God keeps his promise to Abraham
key words
biblical reference
Genesis 17:5; 18:1-10, 16-19
lesson objective
To help children learn that God keeps his promises.
memory verse
“[Abraham was] fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised (Romans 4:21, NIV*).
prepare yourself to teach
Abraham believed and obeyed God. The Lord promised that Abraham would be the father of a great nation who would inhabit the land of Canaan. However, Abraham was very old and had no children with his wife Sarah. They waited with patience and trust in the power of God. When three visitors arrived near the tent of Abraham, Abraham experienced the presence of God, who confirmed his plans for Abraham and his family.
Through this visit, God wanted to remind Abraham that he never forgets his promises. Although Abraham had to wait a long time for his son Isaac, God did not want Abraham to doubt his power.
The reality of Abraham’s visitors may be difficult for young children to understand. But, they can understand that God was with the visitors. The focus of this lesson is that God keeps His promises, even when we have to wait. For children, this is not difficult to understand. Each year they look forward to special events such as their birthday or Christmas.
Today’s children grow up in “instant gratification” societies. At present, things appear to be automatic and waiting times are greatly shortened. That is why it is very important to cultivate patience in the thoughts and desires of preschoolers.
The time Abraham had to wait was valuable, but now he and Sarah would have a son. Help your children realize that they can trust and believe in the promises of God, even when that requires waiting.
Abraham had to wait for the promise that God had made to him to be fulfilled. Learning to wait is important for spiritual growth.
Provide activities for your children to learn to wait for what they want.
Preschoolers want adults to keep their promises. Perhaps they do not understand why a promise could not be fulfilled. Adults need to be aware of how important it is to keep the promises we make to children. For a child, the promise to go out to play may be more important than the fact that it is raining.
Remind your children that Abraham waited for God’s promise that He would give him a son. It seemed that he and Sarah were too old to have a baby. However, God kept His promise.
introduce the lesson
Clean the tent
Before class, place a small tent in one corner of the room or let the children make a tent from chairs and sheets or blankets. If the tent is large enough, let the children sit inside. If not, let the children sit on the floor outside of the tent.
Ask: “What are some things your family does to get your home ready for visitors?” Let the children mention actions like cleaning the house, preparing food, putting on good clothes. Let the children use their imaginations to pretend to sweep the floor with a broom, stir some food in a bowl, set the table with dishes and bowls.
Say: “In today’s story, we will find out what Abraham and Sarah did to get ready for some visitors.”
teach the lesson
Use the following activity to teach the biblical truth.
Guest storyteller
Before class, ask a gentleman to tell the Bible story representing Abraham. If the man wants to wear clothing that would represent biblical times, that would be good. Give this man a copy of the story ahead of time, so he can practice telling it in first person (from Abraham’s view).
Say to the storyteller: “Welcome to our class! We are very happy to have you with us. We are going to talk about Abraham and three very special visitors who came to see him one day. Can you tell us more about this Bible story?”
Have the children sit in a semicircle near the storyteller, and ask the children to pay attention during the storytelling.
Three visitors
One day Abraham was resting outside his tent. When he saw three visitors approaching his tent, he stood up to greet them.
“I’ll bring you water so you can wash your feet and then rest,” he said. “I will also bring you something to eat.”
“Thank you very much.” The visitors gladly accepted, for they appeared to be tired, hungry, and very hot.
“You’re welcome. Make yourself at home.” Abraham hurried to find his wife Sarah and told her, “Hurry! Please take the finest flour and make bread.”
Then he went to where his animals were, took a calf and gave it to one of his servants to prepare. Then he gathered some milk and cheese, and attended to the visitors by offering them a delicious meal.
As they ate, Abraham stood under a tree. One of the visitors asked, “Where is your wife?”
“Inside the tent,” said Abraham.
“We came to tell you that Sarah, your wife, will have a son by this time next year,” said one of them.
The visitors got up to leave, and Abraham showed them the way that would lead them to the city they would visit. As they walked, God spoke to Abraham about His promise.
God wanted to remind Abraham that He had not forgotten the promise He had made to him long ago.
If there is time at the end of the story, you can invite your visitors to tell the children an example of how God has kept his promises one of them.
connect the lesson
God keeps his promises
Before class, prepare Student Activity Sheet #24-A, #24-B and #24-C. You may need to cut out some of the figures of the visitors, the bread, and the drinking vessel in Student Activity Sheet #24-B. Gather the glue containers. See the example in SAS #24-B for placement of the figures.
Give the children Student Activity Sheet #24-A and let them add the figures from Student Activity Sheet #24-B. Tell them to trace the Word of Faith (Promises). Remind the children to take home their activity sheets to share the activities with their parents and friends.
Ask: “What did Abraham feed his guests?” Let the children respond. Have the children look at the list of foods their families might prepare for guests. (See the Food for Visitors activity.) Were any of the foods Abraham used on the children’s list?
Help them write God's promise to Abraham in the "tent" portion of Student Activity Sheet #24-C (e.g. Sarah will have a child).
The traffic light game
Use this game to help the children practice patience.
Before class, draw on paper a traffic light with three circles-- red, yellow, and green. Explain the meaning of each color: red indicates the children should stand without moving; green means the children should run in place quickly; the yellow means the children should run in place slowly.
The teacher should call out a color and the children can move (or stop) according to the color. After calling red, pause before saying green. This will help the children learn to wait a bit (have patience) before moving again.
Say, “Abraham had to wait a long time for God to complete his promise. Abraham needed to trust God and to have faith that God would do what he had promised.”
practice the memory verse
An APPP verse
Before class, cut a sheet of paper into four sections. With a dark crayon or marker, write one of these letters on each small sheet: A, P, P, P. Number the sheets: 1, 2, 3, 4. Prepare a set of letters for each student.
In class, show a set of the four letters. Say, “These letters can help us remember our memory verse. A is for Abraham. The first P is for persuaded. The second P is for power. The third P is for promised. The verse says, “Abraham (show letter A) was fully persuaded (show first P) that God had power (show second P) to do what he had promised (show third P).” Give each of the children a set of letters. Say the verse again and let the children hold up the appropriate letter. Say, “That was a good practice. Let’s try it again.” Repeat the activity, helping any child who gets confused or needs help. Then ask for a volunteer to say the verse and use the letters. Let the children take the set of letters home to practice the verse at home.
Understanding the Verse
This can be done in groups or individually. You will need to have the verse written on a card, and scissors. Depending on the activity, whether individual or group, give the verse to the children to cut it and separate it word for word, or bring it prepared in advance. Let the children put the words of the verse in the right order as they memorize it.
wrap-up
Pray
Pray for the requests the children have. Thank God for Abraham who learned to be more patient. Thank God for fulfilling His promise to Abraham.
Encourage
Encourage the children to show patience at home with parents and brothers and sisters. Ask them to share their Bible stories with family members.
Invite
Tell the children how much you enjoy their coming to your class. Tell them you miss them when they are absent.
* Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™