God called His people to trust and obey His words, which led to life. His power and love worked in tandem as He delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, instructed His people through the law, resided among them in the tabernacle, and shepherded them through the desert, despite their continual disobedience.
Unit 4 God Delivers His People: May 18- June 15 Unit 5 God Instructs His People: June 22-July 13 Unit 6 God Guides His People: July 20-August 10
Job’s story is an impactful passage on human suffering and God’s sovereign goodness that transcends any circumstance. The book of Job shares of a God-fearing, virtuous man who continually turned from evil. Though he was not sinless, Job was counted righteous by his faith in God until the end.
How does Job respond when unexpected suffering comes to him? How does Job’s story encourage us in our own suffering?
In the beginning of Job, we see an interaction between Satan and God, in which the Creator allows Satan to test Job to see if he would continue to follow God amidst suffering. Job would lose his sheep, camels, servants, and children. In response to this loss, Job worshiped God and refused to blame Him. Next, Job would become afflicted by painful boils. Despite Job’s tragic sufferings, he refused to speak ill of God, even when his own wife told him to give up his faith.
In the following chapters, Job wrestled with his experiences in suffering, as his three friends tried in vain to comfort and help him in his pain. They could not fathom that Job’s suffering did not result from sin. However, another voice, that of Elihu, spoke into Job’s circumstances with true wisdom: God is greater than man, holy, and just; only He is righteous and sinless.
God met Job amidst his questions, reminding him of man’s place within His created universe. Though mankind is unworthy of God’s goodness, the Creator delights in showcasing His glory to the ones He has made. After Job prayed for his friends, his fortune was not only restored, but it was doubled.
Although God allowed Job to suffer, His hand was there to guide him, and His comfort remained by his side. What we glean from Job’s story is that God’s righteousness is so much greater than our own, that He is worthy of worship despite our circumstances. In 2 Corinthians 4:17, Paul declared that “our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.”
There is only one truly righteous person who suffered unjustly: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Help kids see that God is good, and His full worthiness is displayed in Jesus, the only truly righteous One. By faith in His finished work on the cross, we are counted as righteous and granted eternal hope. Pray that your kids will experience God’s goodness and place their faith in Him alone.
Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.
FAMILY TALKING POINTS
STORY POINT
This is the main point to emphasize from today’s Bible story.
Preschool: God is always good.
Kids: God is good even in suffering.
CHRIST CONNECTION
This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.
Babies & Toddlers: God is strong and mighty and good.
Younger Preschool: God is all-powerful and good. When we face hard times, we can trust God. God sent Jesus to die on the cross and rescue people from sin.
Older Preschool: Job saw that God is all-powerful and good. When we face hard times, we can trust God. God sent Jesus, who never did wrong, to suffer and die so that everyone who trusts in Him can have life with God forever.
Kids: In his suffering, Job recognized that God is all-powerful and good. When we face suffering, we can hope in God. God sent Jesus, the only truly innocent One, to suffer and die so that everyone who trusts in Him can have forgiveness and eternal life.
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER
This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Younger Preschool: Who is in control? God is in control.
Older Preschool: Who is in control of everything? God is in control of everything.
Kids: Who is in control of everything? God is in control of everything in heaven and on earth. Nothing is outside of God’s good plan.
KEY PASSAGE
This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Babies & Toddlers: God can make bad things good. Genesis 50:20
Younger Preschool: God can make bad things good. Genesis 50:20
Older Preschool: You planned evil against me; God planned it for good. Genesis 50:20
Kids: You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. Genesis 50:20
The parting of the Red Sea is one of the most incredible accounts in Scripture. After God freed His people through the events of the Passover, He performed this amazing miracle to deliver them from danger and secure their hearts in worship to Him alone. In this passage, we see glimmers of an even greater miracle––the salvation of God’s people, once and for all time, through Christ’s miraculous sacrifice on our behalf.
Why did God lead His people into the hardships of the wilderness? What was God’s intention for rescuing His people from slavery?
While God led His people on a route that took longer and was different than expected, His divine purpose in doing so was for their good. But even more, He knew the waywardness of His people’s hearts and that the external threat of war would only intensify their inclination to doubt His provision. God led them to the perfect location to display His power and test their trust in Him.
