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1 FALL SUNDAY SCHOOL ADULT LEADER GUIDE Get your FREE, customizable DIGITAL COPY of this leader guide. It s as EASY as Visit group.com/digital to set up a free olie accout for your church. 2 Eter the Activatio Code below to add this leader guide to your accout. 3 Dowload PDF or Word files to your computer ad edit, prit, or them to your leaders. ONE-TIME ACTIVATION CODE:

2 FaithWeaver NOW Bible Curriculum,, Fall Copyright 2003 ad 2015 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced i ay maer whatsoever without prior writte permissio from the publisher, except where oted i the text ad i the case of brief quotatios embodied i critical articles ad reviews. For iformatio, visit group.com/permissios.! OK TO COPY Whe you see the OK TO COPY ico, this meas permissio to photocopy the page from FaithWeaver NOW Bible Curriculum for, Fall, is grated for local church use. Copyright Group Publishig, Ic. group.com Visit our website: group.com/suday-school Credits Cotributig Authors: Tim Baker, Cheri R. Gillard, Cidy J. Parolii, Jaie Mercer Slater, April Stier, Gary Wilde, ad Rady Whitehead Editors: Erica L. Feucht, Scott Firestoe IV, Jeifer Hooks, Stephaie Marti, Jessica Sausto, Ali Thompso, Christie Yout Joes Copy Editors: Lydsay Gerwig, Becky Helzer, Adrea Zimmerma Chief Creative Officer: Joai Schultz Cover Desig ad Art Directio: Jeff Specer Iterior Desig Team: Jared Bigham, Jeff Bruacci, Kate Elvi, Suzi Jese, Rady Kady, Rebecca Swai Cover Photographer: Rodey Stewart All Scripture quotatios, uless otherwise idicated, are take from the Holy Bible, New Iteratioal Versio, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Ic. Used by permissio of Zoderva. All rights reserved worldwide. ISBN Prited i the Uited States of America.

3 3 Cotets Itroductio...4 The Lessos Lesso 1: The Israelites Cross the Red Sea Exodus 13:17 14: Lesso 2: God Seds Quail ad Maa Exodus 16: Lesso 3: God Provides Water Exodus 17: Lesso 4: God Gives the Te Commadmets (Part 1) Exodus 19:16 20: Lesso 5: God Gives the Te Commadmets (Part 2) Exodus 19:16 20: Lesso 6: The Israelites Worship a Golde Calf Exodus 32: Lesso 7: The Israelites Build the Taberacle Exodus 35:4 36: Lesso 8: Moses Seds Spies Ito the Promised Lad Numbers 13:1 14: Lesso 9: Balaam s Dokey Talks Numbers 22: Lesso 10: Joshua Becomes Leader of Israel Joshua 1: Lesso 11: Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho Joshua 2: Lesso 12: The Israelites Cross the Jorda River Joshua 3:1 4: Lesso 13: God Gives Victory Over Jericho Joshua 6: Table of Cotets

4 4 The future of Suday school + family miistry is NOW. No doubt about it, the world is chagig. Families used to go to church every week. Kids used to have loger attetio spas. Teachers used to have more time to prepare. Ad did t our budgets used to be bigger? Eve the Suday school Bible curriculum you used just a couple of years ago is already out of date. But there s oe thig that s ever chaged: the eed to grow families closer to Jesus. That s why we created FaithWeaver NOW, ad it s differet from aythig you ve ever see before! It combies Suday school with family miistry. Sure, you ve see Suday school aimed at families. But FaithWeaver NOW actually hits the target by havig everyoe i the family learig about the same Scripture each week. It s simpler ad easier. Sometimes chage is a woderful thig. Goe are the days whe you eeded to sped hours preparig your lessos ad hutig for supplies. FaithWeaver NOW will have you ad your team ready to go i a sap. It s made for NOW. Life is complicated ad full of distractios. FaithWeaver NOW keeps faith o track through eve the most frezied lifestyles. What makes FaithWeaver NOW the perfect curriculum for TODAY s church? Families lear the same Bible passage i age-appropriate ways. Kids do t just hear the Word. They experiece it. Simple ad easy lessos fit eve the busiest lives. Kids see God i their everyday world. The Scope & Sequece goes through the Bible every three years. You ca customize it however you like, with both prit ad digital versios. Create a vibrat family miistry that s ew that s wow that s NOW. FaithWeaver NOW gives you a fresh strategy for beig more successful tha ever i brigig families closer to Jesus. Thom ad Joai Schultz Chairma ad Chief Creative Officer Group Publishig, Ic. Itroductio

5 Lesso 1 5 The Israelites Cross the Red Sea Exodus 13:17 14:31 Experts i huma developmet say that all adults go through stages ivolvig key tasks or crises. Successful resolutio of oe challege moves us to the ext, ad this occurs throughout our lives. Every period of growth ivolves risk ad fear. God teaches us we have o eed to fear. He has always cared for his people ad cotiues to do so today. Use this lesso to help adults lear this reality, so that whe they face fearful circumstaces, they ca clig to the truth ad kow the Lord will fight for them. Bible Poit God helps us whe we re afraid. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Fears i Hidsight (about 15 mi.) Discuss how a perso s perspective about persoal fears ca chage over time. Faith & Fears (about 25 mi.) Explore Exodus ad examie how God builds the Israelites faith i the midst of their fears. Bibles, paper, pes Key Verse He restores my soul. He guides me i paths of righteousess for his ame s sake. Eve though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear o evil, for you are with me; your rod ad your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:3-4). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will trust God ad kow peace whe they are afraid. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 1

6 6 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Trustig God for Help (about 20 mi.) Discuss what they ve leared about God s help, ad choose ways to icrease their trust i God ad give up their fears. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bibles, sticky otes, pes 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 1

7 7 The Israelites Cross the Red Sea Exodus 13:17 14:31 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS God Cares for His People As the mass of more tha 2 millio Hebrews left Egypt, God kew that facig the warlike Philisties immediately would likely have made the Hebrews lose hope ad tur back to Egypt. The pillar of cloud by day ad pillar of fire by ight must have bee awesome ad comfortig. God s Uusual Strategy God istructed the Israelites to tur back somewhat toward Egypt ad camp at a spot betwee Migdol ad the Red Sea. God had a bigger pla tha ayoe else could kow. Pharaoh would ve bee cofidet that he could easily defeat the Israelites. The Israelites were slaves of the Egyptias oly days prior to this evet. They d bee beate by the whips of the slave drivers ad were familiar with the weapos the Egyptias carried. They must ve realized that their fightig talets were othig compared with the Egyptias. Ad they were backed agaist the sea, with moutais o two sides ad the Egyptias bearig dow o them. The situatio must ve seemed hopeless. kow that mighty Egypt had bee devastated by its ow lowly slaves. The Jesus Coectio We live i troubled times whe it s easy for people to lose heart ad feel hopeless ad lost. But a relatioship with Jesus ca give us peace ad joy. Jesus is our light i dark times. Whe have you felt out of sorts ad desperate to fid some cotrol over your situatio? Perhaps the Israelites felt these thigs after they escaped from Egypt. Although they may ot have recogized it at the time, evetually they were able to look back ad see how God used that time to protect them ad brig glory to himself. What part of your life might God have his had i ow? What ca you do to coect with God durig times of fear ad desperatio? Take a few miutes to reflect o God s had i your life. Write your reflectio here. God Shows His Power We ca realize that God had all this plaed. He kew that the people would be frighteed. He kew that they would doubt him. But he also kew that his power would be remembered forever. God kew that he would prevail, that the Hebrews would be saved from Pharaoh, ad that the result would be a people growig greatly i their faith i him. It may seem odd that o record of this evet has bee foud i Egyptia history. However, it s likely that all records were wiped from the books because it would ve bee a embarrassmet for the world to Lesso 1

8 8 GETTING STARTED Fears i Hidsight What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Have everyoe form trios. Say: Today we re goig to explore fears ad worries from a biblical perspective. To get started, thik of a time you were afraid. Perhaps you were afraid of physical harm, or maybe it was somethig emotioal you feared. Maybe you were axious about your circumstaces or about umet eeds. Share your experiece with your trio. Allow about six miutes for trios to share, alertig them to switch who s sharig every two miutes. Say: Ofte whe we are removed from a situatio, we see it differetly. With that i mid, take turs sharig your views o the stories you heard. Allow about two miutes. Say: Eve our ow perspective o situatios ca chage as time goes by. Now aswer the followig questio with your trio. Ask: With hidsight you ve gaied over time, how do you view that circumstace ow? Is it still scary? Explai. Allow about two miutes. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What did you otice about the differet ways to view your scary circumstace? How has chagig your perspective helped you face scary times before? Say: Whe we re afraid, it is t easy to cotrol our emotios. Sometimes we re so overwhelmed, we ca t thik straight or act with wisdom. I today s lesso, we re goig to look at God s faithfuless ad how he took care of the Israelites. We re goig to explore how GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID. Lesso 1

9 9 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Faith & Fears What You ll Do Distribute Bibles. Have everyoe ope to Exodus 13:17 14:31, ad have adults form groups of four. Give each group a piece of paper ad a pe. Alteratively, have them tur to the Faith & Fears sectio i the back of their Hadbooks. Faith & Fears Supplies Bibles paper pes Say: As we read this passage, we ll look at how the Israelites showed fear ad how they showed faith. Make two colums, oe titled Sigs of Faith ad the other Sigs of Fear. Take turs readig oe paragraph at a time i your group. After each paragraph, cosider what the Israelites did i that paragraph ad list their actios i the appropriate colum. Allow about eight miutes. Ask: Which colum is loger? What does that tell you about the overall sese the Israelites had about God? Say: Now let s look at this same passage from a differet perspective ad see how it lies up with how the Israelites viewed thigs. Flip your paper over or tur to the ext page i your Hadbook. Make two colums agai oe that says Positive Faith Builders ad oe that says Negative Faith Builders. God uses miracles ad scary situatios i this passage to build the Israelite s faith. We ll call the miracles Positive Faith Builders sice they re more positive to experiece. Fear is t so fu, so we ll call those Negative Faith Builders. But both of them work to build faith. Read the passage agai with your group, oe paragraph at a time, ad this time focus o what God did. Cosider how his actios ca work to build faith i the Israelites, ad write your observatios i the appropriate colums. Allow about eight miutes. Ask: What observatios did you have about God s faith-buildig actios? How did they lie up with your first chart? Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: I what ways was the Exodus a defiig momet i the relatioship betwee Israel ad God? Lesso 1

10 10 How did the Exodus foreshadow what Jesus does for us? Based o this passage, how would you explai what God ca do ad who God is to people who are burdeed with fear, eslaved by si, or oppressed by circumstaces? Say: No doubt we ca all idetify with the Israelites sese of beig trapped. O oe side, a vast sea with o way aroud it. O the other, powerful eemies. They had o cotrol over the outcome of this situatio. But it was precisely their lack of cotrol ad the fears that surrouded them that eabled them to see God s mighty had at work. Ad o matter what fears seem to surroud us, GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Trustig God for Help Supplies Bibles sticky otes pes Trustig God for Help What You ll Do Say: Just as God took care of the Israelites as they fled Egypt ad faced may fears, God takes care of us durig fearful times. But sometimes that s hard to see so let s do a exercise to help us see God s had at work. Form two groups, ad give each group some sticky otes ad a pe. Tell oe group to list as may adult fears as they ca thik of. They ll write each oe o a sticky ote ad stick it to the wall. Tell the other group to list lessos they ca lear from the accout of the crossig of the Red Sea. Examples may iclude: God leads ad guides us. God iflueces circumstaces. God fights battles for us. God gives us his costat presece. God is faithful to help those whom he loves. They ll write each idea o a sticky ote ad stick it to a differet sectio of the wall. As everyoe works, write the Key Verse, Psalm 23:3-4, o five sticky otes, divided as show here: He restores my soul. He guides me i paths of righteousess for his ame s sake. Eve though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear o evil, for you are with me; your rod ad your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:3-4). Set your sticky otes aside for later. After about seve miutes, get everyoe s attetio. Say: Now let s cosider how God aswers our fears. Have the fear group read oe of the fears they wrote. Have the Lesso 1

11 11 other group thik of a lesso they wrote that could respod to that fear, ad stick their ote o top of the fear. Cotiue util all the fears are covered. Sometimes, a respose may apply to more tha oe fear; i this case, just make a bigger stack with the respose o top ad multiple fears behid it. Say: Our Key Verse gives more ways God respods to our fears. Read each sticky ote from the Key Verse i order, stickig each o oe of the sets of sticky otes after you read it. Talk With s Have people get i groups of four ad discuss the followig questios. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Which respose to a fear hit you most persoally? Talk about that. How ca faith i God affect how we experiece fearful times? How does beig familiar with the accout of God s deliverace of the Israelites affect how you wat to respod to your fears this week? How ca the biblical truths we ve discovered today help us as we face hard, desperate times ad situatios that paralyze us with fear? Say: There s o fear we could have that God ca t respod to. His power was strog eough to build a wall of fire to stop a army. His power was strog eough to part a sea of water for his people to pass through ad the brig the waters crashig dow o the eemies. Sometimes our fears have a tedecy to sit at the top of our mid. But whe that happes, we ca remember this exercise ad how GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve see how GOD HELPS US WHEN WE RE AFRAID. Let s thik about how we ca give our fears to God this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Daily Challeges Supplies 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Lesso 1

12 12 Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o faith ad fears this week. Close with prayer. Have adults visualize their fears partig like the Red Sea as they commit to trust God with those fears. Lesso 1

13 13 The Israelites Cross the Red Sea Exodus 13:17 14:31 Bible Poit God helps us whe we re afraid. Key Verse He restores my soul. He guides me i paths of righteousess for his ame s sake. Eve though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear o evil, for you are with me; your rod ad your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:3-4). Daily Challeges DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Choose oe or more of these activities to do this week. Take time to thak God for all the ways you ve see him care for you. By rememberig his faithfuless, you ca face what is ahead with reewed courage. Fear ca paralyze. Through prayer ad practice, chage your perspective from beig hemmed i by fear to walkig with boldess through cofidet faith i God s protectio ad provisio. Do the thig God is callig you to do that you ve bee too scared to begi. Do you kow someoe plagued by fear? Pray for that perso ad sed him or her a card of ecouragemet. Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about fear ad faith. Moday Luke 12:22-24 How much of a worrier are you? Explai. What s the poit i worryig? How do worry ad fear go had-i-had? Tuesday Psalm 94:16-19 How have you see God s love support you i your fears? How has he brought joy i the midst of your axiety? Wedesday Psalm 27:1 How does a ightlight help kids with fear of the dark? I what ways is that like how God helps us with our fears? Thursday Hebrews 13:5-6 How does God s presece help you combat fear? Friday Joh 14:25-27 I what ways has fear robbed you of peace? How ca you rely o the Holy Spirit to brig peace i the midst of fear? Saturday 1 Joh 4:18 What does it mea that fear has to do with puishmet? How is that true for you? How ca love combat fear? Thik about a time you were truly scared. How did your reactio show faith or a lack of faith? What does it mea whe God does t deliver us out of a scary situatio? Talk about a eed you have these days, related to fear. Talk about a time whe God helped you cope with or overcome a fear.! OK TO COPY Lesso 1

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15 Lesso 2 15 God Seds Quail ad Maa Exodus 16:1-26 Deadlies, debts, ad defeats hit every adult like a to of bricks. It s easy for them to worry they ll ever have eough. The adults i your group eed to be remided that God ca ad will take care of them i a harsh world. Use this lesso to help adults see that eve whe they re feelig their most desperate ad empty, God ca meet their eeds i miraculous ways. Bible Poit God gives us what we eed. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Never Eough! (about 15 mi.) Evaluate thigs people ever have eough of. Daily Provisio (about 30 mi.) Discuss the passage ad cosider God s provisio for his people. cups, pitchers of water, pes Bibles, rolls, butter, kives Key Verse You prepare a table before me i the presece of my eemies. You aoit my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodess ad love will follow me all the days of my life, ad I will dwell i the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:5-6). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will trust God to provide their daily eeds. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 2

