Wildside - 07.07.19

Wildside July 07, 2019

God Reminded His People of His Covenant

Bible Passage: ; ,

Main Point: God reminded His people of His covenant with them.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: Who can keep God’s law? No one can keep God’s law perfectly except Jesus.

Small Group opening

(10–15 minutes)

Large Group Bible study

(25–30 minutes)

Small Group activities

(25–30 minutes)

Leader BIBLE STUDY

After God, through Moses, brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He met with them in the wilderness and established a covenant, or agreement, with the people of Israel: “Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples … and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation” ().

God promised five things in the Mosaic covenant: 1) Israel will be God’s own possession (); 2) Israel will be God’s kingdom of priests (); 3) Israel will be a holy nation (); 4) God will defend Israel from her enemies (); and 5) God will be gracious, merciful, and forgiving to Israel ().

God’s conditions for the covenant were clear: “You must carefully follow every command I am giving you” (). “Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His command” (). “If you ever forget the Lord your God … you will perish” ().

In the opening chapters of Deuteronomy, the Israelites were at the edge of the promised land. Moses reminded them of all the things God had done. He reminded them of the Lord’s commands and implored them to worship only God. Through faith, trust, and love, the Israelites would receive the blessings of mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Moses’ message was clear: Remember!

Scripture reveals that Israel did not keep the covenant. (See ; .) But God was merciful to His people. His new covenant focuses not on obedience, but on the heart. (See .)

Our obedience cannot earn us God’s favor, and our disobedience does not separate us from Him. We receive His blessings by holding out empty hands of faith.

The BIBLE Story

God Reminded His People of His Covenant

; ,

“Israel, listen to me!” Moses said. Moses had called all of the Israelites together. They were in the wilderness, on their way to the land God promised to give them. God had an important message for the Israelites, and He spoke through Moses. “Here are the rules and laws I am telling you today. Learn them and obey them,” Moses said.

Moses reminded the people that God had made a covenant, or agreement, with the Israelites at Mount Sinai (SIGH nigh). God said, “If you listen carefully to Me and keep My covenant, you will be My people.”

God gave them the Ten Commandments: 1) Do not have other gods besides Me; 2) Do not make an idol for yourself; 3) Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God; 4) Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy; 5) Honor your father and your mother; 6) Do not murder; 7) Keep your marriage promises; 8) Do not steal; 9) Do not lie; 10) Do not want what belongs to someone else.

“God wants you to obey all of His commands,” Moses said. “God wants me to teach you all of His rules and laws, and He wants you to obey them exactly as He commanded. If you do, things will go well in the land He promised to give you, and you will live there for a long time.

“Israel, listen to me! The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

“Teach these commands to your children. Talk about them all the time—when you are home, when you walking along the road, when you go to bed at night, and when you get up in the morning.”

Moses told the people about the wonderful things God would do. “God promised to bring you into the land of Canaan. He promised to give this land to your fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God will keep His promises!

“When you get to the promised land, don’t forget the Lord. Remember what He has done for you. The Lord rescued you from slavery in Egypt. Worship Him, and worship only Him.”

Moses told the people that it was almost time for them to enter the promised land. He warned them that tall, strong people lived in the land. “But God will go ahead of you,” Moses said. “He will drive them out.”

Then Moses made a very important point. “God is not doing this because you are righteous,” he said. “God is keeping the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In fact, you are stubborn people.”

Finally, Moses said, “Love the Lord your God. If you obey His commands, you will be blessed. If you do not obey, you will be punished.”

Christ Connection: God kept His promise to give land to the families of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As the Israelites stood at the edge of the promised land, God reminded them of His covenant. He commanded them to be holy and to obey Him, but He knew they would not. God was working out His plan to send Jesus to rescue people from sin and bless the whole earth.

Small Group Opening

Session Title: God Reminded His People of His Covenant

Bible Passage: ; ,

Main Point: God reminded His people of His covenant with them.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: Who can keep God’s law? No one can keep God’s law perfectly except Jesus.

Welcome time

Greet each kid as he or she arrives. Use this time to connect to your group and make sure each student is checked in.

As kids arrive, invite them to share their favorite memory of a birthday or holiday.

Say • Memories are important. God gives us the gift of memory so we can grow and develop. God gave us the Bible to help us remember what He has said and done. We can trust Him with the future.

Transition to large group

Table Wars

Large Group LEADER

Introduce the session (3 minutes)

Last week we learned about the Israelites. Right before they entered the promised land, Moses brought them all together and reminded them of the covenant God made with them. God said if they listened and obeyed, then they would experience His blessings. One of those blessings was to live a long time in the promised land, which is way better than anything we could ever get on this worl, if you ask me!

Today’s Bible story took place not long after last week’s story, when Moses reminded the people that the Lord alone is God; there is no other besides Him. Moses had another reminder of the people of Israel. The words Moses spoke were a message from God, so even though Moses did the talking, it was God who reminded the people of His covenant.