In Exodus 7, God instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness.” The parting of the Red Sea was certainly enough to inspire worship as the people watched the Lord bring deliverance through the most surprising of means. Just as Moses had spoken, the threat of the Egyptians on that day would never worry them again. God revealed His awe-inspiring power through the parting of the Red Sea, though such a rescue seemed impossible. Like the Israelites, we can know that God will receive glory and that all who place their faith in Jesus will live in the hope of His salvation. Just as God’s people walked through the sea on dry ground, anyone who turns to Christ for salvation will pass through judgment and into eternal life.
Consider the internal and external factors that keep you from giving God the worship He deserves. Pray for the same understanding from the children in your family, that they would turn to Christ and receive His miraculous offer of salvation.
Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.
FAMILY TALKING POINTS
CHRIST CONNECTION
This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.
Babies & Toddlers: God made a way to save His people from Pharaoh. God made a way to save us from our sin by sending Jesus to die on the cross and rise again.
Younger Preschool: God made a way for His people to be saved. He parted the Red Sea so they could live. God made the way for us to be saved from our sin by sending Jesus. We can trust Him and be thankful.
Older Preschool: God made a way for the Israelites to be saved. He parted the Red Sea so they could live. We are all sinners who deserve to die for our sin, but God miraculously made the way for us to be saved by sending Jesus to die in our place for our sin and rise again.
Kids: The Israelites faced certain death, but God miraculously made a way for them to be saved by parting the Red Sea. We are all sinners and face certain death for our sin, but God miraculously made the way for us to be saved by sending Jesus to die in our place for sin and rise again.
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER
This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Younger Preschool: Why does sin keep us from God? Sin keeps us from God because He is holy.
Older Preschool: Why does sin separate us from God? Because God is holy.
Kids: Why does sin separate us from God? Because God is holy, sin has broken our relationship with God.
KEY PASSAGE
This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Babies & Toddlers: God hears and rescues. Psalm 34:17
Younger Preschool: The LORD hears, and rescues. Psalm 34:17
Older Preschool: The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. Psalm 34:17
Kids: The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. Psalm 34:17
** Next week: God Provided for His People (Exodus 15-17)
Today’s passage tells of God’s faithful covenant being carried from Abraham to Isaac, then to Jacob, and now Joseph. Jacob loved Joseph more than his brothers because he was born to Jacob in his old age. Jacob’s favoritism toward Joseph caused the others to feel deep anger toward Joseph.
Beyond Jacob’s treatment of Joseph, his sons grew even angrier after hearing of their brother’s dream, in which Joseph would reign over each of his siblings and their parents, too. The brothers’ jealousy and anger loomed so large that they schemed to take Joseph’s life; however, they settled with selling him into slavery instead, making it appear as though an animal had killed him.
In Egypt, Joseph became a slave of the officer Potiphar, who promoted him over his household. God gave Joseph great success in serving his new master. Joesph obeyed God amidst life’s challenges, even against the temptation of Potiphar’s wife, in which he declared, “…how could I sin against God?” Though this refusal would send Joseph to prison, God was with him and granted him favor despite his terrible circumstances. Even the warden knew God was with him.
God gave Joseph the ability to interpret his fellow prisoners’ dreams and Pharaoh’s dreams as well. God’s sovereign care to be with Joseph and give him the ability to interpret dreams resulted in him being raised to oversee Pharaoh’s entire household. As Joseph served Pharaoh, God granted him wisdom to provide grain during a famine, not just for others in the land, but for his brothers as well. This is a full-circle story of God’s sovereign provision, faithfulness, and grace through trials.
At the closing of Genesis, Joseph—in the aftermath of slavery, famine, and injustice—declares that God used his brothers’ evil plans to bring about flourishing for His people. Joseph extended words of comfort, courage, and kindness his brothers did not deserve.
In Christ, we receive an even greater gift—everlasting life, the undeserved bestowal of immeasurable peace, courage, and kindness. Christ experienced injustice and suffering on our behalf so that we might gain eternal life and redemption. As faithful to God as Joseph was, Jesus is even more faithful, forever renowned as the suffering Servant who takes away our sin. Pray for your kids to place their faith in the One who redeems our sins and suffering for His glory and our good.
Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.
FAMILY TALKING POINTS
STORY POINT
This is the main point to emphasize from today’s Bible story.
Preschool: God was always with Joseph and took care of him.