16 16 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Provisio (about 15 mi.) Pray for God s provisio i their ow lives, ad the be challeged to trust God to supply their eeds. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bibles, cups ad water from the Never Eough! activity Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 2

17 17 God Seds Quail ad Maa Exodus 16:1-26 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS The People Become Hugry i the Wilderess Approximately 30 days had passed sice the Hebrew people left Egypt. Apparetly the food they had brought with them had ru out, ad they bega complaiig. How quickly they had forgotte the oppressio of the Egyptias! The people were just startig to get to kow God, ad they had very little framework to realize God would provide for them. This evet marks a learig poit for the Israelites. God s Glory Show to the People We do t kow exactly what the glory of the Lord was that the Israelites saw i the morig, but it was a visible sig to them (perhaps like the cloud by day ad the pillar of fire by ight metioed i Exodus 13). God wated Israel to kow that he was still there, that he was aware of their eed, ad that he was goig to provide for them. from the morig before the Sabbath, it would stay good through the Sabbath. The Jesus Coectio God is our provider. Everythig we have is from God, ad he has provided a way for us to have a relatioship with him through Jesus. What do you fid yourself watig more tha aythig? How ofte do you view this desire as a eed? It s importat to recogize the differece. God allowed the Hebrews to live as slaves for may years. Whe God decided they eeded to leave Egypt, he provided the miraculous opportuity to do so. Our greatest eed is to hoor ad glorify God. Regardless of our wats, we re fulfilled whe livig i God s will. Write a prayer here to glorify God for givig you what you eed. God Provides for the People Whe the maa appeared the first morig, the Hebrews questio What is it? apparetly caught o as its ame because maa meas What is it? Though some have suggested various possibilities for what maa was, othig we kow of today is a good match for the descriptio give i Exodus 16:31: It was white like coriader seed ad tasted like wafers made with hoey. The miraculous ature of maa is further exhibited i what happeed to it over the course of a Sabbath as opposed to a weekday. The Israelites were ot to work o the Sabbath but to keep it as a day for worship. Gatherig maa o the Sabbath would have bee work, so God simply did t make it appear. If ayoe tried to keep maa from oe weekday to the ext, it would spoil. However, if ayoe kept it Lesso 2

18 18 GETTING STARTED Never Eough! Supplies cups pitchers of water pes Never Eough! What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Form pairs. Had out several cups ad two pes to each pair. Set out pitchers of water to share. Say: Today we re goig to explore God s provisio for us. Ofte i a church settig, a leader will ask us to thik about God s blessigs toward us. We ll be remided to thak God for our food, our family, ad other such thigs. Today, however, I d like you to come up with a list of thigs it seems like we ever have eough of. Oe example might be time! Write each idea o a differet cup. The discuss with your parter why you do t feel you have eough of it, ad fill the cup to the level you thik you have. For example, if you have very little free time, you might just put a half-ich of water i the time cup. Allow time for groups to mark ad add water to several cups. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What were some thigs we do t have eough of? How full were your various cups? Why? Why is it that we ever have eough of these thigs? The poit of today s lesso is GOD GIVES US WHAT WE NEED. How do we recocile this biblical truth with the commo feelig that there are thigs that we do t have eough of? Say: Today we ll study the accout i Exodus of the Israelites lack of food as they moved across the desert. Ad we ll look closely at how God provided for them ad how GOD GIVES US WHAT WE NEED eve whe our cups do t feel very full. Lesso 2

19 19 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Daily Provisio Tip A icreasig umber of people observe glute-free diets. Cosider showig radical hospitality by offerig both regular ad glute-free roll optios. What You ll Do Distribute Bibles, ad have everyoe ope to Exodus 16:1-26. Also have pairs get together with aother pair to form groups of four. Say: As we explore this passage, we ll discuss how it applies to our persoal lives. If adults have their hadbooks, have them tur to the Lesso 2 Bible Exploratio sectio so they ca go through the followig sectios of Scripture ad questios at their ow pace. Otherwise, allow about five miutes for each readig ad questio or set of questios below. Daily Provisio Supplies Bibles rolls butter kives! ALLERGY ALERT Before groups begi, distribute rolls, kives, ad butter for people to spread o their rolls, but tell them ot to eat them yet. Have groups read Exodus 16:1-3 ad discuss the followig questios: Ask: What s somethig you ve grumbled about recetly? Why? How does lookig at the Israelites grumblig chage your perspective about your ow complaits? Have groups read Exodus 16:4-8 ad discuss the followig questio: Ask: Tell about a time people complaied to you. What isights does that give you ito how God views our complaits? Have groups read Exodus 16:9-18 ad discuss the followig questio: Ask: Tell about a time God provided for you i a uexpected way. Have groups read Exodus 16:19-26 ad discuss the followig questios: Ask: Some of the Israelites tried to save extra whe they were t supposed to. What does that show you about their trust i God? How ca you relate to that attitude? Lesso 2

20 20 Say: Sometimes God makes us wait before he provides what we eed. The Israelites were already very hugry before he provided food. You ve waited about 20 miutes with that roll i your had. Are you hugry yet? Go ahead ad eat the roll as you talk with your group about this questio: Ask: What was it like to wait so log with that roll right i frot of you? What do you thik you eed to wait o right ow for God to provide for you? Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: I what ways did you most idetify with the Israelites experiece? What ca you lear from this passage about how or why you ca trust i God to meet your eeds? Say: God loved the Israelites, but he let them get a little desperate before he provided food for them. Ad whe they got hugry, they complaied about it. You ve probably foud yourself complaiig a time or two as well. It s a pretty atural respose. But istead of complaiig whe we lack somethig, we ca trust that GOD GIVES US WHAT WE NEED. Let s tur to him for our eeds. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Provisio Supplies Bibles cups ad water from the Never Eough! activity Provisio What You ll Do Have adults retur to their pairs from the Never Eough! activity ad gather aroud their cups. Have extra cups available if eeded. Say: Choose oe of your cups that you feel is the biggest eed i your life right ow. Pick it up ad hold oto it. Feel the emptiess i your had ad reflect o why you re feelig so depleted. If you ad your parter both wat the same cup, just grab a extra cup ad make a duplicate. Allow a miute or two for silet reflectio. Say: Now fill the cup all the way. As you drik the water, pray that God will repleish you ad give you the stregth you eed i regard to the topic o your cup. If you re still thirsty whe your cup is empty, get a refill! Drik util you re o loger i wat. Allow several miutes for silet reflectio. Lesso 2

21 21 If time allows, you may wat to repeat this with a secod cup topic for each perso. With everyoe still i reflective mode, read the Key Verse, Psalm 23:5-6, aloud: You prepare a table before me i the presece of my eemies. You aoit my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodess ad love will follow me all the days of my life, ad I will dwell i the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:5-6). Have pairs share the thigs they reflected o ad pray together for God s provisio. Talk With s Have people get i groups of four ad discuss the followig questios. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: How did our Key Verse relate to the thigs you were thikig about? Has the Key Verse bee your experiece? Explai. What ca you do this week to let God refill your cup? Say: GOD GIVES US WHAT WE NEED. But sometimes our cup eeds to be pretty close to empty first for us to really appreciate his gifts. The Israelites certaily had empty cups whe they were hugry ad lost i the desert. Istead of complaiig, we ca tur to God ad let him fill us whe we feel lackig i thigs we eed. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve see how GOD GIVES US WHAT WE NEED. Let s thik about how we ca trust God with our eeds this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Lesso 2

22 22 Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o God s provisio this week. Close with prayer. Ask everyoe to close their eyes ad call out thigs they eed. Pray: God, we kow that you ca give abudatly more tha we ask or thik. We lift up these eeds to you this week ad ask that you ll meet them i ways we least expect. I Jesus ame, ame. Lesso 2

23 23 God Seds Quail ad Maa Exodus 16:1-26 Bible Poit God gives us what we eed. Key Verse You prepare a table before me i the presece of my eemies. You aoit my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodess ad love will follow me all the days of my life, ad I will dwell i the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:5-6). Daily Challeges DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Choose oe or more of these activities to do this week. Every time you eat bread this week, thak God for providig for you. Praise God for beig the Bread of Life. Take a hard look at your home ad your possessios. Are your closets bulgig? Do you have just eough or too much? Begi to purge your home of thigs you do t truly eed. Be a blessig to others by givig away useful items to those i eed. Memorize Psalm 23:5-6. Recite it as a prayer every time you feel axious about your eeds. Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about God s provisio. Moday Jeremiah 9:23 How does trustig i our ow riches hider our ability to trust God? Tuesday 1 Timothy 6:17 What has God provided for you to ejoy while you re i the world? Wedesday Isaiah 58:11 Thik about a time you were really thirsty ad how good it felt to drik some cool water. Describe a time God provided for you that made you feel refreshed. Thursday 2 Peter 1:3 What ca God give you to help you live a life that hoors him? Be specific. Friday Romas 11:33-36 What does this verse show you about the power God has to give us what we eed? about what we deserve from God? Saturday Philippias 4:6-7 How does trustig God for our physical eeds brig us peace? Whe has God provided exactly what you eeded? How do you kow it was God doig the providig? Talk about the role of miraculous provisio i our day. How ca God use you to help meet other people s eeds?! OK TO COPY Lesso 2

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25 Lesso 3 25 God Provides Water Exodus 17:1-7 s deal with difficulties i may differet ways. Some seem to roll with the puches, ot bothered by aythig. But some always have to express a ufairess as a complait or problem. We have differet ways of dealig with thigs like high prices ad hard times, but some adults are just aturally more vocal about it. Use this lesso to help adults remember that God is patiet with us i difficult times eve whe we are t so patiet. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Whier s Improv (about 15 mi.) Whie about a variety of situatios. I m Thirsty! (about 10 mi.) Experiece thirst ad a eed for patiece, ad discuss the Bible passage. Bible, pes, paper, saltie crackers, cups of water Bible Poit God is patiet with us. Key Verse The Lord is my shepherd, I shall ot be i wat. He makes me lie dow i gree pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters (Psalm 23:1-2). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will examie their complaits ad cosider how to express gratitude for God s patiece. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 3

26 26 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios I Shall Not Wat (about 20 mi.) Tur their complaits ito a collage of the Key Verse. Prayig for Patiece (about 10 mi.) Have a prayer experiece i which they cosider God s patiece. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bibles, paper, markers, scissors, glue 1 small rock per adult Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 3

27 27 God Provides Water Exodus 17:1-7 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Food ad Whie Be Ecouraged As we begi today s lesso, we fid the Israelites cotiuig their jourey toward the Promised Lad. They re still gettig maa every morig ad quail every eveig, but they ca t fid water at their latest campsite. It s importat to take a momet to recall that the Israelites were just begiig to kow God. This is the first time God had iteracted with the Israelite commuity as a whole. Though this does t excuse their actios, it might give some cotext for us to see ourselves i more clearly. Agai, istead of callig i faith upo the God who had secured their freedom, tured bitter water sweet, ad provided maa ad quail, the people complaied to Moses. Agai, istead of trustig God, they lameted that they were goig to die i the desert for lack of water. As you ca see from Exodus 17:4, Moses was exasperated. God, however, proves his patiece ad love i this passage, givig the Hebrews the water they eeded i spite of their complaiig ad their lack of faith. The ames Moses gave to the place where all this happeed mea temptatio ad murmurig. No doubt Moses itet was to make this place a remider of the people s ubelief but also a ecouragemet toward faith i the God who had provided for them. The Jesus Coectio Thik of someoe who has frustrated you recetly. What eeds to happe to resolve the situatio? A relatioship with Jesus brigs us forgiveess, ot perfectio. Pray for clarity ad the opportuity to recogize whe you eed to exted the same type of grace ad uderstadig that Jesus has give you. O the lies below, write a prayer for the perso who has recetly frustrated you. Actig o Faith God had a pla. His istructios to Moses must have seemed ludicrous! Moses was to take with him the leaders of the people likely represetatives from each tribe so that they could see firsthad what God was goig to do. I frot of these leaders, Moses was to hit with his staff a rock that God would poit out to him. Ad eough water would come out of the rock to take care of the eeds of 2 millio people. As ulikely as God s pla seemed, Moses did t questio God. He did what God told him to do, ad God did what he said he would do. Moses ad God gave a covicig demostratio of what actig o faith i God ca do. Ad God was glorified whe the leaders brought back their report. Lesso 3

28 28 GETTING STARTED Whier s Improv What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Say: Today we re goig to explore our attitudes. Let s get our lesso started with some improvisatio. You ll eed a parter for this activity. We re goig to preted that we re world-class whiers. I m sure this will take plety of pretedig because we ve all leared to be cotet regardless of our circumstaces. But just for ow, take o the role of a whier. I m goig to ame some situatios. Your job is to preted that you re i the situatio I ve amed ad whie pitifully about it to a parter util I clap. The stop whiig ad liste for the ext thig. Keep whiig util I call time. Ready? Let s go! Call out the first item o the list below. Cotiue amig ew situatios at 30-secod itervals. This room is t the right temperature. We ever do aythig iterestig at church. I do t make eough moey. I do t have eough free time. My family or frieds are drivig me crazy. After the group has had 30 secods to whie about the last situatio, call time. Say: Now we re goig to have a Whie Off a competitio to see who i our group is the best whier. If you thik your parter has what it takes, ecourage them to come o up! Try to get at least five willig adults to participate i your Whie Off. Give each perso a topic to whie about from the list above, ad have them whie for the group oe at a time. After everyoe has goe, have adults vote by applause to see who the best whier is. Say: All right, for those of you who lost tell us how you feel about it! Pause for more whiig. Talk With s Say: This activity was meat to be silly ad fu. However, complaiig ca be a surprisigly large part of our daily lives. Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Lesso 3

29 29 Ask: What coectio did this activity have to your real life? What role does complaiig have i our lives? Does it serve ay purpose, either positive or egative? What happes to our faith whe we complai about our lives? Say: Today we ll be takig a look at some whiy people i the desert with Moses. We ll discover that GOD IS PATIENT WITH US eve whe we complai. 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION I m Thirsty! Tip A icreasig umber of people observe glute-free diets. Cosider showig radical hospitality by offerig both regular ad glute-free cracker optios. What You ll Do Give everyoe two saltie crackers, a piece of paper, ad a pe. Keep the water for later. Say: Put both crackers i your mouth, ad begi to chew them. But do t swallow them util I say so. Take a miute to write your thoughts about the crackers your thoughts may chage the loger they re i your mouth, so write what you re feelig ad thikig i each momet. Allow about a miute. I m Thirsty! Supplies Bible pes paper saltie crackers cups of water! ALLERGY ALERT Say: Keep those crackers i your mouth! I m goig to read our Bible passage aloud. You ca follow alog i Exodus 17:1-7 but do t swallow! Read the passage. Say: Aybody feelig thirsty yet? Go ahead ad swallow. Distribute cups of water. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What was your iitial impressio of the cracker? How did that chage by the time I fially told you that you could swallow? What was it like to wait for my istructio to swallow? How was this experiece like or ulike the way the Israelites viewed their freedom from Egypt? I what ways ca a bad attitude seak up o us gradually? Lesso 3

30 30 Say: Whe it was time to leave Egypt, it was amazig! It might ve bee like bitig ito a ice, tasty cracker but a lot better. But ot too far ito their desert jourey, the Israelites bega to get impatiet. They were tired, hot, ad thirsty. They bega to woder why they eve left Egypt like maybe you wodered why you ever chewed those crackers. Their impatiece tured ito complaits. But God? He ever ra out of patiece. Ad GOD IS PATIENT WITH US, too. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE I Shall Not Wat Supplies Bibles paper markers scissors glue I Shall Not Wat What You ll Do Distribute paper ad markers. Say: Now it s time to get persoal. We started out whiig about geeric thigs that you might ot actually have felt like complaiig about. But what are your complaits? Make a list. Allow time. Say: Whe thigs are t goig well like whe the Israelites were waderig i the desert, thirsty it s easy to complai. But what if we cosider the thigs God has give us ad respod to hard times with gratitude? Let s liste to our Key Verse ad cosider how it applies to the thigs o our lists. Have everyoe ope to the Key Verse, Psalm 23:1-2, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall ot be i wat. He makes me lie dow i gree pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters. Pass out a ew piece of paper to each perso, ad set out glue ad scissors. Say: Reread this verse o your ow, ad cosider how it relates to the thigs o your list. The create a collage that reflects a image from the Key Verse or how it applies to you. What will you use for your collage? Your complaits. You ca add more details with markers, but you ll eed to cut out ad use every letter of every complait i some way to make your picture. Allow time. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What thoughts did you have about the Key Verse as it related to your complaits? What was easy or hard about chagig your complaits ito a peaceful ad cotet image? What ca you do this week to focus o God s patiece ad peace eve i the midst of the thigs that make you wat to complai? Lesso 3

