T H E B A S I C S PRIMARY TRUTH God is unchanging and unchangeable.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "T H E B A S I C S PRIMARY TRUTH God is unchanging and unchangeable."

Tobias Underwood
5 years ago
Views:

CORRESPONDING LEVEL WEB #s Defenders: 040204 Detectives: 030204 Developers: 020204 THE GREATNESS OF GOD MATERIALS NEEDED Bible; Teacher Preparation Guide (optional supplements: K4T songbook and

1 CORRESPONDING LEVEL WEB #s Defenders: Detectives: Developers: THE GREATNESS OF GOD MATERIALS NEEDED Bible; Teacher Preparation Guide (optional supplements: K4T songbook and PowerPoint files of lyrics) SUGGESTED ORIGINAL KIDS 4 TRUTH SONG All Glory Be to You SUGGESTED HYMNS Great Is Thy Faithfulness, How Great Thou Art, Immortal, Invisible, To God Be the Glory OTHER SONG SUGGESTIONS Older kids: How Wonderful Art Thou, Great Is the Lord Younger kids: He s So Great [and I m So Small], My God Is So Big, This Great God [to the tune of the ABC s song] T H E B A S I C S PRIMARY TRUTH God is unchanging and unchangeable. PRIMARY SCRIPTURE PASSAGE Malachi 3:6 WHAT THIS DOCTRINE REVEALS ABOUT GOD God s unchangeableness once again shows that He is unique (He s One of a kind!). There is nobody like God. Nobody but God could claim to be totally faithful and unchanging throughout all history and eternity. This truth glorifies God because it shows Him to be the perfect God. He has no need to change, and His people can trust that He will always be the perfectly great and perfectly good God He always has been. KNOWLEDGE OBJECTIVES By God s grace... The child will understand the teaching of immutability, God s unchangeableness. The child will see that, to change, God would have to change for better or worse either one impossible for Him. The child will see the necessity of believing that God doesn t change in His plans, purposes, promises, or Being. ATTITUDE OBJECTIVES By God s grace... The child will revere God because of His unchanging hatred toward sin and His unchanging offer of redemption. If he or she is a believer, the child will learn to rest in God s unchanging faithfulness, love, and care for His people. P R A Y E R 1

2 T E A C H I N G P H A S E I N T R O (about minutes) OPENER* What are some things that change? [Teacher: You might want to bring in some visual examples of new and old a banana and banana peel, an unopened can of soda pop and a crunched-up can, a seed and a blossoming flower and/or a wilted one, a pair of new jeans and a pair of ripped or faded jeans, etc... Now, using these items, answer the questions below.] What is something that has changed for the better? [(seed and blossom?) discuss] What is something that has changed for the worse? [(new>old jeans?) discuss] When something changes, it can only get better or worse. But God never changes. God could not get any worse, or He would not be God. And God could never become any better, because He is already perfect! God has always been perfect. He could never be more or less perfect than He is right at this very moment. *NOTE: In the intro, we want to recap the primary truth and set the stage to use the primary truth to point the learners back to God. I N S T R U C T I O N & R E I N F O R C E M E N T (about minutes) BIBLE DRILL Psalm 102:25-27 Christians believe that God is unchangeable. God does not and cannot change, and nothing can make God change. He is unchanging. God is not unchangeable in every way that we might imagine unchangeable. For example, someone might think that when we say God is unchanging, He is like a rock which cannot feel or think. But God is not like a rock in that way! He speaks words, He forms planets, and He feels emotions. So, what do we mean when we say God is unchanging? Here are four ways the Bible teaches that God does not change. 1. In His Purposes 2. In His Promises 3. In His Character 4. In His Being We ll look briefly at these four ways God doesn t change, and we will discuss what they mean. 1. In His Purposes When we say that God is unchanging in His purposes, we mean that He is unchanging in the things He desires to see happen. God doesn t change His mind about what He wants to get done! Ultimately, His purposes are to glorify Himself and bring good to His people. He didn t wake up this morning and decide to love you. God didn t have to decide to work in the world again today to bring good things to pass! It s part of His plan already. God s ways and timing may change, but His ultimate purposes and plans do not change. 2

