Day
4
Worry
“Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about
your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more
than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store
away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your
life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how
the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that
not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is
how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is
thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you-you of little faith? So
do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What
shall we wear?’ for the pagans [unbelievers] run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you
need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:25-33 NIV®
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Memory
Verse: “But seek first His kingdom and
His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew
6:33 NIV®
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Discussion
Example
Say,
“We all worry some time or another. It’s part of our sinful, human nature. When
we worry, it’s like we are telling Jesus that we don’t trust Him to take care
of our daily needs.
“In
return, Jesus tells us not to let our sinful, human nature get the best of us.
If we truly trust our Heavenly Father, we would see all He does in nature like
provide food for the birds, and how God takes care of the beautiful flowers and
grass that only last a little while. If He takes care of all of these, He will
provide our needs like: clothes, food, and shelter for us.
“Of
course, Jesus didn’t say that God the Father would get us the most expensive,
trendy clothes and shoes that we want like the other kids have. He was saying
that God will make sure that we have the clothes we need, not the fancy ones we
want. We should be thankful that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He
takes care of all our needs!”
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Arts
and Crafts Example:
Each
student will need a piece of paper, scissors, glue, dark crayon or marker, and
lots of magazines to share where inappropriate pictures have been removed.
Say,
“We are going to make a Needs and Wants Chart. You are going to fold your paper
in half. (Demonstrate folding the right side to the left and making a line down
that crease.) On one side, write the word Needs and on the other side, write
the word Wants. Leave an empty space across the bottom of the paper.
“On
the Needs side you are going to put things you need to live like normal food. On
the Wants side you would put things like fast food. God promised us food, but
not necessarily hamburgers when we want them.
“On
the Needs side you are going to put things like a regular house or apartment.
On the Wants side you are going to put things like fancy houses. God promised
us shelter from the rain, but not necessarily will we have fancy houses.
“On
the Needs side you will put normal clothes and shoes. On the Wants side you
will put things like trendy clothes and shoes. God the Father said that He
would provide us clothes, but not necessarily fancy and trendy clothes and
shoes.
“How
do you think God the Father feels when we get upset that we don’t have the
trendy clothes and shoes we want? Don’t you think He would feel we are
ungrateful after He’s provided all our needs? When we get upset about not
having the trendy things our friends have, we need to pray and ask our Heavenly
Father to forgive us and thank Him for providing what we really need.
“Across
the bottom of your paper you are going to write God Provides All Our Needs!
(Post these words someplace they can easily see to help them with spelling it correctly.)
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Science
Example:
Each
group needs to have a dime, a quarter, and a ruler to share at a table or other
flat surface.
“What is your Hypothesis about what will
happen to a dime at the far end of ruler, when a quarter is slid into the front
end of the ruler?” Listen to all their Hypotheses. Let them take turns in the
group doing the experiment. Listen to all of their results.
“This
experiment shows that the force from the quarter hitting the ruler, can travel
through the ruler and be transferred to the dime.
Say,
“Sometimes we wish we had more money, so we can buy the fancy, trendy things
that other kids have. Even if we can afford those things, we don’t have to have
such fancy, trendy things and can give the extra money to the less fortunate,
since Jesus wants us to have a giving heart for the less fortunate."
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Game
Example:
Earlier,
make many pieces of paper for each child to hold one during the game. They
should say things like ‘shoes’, ‘Nike’, ‘Macaroni and cheese’, ‘Cheeseburger’,
etc. You need names of things and then name brands of items that most kids
would be aware of. Let the kids choose which piece of paper they want. Make
sure to make extras.
Say,
“We are going to play, God Provides All Our Needs. (This game is played
in a similar fashion to The Farmer in the Dell and the song is sung like it.)
Have them in a circle with their signs in front of them. They are to
sing as you lead them from the middle, “God provides all our needs. God
provides all our needs. Hi-ho the dairy-o, God provides all our needs.”
(Ex.
You will select the next person with the sign ‘Shoes’ to join you in the middle
and whisper that they are supposed to select someone who is holding up a need.)
“The shoes are a need, the shoes are a need. Hi-ho the dairy-o, God provides
all our needs.”
Once
the person with the ‘shoes sign’ picks someone, you continue singing, the
______ is a need, the ____ is a need. Hi-ho the dairy-o, God provides all our
needs. (After about 2-3 rounds, ask the group if they want to go change their
signs that have wants like ‘Nike’ for signs that have Needs like ‘shoes,’ and
then continue playing.
Remind
them, “That God truly provides all our needs and He wants us to be thankful for
that and to be generous to those less fortunate.”
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