31 31 Say: GOD IS PATIENT WITH US, providig for us eve whe we whie. The Israelites whied, ad he gave them water. But it s so much better ot to test God s patiece with our whiig! All our whiig does is make us miss out o the peace ad joy of the gree pastures ad quiet waters he wats to offer us. Prayig for Patiece What You ll Do Give everyoe a rock. Say: Hold this rock i your had, ad try to get water from it. Do whatever you eed to i order to get water to come out. Pause. Prayig for Patiece Supplies 1 small rock per adult Say: Not surprisigly, oe of you got water from your rocks. That s because that was a miracle of God ot somethig we ca do i our ow stregth. So let s hold these rocks as we go through a prayer experiece. As you hold your rock, cosider the thigs you ve complaied about. Thik about the thigs you just listed ad made ito your collage. Allow time. Say: Now ask God to show you what your complaits reveal about your attitude toward him. Allow time. Say: Now ask God to help you tur to his patiece ad peace istead of your ow stregth. Allow time. Say: Fially, ask God to cotiually bestow patiece ad blessigs o you just as he did for the Israelites. Allow time. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What thoughts did you have as you prayed? How does complaiig show that we trust our ow stregth more tha God s? What would it look like to have a attitude this week that trusts i God s power o matter what comes up? Say: GOD IS PATIENT WITH US, ad he logs for us to trust i him rather tha whie at the first sig of trouble. Although the Israelites had see his power i so may ways, whe there was o water they complaied rather tha turig to him. But God ca do the uexpected whe we trust him ad patietly wait to see him work. Lesso 3

32 32 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve see how GOD IS PATIENT WITH US. Let s thik about how we ca be grateful for his patiece this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o God s patiece this week. Close with prayer. Pray: Dear God, thak you for your patiece with us. Help us to reflect your patiece this week as we iteract with others ad experiece thigs that tempt us to complai. I Jesus ame, ame. Lesso 3

33 33 God Provides Water Exodus 17:1-7 Bible Poit God is patiet with us. Key Verse The Lord is my shepherd, I shall ot be i wat. He makes me lie dow i gree pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters (Psalm 23:1-2). DIGGING DEEPER Daily Challeges Talk Topics Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Act with patiece i a frustratig situatio this week. Thak God for his ever-edig patiece i your life. Be patiet ad ucomplaiig while drivig or while dealig with others this week. How much do you complai to God? This week, write dow every complait you make to God. Watch for the aswers he seds to your prayers. You might be surprised at what God has doe ad is doig despite your attitude i askig! Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about God s patiece. Moday Psalm 37:5-6 I what way is trust cotrary to complaiig? How does this verse reflect God s patiece? Tuesday Psalm 84:10 How does this verse impact your perspective o lowly tasks you have to do? How ca you be more patiet whe you cosider them as tasks doe for God? Wedesday Hebrews 13:5 Oe commo complait is lack of moey. What role does that play i your life? How ca you be cotet with what you have? Thursday Proverbs 19:23 How could livig out this verse impact your life? How could it build your patiece? Friday Proverbs 16:24 How could you be more patiet i your words with others? What beefits might that brig? Whe do you complai the most? about what? What are good alteratives to complaiig? Talk about a time you complaied about a situatio. What happeed? How ca you reflect God s patiece the ext time you wat to complai? Saturday Philippias 4:11-13 How well do Paul s words reflect your attitude? What do you thik of this secret to beig cotet?! OK TO COPY Lesso 3

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35 Lesso 4 35 God Gives the Te Commadmets (Part 1) Exodus 19:16 20:21 Today the idea of commadmets is defiitely out of style. I fact, our society regularly advocates that there are o moral absolutes, that all opiios o ethical issues hold equal weight. What are we to do? This lesso will be oe small voice for absolutes amid a societal cacophoy pushig pure relativism. Christia adults ca take heart i kowig they worship a holy God, a God of laws who demads exclusive worship. Use this lesso to ecourage them to hoor him i every way. Bible Poit Hoor God by obeyig him. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. If Dogs Ruled the World (about 10 mi.) Come up with a set of rules dogs or cats would make if they were i charge. The First Four (about 40 mi.) Explore each of the first four commadmets i depth. paper, pes Bibles, paper plates, pes, paper, markers, tape, ame tags, trash ca Key Verse Love the Lord your God with all your heart ad with all your soul ad with all your stregth. These commadmets that I give you today are to be upo your hearts (Deuteroomy 6:5-6). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will hoor God through daily obediece ad worship. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 4

36 36 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios I Will Hoor (about 10 mi.) Prayerfully reflect o ways they ca obey each of the first four commadmets. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bibles, paper, pes Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 4

37 37 God Gives the Te Commadmets (Part 1) Exodus 19:16 20:21 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS This week s Bible Backgroud cocetrates o the evets surroudig the givig of the Te Commadmets, while ext week s cocetrates o the commadmets themselves. You may wat to read both Bible Backgrouds before begiig this lesso. The Israelites Battle the Amalekites The Amalekites attacked the Israelites where they were camped. God had prepared the Israelites faith for this test through his provisio for them i so may ways. So the Israelites put together a army uder the leadership of Joshua ad wet o the attack. Moses held high i the air the staff that had struck the rock to get water the staff of God. As log as Moses held the staff i the air, the Israelites cotiued to wi so Aaro ad Hur helped hold Moses hads up, ad the Israelites defeated the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-16). Jethro Advises Moses to Focus o God Moses father-i-law, Jethro, came to visit after the battle with the Amalekites. Seeig Moses burdeed with judgig disagreemets amog the 2 millio Israelites, Jethro gave Moses some good advice. He suggested that Moses appoit judges to serve the people so that Moses could cocetrate o what was most importat beig the people s represetative before God. Moses took the advice ad the led the Israelites o to Mout Siai, where Moses had previously met God i the burig bush. They arrived at Mout Siai three moths to the day from whe they left Egypt (Exodus 18:5 19:2). him that Israel would be his treasured possessio, his holy people if they would obey him. After Moses told the people what God had said, they respoded gratefully: We will do everythig the Lord has said. God respoded by tellig Moses that God himself would come dow ad speak with the Israelites from a cloud. The law God gave spelled out how the Israelites were to hoor him through their obediece. I the thousads of years that have passed sice this evet, oe thig has t chaged: The best way we ca hoor God is by obeyig him. The Jesus Coectio Followig Jesus is ot about obeyig rules; it s about kowig him. However, our obediece i hoorig ad glorifyig God i our everyday lives allows our relatioship with Jesus to grow. I the space below, write a prayer that the miistry you are ivolved i today helps your group experiece God s blessig. May you see the fruit of God s work through your obediece. Moses Receives the Commadmets From God A sigificat evet is recorded i the ext few verses (Exodus 19:3-9): God spoke to Moses ad promised Lesso 4

38 38 GETTING STARTED If Dogs Ruled the World Supplies paper pes If Dogs Ruled the World What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Form groups of four, ad give each group a piece of paper ad a pe. Say: Today we re goig to be talkig about obediece. So we ll begi with a fuy exercise. As a group, decide whether you wat to assume the role of cats or dogs. Whichever aimal you pick, you ll create a list of the top five rules that species would make if they ruled the world. For example, dogs might make a rule that people must pay them taxes i boes. Or cats might require that all boxes must be left wide ope ad empty so they ca be played i. Take a few miutes to determie ad write dow your rules. After about three miutes, allow time for groups to share their best rules. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What differeces or similarities did you otice betwee dog rules ad cat rules? How did the rules fit the prefereces of each species? Why would your rules show a reverece ad respect for that species? Say: Although it may sometimes seem like pets ru your house, cats ad dogs do t rule the world so we do t have to follow their rules. But God does rule the world. Today we ll explore some of his Te Commadmets ad see how we ca HONOR GOD BY OBEYING HIM. Lesso 4

39 39 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION The First Four What You ll Do Distribute Bibles, ad have everyoe ope to Exodus 19:16 20:21. Say: The settig for the Te Commadmets is oe that shows God s power. High up o Mout Siai, Moses was surrouded by thuder, lightig, a thick cloud, ad a trumpet blast. God desceded o the moutai with fire. It was eough to make the Israelites tremble at the foot of the moutai. Ad the God spoke. We ll look at the first four commadmets he gave ad cosider how they show us to HONOR GOD BY OBEYING HIM. The First Four Supplies Bibles paper plates pes paper markers tape ame tags trash ca Have a willig adult read Exodus 20:1-3. Give everyoe two paper plates ad a pe. Say: O oe plate, make a pie graph that shows how you sped your time i a typical day. For example, if you sleep 8 hours a day, that s 1/3 of your plate. Allow about two miutes. Say: Now tur the plate over ad make a pie graph of the relatioships you have that are the most importat to you. Allow about two miutes. Say: Fially, make a pie graph o your secod plate that depicts how you sped your moey. Allow about two miutes. Have adults get back i their groups of four ad discuss what they oticed about how they prioritize their time, relatioships, ad moey. Also have them discuss what gods they might have ad how they ca make sure to put God first i all of those areas. Allow about two miutes. Have a willig adult read Exodus 20:4-6. Distribute paper ad markers. Say: Draw a picture that represets moder idols you see people worship today. As adults fiish their pictures, tape them to the walls to create a gallery. Whe everyoe has fiished, have them walk aroud the room ad look at the pictures. Whe everyoe has made a full rotatio, tell them to stop ad tear dow a idol ad throw it away. The have adults retur to their groups of four ad discuss what role the idols they saw play i dishoorig God. Allow about two miutes. Have a willig adult read Exodus 20:7. Distribute ame tags. Have adults fid the list of ames of God i the back of their Hadbooks, or read from the followig list ad let adults each choose oe ame of God that stads out to them ad write it o their ame tag. Allow a few miutes for each perso to read the correspodig passage ad reflect o that ame for God. Lesso 4

40 40 Father (Romas 8:15) Rock (Psalm 144:1) Immauel, God With Us (Matthew 1:23) Lio of Judah (Revelatio 5:5) Lamb of God (Joh 1:29) Creator (Isaiah 40:28) Kig of Kigs (1 Timothy 6:15-16) The First ad the Last (Revelatio 22:13) Price of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) Savior (Jude 1:25) Fried (Joh 15:15) The Life (Joh 14:6) Have adults retur to their groups of four ad discuss what isights they had about the ame of God. Have them hold o to the ame tag so they ca stick it somewhere as a remider to hoor God s ame. Allow about two miutes. Have a willig adult read Exodus 20:8-11. Distribute five pieces of paper to each perso. Have everyoe form a circle aroud a trash ca. Say: We ve all experieced beig busy it s the commad to rest that ca be challegig! But before we ca rest, I ve got a task for you. You re goig to come up with 20 thigs that keep people busy. You ll tear your papers ito fourths, write each busy idea o a piece of paper, crumple them all up, ad throw them all ito the garbage ca from where you are. Ad you have oe miute to complete this task. If you miss ay of your shots, get the paper ad come back to your spot to try agai! Allow oe miute for fratic busyess. After oe miute, call time. Most likely, o oe will have completed the task successfully. Have adults retur to their groups of four ad discuss how the experiece was like or ulike the way their lives feel. Allow about two miutes. Say: We do t always have much time to rest, do we? Our lives ca feel like this activity costatly racig to keep up with all we have to do, ad ever feelig caught up eough to take time to rest. But rest is so importat to God, he put it as oe of his Big Te rules! So let s take time to rest right ow. Take two miutes to just sit i silece. If you get ay thoughts of a to-do list, set them aside. Just picture yourself restig at the feet of Jesus. Allow time. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Which of the four commadmets did you most coect with? Explai. I what ways were you challeged to respect ad hoor God differetly? What ca you do this week to set aside time to rest ad hoor God? Say: The Te Commadmets are ofte see as a aoyig list of rules. But they Lesso 4

41 41 were a coveat betwee God ad his people. He treasured his people, ad he wated them to retur the love ad HONOR GOD BY OBEYING HIM. Ad thik about it his rules for us eve iclude a chace to rest! What a hoor it is to have this relatioship with God where we ca obey the God of the uiverse! 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE I Will Hoor What You ll Do Distribute paper ad pes. Have everyoe ope to the Key Verse, Deuteroomy 6:5-6, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: Love the Lord your God with all your heart ad with all your soul ad with all your stregth. These commadmets that I give you today are to be upo your hearts. I Will Hoor Supplies Bibles paper pes Say: Let s put God s commadmets o our hearts ad cosider how to love him more. O your papers, list the first four commadmets, with room to write betwee each oe. You ca sum them up like this: 1. No gods before God. 2. No idols. 3. Hoor God s ame. 4. Keep a Sabbath day. Allow time. The have adults prayerfully cosider each commadmet ad write a persoal challege for themselves o how to obey each oe. Allow about four miutes oe miute per commadmet. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What are some of the ideas you came up with for how to hoor God through each of these commadmets? Why does followig through o those ideas matter? Say: God gave the Te Commadmets so his people would kow how to HONOR GOD BY OBEYING HIM. Ad that does t just mea the Israelites God s people icludes us! We ve thought a lot about what these commadmets mea for our relatioship with God. Let s simplify thigs ad choose oe way we ll commit to hoorig God this week. Lesso 4

42 42 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve explored how we ca HONOR GOD BY OBEYING HIM. Let s commit to doig that this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o hoorig God this week. Close with prayer. Have everyoe form groups of four ad hoor God with praise. Lesso 4

43 43 God Gives the Te Commadmets (Part 1) Exodus 19:16 20:21 Bible Poit Hoor God by obeyig him. Key Verse Love the Lord your God with all your heart ad with all your soul ad with all your stregth. These commadmets that I give you today are to be upo your hearts (Deuteroomy 6:5-6). Daily Challeges DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Choose oe of the challeges you came up with i the I Will Hoor activity, ad make that your Daily Challege this week. Look at the pie graphs you made ad cosider how to reprioritize to put God first this week. Choose oe day to be your Sabbath this week. It does t have to be Suday fid a day that works for you, ad use it to rest ad worship God. (Ca t swig a whole day? Start out lightly fid two hours.) Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about hoorig God. Moday 1 Corithias 6:20 How does Jesus sacrifice impact the way you use your body? How ca you hoor God with your body? Tuesday 1 Corithias 8:5-6 Thik about people who are treated like heroes or idols today. Why are they treated that way? What s the differece betwee those people ad God? Wedesday Proverbs 3:9 How ca you hoor God with your possessios? Thursday Psalm 18:46-49 Which descriptios of God i this psalm make you wat to praise ad hoor his ame? What ames or titles ca you thik of that require respect? Friday Deuteroomy 13:4 How ca you revere ad obey God this week? Saturday Isaiah 29:13 What does it mea to truly hoor God? What s the differece betwee a heart that hoors God ad words that do? How ca you esure your heart is hoorig God? How importat is it for Christias to kow ad keep the Te Commadmets? Why? How does keepig the commadmets hoor God? Talk about the eed for rules ad commads i our spiritual lives. Talk about how you re persoally challeged by the commadmets about respectig God.! OK TO COPY Lesso 4

