Why is Satan the enemy of God?

Today in our 5th grade Sunday School class, we grappled with the question, “Why is Satan the enemy of God?”

This was one of the questions we brainstormed last week, and asked parents as well as ministry staff to help us answer. Unfortunately, no one called in last week to share an answer to this question.

We used the concordance in the back of our Bibles (most of them have one) and looked up verses which address the topic of Satan. We started with Genesis 3, the story of “The Fall of Man” and the first time Satan is mentioned in the Bible. The first seven verses of Genesis 3 are:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ “

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

We talked about what the serpent (the Devil) was asking Eve to do: To question God. We talked about how in this first set of sentences we hear from Satan, he tells a lie. He says “You will not die,” yet that is exactly what will and does happen to people because of this decision.

We discussed what type of fruit is discussed in this passage, and realized that the verses do not tell us. Some people think of the fruit as an apple, others think of it as a pomegranate. As the sidebar in the Children’s Adventure Bible says (which we read aloud) it is not really as important to know what the type of fruit was in this story, as to know what happened: Adam and Eve chose to disobey God.

Next week we are going to continue discussing this question and hopefully create a shadow-puppet skit to illustrate both the question and the answer.

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Our Questions for Parents and Pastors

Today in our 5th grade Sunday school class, we brainstormed questions about the Bible, God, the world, and our faith that students have. We recorded this 2 min, 10 sec podcast of our questions. Please respond to one or more of our questions by calling the following phone number (long distance to New York, so use a cell phone) and entering our unique extension:

646-462-4031 x 08096

Here are our questions!

We wrote these questions on the SMARTboard and then made this recording. In addition to hearing us ask these questions, you can also view our written questions in this SlideShow.

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oklahoma, podcast, presbyterian, questions, christian, faith, church, edmond

Choices and Listening for God’s Voice

These are notes and links for parents and students in our 5th grade “Grapple” Sunday School class at First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Last Sunday and this Sunday (Mother’s Day) we have focused on the themes of listening to God’s voice as we make choices. I’ve also used a few more interactive features of our SMARTboard, and created our lessons in SMART Notebook instead of PowerPoint. You can download these files below and use them if desired. Here’s a summary of what we’ve discussed and the verses we’ve studied.

Sunday, May 3, 2009
How Can I Hear God’s Voice
- download our SMART Notebook 10 lesson (6.8 MB)
- reviewing things that do NOT matter in life versus things that do
- Exodus 3: Story of Moses and the burning bush
- discussion of Egypt and where it is located in the Middle East relative to the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula
- Story of Gideon testing God: Judges 6:33-40
- Theme: We should not test God
- James 1:5-7

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.

Sunday, May 10, 2009
Choices, Choices! (Hearing God’s Voice Part 2)
- download our SMART Notebook 10 lesson (7.5 MB)
- Proverbs 2:6

For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

- vocabulary review: Gideon, Moses, Egypt, Sinai, Satan, Bible (as the sword of the Spirit,) dreams (as a way God can speak to us)
- Discussion prompt photo: The Fortune Teller
- Independent response questions:
– Whose voice do you know?
– How can you learn to recognize someone’s voice?
– What is the potential danger in listening to strangers?
– What is good about recognizing a voice?
– How can you recognize God’s voice?
- Discussion verse: 1 John 4:1-6
- Discussion focus: We must spend time in prayer and Bible study each week so we know God’s Word, his voice, and his will for our lives. Only by spending time with God regularly can we know his voice when he speaks to us. We should not put God to a test, as Gideon did, but we should put messages we hear in the world and from our friends to the “test” by comparing them to God’s will and what he says in his Word. God is here with us and speaks to us, but we must listen and spend time seeking him so we will know Him.

Thanks to Dave Debrowski for visiting us and participating in our lesson today! Dave told us about Chaos and invited both parents and students to come to the Chaos meeting this Wednesday, May 13th, in the Green Room at FPCE at 6:30 pm to discuss summer activities for middle school students.

We have just 3 more Sundays left in May, then 5th grade Grapple will be over!

Take some time this week to discuss some of the Bible verses and themes we’ve discussed in class together as a family. Have a great week!

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