Page 1. god is - god gives

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1 Page 1 week 1 foundation week 1 - Property of Tri-Cities Baptist Church 171 Promise Land Dr. Gray, TN Chief Contributor and Editor: Jennifer Thurman August 2015 PRESCHOOL

2 Page 2 overview FOUNDATION: GOD IS - GOD GIVES God is means that in the universe. He alone is Lord over everything that exists, and He alone is worthy of our worship. This also means that every good thing that exists comes from God. All good things come from Him because goodness is a part of who He is as the one true God. It is a part of His nature and character to be good, and everything that comes from God is good. Thankfully God has not chosen to withhold His goodness from His creation, but instead gives it freely to us. BIG TRUTH: THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD BIBLE VERSE: DEUTERONOMY 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. BIG IDEAS God is one. There is only one God. There are no other gods. There is no being like God. He is the most powerful, smartest, controlling force in existence. Since there is only one God, He is the most important being - past, present, and future. AIMS Every kid should know that there is only one true God. Every kid should fear (stand in awe) of the one true God. Every kid should love God with everything they have. FEEL DO Every kid should be able to talk about God when they wake up, go to bed, and throughout their day. Every kid should have reminders that point to God strategically placed throughout their daily line of sight. WANT Every kid should want to know the one true God. BIBLE STORY: EXODUS 32 God s people chose to stop worshipping the one true God and instead decided to make a god of their own. Moses helps the people see that there is only one God. FAMILY DEVOTION: THERE ARE NO COPIES OF GOD, THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD There is only one God and even though people may try to make copies of God or create false gods, they are powerless. Help families build on this week s big truth by: Encouraging parents and guardians to utilize this weeks devotional available online at

3 Page 3 game plan STUDY SESSION (LEARN TRUTH): GOD IS GOD GIVES The Study Session is where ers are taught the week s Foundation principle concerning who God is and what He has given. Bible Reading: Deut. 6:4 Teaching Focus: There is only one God. He is the most important being - past, present, and future. Bible Story: Deut. 6:4-8 Big Question: Since there is only one God, what do I owe Him? Use Deut. 6:4-8 to teach the ers that we owe God everything. He is the one source worthy of all of our love, thoughts, feelings, actions, and things. WORSHIP SESSION (LOVE TRUTH): The Life Session is where ers are engaged through Hooks that help reinforce the Aims of the week. Song Focus: God is a big God. He is powerful, in control, and there is no one like Him. Bible Reading: Deut. 6:4 Teaching Focus: There is only one God. He is the most important being - past, present, and future. Bible Story: Exodus 32:1-26 Big Question: Why was Israel sinful when they made and worshipped the golden calf? Use the resources included to tell the story of Israel s golden calf. The focus is not so much on their sin, but why it was a sin. We cannot worship or claim anyone or anything to be god, because there is just one God. You will not use everything, but the supplied resource is designed to provide you with a clear understanding of this Bible story and how it relates to The Big Truth. Give consideration to the Big Ideas & Aims. There is only one God and even though people may try to make copies of God or create false gods, they are powerless LIFE SESSION (LIVE TRUTH): The Life Session is where ers are engaged to interact through the foundational principle, reinforcing the Aims of the week. Verse Activity: Deut. 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Use the supplied Hooks or an approved activity to help ers learn and understand the Bible Verse. Example: Help the er memorize Deuteronomy 6:4 by singing the verse to the tune of Frère Jacques. GENERAL HELP: Stay on subject with the Big Truth and Bible Verse. Every talk should return to the Big Truth. Keep it simple. Make it memorable. Reinforce the Big Ideas in conversation with the kids. Prepare with conviction. You will not use everything, but the supplied resource is designed to provide you with a clear understanding of this Bible story and how it relates to The Big Truth. Give consideration to the Big Ideas & Aims in your preparation and delivery. Pray for wisdom and receptive hearts.

