Lessons // Videos // 2-Month Roster // Leader Contact Info // Leader FB Group // Old Lessons Unit 4 Session 5 The Ten Commandments: Love God BIBLE PASSAGE: Exodus 19:1-20:11; 31:18 MAIN POINT: God gave us rules to show that He is holy and we are sinners. KEY PASSAGE: Hebrews 3:5-6 BIG PICTURE QUESTION: What is God s plan? God s plan is to rescue His people from captivity. PREPARING FOR THE LESSON 1) PRAY. 2) READ THE VERSES: Exodus 19:1-20:11; 31:18 Hebrews 3:5-6 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God s house, bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6But Christ is faithful as the Son over God s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. Just 10. It would be easy enough to keep just 10 rules, right? The Israelites proved they could not keep a single one of God s laws. Their hearts were full of sin. Moses mediated for the Israelites, asking God to forgive the people s sin. Moses was a good mediator, but he wasn t perfect. The Israelites needed someone who could keep the laws perfectly for them, mediate between them and God, and satisfy God s wrath against them. They needed Jesus. (See 1 Tim. 2:5.) 3) WATCH THE VIDEO Bible story video: https://vimeo.com/266683860 Discussion Starter Video: https://vimeo.com/266685876 Optional Songs: https://vimeo.com/261966222 https://vimeo.com/261965934 4) READ/FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE OPENING ACTIVITY
ACTIVITY: Whom do you love? Invite kids to sit in a circle with their chairs facing inward. Choose one kid to stand inside the middle and remove her chair from the circle. She will then say My name is [her name] and I love people who [name a particular feature such as hair color or shirt color]. Kids who share that feature will get up and move to a new seat along with the kid who was in the middle. Whoever does not grab a new seat will be the next person in the middle. Continue playing as time allows. Say: The first of the Ten Commandments say that we should love God more than anything or anybody. Do you think that means we should only love Him if He has [name a few features the kids said during the activity such as hair color or shirt color]. We ll found out more about the Ten Commandments today. 5) READ/FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH THE AFTER-STORY ACTIVITIES ACTIVITY: Unit 4 Review - Zonk Divide kids into two teams. Ask the first team a review question (below). If they answer correctly, they can come and pick a circle from the board. If it is a ZONK, the turn ends. If they draw points, they have the option of stopping and safely banking/soring those points OR they can keep choosing circles, to earn more points. They do risk picking up a ZONK and losing all the points they have gained THAT TURN. When they stop picking circles, all the points they are holding are safely banked, which means that the leader records the score on a board for their team. (Ex: draws 200, then draws 100, then draws 500, then stops they earned 800 points for their team) When a child draws a ZONK, their turn immediately ends and they lose all the points they had just drawn, if any. To add fun, have the team support their choosing team member by chanting points points points! and the opposing team shouting zonk zonk zonk!. About half way through, shuffle the dots that have been drawn and place them back on the board. WE WILL PLAY THIS GAME AGAIN AND WE DON T EVER WANT THEM TO KNOW HOW MANY ZONKS THERE ARE!!! ACTIVITY: Hit the mark Before the session, create a target (graduated circles or squares) on the floor with masking tape. Split the class into 2-4 teams, give each team a different color ball and have them stand the same distance from the circles/squares and roll the ball at that target. The team closest to the center gets 4 points, the next closest 3, then 2 then 1 point. Have each teammate take turns and tally up the points at the end. Discuss: Did anyone hit the bull s-eye every time? No. No one is perfect, right? In today s Bible story, God gave His people rules to show that He is holy. That means He is perfect and we are not. But just like no one can hit the target every time, people cannot obey God s rules all the time because we are sinners. Our sin separates us from God. We need Jesus because He is perfect. Jesus never sinned. He obeyed God perfectly. When we trust in Jesus, He brings us back to God. ACTIVITY: Key Passage Show the key passage poster. Lead the kids to read together Hebrews 3:5-6. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God s house, but Christ is faithful as the Son over God s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. Repeat several times. Write the key passage on sticky notes, one or two words per sticky note. Guide kids to arrange the sticky notes in order in a house shape on a table or wall. Read the key passage together. There will be 2 sets so two teams can compete to see who does it the quickest. Say: Great job on memorizing the key passage! Remember that Moses was faithful to God, but Jesus is even more faithful than Moses. Moses was a great leader, but he was a sinner who needed a
