Children's Ministry Blog

Need to Know: God Will Keep His Promises

Today we looked back at what we’ve learned about Moses and God’s people, the Israelites, in Exodus 2-19. We saw how God always kept His promises to them. When God heard the Israelites asking for Him to save them from mean Pharaoh and the Egyptians, God promised to hear them and help them, and He did! God also promised to be with the Israelites wherever they went, and He kept this promise when he was with them as they escaped the Egyptians at the Red Sea. And God promised to love the Israelites. He loved them by giving them food and water in the desert. God always kept His promises to the Israelites and we can know that God Will Keep His Promises to us.

God promises to hear us when we pray, just like He heard the Israelites. God promises to be with us wherever we go, just like He was with the Israelites wherever they went. And God promises to love us, just like He loved the Israelites and did so many things for them.

This week make a promise to your child. When you fulfill that promise, tell your child that God keeps His promises just like you kept your promise. Teach your child about God’s promises by reading the Bible with him or her daily.

Need to Know: You Are The Church!

Today we talked about how a church is not a church because of the building we meet in. A church is a church because of the people—the people are the church. We learned this from Jesus in Matthew 16:13-18 when He asks His disciples who they think He is. Simon said that Jesus was “The Christ, the Son of the living God.” Simon believed in his heart that Jesus was God’s Son and the most important person ever. Jesus knew that Simon’s faith was as solid as a rock, so Jesus decided to change Simon’s name to Peter which means rock. Jesus then said that He will build His church on this rock. By this Jesus meant that the Church would be built on people whose faith was solid like Peter’s—people who believed that Jesus is God’s Son who came to save us from our sin. From then on, every person who believed in Jesus would be a part of the Church.

As a family, look at what the people who made up the first church did in Acts 2:42-47. Talk about what each member of your family can do to be the church.

Need to Know: God Wants Me To Help My Friends

Today we saw how God Wants Me To Help My Friends just as Moses’ friends helped him in Exodus 17:8-13. In this Bible story, God’s people, the Israelites, were at war. Moses, Aaron & Hur went to watch the battle on a hill. They discovered that when Moses held his arms in the air, the Israelites would be winning the battle. And as soon as Moses would put his arms down, the Israelites would begin losing! Moses tried very hard to hold his arms up by himself, but he would get too tired. He needed the help of his friends, Aaron and Hur. His friends helped him by holding up his arms until the battle was over and the Israelites won!

Just like Aaron and Hur were helpful friends to Moses, God wants us to be helpful friends too! How can you and your child help your friends this week? Today your child may have drawn a picture of a friend he or she would like to help. Come up with a plan to help this friend or any other friend this week.

Practice the Remember Verse this week. If your child knows it by next week, he or she will win a prize! Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

Need to Know: Keep On Serving God!

There are many choices we make each day, from what to eat for breakfast to whether or not to pay attention in school. Another decision we have to make each day is to serve God. Serving God means doing what He tells us to do. Sometimes it’s hard to serve God by doing what He tells us to do, but today we Need to Know to Keep On Serving God, because it is the best thing we can do.

Three of the people we’ve read about in the Bible during this series show us what it means to keep on serving God.

Serving God is not always going to be easy, and you may have to give some things up to serve Him, but God promises that serving Him will be worth all the effort!

Each morning this week, pray with your child, asking God to give him or her the strength to keep on serving Him. Each night, ask your child how he or she served God that day, and encourage him or her to keep on serving God.

“Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock. Rain poured down, rivers flooded, and winds beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on solid rock” - Matthew 7:24-25

Motions for younger elementary kids:
“Anyone who hears (cup hand around ear) and obeys (swing arms in marching motion) these teachings of mine, (hold Bible) is like a wise person (point to head) who built a house (hammer) on solid rock (pound fists on top of each other). Rain poured down, (wiggle fingers from up high to down low) rivers flooded, (palms up; lift hands from down low) and winds beat against that house. (sway side to side) But it did not fall, (stand/sit up straight and firm) because it was built on solid rock (pound fists on top of each other).” - Matthew 7:24-25 (hold up seven fingers)

Need to Know: God Provides For My Needs

We all have things that we truly need, and today we Need to Know that God Provides For My Needs. We learned this as we saw how God provided for His people, the Israelites, as they traveled through the desert in Exodus 16. When the Israelites needed food and water, God provided for their needs—He sent food from the sky and water from a rock! We know that God provides for our needs because we have food to eat and water to drink when we need it!

