INFANT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS
YEAR 4
LESSONS 1 – 20
Infant Syllabus
General Teaching Notes
Bibles
Have an open Bible, even if you are telling the story or using a book so that the children understand everything we teach is based on the Bible. The NIV has been used unless otherwise stated.
Encourage the children to bring Bibles to Sunday School. A good incentive is to use stickers or points, with a small prize when an agreed number has been collected.
Worksheets
There is a worksheet to go with each lesson. This need not always be done at the end, but can sometimes be partly used during the lesson to consolidate what has been taught, and give children a break from listening. You are the judge of when and how to use the worksheet.
Please note that the lesson notes are guideline suggestions only – they are not prescriptive texts.
THERE ARE REVISION WORKSHEETS EVERY FEW WEEKS.
These can be used as revision lessons, which would be helpful especially of someone in the class had been absent or if the story was quite new to the class. There are no lesson notes for revision lessons as previous notes apply.
The group working on the junior syllabus suggests that these are used as lessons and that on the Sundays on which they are being used The Instructor could be given out and the children encouraged to ‘do’ the magazine with the help and encouragement of the teacher. Alternatively, revision lessons can be given to the children to do at home.
Lesson 1 How God made the world - introduction and days1 to 4
Genesis 1:1-19
Lesson Aim:To encourage a sense of wonder and awe of God the Creator, particularly through a repeated emphasis on God’s power to create and the perfection of what he created.
Visual Aids:A flannelgraph, pictures cut from magazines or the teacher’s own drawings. Use the worksheet with the children, as they work their way through the story.
Point 1Begin by reading the first few words of verse 1. ‘In the beginning, God ...’ Only God existed before the creation of the world. He always has been. There never was a time before God was.
Point 2Where do we worship? How was the church building made? Discuss with the children how we make things. Stress that everything we make is made out of something:stones, bricks, nails, cement, wood, lego bricks. Bring out the effort required in this, in planning, in gathering materialsand in doing the building. Encourage a sense of wonder and awe of God, Who made the world out of nothing at all.
Point 3 Consider the first day. There was no light, no sky, no world, nothing. Ask the children to cover their eyes and imagine darkness everywhere and nothing at all in the darkness. Ask them what was not there, giving them some suggestions, if necessary - no children, no trees. Still with eyes covered, explain that God made the earth, but not as we know it today. It didn’t have a shape, nothing lived on it and it was completely dark. Then God made light. Ask the children to open their eyes. Explain the division of light and darkness, day and night. Read the words of verse 3 and the beginning of verse 4, emphasising ‘God said’, ‘it was so’ and ‘it was good’.
Point 3On the second day, God made the sky, the clouds that give rain and water on the earth, emphasising again ‘God said’, ‘it was so’ and ‘it was good’.
Point 4On the third day God separated the water from the land on earth. God commanded dry land to appear. He called the dry land ‘earth’ and the waters ‘sea’. The land was empty so when the land was ready, God commanded all sorts of grasses,plants, trees and fruit to growon the earth. Emphasise again ‘God said’, ‘it was so’ and ‘it was good’.
Point 5On the fourth day God made lights in the heavensto divide the day from the nightand to be signs ofyears, seasons, months and days. Encourage the children to talk about the sun, the moon and the millions of stars and to wonder at the vastness of the universe.
Conclusion: Closeby thinking again of the greatness of God. ‘God said’, ‘it was so’ and ‘it was good’.
Lesson 2 How God made the world - days 5 and 6
Genesis 1:20-31 and 2:7
Lesson Aim:To encourage a sense of awe of God the Creator particularly through a repeated emphasis on God's power to create and the perfection of what He created.
Visual Aids: A flannelgraph, pictures cut from magazines or the teacher’s own drawings.
Point 1Recall the main points of the last lesson, again encouraging a sense of wonder and awe of God.
Point 2Talk with the children about all God made on the earth and about what was still missing. The world was very quiet as there were no creatures living on it. On the fifth day, God commanded the seas to fill with all kinds of creatures and He made the birds to fly in the skies. Talk with the children about different sea creatures and birds. Make suggestions to start them off, if necessary.
Point 3The world was then ready for God to fill it with animals. On the sixth day God commanded animals to come into being. And they did. Again, emphasise ‘God said’, ‘it was so’ and ‘it was good’. Discuss with the children what kind of animals God made that day.
