Lesson for Sunday 16/01/2011 (WHO IS GOD..REALLY?)

Lesson for Sunday 16/01/2011

WHO IS GOD…REALLY?

Main take-away point: God is not some concept invented by smart guys in a research lab; He is beyond description or definition. He is the great “I AM” who is personal and spiritual, yet totally awesome and above us – we can get a glimpse of His character/what He is like by studying the bible and connecting to Him through prayer and Quiet Time!

HOOK (15-20 MINS)

We’ll follow the game suggested in the material (with some minor modifications) as our hook for this week. Here it goes:

In each of the 5 individual groups, we will set up a blind taste test using variations of a popular soft drink (Coke/pepsi etc.). Each cup would be labeled so everyone would know the contents in each cup

Cup 1: Genuine Coke

Cup 2: Coke Light/zero or pepsi

Cup 3: some sour drink (you can name it super sour drink or smt for dramatic effect)

*you can give it in any order

Tell them that the objective is to figure out which cup contains the Genuine coke. Tell them that they are supposed to recall the unique characteristic of the “Genuine Coke” and identify it out of 3 different beverages (all this while being blindfolded)! The Team that guesses it correctly WINS! (we can prepare some mini snickers or smt for the group that wins).

Since each group has about 10 students, split them up into 2 different teams (Team A and B) and ask them to choose 2 representatives from each group to participate in the game. Ask the participants to wait outside the classroom, blindfold 1 person and guide him/her in, after which let him/her taste the drinks and ask for their choice of the “Genuine coke” (record it down on the white board). Do the same for the rest of the 3 participants. The rest are supposed to support their friends but not reveal the “answer” to their peers (otherwise they would lose the game).

P.S If they take too long to choose their representatives then just pick 2 from the group. We should only take a maximum of 20 minutes for this activity so that we have time for the actual lesson.

Things we need to prepare:

1) 12 small paper cups per grp (3 cups per person participating) = 60 cups in total

2) 5 blind folds

3) 1 black marker per group (To indicate on the cups the type of drink it contains)= 5 in total

4) 3 diff cans of drinks per grp = 15 cans of drinks (PLS ration the amt of drinks! only 1 can of each type of drink will be given per grp)

5) 2 packets of mini snickers as prize (or any other snacks you guys have)

*IF you guys have any of these items pls post it on the blog so that we don’t have to spend money to buy them.

AFTER the game

Ask them these following questions:

1) How were you (or your friends) able to identify the “real” coke?

Reply: They will probably reply that it has a unique taste/say they drink before/different taste lor..

Yes so we would be able to identify the “real thing” if we know its unique characteristics/taste!

2) Likewise, how do we know that our God is the “real” or right one?

Reply: Probably silence (or maybe they will start listing out some positive characteristics). Let them think for abit before asking them the next question

3) So as in the game we know which is the “real” coke from its characteristics. What characteristics do you think God has? (list down this characteristics on the white board)

4) Don’t certain humans have such characteristics do? Does that make them God?

Eg, Einstein is smart, Lady Gaga/Michael Jackson can sing/dance well, engineers can create things! (You guys can write on the white board as well).

Reply probably would be NO!!

5) Ask them how about people like Buddha (Buddhism), Prophet Mohammad (Islam)

They are certainly noble/righteous/enlightened individuals BUT Are they God? Who/what is God? Are we sure we are following the right God like knowing the genuine Coke in the game?

Many people have different opinions about God and who/what He is:

Next go through the part on page 14 (leaders guide) about the different variations of what people think God is (i.e pts 1-4, Deism, Pantheism, New age) – you can write this points on the board as you go along so the kids can copy it down.

THERE ARE SO MANY DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS SO WHO/WHAT IS RIGHT? Hence today we’ll examine the Christian God revealed in the bible!

BOOK (30-35 mins) –Get the kids to copy down the points covered i.e fill in the blanks in their copy.

Read Exodus 3:1-15 (Each student can take maybe 1-2 verses)

1) Refer to V12 again

Ask what characteristic of God can you see from this verse?

Ans: (1) God is present

Elaborate: God is everywhere (omnipresent) and knows everything (omniscient), yet we can experience Him personally and intensely in our lives. Refer to Psalms 139:7-10 to further evidence.

Cover point 5: HE cannot be contained by anything, even space and time! So God is always with us and always near, He is bigger than the universe and closer than our own breath at the same time.

2) Refer to V5 again

What characteristics do you see from this verse?

Ans: God is Holy

Elaborate: God is perfect/ “Holy”. He doesn’t make mistakes, doesn’t change his mind and is never unsure of His plan à thus the presence of God made the ground Holy. Since God is Holy, he cannot be in the presence of sin. However, because of God’s great love for us he still seeks/cares for people such as us who fail, are imperfect and continually turn from Him – He sent his son Jesus Christ to die for our sins (making us perfect/Holy) and resurrect on the third day so that it is now possible for unholy people like us to have a relationship with God.

3) Refer to V14

What characteristics do you see from this verse?

Ans: God is a mystery (He is a very big God that we can’t figure out or comprehend completely with our finite human minds)

What does God mean by “I AM”?

Basically “Yaweh”= “I AM”= “I am the God who really is”

Can add in the fun facts:

“YHWH” (The way God’s name is pelled in Hebrew) are phonetically the closest to the sound of breathing) – every breath we take affirms God’s existences!

His name was considered so sacred that ancient Hebrews refused to write it or say it in everyday life.

The God who revealed Himself to Moses still reveals Himself to us today! Mainly through the bible and prayer!

4) Refer to V7-10 and V12

What characteristics do you see?

Ans: God is Power

Elaborate: God is in control and is carrying out His plan of rescuing, healing and redeeming us.

Qn: Does this mean that we just sit back and relax?

Ans: No! God chooses to give choices, opportunities and responsibilities to us. We can choose whether to obey and do God’s will or simply reject God. Just as God sent Moses to free the people of Israel from slavery in a foreign land, Jesus sends us, His followers, to join Him in freeing people from the bondage to sin! – what do we choose?

5) Refer to v7-10

What characteristics do you see?

Ans: God is Love

Elaborate: In this verses, God sees the misery of His people and hears their cry for help. In the story, God sends Moses to deliver the people form suffering. In the same way, Jesus identified with our suffering and came to deliver us. By dying on the cross Jesus identified with our suffering and came to deliver us from the greatest suffering àthe power of death. This demonstrated that His nature truly is Love!

TOOK (10-15mins)

Qn: Do you feel you have a better idea of who God is? What has become clearer and what are you still struggling with? (Refer to page 18 of leaders guide point 3)

Application à what can I do after learning more about God today? Do I really know who God is?

1) Accept who God is, not what who you think he is. It is often too easy to try to create a God we can manage and cope with

2) Commit to study the Bible consistently. If the Bible is where we’ll discover who God is, then we need to get as much of it into our lives as we can!

3) Connect with God daily through prayer and quiet times that focus your attention on God! Let us seek to commit every different aspect (be it relationships, studies etc) to the Lord and maintain an ongoing, daily conversation with Him.

Challenge your students to go find out who God really is and whether they are sure that they are actually following the one and only true God Yaweh! Let this be the beginning of their journey in search for the Truth!

Close in prayer.

Let’s pray and have faith that in their search for God they may find meaning; and in their search for meaning they may find God (YHWH). J