A Sunday School study plan for kids by Bible Lessons 4 Kids including large group lesson, small group lesson and family devotions. For more information, please read About Bible Lessons 4 Kidz.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: There is blessing in listening to God and obeying Him.
PPT VERSE
Key Verse:
Shiphrah and Puah had respect for God. So He gave them families of their own. - Exodus 1:18-21
Say: In the book of Genesis, God made a wonderful promise to Abraham that his descendants would be MORE than the number of stars in the sky and more than the grains of sand on the beach! We know that God ALWAYS keeps His promises.
Ask: Who can tell me what “descendants” means? a person’s children, grand children, great-grandchildren, etc.
Say: God certainly kept His promise! By the end of the Genesis, Abraham had MILLIONS of descendants! Because God kept His promise to Abraham, there were many people who believed and trusted in God. At the end of Genesis, we see that Abraham’s descendants, called Israelites, had all moved to Egypt. God blessed them, and more and more Israelites were born in Egypt.
Say: Let’s turn to the second book of the Bible: Exodus. Look at the first two letters in the word “EXODUS”, and this will help you remember what this book in the Bible is all about: EXIT! The book of Exodus is the story of the Abraham’s descendents, the Israelites, exiting Egypt.
In Exodus 1, we see that there were so many Israelites in the land of Egypt, that the king of Egypt, the Pharaoh, was worried. Listen to what he said:
“Look,” he said to his people. “The Israelites are far too many for us. Come. We must deal with them carefully. If we don’t, they will increase their numbers even more. Then if war breaks out, they’ll join our enemies. They’ll fight against us and leave the country.” So the Egyptians put slave drivers over the people of Israel. The slave drivers beat them down and made them work hard. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Ramses so Pharaoh could store things there. - Exodus 1:9-11
Pharaoh had no idea how powerful God was, and He didn’t understand how much God would protect His own people. The harder Pharaoh tried to make things difficult for God’s people, the Israelites, the more God blessed them and protected them.
But the more the slave drivers beat them down, the more the Israelites increased their numbers and spread out. So the Egyptians became afraid of them. - Exodus 1:12
Say: Since making them slaves and increasing their work didn’t seem to be working, Pharaoh had another idea. He called in the midwives (the women who helped babies being born) and ordered them to KILL all the baby boys. Pharaoh thought that by killing all the baby boys, he could reduce the strength and the number of Israelites. He intended to make sure there were never enough young men to fight in an army against the Egyptians. But the Bible is very clear: Killing babies is WRONG (Psalm 106:38, Proverbs 6:16-17)!
Ask: To whom should these midwives listen: God or Pharaoh? God.
But Shiphrah and Puah (the midwives) had respect for God. They didn’t do what the king of Egypt had told them to do. They let the boys live. - Exodus 1:17
Note to the Teacher: God honors these women even by mentioning their names in scripture. Not once is the Pharaoh’s name mentioned, yet these two godly women are mentioned by name! “The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.” - Proverbs 10:7
Then the king of Egypt sent for the women. He asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
The women answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like the women of Egypt. They are strong. They have their babies before we get there.”
So God was kind to Shiphrah and Puah. And the people of Israel increased their numbers more and more. Shiphrah and Puah had respect for God. So He gave them families of their own. - Exodus 1:18-21
Say: There is blessing in obedience. Obeying God is ALWAYS the right choice!
Pharaoh’s plans were not working. Even though the Egyptians had forced the Israelites to become slaves, the Israelites were still having babies, and the midwives would not kill them. So now, Pharaoh made another desperate attempt to kill the baby boys.
Then Pharaoh gave an order to all of his people. He said, “You must throw every baby boy into the Nile River. But let every baby girl live.” - Exodus 1:22
How terrifying! What kind of king would make such a law? And what kind of person would throw a baby into a river? Ask: Was Pharaoh listening to God? NO!
Say: In Genesis chapter 3, God promised that the Deliverer would be male and born of a woman (Genesis 3:15 & Genesis 12:1-3). And in Genesis 12:3, God promised this Deliverer would be one of Abraham’s descendants (Galatians 3:8). When Pharaoh ordered that all baby boys be killed, he was being used by Satan to try to eliminate the birth of our Savior.
Ask: Will God keep His promise to send a Deliverer? YES! God ALWAYS keeps His promises.
Say: There was an Israelite couple from the tribe of Levi, Amram and Jochebed who had a baby boy (Exodus 6:20). The Bible says that he was a “fine child”. There was something special about him. (Hebrews 11:23 says that he was no ordinary child).
The Bible says that children come from God (Psalm 127). Every child is the product of God’s creation (Psalm 139:13-14), and is “good” in the eyes of God. Moses’ parents refused to put their child to death because God had created him, and because this meant that, this child (like every other child ever born) was good in God’s eyes.
Say: By faith, Moses’ parents hid him for three months, but soon hiding him became impossible. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to hide a baby? Moses’ mother got a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch to keep out water. (This was the same kind of tar that Noah used to waterproof the Ark). She placed Moses into the basket, and set it in the reeds of the Nile River. Miriam, Moses’ sister, was sent to see what would happen to him.
Just at that time, Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile River to bathe. She saw the basket in the reeds and heard the baby crying.
Ask: What was Pharaoh’s law? That all baby boys be thrown into the Nile River.
Should Pharaoh’s daughter obey his wicked plan? No.
Say: Pharaoh’s daughter felt sorry for the baby, and she wanted to keep him as her own. Although Pharaoh’s daughter wanted to keep the baby, she had to figure out a way to feed the baby. There were no baby bottles back then. All babies were fed from their mother’s body. It was then that Miriam appeared. She told Pharaoh’s daughter that she would find someone to feed the baby.
Then his sister spoke to Pharaoh’s daughter. She asked, ‘Do you want me to go and get one of the Hebrew women? She could nurse the baby for you.’
‘Yes. Go,’ she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this baby. Nurse him for me. I’ll pay you.’ So the woman took the baby and nursed him.” - Exodus 2:7-9a
Isn’t God wonderful? Not only did Moses’ mother get to keep her own baby, but she was even PAID to feed him! The Bible says that after the baby could drink from a cup, he was taken to Pharaoh’s house where he became Pharaoh’s daughter’s son. Here he was named MOSES, which means, “drawn from the water”.
Ask: What what’s Pharaoh’s order? Throw the babies in the water. But now, living in Pharaoh’s own palace was an Israelite boy named “taken from the water”! I wonder if Pharaoh could have forced everyone to keep throwing babies in the water while he had adopted one of those little boys as his own grandson. More than likely, this was part of God’s plan to protect His people from Pharaoh. Come back next week to see what happened next to little Moses.
Application: The midwives and Moses’ parents LISTENED TO GOD and obeyed His ways. God blessed them both! Moses was safe, and God was going to use him in a wonderful way to set his people free! When we listen to God and obey his word, we will also be blessed!
Make sure you obey the Lord your God completely. Be careful to follow all of His commands... If you obey the Lord your God, here are the blessings that will come to you and remain with you.
You will be blessed in the cities. You will be blessed out in the country. Your children will be blessed..You will be blessed no matter where you go. - Deuteronomy 28:1-6
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: There is blessing in listening to God and obeying Him.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: We can encounter God anytime, anywhere.
Key Verse:
“Come here. Listen to what the Lord your God is saying.” - Joshua 3:9b
Props: a walking stick; a toy snake; a robe; cup of clear water; cup of red-tinted water
Say: Last week we learned that God’s people, the Israelites, were slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh’s own daughter rescued Moses, an Israelite baby, from the Nile River. This woman actually paid Moses’ mother to feed him until he was old enough to drink from a cup. Then Moses went to the palace in Egypt to live as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
The Bible says that after Moses grew up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them as they worked as slaves. It bothered him to see his people being treated so badly! Long before he observed the misery of his people, Moses made a VERY important decision to listen to God and trust God’s ways.
