Relational – Lesson 3

4k and 5k

Divine Attribute / God is Relational / Dios esRelacional
Heart Response / Follow Him / Seguirle
Memory Verse / Genesis 1:27
“God created man in His own image.” / Génesis 1:27
“Creó, pues, Dios hombre a imagen suya.”

POINTS OF EMPHASIS:

  1. God created us to have a relationship with Him.
  2. God created us to have relationships with others.
  3. Sin breaks our relationship with God.
  4. Jesus restores our relationship with God.

PERSONAL PREPARATION:As you prepare to teach this lesson, read through the following information adapted from Tim Lane and Paul Tripp’s Relationships: A Mess Worth Making.

All of our relationships are less than perfect. They require work if they are going to thrive. Quickly on the euphoric heels of Genesis 2 comes Genesis 3, where the entrance of sin brings frustration and confusion into relationships. In Genesis 3, man and woman engage in accusation and slander. Genesis 4 gets even worse, with a man murdering his own brother.

While many of us have not committed murder, we still live on the continuum between murder, accusation, and blame.No wonder our relationships are so messy! Our struggle with sin is constantly revealed in them. At some point, each of us will become discouraged and disappointed with a relationship.The health and maturity of a relationship are not measured by an absence of problems, but by the way the inevitable problems are handled. God keeps us in messy relationships for His redemptive purposes. The very thing we would naturally seek to avoid is what God has chosen to use to make us more like Him!What happens in the messiness of relationships is that our hearts are revealed, our weaknesses are exposed, and we start coming to the end of ourselves. Only when this happens do we reach out for the help God alone can provide.

CENTER TIME - 10-20 minutes as the kids begin to arrive

To help the children transition into class, please use a center format at the beginning of each service. Set up three centers in your classroom to allow children options of activities. Ideas include, but are not limited to:

  1. Read books on the floor.
  2. Color at the table.
  3. Play with blocks on the floor.
  4. Play with puzzles at the table.
  5. Play with Play-Doh at the table.

OPENING ACTIVITY – 10 minutes at the start of service

The following activity is provided to begin engaging the children for the upcoming lesson. As the teacher of your class you have an important opportunity to come alongside the parents of these children to teach them about God.

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

Supplies

Worksheet – side with funny picnic scene (1 per child)

Have children turn to the side with the funny picnic scene. Help the children circle the funny things that are wrong at the picnic. Then let them color the pictures. Tell them that they will be using the other side of the sheet (with the snake) later in the class. (Put the worksheets aside to hand out later.)

Big Group TIME – please check your classroom schedule

Please talk to your class about the purpose of this time – to have fun worshiping God together. Give your class practical ideas of what this means (obey the teachers up on the stage; sing and praise God with a happy heart; keep your hands to yourself; etc.). Teachers, you are crucial in helping create a peaceful, orderly environment to worship God during this time. Thank you for your help!

SMALL GROUP TIME – 25-30 minutes

Bible Story

Supplies

Bible

Funny picnic scene (1 per bin)

Picture of a garden (same as the one in lesson 2) (1 per bin)

Before we begin our story for today, let’s say our memory verse together. (Say the verse together 1–2 times before beginning the story.)

“So God created man in His own image." Genesis 1:27.

Who found all of the funny things wrong with our picture?(Lift up the handout and let the children respond.) Weren't some of the things in the picture silly? That's not what a real summer picnic would be like, is it? If it was a real summer picnic, it would have looked different. The picture was wrong. Today, we're going to talk about how some people in the Bible did something wrong. They did not do what God said. And it changed how their life looked. Let's sit quietly as we hear about this story in the beginning of the Bible.

Do you remember when we learned about God creating the heavens and the earth? He made the land and the seas, the animals, and the trees. And God made people!

He also made a beautiful garden.(Show picture of the garden.) Do you remember the name of the garden? (Eden.) That’s right. God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to "work and watch over" it. Adam and Eve were happy living in the garden. God put wonderful trees in the Garden of Eden. Remember all of the wonderful trees God made? Raise your hand if you like apples, oranges, peaches, or cherries. God made those! And there were many more for Adam and Eve to enjoy!

