LESSON 10: JESUS FEEDS 5,000

Dig In to the Bible

  • Read: Matthew 14:13-21

  • In This Passage: A large crowd of 5,000 men, plus women and children, follows Jesus. But when dinnertime comes around, the disciples suggest Jesus send the crowd away since they can’t possibly feed that many people. Or can they? Jesus turns five loaves of bread and two fish into a meal for the whole crowd—with leftovers.

  • Bible Point: God is our provider.

  • Summary Verse: “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him” (1 John 4:9).

 

Dig Deeper

  • You’ll Be Teaching: God is our provider. Depending on your demographics, you may have kids who take their provisions for granted, kids who don’t have all their needs met, or a mix of both. For the former group, it’s easy to neglect God as a provider because they’ve never had to worry about being provided for. For the latter group, it can be hard to trust God when it seems like he isn’t providing all their basic needs. Help kids see what God has provided for them and recognize him as the source.

  • Think About: Look around you and thank God for 10 things he has provided.

 

Dig In to Prayer

  • Pray for kids to know that God will supply all their needs from his glorious riches (see Philippians 4:19).

 

Quick Tip

  • Be sensitive with how you talk about food and clothing in your ministry. For example, having a “fun icebreaker” where kids shout out what they had for breakfast can feel humiliating to a child who didn’t have food to eat for breakfast. Even in a wealthier demographic, you may have some kids whose needs aren’t all being met. As you teach this lesson, don’t make assumptions that God has provided three square meals a day for every child. (In fact, serving snacks is a great way to help be part of God’s provision!)

LESSON 10: Opening Music Videos!

Lesson 10: Step # 2
Core Bible Discovery

Supplies: Bibles * Markers/Crayons * Calculator * Paper

Lesson 10: Step #3 Talk about it with your family!

Bonus FUN!

Chip Clips

Supplies

  • clothespins (3 per child)

  • Glue Dots

  • card stock

  • pencils

  • scissors

  • washable markers

  • clear packing tape

  • brown or yellow chenille wires (pipe cleaners)

  • brown paper lunch bags (2-3 per preschooler)

  • resealable sandwich-size plastic bags (2 per preschooler)

  • stickers

 

Make Chip Clips and Lunch Bags

            Show kids the sample craft you made. Give each elementary child three clothespins. Give each preschooler two or three paper lunch bags and two or three resealable sandwich-size plastic bags. Set out the remaining supplies to share, and have elementary kids follow the directions below to make a set of three chip clips. Preschoolers will make lunch bags and sandwich bags instead by using stickers to decorate their bags. They may also use markers on the paper lunch bags.

  • Fold a piece of card stock in half.

  • Draw a small piece of bread on the card stock, and cut it out while the card stock is folded so you have two matching pieces. Do the same with a fish shape.

  • Use markers to color the slices of bread and the fish.

  • Glue the slices of bread to a clothespin on both sides of the end that you pinch.

  • Glue the fish to a clothespin on both sides of the end that you pinch.

  • Tear off a piece of clear packing tape, and place it sticky side up.

  • Cut and bend chenille wires to make a basket, and place them on the tape. (Feeling fancy? Weave the wires!)

  • Cut out a piece of card stock that will fit behind your basket, and place it on. Then secure the whole thing with tape.

  • Make a second basket the same way.

  • Glue your baskets to a clothespin on both sides of the end that you pinch.

 

 
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Talk About It

            • What’s your favorite kind of chips or food from a bag?

            • When you think about the leftover food you have in your house, like partially eaten bags of chips, what does that show you about God?

           God is our provider, and he gives us lots of yummy kinds of food. Sometimes God even provides leftovers! He provided 12 baskets of leftovers when he fed 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and some fish! When we have leftovers, we can seal the packages with our chip clips or pack them for lunch in our bags as a reminder of how God provided for people in the Bible and for us today.

 

HIGH-ENERGY GAME[10 min]

Double-Time Delivery

Supplies

  • 4 basins (small storage tubs)

  • 4 colors of construction paper

  • painter’s tape

  • paper clips (10 per child, plus a few dozen extras)

  • upbeat music (optional)

  • music player (optional)

Easy Prep

  • Hang a different color of construction paper in each corner of the room.

Tips

  • Placing piles of 10 paper clips on a tabletop will speed up starting the game; kids can scoop up a pile and be ready to roll.

  • If you used the Music Video block, consider repeating the songs from today’s lesson during the game. You can find the downloadable album here.

 

Drop Paper Clips in Basins

            Say: When Jesus multiplied fish and bread to feed more than 5,000 people, someone had to deliver those fish sandwiches. Back then, it was his disciples. Now it’s you!

  • Place a bin in each corner of the room, under the papers. Give each child 10 paper clips.

  • Explain that each paper clip is a sandwich and each bin is a hungry person. When you call out a color, each person will place a single paper clip in that bin. Then you’ll call out another color, and another, and so on.

  • Paper clips must be in a designated bin before another color is called out.

  • Paper clips thrown toward a bin that don’t make it in the bin must be picked up by the thrower before that person can continue playing.

  • Kids can stand anywhere in the room.

  • You’ll call out colors very quickly; it may not be possible for a player to get to every bin in time to deposit a paper clip. That’s okay because another color is coming!

  • Occasionally call the same color twice. Mix up the amount of time between called colors.

  • Any player who gets rid of all 10 paper clips will immediately run to you.

  • Don’t announce this: When players come to you, give them an additional stack of paper clips and tell them to keep playing.

  • If you’d like, play upbeat music as kids play.

  • Play until at least two or three players have come to you and been resupplied with paper clips.

  • When the game is over, have kids sit.

 

Talk About It

            Say: You moved fast! Those fish sandwiches were still hot when you dropped them off. Way to go!

            Ask: • What was your strategy for providing paper clips efficiently?

            • What do you think helps God keep providing?

            Say: When the disciples helped Jesus feed that hungry crowd, they met a very real need. God provided for those people—and he provides for us, too.

            Ask: • What’s something you’ve needed that God has provided?

            Say: God provided for thousands of hungry people, and the disciples got to help. What a blessing for the disciples! God is our provider, and sometimes God lets us help him provide for others. Don’t miss out on that blessing, too!