Moses had faith. So he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. That happened after he had grown up. He chose to be treated badly together with the people of God. He chose that instead of enjoying sin’s pleasures for a short time. He suffered shame because of Christ. He thought it had great value. He considered it better than the riches of Egypt. He was looking ahead to God’s reward. - Hebrews 11:24-26
While Moses was watching his people slave away, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew (his own people). The Bible says that Moses looked around to be sure no one could see him, and then he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. Of course, we know that murder is wrong. In this case, Moses was defending the life of his fellow Hebrew (Acts 7:24). This is similar to how a police officer might have to shoot a criminal to save an innocent person’s life.
Teacher Note: The original Greek wording of Moses’ action in Acts 7:24 tells us that Moses “acted rightly” and “did justice” when he defended this man.
And seeing one of them suffer wrong (to act wickedly toward someone), he defended (ward off someone, aid or assist) him, and avenged (to avenge an injured person, to act rightly) him that was oppressed (afflicted with evils), and smote (cut down, kill, slay) the Egyptian. - Acts 7:24 KJV (definitions taken from Thayer’s Lexicon)
The very next day, when Moses was walking around, he saw another fight! Only this time, it was between two Hebrew men. This frustrated Moses. He wondered why two fellow believers in God would fight one another. The Hebrews said, “Who made you the boss over us? You can’t tell us what to do. Are you going to kill us as you killed that Egyptian?”
As soon as Moses realized that the Egyptian’s death had been discovered, he was terrified. And when Pharaoh heard about it, Pharaoh tried to kill Moses!
That’s when Moses ran for his life - all the way to Midian. Teacher: Point out Egypt and Midian on the map. He arrived at a well. And guess who was there? SEVEN young ladies! They were there to water their flocks, but some other shepherds were also at the well, and they didn’t want to wait their turn. So they tried to “bully” these girls into waiting. But when Moses arrived, he rescued them and insisted that they water their flocks first. When the girls came home, they told their father, Jethro, that Moses, an “Egyptian”, had saved them. Jethro invited Moses to dinner, and there Moses explained how he came to Midian.
Moses stayed in Midian and married one of those girls: Zipporah. They had a son, and Moses named him Gershom. That meant, “I have become an alien in a foreign land”.
Teacher Note: It’s interesting to note that Moses saw himself as a foreigner. Truthfully, he was a foreigner in the land of Egypt far more than in the land of Midian. Midian was actually very close to the Promised Land (the land that God had promised to Abraham and his descendants, including Moses).
God is ALWAYS at work even when we can’t see it. To Moses, it looked like he was in the middle of nowhere. But to God, Moses was exactly where he needed to be! At the same time all of this was happening in Moses’ life, the Pharaoh of Egypt died, and the Hebrew people were still crying out to God for His rescue!
On an ordinary day, while Moses was tending sheep for this father-in-law, Jethro, he noticed a burning bush. This wasn’t really that uncommon, but something unusual was definitely going on here, because while the bush was on fire, it was not burning up. Moses walked closer to the bush, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within the bush. Moses heard a Voice calling his name, “Moses”. Then he heard it again, “Moses.”
Ask: How do you think Moses felt when he heard his name being called from a bush that was on fire? Scared, surprised, confused.
Say: After his name was called the second time, Moses answered, “Here I am.” Then God warned Moses not to come any closer, and He told Moses to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. The Voice from the bush then said, “I AM the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob”.
Moses hid his face because he was terrified. He knew that no one could ever see God and live. (Exodus 33:20) He probably fell to the ground in awe and worship of God.
When God revealed Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He was revealing Himself as a covenant-making God. A covenant is an unbreakable promise between God and people. When God made a covenant with Abraham, what did He say?
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country and your people. Leave your father’s family. Go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you. I will put a curse on anyone who calls down a curse on you.
All nations on earth will be blessed because of you.” - Genesis 12:1-4
Say: The covenant-making God was talking to Moses! When God makes a covenant, He keeps His Word. God ALWAYS keeps His promises! And Moses was about to hear some WONDERFUL NEWS!
The Lord said, “I have seen my people suffer in Egypt. I have heard them cry out because of their slave drivers. I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to save them from the Egyptians. I will bring them up out of that land. I will bring them into a good land. It has a lot of room. It is a land that has plenty of milk and honey.” - Exodus 3: 7-8
This land that God promised to Abraham long ago was now going to become the new home for all the Hebrew people who were suffering as slaves in Egypt. God is not only a Covenant-making God, but He is also compassionate. The Bible says that God heard the Israelites cry out and that He was concerned about their suffering. That’s what compassion is: to be concerned about someone else.
Ask: Do you feel compassion for people who “cry out”? What are some ways that your friends “cry out”? How do you help them? Listen for answers.
Say: It’s one thing to “feel” compassion, but it’s even better to ACT - to do something to help them! And that’s just what God intended to do. God was going to help the Hebrew people. He was going to set them free! Let’s read what He told Moses:
So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh. I want you to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. They are My people. - Exodus 3:10
WOW! Did you hear that? God was going to send Moses back to Egypt to bring the Hebrews out of Egypt! This would be a very big job!
But Moses spoke to God. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” he said. “Who am I that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
PPT CUE
God said, “I will be with you. I will give you a miraculous sign. It will prove that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship Me on this mountain.” - Exodus 3:11-12
Moses listened to God call his name from the burning bush, and he listened as God told him that he was going to Egypt. Then Moses asked a very reasonable question, “Who am I?” In other words, Moses was saying to God, “Forty years ago I tried to rescue my people, but look what happened. My people didn’t want my help. Pharaoh tried to kill me, and I fled to the desert. I’ve been taking care of sheep for the past 40 years. Who am I? I tried helping my people once, and it didn’t work.”
God answered Moses’ “Who am I?” question with an “I AM” answer! Moses asked a reasonable question, but it was the wrong question. It wasn’t WHO Moses was, but who GOD was that mattered! God’s answer firmly settled the matter:
PPT CUE
Tell them that I AM has sent me to you. - Exodus 3:14
One of God’s names is I AM. I AM may seem like an unusual name to us, but it is the most powerful name of all! I AM means that God is the only true God. There were many false gods in Egypt. I AM is the God who has always been and always will be (Revelation 1:8). There is no other god besides I AM.
Note to teacher: Consider all the I AMs of the New Testament: Living Water, Bread of Life, Resurrection and the Life, etc. Consider, also, the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18 where Jesus tells us to go and make disciples and that He will be with us to the end of the age.
Say: Moses needed to focus on God, not himself. The Bible says that if God is for you, no one can stand against you! (Romans 8:31) God was with Moses, and that was enough. God told Moses that He would make the elders of Israel listen. God also said that the people in Egypt would treat him in a kind way. God promised Moses that He would do miracles along the way to prove His power and might to the people. Moses heard all the wonderful things that God was saying, but still in his heart, he wondered: “What if no one believes me?” Teacher: Use props to act out the following verses. Moses answered, “What if the elders of Israel won’t believe me? What if they won’t listen to me? Suppose they say, ‘The Lord didn’t appear to you.’ Then what should I do?”
The Lord said to him, “What do you have in your hand?”
“A wooden staff,” he said.
The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”
So Moses threw it on the ground. It turned into a snake. He ran away from it. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach your hand out. Take the snake by the tail.” So he reached out and grabbed hold of the snake. It turned back into a staff in his hand.
The Lord said, “When they see this miraculous sign, they will believe that I appeared to you. I am the God of their fathers. I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.”
Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your coat.” So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took it out, it was as white as snow. It was covered with a skin disease.
“Now put it back into your coat,” the Lord said. So Moses put his hand back into his coat. When he took it out, the skin was healthy again. His hand was like the rest of his skin.
Then the Lord said, “Suppose they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miracle. Then maybe they will believe the second one.”
