* LESSON: AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE
Bible Memory Verse:
“All Scripture is God-breathed…” 2 Timothy 3:16
WHAT DO WE DO IN CHRISTIAN EDUCATION? Learn about God AND get to know God. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO KNOW GOD? Knowing God is the most important thing in the world. If you had all the money in the world, are the smartest person, the best looking person, are the best at sports and didn’t know God, it wouldn’t mean much. Nothing is as important as knowing God. (Luke 12:16-21)
In Christian Education class we will do things that teach us about God and how to love and obey Him. We will:
1) Talk to God by praying to Him
2) Listen to true stories from the Bible
3) Learn how God wants us to act, how to obey Him
3) Learn verses from the Bible about God
4) Worship and praise God by singing songs about Him and to Him
HOW DO WE GET TO KNOW GOD?
1) The most important way is through the Bible. The Bible is God breathed. That means that God told men what to write when they wrote the Bible. Everything in the Bible is what God wanted to be written. Much of the Bible is true stories that show how God works in men’s lives.
The verse we are going to learn today from the Bible is: “All Scripture is God-breathed…” Scripture means all the words that are in the Bible. WHAT IS SCRIPTURE? (All the words that are in the Bible) God-breathed means that God told the men that wrote the Bible what to write. Some of these men were prophets, some were kings, some were farmers, some were disciples or followers of Jesus, some were missionaries and there were others. They each wrote using their own language and their own way of writing. But they wrote what God wanted them to write. It is like God-breathed on them to tell them what to write.
Our memory verse is: “All Scripture is God-breathed…” Can we all say that. Our memory verse is found in the Bible in 2 Timothy 3:16. The Bible is divided into books according to who wrote the books. Timothy is a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to a young pastor named Timothy. It is the second letter that he wrote. That is why it is called SECOND Timothy. Each book in the Bible is divided into chapters and verses so we can find what we want easily. THREE is the chapter of Timothy where this verse is found and SIXTEEN is the verse where it is found. (Show children the verse up in the Bible).
The Bible is the main way to know God. It is like a letter He wrote to us so we could know Him. Everything that doesn’t
agree with the Bible, we know isn’t from God. For instance, it says in the Bible: “You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15 If anyone said that God told us to steal, we would know they are lying because God’s word, the Bible, tells us not to steal.
2) We can learn about God from our parents if they know God. Our parents or other family members can read the Bible to us. Soon you will learn how to read for yourself.
3) We can learn about God in church. Our pastor or minister, Sunday School teachers can read and explain the Bible to us.
4) We can know God through nature (Psalm 19:1-6 Romans 1:18-20). We see the beautiful God has made and know how wise He is and how much He loves us.
5) We can know God through prayer. WHAT IS PRAYER? We get to know people when we talk to them, don’t we? We get to know God when we talk to Him. God loves to talk to us. In prayer we talk to God and He talks to us. How does God talk to us?
a) We can know God because sometimes God directly speaks to us. He spoke to Moses, one of the Old Testament prophets, face-to-face.(Exodus 33:11) He told Moses how to govern His people, the Israelites. Usually God doesn’t speak to people in a voice that people can hear. Usually He speaks through our mind–we can know He is speaking to us, but we don’t hear a voice.
b) God can speak to us through objects in nature. He spoke to Moses through a burning bush. He spoke to a man named Balaam through his donkey.
c) He speaks to us through our conscience. God has given us a conscience. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF SOMEONE HAVING A GUILTY CONSCIENCE? We know when we are doing something wrong. The Bible talks about your conscience being seared. That means a person can do something wrong so many times that he doesn’t think it is wrong anymore. Or we can hear about it so much we don’t think it is so wrong. For instance, if we see murders on TV often enough, pretty soon we forget how horrible murder is.
d) We can know about God through visions and dreams. Men in the Bible often knew what they were supposed to do because of dreams and visions. For instance, Joseph, Mary’s husband, knew that he was supposed to run away into Egypt because wicked King Herod was going to try to kill the baby Jesus. He knew this because of a dream God had given him. God also speaks to us today in dreams.
WHAT IS GOD LIKE?
1) He is wise. God knows everything about everything. He made everything & He understands everything. He knows everything that happened in the past and everything that will happen in the future.
2) He is everywhere. He knows everything that is going on everyplace.
3) God is love. God does everything out of love. He is kind to everyone. He is just like good parents–He even disciplines us when we need to be disciplined for our own good. He doesn’t want anyone to perish; He wants everyone to come to know Him. However, the wicked will be thrown into hell if they do not come to know Him and change their ways.
4) Everything is possible with God. He can do anything. Some things He will not do because He knows they are not the best thing to do.
QUESTIONS:
1. Who wrote the Bible?
2. What are some ways to know God?
3. What is God like?
AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE
Bible Memory Verse:
“All Scripture is God-breathed…” 2 Timothy 3:16
Words to choose from: OLD, 66, BIBLE, VERSES, TALK, READ, TALK, NEW, TALK
1. Scripture is a passage from the __ __ __ __ __ .
2. The Bible is divided into the __ __ __ Testament and the __ __ __ Testament.
3. There are __ __ books in the Bible.
4. Each chapter in the Bible is divided into __ __ __ __ __ __.
5. When we pray we __ __ __ __ to God. He will also __ __ __ __ to us
6. It makes God happy when we __ __ __ __ to Him.
7. We get to know God when we __ __ __ __ the Bible.