Savior too. Jesus is that Savior! Jesus always obeyed God perfectly, and when we trust in Him as our Savior, He forgives us of all our sin.. ACTIVITY: Commandments on your fingers 1 hold up 1 index finger. God is #1 and there is no other before Him 2 hold up 2 index fingers and bend one like it s bowing down to the other. Do not bow down/worship false idols 3 hold up 3 fingers spread out so it looks like a W. W for Words. Do you speak the Lord s name in the wrong way. 4 hold up 4 fingers close together with the thumb across your palm. Put it to your head like a pillow. Rest on the 7 th day. 5 hold up 5 fingers close together and salute. Honor your father and mother. Of you can use sign language for father (five fingers spread out, turn thumb towards you so palm is facing left and touch your forehead with tip of thumb) and mother (same but touch chin with tip of thumb). 6 Hold up five fingers with right hand, palm facing left. Hold up index finger on left hand then use it to stab or shoot the other hand. Don t kill or harm others 7 Hold up 5 fingers on one hand and 2 on the other. 2 people in a marriage, not 5. Or 2 people in aa marriage and the 5 is their children. Don t cheat on your spouse. 8 Hold up 4 fingers on each hand. Turn the fingers toward each other and palms toward you and in front of your face like bars of a jail cell. Do not steal 9 Hold up 5 on one hand and 4 on another. 4 does not equal 5. Always tell the truth. 10 5 fingers on each hand arms stretched out in front of you, palms facing the kids. Bend fingers and straighten them again quickly over and over like you re grabbing for something. Don t want other people s things. ACTIVITY: Ten Commandments Race Do the Ten Commandments on your fingers activity first and then move into this game. Place the numbered papers with 10 Commandments listed face down and #s up in a straight line. Have students form a line behind the #1 paper. The first student should try to recite the first commandment. As he does, turn it over and show everyone if he has it right or wrong. If he has it right, he may proceed to stand next to #2 and try to guess what the second one is. Again, turn the paper over and show everyone if he is right or wrong. If he is right, he may again proceed to the next Commandment. When a student misses, he must remain beside the last # that he got right while other students take a turn. Right or wrong, turn any Commandments back over again, so that only the number on the paper is showing. The next student s turn begins, and the game is repeated.the students who reach 10 win. The repetition will help all students learn the Commandments. ALTERNATIVE for a more of kids (as you don t want a lot of kids standing around getting bored): split kids into teams of 10 or less. Have one team member do #1 (if he gets it he stays there), then have the second team member do #2 and so on. If they don t get the commandment right, they go to the
back of the line and the next teammate attempts that # again. When they run out of teammates, have the child standing on #1 leave #1 and go to the next number needed by the team. ACTIVITY: Unscramble Write the following on the board: us to He is. dgo vaeg rleus ldlace het net mnamdcostenm whos htta ylho Have kids take turns writing an unscrambled word on the board. God gave us rules called the ten commandments to show that He is holy. =============================== RUNNING THE LESSON ON THE DAY RUNNING SHEET 1) Hello! Welcome back! 2) Opening Activity 3) Review We ve been learning about God s plan to rescue His people from Egypt and bring them to the promised land. Who can remember what we learned in our first Bible story? [Invite a kid to recall the first main point.] That s right! God rescued Moses to deliver His people from captivity. Who can remember what God showed when He sent the plagues on Egypt? [Invite a kid to recall the second main point.] Excellent! God proved to the Egyptians that He is the one true God. After that, what did we learn when the people were wandering in the desert? [Invite a kid to recall the third main point.] That s right! God provided for the physical needs of His people when He gave them food and water in the desert. Who can remember what we learned last week? [Invite kids to recall the fourth main point.] Last week, we learned that God punished His people for worshiping a golden calf. Today we re going to learn about the rules God gave Moses when he was on top of Mount Sinai. We call those rules the Ten Commandments. 4) Big Picture Ask if anyone remembers our Big Picture question and answer for the Unit. What is God s plan? God s plan is to rescue His people from captivity. God had already rescued His people from physical captivity, but God s plan was still in place to rescue His people from captivity to sin. Later, God would send His Son, Jesus, to rescue people from sin and death. 5) Pray 6) Watch the video 7) Discuss the story Remember last week when we learned that God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger? God is also holy. God always does what is right and He is completely separate from sin. God must punish sin. When God s presence covered Mount Sinai in smoke, fire, and a dense cloud, He told Moses to get the people ready to hear Him speak. But when the people saw God s presence, they knew they were not holy and they were terrified! The people told Moses to talk to God for them. Moses went onto the mountain to receive God s commandments. The first four commandments show us how holy God is. God gave us rules to show that He is holy and we are sinners. God s law shows us what
He requires of us perfect righteousness. But we cannot obey perfectly and our sin separates us from God. Jesus came to bring us back to God. Jesus is perfectly righteous. When we trust in Jesus, He takes away our sin and welcomes us into God s family. Ask the following review questions: 1. How did God speak to the Israelites in front of Mount Sinai? (in a dense cloud, Ex. 19:9) 2. Name the first four commandments. (Worship only God. Do not make idols. Do not misuse God s name. Keep the Sabbath day holy; Ex. 20:1-8) 3. What is God s plan? God s plan is to rescue His people from captivity. 4. Our sin separates us from God, but who came to bring us back to God? (Jesus, 1 Pet. 3:18) 8) Activities (choose from above) REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR ZONK What did the Hebrew woman put her son in along the banks of the Nile River? (a basket, Ex. 2:3) Who saw the basket and felt sorry for the baby? (Pharaoh s daughter, Ex. 3:5-6) From what did God call out to Moses? (a burning bush, Ex. 3:4) What was God s plan for Moses? (to lead God s people out of Egypt, Ex. 3:10) Who did God say He is? (I AM WHO I AM, Ex. 3:14) What is God s plan? God s plan is to rescue His people from captivity. Why did God send the plagues? (God sent the plagues to punish the Egyptians. He judged them for their sin; Ex. 7:4) What was the last plague? (God would go through Egypt, and every firstborn male in Egypt would die. But the Israelites would be safe; Ex. 11:4-7) What happened at Passover? (God told Israelite families to kill a lamb and sprinkle its blood on the doorposts of their houses so God would see the mark and pass over the house. No one in the Israelites families died; Ex. 12:1-28) What did God prove to the Egyptians? God proved to the Egyptians that He is the one true God. True/False: In the wilderness, the Israelites were hungry, but they did not complain to Moses. (False, the Israelites complained to Moses; Ex. 16:2-3) True/False: Moses brought the Israelites into the wilderness to die. God did not know what He was doing. (False, God wanted to see if they would trust Him; Ex. 16:4) True/False: God provided food so the Israelites would know He is Yahweh. (true, Ex. 16:12) True/False: The Israelites called the bread manna, which means What is it? (true, Exodus 16:15) True/False: The Israelites always followed God s instructions. (False, sometimes they collected too much manna and sometimes they tried to collect manna on the Sabbath; Ex. 16:20,27) True/False: God gave the people water from a rock. It was a sign that the Lord was with them. (true, Ex. 17:5-6) What false god did Aaron make for the Israelites to worship? (a golden calf, Ex. 32:4) How did God punish the Israelites for worshiping the gold calf? (God sent a plague, a terrible sickness; Ex. 32:35) The Lord came down in a cloud. What did He say? ( Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God but He will not leave the guilty unpunished, Ex. 34:5-7) Name a commandment and which number it is. (do this one multiple times allowing for different commandment as an answer each time)