4 BOOK: DEUTERONOMY 6:4-6 Page 4 There is Only One God. Deuteronomy 6:4 can easily be summed up as a reminder for God s people. A new generation of Israelites is poised on the edge of the Promised Land forty years after their fathers and grandfathers great exodus from Egypt. This new generation is being reminded by Moses and introduced to the one, true God. Moses sermon in Deuteronomy 6 serves as a review of all that had transpired since the Israelites left Egypt, including God s provision for them in their wandering and their own disobedience. 1 The previous generation had all passed away in the desert, an answer to their own sinful cries. 2 And now a new generation of Israelites had taken their place. God was reminding His people of His character and of their own uniqueness as His chosen people, something they had often lost sight of as they had made their way to the Promised Land. This uniqueness as His chosen people required their obedience and their complete love and adoration for Him. They are commanded to love Him above anything and anyone else. 3 In Deuteronomy 4:33, God asks, Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? His rhetorical question is a reference to His appearance to them on Mount Sinai decades before; He is the one true God because no other gods had appeared to them or spoken with them. They were uniquely His people because He had chosen them and He had chosen to appear to them in the fire on the mountain and to allow them to hear his voice, something that no other god does. 1. Numbers 14 details the account of the Israelites as they wandered through the desert due to their sin. 2. Number 14:2: The Israelites had cried out on numerous occasions that it would be better for them to die in the desert. God answered their cry when they all passed away in the desert. Only Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land with the new generation of Israelites. 3. Deuteronomy 6:5: God requires His people to love Him with all their hearts, souls and mights.

5 Page 5 BOOK: EXODUS 32 The Israelites and the Golden Calf Supporting Scripture: Deut. 9:9, Ex. 19:2, 19:16-20, 19:8, Deut. 32:1, Acts 7:39-41 Teacher Introduction: When the Israelites created the golden calf, they took their eyes off of the one true God. This narrative emphasizes a truth that is repeated throughout Scripture, the Lord God is One¹. There are no other real gods, only God. The Israelites revealed a pattern of forgetting this truth and turning to false gods.² The story of the golden calf reveals what happens when mankind trades the truth about God for a lie.³ He is the only true God and there are no others. God in His great power revealed Himself to His people through His servant Moses. Because God is the only true God, He is the most important being in all of life past, present and future. The foundational truth that God is one is pivotal to an understanding of who God is and how He interacts with His people. The golden calf narrative reveals, not only the consequence for turning away from God, but the truth that He is the only living God who is actively involved in His people s lives. Teaching Guide: The guide below is provided to help you teach the foundational truth There is only One God. The three points are the Big Ideas that should guide your lesson as you share the narrative of the Israelites and the golden calf. Endnotes are provided for further study of the text and God s interaction with His people, the Israelites. Throughout the lesson, questions are placed to help you guide students to think about and process the narrative - that God is One. Opening Illustration: (Choose one child from your group to stand in front of the class.) Help the er know God is One by teaching him or her that God is All-Powerful or Omnipotent. Give the er a piece of paper and let him or her crumple it up. We are limited in our power, but God is not. He is All-powerful. Then give the er a rock or stone and let he or she try to crumple it. Explain that though we are limited in our power, God is not. Who is standing next to me today? (Have the class say the first and last name of the child. Emphasize the child s uniqueness.) Are there other (say the first and last name of the child) in the class? No, there is only One (say the first and last name of the child). Just like there is only one (say the first and last name of the child) in our class, there is only One true God. There are no other real gods, though sometimes people try to make their own gods. One time God s chosen people, the Israelites, tried to make their own god. 1. Deuteronomy 6:4 2. Exodus 14:11-12: The people s faith failed as they faced the Red Sea with the Egyptians bearing down on them. They turned their eyes off of the one God who had brought them out of Egypt and promised to take care of them. 3. Numbers 14: The first generation of Israelites to leave Egypt would all pass away in the desert, an answer to their own sinful cries. They traded the truth they knew about God for a lie.

6 Page 6 1. THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD 4 Several months after the Israelites left Egypt, God, choosing to reveal Himself again to his people, called Moses up to the top of Mount Sinai to speak with him 5. God was going to reveal Himself to the people in such a way they would know He was the one true God. God was going to come down from heaven in a mighty and magnificent way. In such a way that they could not question that He was indeed the one God 6. What do you think it looked like when God came down to Mount Sinai. God s presence on Mount Sinai was magnificent 7. The entire mountain was wrapped in smoke as God descended upon it in fire 8. The entire mountain shook as the one God came down from heaven. WANT Play hide and seek with the ers. Remind them that we can t always see where everyone is, but God is All-Knowing and He knows everything. Thunder rumbled. Lightning struck. Smoke rose from the mountain as a trumpet blasted louder and louder and louder. The people trembled in awe and fear. God was revealing Himself as the one true God. How do you think the people felt when they heard God speak in thunder? God s purpose in appearing to the people was for their good and his glory. Moses received laws about sacrifices, plans for the tabernacle, and the Ten Commandments while he was on Mount Sinai as the people waited below. They waited and waited and waited. Their faith began to fade. They began to doubt that Moses was even coming back. How hard is it to wait for someone or something? Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights while the Israelites waited at the foot of the mountain 9. In their impatience they not only questioned God, but forgot who He was. They forgot His power and might. Not forty days prior, He had thunderously descended upon Mount Sinai and they had heard His voice, the voice of God, as He spoke to Moses. Yet, they forgot as they took their eyes off the smoking mountain before them and turned instead to their circumstances. 4. Deuteronomy 6:4: There is only one God. He is the true God as is evident by His power, might, and interaction with His people. 5. Exodus 19: The people were camped in the wilderness of Sinai. God called them to come closer to the Mount Sinai so He could reveal Himself to them. 6. Exodus 19:16-20: The people consecrated themselves in preparation for this great event and on the morning of the third day, God indeed came down on top of Mount Sinai. 7. Exodus 19:16-25: The people had consecrated themselves prior to God coming down on the mountain. A boundary had been set to keep them from getting too close to God or they d be destroyed. God was revealing Himself to His people in the way He chose. It was physically evident that God was coming down from Heaven as the mountain shook and thunder roared. God was coming down from Heaven to His people, something no other god had ever done. 8. Deuteronomy 4:33: God asks, Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 9. Exodus 32:1: As the days passed, they began to question God. When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, Up, make us gods who shall go before us.

