ELEMENTARY KIDS & FAMILIES date
1.5
I am constantly amazed at God’s tenderness to our weaknesses.
Inspire (for parents) I recently had the privilege of being at the hospital for the birth of my third granddaughter. There is nothing quite as miraculous as seeing new life come into this world. With new life comes many firsts, each of which is usually documented with photos and video. First bath, first time her mommy held her, first time her big sister held her, first car ride—the list of firsts were endless.
knows that we get off track and are people that need healing and will easily forget. He recognizes that without documenting and recording our firsts, we will let slip from memory the loving-kindness He demonstrated by sending His Son to give us new life! by Debbie Guinn
“He knows we get off track.”
While my daughter and her husband stayed at the hospital, I had the responsibility of taking my five-year-old granddaughter home and preparing her for school the next day. As we talked about the amazing day and the new life that she would now have as a big sister, I began to share with her about the day she was born. We found her baby book and began ssover) s 12—14 (The Pa Scripture: Exodu to go back and reminisce the joy fe Leads to New Li of that day. There, recorded in the Main Point: God your family to designed to allow photo album, were all her firsts This resource is ur children yo Word before d’s Go in e that came along with her new tim have is for parents to cause God’s plan Be . ch ur ch nd life. Five years later I recognized te at their children’s iritual nurturers of be the primary sp I would have forgotten many of spiritually, your that as you grow faith, we know those details had they not been ll. spiritually as we children will grow documented.
Getting Started
I am constantly amazed at God’s tenderness to our weaknesses. He
Equip (for parents) God recognized that the Israelites were going to be inundated with many firsts in their new life free from slavery. He wanted them to always remember the miracle of how He gave them new life, so He set up a holy day and festival to commemorate the Exodus called Passover. Below are a few images of how the Passover points to Jesus and the new life He gives us: •T he Israelites were instructed to kill and eat a perfect lamb. Similarly, it was only through Christ’s perfect life and death that His people could be saved. •M any translations render the words “at twilight” to mean, “between evenings,” the Jewish ninth hour. Accordingly, Christ died at the hands of all of the people during the ninth hour of the day.
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Support
(for parents & kids) Sometime this week, read through the biblical account of the Passover in Exodus 12:1–29. After you have read the passage, ask your kids to tell you their favorite part of this passage and then share with them your favorite part.
•B y putting the blood of the perfect lamb on the doorposts, the Israelites asserted their belief that God would save them. In the same way, we actively submit to Christ in order to be saved.
Just for fun, read this part of The Big God Story sitting together in a doorframe. If you want to go a step further, frame the top and sides of the doorframe with red fabric or red paper to be reminded of how God’s people painted their doorposts.
•T he name “Passover” referenced the plague that “passed over” the houses of the Israelites covered by the blood of a sacrificial lamb. When Christ instituted communion during Passover, He showed His blood was not only sufficient to cover their sins, but to obliterate them.
When you are finished, share with your children that what they just heard is a part of The Big God Story in the Bible, and they will hear it in church. Close your time by praying and thanking God for protecting them and that we can have new life in Jesus.
•W hen God liberated His people from bondage, He brought them into new life; He bound them together as a nation of His own people. To commemorate this moment, God instituted Passover—a meal that would not only remind the Israelites of how God had liberated them, but would also point toward Christ, the Lamb of God, whose blood would cover the sins of the world (John 1:29).
“Passover—a meal that would not only remind the Israelites of how God had liberated them, but would also point toward Christ, the Lamb of God, whose blood would cover the sins of the world.”
© 2011 David C. Cook. TruResources are developed in partnership with ROCKHARBOR Church and a national network of family and children’s ministry leaders. All right reserved.