“But suppose they do not believe either miracle. Suppose they will not listen to you. Then get some water from the Nile River. Pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will turn to blood on the ground.” - Exodus 4:1-9
Even after seeing these miracles, Moses STILL wasn’t sure. Moses claimed that he was not a very good speaker. This was simply not true. How do we know that? Listen what Stephen wrote about Moses in Acts 7:21-22:
Moses was taught all the knowledge of the people of Egypt. He became a powerful speaker and a man of action. - Acts 7:22
Moses knew that it would be hard to lead people if he couldn’t speak well. But when Moses tells this supposed problem to God, listen to what God says:
“The Lord said to him, ‘Who makes a man able to talk? Who makes him unable to hear or speak? Who makes him able to see? Who makes him blind? It is I, the Lord. Now go. I will help you speak. I will teach you what to say.’ ” - Exodus 4:11-12
Application: When God gives you a job to do, it is not wise to point out all the reasons why you cannot do the job. God created Moses and already knew what kind of speaker Moses was. God was with Moses, and that was enough. God would help him speak and give him the words to say. If God tells you to do something, He will equip you with exactly what you need to do His work. You don’t need to make a list of reasons why you can’t do what God tells you to do.
Have you ever heard the saying,”God doesn’t call the equipped; He equips the called”? That means God doesn’t choose people who can do great things. God makes those He chooses able to do great things. It is His power we depend on (2 Corinthians 12:9-11). But Moses begged God to let someone else do the talking (Exodus 4:13-16).
God allowed Moses’ brother, Aaron, to speak for Moses. But later in this story, we are going to see that Moses should have trusted God and spoke for himself.
So Moses did what God commanded him to do. He left Midian and went to Egypt. And just as God said, his brother Aaron came out to meet him. Moses told Aaron everything the Lord sent him to say. - Exodus 4:29-31
Then Moses and his brother, Aaron, brought together the elders of the Hebrew people. Just as God said, they believed. Moses and Aaron gathered all of the elders of Israel together. Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also did the miracles in the sight of the people. And they also believed. They heard that the Lord was concerned about them. He had seen their suffering. So they bowed down and worshiped God. Everything that God said came true. God ALWAYS keeps His promises!
PPT KEY VERSE
Key Verse:
“Come here. Listen to what the Lord your God is saying.” - Joshua 3:9b
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: We can encounter God anytime, anywhere.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: Serious consequences come to those who refuse to listen to God.
Key Verse:
Lord, you didn’t hold back from bringing this trouble on us. You always do what is right. But we haven’t obeyed you. - Daniel 9:14
Props: 1 large clear pitcher full of water, 1 large clear pitcher with red Kool Aid or food coloring placed inconspicuously in the bottom; ice or marshmallows
Say: God called Moses to return to Egypt to set His people free. Remember that God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation. This meant that God promised to make Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites, a large and mighty nation. God ALWAYS keeps His promises. There were many Israelites in Egypt, and the Pharaoh made them all slaves. God wanted to save His people, so He told Moses to go before Pharaoh and tell him to “Let My people go”. Moses listened to God and agreed to go to Pharaoh.
Today we’re going to learn see all the ways that God worked in Egypt on behalf of His people, the Israelites. Things didn’t start well for Moses. The first time Moses went to Pharaoh, and asked him to set the Israelites free, Pharaoh said “NO.” Then Pharaoh made the slaves work even harder. The people complained against Moses, and he became discouraged. Rightly, Moses took his discouragement to the Lord. God reminded Moses of His promises. God told Moses that He would free the people and give them the land that He promised Abraham.
Application: We all get discouraged sometimes. When you are discouraged, take your cares to the Lord. Read through His promises and listen to His voice. His words will always encourage you.
Say: Because Pharaoh would not listen to God through Moses, God sent plagues. A plague is a very bad thing, and God sent TEN of them.
Note to Teacher: It’s easy to make this an “academic study” by focusing on each plague rather than the real message that God is sending. God is All-Powerful, and when He speaks, we should LISTEN! God protects His people, and it is dangerous to oppose God’s ways.
The Nile River was very important to the Egyptian people. On either side of the Nile River was a desert, so the Egyptians relied on the Nile River for water for themselves, their crops, and their cattle. Do you know how important this river was to them? The Egyptian people actually made up praise and worship songs to sing to the Nile River! Can you imagine singing a praise song to a river? God wanted to show the Egyptians that HE made the river and that HE deserves all glory and praise, so God allowed Moses to turn the river into blood. Can you imagine how disgusting that would be? No one really likes to look at blood. A river filled with blood would smell bad, and everything in the river would die!
Teaching Idea: Hold up your pitcher of water. Pour water into the pitcher with red food coloring inconspicuously at the bottom - and watch the water turn to “blood!” http://www.aish.com/passfamily/passfamilydefault/Family_Fun_with_the_Ten...)
Say: Pharaoh focused on the miracle instead of the message, and he would not let God’s people go.
The Egyptians thought that frogs had special powers; therefore, no one could kill a frog. So when God sent frogs, He sent them everywhere! The Bible says that frogs came in their bedrooms and even onto their beds! Frogs were found in their baking supplies, their food – everywhere! Moses asked Pharaoh when he wanted these frogs to go away. Guess what his answer was: TOMORROW! Can you imagine waiting yet another day to live with all these frogs? Do you see how stubborn Pharaoh was being?
Teaching Idea for younger children: Have the kids hop like frogs all around the room.
We aren’t very sure what the word “gnat” meant in these times. Some people think it was lice; others think it was mosquitoes. We all know how annoying just one mosquito bite can be, but can you imagine this – the Bible says that all the dust of the ground became gnats and came upon the people and the animals. Teacher: Hold a hand full of dust or dirt in your hand. Tell the children that for each particle of dirt/dust they see, that’s how many gnats God brought on the Egyptian people.
Ask: Do you think that NOW Pharaoh will let God’s people go? No!
Say: By this point, even the Egyptians were telling Pharaoh that this was the finger of God.
The magicians said to Pharaoh, “God’s powerful finger has done this.” But Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn. He wouldn’t listen, just as the Lord had said. - Exodus 8:19
Do you like when a fly lands on your big, juicy hamburger? Neither did the Egyptians. God sent dense swarms of flies to cover the land. This time Pharaoh told Moses that SOME of God’s people could go, but Moses said that ALL of God’s people needed to be set free to worship God. Pharaoh agreed, but as soon as the flies left, Pharaoh changed his mind.
In Egypt at that time, a person’s wealth was measured by how much cattle they owned. So when the livestock was killed, this was very bad for their economy. And to make matters more interesting, only the Egyptian cows were killed. All the cows belonging to the Israelites stayed alive.
Have you ever had a blister? A boil is a big blister. And because Pharaoh still wouldn’t let God’s people go to worship, God sent a plague of boils. Moses and Aaron took ashes from a furnace and tossed them into the air. As the ashes blew across the land, boils broke out on people and animals!
It was at this point that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh had deliberately chosen a life of resisting God. He promised to let the people go, and then went back on his word. His repentance was not real. We damage others and ourselves when we pretend to change but don’t mean it.
God warned Pharaoh and the people that He was going to send the “full force” of His plague against them. He told them to put all animals and people under shelter. There were people in Egypt who now feared God, and they obeyed. However, there were also people who ignored the warning, and they were killed. The Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed to the ground. It was the WORST storm in all the land of Egypt.
Teaching Idea:Grab a handful of ice and throw it up in the air. Let the children hear it fall. (Safety note – don’t let the ice hit the children; this can hurt).
Or, Throw large marshmallows out into the crowd. Tell the children to pretend that it’s hard ice.
By this point, Pharaoh told Moses that he would let the men go, but not the women. Moses told Pharaoh that ALL of God’s people should be set free. Since Pharaoh wouldn’t listen. God sent a plague of locusts. (A locust looks a lot like a grasshopper.)
The thunderstorm of plague seven destroyed the flax and barley crops, but the wheat and spelt crops had not bloomed yet, so they were not destroyed. The plague of the locusts wiped out these crops.
