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  • ABOUT US
    • Meet the Staff
    • What We Believe
    • Join Us
    • Weekly Newsletter
    • Calendar
  • MINISTRIES
    • Children
    • Students
    • Senior Adults
    • Discipleship
    • Music
    • Community Outreach
    • Global Outreach
    • Ministerio Hispano
    • Counseling
    • Grief Share
    • Celebrate Recovery
    • Mom's Day Out & 4K
  • RESOURCES
    • Family Devotionals: Youth
    • Family Devotionals: Kids
    • The Next Step
  • MEDIA
    • Sermons
    • Theology Thursdays
    • Notes from the Field
    • Facebook
  • GIVING
  • CONTACT US
  • SHELBYNEXT LOGIN
  • Family Devotionals: Youth
  • Family Devotionals: Kids
  • The Next Step

God's Faithfulness

“He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars- if indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” Genesis 15:5


  • Remind your children of the story of Abraham (his obedience, God’s covenant with him, and the fulfillment of God’s promises).

  • The story of Abraham teaches us about God’s faithfulness. What does it mean for God to be faithful? 


Faithfulness means that God stays true to his word. God will never make a promise that he won’t keep. He never says something and then forgets about it. Abraham knew that God was faithful, and this is why he could trust God. Abraham trusted God so much that he left his family and his country in order to move somewhere he had never, ever been before. Abraham had faith that God would keep his promises and always be with him.


  • What are some promises that God has made to us? 


We learned last Wednesday in kid’s choir, that when we honor our father and mother, God promises to bless us. God has also promised us that when we confess our sins, he will forgive us. God even promises us that he has a plan for our lives! God has promised us so many things; our job is to remember these promises and believe that God will keep his word.  


  • When God makes a promise, will he make sure it happens right away? 


God has his own timing for our lives. He has a plan for us that is way better than anything we could imagine for ourselves. Sometimes God has us wait a really long time before his promise happens. Abraham had to wait until he was 100 years old to have his son, Issac. Abraham knew that God was faithful, so he kept believing that he would one day have a son even though he had to wait for it.


When we pray for something, we usually want it right now, but God isn’t like a genie who grants our every wish. He knows the plan of the whole universe, so he has to keep things on his schedule. Sometimes we pray, and we feel like giving up because we have been praying for the same thing that never seems to happen. However, in these tough situations, we should still have faith in God’s promises, just like Abraham did. Abraham knew that God would be faithful to the promise he made, and so Abraham stayed faithful to God. We need to believe God’s promises in our lives and trust that one day, they will be true. 


  • Lead your family in a prayer that asks God how to believe in his faithfulness. 


Help your kids memorize the big picture question and passage from Super Sunday: 


Why can we trust God? We can trust God because He is faithful and does everything for His glory and our good. 


“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29


God's plan

“In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. The man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” Job 1:1


● Briefly remind your kids about the story of Job (his character, his suffering, his questions, and God showing up in the end).


● Why did Satan do these things to Job?


Satan believed the only reason Job was faithful to God was that Job had a very blessed life. Job had a huge family, lots of animals, and many servants. Satan thought that it was easy for Job to love God because his life was so great and easy. Satan believed that if everything was taken away from Job, then he would hate God.


● Why did God let Satan test Job?


God knew that Job would not stop trusting him. God knew that Job would not understand why bad things were happening, but he would still trust the Lord. 


Job is a great example for us as Christians. Even when bad things happened and he lost everything, he still trusted God. In our lives, sometimes bad things will happen: we have to change schools, or we lose our favorite pet, or sometimes people even do bad things to us. But as all of those things happen, we have to remember that God is still in control. No matter what we go through, God is always with us, and he will make everything better one day.


God told Job that he cannot know everything, but that he has Job’s back. This is like Adam and Eve; they ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They thought if they ate the fruit, then they could know everything God knows. Sometimes, we try really hard to understand everything God does in our lives. But we have to understand that as humans, we don’t have the ability to know all things. Only God does, and God always loves us. Job did not understand why these bad things happened to him, but he went to God for help instead of not believing in him.


● Lead your family in a prayer that thanks God for always being in control and always loving us.


Help your kids memorize the big picture question and passage from Super Sunday:


Who is God? God is our Creator and King.


“All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and by him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16b-17

Staying Humble

“‘Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’”

Genesis 11:9


● Read the story of The Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:1-9, with your family.


Last week we talked about how Noah’s family was the only family who was saved from the flood. After they got off the ark, God told them “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number;

multiply on the Earth and increase upon it,” Genesis 9:7.


● Ask: What do you think the people of Shinar did wrong?


These people were disobedient to God when they settled in Shinar. God told them to go into the Earth and spread out, but they decided they knew better than God, so they stopped and settled. They continued to be sinful when they built a tower in order to “...make a name for ourselves...” says Genesis 11:5. This lets us know that they were prideful. They cared more about being great than knowing that God is great.


● Ask: What does it mean to be prideful?


Being prideful is when you think you are better than someone else. In this passage, the people thought they knew more than God and thought they were better than him. God doesn’t like it

when we are prideful because it keeps us from knowing him like we should.


● Ask: What can help us be humble, instead of prideful?


At times, we can all be prideful. It is easy to show off sometimes when you do something good. But, the best way to stop being prideful, is to be humble. Being humble means that you realize

you are not better than anyone else. God is our creator, so he is bigger, stronger, and smarter than us. We should never think we know more than him. God also made all people equal, so we

should never think we’re better than others.


● Lead your family in a prayer that asks God to help all of you remain humble.


