04 October 2020 Junior Church Resources
For our Younger Children
God Provides
https://youtu.be/r7DrGxRltn8
Theme: Obeying God’s commandments.
Object: “The 10 Commandments Colouring Page” – two copies (click here); crayons
Bible Reading
Exodus 20:1-17 – New International Version – UK
And God spoke all these words:
‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
‘You shall have no other gods before me.
‘You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
‘You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
‘Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lordyour God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
‘Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
‘You shall not murder.
‘You shall not commit adultery.
‘You shall not steal.
‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.’
Story & Activity
Colour one picture carefully, staying in the lines. Color outside the lines on the other picture, making a colorful mess.
Do you remember when you first started to learn how to color? If you were like most children, you probably colored all over the page without staying in the lines. I imagine that some of your pictures looked a lot like this. (Show kids the messy picture.)
As you got older, your pictures probably looked more like this. (Show kids the neat picture.) You began to stay in the lines and your color choices were much better too.
These pictures remind me of the way some people live their lives. God gave us the Ten Commandments to tell us the things that we should and should not do. (Show the neat picture.) Some people don’t pay any attention to these guidelines that God has drawn for them. (Hold up the messy picture.) They just do whatever they want to do; that’s called sin. Often their choices are not very good. They color outside the lines. They think their life is beautiful, but when God looks at it, He sees that it’s just a big mess.
(Hold up the neat picture.) There are other people who read the Bible and follow God’s rules. They try to stay within the guidelines that God has set. Oh, they may still get outside the lines at times; getting outside the lines is called sin. That is why we all need Jesus. None of us stay inside the lines 100% of the time.
Do you want your life to be like this one? (Hold up the neat picture.) Or do you want it to look like this one? (Hold up the messy picture so you’re holding up both.)
God wants us to obey His Ten Commandments. The great news is we have a Savior in Jesus who loves us even when our lives are messy. When we trust Him as Savior He is our help and gives us strength to obey His laws. Let’s ask God to help us obey Him.
Dear Lord, help us to remember that You set boundaries for us. Help us to stay within those boundaries so that our lives will be pleasing to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Daily Discussion
Daily Discussion – click here to view
For our older Junior Church Members
Grab the popcorn and gather round to watch this classic Rob Bell video – Kickball
From Rob Bell: Things don’t always work out the way we want them to, or the way we think they will. Sometimes we don’t even see it coming. We get hit with some form of pain out of nowhere leaving us feeling desperate and helpless. That’s the way life is. Still, it makes us wonder how God can let these things happen to us. How God can just stand by and watch us suffer. Where is God when it really hurts? Maybe God is actually closer to us than we think. Maybe it’s when we’re in these situations, where everything seems to be falling apart. that God gets an opportunity to remind us of how much he really loves us.
https://youtu.be/7r1AtWBa5pM
Some questions you may wish to discuss together…
1. We always want something, don’t we? Something that would make us happy, right? What is it for you?
2. Do you feel like you often don’t get the things you really want? Do you feel like God’s denying you these things or maybe like he’s not even listening to you?
3. Have you ever been mad at God for not giving you what you’d asked for? Is it okay to question God?
4. Have you ever felt like God did come through for you? If so, how?
5. If you got everything you asked for in life, do you think you’d be happy?
6. Do you see your life as part of a bigger picture, a larger story?
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