Lesson 4 – The “C” of Commitment: Noah
Sailing the 7 C’s Series
LESSON OVERVIEW
Key Point: Go against the flow—Obey God.
Bible Story: Noah
Bible Reference: Genesis 6:9-22
Challenge Verse: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
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ITEMS NEEDED
1 water spray bottle for each class. Please fill this with water.
Each class should get the following signs: Righteous Man, Blameless, Walked with God.
A big bag of Cheerios.
1 large paper sack for every six students
Streamers and glue to decorate the piñata.
Markers or crayons to decorate the piñata.
Candy to put in the piñata.
Fish cut-outs for each class.
Memory Verse Poster
BEFORE CLASS
– Put up the Bible Verse Poster for today.
– Set out any items you need for today’s lesson
– Pray for each student by name.
AS STUDENTS ENTER
– Greet each student by name as they enter.
– Give each student an attendance sticker for the attendance chart, and feel free to add guest names to the chart. This will give them a sense of belonging.
– Be sure to smile.
OPENING ACTIVITY
Control Tool
Anytime you say, “Go!” students should say back, “Against the Flow!”
Leader: Go! / Students: Against the flow!
Activity: “Squirt Them Out” Simon Says
Play “Simon Says” with your class. Either you can lead the game or you can have the students take turns leading. Either way, this version is a little different. When a student does something when they are not supposed to, they are not out. Instead, using a spray bottle, you will squirt them with water. (NOTE: If a student doesn’t want to get wet, shoot at their shoes or peripheral clothing. Many will want you to squirt their face though. This is meant to be fun, so if it is obvious that someone doesn’t want to be squirted at all, that’s okay too. If you have a student that is intentionally getting “out” to get squirted, institute a “three strikes and you’re out” policy, which means, if they get squirted three times, they’re out of the game.)
Play for a few minutes.
Discussion
SAY: In this game you had to listen and follow the leader to win. In life you have to listen and follow God to win.
Ask the students— In the game everyone wanted to go along with the leader. Have you ever been in a group where the leader or the others wanted to do something wrong?
Ask the students— Just like in the game, when you didn’t do what the leader wanted you got squirted with water. Have you ever been in a group that would treat you badly if you didn’t do what they wanted you to do? Maybe they made fun of you or wouldn’t talk to you because you didn’t do what they wanted you to?
Ask the students—What do you think it means to “Go against the flow?” (It means that you are willing to do what’s right even if everyone else is doing what’s wrong.)
Ask the students—Have you ever walked the wrong way in a crowd—Everyone was going one direction, but you were trying to go the other? This is what “going against the flow” means. When the “crowd” is going the wrong way, you keep following Jesus and going the right way.)
Illustration
Choose one volunteer—To go against the flow. Have students line up chairs to make a narrow lane. Have the entire class walk one direction with your volunteer trying to “go against the flow.” Be sure to tell your students not to intentionally push or shove the volunteer. All they need to do is walk.
Leader: Go! / Students: Against the flow!
SAY: No matter which direction your friends are going—no matter which direction the whole world is going, keep following Jesus, even if that means you “go against the flow.”
BIBLE LESSON, part 1
SAY: Today we’re going to hear a great story about someone “went against the flow” and followed God while other people were disobeying God.
Ask the students—What Bible stories have we had the past few weeks? (Creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel.)
Ask the students—Who can tell me which story comes first?
Ask the students—What Bible story do you think we’re looking at today? (Noah)
Ask the students—What book of the Bible would you find this story in? (Genesis)
Choose one volunteer—To be Noah. (Give him the Noah sign.)
SAY: Noah was a righteous man. (Give him the Righteous Man sign.) Noah was blameless. (Give him the Blamless sign.) Noah walked with God. (Give him the Walked with God sign.) But the entire world was corrupt and evil. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence… So make yourself an ark [a big boat]. I am going to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.” So Noah and his sons built the Ark just like God told them to and God sent to them two of each kind of the animals so that these would survive the Flood. But Noah and his family were the only people saved.
TREASURE VERSE
Ask the students—A few weeks ago we learned that something will always bring hurt and pain and death—Who remembers what it is? (HINT: It was in the story of Adam and Eve. ANSWER: Sin. This worldwide flood shows just another way that sin destroys everything that’s good.)
SAY: Let’s see what the Bible has to say about sin…
Bible Drill
Ready…Romans 3:23…Go!
Have your students REPEAT today’s verse after you.
SAY: Raise your hand if you have ever done something wrong. (For those of you who teach in younger grades, here’s an opportunity to look around and see if any of your kids haven’t reached the stage of accountability yet. For more information on the “Stage of Accountability,” see the www.threethirtyministries.org Teacher Helps or How to Lead a Child to Christ.)
SAY: Sin is anything we do that’s wrong and sin literally means “to miss the mark.”
Refer to the Bible Verse Poster of the arrow hitting the target.
SAY: If the target is God’s perfection, then we’ve all fallen short. That’s why none of us deserve to go to heaven. Only a person who is as perfect as God would deserve to go to heaven, and no one who has ever lived has been perfect except for Jesus. That’s why we all need a Savior.
TREASURE VERSE ACTIVITY
Activity: Cheerio!
Let each student find a partner and take turns trying to toss a piece of cereal into his mouth. Once they succeed, have them take a step back.