7 Page 7 2. THERE IS NO OTHER GOD LIKE GOD¹ And though the mountain had shook and rumbled before them and lightning had filled the sky, they forgot. Though they had heard the very voice of God, they forgot. Though the mountain still smoked before them, they forgot. Their eyes no longer focused on the one true God, but on themselves. They turned to Aaron, Moses brother who was left to oversee them. Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. (Deut. 32:1) Aaron did not dissuade the Israelites. He gathered their gold rings, earrings and other jewelry and fashioned a false god from them, creating a golden calf. Then he turned to the people and commanded them to worship the false god he had created.¹¹ Why were the people so eager to give up their precious gold to make a false god? Do you think the people believed that Moses was gone forever? Was the golden calf a real god? As the people practiced idol worship, God was not unaware of their behavior. God is All-Knowing and His anger burned hot against them. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you. (Ex. 32:10)¹² Do you think God knows what you do, even when no one is around? When Moses went down Mount Sinai, he carried with him two stone tablets that had the Ten Commandments written on them by the hand of God. He heard the noise of the camp even before he reached it. Help the er understand that God is Everywhere or Omnipresent by placing a crayon on the table and having the er use his or her breath to blow it across the table. Though you can t see your breath, you can see the effects of it as it blows the crayon. God is not physically seen, but the effects of His presence are everywhere. Moses knew better. Though he knew the people were acting sinfully because God had told him, he was not prepared for the scene that met him when he drew near to the camp.¹³ Moses took the golden calf, burned it and then ground it into a powder that he scattered on the water. Then he made the Israelites drink the water. Their humiliation complete, he turned to Aaron. 14 How did Moses show the people the golden calf was not the true god? What happened to the golden calf when Moses put fire to it? 10. Isaiah 45:5: Scripture is permeated with the truth that there is no other God. There is only one God and there are no others. 11. Exodus 32:4-6, 25: Aaron declared a feast to the false god and the people turned away from the true God and worshipped the false god, giving themselves over completely to their sinful ways. The people s idolatry did not end with burnt offerings and peace offerings. They continued in their sin by eating and drinking and then rising up to play, losing all self-control as they became more and more engrossed in their idol worship, perhaps borrowing from the pagan Egyptians some of their godless worship practices. The Israelites idolatry is a scandalous example of the propensity of the human heart to seek false gods. In Stephen s response before the high priest in Acts 7:39-41, he recounts the Israelites rejection of God at the foot of Mount Sinai. Our fathers refused to obey him [Moses], but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt In their hearts they had denied the one true God and turned instead to the practices and gods of their captivity. 12. Exodus 32:14: Yet, Moses interceded for the stiff-necked people and God relented, though not without consequence to the Israelites. God showed mercy to the Israelites by not completely wiping them out. God relented because Moses interceded on their behalf. 13. Exodus 32:19: Moses saw the people desecrating themselves as they worshipped the golden calf. His anger burned and he threw the tablets on the ground breaking them into pieces. 14. Exodus 32:21: Aaron s part in the idolatry is revealing. Though Aaron was in a position of leadership among the Israelites, he was not above falling away from the truth. His guilt is furthered by his deflection of the responsibility that lay on his shoulders. Aaron twists the truth to make himself look better and to remove some of the responsibility from himself.