Sometimes we struggle with knowing the difference between what we need and what we want. Some things we need include food, water, clothing, shoes and people who love us. We do not ever have to worry about having these things because God provides for our needs. Sometimes God does bless us with things we want, but we should always be happy with what we have, because God makes sure that we have what we need.

As you feed, bathe and clothe your child throughout the week, ask him or her who provides us with these things we need (food, clean water, clothes, etc.). Remind your child that God provides for your needs!

Keep practicing our Remember Verse. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

Need to Know: Share With Others!

Every day we have things that we need, and we need others to share with us. Every day we also have something that we can share with others in need. Today we learned to Share With Others as we read about the woman in Shunem who shared her food and her home with Elisah in 2 Kings 4:8-17. When she shared with Elisha she did not expect anything in return. She shared because she loved God, and because of this good attitude, God blessed her beyond her wildest dreams by giving her a child!

Ask your kids how it makes them feel when others share with them. Remind them that they can make others feel that same way by sharing. Remind your child that EVERYTHING we have is something God has shared with us, and that because God has shared everything with us, we should be happy to share EVERYTHING we have with others.

One thing you can share with others is God’s word. It’s always good to memorize God’s word in case you want to share it with somebody and you do not have a Bible nearby. Practice and share our Memory Verse with someone this week:

Need to Know: God Gives Me Rules to Follow

Today we put our construction crew rule-following skills to the test as we learned about the time God gave Moses & his people the Ten Commandments in Exodus 19:1 - 20:17 and 34:32. We should follow these same rules just as Moses and the Israelites did. Today we focused on these seven commandments:

1. Worship only God.
2. Worship God and rest on the Sabbath.
3. Love and obey your parents.
4. Do not hurt other people.
5. Do not steal.
6. Tell the truth.
7. Be happy with what you have.

We should always follow the rules God gives us in the Bible.  When we follow God’s rules, things will be better for us and for everybody else!

This week, bake cookies with your child using a recipe or instructions. As you are enjoying your finished cookies, discuss all the ingredients and steps you had to follow to make your yummy creations. Talk about what would have happened if you had left out an ingredient or skipped a step in the instructions. Discuss how God gives us rules to follow just like you had to follow the recipe and instructions for baking your cookies. Pray with your child each morning, asking God to help you both follow His rules.

Don’t forget to practice our Remember Verse. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

Need to Know: Keep God Your Priority

Many things are important to us, but today we talked about how God should be the most important thing in our life—our priority. In the Bible story of the Rich Man (Luke12:13-31) we saw how our things can become more important to us than God. If our things are most important, God cannot be most important. In this story Jesus also tells us why we should not worry about having more and more things. Just like the birds do not have to store up food and the flowers do not have to fuss with their appearance, we do not have to worry about what we do not have because we are more important to God than birds and flowers. He will take care of us and do His best for us! These stories Jesus told in Luke remind us to Keep God Your Priority!

Here are some ways we said we can all keep God our priority by having a “God First” attitude:

Try to implement these things into you and your child’s everyday routine. Thinking about God is not something we should only do at church. One day our toys and clothes will get old, our friends might move away and we may decide to play a different sport. God is the only thing that will last forever, so He should be our priority, the thing we think about and care about most.

Another way you can keep God your priority is by memorizing His word. Practice memorizing our Memory Verse for this series!

Need to Know: God is Powerful

With God’s help to obey, Moses went to rescue God’s people, the Israelites, from mean Pharaoh and the Egyptians. When Pharaoh would not obey and let the Israelites go, God showed him how powerful He is by sending a plague of frogs (Exodus 8:1-15)! God also showed His power to the Israelites by parting the Red Sea, saving them from the chasing Egyptians (Exodus 14:5-31). In these two stories we learned what we Need to Know today: God Is Powerful.

