The Church in New York City

THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK CITY CHILDREN’S MEETING LESSON

DATE: September 25, 2016 SUBJECT: GOD’S CALLING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT: God Called Abel SCRIPTURE: Genesis 4:1-16; 1 John 3:12 AIM: To help the children see that God is calling us to follow His ways. MEMORY VERSES TO CHOOSE FROM: Hebrews 11:4a (By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,…); Ephesians 5:1 (Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children;); Colossians 3:20 (Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing in the Lord.); Ephesians 4:26-27 (Be angry, yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your indignation, Neither give place to the devil.); 1 John 1:9 (If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.); Isaiah 55:8-9 (For My thoughts are not your thoughts, And your ways are not My ways, declares Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So My ways are higher than your ways, And My thoughts higher than your thoughts.) SUGGESTED SONGS: 65 (God’s Word); 10 (Inside Me); 54 (God Knows Everything); 56 (God Sees Us); 6732 (Trust and Obey); 4 (Be Careful What You Do); 66 (God’s Word In My Heart); 153 (Obey His Call); 7 (I Am a Very Special Child); 37 (I Have Decided to Follow Jesus)

SUGGESTED CRAFT: Prepare template of a One Way arrow street sign on thicker paper for the children to cut out. On the sign, the children can write in large block letters “FOLLOW GOD’S WAY.” Mount on large wooden stick.

BACKGROUND: After Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God and eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God was merciful to them and covered their nakedness and shame by making coats of skins to clothe them. This meant that blood had to be shed in order for there to be forgiveness. But due to their sin, Jehovah God drove them out from the garden of Eden and they were not allowed to enter in. God placed cherubim (angels) and a flaming sword which turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. God taught Adam and Eve an important lesson: because they were sinners, now the only way they could draw near to God and be accepted by Him was if an offering was sacrificed and its blood was shed. Adam and Eve must have taught their children God’s way.

CONTENT: After Adam and Eve left the garden of Eden, they had a son whom they named Cain. Then Eve gave birth to another son, Abel. Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer. In those days, sheep were not for eating because man did not eat meat. The sheep Abel raised were used to offer to God in worship, and for sacrifice, and their skin was used for clothing.

One day, Cain brought an offering to Jehovah from the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought an offering from the firstlings of his flock. Abel obeyed God’s way. Jehovah had respect and regard for Abel and for his offering, but had no regard for Cain and for his offering. This was because Abel had followed God’s way, and Cain did not. But instead of being sorry, Cain became very angry, and his face looked very unhappy. Jehovah asked Cain why he was angry and why he looked so unhappy. He warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door (crouching is like an animal preparing to spring)—meaning that Cain was very close to sinning. Cain should have repented and ruled over the sin instead of letting his anger take over him.

But instead of trying to please God, Cain was angry and hated his brother and killed Abel in the field. When Jehovah asked Cain where his brother was, Cain lied and said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me

0cba27fe4e1af158a89f803ac6cf4b63.doc Page 1 of 2 from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground.,…” The Lord told Cain that he would be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. But the Lord still protected Cain so that no one would harm him.

SUGGESTED APPLICATIONS TO CHOOSE FROM: Note to serving ones: Please pray and fellowship over which applications are appropriate for your age group. Do not feel obligated to cover all the applications.

 We should follow God’s way. Abel listened to the word of his parents and followed God’s way to make an offering. This pleased God. We should be those who follow God’s way. In the Bible, God tells us things that He likes and things that He does not like. Ask the children to help think of examples such as the Ten Commandments (God wants us to love Him and not have any idols. He does not want us to lie, steal or covet, etc.) One of the ways we can know God’s Word more is to read and memorize verses in the Bible.  We should be thankful for our parents and others who teach us God’s way. We need to be thankful that God called our parents (like Adam and Eve), grandparents, relatives, serving ones and godly friends to know and love Him. They are the ones who teach us about Him and help us know Him and know His ways. These people are one of God’s many blessings to us.  When we do something wrong, we should repent instead of being angry. Cain brought what he thought was good, but this was not what God wanted. Instead of feeling angry against Abel, Cain should have repented and followed the way set by God and his parents. Being filled with anger, he killed his own brother while they were alone in the field. Have you ever gotten angry because you got into trouble for doing something wrong? Perhaps we got angry because someone else got praised for doing a better job than we did. We should be careful not to sin. We can pray to the Lord to help us not be angry, and to repent and apologize for what we did. (Matthew 5:21-22)

Adapted from the church in New York City’s Children’s Meeting lessons: 10/03/93; 9/19/99; 9/18/05; 9/18/11

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