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45 Lesso 5 45 God Gives the Te Commadmets (Part 2) Exodus 19:16 20:21 Relatioships are hard ad they do t seem to be ay easier for adults tha they are for kids. It s a importat topic for everyoe. People wat to kow what to do i sticky situatios whe divorce hits, affairs are discovered, a child steals, a eighbor gossips. Use this lesso to help adults see how we ca wisely apply the fial six commadmets, day by day. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Respectable (about 10 mi.) Discuss times they ve felt disrespected ad times they ve felt respected. The Good, the Bad, ad the Ugly (about 30 mi.) Explore outcomes of obeyig ad disobeyig the Te Commadmets. Bibles, sticky otes, paiter s tape, pes Use paiter s tape to create six 2x2 grids o the wall, with each quadrat beig large eough to fit several sticky otes. Over each grid, place a sticky ote with oe of the followig commadmets: hoor parets, do t kill, do t commit adultery, do t steal, do t lie, do t covet. Bible Poit God tells us how to respect others. Key Verse Do ot murder, do ot commit adultery, do ot steal, do ot give false testimoy, hoor your father ad mother, ad love your eighbor as yourself (Matthew 19:18-19). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will respect others with their words ad actios. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 5

46 46 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Tow of Respect (about 20 mi.) Explore what our commuities would look like if people lived accordig to the priciples of respect ad love foud i the Te Commadmets. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bibles, ewspapers or smartphoes, paper, pes Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 5

47 47 God Gives the Te Commadmets (Part 2) Exodus 19:16 20:21 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Last week s Bible Backgroud cocetrated o the evets surroudig the givig of the Te Commadmets, while this week s cocetrates o the commadmets themselves. If you have t already doe so, you may wat to read both of them before begiig this lesso. Commadmets With a Purpose These commadmets were t give to force the Israelites to follow a arbitrary set of rules. These commads were iteded to help the people live their lives to the fullest i relatioship with oe aother. With the death ad resurrectio of Jesus, we live o loger uder the law but uder grace. Jesus said he came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17-18). Certaily we are ot boud to follow these laws to try to wi God s favor, but the priciples behid the Te Commadmets are valid priciples for all time. Commadmets i Two Categories Over the ceturies, scholars have divided the commadmets ito categories i varyig ways. For the purpose of these studies, we re dividig them ito two sectios. The first four commadmets have to do with our relatioship with God; the last six have to do with our relatioships with others. God s Commadmets Establish Priorities The commadmets regardig our relatioship with God clearly spell out the priority ad hoor that he is to hold i our lives. How ofte eve i the Christia commuity do we let other thigs come before our relatioship with God? to misuse God s ame. To use it i swearig or frivolously i jokig is ot appropriate. How we use God s ame directly reflects how we feel about God. He ad his ame are worthy of all the hoor we ca muster! The commadmets regardig our relatioships with others (Exodus 20:12-17) give us lots of guidace o how to respect others. Though eve our Christia culture ca fail to take may of these commads seriously, livig by them gives people the hoor ad respect due them as uique creatios of God. No matter what we see aroud us, we must hold true to these priciples if we are to hoor God ad respect others the way God iteds. The Jesus Coectio As our relatioship with Jesus grows, we ca begi to see this world ad other people through his eyes of ucoditioal love. We will ejoy fellowship more ad others will see Jesus presece i our lives. God wats us to alter our lives to reflect our Savior who loves us eough to die for us. It s easy to get distracted, eve by good thigs, ad we ca get caught up tryig to be like other Christias more tha we try to be like Jesus himself. God loves his creatio so much that he gave us commadmets to help preserve it ad glorify him. God s greatest creatio is humaity ad we are surrouded by it. Every perso you have cotact with today gives you a opportuity to glorify God by liftig up his greatest creatio people. At the ed of the day, take ote of who God blessed through you ad how you were blessed i his service. You ca write your prayer i the space below. Oe commadmet that is ofte take too lightly, especially i today s culture, is the istructio ot Lesso 5

48 48 GETTING STARTED Respectable What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Have adults form pairs. Say: Our topic today is respect. It s a topic we ve all had to deal with, because we all iteract with other people! Ad relatioships are tricky sometimes we re ot respected, ad sometimes we do t feel like showig respect. Tell your parter about a time you felt disrespected. Allow about two miutes, promptig parters to switch after oe miute. Say: Now tell your parter about a time you felt respected. Allow aother two miutes, agai promptig parters to switch after oe miute. The Good, The Bad, ad The Ugly Supplies Bibles sticky otes paiter s tape pes The Good, The Bad, ad The Ugly Easy Prep Use paiter s tape to create six 2x2 grids o the wall, with each quadrat beig large eough to fit several sticky otes. Over each grid, place a sticky ote with oe of the followig commadmets: hoor parets, do t kill, do t commit adultery, do t steal, do t lie, do t covet. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Whe you cosider the actios i each of your experieces, how would you defie disrespect? respect? What did you discover about the differece i your ow reactio to each evet? Why does disrespect eve happe? Say: We ve see that relatioships are full of both respect ad disrespect. But God does t wat that disrespect i there. Today we re goig to look at the last six of the Te Commadmets the oes that deal with our relatioships with others. Ad we ll lear that GOD TELLS US HOW TO RESPECT OTHERS. 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION The Good, the Bad, ad the Ugly What You ll Do Distribute Bibles, sticky otes, ad pes. Form six groups, ad have everyoe ope to Exodus 20: Lesso 5

49 49 Say: Aroud the room you ll see six differet statios oe for each of the commadmets. I ll give each group a commadmet to start with. You ll read that commadmet i your Bible ad the cosider the outcomes of obeyig or ot obeyig that commadmet. Each quadrat will represet a differet sceario. The left half will be the outcomes for the perso actig o the commadmet, ad the right half will be for the people who are impacted by the perso actig. The top row will represet obediece, ad the bottom row will represet disobediece. For example, the top left quadrat would be what the outcomes may be for the perso who obeys your commadmet. Make sure everyoe udersta ds the positioig of the quadrats. They ca fid a diagram i their Hadbooks i the Bible Exploratio sectio. Allow about 10 miutes for groups to aalyze their commadmet ad ote its possible outcomes usig sticky otes. The have groups rotate clockwise. Have everyoe review the aswers already posted for their ew commadmet, ad the cosider other outcomes they ca add to it. Allow about five miutes for this. The rotate four more times, allowig just two miutes at each statio sice it will be harder to geerate ew ideas. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Based o your aalysis, what are the beefits of obeyig God s commadmets about respectig others? Which commadmets seemed to have the worst impacts for disobediece? Explai. Which commadmets seemed to have the best impacts for obediece? Explai. Say: It may ot always be easy to give respect, but I thik we all ca agree we wat the beefits of beig show respect! The Te Commadmets are a way that God has give us to live i harmoy with others, givig the respect others deserve ad receivig it for ourselves. Let s look further at a practical impact of followig the ways GOD TELLS US HOW TO RESPECT OTHERS. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Tow of Respect What You ll Do Have everyoe ope to the Key Verse, Matthew 19:18-19, ad the read it aloud: Do ot murder, do ot commit adultery, do ot steal, do ot give false testimoy, hoor your father ad mother, ad love your eighbor as yourself (Matthew 19:18-19). Tow of Respect Supplies Bibles ewspapers or smartphoes paper pes Lesso 5

50 50 Say: Jesus words i this passage sum up what it meas to respect others. But what would this look like i our society? For that, let s look at the ews. Form trios. Distribute ewspapers or have adults go to a ews website o their smartphoes. Distribute paper ad pes. Say: With your group, fid a ews story that violates at least oe of the commadmets we ve studied today. Idetify what commadmet or commadmets it breaks, ad the cosider how the story would read if the people obeyed the commadmets istead. Rewrite your ews story to reflect obediece ad respect. Allow about 10 miutes, ad the have groups summarize the differece betwee their origial ad rewritte stories. Say: Now it s time to rewrite a story i your ow life. Thik about the last time you broke oe of these commadmets. Thik a little broadly Jesus says that agry words are like killig ad lustful thoughts are adultery. O your ow, write that story as if you obeyed the Te Commadmets istead. Allow about five miutes. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What differece did you see the Te Commadmets makig i the ews? i your ow life? What ca you do to rewrite the story of this comig week ad make sure you re respectig others the way God tells us to? Say: If everyoe obeyed the Te Commadmets, ewspapers might just go out of busiess. You probably had a pretty easy time fidig a ews report of a violatio of the Te Commadmets. But what a differece it would make if there was o ews of disrespect to report! We ca t make everyoe i our society obey the Te Commadmets, but we ca do our part whe we live i light of the way GOD TELLS US HOW TO RESPECT OTHERS. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve explored how GOD TELLS US HOW TO RESPECT OTHERS. Let s commit to livig i respect this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say Lesso 5

51 51 what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o respect this week. Close with prayer. Have adults retur to their trios ad pray for your commuity to better hoor the Te Commadmets ad live i respect. Lesso 5

52 52 God Gives the Te Commadmets (Part 2) Exodus 19:16 20:21 Bible Poit God tells us how to respect others. Key Verse Do ot murder, do ot commit adultery, do ot steal, do ot give false testimoy, hoor your father ad mother, ad love your eighbor as yourself (Matthew 19:18-19). DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Daily Challeges How would our society be differet if people respected each other more? What s your mai challege, persoally, whe it comes to respectig others? Talk about a time you felt you were disrespected by a close fried. How did it feel? What did you do about it? Talk about the eed you have for respect. Why is it so importat? Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Hoor your father ad mother by writig them a letter expressig your gratitude. Respect your employers by givig a hoest day s work for a hoest day s pay. Respect others by choosig ot to keep up with the Joeses. Make a midful choice to be cotet with what you have rather tha watig what your eighbors, co-workers, or fellow Christias have. Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about respect. Moday Joh 13:34 How does Jesus love you? How ca you show that love to others? Tuesday 1 Peter 2:17 How ca God help you to respect others? Wedesday Leviticus 19:32 What are some other specific examples of showig respect? Why are these importat? Thursday Joh 15:13 What sacrifices ca you make to show respect? Do you thik it s ecessary to make sacrifices i order to be respectful? Explai. Friday Romas 15:13 How do joy ad peace geerate respect? Saturday Ephesias 6:1-4 How ca your family show respect?! OK TO COPY Lesso 5

53 Lesso 6 53 The Israelites Worship a Golde Calf Exodus 32:1-25 Somehow, as adults today, we still replace the presece ad power of almighty God with pitiful substitute gods destied to both disappoit ad destroy. Rather tha drikig from God s edless sprig of satisfyig Livig Water, we dig cracked, leaky holdig taks to collect stagat water (Jeremiah 2:13). We chase false gods ad buy ito the lies of the ugratifyig secular culture aroud us. Together with your group, use this lesso to reew agai your commitmet to place God first i every area of life ad to tear the pitiful idols from your waderig hearts. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started What Is Worship? (about 15 mi.) Write a defiitio of worship based o observatios about objects of worship, ad discuss why people worship. paper, pes Bible Poit Oly God deserves our worship. Key Verse I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the lad of slavery. You shall have o other gods before me (Exodus 20:2-3). 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Misguided Attempts (about 25 mi.) Discuss how the Israelites strayed away from worshippig God. Bibles Weavig Faith Ito Life s will get rid of distractios i their lives ad be more midful of worshippig oly God. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 6

54 54 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios God First (about 20 mi.) Idetify ways to hoor God, ad explore specific ways to make God first i their lives. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bible, paper, idex cards, pes, trash ca Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 6

55 55 The Israelites Worship a Golde Calf Exodus 32:1-25 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Out of Sight Moses was up o the moutai for a log time receivig all the laws from God almost six weeks (Exodus 24:18)! It s likely that the Israelites feared Moses had perished o the moutai. Sice he had bee their mai cotact with God, they may have reasoed that they had lost cotact with God, too. The Hebrews spet more tha 400 years seeig gods i Egypt, ad ow they d bee asked to serve ad follow a God they could t see. For the majority of the time they d kow God, he d had persoal relatioships with idividuals amog them. They may ot have realized God was iterested i each of them idividually ad as a etire commuity. They d bee camped i the same place for six weeks ad were likely gettig axious to move o. They could t eve see God s represetative, so they fell back o what they were familiar with ad asked for a god they could see who would cotiue to lead them. I talkig to Moses, Aaro tried to make it seem as if he had o choice ad that the fire itself had mysteriously shaped the calf. God s sparig of Aaro i this situatio was certaily a example of his mercy ad grace. The Jesus Coectio We are surrouded by thigs that promise to brig us immediate pleasure ad satisfactio. May of these promises are deceitful, leadig to destructio. But eve God s blessigs themselves ca distract us from our true callig of worshippig God. Jesus came to offer the oly thig that s truly worth havig. Take a momet to write a prayer revealig your heart s desire to follow God ad askig for his help i dislodgig some thigs that might be stealig your worship away from God. What Was Aaro Thikig? Aaro s willigess to go alog suggests that he, too, had some doubt about Moses retur. However, some believe that Aaro s request for gold earrigs was a attempt to avert the people s desire for a god. If they realized they had to give up thigs of value, they might decide they did t really wat a golde god after all. If that was Aaro s itet, his attempt failed. After makig the idol, Aaro s proclamatio was that there d be a festival to the Lord. The ame traslated Lord (Yahweh) is the ame by which God had aouced himself to Moses at the burig bush. Apparetly, Aaro thought that this idol could somehow represet the true God. Regardless of his motives, Aaro was wrog i makig the idol. He led the people i disobeyig God s secod commadmet (Exodus 20:4). Lesso 6

56 56 GETTING STARTED What Is Worship? Supplies paper pes What Is Worship? What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Have adults form trios. Distribute paper ad pes. Say: Today we re talkig about worship. To get us started, let s make some observatios about worship. O your paper, list a few celebrities that seem to be worshipped. Allow time. Now list some athletes that receive worship. Allow time. Third, list some hobbies that ca be objects of worship i our culture. Allow time. Fially, list some thigs moey ca buy that people ted to worship. Allow time. Say: Now it s time to create a defiitio of worship. To do so, first look at the various people ad items you listed. Cosider what people do to worship them. Jot dow some otes o how people treat these people or objects. Allow time. Say: Now look for some commoalities betwee the acts of worship you jotted dow, ad use those commoalities to create a defiitio of worship. Write your defiitio at the bottom of your paper. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What defiitio did your group come up with? Why are t the thigs o your list actually worthy of worship? How are the ways people treat the thigs o your list like or ulike what it meas to worship God? Say: Today we re goig to explore how the Israelites replaced the livig God with a ma-made idol. While it may seem obvious to us how poitless their actios were, i our moder society it s very easy to worship somethig other tha God. Today we ll explore the fact that ONLY GOD DESERVES OUR WORSHIP. Lesso 6

57 57 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Misguided Attempts What You ll Do Have everyoe remai i their trios, ad make sure each trio has a Bible. Misguided Attempts Supplies Bibles Say: We re goig to read sectios from Exodus 32:1-26. For each sectio, your group will discuss some questios ad later share your isights with everyoe. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Have groups read Exodus 32:1-6. The have them discuss these questios: Ask: What did you otice about the reasos the Israelites decided to tur to idolatry? Ca you relate? Explai. What s the sigificace of the people givig up their gold to create their idol? Look at Aaro s statemet i verse 4. What does that show you about how idols ca take credit for thigs God does? How does that happe today? Have groups read Exodus 32:7-14 ad discuss these questios: Ask: What s the sigificace of God reletig i his desire to destroy the Israelites? What does that mea to you persoally? What s the sigificace of God kowig what the Israelites are up to? What does that mea to you persoally? Have groups read Exodus 32:15-20 ad discuss these questios: Ask: What do you thik of the way Moses puished the Israelites for their si? What does that show you about Moses? What puishmets do people face today for idolatry? Have groups read Exodus 32:21-26 ad discuss these questios: Ask: What excuses do people make for idolatry today? How do they compare with Aaro s excuses? What would it take for our culture to rally aroud ad commit to worshippig oly the Lord? Lesso 6

