Creation Glorifies God- Sunday September 19, 2021

Sunday September 19, 2021 (Vol 1, Unit 1, Session 3)

Hi there, and thanks for joining us this week. FriendshipKids exists to help families bring their children to Christ and disciple them to be maturing, lifelong, reproducing followers of Jesus Christ. We hope this blog will be a useful tool for you to use to fulfill that call on your life. This blog will review the previous Sunday’s Children’s church lesson and help your kids grow in their faith. Please feel free to use as much of it as you choose. You know your kids and are the best possible teacher for them. God has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do more than you think possible (Eph 3:20). So, let’s have some fun and teach our kids from the scriptures.

Parent Devotional

Creation Glorifies God

In the first two sessions of this unit, we have seen a common thread of God’s glory. God created everything, including people, to display His glory. In this session, we want to make sure that our kids understand what that means. What is God’s glory?

God’s glory can be thought of as God’s greatness. The Bible often uses the picture of a brilliant white light when it comes to God’s glory. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after spending time with God, his face shone. When Jesus was transfigured, He shined like a brilliant white light. And when Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, he saw a blinding light. Such an intense light helps us understand how pure and powerful God’s glory is.

But we don’t just see God’s glory revealed in bright light. In this session, we will look at a Psalm that King David wrote many years after Adam and Eve. David used creation to speak of God’s glory. For David, it was easy to see God’s glory—at least its fingerprints—all around him.

If you have ever looked up into the heavens on a clear, dark night, maybe you have sensed it too as you consider all the stars that cannot be counted and think that each is a giant sun, like ours—only our sun is relatively modest in comparison—and that they stretch over billions and billions and trillions and trillions of miles. And that is just what we can see!

Or maybe you have caught a glimpse of God’s glory as you looked over a stunning mountain range or walked on a beach. Creation is full of beauty, wonder, and power—all of which hints at the greater beauty, wonder, and power of the Creator who made it all. God is glorious indeed.

But one of the greatest ways we can know of God’s glory is that the Creator who made everything not only made us too, but wants to have a friendship with us. That is why He gave us the Bible—so that we might come to know Him, love Him, and live for Him.

As you teach, seek to leave your kids in awe of how big and how good and how loving God is. 

TERMS TO KNOW

Glory: God’s glory is His greatness and is often described in the Bible as a brilliant white light. That picture is used to show how pure and powerful God’s glory really is.

Parent Guidance and Instructions 

As we begin to explore this week’s devotional, take a moment to pray and meditate on the verse from Deuteronomy about teaching your children the scriptures. Deuteronomy 6:7 says: “You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Maybe you do not have time to sit and have an hour of Bible time all at once, or perhaps your children are too young to sit for that long. Consider the key points of the lesson and ask God to give you opportunities to speak them into the hearts of your children throughout the week. Let the Bible become a part of your day-to-day. Be blessed this week, my friends!

Each week we include songs, activity pages, the bible lesson video, and memory verses. We pray this will help you find ways to engage your kids spiritually. It is written in script form from the K-2nd grade lesson, so you can read directly from it or change it to suit your children. Take some time to look at and print the activity pages and to review the lesson so you can adjust as needed. Once you are ready, go ahead and start with these songs if you would like, or pick some of your favorite worship songs and then jump right in! Have fun! And remember, this does not need to be done in one sitting! Feel free to break it up over the week. Please contact us at the church if you have any questions or suggestions. We would love to hear from you!

Opening

“Blessings and Bummers”

Let’s get started. Tell me, what have you seen the Lord doing in your lives this week? What have your greatest blessings been? How about your biggest challenges?

Parents share your blessings and bummers, encourage the kids to do the same. The goal is for kids to see God at work in the everyday, seemingly small and mundane things. It doesn’t matter if it is something as small as getting to watch a favorite TV show or something big like a new baby sibling being born, God is active and in our midst.

Prayer

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer: Father God, Thank you. Thank you for providing for our needs. You are so good to us even though we do not deserve it! Thank you for continuing to bless us, Lord. Thank you for being patient with us. Thank you to our friends as well as our families. Most importantly, we thank you always for sending Jesus to live a perfect life and die to pay for our sins. Thank you for raising Him from the dead and promising us life with you forever if we believe in Him. Please help us be thankful for all you do for us and look to you in all that we do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

(Please add to or customize prayer time to fit your family)

Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers!

Let’s go! 

   Welcome, everyone! I am so glad you are here. Hold up your Bible if you have it today. [Provide Bibles for kids who need one.] The Bible is God’s Word. It tells us the wonderful story of … what? [Let kids respond.] It tells us the wonderful story of God’s plan to rescue sinners.

We study the Bible because it is one way that we can know God. He is our Creator. The more you know Him, the more you will love Him. He gives us His Word so we can know what is true. I am so excited for you to hear today’s Bible story.  

First, let me ask you a question: What’s the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen? How did you react? (Discuss the awe and wonder you experience when you see something amazing.) Today we’re going to learn about the purpose of God’s creation.

Big Picture Question

Our big picture question is, Why did God create everything? Do you remember the answer? [Let volunteers respond.] Let’s all say our big picture question and answer together: Why did God create everything? God created everything for His glory and our good.

Can you think of some ways creation is for our good? God provides everything we need, and we enjoy the beauty of creation. In what ways does creation give God glory? We are going to think more about that today.   