We also talked about how God is powerful enough to help us any time—when we are scared or mad or happy or sad—God wants to show us His power every day!

Next time you are washing dishes in the sink, have your child help you. Make washing fun by taking turns trying to part the water with your hands and other kitchen utensils. Once the dishes are clean, talk to your children about how only God has the power to part the water in the Red Sea. In that moment thank God for being so powerful!

Don’t forget to practice our Remember Verse!. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

Need to Know: Praise God Instead of Yourself!

So often we all do things to receive the praise of others. But God teaches us through the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9 what we Need to Know today: Praise God Instead of Yourself. In this Bible story the whole world had one language, and the people were starting to feel very proud of themselves. The Babylonians wanted to build a tower that would make them famous. God knew that if this tower made them famous, they would think they were so good they did not need God anymore! To show the people they could not be great without God, He made them all speak different languages so they could not work together to build the tower.

We are all great at doing certain things, but since God is the reason we are able to do great things, we should praise Him instead of ourselves!

Have fun playing a joke on your kids to teach them how we should praise God instead of ourselves. Get your kids to help you cook dinner and clean up for your spouse or another close family member or friend. Be sure to fill the person you are cooking for in on your joke ahead of time. After cooking and cleaning, try to take all the credit for the meal and cleaning. Boast and exaggerate about having done it all yourself until the kids begin to clamor for some of the credit. Acknowledge the truth that you could not have done it without their help. Use this to explain how we do the same thing to God. We try to take credit for the work He has allowed us to do.

Today we learned the second half of our Memory Verse for this series. Practice putting the whole thing together so your child can win a prize in a few weeks.  Here it is:

Need to Know: God Helps Me Obey Him

We continued learning about Moses today in Exodus 3-4 where God asked him to obey by rescuing the Israelites from mean Pharaoh & the Egyptians. The crazy thing was that God asked Moses to obey through a bush that was on fire! Moses did not think he could obey God, but God promised to help him. One way God helped Moses was by giving him a staff that turned into a snake—this staff would show mean Pharaoh how powerful God is. God asked Moses to obey Him, and then He helped Moses obey Him!

Just like God helped Moses obey, God helps us obey. That’s what we Need to Know today: God Helps Me Obey Him. When we obey our parents and all the people in charge, we are really obeying God. Sometimes we may not feel like obeying our parents, people in charge or God, but God wants to help us obey Him. We can pray and ask God to help us obey Him & He will!

Play this fun game to help your child understand how God helps him or her obey. Choose an object from around your house and place it in the room you and your child are in. Blindfold your child and spin him or her around three times. Then guide your child to the object using phrases like “Walk forward,” “Slow down” or “Put your right hand out.” Continue until your child has found the object. Explain how you helped him or her obey and find the object by giving directions. God does the same thing to help us obey!

As a family you can also continue practicing our Remember Verse. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

Need to Know: Never Give Up Doing Good!

Today we learned to Never Give Up Doing Good by following Nehemiah’s example in Nehemiah 1-6. While Nehemiah was working for the king, he heard that the wall in his hometown, Jerusalem, was crumbling. He wanted to do a good thing by helping rebuild it. While people made fun of Nehemiah and even threatened to hurt him, Nehemiah never gave up doing the good God told him to do.

Sometimes it is hard to keep doing good things. We may want to do something else, or people may make fun of us, but we cannot give up doing good! God wants us to do good things, and He will reward us when we Never Give Up Doing Good! Thankfully, we have a way to know what good things God wants us to do. God tells us these things in the Bible. One way we can remember the good things God wants us to do is by memorizing Bible verses. Here is the first part of the verses we are memorizing throughout this series:

This week at home, help your kids understand to Never Give Up Doing Good by working as a family to do good things in your community. Serve at a non-profit organization, clean up trash in your neighborhood or help a relative or friend in need. Afterward, talk about the fun and not-so-fun parts of your time serving, and remind each other to Never Give Up Doing Good!