Big picture question

Leader • Our big picture question for today is the same as the last couple of weeks. Does anyone remember the question? Who can keep God’s law? How about the question and the answer? That’s right—Who can keep God’s law? No one can keep God’s law perfectly except Jesus.

In our Bible story today, God reminded the Israelites of His law. God did not do this so the people would feel burdened. He did this to remind them that His rules are good and that if we love Him, we will listen carefully so we can obey.

Tell the Bible story

Open your Bible to . Let’s Watch the Bible story video “God Reminded His People of His Covenant.”

Leader • God used Moses to remind His people of His covenant with them. A covenant is a promise or an agreement. God said, “If you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples.” [See .]

God made it clear that the Israelites needed to obey Him. He said, “You must carefully follow every command I am giving you.” [See .] He warned that if the Israelites ever forgot the Lord, they would be punished.

Ask the following review questions.

Where were the people headed at the beginning of the story? (to the promised land, )

What did God want the Israelites to do with His commandments? (obey them, )

How often were the people supposed to talk about God’s commandments? (all the time, )

What did God promise to do? (bring them into the land of Canaan, )

Did God keep His promise because the people were righteous? (No. In fact, they were a very stubborn people; )

What would happen if the people obeyed God’s commands? (They would be blessed, )

What would happen if they did not obey? (They would be punished, )

Who can keep God’s law? No one can keep God’s law perfectly except Jesus.

Leader • Do you think the Israelites always kept God’s commands? No. But God was merciful to His people. He planned to make a new covenant with His people through His Son, Jesus. The new covenant through Jesus does not depend on our obedience. God offers salvation as a free gift to those who trust in Jesus as Lord.

Key passage

Show the key passage. Lead the boys and girls to read together .

Discussion starter video

Show the “Unit 6, Session 5” discussion starter video.

Leader • When you need to remember something important, what do you do?

Point out that we need to be reminded of things because we simply forget! The same goes for God’s promises. Lead kids to discuss why memorizing Scripture is so important and ways they can work on memorizing Bible verses or passages.

Pray

Invite kids to pray before dismissing to small groups.

Leader • Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus, who kept Your law perfectly. Thank You for keeping Your promises and forgiving us when we sin. We don’t deserve Your love, but You give it to us anyway. Help us to trust You and obey Your commands. We praise You for being so faithful to us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Dismiss to small groups

Small Group LEADER

Session Title: God Reminded His People of His Covenant

Bible Passage: ; ,

Main Point: God reminded His people of His covenant with them.

Key Passage:

Big Picture Question: Who can keep God’s law? No one can keep God’s law perfectly except Jesus.

Key passage activity

Form two teams based on various characteristics. (Examples: kids born on even dates versus kids born on odd dates, brunettes versus everyone else, and so on)

Instruct the teams to gather as quickly as possible, stand in a circle, say the verse as fast as they can, and then sit down. The first team to sit wins! Switch up the categories for teams and play again.

Say • Moses gathered the people to remind them of God’s covenant. Like our key passage says, God is holy and He wanted His people to be holy too. If the people obeyed God’s laws, God would bless them. If they did not obey, God would punish them. Jesus brings us to God because He obeyed God perfectly and He took the punishment for sin that we deserve.

Bible story review

Assign the following Scriptures for individuals to look up and read aloud: ; ; ; . Before each reading, tell the kids to note what exactly God was promising as part of the covenant.

—Israel will be God’s own possession.

—Israel will be a kingdom of priests.

—Israel will be a holy nation.

—God will fight against Israel’s enemies.

—God will be gracious, merciful, and forgiving to Israel.

Read and again. Before reading, tell the kids to pay attention to the beginning of the verses.

Say • A conditional statement is an “If / then” statement. It’s like when your mom says, “If you put away your clean clothes, then you can play outside.” The second part relies on the first part.

Some of the promises God made to the Israelites were conditional. That means that God said if the people listened to Him and obeyed Him, then He would do certain things.

Do you think God expected the people to always listen, always obey, and never sin? No. God said He is “a compassionate and gracious God” (). God said He would forgive “wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin” ().

God wanted the Israelites to trust Him. He wanted them to love His law and worship Him with their heart, soul, mind, and strength. God still wants that today! In the Old Testament, God wanted the people to trust that He would send a Savior in the future. God kept His promise and today, He wants us to trust in that Savior—His Son, Jesus.

When we trust in Jesus by faith, God accepts us. Our salvation is not conditional. If God had said, “If you are good and always obey, then I will give you eternal life,” who could be saved?

Everyone has sinned. We cannot earn God’s favor. We can only hold out our hands and receive God’s free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

prayer

Distribute prayer cards and lead kids to write out the key passage or another verse they want to memorize this week.

Challenge them to memorize the verse with a friend.

Close in prayer or have a student pray for your group.