What does having a personal relationship with the Lord look like? Includes a teaching guide and 2 games.
Needed: Bibles, random objects, trash bags or strings to tie children’s legs together
Intro Game: “What’s Missing?”
Place a variety of objects on the table or around the room. Have students close their eyes, and then take one of the objects and put it in your pocket or outside the room. Have students open their eyes and guess what’s missing. Give them hints if they can’t figure it out. The first student to correctly guess what was missing then gets to take the next object. Play until everyone has had a turn taking an object or as long as time allows.
Lesson
We were taking objects out of the room and pretending like they were disappearing. Do you think a person could ever disappear like that?
Read Genesis 5:21-24 (quoted here in the NIV) – “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”
Read Hebrews 11:5 (NIV) – “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.”
What happened to Enoch? (God took him away. He disappeared. People were looking for him but God took him away and made him disappear.)
Where do you think God took Enoch? (To Heaven.)
Why do you think God took Enoch? What was so special about Enoch that he got to go Heaven?
The Bible verses we read said that Enoch was a man who walked with God, and had faith, and pleased God. That means Enoch was friends with God and did all the right things that God wanted him to. That made God happy and God took Enoch to Heaven.
Do you think we can be God’s friends and do what God wants us to do?
What are some things we can do to be God’s friends and learn what He wants us to do? (Read the Bible, go to church, pray, etc.)
Why do you think it’s important to read our Bibles if we want to be God’s friend?
When we read our Bible, we’re reading God’s words to us. He told the people what to write so that we can learn what God wants to say to us. And if we want to be God’s friend, we have to know and listen to what He says.
Why is important to pray to God if we want to be God’s friend?
When we read our Bible, we’re listening to what God said to us, but when we pray, God listens to what we say to Him. God cares about us and He wants us to tell Him about what’s happening in our lives. God is our friend. And sometimes, God will help us with a problem that we tell Him about. Other times He just wants us to talk to Him.
Why is it important to go to church if we want to be God’s friend?
When we go to church, God teaches through other people. We also get to help other people be better friends with God by praying for them and encouraging them.
If we do those things and if we really are God’s friend like Enoch was, then God will take us to Heaven one day and we will live with Him forever and ever.
Game: Walking with God
Have students pair up side by side and put one of each of their legs in a trash bag or tie them together to set up for a three-legged race. Mark a start and finish line. If kids fall down, make them start over.
Round 1. Cooperation
The Bible said Enoch walked with God. You can imagine two friends taking a walk and talking together side by side. So, we’re going to practice walking with someone else. The team who walks together the best to the finish line wins. That means that you’ll need to work together and walk slowly this time.
Round 2. Speed
But sometimes, things in life are happening very quickly, and we still need to be able to walk with God when things get busy. This time, the first team to get to the finish line first wins. But, remember, if you fall down, you have to start back at the beginning.
Round 3. Hopping
And sometimes, life is crazy, but God is always right there with us. So, this time, you’re going to walk with God by jumping together to the finish line.
Round 4. Crab Walking
And sometimes, life is really hard. Things happen and we get sad, but God is still with us through those hard times. So, this time, I want you to walk like a crab with your partner to the finish line.
When we walk with God in life, we will eventually get to the finish line. The finish line that we’re all going for is Heaven. God might not take us away like He took Enoch, but when we die, God will take us to be with Him in Heaven.
If time allows, you can have the students pair up with another teammate and repeat the rounds.
Closing Prayer
God, we thank You that You are our friend and that You want us to be with You in Heaven. We pray that You will help us to be friends with You. Help us to read our Bibles and pray so that we can talk to You. And help us to always want to go to church so that we can learn about You and help other people to be friends with You. Amen.
This children’s Sunday School lesson is available for your Kindle app or in bound book form in my book, Created: Children Sunday School Lessons for Genesis 1-11.