God sent darkness so intense that the Bible says it could be felt. This darkness produced a dread in the hearts of the Egyptians. For three days, no one could see anyone or leave his house. It would seem that their homes were darkened as well, but for the Israelites, there was light in their homes (10:22-23). The three days of darkness must have been very frightening for the people in Egypt. The Egyptians worshiped the sun god, Re. When God sent this plague of darkness, He was showing the Egyptians that He was the all-powerful God.
This time, Pharaoh said that all the people could go, but that the cattle and livestock must stay. Moses told Pharaoh that everything and everyone should go. They needed their animals to make sacrifices to God.
Ask: What did Pharaoh say? He said “NO!”
Say: God gave Pharaoh and all the Egyptian people many opportunities to listen to Him and to obey His word (2 Peter 3:9). Next week, we’ll learn about the tenth plague: most dreadful plague of all.
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: Serious consequences come to those who refuse to listen to God.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: God provides a way to escape the punishment of sin, and His way is the only way.
PPT VERSE
Key Verse:
He (God) wants everyone to be saved. He wants them to come to know the truth. - 1 Timothy 2:4
Props: any “plague” props from last week; branch with leaves
Say: God was going to set His people free from being slaves in the land of Egypt. He sent Moses and Aaron to speak to Pharaoh. They demanded that all of God’s people be set free to worship Him. Each time, what did Pharaoh say? “NO”!
God sent plagues upon the land of Egypt. He did this to show the people that they should worship the Creator, not the creation. God was teaching the Israelites and the Egyptians that He alone is God.
Note to teacher: Quickly review these first 9 plagues; use your props from last week. Remember, the point isn’t for the children to memorize these plaques in order. This is not an academic study. The point is for kids to understand that God is ALWAYS speaking; they need to be listening! God said His people were going to be free, and He meant it. God ALWAYS keeps His promises!
In all of these plagues, God gave people the opportunity to LISTEN to Him; to trust and believe in Him. After the plague of darkness, Pharaoh had these harsh words for Moses:
Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you don’t come to see me again! If you do, you will die.”
“I’ll do just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never come to see you again.” - Exodus 10:28-29
Ask: Did Pharaoh listen to God? No Did the Egyptian people listen to God? Some did Did the Israelites, the Hebrew people, listen to God? Yes
Say: Everyone living in Egypt at that time saw these plagues, but not everyone listened to God. It is possible to see what God is doing and still not trust and believe in God (James 2:19). It is VERY important to always listen to God!
God gave these people MANY opportunities to LISTEN, and now He is going to send the most dreadful plague of all.
The Lord had spoken to Moses. He had said, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you and your people go. When he does, he will drive you completely away. Tell the men and women alike to ask their neighbors for articles made out of silver and gold.”
The Lord caused the Egyptians to treat the Israelites in a kind way. Pharaoh’s officials and the people had great respect for Moses. - Exodus 11:1-3
For 400 years, the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. They worked hard, and they were not paid. God told them to go to their Egyptian neighbors and ask them for anything that was made from silver or gold. The Bible says the Egyptian people were happy to give their things away because God caused the Egyptians to like the Israelites. They had great respect for Moses.
Before Moses left Pharaoh, Moses gave him a final warning:
Moses said, “The Lord says, ‘About midnight I will go through every part of Egypt. Every oldest son in Egypt will die. The oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, will die. The oldest son of the female slave, who works at her hand mill, will die. All of the male animals that were born first to their mothers among the cattle will also die. There will be loud crying all over Egypt. It will be worse than it’s ever been before. And nothing like it will ever be heard again.
But among the people of Israel not even one dog will bark at any man or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord treats Egypt differently from us.
All of your officials will come and bow down to Me. They will say, ‘Go, you and all of the people who follow you!’ After that, I will leave.” - Exodus 11:4-8
Of all the plagues that God sent to Egypt, this was by far the worse. Every firstborn son and every firstborn male animal would die. The Bible says that there would be a loud crying all over Egypt. This is truly VERY SAD. Sin always spoils things. Because Pharaoh and the people in Egypt did not listen to God, they were going to suffer terribly! Remember – God had given them MANY opportunities to put their trust in Him. But they refused. Their choice to disobey God was going to have a terrible consequence.
At the same time God was going to judge the Egyptians, He would show mercy to the Israelites. God gave Moses VERY important instructions for the Israelites.
Speak to the whole community of Israel. Tell them that on the tenth day of this month each man must get a lamb from his flock. A lamb should be chosen for each family and home.
The animals you choose must be males that are a year old. They must not have any flaws. You may choose either sheep or goats. Take care of them until the 14th day of the month. Then the whole community of Israel must kill them when the sun goes down. Take some of the blood. Put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where you eat the lambs. - Exodus 12:3, 5-7
God is just (2 Chronicles 12:6). Let’s look at the word just for a minute. The dictionary defines just as “guided by truth, based on what is right and deserved.” Teacher: you may want to act this out by calling up two adult leaders to be the bank robbers. You play the judge. Let’s say there was a judge in a courtroom, and he had two criminals in front of him. Each man had robbed a bank. Both men were guilty. The law said the punishment for robbing a bank was 10 years in jail. What if the judge sent one man to jail for 10 years, and one man to jail for one year. Ask: Would that be fair? No. Both men were guilty and deserved 10 years in jail. Ask: What if the judge decided to let both men go free? Would this be fair? No, because the law said the punishment was 10 years in jail. (If he let them go, it would not be fair to all the people who did not rob a bank.) If the judge was a just judge, he would send both men to jail for 10 years. In the same way, God is just and He MUST punish sin. If God did not punish sin, He would no longer be just. Amazingly, God is also love, and He mercifully provides a way to escape punishment (Psalm 33:5).
These are the instructions that the Lord gave:
Then Moses sent for all of the elders of Israel. He said to them, “Go at once. Choose the animals for your families. Each family must kill a Passover lamb. Get a branch of a hyssop plant. Dip it into the blood in the bowl. Put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you can go out the door of your house until morning.
The Lord will go through the land to strike the Egyptians down. He’ll see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. He will pass over that house. He won’t let the destroying angel enter your homes to kill you.
Obey all of these directions.” - Exodus 12:21-24a
Note to Teacher: Use a branch with leaves to demonstrate the painting of blood on the door to show the children that the blood on the door is actually a foreshadowing of the CROSS.
Say: When God came in judgment to kill the firstborn, He would PASS OVER every house where the blood was applied. Anyone who obeyed God showed that he trusted God and believed that what He said was true. Anyone could choose to obey God.
“God had been gracious with Pharaoh. He had given him many opportunities to let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh refused every time. God said that He would judge the Egyptians, and He did just that. God is not like us. We may threaten to discipline our children, but often we never follow through. God always keeps His Word. The Egyptians were judged.
On the other hand, the Israelites experienced the Lord’s kindness because they believed in Him. When He came in judgment, wherever He saw the blood applied, He passed over. The firstborn lived - but only because the lamb died. The Passover lamb died in the place of the firstborn.” (John Cross Stranger on the Road to Emmaus p. 123)
Midnight came. What did God do? He did exactly what He said He would do. God ALWAYS keeps His promises!
At midnight the Lord struck down every oldest son in Egypt. He killed the oldest son of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne. He killed all of the oldest sons of prisoners, who were in prison. He also killed all of the male animals that were born first to their mothers among the livestock.
Pharaoh and all of his officials got up during the night. So did all of the Egyptians. There was loud crying in Egypt because someone had died in every home. - Exodus 12: 29-30
During the night, Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and told them to get out of Egypt. Pharaoh told them to take their flocks and herds and every person. The Egyptian people BEGGED the Israelites to hurry up and leave their country. What a difference! Just days before, Pharaoh had many opportunities to listen to God and to let His people go, but he would not. Now he was begging them to leave!
For Older Children: After the death of their firstborn sons, the Egyptians did not want to have to look at the Israelites and be reminded of their sin. Remember this - it was the Egyptians who had first killed the Israelite baby boys by throwing them into the Nile River. Now it was their turn to feel the terrible pain of losing a child.
