Faith Quest

 

A Walk on Water

 

February 8 – March 7, 2004

 

Good News

 

Scripture:       Matthew 14: 22-33

 

Memory Verse:  “Christ gives me the strength to face anything.”  Philippians 4:13CEV

           

Concepts:

Ø     Jesus as the Son of God is powerful.

Ø     Faith is believing God is with us.

Ø     If we focus on Jesus, our faith is strengthened.

 

Objectives:

In the Good News Lesson we hope to:

  1. Discover how strong our faith is and how we can continue to grow in our faith.
  2. Realize how important Jesus is in our everyday life.
  3. Understand how faith helps us to be strong.
  4. Understand that all things are possible with Jesus as our foundation.

 

Procedure:                

Welcome and Introductions:

Wear your nametag. Make sure the children are wearing nametags. If not, ask the shepherd to supply a temporary badge. Remember you are interacting with a different group of students each week that may not know you. Remember to that if you need the shepherds to assist you in any way do not be afraid to ask, that is why they are present with the class. 

Set up the room before the students arrive!  In the center of the room create a lake.  Take several beach towels and/or blankets and place on floor.  Put a plastic drop cloth over the towels.  It should feel different than the regular floor. 

  1. Turn on the CD player with “ocean music or nature music” - Close the door and meet the children outside of the Good News room.
  2. Provide a blind fold for every other child as they pair up for the exercise.  (If you think taking their shoes off will help them better to experience the “lake” then, have them take shoes off outside the door prior to being blindfolded.) Once half of the students are blindfolded explain that their partner is going to lead them across the Good News Lake this morning and that they must trust their guide.  They are to hold hands and/or lead by the arm.  Have the Shepherds go in ahead to assist in the walk on the lake.
  3. If you think the children can deal with being blindfolded and not having a guide, tell the partner to let go and have them to walk a few steps without support.

 

After all the children are in and the blindfolded ones have walked on the water – turn off the music and ask them all to take a seat in the corner away from the other experiments.

 

 

Questions as you Explain the purpose of this workshop:

 

Who was afraid there was going to be real water to walk on?

Who felt safe with their partner and did not try to look and or stop the exercise?

How did it feel being responsible for leading another person across the Good News Lake?

This is to show you how trusting others is important as well as having faith that others can take care of you. 

Today we are going to discover how Peter trusted Jesus and as long as he was focused on Jesus he could walk on water.  We will discover that our faith is important in our everyday life and that what is in our heart is not always what is seen by others.

 

Scripture/Bible Story:

1.     Have the Children to stand and say the memory verse.  (You may want to have the verse on poster board.)

2.     Ask them to bow their heads for prayer. [Our Lord of light and truth, we thank you this morning for being with us as we learn more about your truth and our faith.  Be with us as we worship freely in our church. Amen.]

1.     Have them to sit and open their Bibles to the Scripture. Ask the children to volunteer/assist in reading the scriptures.  It is not necessary to have all children to read.  If you want to read and have them to follow along, that is your choice.  Matthew 14:22-33

 

Application:

After the scripture has been read – review any terms you think they might not understand and/or make sure they have no questions on the scripture. 

Define faith – A complete trust and unquestioning belief in something or someone.

 

We saw in the story of Peter walking on the water that as long as he was focused on Jesus he had the faith/belief that he could walk on water.  When he panicked and lost focus or maybe questioned his faith, he began to sink. But we know that Jesus saved him from sinking.  We know that Jesus is with us every day and everywhere.  All we have to do is trust what we know is right and continue to believe His word.

 

Ask the students to get up and “walk” across the Good News Lake and join you at the experiment table. 

  1. Have them to focus on the glass bowl of water.  Ask them if the orange will float in the bowl of water.  Ask for a volunteer to place the orange in the water once they have determined (more than likely that it will sink).  It floats! 
  2. Show them the second orange – one with out the peel. Ask them if it will sink or float? 
  3. Ask a volunteer to place the peeled orange in the water. It sinks!
  4. Compare the oranges to Peter.  When he had his faith (the peel) he was protected and could walk on water.  When he lost focus and his faith – the peel – he sank.
  5. When are times in your life when you have lost your peel or faith for a moment or two? (Give them time to think and respond to this question)

 

Have them to sit for a moment as you remind them that Peter is often referred to as the rock of the church - A solid foundation for the church – one with great faith. 

Peter loved Jesus so much he wanted to please him.  That is why he walked out on the water toward Jesus. 

Peter helped spread the gospel – the good news of Jesus.  He was not perfect.  He did fail sometimes – he yelled when he got mad, he began to sink when Jesus told him to walk on water, he even denies Jesus before Jesus is crucified.  But we need to remember that Jesus never stopped loving him.  We do wrong.  We sometimes mess up – but Jesus loves us no matter what, just like our parents love us, no matter what.

 

Life can be tricky – no matter how strong our faith is.  As I just told you, Peter loved Jesus but was not perfect.  But loving Jesus makes us clean and know that everything is possible.

 

Provide each child with an old/dirty penny and a paper towel.

Ask them to dip their penny in the bowl of water and rub it till it is shinny.  (They will not be able to make the dirt go away with the water.)

This dirt on the old penny is like our difficult times when we need extra support.  No matter how hard we try, we can’t make the hard times or problems go away on our own. We can support others and try to make them feel better but we all know that loving Jesus and trusting Him is the best way to help us over our problems.

Remember our Bible verse – Christ gives me the strength to face anything.  So, we know that all things are possible with Jesus. 

 

Let’s try to clean our pennies in this “tricky” solution. 

Dip your penny in and wash off the dirt.  Shine the penny with your towel. 

This tricky solution is to remind us that Jesus is the real solution to our problems. Let the shinny penny remind you that all things are possible with Jesus. 

Keep this penny as a reminder of this lesson and/or save it to give to pennies for hunger.

 

Reflection Time:

Distribute the journal page for the students to work on, if there is time.  This is when the Shepherds will provide writing tools for the students.

 

By 10:45 close with a prayer.

 

Closing:

Prayer:  Dear God, thank you for loving us enough to send us your son Jesus who strengthens us and is always with us.  Help us to believe that you are always with us through Jesus and your Holy Spirit.  Amen

 

Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help tidy up. Someone could empty the water in the sink in the kitchen. Have them to assist in anyway you need. Close/lock the door and turn off the lights. The pillows in the Puppet room need to be placed back in the closet if you used them.  You might want to store your story props in the closet as well, since others use this room.

 

Teacher preparation in advance:

1.     Read the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.

2.   Prepare a closing prayer for your lesson.

 

Suggested Supply List

Ø     Bible verse on poster board

Ø     Blind folds – there may be some in the supply closet. 

Ø     Three or four large beach towels or two blankets

Ø     Plastic Drop cloth

Ø     CD of ocean waves and/or nature sounds to play as they enter the room (I have an ocean tape if you need to use it let me know and I will drop it off by the church office.)

Ø     Two oranges for each Sunday’s rotation

Ø     A glass bowl with water (there is a small kitchen across the way from Good News Room where you can get water for the bowl.)

Ø     Solution as described – Create the Tricky Solution by boiling one cup of white vinegar and four teaspoons of salt.  Let the solution cool and put in a bottle for pouring into a pan later. I hope one solution will make it through out the rotation.

Ø     A small bowl of water for the penny “trick”

Ø     If you need dirty/old pennies let me know and I will provide some for you.

Ø     Paper towels

 

Reference:

Lori Houck, Kirk Faith Quest Bible Study Leader

Children’s Illustrated Bible by Parker and Dyson

All Things are Possible – Fun to Learn Bible Lessons Volume 2