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What can God Do?
Old Testament Version
Aim
To explore ideas of God's omnipotence with children.
Before the lesson prepare the Bible story.
Lesson
Begin lesson by going over what was taught during the last session about change. Who / what changes? Who does not change? Are the children able to stop themselves from changing? In other words, can'they stop time?
Experiment with trying to stop time by playing a game of statues. Did their stillness succeed in stopping time? What about if they stop the hands of a clock? Does that stop time?
Christians believe that God can stop time. In fact, they believe that He can do anything.
If the children could do anything, what would they do? Why would they do these things? Are any of their reasons valid. God only does things for a reason.
Share with the children the story of when God stopped time. (The battle of Gibeon - Joshua 10. You will need to fill in a few details about Joshua but you can spare all the gory details.) Why did He do it? (In answer to Joshua's prayer and to ensure total victory for the Israelites)
For what reason would the children like God to stop time? Do they think that He would do it for them?
New Testament Version
Aim
To explore ideas of God's omnipotence with children.
Before the lesson prepare the Bible story.
Lesson
Begin the lesson by going over what was taught during the last session about change. Who/what changes? Who does not change?
Inform the children that some people believe that God once came to Earth as a man called Jesus. Jesus changed by growing up, exactly like all children grow up. But Christians believe that He was very different from all other people because He could do things nobody else could do.
If the children could do anything, what would they do? Why would they do these things? Are any of these reasons valid?
Jesus did incredible things but only to help other people in some way. Remind the children of the story of Jesus at the marriage feast at Cana, which contains an account of Jesus' first miracle. In the first part of the story how would they have responded in this situation? Go to the shop? Do nothing?
Finish the rest of the story. Why did Jesus help? What was the reaction of the guests to the new wine?
Nobody else but God could have done what Jesus did. That's one of the reasons why Christians believe He is God.
