[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.4.1″ min_height=”112px” custom_padding=”0px||0px|13px||”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” header_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” text_orientation=”justified” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|false|false” border_radii=”on|2px|2px|2px|2px” border_width_all=”3px” border_color_all=”#e02b20″]

10 Commandments: Worship God

Read: Exodus 20:2-3; Acts 17:16-34
In This Passage: God begins his Ten Commandments by saying not to have any other god but him. In Acts, Paul visits Athens and sees the people have so many gods that they can barely keep them straight!
Paul uses their religious ways as a chance to tell them about the only true God.
Bible Point: We put God first.
Summary Verse: “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind’ ” (Matthew 22:37).

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” text_orientation=”justified” border_radii=”on|2px|2px|2px|2px” border_width_all=”3px” border_color_all=”#7cda24″]

Being first is awesome! And God deserves to win first place in our lives all the time. Let’s see what the Bible says about that. The Bible is God’s special book, full of wisdom on how to live the best way. And God is here, ready to give us wisdom, too!

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_video src=”https://youtu.be/lB3A7RcP89E” _builder_version=”4.4.3″][/et_pb_video][et_pb_video src=”https://youtu.be/1f9c-9rKLn0″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][/et_pb_video][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” header_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” text_orientation=”justified” border_radii=”on|2px|2px|2px|2px” border_width_all=”3px” border_color_all=”#0c71c3″]

Craft:

Make 14 “idols” by rolling sheets of yellow and gray construction paper into tubes and taping the tubes shut. Label the idols as follows: Athena, Dionysus, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, Pan, Adonis.
Make 12 “shrines” by folding sheets of yellow construction paper in half like a tent and standing them up. Label the shrines as follows: fire, air, water, earth, reason, nature, peace, friendship, dreams, sleep, justice, order.
Make 4 “altars” by folding sheets of gray construction paper in half like a tent and standing them up. Label the altars as follows: To an unknown god, Altar of the 12 Gods, the Great Altar of Zeus, Great Altar of Athena.
Set the idols, shrines, and altars all around the room.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https://fairfieldbaptist.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/gods.png” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.4.3″][/et_pb_image][et_pb_video src=”https://youtu.be/qFUQmdo-Sy8″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” header_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” text_orientation=”justified” border_radii=”on|2px|2px|2px|2px” border_width_all=”3px” border_color_all=”#e09900″]

Pray:

God, we admit that we’ve worshipped things besides you. We haven’t always put you first. that’s wrong. We ask that from now on, you’ll help us give you first place in our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” header_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” border_radii=”on|2px|2px|2px|2px” border_width_all=”3px” border_color_all=”#edf000″]

Activity Sheet:

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https://fairfieldbaptist.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/10-commandments.png” url=”https://fairfieldbaptist.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/the-ten-commandments.pdf” _builder_version=”4.4.3″ border_radii=”on|2px|2px|2px|2px” border_width_all=”3px” border_color_all=”#edf000″][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.3″ text_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” header_font=”Didact Gothic||||||||” text_orientation=”justified” border_radii=”on|2px|2px|2px|2px” border_width_all=”3px” border_color_all=”#8300e9″]

Bible Study:

We’re going to spend the next several weeks learning God’s Commandments. Let’s read the very first one, which talks about putting God first.

Read Exodus 20:2-3.

So what does it mean to worship other gods besides the one true God? Let’s find out what that looked like in the city of Athens, back in Bible times.

In today’s Bible story, a missionary named Paul went around telling people about Jesus. When he got to Athens, he saw a lot of things about their culture.

Read Acts 17:16-18.

Let’s imagine we’ve journeyed with Paul and we’re in ancient Athens. Let’s walk around the city and see what we can learn about their religion. You’ll be looking for idols (rolled up tubes).  The idols in Athens were statues that represented fake gods. Sometimes people even thought the idols were gods!
People also built shrines (yellow tented paper) and altars (gray tented paper) as places to worship gods.

• What did you see about Athenian culture?
• Based on what you observed, what would you tell someone from Athens about Jesus?

Paul noticed that they worshipped a lot of different gods. He even noticed this altar – find the altar that says “To an unknown god.” Paul could tell that the people of Athens believed there was something bigger than themselves and wanted to worship the right God…but they didn’t know who he was. In fact, what we saw was just a tiny example. Some historians think the people of Athens worshipped 30,000 different gods! So here’s what Paul said.

Read Acts 17:22-25.

• Why was Paul’s approach a good one?

Paul used the fact that they wanted to worship as a way to help them know the one true God. He pointed out that God had created everything, including some of the things they worshipped as gods. Paul had to help them learn that we put God first rather than worship other gods.
Paul was able to show them that none of these gods were real. So let’s smash all the idols and altars and get rid of them!
Have kids help you stomp on the idols, shrines and altars, then throw them away.

We just made some of the same observations about Athens that Paul did. So…what do you think Paul would notice if he came to our country today? What would he see us paying a lot of attention to? What would he notice about how we spend our time and energy? Let’s imagine that.
Have small-group leaders distribute white paper, and set out markers and tape to share.

Draw things that our culture spends a lot of time and energy on. That might include phones, televisions, video games, sports, and celebrities.
When kids have finished, they can make their papers into idols, shrines, and altars like the ones we just smashed.

God’s first commandment tells us we put God first. In Athens, they worshipped idols, thinking they were real gods. They thought made-up gods like Zeus and Athena had real powers.
We don’t typically do that in our culture. But we do often put more focus on things like technology and famous people than we put on God. While we might not call those things gods, they’ve taken that kind of place in our lives. The amount of time we spend on them is basically worshipping them.

Close your eyes and think about where you put a lot of time and focus. What do you put before God? What could you do to put God first?

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.1″ min_height=”76px” custom_padding=”||0px|||”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.1″][et_pb_video src=”https://youtu.be/ZASwxPwLmmk” _builder_version=”4.4.3″][/et_pb_video][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.4.3″][/et_pb_section]