If not the most, one of the most difficult passages in this curriiculum.

Click HERE for a blog from Faith Church on this lesson.

Thank you to those who have been working through this lesson.

I want to let you know this week's passage has one of the most difficult verses to teach to children.  Ezra 10:3

Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law.

What do you do with this passage?  
How do you keep a high view of marriage in a culture where quick divorces are the norm
How do you tell a child who has been hurt by divorce that part of God's plan for God's people was divorce?

Here is my attempt to explain this passage in a way that some children might understand.  (How is that for a STRONG statement:  some children might understand).  Comments specifically geared towards kids are italicized and bold

In the Old Testament, God wanted His people to be very different than the nations around them, which explains many of the Laws God gave the people.  One set of these laws was that the people should not marry foreign women with foreign gods.

God gives His people specific laws to follow.  God did not want the Israelites men to be led into sin by foreign wives who served very different Gods.

The Israelites did not follow this command.  They sinned against God.

The book of Ezra tells how the people repented of this sin.  

Part of this repentance was taking action steps to do what was right in the future for the husband and the foreign.  
And these action steps had to be done God's way.
The last part of Ezra 10:3 says that everything the people did had to be done according to the Law.  

Our repentance, just like the Israelites' repentance is to and for God.  

Here is part of an article I found on this passage, I am trying to track down the source.

The basic truth introduced in Nehemiah, Ezra and other Old Testament passages is reestablished in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 6:14: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” This is seen, of course, in number of New Testament Scriptures. However, after reiterating the truth confirmed in the New Testament that God’s people are not to marry outside the faith; the Old Testament passage in Ezra teaches that those who had married unbelievers were to divorce them. Meanwhile, in the New Testament, while it is wrong to marry an unbeliever (literally, “do not BECOME unequally yoked with unbelievers” according to A. T. Robertson, Alford’s Greek Testament, Expositor’s Greek New Testament, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and others) – again, while it’s wrong to marry an unbeliever, once a Christian is married to an unbeliever, he is NOT to divorce his unbelieving spouse, but to work on converting her.

BOTTOMLINE:  Sin is a serious problem and has a VERY serious solution (Jesus dying on the cross) and should cause a very serious change in our lives.

July 20 teacher note

Click on the picture for a pdf copy of the note.

Ezra, Worship and covering long sections of scripture...

In several posts, the have been examples of how to cover long sections of scriptures with the kids.  

This Sunday's lesson and Bible memory verse focus on worship.
So the reading example I have given below demonstrates this idea.
1st section.  Why worship?
2nd section.  How to worship.
3rd section.  Worship when it might be difficult.

Here are some suggested sections to read.
You can break up these readings with lessons, songs or other activities 

For example:Read the 1st section and then talk with the children about keeping promises and what happens when we don't keep them. God ALWAYS keeps His promises.

Read the 2nd section and then list out things you can thank God for that people have made.  Sing a song about thankfulness.

Read the 3rd section and then talk about God honoring ways you can respond to people when they don't treat you nicely.

1st Section:
Ezra 1:1 - 4
God keeps his promise.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.  Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem.  And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

2nd Section:
Ezra 3:10 - 13
God is praised for the work of His people.

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel.  And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

“For he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.”

And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.  But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

3rd Section:
Ezra 5:11 - 15
The Israelites respond in a God honoring way to opposition.

1And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. 12 But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. 13 However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. 14 And the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; 15 and he said to him, “Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” 

Introduction material to Ezra, Esther and Nehemiah

Here is the Generation of Grace Introduction Material for
Ezra, Esther and Nehemiah.

Introduction to Ezra HERE
Introduction to Esther HERE
Introduction to Nehemiah HERE

This Past Sunday, yesterday and This Upcoming Sunday

Being at Camp Patmos this week speaking has been great.
I also have had limited internet access but I wanted to take a moment to thank all the 10:30 children's ministry workers for their flexibility and servant hearts this past Sunday with the fire alarms.  Everyone did a great job.  There are obviously things we need to work on such as making sure the automobile traffic on the children's ministry side is limited.  Several people have also sent ideas to think through.

Yesterday during prayer meeting families with children did a prayer walk around the church.  You can do your own virtual prayer by going to 

ekidzministry.blogspot.com/2014/07/wednesday-nights-prayer-walk.html

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that this upcoming week's lesson is...

Title: God moves the Jews to restore worship from Ezra 1—6

What have been the Bible passages we have covered since starting Generations of Grace?

If you are looking for what lessons the kids have covered since we started Generations of Grace you can see the entire schedule at www.generationsofgrace.com/Scope.aspx

Memory Verse Review

For a list of the 2014 Memory verses and the lesson titles click HERE.
To use the memory verses to review, select several of the verses to focus on.
Review the verses and connect them with the lessons from that week.

Remember, each of the memory verses is connected to a principle from the lesson.

For example the lesson from January 12th was from 1st Samuel 8 - 12 and it was entitled "Israel rejects God as king.

