Pre-K and K:
 God Provides Food
God cared for the Israelites by giving them food. God still provides for his children's needs (Exodus 16).

 

"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today."  Exodus 14:13b  

1st to 5th Grade:
This week we spent another week talking about Elijah. Because this story is full of drama, we decided to act it out and perform it for our parents. The show was called “True or False?”: you’ll see why.

This time, God called Elijah to go speak to King Ahab. It was a scary thing for Elijah to do—because Elijah had been the one to predict the drought, Ahab had been trying to kill Elijah for three years!

God gave Elijah the courage to speak to Ahab and suggest a means of determining who was the real God—God, the God of Israel, or Baal, who most people worshipped. They would both build altars to their respective god and whichever God sent fire to the offering was the true God. 

Elijah called the 450 prophets of Baal and the people to Mt. Carmel. The prophets of Baal built an offering to Baal and then pleaded with him to send down fire. But nothing happened. 

Elijah told them to call louder, for Baal might be asleep or on a trip. Still, nothing happened. 

Finally, it was Elijah’s turn. He built an altar with wood and stones and dug a trench all around the altar. He asked four servants to pour jugs of water, drenching the altar. Three times he commanded the servants to pour out the water, which soaked the altar and filled the trench.

Then Elijah prayed.

Immediately, God sent down fire, which burned up the soaked wood, stones and even the water in the trench. The people knew that God was the true God.

Pre-K and K:
God Leads His People

God saved the Israelites at the Red Sea, and they praised God for who he is and what he did for them. (Exodus 13-15)

 

"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today."  Exodus 14:13b

1st to 5th Grade:
This week in Sunday school we emphasized the true meaning of grace through a fun example. Since we have been working on memorizing Psalm 23, Christie brought Spud-Nuts and told the class very seriously that whoever could recite Psalm 23 in its entirety got a Spud-Nut. Of course, no one could--we haven't even learned it all yet! But Mary Boyce learned in back in her Sunday school years and offered to get it a try. After she said it and earned the Spud-Nuts, she decided to give them away to the class and each person there got a Spud-Nut. This example was meant to emphasize that grace is all about getting the reward even though--and especially because--we didn't earn it. The kids got the point!

Onto the lesson: Elijah

Elijah prophesied a drought in Israel. He escaped to the desert where God provided for him food brought by a raven and water from a stream. 

When the stream dried up, God told Elijah to go to a widow’s home, where he once again provided enough oil and wheat for the widow, her son, and Elijah to eat. When the son became gravely ill, God used Elijah to heal the son. Through that experience, the widow was able to see that God had truly called Elijah and that he was a true prophet of God. 

God showed Elijah that even when he walked through the valley, God was with him, taking care of him every step of the way.

Psalm 23:4

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou are with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Sunday School, October 10th

Pre-K and K:

God Saves His People

God's people were saved from death by putting lamb's blood on their doorframes. (Exodus 11-12).

"This is what the Lord says: 'Let my people go, so that they may worship me.'"  Exodus 8:1b

1st to 5th Grade: 
"He guides me in paths of righteousness."

All semester we have been emphasizing the notion that it is God who initiates any good work that we may do. Our memory verse for this week indicates just that. 

God is the one who guides us to "paths of righteousness," places where we are obedient to him and trust his word.

The 1^st and 2^nd graders studied Joash, who was raised by a Godly mentor to be a great king. He repaired the temple and worshipped God as long as his mentor, Jehoiada, was alive. But, when Jehoiada died, Joash turned away from God. In mercy, God sent the prophet Zechariah, but Joash did not listen. In spite of Joash’s rebellion, God used him to preserve the family line leading to Jesus.  

The 3^rd to 5^th graders talked about Solomon and were introduced to the idea of grace as “unmerited favor.” Solomon was the product of David and Bathsheba’s sin but ultimately, because of God’s work in him, asked for wisdom. Known as the wisest king, he made many great decisions. Still, he was human and erred as well. Thus, we can recognize that any greatness in him was a result of God’s work—His grace working in Solomon. 

Both Solomon and Joash show us that the people of the Bible were humans, not heroes. They made mistakes and sometimes did not even repent! But God is the true hero in that He is always faithful to his covenants and chooses to work through even us, who are also human.

Psalm 23:3
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

  

He restores my soul, Sunday School Oct. 3

1st to 5th Grade: 

This week in 3rd to 5th grade, we took a break from our regular lessons in the 3^rd-5^th grade class to do a project emphasizing the idea of restoration.

In our classroom, we had many prayer books that had broken bindings and were just generally in bad shape. Instead of throwing them out though, we gave one to each child and allowed them to re-create it using colorful duct tape and fancy contact paper. 

It was so interesting to see how each child took the same materials and made it into something different. And how each book, with the addition of those materials, became stronger and more usable! 

Although perhaps the spiritual lesson was not explicit, the idea is that God does the same with us—takes our broken parts and restores them, just as Psalm 23 says, “He restores my soul.”

We loved seeing the children be so energetic about the project and the re-creation of those prayer books. When they were done, we had them familiarize themselves with the contents by searching for Psalms 23 and 51 as we continue to work on memorizing Psalm 23.

Pre-K and K:
God Shows His Power

God showed his mighty power by sending the plagues to Egypt. He protected his people and kept them safe from the plagues. He was getting ready to keep his promise and lead his people out of Egypt. (Exodus 7-10).  
God says, "Let My People Go!"