Lesson 1: The Rainbow – God’s Promise
Lesson 1 : The Rainbow – God’s Promise
Bible Story : God’s Covenant with Noah
Bible Scriptures: Genesis 8:1-22; 9:8-12
Objective : To teach children that when God makes a promise, He always
keeps it.
Memory Verse : Genesis 8:22 “As long as the world exists, there will be a time for planting and a time for harvest.”
Introduction
Discuss with the class about promises. Give examples of promises that have been made and kept, as well as promises that have been broken.
Tell the Story
Tell the bible story in your own words and by showing pictures.
Main Points of the Lesson
(Teacher should concentrate on one or two truths in this lesson so that children steadily come to know more about God)
God made promises to Noah. He would be kept safe if he followed God’s plan and built a boat for his family and some chosen animals to live in. Noah obeyed God and he was kept safe in the boat. But, everything else died.
Noah and his family and the animals were shut up in the boat for many months. The rain stopped, and after seven months the boat came to rest on some mountains, 8:1-5.
After eleven months in the boat, Noah let out a raven, a large black bird that feeds on dead meat, 8:6. Then Noah sent out a dove, but at first it did not find anywhere to rest. Describe what the dove did, 8:8-12.
A year after he had taken his family and the animals into the boat, Noah let everything out. The first thing Noah and his family did was to worship God. They thanked Him for keeping His promise. They built an altar and made a sacrifice. God was pleased, 8: 13-19.
God promised He would never destroy the earth by water again. God gave Noah the sign of the rainbow to show that He would always keep His promise.
Our Response to the Story
LOOK
Ask the class to look around them and tell the names of different natural things that have the colors of the rainbow. Rainbows are often only seen after cloudy, rainy days.
LISTEN
The rainbow was a promise from God to Noah that He would never flood the earth again just like Jesus promises us that He will forgive us of our sins.
LIVE
God always keeps His promises. He does what He says. It is through His promises we discover life as God meant it to be. It is through His promises we escape from sin.
Discussion Question
Why do you think God chose a rainbow as a sign of His covenant?
Game/Activity
RAINBOW TAG
Choose a ‘rainbow catcher’. He will stand in the middle of a large play area.
Next, assign all the remaining players with different colors of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. (Don’t let the rainbow catcher hear what colors each person is assigned.)
The rainbow catcher then calls out a color. All the players that have been assigned that color try and run past the catcher to the other side of the play area. The ‘rainbow catcher’ tries to tag as many of children as they can before they reach the other side.
The kids who are tagged become rainbow catchers and stand in the middle to help tag other players on the next round.
The rainbow catcher can yell “Rainbow!” and all the players must try and reach the other side. The last person caught becomes the new rainbow catcher. If you’re playing with a large group-have more than one ‘catcher’.
Prayer Time & Wrap-Up
Pray and ask God to help the kids remember that God keeps His promises so we need to be faithful in keeping our promises as well.