Point 4Discuss with the children what was still missing from the earth. Then make the next part very special as you tell it.God made the very first man.Vividly tell how God took the dust of the earth and formed a more wonderful being than anything that He had yet made. He made a man. He breathed into the man breath that came from Himself. The man could walk, run, see and taste, just as the animals could, but he could also think, love, worship and talk to God, as they could not. Man was the most important in all God's creation. Many of the children will know the name of the first man.
Point 5Explain that the first task God asked Adam to perform was to name all the animals and emphasise that Adam was superior to the animals and that the animals were created for him to look after. Go on to tell that God said it was not good for Adam to be alone. God also made a woman, Eve, to be with Adam. Tell briefly how Eve was made. God blessed the first two people on earth, He set them over all that He had made and He provided for them.
Conclusion:Discuss simply how small a part of creation people are, but also how important.God cares for us as helpless babiesand throughout our lives.
Lesson 3 How God made the world - day 7
Links with seven days in a week, the New Testament, the resurrection
Genesis 2:1 - 3
Lesson Aim:To show that God set apart one day in seven as a day of rest, a day when we can especially remember how great God is and when we can thank Him.
Point 1By question and answer, recall the creation of the world, ending with the creation of man on day 6. Everything was perfect.
Point 2God ended all His work and rested on the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day and made it very special.
Point 3Explain that throughout Old Testament times, God’s people kept the seventh day special. Refer to the Ten Commandments and focus on the fourth commandment. Some of the children will know about the commandments, which featured in the year 3 lessons.
Point 4Link this to the way our time is divided into weeks, with Sunday as the special day, set apart from the others. Sunday is God’s day, the day for spending time thinking about God and for going to church and Sunday School.
Point 5In New Testament times the seventh day was kept as a special day. Jesus went to the synagogue on Sabbath aays and often taught the people there. One example is found in Luke 13:10 -17.
Point 6Pause to think about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and discuss the days of the week on which these events took place. Show that after that, the first day of the week came to be regarded as God’s special day.
Conclusion:
Consider how powerful and good God is to have created this wonderful world. God rested on the seventh day and He has commanded us to rest too and so we are able to remember how God has created all things and we can thank Him.
LESSON 4 IS A REVISION LESSON
USING NOTES FROM LESSONS 1 - 3
Lesson 5 God made Man – the Garden of Eden Genesis 2:4-25
Lesson Aim:To encourage thankfulness in the children for the wonderful way God made man. To show that God commands man to obey Him.
Visual Aids: Pictures of lovely gardens, trees, flowers, leaves from different kinds of trees, interesting stoneswith layers of varying colours, animals, birds and insects.
Point 1Recall the main points of creation, particularly the creation of Adam and Eve. God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden which had everything they needed. The children may know the name of the garden.
Point 2Using pictures of animals, birds and insects, talk about the excitement of living in this wonderful environment, finding new plants, discovering different kinds of insects, listening to the songS of different kinds of birds, learning the habits of different kinds of animals, finding out how to take care of the garden and tasting the fruits of the various trees.
Point 3Adam and Eve were very happy, working in the garden and in each other's company.God was their special friend and He visited them in the garden. They loved Him because He had made them and given them such a beautiful place to live in and to look after for Him.
Point 4Mention the two special trees IN the garden. There was the tree that gives knowledge of what is good andwhat is bad and there was the tree that gives life.
Point 5Explain that there was only one thing God had told them that they must not do. They were not to eat any of the fruit of the tree that gives knowledge of good and evil. They could eat the fruit from every other tree in the garden.
Conclusion:Talk with the children about the sort of things their parents ask them to do, emphasising the importance of obeying.
Lesson 6 The Fall Genesis 3:1-7
Lesson Aim:To show how Satan tempts people and to show how sin spoiled God's creation.
Point 1By question and answer, recall the earlier lessons and emphasise the fact that God created the world, all the things in it and then man. Everything was perfect. Discuss how Adam and Eve loved God but Satan, who hates God and everything good, wanted to spoil the world and make Adam and Eve like himself. Emphasise that Satan still exists and has the same plans today.
Point 2Introduce the idea of obedience and discuss with the children the kinds of things their parents and teachers require them to do.
