Gods Good Rules T1

“God’s Good Rules”
"Why We Have Rules"
Main idea:
God’s rules help us get along nicely with one another and to stay healthy, safe, and happy.
Topic 1
“Who’s Number One?”
We worship only God because only God can save us from our sins!
Bible Memory Verses:

Psalm 119:1-2 “Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord. Joyful are those who obey
his laws and search for him with all their hearts.”
Scripture References:
Exodus 20:1-17
Exodus 19:5-8
Isaiah 43:21
John 8:34
Read Scripture references,

Matthew 6:24, 33, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 27:4, Deuteronomy 6:14-15
Take time to meditate on this week’s Scripture and think about your own life. I think it is so easy for us to quickly
brush aside the first commandment, seeing as none of us worship the gods of other religions.
As you prepare to teach this week, I encourage you to dig deeper into this commandment. Our Lord is jealous for
us. He loves us fiercely and has earned our time, love and devotion. What do you put first in your life?
Game and Lesson Introduction: God First! Go Fish

Divide the class into groups of three to five. Give each group a deck (two printouts) of shuffled “God First” Go Fish
Cards. This game is played just like normal go fish, but the deck is made up of items people often idolize and treat
at more important than God.
The purpose of the game is to be the first to get rid of all your cards by making matches and declare, “God is first in
my heart!” Each student starts with five cards. The rest of the cards are face down in a stack in the middle. The
student whose birthday is soonest goes first. The player asks another player if they have a particular card.
(For example, “Joseph, do you have the TV card?” If the player asked has that card, they must hand it over. If not,
the first player draws from the draw pile. If they pick up the card they just asked for, they make a match and have
another turn. If not, play moves on to the person to the left. Play continues until one player has found matches for all
the cards in his hand and declares, “God is first in my heart!”
Children’s Bible Lesson: Who’s Number One?

Open in prayer, then say, great work playing today’s games! You know that our games always have something to do
with our lessons. Can anyone take a guess about what today’s game has to do with our lesson? (Allow children to
guess.) Today’s games were all about putting God first in our hearts.
The Ten Commandments are ten rules that God gave to Moses for the people of Israel to obey. Obeying rules helps
keep us safe, healthy and happy. Rules help us to have a good relationship, to get along well with God and with
other people.
If we do a good job following this rule, the others are easy to follow. If we can’t follow the first rule, we won’t be
able to follow all the others. Let’s read that first rule again. (Read Exodus 20:3.)
“You must not have any other god but me.”
Okay, trick question: everyone shout out at once and tell me, how many gods are there? (Let students shout out.)
Yes, there is only ONE God! His holy name is Yahweh. He created everything in the universe and made people
special, to love and follow him. So the first commandment DOES NOT MEAN there are other real gods. It means
that we sometimes act like there are and we worship other things, or sometimes, people make up gods and tell
stories about them and worship these made up gods instead. They Egyptians did exactly this. When the Israelites
were slaves in Egypt, just two months before God gave them the Ten Commandments, the Egyptians worshiped a
whole bunch of made up gods. In fact, a whole bunch of people in the world back, then, and even some today,
worshipped made up gods with made up names. Israel knew there is only one real God and they agreed to do what
God told them (Exodus 19:5-8).
These days, there are still people who don’t believe that Yahweh is the one true God and that Jesus is his son. But
they still worship something. We are created to worship. Isaiah 43:21 says, “the people I formed for myself that they
may proclaim my praise.” (NIV)
So if we aren’t worshiping God and putting him first in our hearts, than what ARE we worshiping? What are some
things we make more important in our lives than God? (Allow students to answer. If you want, write the answers on
the board.)
There’s not really a wrong answer here. Sometimes, we make our schoolwork or homework more important than
God. Sometimes we care more about getting good grades than having good hearts. Sometimes we care more about
spending time watching TV or playing video games or reading our favorite books than we do spending time with
God. Sometimes we choose to skip church or not read our Bible because we have other things to do. Sometimes we
care more about our sports team. Either the one we’re on or a professional team. We want to win, we want to be
number one! Schoolwork, sports or other hobbies, our chores, our friends and families, are all important. But
nothing is as important as having a good relationship with God. What are some things we can do to help us have a
good relationship with God? (Allow students to answer. Possibly write their answers on the board.) Going to church
and Sunday school, reading our Bibles, praying, and treating others well, all show that God is first in our hearts.
Before we close in prayer and do our craft, let’s think about WHY we put God first. Exodus 20:2 says, “I am the
Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.”
Then verse three is the first commandment, telling us that there is only one God and we should follow and obey
him. We love and obey God because he rescued us from slavery. Now, you and I have never actually been slaves in
another country, like the Israelites were in Egypt. Let’s have a sword drill. Take all fingers and bookmarks out of
your Bible and hold it closed above your head. When I say go, look up John 8:34. Go! (Read, or have a student read
John 8:34.)
“Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” Then in verse 36, Jesus tells us, “So if the
Son [Jesus] sets you free, you are truly free.”
Before Jesus saved us from our sins, it was like we were slaves to our sins. But when we believe that Jesus died on
the cross to save us, and we ask him to forgive us of our sins, he sets us free! We worship only God because only
God can save us from our sins!
End in prayer.
Activity
Have children write their name on the coloring page. As they color, discuss with them what they learned today.
They may take the coloring pages home, or you may collect them to put together into a book to be sent home at the
end of the unit.

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“God’s Good Rules”

"Why We Have Rules"

Bible Memory Verses:

Read Scripture references,

Game and Lesson Introduction: God First! Go Fish

Children’s Bible Lesson: Who’s Number One?

“You must not have any other god but me.”

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