But, there was one rule Adam and Eve had to remember for their job. The one rule God gave them was,"You can eat the fruit of any tree in the garden – except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Point out the tree in the garden.)

God wanted Adam and Eve to obey. The way He created the world was wonderful. Life was easy and happy for Adam and Eve. But something happened to change everything.

One day, the evil one Satan was in the garden. He came up to Eve dressed like a serpent. A serpent is like a snake.

The serpent tried to trick Eve and tell her that she should eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Was she supposed to do that? NO! God told her not to eat fruit from that tree, right?

Now, Eve had a choice - she could believe the serpent and his lies or she could believe God. God loved Eve and she had a perfect relationship of love with God. What would Eve do?

I am sorry to say that Eve did not make a wise choice. She ate the fruit. Then, she gave the fruit to her husband Adam and he ate it, too!Adam and Eve did not obey God. Adam and Eve sinned. When we do not obey God, it is called sin, too.

The perfect relationship Adam and Eve had with God was now broken by sin. Adam and Eve tried to hide from God because they felt ashamed. God had to punish their sin. Now work would be hard for them. And it would be hard for them to work together and get along. He also punished the serpent for tricking Adam and Eve. God had no choice but to send Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.

What a sad day! But, is there anything broken that God cannot fix and make new? NO! God already had a plan. We will learn next week how God loves us so much that He made a way to fix our relationship with Him that was broken by sin.

Let’s pray and thank God for loving us and ask him to help us to follow Him and say “no!” to sin.

Prayer

Prayer time may not be appropriate immediately following story time. If this is the case, we ask that you be intentional about praying spontaneously or formally with the children at other times during class.

Dear God, thank You for loving us. Help us to see that sin breaks our relationship with You and we need You to fix that. Help us to learn how to have a relationship with You and say “no!” to sin. Amen.

Whole Fruit

Supplies

Worksheet – side with serpent (1 per child)
“Follow God” apple cutout (1 per child)
Crayons

Give out the worksheets from earlier and have the kids turn to the snake side. As the children are coloring their serpents, ask them if Adam and Eve followed God when they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They didn’t, did they? They listened to the lies of the serpent.We should follow God because that’s the way He created our relationship to be with Him.As you hand out the apple cutouts, make note that these pieces of fruit they say Follow God” have not been eaten.Have the childrencheer “I will follow God!” as they glue it onto the serpent.

***Have fun and let them do the crafts themselves, as much as possible. This is a hands-on way for them to learn who God is and remember what they learn. It doesn’t matter if they place the label or stickers in the wrong spot. What matters is teaching them who God is. ***

SNACK & ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES – last 30 minutes

Please wash the children’s hands before snack time and say a prayer thanking God for the food. As they are eating their snack, please take time to go over the review questions.

Review Questions

  1. Who tricked Eve? (The serpent, Satan.)
  2. What is it called when we don’t obey God?(Sin.)
  3. Did Eve obey God? (No.)
  4. Did Adam obey God? (No.)
  5. What did Adam and Eve do because they were ashamed? (They tried to hide from God.)
  6. What does sin do? (It breaks our relationship with God.)

Follow the Leader

Allow children to play follow-the-leader to remind them to follow God. Change leaders and let each child make up different motions or actions while they follow.

The Garden Rule Says

Play a game like“Simon Says” but instead, call it “The Garden Rule Says.” Adam and Eve did not obey God’s rule in the Garden of Eden and it changed their relationship with God. They were no longer close to Him. We need to remember to obey God and follow what He tells us. He wants us to have a relationship with Him and stay close to Him. He will always lead us to the right choices, but we have to choose to obey. Have the children pretend to brush their teeth, read their Bible, go to sleep, dig in the dirt to help with yard work, pretend to get dressed for the day, and other actions they may have to choose to obey daily at home. (Example: “The Garden Rule says to brush your teeth and get ready for bed.”)

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Revised: 8/17