Teaching

Hand out the four rolled-up tubes to four children who do not need to know how to read. Explain that when you call their number, they should unroll the tube and hold it up so another child can read through a “telescope.”

Hold up the telescope.

Has anyone ever looked through a telescope?

A telescope reveals details about things that are far away. Let’s say our SuperTruth together: “I am a child of God, and He will reveal Himself to me.” Let’s use this “telescope” to explore how God revealed Himself to other people besides Saul in the Bible.

1. Hand the telescope to a child. Have the child with Tube #1 unroll it and hold it up for the child with the telescope to read aloud:

God came to Adam and Eve in the Garden. Genesis 3:8.

From the very beginning, God desired to have an intimate relationship with the people He created.

Read Genesis 3:8a:

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.

God came to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to spend time with them.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION FOR GRADES 4–6:

Read the rest of Genesis 3:8:

The man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.

This happened soon after Adam and Eve sinned and ate fruit from the forbidden tree. God knew what had happened and was coming to talk with them. Sadly, instead of looking forward to their time with God, they were afraid and felt guilty because of their disobedience. When we trust in Jesus as our Savior, He forgives our sin and we no longer need to feel guilty or afraid of God! We should always look forward to spending time in His presence!

 2.  Hand the telescope to another child. Have the child with Tube #2 unroll it and hold it up for the child with the telescope to read aloud:

God appeared and spoke to Abraham. Genesis 12:7.

God had something exciting to tell Abraham, who was first called Abram. The news was so exciting that God wanted to do it in person!

Read Genesis 12:7:

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

God made a covenant or promise with Abram that he and his family would inherit the land. Abram knew how important this was. He immediately built an altar to worship God and mark the spot where God appeared and made a covenant with him!

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION FOR GRADES 4–6:

God came to Abraham other times. One of them is described in Genesis 17:1, when God told Abraham to serve Him faithfully. He then reaffirmed His covenant promises He had made to Abraham years before. This was very important to Abraham because he was now 99 years old! God reaffirmed that Abraham would have a child and descendants to fill the land God had promised! God knew that many years had passed since He spoke the original promise to Abraham. God came to strengthen Abraham’s faith! We all need to be reminded of God’s promises, don’t we?

 3. Hand the telescope to another child. Have the child with Tube #3 unroll it and hold it up for the child with the telescope to read aloud.

God appeared and spoke to  Moses. Exodus 19:20.

Read Exodus 19:20:

The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.

God wanted to speak with Moses in the wilderness. He called Moses up to the mountain, where He gave His laws for the people. Does anyone know what those laws are called? The Ten Commandments.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION FOR GRADES 4–6:

God appeared to Moses several more times—in fact, God instructed him to set up a tent so Moses could come regularly to talk with God about leading God’s people.

Read Exodus 33:11a:

Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.

How incredible that must have been for Moses. After meeting with God, Moses’ face shone so brightly that the people could not look at him! What a privilege we have through Jesus Christ to come into God’s presence daily!

 4. Hand the telescope to another child. Have the child with Tube #4 unroll it and hold it up for the child with the telescope to read aloud.

Jesus came to Earth and He will come again!

We have discussed some of the Old Testament appearances of God to people. These all pointed to the ultimate appearance of God—through His only Son!

In the SuperVerse from our first lesson of The Road to Damascus, we learned that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It was necessary for Jesus to come to Earth as a man to live a sinless life so we could be saved from our sins! The best news of all is that Jesus will reveal Himself to everyone when He returns to Earth!

Read John 14:1–3:

Jesus told His disciples, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me. There is more than enough room in My Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am.”

When we go to heaven we will see Jesus forever—just as He promised!

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION FOR GRADES 4–6:

God still appears and talks to us today. How do you think He does this?

Yes, God can speak and reveal Himself to us in any way or form He chooses. He can speak to us with His voice and to our hearts through the Holy Spirit. God can use dreams and visions or even send an angel to us. But the main way God reveals Himself to us is when we read His Word and spend time in prayer—telling Him our needs and then listening for His answers!

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Let’s talk about the Superbook challenge we began in our first Road to Damascus lesson—our New Name Tags.

Show the sample New Name Tag to the children.

We each chose a godly quality that we would like to grow in our lives. Who remembers some of the good character qualities that we mentioned? Courageous, selfless, humble, obedient, kind, faithful, brave, patient, loving, caring, gentle, honest, bold, friendly, generous, trustworthy, diligent, wise, respectful, joyful, etc.

We wrote our special characteristics on the inside of our New Name Tags to remind us to pray about how these special qualities can grow in our lives.

How did your challenge go since last time? Would anyone like to share how you were able to display your new name by what you said or did?

Allow time for students to share.

Who did not receive a New Name Tag yet?

Give a New Name Tag Pattern to each child who did not receive one previously. Tell children to follow the directions on the pattern at home to create their name tags.

Let’s all keep focusing on asking God to change us into His image, day by day.

(Pray:) Dear Lord Jesus, we thank You for all of these children and their desire to be transformed by You so they can share the Gospel as Paul did. Holy Spirit, continue to work inside of each of them so they can be more like You! In Your name, Amen.