Kids: God was always with Joseph and blessed him.
CHRIST CONNECTION
This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.
Babies & Toddlers: God’s plans are good.
Younger Preschool: Even when bad things happened, God had a good plan. Jesus was killed on a cross, but He rose again to rescue people from sin.
Older Preschool: Even when bad things happened, God had a plan for good. Jesus never sinned, but He was arrested, beaten, and killed on a cross to bring about our good—so people could be saved from sin through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
Kids: Even when bad things were happening in Joseph’s life, God had a plan for good. Bad things also happened to Jesus. Jesus never sinned, but He was arrested, beaten, and killed on a cross. Those things happened to bring about our good—so people could be saved from sin and death through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER
This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Younger Preschool: Who is in control? God is in control.
Older Preschool: Who is in control of everything? God is in control of everything.
Kids: Who is in control of everything? God is in control of everything in heaven and on earth. Nothing is outside of God’s good plan.
KEY PASSAGE
This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Babies & Toddlers: God can make bad things good. Genesis 50:20
Younger Preschool: God can make bad things good. Genesis 50:20
Older Preschool: You planned evil against me; God planned it for good. Genesis 50:20
Kids: You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. Genesis 50:20
In today’s passage, God continued His faithfulness to Abraham by extending kindness to Jacob amidst a time of great turmoil. God promised to bless Jacob, be with him, watch over him, and never leave him until His faithful promises had been fulfilled. Jacob found himself at a crossroads, seemingly alone, and was tasked with finding a wife in accordance with God’s plan to bless their family.
What can we learn from Jacob’s time of trial and his wrestling with God? How can this help us when we are suffering or wrestling with God ourselves?
After receiving his father’s blessing, Jacob was instructed by his mother and father to flee Esau’s wrath and find a wife. While on the run, God visited Jacob in a dream by which He confirmed the promises He had made to Abraham. Even in Jacob’s sinfulness, God’s faithful lovingkindness was shown to him as God declared that His covenantal promises would continue through Jacob’s family. Then, Jacob made a vow, just as God had made one to him: “If God remains with me, watches over me, provides for me, and returns me safely as He says He will, then He will be my God.”
Later in chapter 32, we see the next phase of Jacob’s journey with God, as he wrestled with Him unknowingly. Jacob said to the man, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man—whom we know to be God—changed Jacob’s name from that of a deceiver to “Israel” Israel, meaning “He Sstruggled with God.” Despite Jacob’s struggles with God, he prevailed and was blessed by Him. In the end, Jacob realized that God spared his life in this encounter. By grace, he was granted a new name and identity and was able to return home.
Today, we come to a similar crossroads as we wrestle with the role Jesus deserves in our lives as Savior and Lord. Those who surrender to Him by faith can, like Israel, experience new life in He who redeems and restores sinners, bringing them into His family forever. No longer are we bound by our old selves but given a new identity in Jesus.
Ask God to reveal to your kids the reality of the new life He offers in Jesus. Though we may not always understand His ways, God gives us grace as we come to surrender to His will for our lives. May His truth become clear in their hearts and minds as you teach them about His love.
Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.
FAMILY TALKING POINTS
STORY POINT
This is the main point to emphasize from today’s Bible story.
Preschool: God promised to be with Jacob.
Kids: God promised to be with Jacob.
CHRIST CONNECTION
This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.
Babies & Toddlers: God calls us His children.
Younger Preschool: God gave Jacob a new name, Israel. When we follow Jesus, God calls us His children.
Older Preschool: God changed Jacob’s life and gave him a new name, Israel. By dying and rising from the dead, Jesus made the way for us to be adopted into God’s family. When we trust in Jesus, we get a new name, too—children of God.
Kids: God changed Jacob and gave him a new name, Israel. Jesus came so that we might have a changed life, forgiven of sin. Jesus’ death and resurrection provided sinful people the way to be welcomed into God’s family forever.
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER
This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Younger Preschool: Who is in control? God is in control.
Older Preschool: Who is in control of everything? God is in control of everything.
Kids: Who is in control of everything? God is in control of everything in heaven and on earth. Nothing is outside of God’s good plan.