Review

The first story we heard was about how God created the world. On the sixth day, God created people. People are not like the other things God created. How are people different? [Allow kids to respond.] People are special because they are made in God’s image. Why did God create people in His image? For His glory!

We have talked quite a bit about glory so far, haven’t we? That’s an important big truth of the Bible—not only here, but throughout the rest of Scripture. Today, we will spend more time making sure we understand what God’s glory means. To help us do that, we are going to look at Psalm 19. Many years after God created Adam and Eve, He chose a man named David to be king over His special people. We can read King David’s words in Psalm 19.

Bible Lesson

Open your Bible to Psalm 19. What are some of the parts of creation David mentioned that show God’s glory? Look at verses 1-2. [Choose a volunteer to read aloud Ps. 19:1-2.] Everything in the sky—the sun, moon, and stars—are declaring God’s glory. They don’t use words to do this, but their message is clear.

Think about the sun. It is the center of our solar system and is a giant ball of hot, burning gas. The sun is 93 million miles away, and its gravity keeps the planets in orbit. It gives us light to see and warms the earth so we can live. Everyone can see the sun! God created the sun. He cares for us and provides everything we need. We can know God through creation. He is good!

David also thought of another way we can know God. What is it? Look at Psalm 19:7. [Choose a volunteer to read aloud Ps. 19:7.] David wrote about the instruction of the Lord. Some translations say ‘the law of the Lord.’ David was talking about God’s words—the Bible! We can know God through the Bible. We can read His words and understand that He is powerful.

God didn’t just create everything and sit back and leave us alone. God wants us to know Him! He makes Himself known through the things He made and through His Word. Why did God create everything? God created everything for His glory and our good.

Psalm 19 helps us understand that everything exists to make much of God—to show how amazing He is. Big, powerful things like waterfalls give us a hint of how much bigger and more powerful God is. Beautiful fields of flowers give us a hint of how beautiful their Creator is. And like we talked about last week, that is why we exist too—to help others see how amazing God is.  

Christ Connection

All of creation displays the glory of God—how great He is—although not perfectly. The perfect revelation of God’s glory is found in Jesus, who came to show us exactly what God is like. Because Jesus is God, He is the perfect display of God’s glory. Jesus died on the cross to pay for all the ways we fall short of being perfect. He rose from the dead. If we trust in Him as Lord and Savior, God forgives our sin.   

Bible Time!

Guide kids to open their Bibles to Psalm 19. Ask kids how many chapters are in Psalms. (150) Explain that David wrote about half of the Book of Psalms. We don’t know exactly when David wrote Psalm 19, but we know he lived many generations after Adam. (See 1 Chron. 1:1-27.)

Consider showing the Old Testament Israel Map and explain that David was king over Israel about one thousand years before Jesus was born. Choose a volunteer to read aloud Psalm 19:14.

Say    David could look around and see, through creation, that God is great. David wanted everything he said and thought about to be pleasing to God. God created us to show His glory in how we live and love others.

Ask the following questions. Lead the kids to discuss their answers.

Say    What is God’s glory? What does it mean to bring God glory?  

Help kids understand that God’s glory can be thought of as His greatness. We give God glory by pointing others to His greatness. We can give Him glory by living out our purpose. God created us to know Him, love Him, and live for Him.

(Option: Choose a volunteer to read Isa. 6:3.)

Say    What can you know is true about God by looking at His creation?  

Let kids share their observations and conclusions. Point out that God is knowable. He created us to be in a relationship with Him. Encourage kids to study the incredible design of creatures and people. When we see beauty, wonder, and power in creation, we see hints of God’s greater beauty, wonder, and power as the Creator.

(Option: Choose a volunteer to read John 17:3.)

Say    How can we bring glory to God?  

Lead kids to recall that God created people in His image. We can get to know Him by reading and studying His Word. We can glorify God by reflecting Him to the world around us by how we live and love others. We can praise Him and tell others about Him.

Key Memory Verse

Read the verse together.

Before the session, write the key passage on index cards—one word per card. Make multiple sets if you choose to form teams. Mix up the cards and stack them. If your group is large, prepare additional sets. Show the key passage poster. Lead kids in reading aloud Psalm 19:1 together.

SAY   This key passage comes from today’s Bible story. It reminds us that God wants people to know Him. Let’s see if you can remember the words.   

Distribute the index cards and challenge kids to arrange them in the correct order. Consider forming teams and competing to put the cards in order the fastest.

SAY    Why do we spend time memorizing God’s Word? Can you think of any reasons why it’s important to remember these words? [Allow kids to respond.] The Bible tells us what is true about God and about ourselves. You might not always have the Bible with you, but you can keep God’s Word in your heart. If you are outside and notice a beautiful sunset, these words from Psalm 19:1 might come to mind!

Lead kids to sing “The Heavens Declare (Psalm 19:1).” You may also choose to sing a worship song of your choice. 

That is all I have for this week. Let’s pray together:

Lord God, thank You for speaking to us through Your creation and Your Word. All of creation glorifies you—showing that You are great! Help us notice Your wonderful creation and praise You. You are powerful and good. Amen.

Thanks for joining us! I hope to meet you here again next week! 

Thank you to Lifeway for allowing us to publish this lesson using their Gospel Project materials.