58 58 Whe trios have discussed with each other all of the questios, have adults form ew trios. Ask each perso to share oe ew thig with the trio that he or she discovered from these passages. Whe they re ready, have trios share their discoveries with everyoe. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What s the biggest lesso you ca lear from the Israelites? How does this evet ispire you to focus your worship o God? Say: This passage is iterestig because it records oe complete evet of the Israelites betrayig God ad the shows us the results of that betrayal. Whe we worship other gods, the result might look good for a time, like the Israelites party aroud the golde calf. But whe we discover God s reactio to betrayal, it s easy to see what the result of worshippig other gods is. We kow that ONLY GOD DESERVES OUR WORSHIP, so let s commit to worshippig him with every area of our lives. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE God First Supplies Bible paper idex cards pes trash ca God First What You ll Do If possible, have adults move away from each other to have more privacy. Give each perso a idex card ad a pe. Say: We re goig to do somethig sigificat. Take a momet ad reflect o what you ve leared today. The ask yourself, What gods do I have i my life? What are my golde calves? Whe you come up with a aswer, write it o the idex card. Give people time to review, thik, ad write. As they re workig, place a trash ca i the ceter of the meetig room. Whe adults are ready, have them come forward oe at a time, tear up their cards, ad toss them ito the trash ca. As they throw them away, ecourage them to say somethig like, I m givig up a false god so I ca trust the livig God! Read aloud today s Key Verse, Exodus 20:2-3: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the lad of slavery. You shall have o other gods before me (Exodus 20:2-3). Say: We ve give up our other gods. But how ca we worship the Lord our God who has doe so much for us? Let s explore that ow. Lesso 6

59 59 Have everyoe fid a parter. Give each pair a piece of paper ad a pe. Have everyoe fold their paper ito thirds like a letter, the ufold it so they have six colums (three o the frot ad three o the back). Have them label each colum with oe of the followig categories: My time My moey My body My relatioships My work My leisure Ask adults to braistorm with their parter ad idetify specific ways they ca place God first i these specific areas of their lives. Have them list their ideas i the appropriate colums, takig about oe miute per colum. After about six miutes, have pairs take turs readig their ideas aloud, goig through each category util o oe has ay ew ideas to share. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Which idea is the highest priority for you to act o this week? Why? What do you eed to do to truly stop worshippig the false god you ripped up? Say: Although God had rescued the Israelites ad parted the Red Sea, it did t take log for them to tur to a idol ad give their ow creatio credit for what God had doe. But ONLY GOD DESERVES OUR WORSHIP, ad othig we ca buy, make, or commit our time to eve comes close. Lesso 6

60 60 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve explored why ONLY GOD DESERVES OUR WORSHIP. Let s commit to worshippig him this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o worship this week. Close with prayer. Say: Let s begi our prayer with cofessio. Call out thigs you ve made idols i your life. If you re ot comfortable prayig aloud, simply cofess them siletly. Allow time for prayer. Say: Now let s tur our prayer ito praise. Worship God for who he is by callig out his attributes, or praisig him siletly. Allow time for prayer. Lesso 6

61 61 The Israelites Worship a Golde Calf Exodus 32:1-25 Bible Poit Oly God deserves our worship. Key Verse I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the lad of slavery. You shall have o other gods before me (Exodus 20:2-3). DIGGING DEEPER Daily Challeges Talk Topics Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Does your daily schedule allow time for praise ad worship? Carve out at least 15 miutes a day for prayer, worship, ad Bible readig. Be sure to praise God for who he is ad what he does. Prayerfully reflect o these questios: What am I desirig that I should t? What am I givig my time to that I should t? What is takig God s place i my life? Cofess your si to God. The do whatever it takes to chage wrog thikig ad bad habits that put other thigs higher i your life tha God. Sped your drivig time worshippig God by listeig exclusively to praise music this week. Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about worship. Moday Psalm 106:19-23 This psalm was writte may years after today s passage took place. What isights does it give you ito how this evet iflueced Israel s future? What isights does it give you ito the pitfalls of idolatry? Tuesday Acts 17:24-25 If God is t served by huma hads, why do we eed to worship him? Wedesday Deuteroomy 4:32-39 Why is God worthy of worship, ad false gods are t? What comparisos ca you thik of besides the oes listed i these verses? Thursday Isaiah 44:9-20 Why is idolatry such a delusio? I what ways does the process described i these verses apply to moder-day idols? Friday 1 Timothy 2:8 What types of thigs hider worship? Saturday Psalm 100:1-5 What ca you do to worship God as the psalm describes? I what ways ca you praise God for his love ad faithfuless i your life? Is there a right way to worship God? a wrog way? Explai. Why is worship importat? Talk about a time you did the wrog thig ad worshipped aother god. What were the effects? How did you retur to worshippig God? Discuss various worship services you ve atteded. Which worship were you most ucomfortable with, ad why?! OK TO COPY Lesso 6

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63 Lesso 7 63 The Israelites Build the Taberacle Exodus 35:4 36:38 Too ofte adults see people flourishig i miistry ad beat themselves up because they feel they ca t serve God i the same way. But they do t have to! God equips each of us with differet skills, ad oe perso s miistry will ot be the same as aother s. May skills are required to build the kigdom of God. All we have to do is be willig to offer what we have! Use this lesso to help everyoe feel cofidet that they ca be useful i God s kigdom. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Service Listigs (about 15 mi.) Create a directory of local busiesses ad orgaizatios, ad discuss how they serve the commuity. Servig the Ivisible (about 20 mi.) Read the passage, ad compare how the Israelites served God with service roles i the church today. paper, tape, pecils Bibles, paper, pes Hag 8 pieces of paper aroud the room. As a header o each oe, write 1 of the followig categories: Healthcare, Shoppig, Restaurats, Etertaimet, No-Profits, Skilled Labor, Childcare/ Educatio, ad Other. Bible Poit We all ca serve God. Key Verse Ad whatever you do, whether i word or deed, do it all i the ame of the Lord Jesus, givig thaks to God the Father through him (Colossias 3:17). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will strive to serve God daily with the skills he has give them. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 7

64 64 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Skill Web Maps (about 20 mi.) Idividually cosider what skills God has give them by creatig web maps. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bibles, paper, pes Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 7

65 65 The Israelites Build the Taberacle Exodus 35:4 36:38 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Geerous Offerigs The Jesus Coectio It was time for the Israelites to build a portable dwellig place for the worship of God. Whe Moses asked for cotributios, the people gave geerously. Apparetly the evets of the previous moths ispired them to give to God. They may have realized how they had wroged God i worshippig the golde calf ad wated to do what they could to make ameds for the damage doe. They gave so geerously that evetually they had to be told to stop brigig more materials (Exodus 36:6-7)! Oe might woder where these former slaves got gold ad fie cloth to doate to the Taberacle. The aswer lies i the geerosity of the Egyptias as the Israelites were escapig. God told the Hebrews to ask for thigs from the Egyptias; the Egyptias respoded with silver, gold, ad clothig (Exodus 12:35-36). Our relatioship with Jesus gives us daily opportuities to serve him. He is our fried, our Creator, ad our Savior. Service is a choice we make o a daily basis. But how ofte do you aalyze your motives for servig? Wrog motives ca rob us of blessigs ad limit our effectiveess i service. For the Christia, service comes out of thakfuless for salvatio ad devotio to hoor our Creator. If we are ot servig for those reasos, perhaps we re really self-servig. Write a prayer here askig God to refie ad hoe your heart as you serve today ad each day goig forward. Taleted Workers Not oly did the Hebrews give thigs, but they gave time ad talets as well. This passage sigles out Bezalel ad Oholiab as the leaders of the workers ad also metios wome skilled i spiig goat hair (Exodus 35:26) ad other skilled ad willig people (Exodus 36:2). Willig Worship What ca we lear from this evet? Servig God ivolves all kids of differet tasks ad abilities. If you ca t build a structure, maybe you ca spi cloth. If you ca t sig, maybe you ca tell a co-worker about Jesus. Each oe of us has God-give abilities ad spiritual gifts. God wats us to use what he s give us to serve ad hoor him i whatever ways we ca. God ca use ayoe to serve him ad to further his kigdom here o earth. The oly thig stoppig our service to him is ourselves. Lesso 7

66 66 GETTING STARTED Service Listigs Supplies paper tape pecils Service Listigs Easy Prep Hag 8 pieces of paper aroud the room. As a header o each oe, write 1 of the followig categories: Healthcare, Shoppig, Restaurats, Etertaimet, No- Profits, Skilled Labor, Childcare/Educatio, ad Other. Service Listigs What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Distribute pecils. Direct everyoe s attetio to the papers you hug up. Say: We re talkig about service today. To get started, let s create a commuity directory of local busiesses ad orgaizatios. Walk aroud ad write o each paper which busiesses or orgaizatios you d recommed that fit ito each category. You ca list as may as you wat, but try to avoid repeatig what others have writte. Allow about five miutes. Have adults form groups of four, ad sed each group to a differet paper. Say: Now let s cosider what these busiesses do to serve our commuity. With your group, choose oe ame o the list you re stadig by, ad discuss what they do to serve the commuity. Write otes ext to that ame, ad whe you re doe, move to aother sig that o oe is curretly at. Give groups about five miutes to discuss how various orgaizatios serve the commuity. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What are some ways these differet busiesses ad orgaizatios serve the commuity? Which do you thik are most valuable? Explai. Is servig valuable eve if it s ot directly related to faith? Explai. Say: Today we re goig to dig ito the buildig of the Taberacle, ad we ll discover that WE ALL CAN SERVE GOD. Through our discussio, we ll seek to develop a clear uderstadig of how each of us ca serve God usig our skills ad resources. Lesso 7

67 67 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Servig the Ivisible What You ll Do Have everyoe remai i their groups of four, ad make sure each group has a Bible. Also distribute paper ad pes. Servig the Ivisible Supplies Bibles paper pes Say: Fold your paper i half the log way to create two colums. I the left colum, braistorm ad list ways people serve God i the church today. This may be givig time, skills, or resources, or ay other way you ca thik of to serve God at church. Allow time. Say: Now read Exodus 35:4 36:38 with your group. Each time you see a opportuity for people to serve God, write that act of service i the right colum of your paper. Allow time. Say: Remember whe you were a kid i school ad you had those matchig tests? You d have two lists ad you d have to match which items o the left wet with which items o the right. That s just what you ll do right ow. Of course, ot all the items will have a match, ad some may have more tha oe. But draw lies to idicate tasks we do today that you thik are similar to what the Israelites did to build the Taberacle. Allow time for discussio ad aalysis. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What did you discover about the similarities ad differeces betwee how we serve God today ad how the Taberacle was built? Why is it sigificat that people brought offerigs to build the Taberacle? Where do you rak givig as a act of service? Explai. What do you thik of the phrase everyoe who is willig? Does it matter if you serve God because you feel like you have to? Explai. Say: Is t the spirit of the people i this passage amazig? The Israelites willigly ad diligetly served God by buildig the Taberacle. We ve just had a bird s-eye view of how we ca serve God. WE ALL CAN SERVE GOD by buildig ad equippig the church. Lesso 7

68 68 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Skill Web Maps Supplies Bibles paper pes Skill Web Maps What You ll Do Read today s Key Verse, Colossias 3:17, aloud: Ad whatever you do, whether i word or deed, do it all i the ame of the Lord Jesus, givig thaks to God the Father through him (Colossias 3:17). Distribute paper ad pes. Say: God equipped each of you to make specific cotributios to the kigdom of God. Create a web map to help you reflect o your skills ad abilities. I the ceter of your paper, write your ame ad draw a circle aroud it. Pause. Aroud your ame, write your skills ad abilities i circles ad coect them to your ame. The from each skill ad ability, reflect o ways you ca use that ability to serve God, ad write those ideas aroud the skill. Thik outside the box! If you feel stuck, talk to a parter ad try to get ideas. You ll have 10 miutes to complete this activity. After 10 miutes, regai everyoe s attetio. Say: Now that you ve created your web map, get back i groups of four ad share what you discovered about yourself. Talk about your talets ad how you thik you ca use them to serve God. Other group members, feel free to metio other ideas for the skills people share. You ll have five miutes to discuss. Allow time. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Rick Warre writes i The Purpose-Drive Life, God does t waste abilities; he matches our callig ad our capabilities. Your abilities were ot give just to make a livig; God gave them to you for your miistry. What are your thoughts ad reactios to this statemet? Name some ordiary talets that you would t ormally cosider useful for miistry purposes. How could they be used for miistry? What excitig ideas did you come up with that you re eager to use to serve God? Say: Each of the Israelites had somethig they could do or give to cotribute to the Taberacle. Ad God wated them to come willigly. We all have a lot of skills ad abilities, ad I bet o two web maps i this room are the same. God s created us with differet gifts so that WE ALL CAN SERVE GOD. Are you willig? Lesso 7

69 69 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve explored ways WE ALL CAN SERVE GOD. Let s commit to usig our skills to serve him this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o servig God this week. Close with prayer. Have adults form pairs ad pray for each other to serve God i some of the ways their web map revealed. Lesso 7

70 70 The Israelites Build the Taberacle Exodus 35:4 36:38 Bible Poit We all ca serve God. Key Verse Ad whatever you do, whether i word or deed, do it all i the ame of the Lord Jesus, givig thaks to God the Father through him (Colossias 3:17). DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Daily Challeges What ca you do to serve God? If God ca do aythig, why does he eve eed us to serve? Discuss people who are famous for servig God, such as Mother Teresa. What ca you lear from those people? Talk about the thigs that prevet you from servig God. After you ve metioed a few, discuss ways you ca work through these thigs. Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Choose oe thig from your web map to do this week. Whe the Israelites built the Taberacle, they used their skills as a act of worship. Set aside oe day or a eveig this week to worship God through oe of your skills. Cotact the staff of your church ad fid out what eeds are t beig filled. If oe of the opportuities fits your skills, sig up. Let your frieds kow about other opportuities to serve. Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about servig God. Moday Deuteroomy 10:12-13 What is God callig you to do to serve him? How will servig i that way show love ad obediece? Tuesday Matthew 25:35-40 What have you doe to serve others lately? How is that a way to serve God? Wedesday Ephesias 6:7-8 What are some service tasks you have to do, but do t really ejoy? How ca you chage your attitude ad cosider them a act of service to God? What differece will that make i the way you do those tasks? Thursday Mark 14:3-9 What extravagat gift ca you give God i service to him? Friday 1 Peter 4:10-11 What gifts ad abilities has God give you? How ca you use them for service? Saturday 1 Corithias 12:14-20 What s the value of everyoe havig differet gifts? How have you see people come together to serve God i ways oe perso could t do aloe?! OK TO COPY Lesso 7

71 Lesso 8 71 Moses Seds Spies Ito the Promised Lad Numbers 13:1 14:23 How acceptable is it to be politically icorrect? How comfortable are we beig hoest whe those aroud us have completely differet viewpoits ad they ask us our opiios? Peer pressure is ot just a issue for kids these days; peer pressure is all aroud adults. It s ot popular to take a bold stad for God. Use this lesso to ecourage adults to defie what bravery looks like i their faith. Bible Poit Be brave for God. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Super Stregth (about 15 mi.) Cosider how various superpowers would impact their choices. Explorig the Challege (about 20 mi.) Look at how perspective ca ifluece our courage. idex cards, pes Bibles, paper, markers Key Verse Therefore, my dear brothers, stad firm. Let othig move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you kow that your labor i the Lord is ot i vai (1 Corithias 15:58). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will cosider how to live more bravely for God. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 8

72 72 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Oe Perso Stad (about 20 mi.) Discuss how the Key Verse ca ispire them to be brave for God, ad the stad together to proclaim itet to bravely support oe aother. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bibles Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 8