KEY PASSAGE
This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Babies & Toddlers: God can make bad things good. Genesis 50:20
Younger Preschool: God can make bad things good. Genesis 50:20
Older Preschool: You planned evil against me; God planned it for good. Genesis 50:20
Kids: You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. Genesis 50:20
** Next week: Joseph Taken to Egypt (Genesis 37; 39-46; 50)
The story of God’s faithfulness to Abraham continues as we venture into the lives of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25 and 27. Isaac prayed that God would bless their family with an heir, and God responded. We witness God’s sovereignty in the lives of brothers Jacob and Esau as God’s promises are fulfilled.
Earlier in Genesis 25, God revealed to Rebekah that she had conceived twins, and that in the end, the older would serve the younger. Before either had done good or bad, God chose Jacob to become the nation of Israel. (Rom. 9:10-11) In His kingdom, the ways and logic of the world do not prevail; God destined Jacob to be the one whose lineage would one day bring us the promised Savior, Jesus.
God’s ways came to pass in accordance with His own wisdom and will. Isaac blessed Jacob as an act of passing on the covenant of his father Abraham. Nothing could intercept God’s promise to bless Abraham’s family through Jacob; in the opposite way, no scheming on behalf of this family could interfere with this blessing being passed down to the younger son.
Each member of Isaac’s family had to trust, by faith, that God’s ways were best, however confusing His plans seemed. In the end, God’s plan to provide the way to redeem and restore mankind through the lineage of Jacob would be accomplished. Just as Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob and even Esau had to surrender to God’s plans by faith, so, to do we surrender to God’s plan of restoring all things through His Son, Jesus. In Him, we receive the birthright promised to Abraham in its greatest and fullest measure, as God has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).
True salvation comes to all who place their trust in Jesus. Pray that your children, whose hearts have been entrusted to you, would hear of God’s sovereign goodness and surrender their lives to His will. May they place their trust in Him and receive the ultimate gift of everlasting life through His Son, Jesus.
Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.
FAMILY TALKING POINTS
STORY POINT
This is the main point to emphasize from today’s Bible story.
Preschool: Jacob took Esau’s blessing.
Kids: Rebekah and Jacob tricked Isaac into blessing Jacob.
CHRIST CONNECTION
This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.
Babies & Toddlers: God keeps His promises.
Younger Preschool: God’s promise for Abraham was a promise for Jacob too. One day, God would send Jesus to earth through Jacob’s family.
Older Preschool: God’s promise for Abraham was a promise for Isaac and Jacob too. When Esau gave up his birthright, that meant Jacob would get the blessings God promised. One day, God would send Jesus to earth through Jacob’s family.
Kids: God’s covenant with Abraham continued to the next generation. Esau sold his birthright, giving Jacob the right to the wonderful blessings God promised to his father Abraham. Through Jacob’s family, God would send the promised Savior to bring blessing and salvation to the world.
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER
This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Younger Preschool: Who is in control? God is in control.
Older Preschool: Who is in control of everything? God is in control of everything.
Kids: Who is in control of everything? God is in control of everything in heaven and on earth. Nothing is outside of God’s good plan.
KEY PASSAGE
This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Babies & Toddlers: God can make bad things good. Genesis 50:20
Younger Preschool: God can make bad things good. Genesis 50:20
Older Preschool: You planned evil against me; God planned it for good. Genesis 50:20
Kids: You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. Genesis 50:20
** Next week: Jacob Fled from Canaan (Genesis 28; 32)
Unit Description: God is in control of all things in heaven and on earth. Nothing is outside of His good plan. We see this in the lives of Jacob, Joseph, and Job. God is a faithful promise keeper who is always present with His people despite their difficulties and suffering.
Preschool Big Picture Question: Who is in control of everything? God is in control of everything.
In Genesis 24-25, we find the next step in God’s plan for Abraham: finding a wife for Isaac. The first verse reveals that God blessed Abraham in everything. Abraham had trusted in God, who had taken him from his native land and had sworn to provide for his every need. Now, he trusted God to fulfill the next step in His promises, believing God would guide his servant’s steps in the search for Isaac’s wife.
How do we see God’s continued faithfulness to His promise in the story of Rebekah and Isaac? How can that encourage us today?
Abraham wanted to make sure his son’s wife would be from his own land and people, not from the land of Canaan. So, he sent his trusted servant on a mission to find the wife God would provide. Prayerfully, the servant asked God for favor on this journey. But before he had finished asking God to bless him on this mission, God was already answering his prayer.
God had gone before Abraham’s servant to provide for Isaac. The servant’s immediate response to Rebekah’s kindness was worship to the God who “has not withheld his kindness and faithfulness.” Rebekah’s family knew Abraham’s servant had likewise been blessed by God and answered in response to this marriage proposal: “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter.” They trusted in God’s goodness on their behalf and allowed His plans to unfold, just as He had spoken.
God’s promise to bless Abraham hinged upon His provision of a wife for Isaac. Yet, God’s provision is not contingent upon human reason or ability. God demonstrated His sovereign kindness to Abraham, his family, and his servant through fulfilling His Word to them. The same is true in God’s plan of redemption; He provided the ultimate One we needed–Jesus–to fulfill the covenant He made in Genesis! Jesus was sent to us to be the Servant we needed to fulfill God’s mission of restoring our relationship to Him.
Ask God to continue revealing Himself to your kids. Pray that He would make His ways know to them, that redemption and salvation would take hold of their lives as they grow to understand His great love for them in Jesus.
Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.
FAMILY TALKING POINTS
STORY POINT
This is the main point to emphasize from today’s Bible story.
Preschool: God gave Isaac a wife to keep His promises.
Kids: God gave Isaac a wife to keep His promises to bless the nations.
CHRIST CONNECTION
This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.
Babies & Toddlers: We can know and love Jesus.
Younger Preschool: God provided a wife for Isaac to know and love. God sent His servant—Jesus—to earth. Jesus died and rose again so people could know and love Him.
Older Preschool: God provided a wife for Isaac. Abraham’s servant brought back Rebekah so Isaac could know and love her. God sent His servant—Jesus—to seek and save people from sin and death. Jesus was faithful. He died and rose again so that people could know and love Him.
Kids: God was faithful to provide a wife for Isaac. Abraham’s servant brought back Rebekah so Isaac could know and love her. God sent His servant—Jesus—to seek and save people from sin and death. Jesus was faithful. He died and rose again so that people could know and love Him.
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER
This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Younger Preschool: Who keeps His promises? God keeps His promises.
Older Preschool: Does God keep His promises? Yes, God always keeps His promises.
Kids: T Does God keep His promises? Yes, God always keeps His promises because He is faithful.
KEY PASSAGE
This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Babies & Toddlers: God is good, and His love is forever. Psalm 100:5
Younger Preschool: The LORD is good, and His love lasts forever. Psalm 100:5
Older Preschool: For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever. Psalm 100:5
Kids: For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations. Psalm 100:5
In Genesis 22, we read how God tested Abraham and led him to place an awe-inspiring trust in the faithful God over all creation. Abraham revealed a faith in God which reflected the trustworthiness of His character and promises. In today’s story of Abraham and Isaac, we learn what it looks like to entrust everything to God and to believe He is worthy of our ultimate obedience.
What role does worship play in today’s passage? How do we see God’s faithfulness depicted from Genesis 22 throughout the rest of Scripture?
God called Abraham to offer up his only son as a sacrifice. Abraham’s response to what seemed like such an outlandish command from God was to get up early and begin his journey to the unknown place God would reveal to him. In verse 5, we see the first use of the Hebrew word for “worship” in the Bible, spoken in reference to the sacrificial offering Abraham was willing to lay down before his God.
When Isaac inquired about the lamb for the offering, Abraham replied, “God himself will provide.” Though, logically, the death of Abraham’s son would make God’s promises impossible, God would faithfully provide the ram they needed, and make good on His promises to bless Abraham through his only son.
Hebrews 11:19 states that Abraham “considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead.” Abraham’s faith-filled obedience demonstrated that God could be trusted in any circumstance. With each new command he received from God, his response was to obey. He did not shrink back or busy himself with the lesser concerns of the world because God had proven Himself faithful over and over.
Abraham’s deep love for his one and only son points us to the greater love God has for His Son, Jesus. Though this story tells of one man’s obedient willingness to give back to God his most prized gift, we can know that God’s love for His own Son reveals His great love for us as His people. Pray that God would reveal this same love to your children and that they, too, would be willing to offer back to Him their lives as living sacrifices of worship.
Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.
FAMILY TALKING POINTS
STORY POINT
This is the main point to emphasize from today’s Bible story.
Preschool: Abraham trusted God.
Kids: Abraham trusted God even when he did not understand God’s plan.
CHRIST CONNECTION
This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.
Babies & Toddlers: God loves us and gave His Son, Jesus, to save the world from sin.
Younger Preschool: Abraham loved God, and God provided a ram. God loves us and gave His Son, Jesus, to save the world from sin.
Older Preschool: Abraham was willing to give up his son, but God provided a ram instead. God was willing to give His Son for us. Jesus died and rose again so we can have forgiveness and life with God forever.
Kids: Abraham was willing to give his only son for God, but God provided another way. God was willing to give His only Son for us. Jesus knew there was no other way to save God’s people, so He died and rose again to provide them with forgiveness and life with God forever.
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER
This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Younger Preschool: Who keeps His promises? God keeps His promises.
Older Preschool: Does God keep His promises? Yes, God always keeps His promises.
Kids: T Does God keep His promises? Yes, God always keeps His promises because He is faithful.
KEY PASSAGE
This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Babies & Toddlers: God is good, and His love is forever. Psalm 100:5
Younger Preschool: The LORD is good, and His love lasts forever. Psalm 100:5
Older Preschool: For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever. Psalm 100:5
Kids: For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations. Psalm 100:5
In today’s reading, we see how God kept and demonstrated His faithfulness to Abraham by establishing a covenant with him. The faithfulness of God is shown through Abraham’s family lineage as God’s promises were ultimately fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus––a descendant of Abraham.
How did God establish His covenant with Abraham? What was the significance of Abram’s name change?
Though the promises of Genesis 15:4 were years away from fulfillment, God made a covenant to show that He would be faithful to do what He promised Abraham no matter what. God wagered His namesake through establishing this covenant, promising on behalf of His own name and reputation that His promises would indeed come to pass. Animal blood was shed through this ceremony and was used to seal the covenant, demonstrating the gravity of what was at stake. God spoke to His servant’s questions regarding his inheritance of both a nation and a land to call their own.
In chapter 17 when Abram received his new name from God, he was 99 years old—still childless, yet still believing by faith. For him to father not only a son, but an entire nation seemed implausible. Yet, God changed Abram’s name from “The Father is Exalted” to Abraham, “Father of a Multitude.” Though the promise of a descendant was not yet in his reach, God spoke to him and over him that His Word was true and worthy of his obedience.
The bloodshed in this covenant agreement foreshadowed the blood to be shed as God’s promises would find ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Through His Son, God would do what seemed more impossible than Abram’s unlikely fatherhood—God would make the way for the unrighteous to be brought into His family forever. Like Abraham, we are counted as righteous when we place our faith in Christ and in His finished work on the cross. Reflect on the great lengths God demonstrated to prove that His covenant was trustworthy and how He brought it to completion through Jesus. Now is time to proclaim this covenant love to your kids. May you speak clearly about the loving faithfulness of your Father in heaven.
Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.
FAMILY TALKING POINTS
STORY POINT
This is the main point to emphasize from today’s Bible story.
Preschool: God made a promise to Abraham.
Kids: Abraham believed God’s promise.
CHRIST CONNECTION
This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.
Babies & Toddlers: Jesus came to earth as part of Abraham’s family.
Younger Preschool: God sent Jesus to earth as part of Abraham’s family. Jesus saves people from their sins.
Older Preschool: God promised to bless all the people in the world through Abraham. God sent Jesus to earth as part of Abraham’s family. God blesses all the people on earth through Jesus because Jesus saves people from their sins.
Kids: God kept His promises to Abraham. Abraham became the father of the nation of Israel. Jesus came into the world as a descendant of Abraham to fulfill God’s promise. All who place their faith in Jesus are part of God’s family forever.
BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER
This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Younger Preschool: Who keeps His promises? God keeps His promises.
Older Preschool: Does God keep His promises? Yes, God always keeps His promises.
Kids: T Does God keep His promises? Yes, God always keeps His promises because He is faithful.
KEY PASSAGE
This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.
Babies & Toddlers: God is good, and His love is forever. Psalm 100:5
Younger Preschool: The LORD is good, and His love lasts forever. Psalm 100:5
Older Preschool: For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever. Psalm 100:5
Kids: For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations. Psalm 100:5
Imago Dei Church Kids Ministry 