Unit 12 / Lesson 2
Friends With God
Slides for the Lesson
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Teacher's Prep
Games
Bunny Tail Hunt
Materials:
Cotton balls (10 per child)
A bag of chocolate eggs or other similarly small prizes -- enough for three chocolate eggs per child
A basket to collect the cotton balls at the end of the game.
Prep Instructions
This game is very similar to an Easter egg hunt. The concept is that the children will be finding cotton balls which will be indirectly redeemed for chocolate eggs at a time of your choosing.
Spread cotton balls generously over a wide area and multiple rooms which can be explored. If you have helpers, perhaps they can spread out the cotton balls during the first part of the lesson. Otherwise, you may want to do this task before the lesson begins.
Make some cotton balls easy to find, and some more challenging.
Fishing with Magnets
See this website for the basic concept of the game
Magnets do not need to be ring shaped, though a ring shape would be ideal for attaching a string securely to the magnet. If you have a different shape, use tape to attach the magnet securely to the string that functions as a “fishing line.”
Instead of fish, you can use multicolor paper clips, and have the children target just one color at a time.
You may want to attach some paper cutouts of fish to some paper clips, and say those special fish are worth extra points.
Materials needed
Broomsticks -- one per group of five
Strings -- one per broomstick, about one meter long each, so that the magnet will swing from side to side to make the game more challenging.
One magnet per broomstick (you can buy magnets at Home Depot, and maybe the dollar store)
Tape to attach string securely to the magnet.
A bag of multi-colored paper clips (200 -400 paper clips would be good).
Assemble and test the fishing rods before the lesson.
Blow the Ping Pong Ball
Materials:
One ping pong ball per group of five
One chair per group of five
Movie Night (Main Activity)
Optional materials: you may want to prepare snacks, such as popcorn and drinks, for the movie.
Note: it is normally illegal to play a regular movie in a classroom setting. However, there are legal alternatives:
You can search Youtube for the "VeggieTales Official" channel, and select a full-length VeggieTales video for the kids.
You can make a trial account on Rightnow Media and search the selection of Christian videos for children. You may be interested in The Adventures of Ryan Defrates, season 1, episode 1.
There are other shows, such as 3-2-1 Penguins, and Superbook, which can be watched for free on YouTube.
Intro
SLIDE 1
Gathering
How was your week?
SLIDE 2
Intro Game: Bunny Tail Hunt
Instructions
Teacher: have a bag of chocolate eggs or other treats available, but have them hidden until the end of the game.
We will start this point with a game!
It’s a bunny tail hunt! It’s like an easter egg hunt but with cotton balls. We have a whole bunch of cotton balls and they have all been spread out over a big area.
In a moment, you'll all get a chance to look for them. If you find most of them, you’ll get some chocolate eggs at the end of the lesson.
Teacher: let the children know exactly how many cotton balls there are, and in which rooms they are hidden. Set some benchmarks for them. For example, if they can find half of the cotton balls, they can each get 1 chocolate egg. If they can find three quarters of the cotton balls, they can each get 2 chocolate eggs. If they can find almost all of the cotton balls, they can each get three chocolate eggs.
You will have five minutes to find as many as you can! Then bring them back here and put them in this basket.
Teacher: give the children about five minutes to find as many cotton balls as they can. Have them put all the cotton balls into a basket when they come back. Give them each a chocolate egg, and maybe you can promise the remainder at the end of the lesson.
Debrief
In this game we played, there was something we could see, and there was something we couldn't see. We could all see the cotton balls, and it was fun to find them together. But, we couldn't see the chocolate eggs. We just had to know that the chocolate eggs are here, and they are really sweet, and we could have them if we play the game the right way.
Relevance
SLIDE 3
This game helps us to understand God, because God is like the chocolate eggs in the game. We can't see Him, but He's near to us, He's the best thing, and He's really sweet. If we do things the right way, we can have a great friendship with Him.
SLIDE 4
Big Question
That brings us to our big question today: How can we be friends with God?
Big Idea
Our big idea today is, we need to respect God. Our Bible passage teaches us two ways to respect God:
1. Don't replace God (meaning, don't trade God for something else), and
2. Don't make God look bad.
Bible Reference
We'll learn these things from a special part of the Bible called the Ten Commandments. Let's watch a video about the Ten Commandments.
SLIDE 5
Teacher: show this YouTube video:
Bible Story/God Gave the Ten Commandments, by Jesus Calling
Now, let's read the first few commandments, which are about being friends with God.
SLIDE 6
Exodus 20:1-8 (International Children's Bible)
1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves.
3 “You must not have any other gods except me.
SLIDE 7
4 “You must not make for yourselves any idols. Don’t make something that looks like anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the water below the land.
SLIDE 8
SLIDE 9
6 But I will be very kind to thousands who love me and obey my commands.
7 “You must not use the name of the Lord your God thoughtlessly. The Lord will punish anyone who is guilty and misuses his name.
8 “Remember to keep the Sabbath as a holy day.
Point 1
Our first point is, don't replace God.
SLIDE 10
Game: Fishing with Magnets
Instructions
Teacher's setup
See Teacher's Preparation section of the lesson above for preparation details.
Split them into teams--as many teams as there are fishing rods.
Spread out paper clips so that one magnet can only pick up one or two at a time.
Let's start this point with a game! We will be fishing with magnets! We'll split into teams, and each team will have a fishing rod. You’ll take turns using the fishing rod to get as many of the RED paper clips as you can.