The memory verse Psalm 24:10, "Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! "  reminds us that despite Israel's rejection God is the king.  Remind the kids that God is the boss and He is a good boss.

Another example is the lesson from March 9th from 2 Samuel 11-12, "God forgives David."
The memory verse was Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."  This verse was part of David prayer of repentance.  Remind the kids we need to repent.

God shows mercy to Jonah and Nineveh   Psalm 103:13.  Remind the kids God has shown us great mercy, we should show great mercy.

God humbles Nebuchadnezzar  Psalm 25:9.  Remind the kids to be humble.

There are four verses and four great principles to remember.

PICTURE TIMELINE REVIEW

PICTURE TIMELINE
Here are some samples of an 11 page coloring page review of lesson since Genesis 1
Click HERE for a pdf of the pages.
If you want copies, email children @ emmanuelbaptist. com

Review Week Ideas

Check back for more ideas throughout the week.

Picture timeline

Tomorrow there will be several coloring pages from various stories we have covered up to this point.

Kids could color these pictures and then as a class work on putting them in order.

Memory verse 

Wednesday there will be a list of the memory verses we have done and the lesson point for each verse.

This is a great way to connect memory verses with the lessons.

Activities

Think about some activities that represent different stories and have the children do these short activities

Some examples include: 

Building walls and knocking them down (walls of Jericho); 

Show and tell type activity -  Pull items out of a box and connect with story.  Fruit - The fall, Log -  Abraham sacrifices Isaac, Staff - Moses, Horn - Gideon, Stone  - David and Goliath, 

Songs for different stories.

Authentic Worship and a Review of the Old Testament up to Daniel

Here is a video I shared a couple of months ago and I thought I would share it again as you review the book Old Testament up to Daniel.
As you prepare and teach this review lesson on Sunday, July 13th remember to point to God.

Saturday email

The following email was sent out to 

- those of you who currently are serving as an update on different parts of the children's ministry and a reminder to check this site for information.

- those of you who have served in the past to inform you about ministry opportunities especially with new and expanding ministries and resources. 

This email is going to out to everyone who has served and is serving in EBC's children's ministry.

I recently read this online and copied it down but cannot remember where.

Teachers are becoming a "rare" breed.  You have to invest you time, talents, presence and witness to serve children.It's often a thankless job.  Students are often loud, obnoxious, and well, messy.But honestly, the best Sunday school teacher doesn't have a theology degree or tons of biblical knowledge.What makes a difference is time.Teachers make an eternal difference in a child's life.  For that, I'm thankful for all of my volunteers.

Thank you for your time!!

As we begin a new fiscal & ministry year, I want to remind and inform you of a couple of things.

1. Free resource:  You can download a free devotional e-bookLong Story Short at  http://ekidzministry.blogspot.com/2014/07/long-story-short-devotional-for-free.html.  For this week’s EKIDZ lesson, Week 75 is Daniel in the Lion’s Den.  At ekidzministry.blogspot.com (the parent page) there are some lion facts from this book. 
   At the time I typed this email the book was still free.  After sending I checked amazon and it is no longer free BUT  $4.39 is a great deal for this book 
2. Sunday morning Services:  I strongly encourage each of you to check the ekidzresources.blogspot.com (the teacher page).  There are a lot of different resources, helps and weekly teacher notes are on this page.  Even if you are not serving this quarter or month it is a good way to stay connected. One of the interesting connections I have noticed in the service survey tinyurl.com/ebcservicesurvey) is between not feeling equipped and not taking advantage of training/information resources like this blog. 
3. Wednesday nights in July and August:  We are going to have family prayers activities for parents and children over 2 years old and child care for 2 years old and under.  If you are able to help any of these Wednesday nights in the nursery and/or want to be a part of the family prayer activity times please reply to this email.
4. Saturday Evening Service:  At the June business meeting, Pastor Duke talked about a Saturday evening service starting in September.  He gave several reasons for this.  More and more people are working on Sundays; a service option for those who serve during the Sunday morning service time; a service requirement for those who are in Biblical counseling and attending another church.  You will be hearing more about this over the next couple of weeks.
   If you know right now that you would be interested in attending or serving on Saturday night and do the other on Sunday morning you can let me know now.  

Once again thank you for your ministry to families!

Pressing on,
David Rodgers
Acts 20:24

P.S.  Sorry if you received this email more than once.  To read more about the info in this email check outhttp://ekidzresources.blogspot.com/

July 6th teacher note: This weekend is a holiday weekend and a familiar story. So what does that mean?

First of all with the holiday weekend:
There is no 9:00 am class.
Only the 10:30 children's church staff are on.

Second, a great point to remind the children about Daniel was  protected in the lion's den because
he trusted in the one God who could protect him.
It is not merely about trusting.  It is about what you are trusting in.

Click on the picture to download a pdf of the teacher note
Check Sunday's note sheet for additional information.