The Israelites left in such a hurry that they took their bread dough before the yeast was added to it. Have you ever had to eat quickly then run somewhere? This is how their Passover dinner was. They ate their meal, and then had to get out quickly. Remember, the Lord caused the Egyptians to act kindly to the Israelites, so they left with gold, silver, and clothing.
All together, there were about 600,000 men plus women and children. There were probably around three million people. Do you remember the promise that God made to Abraham? In Genesis 15:5, The Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky. Count the stars, if you can.” Then he said to him, “That is how many children you will have.”
The Bible also says that many “other people” went with them. Ask: Who do you think these “other people” could have been? The Egyptians who trusted God.
The Bible says that the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years – to the very day! God’s timing is always perfect! When they left, they marched out like an army.
But guess who changed his mind again?! Pharaoh Come back next week to hear what happens next!
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: God provides a way to escape the punishment of sin, and His way is the only way.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: God wants us to listen to Him and follow Him completely.
Key Verse:
Moses, go up close and listen to the LORD. Then come back and tell us, and we will do everything he says. - Deuteronomy 5:27 CEV
Say: God made a promise to Abraham that he would have an uncountable number of descendants - more than the stars in the sky! For exactly 430 years, Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites, had been slaves in the land of Egypt. Pharaoh was the ruler of Egypt. God sent Moses to Pharaoh to tell him to let God’s people go. What did Pharaoh say to Moses (and ultimately to God)? “No!”
Pharaoh would not listen to God. God sent terrible plagues upon the land of Egypt. Why did He do this? God was showing His incredible power. God had power over all the false gods that the Egyptians worshiped. Repeatedly God proved His power and might. Now remember, some of the Egyptians believed God - they were listening to Him. But Pharaoh would not.
The last plague that God sent was by far the worse plague. God sent the death angel to kill the first-born child of every family and the firstborn of every animal. The Bible says that there was loud crying in Egypt for there was not a household without someone dead. During the night, Pharaoh summoned Moses and told him to leave Egypt. This is exactly what God said would happen. Moses and all the Israelites left in a hurry. Their bread did not even rise, and this is why Jewish people today still celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Say: Moses led 600,000 people out of Egypt in the middle of the night. God did not lead Moses and the Israelites through enemy land. Rather He led them through the desert toward the Red Sea as they journeyed to the Promised Land. God led His people with a pillar of clouds during the day, and a pillar of fire at night. Following these incredible sights would remind them that God was always with them, guiding them each step of the way on their journey to the Promised Land.
Ask: What has God given us so that we can know that God is always with us? The Bible - something the Israelites did not have.
Look to God’s Word for reassurance of His presence. Just as the Hebrews looked to the pillars of cloud and fire, we can look to God’s Word day and night to know He is with us, helping us through life.
Say: God told Moses to lead the people toward the Red Sea. God told Moses that He was going to make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so Pharaoh would chase after the Israelites. God would then do something amazing so all the Egyptians would know that He was the one true God (Exodus 14:1-4).
Application: The Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Earlier, we read in the Bible that Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and would not listen to Him, but now we read that God hardened his heart. This teaches us a VERY important lesson - we must ALWAYS be ready to listen to God! The hardening of a heart is a process - a repeated event. If a person hardens their heart too many times, he may come to a place where they cannot listen anymore.
Say: Once the Israelites had left Egypt, Pharaoh became upset that he released all of his slave workers, so he changed his mind - again. This happened just as God said it would. Pharaoh sent 600 of his best chariots after Moses.
The king of Egypt was told that the people had gotten away. Then Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them. They said, “What have we done? We’ve let the people of Israel go! We’ve lost our slaves and all of the work they used to do for us!” - Exodus 14:5
Say: As Pharaoh’s army came after Moses and the Israelites, it looked like an IMPOSSIBLE situation. To the east was the sea. To the south and west, there were mountains, and to the north was Pharaoh’s army.The Israelites were trapped.
Ask: Have you ever been trapped? Do you know how it feels to be completely trapped?
Say: To top it off, listen to what the people were saying to Moses:
They said to Moses, “Why did you bring us to the desert to die? Weren’t there any graves in Egypt? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? We told you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians.’ It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die here in the desert!” - Exodus 14: 11-12
Say: The Israelites were afraid. They were blaming Moses for being trapped. The interesting thing to note here is that GOD led them EXACTLY to this place where they would FEEL trapped. He was about to show the entire world His amazing power as the One who RESCUES His people!
Moses answered the people. He said, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm. You will see how the Lord will save you today. Do you see those Egyptians? You will never see them again. The Lord will fight for you. Just be still.” - Exodus 14:13-14
Say: WOW! Do you think it would be hard to STAND STILL in a situation like this? Now listen to what God said.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people of Israel to move on. Hold your wooden staff out. Reach your hand out over the Red Sea to part the water. Then the people can go through the sea on dry ground.” - Exodus 14:15-16
Say: The Lord told Moses to stop praying and get moving! Prayer must have a vital place in our lives, but there is also a place for action. Sometimes we know what to do, but we pray for more guidance as an excuse to postpone doing it. If we know what we should do, then it is time to get moving.
I will make the hearts of the Egyptians stubborn. They will go in after the Israelites. I will gain glory for myself because of what will happen to Pharaoh, his whole army, his chariots and his horsemen.
The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. I will gain glory because of what will happen to all of them. - Exodus 14:17-18
Say: Remember that earlier I told you that the Lord placed a pillar of clouds to lead the Israelites by day and a pillar of fire to lead them by night. Just at this moment, God moved these pillars in between the Israelites and the Egyptian army, so that the cloud brought darkness to one side and light to the other. Neither army went near the other all night long.
Then Moses reached his hand out over the Red Sea. All that night the Lord pushed the sea back with a strong east wind. He turned the sea into dry land. The waters were parted. The people of Israel went through the sea on dry ground. There was a wall of water on their right side and on their left. - Exodus 14:21-22
Say: There was no apparent way of escape, but the Lord opened up a dry path through the sea. Sometimes we find ourselves caught in a problem and see no way out. Don’t panic; God can open up a way.
Can you imagine walking across the Sea with a wall of water on each side? Do you think the kids poked at the water? Do you think it was exciting? Scary?
But Pharaoh’s army soon came in behind them. And listen to what God did next!
The Egyptians chased them. All of Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.
Near the end of the night, the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud. He saw the Egyptian army and threw it into a panic. He kept their chariot wheels from turning freely. That made the chariots hard to drive.
The Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for Israel against Egypt.”
Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “Reach your hand out over the sea. The waters will flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” So Moses reached his hand out over the sea. At sunrise, the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians tried to run away from the sea. But the Lord swept them into it. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen. It covered the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the people of Israel into the sea. Not one of the Egyptians was left. - Exodus 14:23-28
Say: God had already sent TEN plagues upon the people of Egypt. He gave them many opportunities to listen and obey. Even after their firstborn sons were killed, they STILL did not listen to God. They chased after the Israelites, and died because of it. Terrible consequences come to those who will not listen to God. Disobedience brings punishment.
God delivered His people, the Israelites. Even in an impossible, trapped situation, God rescued them. All glory and honor belongs to Him!
Application: God knew that Pharaoh’s heart was hard toward Him because of sin and that Pharaoh was not willing to admit his sinfulness. Our hearts are also hard toward God from the time we are born because of sin. The Bible says the heart is “desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Your sin separates you from God, because God is holy - perfectly pure (Isaiah 59:2). The good news is that God loves you in spite of your sin. His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, died on the cross giving His life’s blood to take away your sin and its punishment (1 John 1:7b). Your sin does not have to keep you apart from God any longer. You can believe in Him and be forgiven forever. Pharaoh refused to believe God. He refused to listen to Him. His heart was hardened, and God knew what his sinful heart would cause him to do about the Hebrews leaving Egypt. (Child Evangelism Bible: Lesson: Crossing the Red Sea, page 89)
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: God wants us to listen to Him and follow Him completely.
