BIG IDEA: GOD MADE A WAY TO BRING US BACK TO HIMSELF
AIM: The ‘God Sends Adam and Eve’ Sunday school lesson aims to teach children that God sent Jesus to bring us back into relationship with Him. The children will learn that God did send Adam and Eve, yet sadly he sent them out of the garden, after they disobeyed him. This lesson is the first in the Mission:Possible teaching series or VBS.
SONG AND BIBLE STORY VIDEO IDEAS available on our dedicated Pinterest Board.
GAME IDEAS:
1. Apple Bobbing. (regular/widescreen) Fill a bowl or tub half full of water and put a bag of apples inside it. Do this for each player or team. Then have players lean over the tub and – using only their mouth – grab apples with their teeth. Once they have grabbed them they then place them on the side and keep going until the time runs out. If playing within a team a whistle is blown or a leader shouts when players are to switch. The player or team with the most apples are the winners.
2. Worm through the Apple. Players stand in lines within their teams with their legs apart. The last player in the line acts as the ‘worm’ and must quickly crawl through the legs of the players until they reach the front. The person in the back of the line becomes the ‘worm’ again. This continues until the whole line has become the ‘worm.’ The team that shows they have finished by sitting down is the winning team.
3. Broom Race. (regular/widescreen) Have children play in the relay race using brooms and using them to push….apples! You could also have chairs or cones set out and have the children move around them.
BIG VERSE: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
SET the Scene:
Read Genesis 2-3.
SPOT the Simple Meaning:
1) OBJECT LESSON: OUR SIN SEPARATES US FROM GOD
Supplies: cups or bottles, water, bleach and grape Koolaid for these illustrations.
Say: Did you see how Adam and Eve messed up? They did wrong because they listened to the snake rather than listening to God. They believed the snakes lies instead of God’s true words. When they sinned it completely separated them from God and God had to send them away. Why? Because God is completely perfect and He can only be around other things that are perfect. Why? Because if something perfect mixes with something that isn’t then it becomes imperfect. It has defects. It is no longer perfect. Look at this; [show water in bottle]. This liquid is completely and perfectly pure and see through. Let’s say it represents God being perfect. Now look at this [show grape koolaid bottle] This represents how Adam and Eve did wrong and how we do wrong too. If we were to mix these two drinks what do you think would happen? (Show them what happens) That’s right, it turns all mucky and is no longer clear. It is imperfect. That’s why God had to send Adam and Eve away, they could no longer be around the perfect Garden of Eden or God because they were not perfect. They would not be allowed into Heaven either; that was perfect too…
God wanted to be our friends so He decided to do something about this. He decided it was His mission to get us back; so that we could live with Him forever in His perfect Heaven with Him.
2) OBJECT LESSON: IT WAS GOD’S GREAT MISSION TO GET US BACK.
Supplies: Bleach in a bottle, koolaid.
[WARNING: BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE BLEACH! MAKE SURE NO CHILD GOES NEAR IT! KEEP IN SIGHT AT ALL TIMES! Prepare the object lesson just before you use it. Wash and throw away straight after use.]
Say: God loved us so much that He already had a mission plan to get us back. It was His greatest mission to get us back. That’s why He sent Jesus; His Son, God in flesh and bones to walk amongst us and show us how to live more like Him. Jesus lived a completely perfect life. Let’s say this bottle is like Jesus [show bleach in bottle].
Now Jesus came and lived a perfect life. He came to bring God and people back together. There was just one problem; people had done wrong [show koolaid bottle] and someone must pay. The price for doing wrong was blood. And so Jesus’ mission was not only to live but to die for people. And that’s what He did; He died on the cross for you and me. And when He did, He took all the wrong onto himself [pour koolaid into bleach]. But rather than it making God imperfect it brought forgiveness for people and made them clean of all their wrongs.
So people and God could become one. God would come and live within people through Jesus and His Holy Spirit. They would be forgiven and they would live with God in the perfect heaven forever. All because Jesus was prepared to pay with His blood!
SEARCH the Scriptures:
LARGE GROUP GAME: Have kids split into two teams. Boys v Girls.
How to Play: Kids run around and try and put all the ballpool balls in the bag. Have names of Bible characters on the balls [attach them using tape or simply write them on]. Tell the kids that they are to try and put the balls in the bag of characters that sinned against God. All the balls should come back. Remind the kids that all have sinned except Jesus. If a team has the Jesus ball/s then they get minus ten points.
Bible Characters:
Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Esau, Moses, Saul, David, Jonah, Jesus, Daniel, Esther, Paul, Peter, John the Baptist, Peter, Mary, Martha.
SENSE How You Feel:
Have you accepted Jesus into your life?
How does it feel to know that Jesus has brought you back to God?
Set up these different stations – a table for each station with a volunteer manning each station – so that the children can go around and try making and creating to express their answers to the questions.
Stations:
1) Create a tissue paper picture of how it felt.
2) Write a poem about how it felt.
3) Make a sculpture out of clay/playdoh to show how it felt.
4) Make a bracelet/necklace with beads to show how it felt
5) Create a picture on black paper using chalk – choose your colors appropriately.
Once all the children have had enough time to consider their thoughts and feelings bring them together in small groups and discuss what they have found.
SEEK God:
You will need 2 large red hearts made of card.
A large broken heart and a large heart whose pieces have been brought back together – no scars.
Write sorry notes on the broken heart.
Write thank you notes on the heart if they want to thank Jesus for what he did on the cross for us.
Click here for the ‘God Sends Adam and Eve’ lesson Powerpoint image