Point 3Adam and Eve were happy in the garden. Tell how much easier it was for them to look after the garden than it is now, for God made everything perfect. To get Eve to listen to him, Satan appeared looking like a snake. This was so that she would not immediately recognise him as Satan. If she had known who he was, she might not have spoken to him.
Point 5Show that Satan was very clever. Describe, in a simple way, the conversation between Eve and Satan. He made Eve believe that eating the fruit would make her wise like God knowing good and evil. Remind the children that, up until then, Eve knew only what was good. She knew nothing bad. Satan did not tell her she would be unhappy and no longer God's friend, if she did as he said. He tried to persuade her that God didn't mean what He said. He made Eve begin to think that God's rules were unfair. Look at this question with the children and discuss how they feel if they think a rule is unfair and how they would feel if a friend tried to make them doubt what their parents or teachers said.
Point 6Eve looked at the fruit. It looked good. It looked as if it would be good to eat and she believed that it would make her like God. So she took it and ate it. Eve had sinned. She took the fruit to Adam and he ate it too. Explain that sin had now entered the world. The world was no longer the lovely place it had been.
Point 7 Discuss how unhappy Adam and Eve must have felt and how, when God came into the garden to talk to them, they hid. They were no longer His special friends.
Conclusion:God sent Adam and Eve away from the Garden of Eden and their lives were changed completely.
LESSON 7 IS A REVISION LESSON
USING THE NOTES FOR LESSONS 5 AND 6
Lesson 8 John the Baptist Luke 1:5- 25, 57 - 66 ,Matthew 3:1-6 and 11, 12
Lesson Aim:To show how the Saviour came at the time that God set.
Point 1Introduce Elizabeth and Zechariah, an elderly couple who had no children. Explain that Elizabeth was a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Tell simply and vividly about the appearance of the angel to Zechariah as he was doing his work in the temple, about Zechariah’s fear, about the message the angel brought and about the reaction of the people when Zechariah was so long in the temple and unable to speak when he came out to them.
Point 2Describe the joy when the baby boy was born. Talk with the children about naming babies and explain that everybody thought this baby would have the same name as his father. Explain that Elizabeth said he should be called John and that Zechariah was able to write down that the baby’s name was John. Help the children to imagine the wonder the people felt when Zechariah was then able to speak again. They knew God was with this baby in a special way.
Point 3Talk of what happens when visitors are expected or when the Queen visits different places. People are told and preparations are made. Refer to communication today. Long ago a herald used to go before the King to tell of his coming. He would blow a trumpet and make his announcement.
Point 4Jesus had a messenger who went before Him to tell the people He was coming and that messenger was John. He was to be the one who got the people ready for the coming of Jesus, God's Son. John knew that the promised King was to be the Saviour. Explain what Saviour means, referring to Adam and Eve and the first sin.
Point 5When John grew up he knew that God had something special for him to do, but he had to wait until God told him what it was.He wanted to be alone so that he could think about God, so that he could pray to Him and listen quietly for God's message. Describe John out in the desert, telling about his food and clothes.
Point 6God’s message was that John must travel through the country going into villages and towns and telling people that the promised King, the Saviour, would be coming very soon. He had to tell them to be ready for the King. People flocked to see this strange man from the desert, because his clothing was different, etc.
Conclusion:John told them what they must do to be ready for the King. Introduce the word ‘repent’ and explain simply what it means.
Lesson 9 John the Baptist (2) John 1:29-34
Lesson Aim:To show how John presented Jesus as the Lamb of God.
Point 1Describe simply the story of the first Passover. Some of the children will remember this from previous lessons about Moses and the people leaving Egypt. Concentrate on the lamb that was killed. Because it was killed, the people weren’t killed. Explain that now they are going to hear the story of another lamb.
Point 2Remind the children of John, who was telling the people about the promised King, the Saviour, who would be coming very soon. Set the scene beside the River Jordan, with John bringing God’s message to the people and baptising those who believed and repented of their sins.
Point 3Tell how God gave John a very special job. God told John that one day a special person, greater and more important than John, would come. This person would have a special name. He was ‘The Lamb of God’.
Point 4Remind the children that Jesus was John's cousin and so John would know Jesus as Mary's son, his cousin from Nazareth. One day Jesus came to the river. Read verse 29. Tell how John saw the Spirit of God coming down in the form of a dove and resting on Jesus. God had told John that he would recognise the Saviour when he saw the Spirit of God resting on Him.