of God’s promises. Do you remember what Amen means? It means I agree or so be it or make it so. So in this song we are singing that to all of God’s promises we say yes and that we agree they will happen.
“Father of kindness
You have poured out of grace
You brought me out of darkness
You have filled me with peace
Giver of mercy
You’re my help in time of need
Lord I can’t help but sing
Faithful you are
Faithful forever you will be
Faithful you are
All your promises are yes and Amen
All your promises are yes and Amen”
“Beautiful Saviour
You have brought me near
You pulled me from the ashes
You have broken every curse
Blessed redeemer
You have set this captive free
Lord I can’t help but sing
I will rest in your promises
My confidence is your faithfulness
I will rest in your promises
My confidence is your faithfulness”
PRAY
Let’s pray some Rainbow Prayers!
You can write your own and just think about what each colour represents for you or you can use what I’ve written below to help you pray a rainbow prayer!
But first why not draw a rainbow to help you pray!?
You could right what you pray for in each colour!
RED - This colour reminds me of love and hearts so thank God for his love. Thank God for Jesus and everything he did to save us and make us friends with God again.
This colour also reminds me of anger so say sorry to God for times when you have been angry or mean and not been the best you.
ORANGE - This colour reminds me of sunsets so thank God for your day today. Thank him that he is always with us from the beginning to the end of the day.
YELLOW - This colour reminds us of the sunshine so thank God for good weather and being able to play outside. This colour also reminds me of fun so thank God for something fun that happened this week.
GREEN - This colour reminds me of trees and grass so thank God for parks that we can visit local to us. Also thank God for new life like how shoots come up from the ground. Thank God for your life and for your family. Pray for those who find life hard or those who are ill and life is not good for them. Pray that God would be with them and help them.
BLUE - This colour reminds me of water. Thank God that we have clean water in our houses and that for most of us can enjoy splashing in our paddling pools in the good weather!
This colour also reminds me of being down or sad or blue. Talk to God now about how you feel. If you feel sad tell God and your family.
INDIGO - This colour reminds me of berries so thank God for all the food we have to enjoy. Pray for those who might be struggling now and might not have enough food to eat.
VIOLET - This colour reminds me of beautiful flowers and butterflies. So thank God for flowers and things that are beautiful. Name something now that you want to thank God for that you think is beautiful!
Finish with by praying this together:
Father God, thank you for rainbows. We know that rainbows can't happen without rain or sunshine so we thank you for the good times and ask you to help us through the hard times. Thank you God for the reminder that a rainbow needs every colour to make it beautiful. Help us to remember that in our world we need each other and need to help one another to get through this. Thank you God that you promise to be with us always and never leave us. We love you. Amen.
PUT SOMETHING INTO ACTION: MAKE A PROMISE
The best promise you can make is to be God’s friend forever. This promise can be made wherever and whenever you feel ready. If this is something you want to do here is a little prayer you can pray now!
“Dear Jesus,
I know that I get things wrong sometimes
and ask you to forgive me.
I believe you died on the cross for me and
took away all the bad things I’ve done
and then you came back to life.
I promise to try each day to be better
and ask you to come into my heart and life.
I want to be your friend forever.
Amen”
If you don’t feel ready to make this promise make another instead. Maybe you could promise to tidy your room once a week or help with the shopping or be kinder to your brothers and sisters or maybe you could promise to be the best friend you can to someone else?
Edited and adapted by Amy Farrar from several sources including energize.com