Note to the Teacher: To me, the most difficult thing for me to believe is not the parting of the sea, or of the Israelites passing through it, but the fact that the Egyptians followed them into the sea. Think of this for just a moment. Any well-trained army knows better than to plunge (pardon the pun) into an ambush. Whenever an army is faced with its enemy ahead and barriers are on both sides, there is a serious concern of being trapped in the middle by your opponent. Even worse, if you were to see the sea parted by the God of your adversary, would you be inclined to enter into that sea, knowing that you were seeking to capture the very people God was aiding to escape? To me, there are only two possible explanations to the entrance of the Egyptians into the sea, and both of them are incredible.
One surprising possibility is that the Egyptians entered into the sea without even knowing it. This possibility is usually one, which we would not even entertain, largely due to our own preconceived ideas of what happened. I do not know of anyone else who has come to this conclusion, so I would caution you to think critically here (as elsewhere). Nevertheless, there are several observations that make this an option that must be reckoned with.
First, we are not told anywhere that the Egyptians knew that they were entering into the sea. We are told that they entered the sea (v. 23), but it is not specifically reported that they knew this was the case. Second, the time of the passing through the sea (for both the Israelites and the Egyptians) was late at night (cf. 14:20, 24, 27). Third, the pillar that gave light to the Israelites produced or promoted darkness for the Egyptians (v. 20). True, the Israelites could see the sea in the light provided by the pillar, but could the Egyptians? Fourth, it would seem highly unlikely that the Egyptians would enter into the sea, knowing that God had parted it for His people. Fifth, the Egyptians appear to be guided only by the Israelites. The Egyptians were in hot pursuit. Where the Israelites went, the Egyptians followed. (It wouldn’t be difficult to follow the tracks of 2 million people, now would it?) The Egyptians were concentrating on the object of their pursuit (the Israelites), not the scenery around them. You tend not to see what you are not looking for. Sixth, since the seabed had become dry ground, there would be no particular evidence that the Egyptians were in the midst of the sea. If, perchance, my speculations here are correct, can you imagine the horror of the Egyptians when they first realized where they were? They really did get in “over their heads” this time.
Bob Deffinbaugh,The Red Sea: Israel’s Deliverance and Egypt’s Defeat (Exodus 13:17–14:31)
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: God faithfully supplies the needs of His people.
PPT VERSE
Key Verse:
Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you. - Psalm 55:22a
Say: God showed His mighty power by freeing the Israelites and destroying the Egyptians who had held them as slaves for 430 years.
Every Israelite crossed the Red Sea. Every single person knew that GOD was fighting FOR the Israelites. Each person saw God’s mighty hand at work that day.
Say: When all God’s people had crossed safely, and when they saw what happened to Pharaoh’s army, the Israelites broke out in praise and worship. With tambourines and dancing, the Israelites praised God! He was their Deliverer! God was the Hero!
I will sing to the Lord.
He is greatly honored.
He has thrown Pharaoh’s horses and their riders
into the Red Sea.
The Lord gives me strength. I sing about Him.
He has saved me.
He is my God. I will praise Him.
He is my father’s God. I will honor Him. - Exodus 15:1-2
But soon, their attitude changed.
Moses led them through the desert, and for three days, they did not find water. When they finally did see water in Marah, they discovered that the water was bitter. What did they do? They GRUMBLED. Do you know what it is to grumble? It means to complain. They cried out to Moses who cried out to God. Listen carefully to what God said:
Then Moses cried out to the Lord. The Lord showed him a stick. Moses threw it into the water. The water became sweet.
There the Lord made a rule and a law for the people. And there he put them to the test. He said, “I am the Lord your God. Listen carefully to my voice. Do what is right in my eyes. Pay attention to my commands. Obey all of my rules. If you do, I will not send on you any of the sicknesses I sent on the Egyptians. I am the Lord who heals you.” - Exodus 15:25-26
This incident was a test. Do you like tests? No. Neither do I. But God allowed this to show the Israelite people that their hearts were hard, like Pharaoh’s.
Can you imagine having a hardened heart after seeing what happened to the Egyptians? We are much the same way. We see God do many wonderful things for us. We see Him set us free from our sin. We see Him do mighty things in people’s lives all around us, yet when something goes wrong, we complain. Complaining against God is a VERY serious sin. God wants us to always TRUST HIM and listen to Him.
So now He was telling the Israelites – If you listen to Me and obey Me, then I will not send plagues upon you.
PPT CUE
God ALWAYS keeps His promises. Some of God’s promises are based 100% on Him. Another type of promise is called an “If - then” promise. If you do something, then I will do something. This was an example of an “If - then” promise. If you listen and obey, then I will be your Healer.
Ask: Do you think that the Israelites will listen to God and obey Him?
Say: Once Moses listened to God, and put the stick into the water, God made the waters sweet, and the people and animals had plenty to drink. God led them to camp at Elim where there were 70 palm trees and twelve springs.
A month had now passed from the time that the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. Water had already been a problem, and now they were hungry. “Their growling stomachs soon produced grumbling lips.”
The people complained against Moses and Aaron. They said that they would have rather died in Egypt than starve to death out here. They even said that they had “pots of meat and all the food they wanted in the land of Egypt.” - Exodus 16:3
Ask: This is hard to imagine, isn’t it? They were SLAVES. Do SLAVES get to eat as much as they want? No. Did the Israelites forget how bad their lives were in Egypt? Did they forget that the Egyptians KILLED their baby boys? How could they ever want to go back there? They were living in a fantasy, for Egypt was never like anything they were imagining.
Say: Remember, God was leading the Israelites. He led them by pillars of clouds by day and pillars of fire by night. They were in the EXACT place where God led them. To complain against Moses and Aaron was ultimately to complain against God. Grumbling against God is very serious, and grumbling spreads like a contagious disease. The message here is very clear: do not be a complainer! Philippians 2:14 says, “Do everything without complaining and arguing.”
God is rich in mercy and undeserved grace. He was patient in teaching the Israelites to trust Him. God did two things:
1. He revealed His glory in a cloud (16:10) - God showed His glory in the desert. (Note to teacher: There are times when God takes us into the desert - into a dry and barren place, and there, God promises to be with us.)
2. He provided for the Israelites’ physical needs - water, meat, and bread (16:11-14).
In the evening, God sent quail (birds) for the people to eat. This was the meat that God promised to send. In the morning, God sent manna. The manna covered the ground and looked like thin flakes of frost. The word manna means, “What is it?” Moses told the people that this manna was bread from the Lord.
Teaching Idea: Give the children some Frosted Flakes to eat.
God’s grace came with a test. God tested the people again by giving them clear directions:
Then the Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people must go out each day. Have them gather enough bread for that day. Here is how I will put them to the test. I will see if they will follow my directions.” - Exodus 16:4
Say: Again God gave clear directions. He did not do this to impose needless rules upon His people, but rather to show the people that it is more important to obey God than to obey your physical needs. God was showing His people that HE ALONE would supply their needs. In the desert, there is no food. Just as He provided their escape from Pharaoh through the Red Sea, He would provide their bread every day in the desert.
Here is what the Lord has commanded. He has said, “Each one of you should gather as much as you need. Take two quarts for each person who lives in your tent.” - Exodus 16:24
The people of Israel gathered only what they needed. Then Moses said to them, “Don’t keep any of it until morning.” But some of them didn’t pay any attention to Moses. They kept part of it until morning because they did not trust that God would provide more bread for them the next day. But, in the morning, it was full of maggots and began to stink. So Moses became angry with them.
On the sixth day, God had special instructions about the manna.
On the sixth day, they must prepare what they bring in. On that day they must gather twice as much as on the other days.” - Exodus 16:5
(Moses) said to them, “Here is what the Lord commanded. He said, ‘Tomorrow will be a day of rest. It will be a holy Sabbath day. It will be set apart for the Lord. So bake what you want to bake. Boil what you want to boil. Save what is left. Keep it until morning.’ ”
So they saved it until morning, just as Moses commanded. It didn’t stink or get maggots in it. - Exodus 16:23-24
This was the first time God instructed His people to observe a Sabbath day. On the Sabbath, the manna did not spoil. God even provided a day of rest for His people.
Whatever God says will happen. God’s word is ALWAYS true (John 17:17). Just as the Israelites should have listened to God, so should we! God was leading His people, and God provided everything they needed. God is always showing His grace to us; the biggest grace of all is that He sent His Son, Jesus, to take away our sin. God is the Provider and the Savior!
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: God faithfully supplies the needs of His people.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: God gave us His Law to show us our complete need for Him.
Key Verse:
For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. - Romans 3:20 NLT
Props: 2 pieces of identical clothing – one that is filthy and one that looks brand new
Say: Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God’s desire has been to restore the broken relationship between God and people. God made a covenant. A covenant is a promise from God that can never be broken. The covenant stated that God wanted a relationship with the people, but in order to have this loving relationship, they had to turn away from their sin. God promised that He would send a Deliverer to crush Satan (Genesis 3:15). God also made a covenant, a forever promise, with Abraham. God promised that through Abraham’s children everyone on earth would be blessed. God said that Abraham’s famly, called the Israelites, would be His people and that they were to live as an example to the rest of the world.
Years after Abraham died, the Israelites became slaves in the land of Egypt. God sent Moses to deliver them from slavery. Moses led the great Exodus (or “exit”) out of Egypt into the Promised Land.
Say: Read with me, beginning in Exodus 19:1
Exactly three months after the people of Israel left Egypt, they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they started out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai. They camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
Then Moses went up to God. The Lord called out to him from the mountain. He said, “Here is what I want you to say to my people, who came from Jacob’s family. Tell the Israelites, ‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt. You saw how I carried you on the wings of eagles and brought you to Myself.’ ”
“Now obey me completely. Keep My covenant. If you do, then out of all of the nations you will be my special treasure. The whole earth is mine. But you will be a kingdom of priests to serve me. You will be my holy nation.” That is what you must tell the Israelites. - Exodus 19:1-6
Ask: So far, do you think that the Israelites had been trusting God in the wilderness? No, they had been complaining and doubting God’s goodness.
Say: When God gave the “IF-THEN” promise, the Israelites should have admitted that they couldn’t keep their side of their covenant with God. Instead, they readily agreed to God’s way. They said, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” (Exodus 19:8)
The truth is, these people did not understand the depth of their sin problem, and they didn’t understand God’s holiness. God is the Master Teacher, and He gave them a “hands-on” project. He told the people to wash their clothes. This may sound strange to us because we wear clean clothes everyday. But remember, these people had been traveling for 3 months in the desert. Can you imagine how dirty their clothes must have been? Teacher: Show a really dirty piece of clothing.
When God told them to wash their clothes, He was helping the people understand that just as their clothes were dirty, their hearts were polluted as well. They needed God to clean them from the inside out! God wanted the people to be physically and spiritually ready to hear from Him. Teacher: Show that same piece of clothing completely new and clean.
After the people washed their clothes, Moses led the people to the foot of the mountain. God set a boundary line around Mt. Sinai that they were not allowed to cross. They were not to go up the mountain, or even touch the mountain.
The people were warned not to approach God, because He is holy, and they were sinful. God sent thunder and lightning, a thick cloud over the mountain, and a loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled with fear and awe of God. God called Moses up to the mountain, and there He gave him the 10 Commandments.
These 10 Commandments would teach the people more about God. It showed that He requires the high standard of perfect behavior because He is perfect. God also gave these rules to show love and protection to His people. These rules would help them keep away from the dangers of sin. The commandments showed the people their need to separate from sin and turn to God.
God wrote the 10 Commandments on two stone tablets. (Exodus 31:18; 32:15-16; 34:1, 28; Dt. 10:4). These commandments were written on stone to symbolize that they could not be changed. Human laws change from time to time, but God’s word never changes.
“Lord, Your word lasts forever. It stands firm in the heavens.” - Psalm 119:89
Say: We’re going to talk through the meaning of each of these commandments. The first four commandments are all about our relationship to God. The last six commandments are about our relationship to other people. Let’s look at the commandments in Exodus 20.
Isaiah 45:5 says, “I am the Lord. There is no other Lord. I am the one and only God.”
Most of us probably do not worship foreign idols, but did you know that even good things could become like a god to us? If toys, family, being popular, video games, sports, hobbies, or anything else becomes more important to you than God is; you have broken this commandment.
Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the Lord. That is my name! I will not let any other god share my glory. I will not let statues of gods share my praise.”
No man-made image is worthy of worship – only the true God is. Be careful about directing too much attention to pictures, statues, or symbols of God. God is a spirit, and there is no need to form a physical image of Him or of anything He created (angels).
We should always respect God’s name. God’s name should not be used lightly. Our culture in general shows great disrespect for God’s name. Often His name is used while cursing or joking. The Bible clearly tells us to not misuse God’s name; always speak God’s name with respect.
God was telling the people that their bodies needed one day a week for rest and worship. As with all of God’s rules, this was for their own (and our own) benefit. Even today, our culture promotes over-busyness. Activities dominate many people’s lives. God wants us to be still and quiet so that we can listen to Him.
God wants our homes and family life to be peaceful and filled with love. Children should be respectful and obey their parents. God provides parents to help, protect, and teach their children. By respecting their parents, kids show that they respect God’s provision for them.
Ask: What are some ways that you can show respect to your parents? Obey the first time; don’t talk back; have a happy attitude; speak nicely.
This commandment has a promise in it. It says that if you honor your parents, you will live a long time on the earth. Deuteronomy 5:16 also promises that things will go well in your life if you respect your parents. Raise your hand if you want things to go well in your life. God has made a promise to you. Respect and obey your parents and watch this promise come true!
God created man in His own image, and God gives life to all. It is wrong to take away life from another person. But even more than that, God tells us that if we WISH that someone were dead, that is the same thing as murder! (Matthew 5:22)
When a person is married, God tells them that they are to show romantic love only to their husband or wife. The Bible also tells us all to have pure thoughts toward other people.
Stealing is taking something that does not belong to you. This even includes stealing answers from another person’s test.
Ask: Have you ever had something stolen from you? It feels terrible, doesn’t it! God is the one who provides what we have. We should trust that God gives us everything we need. Taking things away from other people shows we do not trust God’s provision.
Say: God can do anything – except for this: God cannot lie! (Hebrews 6:18 says that it is impossible for God to lie. In the New Testament, Jesus declares that He is the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life. (John 14:6)
Just the opposite, Satan is the father of lies. The Bible says that lying is his native language. (John 8:44) Most of us in this room speak English. The Bible says that Satan speaks LIES. This commandment warns us not to be like Satan, but rather to be like God and speak the truth.
This means that we should not want what other people have. The Bible tells us to be content with what we have.
Hebrews 13:5 says, “Don’t be controlled by love for money. Be happy with what you have. God has said, ‘I will never leave you. I will never desert you.’”
Say: The people were beginning to understand God’s standard of holiness and their sinful ways. Soon they would realize that there was no way to keep all of these commandments perfectly, all the time, on their own. They desperately needed God!
PPT KEY VERSE
Key Verse:
For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. - Romans 3:20 NLT
PPT MAIN POINT
Main Point: God gave us His Law to show us our complete need for Him.
Teacher Note: The interesting thing to note here is that these 10 Commandments really were not new. God had already written them in the hearts of people. We can see in prior Scripture that each of these laws had already been addressed; these laws were previously understood. In giving the 10 Commandments, God compiled these truths, reiterating His standard of righteousness.