Need to Know: God Hears Me When I’m Sad

This week’s Bible story picks up in Exodus 1 & 2:23-25 when Moses becomes the leader of God’s people, the Israelites. In this story we see how God heard the Israelites crying for help and sent Moses to rescue them from mean Pharaoh.

God heard the Israelites when they were sad, and God hears us when we are sad. That’s what we Need to Know today: God Hears Me When I’m Sad. Anytime we are sad we can pray to God, and He will hear us. God loves us and wants us to talk to Him all the time!

Next time you and your child are in front of a mirror, take turns making faces that reflect different moods (happy, sad, mad, angry, surprised, scared). Talk about how we can talk to God when we feel all of these ways, and He will hear us. Afterward, pray with your child, thanking God for hearing us when we are sad.

Keep practicing our Remember Verse, too!  Here’s the verse & the motions we do with it:

Need to Know: Obey God Above All Else!

There are many people we should obey every day, but today we Need to Know to Obey God Above All Else! Nobody knew this better than Noah. We learned his story from Genesis 6-8. During Noah’s time people were doing terrible things. Noah was the only good person God could find, so He gave Noah instructions to build a boat for his family and two of every animal. This boat would save them from the flood God was going to send. Building that boat was hard work, and Noah was made fun of for building it, but he chose to obey God above all else.  He knew this was the best thing to do.

God wants us to obey people like our parents, teachers, coaches and police officers, but the most important person to obey is God himself. He is in charge of everybody and everything, and He knows what is best. Our Memory Verse, Matthew 7:24-25 (CEV), tells us how to obey God above all else—by listening to Jesus and doing what He says to do. Keep practicing this first part of our verse, and we’ll learn the second part in a few weeks.

Does your child ever have trouble figuring out who to obey in certain situations? Help your child make a list of all the people he or she needs to obey. Rank them in order of who to obey first. Remember to put God’s name at the top of the list since we need to obey Him above all else. Place the list in a place where your child can reference it when needing to decide who to obey.

Need to Know: God Has A Plan For Me!

This week’s Bible story can be found in Exodus 2:1-10. In this story we learned that bad Pharaoh wanted to hurt all the baby boys in Egypt, but God had a plan for a baby named Moses. Moses’ mom realized she could not hide him from bad Pharaoh so she placed him in a basket and put him in the river. Moses ended up safely in the arms of Pharaoh’s daughter, who raised him as her own son.

Just like God had a plan for Moses, we learned that God Has A Plan For Me. We can find out God’s plan for us by listening to God. We can listen to God with our eyes when we read the Bible and watch shows about Him. And we can listen to God with our ears by listening to and obeying our parents & by listening to other people who love Jesus.

This week, help your child begin remembering our new Remember Verse for this series—1 Timothy 4:10 (NCV). Remembering God’s word together will grow your relationship with your child and with the Lord. Here is the verse and the motions we do along with it:

Need to Know: Follow God’s Plan!

Today we heard about God’s plan for building the Temple in 1 Chronicles 28:1-9 & 2 Chronicles 2-4. God had given King David the plan for building the Temple as a place for the Israelites to worship God. David planned on building the Temple himself, but God had a different plan.  God wanted David’s son, Solomon, to build it.  David trusted God and gave Solomon God’s plan for building the Temple.  By following God’s plan, Solomon was able to construct the great Temple, and the Israelites had a place to worship God. 

Just like Solomon followed God’s plan for the temple, we also need to Follow God’s Plan! We talked about five ways we can find out about God’s plan for us & follow it:

1. Coming to Church
2. Reading the Bible Every Day
3. Praying
4. Asking Your Parents About God
5. Talking to Your Small Group Leader & Others Who Love Jesus

Knowing & following God’s plan will make us wise builders. Memorizing scripture is another way we can know & follow God’s plan. This week we began memorizing Matthew 7:24-25 (CEV). Help your child practice the first part we started memorizing today: