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This song tells us that no matter what happens, God is always with us and won’t let go.
This song reminds us that God is super strong and helps us, and we should always stick close to Him.
Today’s lesson involves food… lots and lots of food! In fact, it involves a feast! In order to get in the mood for this, I want us to have a little eating contest… Do I have any volunteers?
Pick two kids to come to the front. Pull out a blender and two happy meals. Blend the happy meals in the blender to make two smoothies. Give each child a milkshake to drink. Count down from three and have each kid drink as much of their ‘milkshake’ as they can.
Watch me demonstrate and then drink this nastiness here.
Follow Up Questions:
How many of you would eat a happy meal?
How many of you would eat a happy meal as a milkshake?
Is there a reason the happy meal milkshake grosses you out? Why?
Objects Needed: index cards with one word of the memory verse on each card, 2 plastic bags
Split the kids into two teams. Each team will have a plastic bag filled with index cards. Each index card will have one word from the Bible verse on it.
Variation A:
Have all kids work together to put the bible verse puzzle in the correct order. The team that finishes first wins.
Variation B:
Have kids stand on one end of the playing court, with the puzzle pieces on the other. The kids will run one at a time and can move only ONE index card. Then they must run back and tap the next person in line. Play continues until one group has gotten the entire verse in order
Have you ever had to plan a party?
Well, I am planning one right now, but I’m having a little trouble… I have the guest list… I know the theme…. I know the games. But there’s just one thing I have no clue about.
The food!
Do you think you can help me come up with food for this party? Maybe we could make a list of all of your favorite foods, and then I’ll know what we should bring to the party? Does that sound good? Okay, what’s everyone going to bring?
(Make a list of all of the food at the party)
It’s really, really gross, so you do NOT want to eat it. I mean, that stuff is so disgusting it’ll make you sick for days. It might even start to rot your stomach away from the inside. Just trust me on this one. You can eat any of these other foods… but don’t touch the oyster and liver stuffing!
Now…. Let me ask you a question, and be honest….
How many of you are kind of wanting to try just a taste of that oyster and liver stuffing?
I know I said it wasn’t very good… and I know I said it’ll make you sick… and I know I said it’ll make your stomach rot from the inside… but I’m sure at least one of you kind of wants to take an itty, bitty, teeny tiny taste just to see what all the fuss is about, right?
Well, one time, God kind of threw a party. It was in this garden, and he invited his two friends, Adam and Eve to attend. He made sure the garden was lit up with all sorts of foods to eat. Every variety you could think of, an endless supply. It was really the place to be!
It was kind of like a food court garden party, if you will…
And he told Adam and Eve to make themselves at home. They could do whatever they wanted at his garden party. They could ride any of the animals, talk to any of the animals, and eat any of the food….
Okay, it wasn’t really oyster liver stuffing… it was a kind of fruit from a special tree. A tree that would make them see the world as it really was.
God told them not to eat from that tree. He knew it wouldn’t be good for them… It would make them sick. It would make them start to rot. If they ate from that tree, things would be very, very bad.
So one day, Adam and Eve were walking in the garden, trying out the delicious foods. Adam had probably just gotten a slice from the pizza tree. Eve was off picking chocolates from the chocolate bush. Ok…maybe there weren’t THOSE kinds of trees, but it was a bunch of good stuff! All was good in their little world…
Until…
“PSST! Eve!”
Eve turned around. She looked left. She looked right. She looked North. She looked South.
When she looked down, she saw a snake. Now, she didn’t realize yet that snakes were creepy, crawly, bad news bears, kind of things… So she said,
“Yes, Snake?”
And it went a little like this….
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
Can you say ‘uh oh’? UH OH is right! Eve practically just ate the oyster liver stuffing, and not only that, she gave it to her husband!
Except this was worse… way worse. Because this wasn’t like you eating oyster liver stuffing when I told you not to. This was like Eve eating fruit that GOD told her not to… and then feeding some to her husband.
Well, think about what that serpent did for a moment….. that serpent made her doubt God.
First, the serpent tested Eve’s own memory! He pretended like she might be confused. Did she really hear God right? Did God really say what she thought He did? Hmm….
Then, he tested God’s motive. The serpent made Eve believe that God’s plan for her life wasn’t the best plan. He made her think that God was just being mean, or that He was out to get her. He made her think that she knew better than God did!
Satan tries to get Eve to doubt God’s goodness. He makes her think God might have lied to her. Then, he makes her think that if God lied to her… well, he couldn’t possibly be a good God…
… and at the same time, he tries to get Eve to doubt the badness of sin! Sin won’t kill you. It’s just a little bite. Sin is actually good for you!
Satan wants to twist things. He wants us to see sin as something good that a bad God doesn’t want us to have… when really, sin is something bad that our good God doesn’t want us to have!
And Eve? Well, Eve took the bait. And then she convinced Adam to take the bait too…
And you know what happened next?
“Where are you?” he asked. Over and over again. He wasn’t angry at them. He didn’t have his guns drawn and he wasn’t stomping through the garden looking for them. He was worried. He was disappointed. He was sad. “Where are you?” he asked.
You see, before Eve ate that apple, God didn’t have to ask where Adam and Eve were. They were right there with him. No separation at all.
But now, God knew there was a separation. A separation so big that He was the only one who could fix it. A sickness so big that it would rot away at Adam and Eve forever. So when he found them, he came up with a plan.
Listen to it.
21 The Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
It sounds kind of like a mean plan, doesn’t it? It sounds like God is majorly freaking out over a bite of oyster liver stuffing… but you see, God wasn’t being mean. God was being nice.
I know, I know. You’re all wondering how this is nice. God kicked them out, right?!
Well… Think about it. If Adam and Eve continued to live in that garden, they would have kept eating from that tree. They would keep having their eyes opened to what was going around them. They’d be wallowing in brokenness. Their insides would forever be rotting because they would just keep ingesting sin. Over, and over, and over again.
God didn’t want that for his children. He couldn’t stand that fate for the people he loved. So His love made them leave, and He allowed them to die.
That doesn’t sound great either, does it?
Except it does. Because without death, there’s no resurrection. Without death, there’s no ability to get right with God. There’s no Jesus.
You see, even when we mess up. Even when we do things that God isn’t happy with? We can’t thwart His plan. You are not mighty enough or strong enough or smart enough to beat God’s plan. There is nothing you can do that will mess up God’s plan for your life.
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Objects Needed: 2 apples
Game Intro
Our lesson today involves how Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil–a tree God specifically told them NOT to eat from.
Our game will involve going and ‘stealing’ an apple, in much the same way that Adam and Eve ‘stole’ from the tree that wasn’t theirs!
Game Setup
Split children into two even teams and have them sit in a straight line on opposite sides of the room. Put an apple in the middle of the room, equidistant from each side.
Give each student on team A a number 1-(however many students you have). Then, give each student on team B a number 1-(however many students you have). There should be two students with each number.
Have all children sit on their bottoms. Call a number. The two children who were given that number must stand up, run to the middle and try to “steal the apple” before the other child can take it. Whoever doesn’t get the apple will try and run and tag the child that did get it.
The team receives a point if they make it back to their spot without getting tagged OR if they tag the child with the apple before she makes it home.
As we talk about God’s perfect plan for our lives, I want us all to memorize this verse together. This verse, from the Psalms says that those who follow God’s plan (walk in His ways) are blessed.
So in order for us to be blessed with the good things God wants for us we must follow God’s plan! We must walk in His ways!!
Psalm 128:1
"Blessed are all who fear the Lord - who walk in His ways!"
Where did Adam and Eve live?
In the garden with God
What did God tell them not to do?
Eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Who convinced Eve to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
The serpent
How did the serpent convince Eve?
He made Eve doubt God’s goodness and sin’s badness.
What was the consequence of eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
Their eyes were opened and they had to leave the garden
Recite Psalm 128:1 from memory
How joyful are those who fear the Lord – all who follow His ways!
Do you think God was good or mean to make Adam and Eve leave the garden? Why or why not?
Answers will vary
Do you think God had a plan for Adam and Eve, even when they disobeyed?
Answers will vary
Do you think God has a plan for you? Why or why not?
Answers will vary
Objects Needed: Apple-shaped cutout for each kid, pens or pencils
SIN
Before the lesson, cut out an apple-shaped piece of foam for each child. Then, in their small groups, have children write out some of the sins they’ve committed or have been committed to them. How have they had parts of their hearts “rotted” by sin?
Answer the first two questions as a group. Then, dip each foam apple in a bucket filled with water and dishwashing soap. The sin marks will disappear.
Answer the last two questions.
Follow-up Questions
What is sin?
How does sin affect you?
How does God help you when you’ve sinned?
How is God like the soap and water mixture?
This is included with every lesson I create, and is designed as a printout for you to give to parents after class.
Today’s Scripture: Genesis 3
Memory Verse: Blessed are those who fear the Lord — walk in His ways! Psalm 128:1 (NLT)
———–
Today, we talked about how God had a perfect garden for his people to live in. He told them they could have free reign of the garden, but there was one thing they couldn’t have…. Fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
And they were perfectly happy to do so… until Satan came in to tempt them. He told them that God wasn’t good. God had lied to them. And he told them that sin wasn’t bad. God had lied to them about that, too.
Adam and Eve started to doubt God. So they took a bite from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And suddenly, they could see. They could see how bad sin really was, and they could see how it made them rot inside. It separated them from God.
But God was good… even though sin was bad. And even though Adam and Eve messed up, God had a plan. He had a plan to love His children. He saved them from a forever sentence of feeling the weight of sin… and instead, he banished them from the garden so they could die. Because if they didn’t die, there would be no resurrection.
You see, before Adam and Eve had ever sinned or even known what sin was, God had a plan. A plan that was built from His great love for his children. His plan was there to protect them. Nothing they did could mess up God’s plan for them.
Sometimes, we mess up too. And when we do, we might think that God doesn’t love us anymore, or that He’s out to punish us. We might even think we messed up God’s plan. But we are not big enough to mess up God’s plan. God’s love is bigger than our sins. And just like God planned a way for Adam and Eve to get out of the sin that entangles them, He also planned a way for us to get out of it too.
God’s plan is always the best plan!