73 73 Moses Seds Spies Ito the Promised Lad Numbers 13:1 14:23 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Your Missio, Should You Choose to Accept It... The spies were set o a exploratory missio. The purpose was to see what kids of oppositio they d be facig ad if the lad could support the Israelites as they coquered it. Moses istructios were clear: They were to explore the lad from the souther ed all the way to the orther ed. Missio Impossible Whe the spies first retured, they simply reported what Moses had asked for. They told of the fruitfuless of the lad, the powerful people, ad the fortified cities (Numbers 13:26-29). But after Caleb spoke his mid, the other spies wet beyod what they had bee asked to do. They bega to lamet that there was o way they could defeat the people i the lad. They exaggerated the reports of the size ad stregth of the lad s ihabitats. The people respoded by oce agai rebellig agaist Moses ad agaist God. Oce agai God threateed to strike dow all the people ad begi agai with Moses. Ad oce agai Moses iterceded for the faithless Israelites. stad up for God, eve whe it was ot the popular thig to do. Although their courage did t covice ayoe else to have faith, they were rewarded. The Jesus Coectio Jesus Christ stood up for the world through his atoig sacrifice o the cross. Through our relatioship with Christ, we ca stad up for what we believe ad who Jesus is. Throughout history ad all over the world, people have died because they professed a faith i Jesus Christ. While most of us do ot experiece persecutio to this degree, o-christias ca be resetful of our claims to kow the truth. These cofrotatios put Christias i a difficult situatio. Thik about o-christias you regularly come i cotact with. Are you the same perso with them that you are i frot of this Suday school group you re teachig? O the lies below, write a prayer that you will stad up for Jesus i your iteractios with o- Christias. The Faith of a Mustard Seed Moses poited out that what the Egyptias had leared about God through their recet experiece would be ullified if God allowed the Israelites to die i the desert. Moses wated everyoe, icludig the Egyptias, to see God s power. God oce agai forgave the Israelites. But otice he imposed a harsh puishmet: No adults who were alive durig the rebellio except Joshua ad Caleb would be allowed to eter the Promised Lad. Joshua ad Caleb had faith that God could do what he said he would. Their faith eabled them to Lesso 8

74 74 GETTING STARTED Super Stregth Supplies idex cards pes Super Stregth What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Have adults form groups of four. Give each group 10 idex cards ad a pe. Say: As a group, thik of five situatios a superhero might face. Write each oe o a idex card. The thik of five superpowers superheroes might have. Write each of those o a idex card. Allow time. Say: Keep each set of cards i a differet pile, ad trade with two other groups, tradig your situatios set with oe group ad your superpowers set with aother group. Allow time. Say: Now take turs pickig a card from the situatios set ad readig the situatio o it. Talk about how you thik you d hadle that situatio i real life. The draw a superpower card, ad discuss how that superpower might impact the way you d approach the situatio. After everyoe has had oe tur, discuss the fial situatio ad superpower as a group. Allow time. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: I what ways did superpowers impact your courage? What are some real-life thigs that help you be more brave? Say: I m sorry to be the bearer of bad ews, but I do t thik ay of you will ever develop super-stregth or the ability to fly. You will face situatios that require bravery. Here s the good ews: There is oe superpower we ca all have, ad that s God s stregth workig through us. We re goig to explore how to BE BRAVE FOR GOD, eve if we ca t tur ivisible. Lesso 8

75 75 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Explorig the Challege What You ll Do Distribute paper ad set out markers to share. Make sure everyoe has a Bible. Say: Read Numbers 13:1 14:23 o your ow. As you read, draw the scee i Caaa the way you picture it. Do t let ayoe see what you re drawig. Allow about 10 miutes. Explorig the Challege Supplies Bibles paper markers Have adults retur to their groups of four. Say: Now compare your drawigs. Do t compare the techical skill I m sure we ve got some Michelagelos ad some people who ca t draw a stick figure. But compare thigs like perspective, size of objects, ad orietatio of the objects. Maybe some people drew the scee aerially, whereas others drew it head o. Maybe some people drew grapes bigger tha others. Compare the size of the giats to the Israelites betwee pictures. Are the Israelites facig toward you as the viewer, or away from you? Fid as may differeces as you ca. Allow about five miutes. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What were some differeces you oticed i the way differet people viewed the same passage of the Bible? How did perspective ifluece the spies? I what ways has your perspective o a scary situatio caused you to be brave or afraid? What ca help you chage your perspective ad BE BRAVE FOR GOD? Say: The 12 spies i this passage all saw the same scee. But 10 of them came out focused o the scary thigs about Caaa. Joshua ad Caleb had a differet perspective. They kew that God had promised them this lad, so they focused o the good thigs about it ad there were a lot of good thigs! It s easy to look at scary situatios through a pessimistic les, but I d like to challege us to chage our perspective ad BE BRAVE FOR GOD. Lesso 8

76 76 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Oe Perso Stad Supplies Bibles Oe Perso Stad What You ll Do Have everyoe tur to today s Key Verse, 1 Corithias 15:58, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: Therefore, my dear brothers, stad firm. Let othig move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you kow that your labor i the Lord is ot i vai. Have everyoe retur to their groups of four ad discuss what bravery looks like i real life based o the followig phrases from the verse. These phrases ca be foud i the Hadbooks. stad firm let othig move you give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord labor i the Lord Ecourage groups to come up with at least three practical ways to be brave based o each phrase. Allow 10 miutes. Say: It s great to thik of ways to BE BRAVE FOR GOD. But the fact is, it s a lot easier to do that whe we ca rely o each other. The 10 scared spies really brought dow the rest of the Israelites. Imagie how differet it would ve bee if all 12 had come back with the courage of Joshua ad Caleb! We eed to support each other. So let s do that right ow. Have everyoe sit i a circle o the floor ad lik arms. The circle should face out. The have everyoe work together to try to stad. The bigger group you have, the more challegig this will be, so if it seems too impossible, form two or three circles. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What is the most difficult part of beig brave for God? What ideas did you have for how the Key Verse could ispire bravery? What support from others would help you live out those ideas? Say: Just as the 10 spies brought dow the courage of the other Israelites, we ca be easily swayed i our courage by what those aroud us are doig. So let s be a support to oe aother this week as we commit to ways we ca BE BRAVE FOR GOD. Lesso 8

77 77 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve explored what it meas to BE BRAVE FOR GOD. Let s commit to livig with courageous faith this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o bravery this week. Close with prayer. Have adults pray o their ow that God would help them have a differet perspective whe they re scared to live i faith. Lesso 8

78 78 Moses Seds Spies Ito the Promised Lad Numbers 13:1 14:23 Bible Poit Be brave for God. Key Verse Therefore, my dear brothers, stad firm. Let othig move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you kow that your labor i the Lord is ot i vai (1 Corithias 15:58). DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Daily Challeges How ca you be brave for God? Talk about the pros ad cos associated with beig brave for God. Talk about areas i your life where you eed to be a bolder witess for God. Talk about a time you chose ot to stad up for God. What were the results? Talk about someoe you kow who s brave. What qualities does he or she live out that you d like to adopt i your life? Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. If you use a daily plaer, write Be brave for God as the first etry of each day. Sped five miutes every morig cosiderig how you ca choose your tasks, your priorities, ad your attitude based o that Bible Poit. What does it mea to you to be brave for God? Write dow your ideas about beig brave for God. Oce you have defied it, cosider your ow life. Do you live i a way that exemplifies your ideas of beig brave for God? If ot, write ways you ca chage to try to embrace these ideals. Begi to live the life you ve described. Be brave i sharig your faith: Fid a close fried or family member you ca talk to about why you believe what you believe. Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about bravery. Moday Matthew 10:16-26 Why does t livig courageously for God guaratee safety? What thoughts do you have about livig bravely after readig these verses? Do the beefits outweigh the risks? Explai. Tuesday Philippias 1:27-30 How ca you bravely stad firm i your faith, i spite of struggles? How have struggles take you off course before? Wedesday 1 Corithias 16:13 How do each of these phrases relate? How are they differet? Which oe most ispires you, ad why? Thursday 1 Corithias 10:12-13 How ca you bravely hadle temptatios? How does this verse help you? Friday Ephesias 6:14-18 What comes to mid whe you picture yourself as a warrior suited for battle? How ca the armor of God help you be more brave?! OK TO COPY Saturday 1 Peter 5:8-9 How much do you recogize the spiritual battle that s goig o i our world? i your ow life? How ca you bravely resist the devil? Lesso 8

79 Lesso 9 79 Balaam s Dokey Talks Numbers 22:1-38 It s good to take occasioal ivetory a checkup, if you will of how we re doig i areas of spiritual growth. Oe importat aspect of that is to check ad see that we are ope to God s leadig. Are we receptive to hearig God s voice whe he speaks to us? Are we eve payig attetio eough for him to speak to us? Are we ope to seeig God s power at work aroud us? Use this lesso to challege adults to pay attetio to God s power ad his covictig. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. See How Thigs Lad (about 10 mi.) Pay attetio to idetify the results of how pecils lad. What Happeed? (about 25 mi.) Pay attetio to differet levels of detail i the Bible passage. pecils Bibles, paper, pes, 4 cady prizes Bible Poit Pay attetio to God. Key Verse Come ad see what God has doe, how awesome his works i ma s behalf! (Psalm 66:5). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will recogize ad ackowledge what God is doig i their lives ad how he is challegig them. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 9

80 80 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life Pay Attetio Prayer Path (about 20 mi.) Examie Psalm 66:5, ad travel o a prayer path i which they must stop ad pay attetio to God. Bibles, paper, markers Fold several pieces of paper i half to make stad-up tets. O each, write 1 of the followig: home, work, fiaces, relatioships, time, habits. You ll wat 3 sets for a total of 18 tets. 4 Lastig Impressios Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 9

81 81 Balaam s Dokey Talks Numbers 22:1-38 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS The Fortueteller This evet takes place ear the ed of the Israelites time of waderig i the desert. They had defeated a few adversaries i their travels ad were approachig the Promised Lad agai. The leader of Moab was afraid of what Israel might do to his lad, so he sought the help of Balaam. Apparetly Balaam was a widely kow fortueteller, or divier, who made his livig through his diviatio. He probably believed i may gods ad would cosult ayoe, icludig the Lord, who could help him ear his fees. A Wrog Motive Eve though Balaam called upo the Lord ad spoke God s words to the people set by Balak, Balaam s uderlyig motive was for selfish gai. Whe God had told Balaam o the first time, Balaam should have take that as a fial aswer. But whe Balaam came back to God a secod time, it was clear that Balaam s desire for fiacial gai was greater tha his desire to do what God told him. I lettig Balaam go but ot lettig him do aythig that would please Balak, God was showig how he disliked Balaam s moey-hugry attitude. had bee blided by his desire for riches. God fially opeed his eyes to the agel stadig i the path ad to the evil of what Balaam had bee doig. Speakig God s Words After gettig Balaam s attetio through the dokey ad the agel, God let Balaam kow that he wated Balaam to go through with his trip but to speak oly what God said. This whole evet was iteded to help Balaam thik clearly ad to kow that he had to do what God told him. The Jesus Coectio God is always doig thigs i us ad through us, but we ca sometimes forget that ad stop payig attetio to him. Whe we let our focus stay o God, we ca be used more easily by him. Write the most recet thig you ca remember that helped you see God at work. Ask God to help you pay attetio to him i the big ad small thigs i your life. You ca write your prayer o the lies below. God let Balaam go with Balak s me, but God was agry because he kew that Balaam was actig from self-iterest ad greed. A Talkig Dokey? Not beig able to see the agel his dokey saw must have bee a huge isult to Balaam, who prided himself o kowig ad seeig spiritual thigs. Certaily Balaam was humiliated whe the dokey had to speak i order to get him to see reality. Balaam Lesso 9

82 82 GETTING STARTED See How Thigs Lad Supplies pecils See How Thigs Lad What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Have adults sit i a circle with you. Hold a hadful of pecils. Say: We re goig to play a game, ad you ll have to figure out how to play as we go. I m goig to drop these pecils, ad whe I do, pay attetio! The way they lad will traslate ito a umber from 0-5. You ll eed to tell me what umber it is each time. Drop the pecils, the discreetly set your right had o your kee with ay amout of figers showig. The umber of figers you re showig is the actual secret to the game, but most people will be focused o the pecils. Let people guess the umber, ad tell people who get it right that they have the right umber. Keep playig as more ad more people figure out the secret to the game. By the ed, you may wat to make your had motios very dramatic to draw more attetio to the secret. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Where was your attetio focused at the begiig of our game? How did that impact your ability to play? What helped you fially put your attetio i the right place? Tell about a time you missed out o somethig because you were t payig attetio. Say: This game required you to pay attetio to more tha just the pecils. But because it seemed like the trick was i the pecils, that s where you gave most of your attetio at the begiig. Today we re goig to talk about how we ca PAY ATTENTION TO GOD. Sometimes God speaks to us whe we least expect it, ad we ll see how we ca focus o him more ad ot miss out o what he has to say to us. Lesso 9

83 83 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION What Happeed? What You ll Do Distribute paper ad pes, ad make sure everyoe has a Bible. Have adults form pairs ad ope to Numbers 22:1-38. Say: Sice we re talkig about payig attetio, I d like you to really pay attetio to the details i this passage. You ad your parter will eed to cout how may times the word the is used. Ad you ll be racig agaist everyoe else, so cout quickly! Write your aswer ad raise your had whe you re doe. Allow time. Offer prizes to the first pair that fiishes. What Happeed? Supplies Bibles paper pes 4 cady prizes Ask: How well do you thik you paid attetio to the word the? How well do you thik you paid attetio to the rest of the text? (If people are woderig, the word the is used 61 times i the NIV 1984 versio.) Say: Okay, here s aother race. The people ad places i a Bible evet are importat, so that s what you eed to pay attetio to ow. With your parter, make a list of every proper ou i this passage, without repeats. Whe you re doe with your list, raise your had. Allow time, ad offer prizes to the wiig pair. Ask: What shifted i your focus this time? Do you thik you ve paid eough attetio at this poit to kow what s goig o? Explai. Say: Let s try this agai. Forget the race ow just read the passage with your parter ad pay attetio to ways God speaks to people. You ca take otes o your paper or just discuss with your parter, but really focus o how God gets people s attetio. Allow time. Ask: Compare your picture of this evet ow to whe you were just coutig the word the. Say: Read the passage oe more time, o your ow. This time go really slowly. Pause every few seteces ad ask God what he s sayig to you through this passage. You may pick just oe sectio that stads out to you ad focus o that. Allow time. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Lesso 9

84 84 Ask: Which of these methods was most like the way you usually read Scripture? Why? Which oe was most like the way you pay attetio to God s work i your life? Explai. I what ways are you like or ulike Balaam? Say: Balaam was so focused o himself ad how he could gai that he totally missed a agel i the road! That may be kid of like the way you read the passage the first time you might have kow exactly how may times the word the was used, but you did t have a good uderstadig of what God did i the passage! It s importat to PAY ATTENTION TO GOD. Rather tha treatig him like a subject, we eed to take time to liste to him ad look for him aroud us. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Pay Attetio Prayer Path Supplies Bibles paper markers Pay Attetio Prayer Path Easy Prep Fold several pieces of paper i half to make stad-up tets. O each, write 1 of the followig: home, work, fiaces, relatioships, time, habits. You ll wat 3 sets for a total of 18 tets. Pay Attetio Prayer Path What You ll Do Have everyoe ope to the Key Verse, Psalm 66:5, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: Come ad see what God has doe, how awesome his works i ma s behalf! Set the tets up all aroud the room as you say: We re goig o a prayer walk ow. There s o defied path you ca just mill aroud the room. But whe you get to a tet i your way, do t igore it like Balaam igored the agel. Stop ad read it, ad take a momet to reflect o how you ve see God s awesome works i that area. Thak him for his awesome works. You ca sped as much time as you wat before movig o, so you may ot get to all the topics. That s okay. Let God lead you through this walk. Allow about eight miutes. Say: Now let s take that prayer walk agai. This time, whe you get to a tet i your way, pay attetio to what God wats to say to you about a way you eed to grow i that area. Do t talk to God just liste. Agai, pace yourself however you d like. Allow aother eight miutes. The have adults form trios ad discuss whatever they re willig to share about what they heard from God. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What was it like to give this kid of attetio to God? What ca you do to otice more of God s awesome works this week? Lesso 9