Let them have fun for a few minutes. As they participate, praise them specifically by name for how they are doing—i.e., Johnny, good throw. Laura, good catch….good try, etc. Also, be sure to tell them to pick up and throw away the missed shots so that they don’t get stepped on.
Discussion
Ask the students—How is the food toss like our Bible Verse today? (They both have a target.)
Ask the students—What did the Bible verse say we have fallen short of? (God’s glory or God’s perfection—Nobody is perfect. That’s why we all need a Savior.)
SAY: When the world was full of evil, God decided to punish sin, but Noah and his family escaped this punishment. They were “saved” from the Flood because God made a “way out” for them—the Ark. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He made a “way out” for us and a “way into” heaven.
Everybody REPEAT: One bad thing!
SAY: All it takes is “one bad thing”—one sin to keep a person out of heaven. So, since we’ve all done bad things, to take our sins away, someone had to take the punishment for them. That’s what Jesus did when He died on the cross. He took our punishment so that if you give your life to Him, He will forgive your sins and make you “perfect” in God’s eyes, as if you have never done anything wrong at all. That’s why Jesus is the only way into heaven because He’s the only way to have your sins forgiven.
BIBLE LESSON, part 2
Ask the students—How many of you think you know a lot about the story of Noah and the Ark?
SAY: Here are some things you may not know:
Ask the students—How long did it take Noah and his sons to build the Ark? (It took 120 years to build it. People in Noah’s day lived much longer than today. Noah was 600 years old when the flood came and lived to be 950. Imagine how hard it might be to “go against the flow” for an hour or a day, but picture 120 years of doing what is right when everyone else was doing wrong—That’s commitment!)
SAY: Imagine for 120 years telling others to turn away from their sins and none of them believe you. Imagine telling people for 120 years that God is going to destroy the world—that you know they are going to die if they don’t turn to God and still they won’t listen.
Ask the students—Did you know that it had never rained before the Flood came? (The earth was watered every day by heavy dew. No one, not even Noah, had ever seen rain, which probably made people think he was crazy. After all, what’s rain if you’ve never seen it and what’s a flood if it has never rained before to cause flooding.)
SAY: Also, sometimes when we think of Noah’s Ark, we think of a little, cute boat, but this thing was huge. Imagine how big it would have to be to carry that many animals!
Ask the students—Do you think people laughed at Noah for building such a huge boat in a place where there wasn’t much water? (Of course they probably did. Wouldn’t you?)
Ask the students—Did you know that Noah and the animals entered the Ark seven days before the Flood came? Do you think people might have come by to laugh at them?
Ask the students—How many of each kind of animals did God send to Noah to put on the Ark? (Two of each kind of unclean animals—the kinds they didn’t eat, but seven each of the clean animals—the kinds they did eat.)
Ask the students—Did you know that they were on the Ark for more than a year?
Ask the students—Did you know that you’re related to Noah? (Everybody alive is descended from Noah’s family since they were the only ones to survive the Flood.)
Ask the students—How many of you like popcorn? How many bags of popcorn do you think it would have taken to fill the Ark? (It would have taken about six million bags—So the next time you eat a bag of popcorn, remember what God did to save Noah and what Jesus did to save you!)
SAY: Noah didn’t quit. For more than a hundred years he went against the flow. Even though no one believed him and many probably thought he was crazy. It’s not always easy to follow God, but there’s no other way to live, and you’ll never regret living for Jesus.
Control Tool
Leader: Go! / Students: Against the flow!
LESSON ACTIVITY
Group Craft Activity: Make a Piñata
Make a piñata in the following way. Take a large paper bag. (Larger classes will have more than one bag to make more than one piñata.) Help your students to fill it with candy. Then fold the top over a few times and staple or tape it down. Then let the students use glue and torn up streamers to decorate the outside. Your students can also draw pictures on it or color it. Let them be creative and be sure to tell them that next week is Mexican Mission Day and they’ll be breaking this piñata and getting the candy.
While the students are making this craft, also take opportunities to review and reinforce what the lesson and Bible verse are about today.
Control Tool
Leader: Go! / Students: Against the flow!
PRAYER TIME & WRAP UP
Cast Your Cares
Ask the students—How committed would you say that Noah was to God? (Very committed. He kept following God when no one else did.)
Ask the students—Do you think you would have been as committed as he?
SAY: Since Noah was obedient to God, God made him a promise that He would never again send a worldwide flood on the earth and he put a symbol of this promise in the sky as a reminder.
Ask the students—What is the symbol of this promise? (The rainbow.)
SAY: God has made other promises too. For example, God has promised to “save” (take your sins away and make a way for you to go to heaven) everyone who asks Jesus to forgive them and gives their life to Him.
SAY: Let’s look up another promise…
Bible Drill
Ready…1 Peter 5:7…Go!
Briefly re-explain to students what this verse means. Then let each student write their “cares” or prayer requests on a fish cut-out. You can write them in the space provided below. Then let them take turns throwing (or “casting”) them into the fish net. Then pray for their requests.
Pray and thank God that He gives us the strength to obey and follow Him even when we go against the flow. Pray that your students will always be as committed to God as Noah was.
List Prayer Requests Here
Be sure to pray specifically for each request above.
EXTRA TIME
Use any extra time to:
– Help your students memorize the verse for today
– Practice extra Bible Drills by looking up the Challenge Verse from the previous weeks.
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