8 Page 8 3. GOD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT BEING IN ALL OF HISTORY (PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE 15 ) After Moses destroyed the golden calf and confronted Aaron, he then turned to the people. As Moses stood at the edge of the camp, he was calling those who believed in the true God to step out away from those who did not. God wants his people to know him and to know that He is the one true God. All the sons of Levi gathered around Moses, choosing to follow God and not false gods. Those who did not chose to follow God were punished because they decided to continue in unrepentance. God is the most important being and therefore, He is worthy of our obedience and worship. How did the sons of Levi show they believed in the true God? Why was it important for them to prove they were on God s side? Why should we obey God? FEEL Help the er desire repentance by doing some of the following: When a er asks you for something give him or her the wrong thing. Then say you are sorry and made a mistake. Talk with the er about doing the right thing and being sorry or repentant when you do the wrong thing. The false god, the golden calf was destroyed. It could not protect itself or sustain itself. The people repented of their sin and returned to following after the Lord. God had proved again to His people that He is the only true God. Hear, O, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Deut. 6:4 15. Isaiah 44:6: God has no beginning or end. He is eternal and greater than any other.

9 Page 9 HookS CHURCH The Lord God is One (Gather four crayons together. Three should all be the exact same color, size, etc. One should be different. Show the crayons to the students.) How many crayons do I have? How many [insert color of the three crayons] do I have? How many [insert color of the one different crayon] do I have? (Separate the one crayon from the others. Hold it up so the children can see it.) What is different about this crayon? (It s a different color than the others. It s the only one in the group.) Read Deuteronomy 6:4. Hear, O, Israel: The Lord Our God, the Lord is One. There is only one God. Though other things may seem like a god or be similar or like God, they are not the God. Only God is the one true God. Do you think the Israelites knew there was only one true God? (They knew there was only one God, but their lack of trust or faith in God caused them to forget and to look for other false gods.) How can we show that we know there is only one God? God is the only true God. (Gather a collection of play money and real money. Show the collection to the students.) Which type of money is real? How do you know the money is real? (It is bigger. It has specific markings on it that reveal it is real.) What can you buy with the fake money? (Nothing. It isn t real money.) What can you buy with the real money? Remember the Israelites created their own fake god when they created the golden calf, but the calf could not do what the real God could do. The true God could destroy the false god and reveal Himself to His people. FEEL God is the most important being. (Gather a cd player and a copy of Chris Tomlin s song Our God. Sing the song with the children. During the chorus, use motions to emphasize the importance of God.) Our God is Greater (Use thumbs to point to self, then fingers to point to heaven, spread your arms over your head to show greatness) Our God is Stronger (Use thumbs to point to self, then fingers to point to heaven, make muscles with your arms to show strength) God you are higher than any other (Use fingers to point to heaven, then raise hands above head, shake hands back and forth as you move them down to show than any other ) Our God is healer (Use fingers to point to heaven, then cross arms over chest to show healing) Awesome in power (Give the thumbs up sign, then make a circle with arms to signify power) Our God (thumbs pointing to self, then fingers to heaven) Our God (thumbs point to self, then fingers to heaven) Who is more important than God? (No one, nothing.)

10 Page 10 HookS hooks HOME Read I Corinthians 8:5-6 to the er. Talk with him or her about the so-called gods in the world. Remind him or her that God is the only true God and we know this because His word, the Bible says so and God s word is true. FEEL Help the er create a Velveeta Cheese idol. You can take a block of Velveeta and create some shape to resemble a calf. Once you ve created the idol, place the cheese idol in a saucepan and heat it until it melts. As it melts remind the er that God is the only true God. Even when we try to create other gods, they do not last. DO Help the er develop a sense of God s oneness and holiness by singing Holy, Holy, Holy with the children. Remind the children that God is the only god worthy of our worship and praise. WANT Play follow the leader with the ers. Take a turn being the leader and having the children follow you. Then allow the ers to have a turn at being leader. Discuss with the children the importance of trusting God and always obeying Him. FAMILY CONNECT The focus of today s lesson was: There is only one God. God is the one true God and there are no other true gods. He is unique, unchanging and eternal. This foundational truth serves as an important stepping stone for everyone s spiritual walk. This week s devotion will focus on God as the one true God. Though there are other false gods created and worshipped, God is the one true God. As parents drop-off and pick-up their children share with them this week s key verse which also serves as the Bible Verse---Deuteronomy 6:4. Encourage parents to memorize this verse with their child. As the parents are picking up their children ask the child to tell his or her parent the foundational truth he or she learned in class: The Lord God is One. Encourage the parents to ask the child to relay the story of the Israelites and the golden calf.