What is God Like?

JESUS
AIM: God shows us His character through Jesus

10.God is CARING (Y3 T2 U2a)
Teaching Idea: God shows us He is CARING through Jesus feeding the crowd – God
looks after our physical needs.
Learning Tool: Bead with ‘CARING’ written on it for bracelet
Bible Verse: “LORD … you are all around me on every side; you protect me with your
power.” Psalm 139:1, 5

Blue Jeans

Hold up a pair of blue denim jeans and comment:

This is a piece of clothing which probably every New Zealand child owns. Many adults own jeans as well.

Display the following list of words in random order:
Parent, Shop, Wholesalers, Factory, Cotton Processing Plant, Ship, Cotton Pickers, Sun & Rain, God who looks after us
Record the answers in a list starting with ‘Parents’ at the bottom of the list listing upwards and finishing with ‘God who looks after us’ at the top.

Who bought your jeans for you? (Parent)

So we could say that Mum/Dad looked after you and bought you this piece of clothing.

Where did Mum/Dad buy them? (Shop)

So we could say that the person in the shop looked after you by supplying Mum/Dad with the jeans.

Where did the shop get them from? (Wholesalers)

So we could say that it was the wholesalers who looked after you by supplying the shop so that they could sell it to your Mum/Dad.

Where did the wholesalers get the jeans from? (Factory)

So we could say that it was the people in the factory who made the jeans who looked after your clothing needs.

Where did the factory get the material from to make your jeans?

(Cotton Processing Plant)
So we could say that it was the people who processed the raw cotton into material who looked after you.

How did the raw cotton get to the processing plant? (Ship)

So we could say that it was the men who handle the goods at the wharf, and who control the ship who looked after your needs.

How did the raw cotton get from the tree to the ship? (Cotton Pickers)

So we could say that the people who are cotton pickers looked after your clothing needs.

What made the cotton producing trees grow? (Sun & Rain)

So we could say that the sun and the rain looked after your clothing needs, and produced your jeans.

Who made the sun and the rain? (God who looks after us)

So we could say that in the long run it was God who was looking after you all the time!

We often think about God being with us and noticing us, and loving and forgiving us. But God also looks after our physical needs.

What needs do our bodies have?
Our bodies need clothes and God looks after that need by sending the sun and rain to grow cotton and other fibres which we use for clothes. Our bodies need shelter and homes, and God has made the kind of world in which there is building material for strong comfortable homes. And our bodies need food. God looks after our physical needs.

Drama

When Jesus was on earth as a man He showed us that God wants to look after our bodies. In tonight’s real life story from the Bible (found in Mark 8:1-10) Jesus used just seven small loaves of bread to feed a huge crowd. It is not very often that our physical needs, like food and clothing, are met with a miracle, but it is still true that God looks after us.

Act out drama.

God shows us that He is CARING by looking after our physical needs.

Prayer

Display heading ‘Thank you Lord for looking after us’
Ask for and write up five or six other ‘Thank you’ prayers, thanking God for meeting their physical needs (eg. Favourite food, clothes, home) – and to be specific in their thanks rather than general (eg. ‘Thank you Lord for new warm jumpers to wear now that it’s colder’ rather than ‘Thank you for our clothes’).
Everyone read the prayer together.