Help your kids memorize the big picture question and passage from Super Sunday:


Who is God? God is our creator and king.


“All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and by him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16b-17

Noah and the Ark

“Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the Earth.” Genesis 9:16


  • Tell the Story of Noah and the Ark to your kids. Be animated and dramatic!


If you remember last week, we talked about God judging sin. God does not like judging people because of their sin, but it is something that has to happen because God is good. In Genesis 6:6 it says, “The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the Earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” God was sad that the people he created had been so sinful. God called Noah to build an ark for his family and two of all the animals on the Earth, so they would be safe from the flood.       


  •         Ask: Why do you think God saved Noah’s family? 


God saved Noah’s family because he is a gracious God. Grace is when God gives us something we do not deserve. God shows us his grace when he forgives us, saves us, and loves us. We sin and disobey God a lot, but he continues to forgive us. That’s grace!  


  • Ask: Why do we need God’s grace?  


We need God’s grace because without it, we would be washed away just like the people in the flood. When we receive God’s grace, we are saved, just like Noah was in the story. Genesis 9:16 says, “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the Earth.” This is a promise that God made to his people. God promises us that he will never flood the earth again, another example of how God shows us his grace. We are sinful just like the people were in the story, but God does not punish us like he did them, because we know Jesus. Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins.  


  • Lead your family in a prayer that thanks God for always giving us his grace. 


Help your kids memorize the big picture question and passage from Super Sunday:

 

Who is God? God is our Creator and King.

 

“All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and by him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16b-17


Sin Enters the World

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21

  • Read Genesis 3 with your kids

  • Ask: What is sin?

Sin is ignoring or rejecting God’s Commands. God gave Adam and Eve a lot of trees that they could eat from, but he told them not to eat from one specific tree. Adam and Eve sinned when they ignored God’s commands and ate from that tree anyway. This is sin. Sin is something that separates us from God. Sin is kind of like telling God that you should be in charge of your life, not him.

  •         Ask: Have you ever sinned? (You can ask them to be specific)

Of course. We all sin, even adults. There has only been one person who has never sinned, and that is Jesus. Since we are not Jesus, we sin. Adam and Eve were the first people to ever sin; after the serpent tricked Eve, sin entered the world and now we are all sinners. 

  •         Ask your kids what does God do when we sin? 

 

God still loves us. God does not like sin, so he must judge it. Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden because of their sin. 


But God didn’t leave them. Yes, Adam and Eve did get in trouble for their sins, just like when we do something wrong, our parents get on to us. But that doesn’t mean our parents stop loving us, and neither does God. Verse 21 says that God helped Adam and Eve even after they sinned. God covered their mistakes and forgave them. He loved them and continued to take care of them even though they sinned, and he does the same for us. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, God will forgive us of our sins too.

 

  • Read 1 John 1:9 to your family and then lead them in a prayer that thanks God for forgiving us. 

 

Help your kids memorize the big picture question and passage from Super Sunday:

 

Who is God? God is our Creator and King.

 

“All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and by him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16b-17

God Creates People

“Then the Lord God said ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” Genesis 2:18


  • Read Genesis 2 with your kids

  • Ask your children why they think God made Eve?


If you remember from last week, God called creation “good” seven times. In Genesis 2, we see the first time that God says that something is “not good.” God created Eve because God knows that we need friends in our lives. Eve was put on Earth to be Adam’s friend. 


  • Ask your children to tell you why they think God gives us friends? 


God gives us friends because he loves us. When we hang out with people that love us, we can begin to see God’s love for us. It is God who gives us these people. God loves you and me so much that he never wants to see us be lonely. This is why we have friends. God wants to know his love through them and be joyful.


  • Ask your children if they think we can be friends with God? 


Yes! God wants to be our friend. God wants us to talk to him, just like we do with our friends on Earth. God wants to hang out with us, he wants us to get to know each other, and he wants to be there for us. God is the most perfect friend that we can have. He knows what is wrong, before we even tell him. God loves us so much that he wants to be friends with us! We should be happy about that, I know I am! 


  • Lead your family in prayer and guide your kids to thank God for the friendships they have, that he has created.


Help your kids memorize the big picture question and passage from Super Sunday:

Who is God? God is our Creator and King.



“All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and by him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16b-17


God Creates the World

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed.” Genesis 1:31a

 

  •         Read Genesis 1 with your kids

 

Seven times in Genesis 1, God says that his new creation is “good.”

 

  •         Ask your kids if they can find each time this is repeated within the chapter.
  •         Ask your kids what they think it means for this creation to be called “good?”

 

It can mean many things for this world to be “good.” Maybe God is trying to show us how beautiful the world is that he is making. Maybe God is trying show us how good the world was before sin entered in. These things are definitely true, and I’m sure we can list a ton of ways in which creation is good.

 

  •         Ask your kids to tell you something “good” that God has made.

 

One reason God called his creation “good” is that it was beginning to work as it was supposed to. The Sun, the moon, and the stars were all bringing light to the earth. The land, the seas, and the mountains were all providing shape to the earth. Plants were growing, animals were roaming, and fish were swimming upstream. God made everything to work together like a team. Each part of creation doing exactly what it was meant to do so that life could exist. Most importantly, all of these things were working together so that people like you and me could live here on God’s world and love him. That’s the next part of the story, and we will talk more about God creating people next week!

 

  •         Lead your family in prayer and guide your kids to thank God for the things they love that he has created.

 

Help your kids memorize the big picture question and passage from Super Sunday:

 

Who is God? God is our Creator and King.

 

“All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and by him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16b-17

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