3 BIBLE DRILL (#1) How do these verses show that God is unchanging in all His purposes and plans? Psalm 33:1 Isaiah 46: In His Promises When we say that God is unchanging in His promises, we mean that His Word is reliable: We can always count on God to keep His Word. He is faithful. He will do what He said He will do. Have you ever met someone who breaks promises? We might call that kind of person someone who goes back on his word. God never goes back on His Word! BIBLE DRILL (#2) How does this verse show that God is unchanging in all His promises? Numbers 23:19 [Discuss: Can you think of three Bible promises that you re glad will never change, because God never changes?] 3. In His Character When we say that God is unchanging in His character, we are describing His moral attitudes, or what He feels is right, and what He feels is wrong. This means that God will never decide that sin is okay. Can you imagine if God were to change His mind one day about stealing? Can you imagine if God were to command us to hate our neighbors instead of love them? That would be awful, and it will never, ever happen! Why? Because God s character would never allow Him to say stealing and hating are right, and God s character doesn t ever change. We can completely trust a God Whose character never changes. BIBLE DRILL How does this verse show that God is unchanging in His character? James 1:17 [Discuss: Have you ever known friends who changed their minds about what was good or evil?] 4. In His Being When we say that God is unchanging in His Being, we are saying that He is a Spirit, He always has been a Spirit, and He will never stop being a Spirit. For example, your being is made up of flesh, bone, blood, and a soul. Whatever God is, He never changes in His fundamental nature. God has revealed Himself to us as a Trinity; that is, He has made it clear in the Bible that He is one God in three Persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). God will never stop being the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He will forever be the Trinity. [Discuss: Have you ever met somebody once and then hardly recognized him/her a few years later when you saw him/her again? What happened?] ( ) (Here would be a great place to insert what you learned from your Teacher Truth Study.) [Discuss: Why do you think God so clearly communicated to us that He is an unchanging God?] THINK ABOUT IT [Teacher, this might help with the above discussion question.] What if God were to change His promises? Could we really believe that faith in Christ alone is enough? What if He were to change His purposes? Could we be confident that all saved people can go to heaven? What if He were to change in His character? Could we trust that all of God s moral laws still apply to us today? What if He were to change in His being? Could we really have faith in the one true God described in John 17:3? 3

4 GETTING BACK TO GOD* {Recap WHAT THIS DOCTRINE REVEALS ABOUT GOD: God s unchangeableness once again shows that He is unique (He s One of a kind!). There is nobody like God. Nobody but God could claim to be totally faithful and unchanging throughout all history and eternity. This truth glorifies God because it shows Him to be the perfect God. He has no need to change, and His people can trust that He will always be the perfectly great and perfectly good God He always has been.} Any change must be for the better or the worse. To change for the worse would make God less than God. When people or things change, they always change to become better, or to become worse. God has always been perfect, so it is impossible for Him to become more or less perfect. God is absolutely unique (alone, special, unlike all else) in His greatness. He is better and greater than anything or anyone else! Humans might change their purposes or their promises. We might change in our character or even in our being but God never changes in any of these ways. How does this truth bring glory to God? God s immutability (unchangeableness) yet another way that God is One of a kind and above all in His goodness and His greatness! *NOTE: Teachers, please remember that this section should include the fruit of your Teacher Truth Study and one or two personal illustrations or anecdotes from the Personalize It! activity in the Teacher Preparation Phase. A P P L I C A T I O N & A S S E S S M E N T INTERNALIZE IT! from Teacher Preparation Phase (about 5-10 minutes) You might begin this section with: Boys and girls, as I ve been preparing for this TruthTime Lesson, here s what God has been showing me... You might continue by saying: Because of what God is teaching me, here s what is going to be different in my life during this next week... You might conclude with something like this: Finally, here s what God has taught me about Himself through these truths... DISCUSSION TIME QUESTIONS Why is it important to believe in God s immutability (His unchangeableness)? How might a person feel about the Bible if he/she were to think that God might change or go back on His Word? Why would a person who doesn t understand God s immutability be hesitant to trust his/her soul to God? How should this truth of God s immutability (unchangingness) affect the way you pray? How should this truth of God s immutability (unchangingness) affect the way you respond to your parents? A P P E N D I C E S O R I F T I M E (optional) ACTIVITY (introductory comments) The Bible says that God has remained the same throughout all time, and will continue to do so. The Bible even uses word imagery that describes God as our Rock. Does this mean that God is like a rock that is unable to feel? No! God is like a rock in the way that a rock stays the same over time. But God is very different from a rock in many ways. He has emotions, for example, and He able to feel great joy, anger, and even grief and sadness. A rock stays a rock, with all a rock s characteristics, for as long as a rock lasts. God stays God, in all His greatness and goodness, for all eternity. 4

5 [Teacher, write down these verses on the chalkboard. On the other side of the board, number the following words in this order: [1] joy, [2] love, [3] anger, and [4] grief. Give the children 3 or 4 minutes to match up the correct number to the correct verse.] Zephaniah 3:17 [1] Ephesians 4:30 [3] Exodus 4:14 [4] Jeremiah 31:3 [2] ( ) QUOTE FOR TEACHER Regarding the unchangeableness of God s being The Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck notes that the fact that God is unchanging in His being is of the utmost importance for maintaining the Creator/creature distinction, and for our worship of God: The doctrine of God s immutability is of the highest significance for religion. The contrast between being and becoming marks the difference between the Creator and the creature. Every creature is continually becoming. It is changeable, constantly striving, seeks rest and satisfaction, and finds this rest in God, in him alone, for only he is pure being and no becoming. Hence, in Scripture God is often called the Rock. 5

Basic Study Questions. for. Kindergarten

Basic Study Questions. for. Kindergarten Basic Study Questions for Kindergarten 8/2018 First Semester: 1. How many gods are there? There is ONE God. 2. How many persons are there in the one God? There are THREE persons in one God. 3. What do