85 85 How ca you carve out time to liste to God like you did o the secod prayer walk? Say: God is doig awesome thigs ad speakig to us so ofte. But a lot of times, we miss it because we re too caught up i our ow busyess ad agedas to liste to him. We ca be a lot like Balaam that way. Let s slow dow this week ad PAY ATTENTION TO GOD, so that he does t eed to sed a talkig dokey just to get our attetio! 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve explored how we ca better PAY ATTENTION TO GOD. Let s commit to givig him our full attetio this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o payig attetio to God this week. Close with prayer. Pray: God, you deserve our full attetio. Help us ot be like Balaam, where you have to really force us to pay attetio to you. Help us otice the thigs you do for us ad be ready to liste whe you wat to speak to us. I Jesus ame, ame. Lesso 9

86 86 Balaam s Dokey Talks Numbers 22:1-38 Bible Poit Pay attetio to God. Key Verse Come ad see what God has doe, how awesome his works i ma s behalf! (Psalm 66:5). DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Daily Challeges What thigs seem to commad your attetio the most? Why? How ofte do you feel like God is tryig to get your attetio? Explai. Tell about a time God got your attetio i a pretty forceful way. What ca you do to pay better attetio to God? Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Pick a psalm to read, ad meditate o each portio of it. Ask yourself how your persoal experiece reflects this psalm. As you read, replace some lies to be specific to your ow experieces. Pay attetio to what God is sayig to you as you read. Is it possible you ve missed hearig God s voice or seeig a certai perspective the Holy Spirit wishes to teach you? Sped time i prayer, seekig to kow what God has for you. Sped time listeig for God i silet prayer, after committig yourself to allowig him to speak to you. Make a bookmark with the Key Verse, Psalm 66:5, writte o it. Istead of placig it i your Bible, use it i your other readig material. Every time you see it, let it remid you to pay attetio to God s awesome deeds all aroud you. Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about payig attetio to God. Moday Psalm 5:3 How well does this verse describe your prayer life? How could it help you pay more attetio to God if you looked at prayer this way? Tuesday Psalm 119:15-16 How ca you pay better attetio to God s Word? Wedesday James 1:22-25 What s the differece betwee payig attetio to the cotet of the Bible ad payig attetio to its message? Thursday Deuteroomy 7:12 What beefits have you see from payig attetio to God? Friday Proverbs 4:1-5 Who are some people you ca pay attetio to i order to draw closer to God? What draws you to those people?! OK TO COPY Saturday Psalm 27:8 Whe have you had this kid of sese that you eed to seek God s face? What happeed? Lesso 9

87 Lesso Joshua Becomes Leader of Israel Joshua 1:1-11 Fear does more tha make us jump away from spiders ad yelp durig scary movies it ca keep us from beig God s istrumet. God has a pla ad purpose for each perso; he wats to use each of us to accomplish his plas. May times we freak out ad thik, But God, there s o way I ca do that! You re right, you ca t. But that s the poit. God will do it; he just wats to do it through us. Joshua ad the Israelites did t coquer Caaa God did. God was with Joshua every step of the way. Use this lesso to help adults see that he s with them as they face ew opportuities. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started What to Brig? (about 15 mi.) Pla a adveture ad cosider everythig that s eeded to make the adveture a success. paper, pes Bible Poit God is with us. Key Verse Have I ot commaded you? Be strog ad courageous. Do ot be terrified; do ot be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9). 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. God Is With Me (about 20 mi.) Prayerfully reflect o the Bible passage as it pertais to their lives. Bibles Weavig Faith Ito Life s will rely o God s presece whe they are scared or face ew opportuities. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 10

88 88 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios God By My Side (about 20 mi.) Illustrate evets from their past ad preset to ackowledge God s presece i their lives. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bibles, paper, markers, scissors, glue Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 10

89 89 Joshua Becomes Leader of Israel Joshua 1:1-11 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS God With You As we begi this passage, Moses had died ad Joshua had take over the leadership of the Israelites, as had bee arraged i advace (Deuteroomy 31:1-8). Joshua 1:5 tells us that God was goig to be with Joshua i the same way he had bee with Moses. God at Work Through You The questio may arise: Why was it okay for the Israelites to kill other people ad take away their lad? This is a complicated questio. However, oe poit seems apparet: God was usig Israel to judge the immoral people who lived i the lad at the time. Just as Israel was later defeated ad their lad take away because of si, so God was usig Israel as a istrumet of puishmet, takig away the lad of the Caaaites because of their si. Joshua s orderig the leaders to get the people ready to cross the Jorda. The Israelites were ready to move ito the Promised Lad, ad God was goig to give them the lad. The Jesus Coectio Our plas ad God s plas do t always match. We wat to be happy ow; God wats to give us greater joy as we surreder our lives to his service. Whe we commit our lives to Christ, he uses us to accomplish his missio. God promises the same thig to us that he promised to Joshua: He ll be with us all the time. O the lies below, write a prayer about oe area of your life i which you eed to kow God is with you. God s Pla for You I this passage God gave Joshua a commad of ecouragemet ( Be strog ad courageous ), a coditio for success ( obey all the law my servat Moses gave you ), ad a promise of his presece ( the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go ). God had a pla for Israel, ad Joshua was the istrumet through which he was goig to accomplish that pla. God Goes Before You What more could Joshua ask for? All he had to do was follow what God laid out for him, ad God would be there to assure his success. However usure or discouraged Joshua might have bee at the death of Moses, this visit from God rejuveated him. The first thig recorded after God s message to him is Lesso 10

90 90 GETTING STARTED What to Brig? Supplies paper pes What to Brig? What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Form groups of o more tha four. Give each group paper ad a pe. Have groups each choose a exotic activity it would like to attempt, such as climbig Mout Everest or flyig a hot-air balloo aroud the world. Ecourage outrageous choices. Say: You have five miutes to make plas to accomplish your chose activity. Workig as a team, list every cosideratio ecessary before attemptig this adveture. Iclude a schedule, a list of ecessary supplies, what traiig you might eed, additioal persoel, trasportatio, ad ay other items you ca thik of. After five miutes, have each group get with aother group ad exchage their plas. Have each group look for a problem i the plaig of the other group. For example, if a group climbig a moutai forgets to list warm clothig, someoe might say, Your pla wo t work because you ll all die of frostbite. Give the groups five miutes to share plas ad discuss. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What helped you thik through what you eeded to do to prepare? Why is it importat to have the right thigs with you o a adveture? Tell about a time you forgot to brig somethig importat. Say: Our best plas sometimes fall flat because we do t have the right thigs with us. But above ay supply, the most importat thig is that GOD IS WITH US i the advetures ad the mudae. Today we ll lear about a ma who was about to embark o a ew opportuity ad eeded to hear that he had the most importat thig take care of: God would be with him. Lesso 10

91 91 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION God Is With Me What You ll Do Distribute Bibles, ad have everyoe ope to Joshua 1:1-11. Say: Today s passage is a message to Joshua straight from God. Joshua was takig over Moses role as leader of the Israelites. He was about to take them ito the Promised Lad ad face a lot of battles. It was a excitig but scary ew opportuity, ad today s passage is a pep talk from God. God Is With Me Supplies Bibles But God s words do t just apply to Joshua. So we re goig to read them as God s message to us. First, siletly read Joshua 1:1-5. Read it slowly, ad fid a word or phrase that jumps out at you. Liste to what God might be tellig you. Allow about three miutes. Say: Now do the same thig with Joshua 1:6, pickig a ew word or phrase ad listeig to God. Allow about three miutes. Cotiue with the followig sectios, allowig three miutes for adults to read ad reflect o each oe: Joshua 1:7-8 Joshua 1:9 Joshua 1:10-11 Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Why would these words be so meaigful i Joshua s situatio? How were they meaigful to you? What differece does it make to you to kow that God is with you i your life right ow? Say: Whether you re facig a ew job like Joshua was, a scary future like the battles he aticipated, or a difficult task like leadig a huge group, GOD IS WITH US. He wats you to be strog ad courageous ot by your ow power, but by recogizig his presece at every tur. So let s do that ow. Lesso 10

92 92 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE God By My Side Supplies Bibles paper markers scissors glue God By My Side What You ll Do Give everyoe several pieces of paper. Make sure everyoe has a Bible, ad set out markers, scissors, ad glue to share. Say: Thik of some sigificat evets i your life so far pick the top three. Draw each evet. Also draw a picture that shows somethig that s goig o i your life right ow. Allow time. Read today s Key Verse, Joshua 1:9, aloud, ad have everyoe follow alog: Have I ot commaded you? Be strog ad courageous. Do ot be terrified; do ot be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9). Say: God was with Joshua, ad he s with us, too. I fact, he s always bee with you! O a separate piece of paper, draw somethig that represets God. It could be a cross, a heart, a Bible, a burst of light, or aythig else that represets God to you. Whatever it is, draw four of them ad cut them out. The glue them i each of your pictures to show that God was with you the ad ow. Allow time. Say: Whatever symbol you chose to represet God, draw aother oe. Carry it with you this week as a remider that, just as God has bee with you i the past ad is with you here today, he ll be with you i your future. Allow time. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Lookig back, how ca you tell that God stuck with you i those times? How ca you be more aware of God s presece? What s oe area of your life where you eed to focus more o God s presece? Why? Say: Noe of us ca do life aloe. Joshua was a amazig spiritual warrior, but he was oly that ma because God was with him. Ad whe we recogize that GOD IS WITH US, we ca be strog ad courageous ow ad i the future. Lesso 10

93 93 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve explored how GOD IS WITH US o matter what we face. Let s commit to seekig his presece this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o God s presece this week. Close with prayer. Have adults form pairs ad discuss some of the situatios they thought of i which they eed to see God s presece. The have parters pray together. Lesso 10

94 94 Joshua Becomes Leader of Israel Joshua 1:1-11 Bible Poit God is with us. Key Verse Have I ot commaded you? Be strog ad courageous. Do ot be terrified; do ot be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9). DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Daily Challeges Which of God s words to Joshua stad out the most to you, ad why? What are some sigs that help you remember God is with you? How ca you be more aware of God s presece aroud you? What differece does it make i your life that God is with you? How does it impact the way you live? Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Take a photo of oe of your illustratios of God with you, ad set it as a desktop backgroud or phoe wallpaper. Let it remid you that God is with you wherever you go. Each time you go to a ew place this week, take a miute to pray ad receter yourself i God s presece. Talk to a fried about how you ve see God s presece make a differece i your life. Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about God s presece. Moday Psalm 139:7-12 Do you thik it s a good thig or a bad thig that you ca ever hide from God? Explai. Tuesday Psalm 16:11 How have you experieced joy i God s presece? Wedesday Exodus 33:14-17 What s your reaso for watig God s presece with you? How does it relate to experiecig rest? Thursday Joh 15:1-8 What do you thik of the closeess described i this passage? What does it take to abide i Jesus? Friday Matthew 18:20 If God is always with us, why would this verse make a distictio about two or three people beig gathered? What does that mea to you? Saturday Matthew 28:19-20 I what ways ca God s presece help you share his love with others? How ca you act o that this week?! OK TO COPY Lesso 10

95 Lesso Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho Joshua 2:1-24 Where do adults put their trust these days? The stock market? Our relatioships? Our jobs? God wats our trust to be i him aloe. Oce we put God i the driver s seat, he will direct our lives to the big thigs he has i store for us. Use this lesso to show that faith i aythig but God will oly yield small results but through faith i God we ca have a lastig impact. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Bible Poit We ca have faith that God will do big thigs i our lives. 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Guess Agai (about 10 mi.) Play a guessig game, ad discuss how faith ad guessig are differet. Faithful Spies (about 25 mi.) Explore the Bible passage, ad discuss how the spies ad Rahab acted i faith to do big thigs. Rahab Remiders (about 10 mi.) Lear the Key Verse, ad pray as they make remiders of the impact of Rahab s faith. paper, pes, dice Bibles, paper, pes, footlog pieces of red yar Bibles, red yar, scissors Key Verse Ad without faith it is impossible to please God, because ayoe who comes to him must believe that he exists ad that he rewards those who earestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will grow i faith that God is workig i their lives to accomplish great thigs. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 11

96 96 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Big Faith (about 10 mi.) See how their hopes ad dreams ca be elarged through faith. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. balloos, permaet markers Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 11

97 97 Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho Joshua 2:1-24 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS A Differet Method The Jesus Coectio As Joshua prepared to sed spies ito the Promised Lad, o doubt he remembered the fiasco of 40 years earlier whe Moses set a large group of spies ito the lad. This time Joshua set oly two ad gave them a very specific missio: Ivestigate Jericho. He set them secretly, ot watig the Caaaites to kow what they were doig ad probably also to protect the Israelites from the distressful result of the first spy missio. Rahab s faith laded her amog Jesus acestors. Whe we veture forth with a small act of faith, God respods ad shows us his much larger faithfuless. I what areas of your life would you like to show more faithfuless to God? What are some ways you ve see God s faithfuless to you? You ca write your prayer askig God to use you to do big thigs. There s othig too big for the God of the uiverse who wats to lead ad guide your life. Good Gossip It may seem suspicious that the place the spies wet was to the home of a prostitute. However, it s likely that this was a place where gossip would aboud. I additio, the word most ofte traslated prostitute ca just as accurately be traslated ikeeper. Either way, it was a place where the spies were able to hear ad gauge how the people of Jericho felt about the Israelites who were camped just across the Jorda River. A Woma of Faith Rahab, though she lied about hidig the spies i her house, had apparetly become a believer i God through what she had heard about the Israelites experieces ad coquests. She hid the me at great persoal risk. She was commeded for her strog faith i the New Testamet i Hebrews 11:31. Note that God did ot commed her for lyig but for actig i faith ad hidig the spies. God blessed her for that faith. The ed of this evet lies beyod the scope of today s passage. Durig the victory over Jericho, Rahab ad her family were ideed spared from death (Joshua 6:17). Moreover, the New Testamet attests to her faithfuless ad icludes her i the lie of Kig David ad of Jesus (Matthew 1:5)! Lesso 11

98 98 GETTING STARTED Guess Agai Supplies paper pes dice Guess Agai What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Form groups of four, ad give each group a piece of paper, a pe, ad a die. Say: We re goig to play a guessig game. The goal is simple: try to guess before each roll whether it will be a big roll (4-6) or a small roll (1-3). Write your aswer o your paper, roll the die, ad the mark whether you got it right or wrog. We ll see which group has the most correct guesses at the ed of three miutes. Allow time. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: How well did you guess the way the die would lad? How would you say your guesses impacted the outcome of the roll? I what way is faith like makig a guess? How is it differet? If we have faith that God will do big thigs i our lives, is it guarateed to happe? Explai. Say: Today we re goig to talk about havig faith i God. We ll see that ulike havig faith i how the dice would lad (which was really just a guess), faith ca chage the way God works through us. We ll explore some faithful spies ad a brave woma, ad we ll discover that WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Faithful Spies Supplies Bibles paper pes foot-log pieces of red yar Faithful Spies What You ll Do Have everyoe remai i their groups of four. Distribute Bibles, ad have everyoe ope to Joshua 2:1-24. Also give each adult a foot-log piece of red yar, ad have everyoe tuck it ito their waist or belt loop ad leave it hagig. Have groups flip their papers over or get a ew piece for this activity. Lesso 11

