Mikal Keefer - 13 Very Amazing Animals and How God Used Them

13 VERY AMAZING ANIMALS AND HOW GOD USED THEM

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

LCCN 2017952572

ISBN 978-1-4347-1254-7

eISBN 978-0-8307-7295-7

2018 David C Cook

The Team: Lindsay Black, Amy Konyndyk, Rachael Stevenson, Lynn Pratt, Abby DeBenedittis, Susan Murdock

Cover Design/Illustration: Dennis Jones

And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang:

Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.

Revelation 5:13

God gives us hope.

Genesis 8:612

God leads us.

Genesis 24:14, 927

God hears our prayers.

Numbers 11:1820, 3132

God uses us.

Numbers 22:2134

God is faithful.

Daniel 6:123

God gives us second chances.

Jonah 1:12:6; 3:13

God wants us to do the right thing.

Matthew 17:2427

God loves us.

Luke 15:37

God wants us to know Jesus is King.

Mark 11:110

God wants us to obey him.

Luke 5:111

God is never surprised.

Luke 22:3334, 5462

God is powerful.

Acts 28:110

All Gods creatures praise him.

Revelation 4:11; 5:1113

First, thanks. Thanks for caring about children and for helping them explore how God has used animals to make himself and his purposes known. Because God has done some remarkable things through his furry, fuzzy, and funny creations. A talking donkey? A fish carrying around a tax payment in its mouth? A rooster reminder that brought a grown man to his knees?

Youll help your kids explore all those events and experience powerful transformation as they link Bible truths they need with the animals they love. Its learning and delightall rolled into one fun session.

So get ready to have some fun! Youll help change young lives and turn tender hearts toward Jesus. Soak in the laughter and see kids transformed.

What could be more fun than that?

These sessions for elementary kids are carefully designed to make your life easy. Theyre light on supplies, quick to prepare, and long on fun. Youll find most supplies in the churchs supply closet or kitchen or at home in your garage, pantry, or junk drawerno need to spend time ordering materials online.

Because these sessions are created so beginning teachers or mature teenagers can lead them confidently, you wont need highly trained teachers. And the variety of options in each session will snagand holdthe attention of first-grade through sixth-grade children, including the boys!

Best of all, youll see kids grow in their faith as they open their hearts to what God shares with them through these 13 sessions.

Preparation is easy too. Each session, youll focus on one key Bible truth, which children will explore and apply. Youll drive that point home through Bible exploration, fun discussions, giggle-worthy games, and Oh, wow! activities that engage kids in multiple ways through multiple learning styles.

Each session, your children actually experience a Bible truth. Theyll discover it, ponder it, talk about it, pray about it, and apply what they learn. If thats what youre looking forfor your children to do Gods Word instead of just hear ityoure in exactly the right place. And heres a tip: supersize the learning by using a kid-friendly version of the Bible to make sure the stories are understood by children.

We get it: sometimes you have to punt. A sermon goes long or short. Kids are quick to dive into a lesson or need some time to warm up to being together. Older kids might zip through an activity while their younger friends take a little longer.

Relax. Weve got you covered.

You can use these sessions with kids in practically any setting: in Sunday school, childrens church, evening programs, or while kids parents are attending an adult class or small group. Theres maximum flexibility because each session is written to last 45 minutes and then provides enough extras to fill a full hour. These sessions stretch to fit exactly what you need, when you need it. Theyre

• multi-agedsuitable for mixed ages of elementary children;
• easily adaptedsessions work for just a couple kids or a packed classroom;
• relationalchildren grow close to Jesus and one another;
• flexiblebrimming with options to fit varying time frames; and
• funeven easily distracted kids will engage, learn, and grow.

So are you ready for some fun? Lets dive in!

The Point: God gives us hope.

Scripture Connect: Genesis 8:612

Supplies for all session 1 activities and options: plastic (or paper) cups, balloons, black plastic trash bag, stopwatch, Bible, paper, colored markers, propane candle lighter, smooth stones (1 per child)

Stuck.

Thats how Noah felt on the ark because he was well, stuck. As in water-all-around-no-land-in-sight stuck.

And Noah couldnt do anything about it except keep doing what hed done all along: place his hope in God and trust that God would care for him, his family, and a boatload of animals.

In that way your kids have something in common with Noahtheyre stuck too. Someone else sets their schedules, decides what theyll eat, and plans where theyll go on vacation.

But what they may not have in common with Noah is a deep trust in God. Heartfelt hope that God will care for and guide them.

Youll help your kids explore that hope through this session. And theyll discover that, no matter what, their hope is in God!

Time: about 5 minutes, depending on attendance

Supplies: none

After kids arrive, say: When people like a movie, they sometimes give it a thumbs-up. Demonstrate. Really like the movie? Two thumbs-up. If they dislike or really dislike the movie, they give it one or two thumbs-down. Demonstrate.

Please rate how this past week has gone for you. Was it a one or two thumbs-up week? A one or two thumbs-down week? Or maybe youd give it one thumbs-up and one thumbs-downit was a good and bad week.

Rate your week now.

After kids rate their weeks, give kids 30 seconds each to explain why they rated their weeks as they did. Youll go first, sharing a story that models the sort of brief, personal stories you hope kids will share too.