THE BASIC REVELATION IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

(For Younger Children)

Lesson One: God's Good pleasure (Part 1.)

Objective:

Materials:

1. Illustration (photograph/drawing) of especially beautiful flower (s).
2. Illustration (photograph/drawing) of particularly large/tall trees .
3. Illustration (photograph/drawing) of mountain that looks very high - taller than others around it.
4. Illustration (photograph/drawing) of sky/clouds--very beautiful.
5. Illustration (photograph/drawing) of cathedral--elaborate, impressive. (There is a large-format children's book by Peter Spier that illustrates the extensive time and labor it took to build it.)
6. Illustration of fathers and sons who closely resemble each other; several sons preferable to one or two.
7. Props for acting out stories.

Implementation:

1. ASK children what they suppose is the thing God wants most of all, the thing that would please Him more than anything else? Some of their responses may be answered, "Yes. that pleases Him a lot. but that isn't the thing He wants most of all, there's something else that pleases Him even more than that." Keep soliciting answers to your question until the children are all "stumped" and can't think of any more answers-the objective here is to stir up the children's curiosity.
2. SHOW the illustrations of the flower, tree, mountain, sky. one at a time, pointing out how each is the biggest/best/most beautiful of its kind. For each, suggest that surely this beautiful flower/tree/etc, must be what pleases God the very most, don't they think? No. That is not what He wants the most. Then show the next illustration and ask the question again, for each illustration in turn. Finally, bring out the cathedral illustration, noting that the others were all things God Himself created and that this is something people made for God, maybe this is what He wants most of all?-- for people to make the most difficult and beautiful thing they can for Him? Use Peter Speir's book about the building of a cathedral to show how very, very long they took to build and how very difficult and complicated that labor was; moreover, all this work was for God, to make Him happy, is this, then, what pleases Him most of all, what He wants most?--No. (Children should be somewhat baffled by now, but still interested in finding the real answer to the question.)
3. TELL the answer to the question, at last: What God wants most of all is sons that are like Him. He tells us in the Bible, His word may or may not read Eph. 1:5, 9). that is what pleases Him most, to have a lot of sons that are like Him. To keep The answer from seeming anti climactic to the children, it must be put across as utterly special and wonderful.) Affirm that all parents' hearts are made very warm and happy when someone tells them that one of their children looks just like the parent Use illustrations of families with a close resemblance. And sometimes people say. "Oh. I knew that he was your son, because he talked/walked just like you!" that is another way of "being like" one's parent.
4. ACT OUT WITH SIMPLE PROPS (teacher and/or children) one or more of the following stories as examples:
   1. A great, mighty, and wise king has all his heart could desire, but no sons. He is lonely--who can he confide in? Who can care as much for his kingdom and people as he himself does? Then after a long wait, one day not one son is born, but twins! How pleased the king is! And best of all, they look just like him! Moreover, four other sons are born in following years, and they every one look just like the king, tool The king is truly happy at last.
   2. A skillful and famous archer, the Chief of the king's archers, has six sons. in this case, they don't all look just like him, but they are like him; whenever any of them goes to a tournament, the judges and all the people know as soon as they shoot that they are the Chief Archer's sons, because of how they hold the bow and how they notch the arrow. He has taught all his sons to handle the bow the same way that he himself does. When his sons enter the contests and the Chief Archer hears it said that this one must be one of his sons because he acts just like the Chief Archer, it makes his heart happiest of all.
   3. A wise and skillful master gardener has been working on growing a new and different flower--a blue rose. Finally, one bush he has worked on blooms with a blue blossom. He is elated but unless he can produce more than just the one blossom, his work stiff will be for naught. The gardener keeps working, and gets 10 other bushes to produce blue roses. How glad he is to see all those blue roses on all those bushes! Now there can be more and more wonderful blue roses!

   Reinforcement Activities:

   1. MAKE an illustration in any appropriate media of the king and his sons, all with features and coloring recognizably the same.
   2. MAKE an illustration of the Chief Archer and his sons at a tournament. (This would lend itself to mixed-media techniques, e.g., bows of twigs and bow strings of twine, etc.)
   3. ADD a verse or portion of a verse, as suits the ages of the children, confirming that God's good pleasure is sons like Himself - Eph. 1:5, 9.
   4. SING and perform movements to "Father Abraham Had Many Sons"--the many repetitions of "father" and "sons" is what we're after here:

   "Father Abraham had many sons,
   Many sons had Father Abraham,
   And I am one of them
   And so are you,
   As we all go marching through.
   --Right arm!" etc.,
   (including arms, legs, head, turning around.)

   OTHER SONGS

   Little One

   Little one, the Father loves you.
   You are in His Hand.
   Little one, the Father loves you.
   You're His little lamb.
   You were chosen, set apart,
   before the world began.
   Little one, God has put you in His Plan.
   He chose you because He liked you
   And put you in His plan,
   Because He wanted to work Himself,
   Right inside of Man.
   Little one, the Father loves you.
   You are in His Hand.
   Little one, the Father loves you
   You're His little lamb
   .
   You were chosen, set apart,
   before the world began.
   Little one, God has put you in His Plan.

   The Central Revelation in the Scriptures

   God's economy is to dispense Himself as the Wonderful Triune God.
   The Father, the Son, and the Spirit into His chosen people so that having His very life
   

   and nature they may be His many sons.
   His many sons, the members of Christ and may become the Body of Christ, the church,
   to express God, to express God, to express God, in the universe.

   He Loved Us

   Before God put the leaves on the tree,
   Before He put the fish in the sea,
   He thought about you and He thought about me,
   And He loved us, and He loved us.
   

   Before God put the clouds in the sky,
   Before He taught the birds how to fly,
   He thought about you and He thought about me,
   And He loved us, and He loved us.
   

   HYMN S JR. NO. 3 (Tune: "Jesus Loves Me")

   God's eternal purpose is that He
   Could express Himself through me.
   God is Spirit; He has planned
   That I as His vessel stand.

   Yes, God is Spirit
   To get inside me;
   He want to mingle
   His Spirit one with mine.

   God made me a vessel true,
   Spirit, soul, and body too,
   That He could come into me,
   All my full supply to be.
   

   God in love with light divine
   Comes as Spirit into mine;
   Spreading from my inmost part
   To make home in all my heart.
   

   HYMNS JR. No. 1 (Tune: Hymns 541)

   God's eternal purpose,
   is to join with man,
   Causing man, His vessel,
   To be born again,
   His own life imparting,
   Filling to the brim;
   Man may thus express Him,
   And be one with Him.
   

   Gospel Suggestion:

   Lessons One and Two: Since these lessons are about God's greatest desire, to have a lot of sons like Himself, a simple presentation of the gospel would be to ask the targeted child if he would like to become a son of God right now. All he has to do is to open up his heart to the Lord Jesus and pray. Besides asking the Lord Jesus to come into his heart, and thanking Him afterwards, guide the prayer as you feel led at the moment.