Teacher: run several rounds so that each one gets a chance to use the fishing rods. You may consider keeping score, depending on how competitive you want the game to be.
Debrief
In this game we played, we had some very special magnets that could pick up the paper clips.
SLIDE 11
Can you imagine what would have happened if we had gotten rid of the magnets and replaced them with something else, like a piece of plastic or a piece of wood? Would we be able to play this game without magnets?
That's what it's like with us and God. A lot of people don't want God to tell them what to do. So, it's normal to try to replace God.
Bible Reference
The first thing we learn in the Ten Commandments is, we can't replace God. Let's read the rule that God gave His people.
SLIDE 12
Exodus 20:1-4 (International Children's Bible)
1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves.
3 “You must not have any other gods except me.
SLIDE 13
4 “You must not make for yourselves any idols. Don’t make something that looks like anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the water below the land.
Explanation
SLIDE 14
I’ll explain what we just read. Back in biblical times, most people in the world believed there were lots of gods, and all the gods had different jobs. Some gods controlled the sky. Some gods controlled water. Some gods made food grow from the ground. Some gods made people fall in love and get married.
SLIDE 15
But, all those gods were made up--they weren't real! When people really depended on those gods, those gods wouldn't be able to help them. Trusting those gods was like trying to pick up paper clips with a piece of plastic.
But, there was one God who could really save His people. The real God was the one who split the Red Sea in two so that His people could be free, and (continue)
SLIDE 16
the real God took care of His people every day and gave them everything they needed.
Application
It sounds really silly to trade the real God for something else, but it happens all the time!
It happens when we want something so badly that we would do absolutely anything for it. We would even disobey what God has told us to do. When that happens, we’ve replaced God, because only the real God deserves to have the kind of attitude from us that we would do absolutely anything for Him, no matter what.
SLIDE 17
The more we want something, the more we need to be careful that we are not replacing God. In the end, only God will take care of us in all the ways we need. Everything else will disappoint us when we make them the most important thing, because they're not the real God.
SLIDE 18
Discussion Question
What is something that you really, really want?
Point 2
Our second point is, don't make God look bad.
SLIDE 19
Game: Blow the Ping Pong Ball
Instructions
We'll start off our point with a game!
It's a relay race with ping pong balls! Here's how it works. We will have teams of five people each. If you have less than five, some of you might need to play twice.
Each team will have a ping pong ball. You will take turns blowing the ping pong ball across the room and back. To make this more challenging, there is a chair on the other side of the room, and you will need to blow the ping pong ball around the far side of the chair before you get back.
Teacher: demonstrate the path of the ball – from the starting line, around the back of the chair, and then back to the starting line.
Let's form our teams, and line up one one side of the room. We'll see how fast we can do this relay race.
Teacher: pick the side of the room that the children will line up on, and mark a starting line, either with tape or pylons. On the far side of the room, set chairs for each team, leaving space around the chairs so that children can blow a ping pong ball around the chairs. You may want to play more than one round if time and interest allows.
Debrief
We played this game because it's about teamwork. When we're racing with the ping pong ball, we're not just racing for ourselves. We're trying to win for our whole team.
Imagine if you were trying to be silly and you blew the ping pong ball to places where it shouldn't go. If you did that, your whole team would be losing.
This helps us to think about our friendship with God, because it matters to God what we do, and it matters to God how we think.
That's what the end of our Bible passage talks about.
Bible Reference
SLIDE 20
Let's read the last couple verses of our Bible passage again.
Exodus 20:7-8 (International Children's Bible)
7 “You must not use the name of the Lord your God thoughtlessly. The Lord will punish anyone who is guilty and misuses his name.
8 “Remember to keep the Sabbath as a holy day.
Explanation
Sometimes people say, we shouldn't use God’s name as a swear word. They're right -- we shouldn't. The Bible says we must not use the name of the Lord in the wrong way and without thought.
The commandment about God's name is about much more than just swear words. It has to do with the reason why God put us on earth in the first place.
SLIDE 21
He put us on earth to point people to Him, so that everyone can love God and enjoy God.
The commandment is really about making God look good, so that every time people mention God, they have good feelings about Him. Then, people will want to be friends with God, they will trust Him, and the whole world will be better for it.
Application
So, let's always ask ourselves if we are making God look good or bad? That's a big part of being a Christian.
SLIDE 22
We make God look good by being kind, fair, helpful, brave, and by caring a lot about other people. In other words, we make God look good by becoming like Jesus.
SLIDE 23
How can we become like Jesus? Well, one of the best ways is to take a day each week to remember what God has done for us. We can be with other Christians who will encourage us, and we can think together about how we want to follow Jesus, and we can enjoy being God's children together. That's what the commandment about Sabbath is about.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 24
Let's pause for a discussion question.
Do you have any ideas for how to help people to know God better?
Conclusion
SLIDE 25
Let’s wrap up our lesson by going over the big ideas again.
Our big question today was: how can we be friends with God?
Our big idea was: we need to respect God. Our Bible passage taught us two ways to respect God.
1. Don't replace God (meaning, don't trade God for something else), and
2. Don't make God look bad.
That way, we can have a great friendship with God, and He will take care of us in every way.
Main Activity (Movie Night Part 2)
That brings us to our main activity tonight. It's part 2 of movie night!
A movie helps us to think about our lesson because normally there's more than one person in a movie, and it really helps to have friends. The greatest friend we can have is God.
Teacher: you may want to decide on a movie with the class. For your feature film, you may want to pick a show from the official VeggieTales channel:
We'd love to hear from you!
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