99 99 Say: As your group reads today s passage, you re goig to make a chart. O the left side of your paper, list thigs you see i the passage that show how people demostrated faith. O the right side, write somethig you ca lear from each act of faith about the differece faith ca make i our lives today. Here s where it gets iterestig. You ll wat to make your list as log as possible. So as you work, you may choose to spy o other groups ad steal their aswers. But ay time you re ot sittig i your chair, aother group may try to steal your red yar. If your yar gets stole, you ca o loger help your group by spyig. So choose wisely how ad whe to spy! Allow about 15 miutes for groups to make their lists ad spy. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: Was it awkward to spy o other groups durig this activity? Explai. Why might spyig ad protectig the spies have required faith? Which acts of faith o your chart would you cosider big thigs? Why? What discoveries did you make about what faith ca do i our lives? Say: Rahab s faith is pretty astoudig. All she d heard were rumors about this God of the Israelites, ad that was eough to make her do some really brave thigs to protect his people. But it gets bigger! Rahab is oe of Jesus acestors. Because of her faith ad courage, God used her to be part of the family lie that would chage the world forever. What a great testamet to the fact that WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. Rahab Remiders What You ll Do Set out red yar, ad have everyoe cut three pieces. Have everyoe ope to the Key Verse, Hebrews 11:6, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: Ad without faith it is impossible to please God, because ayoe who comes to him must believe that he exists ad that he rewards those who earestly seek him. Rahab Remiders Supplies Bibles red yar scissors Have everyoe begi braidig their yar as you say: Fu fact: This Key Verse sets up a chapter which highlights the heroes of the faith from the Old Testamet. Ad guess who s icluded? Have someoe read aloud Hebrews 11:31. Say: Rahab may ot always be icluded as a hero of the faith whe you thik about the most epic Bible evets. But here she is icluded i a list of examples of heroes of the faith. If you ever feel like you re ot quite good eough, cosider Rahab: She was a prostitute She was t a Israelite Her act of faith icluded a blatat lie Lesso 11

100 100 As you fiish braidig your scarlet cord, pray about how you might feel ill-equipped to do big thigs. Thik about what you might have i commo with Rahab, ad talk to God about those thoughts. Pray that you ca be a hero of the faith despite your shortcomigs. Allow time. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: How are you like Rahab? Is that good or bad? Explai. Whe have you see someoe s faith chage his or her life? How has faith made a differece i your life? What does faithfuless look like i a life? Describe the lives of faithful people you kow; what do they have i commo? Which of those qualities do you have i abudace? Which do you wish you had more of? Say: Rahab is proof that you do t eed to be a amazig spiritual warrior to have faith or to do big thigs for God. No matter who we are or what we ve doe, WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. Take your scarlet cord home to remid you that if God could use Rahab, God ca use you. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Big Faith Supplies balloos permaet markers Big Faith What You ll Do Give everyoe a balloo ad a permaet marker. Say: O your balloo, write some of your hopes ad dreams. What are you tryig to accomplish? What are your goals i life? Allow time. Say: Our hopes ad dreams are t very impressive without faith. They re pretty small o that balloo. But look what happes whe you blow up your balloo. Allow time. Say: Faith is like the air iside that balloo. You ca t see it or touch it, but you sure ca see the impact it has o your hopes ad dreams. With faith, you re workig toward your goals ot out of your ow stregth or for your ow glory, but through God s stregth for his glory. Ad that meas there s o limit to the kids of big thigs God wats to do i ad through you. Lesso 11

101 101 Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: I what ways do your hopes ad dreams feel small right ow? What would it look like for God to use you i big ways? What s oe thig you ca do this week to let faith fuel your hopes ad dreams? Say: We ofte thik that we ca do bigger ad better thigs by givig more time ad eergy. But the reality is, our stregth is fiite. God s is t. Whe we have faith i him, he ll multiply our efforts. That s why WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES, just as he did i Rahab s life. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve explored why WE CAN HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WILL DO BIG THINGS IN OUR LIVES. Let s commit to lettig God use our faith this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o faith this week. Close i prayer. Have willig adults share some of the thigs they wrote o their balloos, ad the pray as a group for God to use those people i big ways. Lesso 11

102 102 Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho Joshua 2:1-24 Bible Poit We ca have faith that God will do big thigs i our lives. Key Verse Ad without faith it is impossible to please God, because ayoe who comes to him must believe that he exists ad that he rewards those who earestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6). DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Daily Challeges How is faith like a magifyig glass? Whe have you tried to do somethig o your ow ad failed? How does faith help us do greater thigs tha we ca do o our ow? What obstacles are there to havig faith? What costitutes a big thig? Choose oe or more of these Daily Challeges to do this week. Take time this week to cosider your faith. Where is your faith strog? Where is it lackig? Ask God to help you grow i faith where you have trouble. The act o what he reveals to show how you will trust God to do big thigs i your life. How is God doig big thigs i your life? Write dow what he has bee doig or what you are hopig ad prayig for him to do. Keep a prayer diary o this specific issue ad pray about it regularly ad record how God is workig. Call a fried ad ivite him or her to celebrate with you somethig big God has doe i your life. Use the time to celebrate ad hoor God, offerig thaksgivig for his faithfuless. It is good to proclaim God s goodess! Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about faith. Moday Psalm 126 What great thigs has the Lord doe for you? How has faith played a role? Tuesday 1 Samuel 12:24 How do the great thigs God has doe for you i the past ecourage you to keep o i the faith? Wedesday Matthew 17:20 Why would a little bit of faith make such a big differece? What do you thik Jesus is talkig about whe he refers to movig moutais? Thursday Acts 27:25 How are faith ad courage coected? What keeps you cofidet i your faith like Paul? Friday Ephesias 2:10 What evidece is there that you re God s hadiwork? What big thigs do you thik he s created you to do? Why is faith a key to you accomplishig those thigs?! OK TO COPY Saturday Joh 14:12 What could Jesus possibly mea by sayig that we could do greater thigs tha him? What could this mea for your life? Lesso 11

103 Lesso The Israelites Cross the Jorda River Joshua 3:1 4:24 Though people like to tease each other by sayig, The memory is the first thig to go, memories are a importat part of our makeup as humas. Experieces saved up over time i our memory become treasured evets to reflect o or horrors to relive. But those that provide positive mometum i our lives the good memories usually are the oes that stad out. I this lesso, participats will explore what God would have us remember, receive ispiratio from, ad lear today. Bible Poit Remember what God has doe. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started Remember Whe? (about 15 mi.) List memories from the recet ad more-distat past. paper, pes Key Verse Give thaks to the Lord, call o his ame; make kow amog the atios what he has doe (1 Chroicles 16:8). 2 Bible Exploratio Crossig the Jorda (about 20 mi.) Examie the Scripture ad discuss the importace of rememberig what God has doe. Bibles, gray paper, scissors, pes, tape Weavig Faith Ito Life s will cosciously remember what God has doe for his people ad i their ow lives. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 12

104 104 LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life 4 Lastig Impressios Remembrace (about 25 mi.) Discuss what God has doe ad commit it to memory i the ways they ll best remember. Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Discuss how to apply God s Word. Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to dig deeper ito the lesso all week log. Bibles, paper, pes, markers, clay Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 12

105 105 The Israelites Cross the Jorda River Joshua 3:1 4:24 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS God Guides a Natio at the Jorda River Parts of this evet may seem like a reru of the Israelites crossig of the Red Sea 40 years earlier. Remember, however, that apart from Joshua ad Caleb, all of the people crossig the Jorda River were o older tha childre whe Israel crossed the Red Sea. This totally ew experiece must have remided them of the stories their parets had told them about the miracle of crossig the Red Sea. Notice that the Jorda River was ot just a tricklig stream it was at flood stage. I the area of Jericho, it would have bee 10 to 12 feet deep ad the curret quite strog. Israel Memorializes God s Miracle The Jesus Coectio As we grow i relatioship with Christ, we become more Christ-like. We ca testify that we have bee reewed ad delivered from our differet lives of the past. Reread Joshua 4:24. Note the public display of power that God left as a remider of his love ad power. I times of darkess, it s ofte helpful to rest i the truth of what we have experieced i the past. Ecouters with our Savior remid us that he is with us. Write a prayer of thaks for the ways God has bee preset i your life. Whe you talk to God this week, start by thakig him for these great thigs, ad add to the list as God cotiues to work i your life. You ca write your prayer i the lies below. The Israelites built a stoe memorial with the rocks take from the ceter of the Jorda River. The memorial would remid people of the woders God had doe for the Israelites as they etered the Promised Lad, ad the 12 stoes together would remid them of the 12 tribes joied together as oe atio. The last verse of today s passage, Joshua 4:24, tells us why God dried up the Jorda for the people to cross: so that all the peoples of the earth might kow that the had of the Lord is powerful ad so that you might always fear the Lord your God. God wated his people to fear him to give him the worship ad service he deserved. Rememberig what God had doe would give them ecouragemet ad faith whe they faced the difficulties of coquerig this ew lad. Lesso 12

106 106 GETTING STARTED Remember Whe? Supplies paper pes Remember Whe? What You ll Do Greet people warmly as they gather. Form groups of o more tha four. Give each perso a piece of paper ad a pe. Have everyoe draw four colums o the paper. The have them write the followig headigs for the colums i this order, left to right: Last Moth, Last Year, Two to Five Years Ago, ad Five to Te Years Ago. Say: We re goig to travel back i time for this activity to discover some of the most sigificat memories i your past. Write a evet that is memorable, either good or bad, i each of the four categories o your paper. After everyoe has doe this idividually, share the memories with your group. The ask each other questios to test how well you really remember each evet. Allow about 10 miutes. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What s it like to remember sigificat evets from our lives? What differece did you otice i what you remembered about evets from each of the categories? How do our memories shape us? Say: Memories ca do amazig thigs. They ca help us make better decisios i the preset or lock us up i bad patters. Rememberig the past ca be a powerful thig. God wats us to remember the past, too. He wats us to remember what he s doe. We ca lear from what God has doe to make our ow ad ot yet eve better. Today we re goig to explore how we ca REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE. Lesso 12

107 107 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Crossig the Jorda What You ll Do Give each adult a piece of gray paper ad a pe. Set out scissors ad tape to share, ad make sure everyoe has a Bible. Have everyoe remai i their groups ad ope to Joshua 3:1 4:24. Say: Today we re discussig what it looks like to REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE. As you read today s passage with your group, pause after every paragraph or so ad discuss what you wat to remember about what happeed. Or you might discuss what you wat to remember about what the evets of that paragraph mea for you. For each thig you share, cut out a rock shape from your gray paper ad write o it. The we ll tape everyoe s rocks i oe big rock pile o the wall. Crossig the Jorda Supplies Bibles gray paper scissors pes tape Allow about 15 miutes for readig ad hagig up the rocks. Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What was most memorable to you about this passage? Why? The rock memorial served as a way future geeratios could remember what God had doe. Why was it importat for people who were t eve there to remember that evet? What sigificace does this evet have for us today? Say: God has doe so much for us i our idividual lives. But sometimes we get so focused o our ow experieces that we forget the thigs God has doe for our spiritual forefathers. It s importat to REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE for us ad for those who came before us. Lesso 12

108 108 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Remembrace Supplies Bibles paper pes markers clay Remembrace What You ll Do Have everyoe ope to today s Key Verse, 1 Chroicles 16:8, ad ask someoe to read it aloud: Give thaks to the Lord, call o his ame; make kow amog the atios what he has doe. Say: Whe we REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE, we ca thak him ad make his deeds kow to others. But the first step is to make sure we recogize ad remember what he has doe. There are four mai ways people lear ad remember best: visual, auditory, readig/writig, ad kiesthetic (movig aroud). So this is your chace to focus o what God has doe for you i a way that will best cemet it i your memory. If you re a visual learer, grab a piece of paper ad some markers ad make a album of illustratios that show what God has doe for you. If you re a auditory learer, fid other people who are also auditory learers ad have a log discussio about the thigs God has doe for you. Repeat back what you hear so that each perso ca ot just tell their story, but also hear it. If you re a readig/writig learer, grab a piece of paper ad a pe ad write a letter to God, a list, or a joural etry about what God has doe for you. Fially, if you re a kiesthetic learer, grab some clay ad meet with some other kiesthetic learers. Act out some of the thigs God has doe for you. As you thik, play with the clay eve if you re ot actually sculptig because movig while you thik will get your brai workig better. Help auditory learers fid other auditory learers, ad kiesthetics fid other kiesthetics. Make sure everyoe has their supplies, ad allow about 15 miutes for people to REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE for them i a way that they ll best remember. The directios for each type of learer are also repeated i their Hadbooks. After 15 miutes, allow a few miutes for people from each learig category to share some highlights. Lesso 12

109 109 Talk With s Lead everyoe i this discussio. Participats ca fid these questios i their Hadbooks. Ask: What makes a memory stick for you? How did this experiece help you cemet memories of what God has doe? I what ways ca you cater to the way your brai works so you re more ofte committig your God Sightig to memory? Say: It s importat to REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE. For the Israelites, that meat creatig a visual remider that those rocks they saw came from a dried-up riverbed. For you, it may be a visual, writte, spoke, or acted out remider. Whatever works best for you, just make sure you re ready to REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE, give thaks to him, ad make kow amog the atios what he has doe. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: I this sessio, we ve explored how we ca REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE i our lives. Let s commit to rememberig God s works this week. Have participats tur to the Daily Challeges sectio of their Hadbooks, or distribute the Diggig Deeper hadouts. Have everyoe read the Daily Challeges ad choose at least oe to do this week. Have participats each tur to a parter ad say what challege they ll do this comig week ad share the specifics of how they pla to do it. Daily Challeges Supplies Hadbooks or 1 copy per perso of the Diggig Deeper hadout (at the ed of this lesso) Weavig Faith at Home Say: If you have kids i Suday school, they should have a take-home paper from this week s lesso to show you. It has their Daily Challeges for this week ad ideas for weavig faith at home as a family. Please help your kids follow through with their Daily Challeges. If you do t have kids i Suday school, you ca still use your ow hadbook or your Diggig Deeper page to further reflect o rememberig God this week. Close i prayer. Allow time for willig adults to thak God publicly for the thigs they remember him doig i their lives. Lesso 12

110 110 The Israelites Cross the Jorda River Joshua 3:1 4:24 Bible Poit Remember what God has doe. Key Verse Give thaks to the Lord, call o his ame; make kow amog the atios what he has doe (1 Chroicles 16:8). DIGGING DEEPER Talk Topics Daily Challeges Whe have you felt really thakful for somethig? Why is it importat to remember what God has doe? Discuss what God has doe for you lately. Why do you wat to remember it? Choose oe or more of these activities to do this week. Put a item i your purse or wallet, such as a petal from a flower or a word writte o a sticky ote, to remid you of what God has doe for you. Start a memory jar try to add oe God Sightig to a jar, bowl, or vase each day. At the ed of the week, dump out the cotets ad remember what God has doe that week. Write a praise sog or a poem to thak God for what he s doe for you. Through the Week Use the followig passages ad questios to explore additioal biblical isights about rememberig what God has doe. Moday 1 Chroicles 16:8-12 What ca you do to give thaks for the thigs God has already doe for you? How ca you make thaks ad praise more itegral i your life? Tuesday Ecclesiastes 12:1 Why would youth be such a importat time to remember God? How has your faith whe you were youger helped you remember God more ow? Wedesday Hosea 2:13 What thigs ca get i the way of you rememberig God? Thursday Job 36:22-26 What evidece ca others see that God has doe great thigs i your life? Friday Psalm 63:6-8 What evets or circumstaces cause you to retur your attetio to God? Saturday Psalm 77:1-12 What could be beeficial about rememberig God i times like the psalmist describes? What do you eed to remember about God right ow?! OK TO COPY Lesso 12

111 Lesso God Gives Victory Over Jericho Joshua 6:1-27 God s power is a mystery. Why does t he just heal my sick relative? people woder. Why does t God use his power to keep atios from fightig? they ask. Surely the Bible icludes may wodrous ad miraculous examples of God s hadiwork of God s power i actio. But may people icludig a whole host of Christia adults are skeptical about God s power today. Use this lesso to help your group discover how God s power ofte works i ways that, while ot as dramatic as kockig dow a city wall, are just as sigificat. LESSON WHAT ADULTS DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. The Most Powerful Perso (about 15 mi.) Compete i a thumb war touramet for the title of Most Powerful Perso. A Uusual Battle (about 25 mi.) Draw a battle pla for a fictioal battle, ad the oe for the Battle of Jericho. Bibles, paper, pecils Bible Poit God s power works for good. Key Verse Humble yourselves, therefore, uder God s mighty had, that he may lift you up i due time. Cast all your axiety o him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:6-7). Weavig Faith Ito Life s will seek ad appreciate God s power at work i their ow lives. Every activity icorporates the FaithWeaver NOW Hadbook make sure each participat has oe! Lesso 13

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