1. Do not worship any other gods. - Genesis 35:2 NIV: ‘Get rid of the foreign gods.’
2. Do not make any idols. - Genesis 31:30 NIV: Laban to Jacob: ‘But why did you steal my gods?’
3. Do not misuse the name of God. - Genesis 24:3 NIV: ‘I want you to swear by the Lord.’
4. Keep the Sabbath holy. - Genesis 2:3 NIV: ‘God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.’
5. Honor your father and mother. - Genesis 27:41 NIV: ‘The days of mourning my father are near.’
6. Do not murder. - Genesis 4:9 NIV: ‘Where is your brother Abel?’
7. Do not commit adultery. - Genesis 39:9: ‘How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?’
8. Do not steal. - Genesis 44:4-7 NIV: ‘Why have you stolen my silver cup?’
9. Do not lie. - Genesis 39:17 NIV: ‘[Joseph] came to me to make sport of me but he ran.’
10. Do not covet. - Genesis 12:18; 20:3 NIV: ‘You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.
PPT TITLE
Main Point: God provided a way to be with His people.
Key Verse:
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. - Exodus 40:34 ESV
Materials: Two small identical clear glasses, clear oil, water, food coloring, thin card
Say: God gave the 10 Commandments to show the people that they desperately needed Him. He set a boundary around the mountain to show the people that their sin separated them from God. He also had the people wash their clothes so that they could see the difference between what is filthy and what is clean.
Say: God is perfectly holy; there is nothing impure about Him at all. Mankind is sinful; every person has sinned. The Bible says this about God: “Your eyes are too pure to look at what is evil. You can’t put up with the wrong things people do.” (Habakkuk 1:13)
It’s sort of like this. Have two small glasses. Fill one to the brim with water. Say: Man is sinful. Our sins make us not pure. Drop food coloring into the water and stir gently. Take an identical glass and pour oil into it, to the brim. Say: God is completely pure without one drop of sin. Because He is sinless, and we are sinful, the two can not mix. Place a playing card or credit card over the WATER, turn it upside down and place it on top of the oil cup. Align the two. Pull the card just slightly so a few bubbles of oil can move past it. The oil will rise to the top and displace every bit of the impure water.
Say: But God wanted to be with His people, so He made a way to be with them. His plan was to send Jesus to take away our sin and make us holy. God would send Jesus when the time was just right (Galatians 4:4-5).
In the meantime, God really wanted His people, the Israelites, to understand His holiness and His desire to be with them. God told them to build a special place called a Tabernacle as a way for them to see these two things. Although the Israelites didn’t know it at the time, every part of the Tabernacle was actually a symbol for Jesus (Hebrews 8:5, 9:11).
The word Tabernacle means “tent”, “place of dwelling”, or “sanctuary”. The Tabernacle would be set up in the middle of the camp with each of the 12 tribes of Israel surrounding it. As the people were traveled through the dessert, they would pack up the Tabernacle, carry it with them, and then set it up when God told them to stop traveling. Of course, God did not need a house for Himself. The Tabernacle would be a sign for the Israelites that God was with them.
God asked the people to give an offering of gold, silver, bronze; blue, purple, and red yard; fine linen; goat hair; ram skins; cowhides; acacia wood; olive oil; stone and gems. This sounds like a very interesting offering, doesn’t it? God said they could give these things only if they wanted to. God loves a cheerful giver! - 2 Corinthians 9:7
God told Moses the exact plans, down to the inch, for how He wanted the Tabernacle to be built. This is because God is a perfect and holy God who had a perfect plan for His dwelling place. So Moses and the people brought their offerings and used them to begin building the Tabernacle. God continued to appear as a pillar of clouds by day and a pillar of fire by night (Numbers 14:14, Nehemiah 9:19). This was a very big way for God to say that He was ALWAYS with His people!
Say: When the Tabernacle was finished, it had several distinct parts.
When you first came to the Tabernacle, you’d be in the Courtyard that went around the Tabernacle. The courtyard was very large, with a wall going all the way around it. All the Israelites were allowed in the courtyard.
At the front of the courtyard was the Bronze Altar. This is where animal sacrifices were offered. Our sin leads to death (Romans 3:23) and separation from God (Habakkuk 1:13). But God loves us and He provided a way to pay for our sins. What is the opposite of death? Life! Listen to this verse:
The life of each creature is in its blood. So I have given you the blood of animals to pay for your sin on the altar. Blood is life. That is why blood pays for your sin. - Leviticus 17:11
God told the people that their sin would be covered when they killed a perfect male animal from the herd, a male without any flaws (Leviticus 1:3). The animal, often a lamb, would be the substitute for the person and would cover his sin.
The man must place his hand on the head of the burnt offering. Then the Lord will accept it in place of him. It will pay for his sin. - Leviticus 1:4
The bronze altar was a symbol of the cross because when Jesus, the perfect Lamb, died for our sin, our sins were paid for in full. No more sacrifices were needed ever again. When Jesus died, He TOOK AWAY our sin. Our sin was not merely “covered” but rather it was taken away. (See Hebrews 10:1-10.)
Near the Bronze Altar was the Basin. The Basin was filled with water and was used for ceremonial washing. Before a priest could do anything important, he would first have to wash in the basin. Washing was a symbol that man had to be pure before he could approach a holy God. It is important to remember that being physically clean is not important; it is only a symbol that our lives are not clean without God. Sins cannot be washed away with water. With Jesus, there is complete regeneration – NEW LIFE. It is not merely a washing away of the old, but rather a completely new creation.
If you kept on walking, you’d see towards the back of the courtyard was a large building covered in animal skins. This was the heart of the Tabernacle. When you enter this building, you’d be in the Holy Place. Not everyone was allowed to enter the Holy Place!
The Holy Place was a room where the priests burned incense and did other ceremonies. It was a great privilege to be able to work in the Holy Place. Inside were a couple items of furniture:
The Lamp stand – Made of pure gold, the lamp gave light inside a dark room. The lamp stand was a symbol of Jesus being the Light of the World.
The Table with the Bread – Twelve loaves of bread, which represented the twelve tribes of Israel, were placed on this table. Later, Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life. (John 6:48)
The Altar of Incense – The smell of the incense burning is a symbol of prayer. Just as a smell fills the room, so our prayers go up to God as a sweet fragrance.
At the far end of the Holy Place was a very thick curtain that divided this special room. On the other side of the curtain was The Holy of Holies (also called the Most Holy Place). A very thick curtain was put in front of it to separate it from the Holy Place. This curtain shielded sinful man from a holy God. The thick curtain was a symbol of a barrier in the relationship of God to man.
Nobody but the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and he could only come in once day a year. Before the high priest could enter, he had to wash himself, put on special clothing, bring burning incense to let the smoke cover his eyes from a direct view of God, and he had to bring blood to make atonement for sins.
Ask: What separates people from God? Sin.
Say: Many years later, when Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the Temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom, indicating that through Jesus’ sacrifice, all people had direct access to God.
Inside the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. This held the 10 Commandments and a sample of the Manna that God provided for the Israelites in the desert.
The Atonement Cover – This was on top of the Ark of the Covenant.
Say: “Once the Tabernacle was completed, the cloud that led the Israelites moved into position about the Holy of Holies. It signified God’s presence in the midst of His people.” (Stranger on the Road to Emmaus by John Cross).
God has always wanted to be with His people. Because God is perfectly holy and people are sinful, we were separated from Him. The Tabernacle was a picture of God’s plan to take away the sins of the world. The Tabernacle was a temporary solution; Jesus would be the permanent solution to bring people back to God.
Key Verse:
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. - Exodus 40:34 ESV
Main Point: God provided a way to be with His people.
© 2007 BibleLessons4Kidz.com All rights reserved worldwide. May be reproduced for personal, nonprofit, and non-commercial uses only.
Unless otherwise noted the Scriptures taken from: Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version, (NIrV®)
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society / Used by permission of IBS-STL. All rights reserved worldwide.
Special thanks to John R. Cross, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, GoodSeed International.