2025-10-12 God Created People to Enjoy His Glory
Introduction
The primary goal of this lesson is to teach that God created people in His image to show and reflect God's greatness and worth. Adam and Eve were created to show and reflect God's greatness by loving, trusting, obeying, enjoying God, and being more satisfied in God than anything else. People were created to echo back praise to God, acknowledging His greatness and incomparable glory.
Praise and Worship (15 mins)
Parents: The parent and child scheduled for this week will lead us in singing on Sunday. Please take time to practice the songs together at home, helping your child feel confident and joyful as they prepare to lead.
Prayer and Offering (5 mins)
Parents: Please encourage your children to bring an offering to church. You may help your child prepare by setting aside a coin for them to bring on Sunday. This is a great opportunity to teach them about giving to God with a thankful heart and trusting Him to provide.
What is Offering?
Offering is when we give something to God to show our love and thankfulness. In church, we often give money as an offering, but we can also give our time, talents, and kindness to God and others.
Why Do We Make an Offering?
To Thank God – Everything we have comes from God! Giving back is a way to say, “Thank You, God!”
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:7,
To Trust God – When we give, we show that we trust God to take care of us.
To Help Others – Offerings help the church teach about Jesus, help people in need, and share God’s love.
"God loves a cheerful giver!" That means God is happy when we give with a joyful heart!
Prayer for Offering
Dear God, thank You for giving us everything we need. We want to give back to You with joyful hearts. Please use our offering to help others and share Your love. Help us to always trust You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Review Verse from Last Week
Psalm 19:1 —"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaim his handiwork."
- Glory means when we talk about God's glory, we mean God is very special—He is great, important, and has immense, visible worth.
- Declare means to make known publicly, clearly, and loudly. To proclaim is very similar; it means to announce something important to everyone.
- Handiwork is simply something made by a person, showing off their skill, effort, and design.
- Psalm 19:1 means: Everything in creation is loudly announcing the specialness, greatness, and unmatched skill of the God who made it.
Bible Story (10 min): God Created People to Enjoy His Glory
Introduction (2 min)
Props Needed:
- Rock
- Small potted plant/ or a bunch of leaves
- Stuffed animal
Teacher:
“It’s going to be my birthday soon, and I’m so excited. I’m going to have a big party so I can share how happy I am. It’s going to be a wonderful party: there’s going to be cake, a lot of fun games, and so many presents! I need some help deciding who I should invite to my party.”
(Pull out the rock)
Teacher:
"Should I invite rocks to my party? Do you think they would enjoy cake and games? Why not?”
(Pull out the plant)
Teacher:
"What about this plant?"
(Let children respond: “No!”)
(Pull out the stuffed animal)
Teacher:
- “Hmm… the animal might enjoy sharing the birthday cake, but do you think it would enjoy the cake the same way we do? No, because the animal doesn’t think or feel in the same way you and I do. So who do you think I should invite to my party? Who would REALLY enjoy the cake and games? Yes, people! Boys and girls like you could enjoy my party with me! People would be able to say how much fun the games are, and they could tell me how tasty the cake is. Only people could tell me whether they liked my party or not.”
Story Telling (8 min)
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-25; Psalm 19:1
Props / Visuals Suggested:
- Paper doll cutouts of a man and woman (to represent Adam and Eve) with no eyes, mouths, etc. drawn in
- Marker
- Large piece of paper with Garden of Eden (flower, bushes, animals, etc.) drawn. Leave room in the middle to draw a large tree
- Sign saying “Eternal Life”
Teacher:
“Just like I am excited about my birthday party, there is someone in the Bible that was so happy, He wanted to share His happiness with someone who can really enjoy it. This person is God."
"Do you remember what God created?”
(Let children call out their answers)
Teacher:
“After God made the sun, the moon, the stars, the oceans, plants, and all the animals, He wanted to share with happiness with someone. But He couldn’t do that with all the stars, and the plants, and the fish, and the animals that He made.”
“What do you think God did?
(Wait to see if a child will say "people", bring out paper dolls)
Teacher:
"That’s right, he made people. All the boys and girls, mommies and daddies. God made everyone on earth. People would be able to share in God’s happiness.”
“The Bible says God said ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ What do you think that means “in our image”? Do you think God has long hair like Evelyn? Or that he wears glasses like your dad? No!”
“It means the God created people to be able to think, feel, and act in special ways. Rocks and can’t see or smell"
(Draw in eyes, nose, mouth on the paper dolls)
"But people can. Animals can see or smell, but they can’t talk to God, people can. Plants can’t feel love, but people can. God made people to be able to enjoy Him in a way that the sun or rocks or plants or animals aren’t able to. God wants people to enjoy Him by thinking of all the ways God is special, by loving how special God is, and telling our friends about God.”
Teacher:
“God also created a beautiful garden. This special garden is called the Garden of Eden.”
(Bring out Garden of Eden picture)
“In the Garden of Eden, there were flowers and animals. God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden so that they could see, touch, smell, taste, and hear how wonderful and special God is.”
(Stick paper dolls in picture)
Teacher:
“There were also a lot of fruit trees that Adam and Eve could eat from.”
(Draw fruit trees on the side)
“Now, in the middle of the Garden of Eden was a very special tree called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”
(Draw tree)
“God told Adam and Eve they can eat the fruit from any tree in the garden EXCEPT from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Every day, Adam and Eve would spend time with God. Adam and Eve were happy to be with God. God was their friend, their creator, and they God. As long as they obeyed God’s command about not eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would never die and Adam and Eve can spend forever living with God. When someone never dies and lives forever, it is called ‘eternal life’.”
(Stick ‘eternal life’ sign in picture)
Teacher:
“And that’s what Adam and Eve have: eternal life with God. Adam and Eve loved, trusted, obeyed, and enjoyed God. They were showing God that they thought He was the most special person of all. Everything in God’s creation was just as it should be and this made God very happy.”
Memorizing Verse: Psalm 16:11
Psalm 16:11
"You make known to me the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy"
Teacher:
“Our memory verse today comes from Psalm 16:11: ‘You make known to me the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy'."
“This verse is saying God told Adam and Eve they would always live- and never die- as long as they did not eat from the tree that God told them not to eat from. Being able to spend time with God forever will fill us with joy”
(Lead the kids in repeating the verse slowly)
Teacher:
“To help us remember this Bible verse, we can pair it with some actions”
- You make known to: point upwards to God
- me: point to self
- the path of life: trace a path forwards with your palms facing each other
- in your presence there is fullness of joy: raise your arms as if shouting "hooray"
Craft & Game (10 mins)
Craft: refrigerator magnets
Supplies:
- Psalm 16:11a Handout (see supplementary information)
- Coloured pencils/ crayons
- Glue
- Index cards
- Magnet
Have children colour the Psalm 16:11a picture. Glue the picture to the middle of the index card. Glue magnet to the back of the index card.
Response Song
Closing Prayer & Snack Time (10 mins)
"Dear God, thank You for creating everything. Thank you for creating us. Help us to get to know you more and to enjoy Your glory more than anything else. Amen"
Now, let us thank You for the snack we’re about to enjoy.
We fold our hands.
We bow our heads.
We thank You, God,
for this daily bread.
Amen.