Lesson 13: Putting God First

Aims
* To learn how the different languages of the world came to be
* To learn to put God first


Materials
* Stories ;Nimrod and the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:1-9
* Visual aids: pictures to illustrate Nimrod and the Tower of Babel large coloured picture of the Tower
* Materials for activities ; Wood blocks, lego pieces or cardboard boxes a dot-to-dot picture Sandpaper, glue,scissors, coloured A4 paper, white paper

 

Lesson Outline
1. Introduction
2. Nimrod & the Tower of babel
3. Discussion
4. Activities – build a tower, dot-to-dot picture, speaking activity
5. Review the aims
6. Prayer


1) Introduction
There are many different languages in the world today. Once upon a time every one spoke the same language. Today’s story is about how the different languages of the world came to be and what happened when people put themselves first instead of God.


2) Nimrod and the Tower of Babel
In the previous lesson, we learned about the flood that destroyed the Earth. Noah and his family were the only people protected. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Including their wives, there were only eight people remaining after the flood.

Ham had a son named Cush. When Cush grew up, he had a son named Nimrod. Nimrod was a very strong man and a mighty hunter. The people looked up to Nimrod because of his strength. They   saw  him as a leader and a hero. Nimrod defended the people from wild beasts. Nimrod did not obey God. But the people admired him, and they followed his example. He taught the people to worship the sun and snakes, rather than God. Noah was still alive, and he obeyed God. Noah tried to warn the people, but just as before the flood, they would not listen.

Nimrod planned and organized the building of a very tall tower. He wanted to make a tower that would reach the heavens. It was a temple for the people to worship the sun. Nimrod was rebelling against God. People liked this project. They worked very hard, and it soon became the most important thing in their lives. It was easy for the people to work together because they all spoke the same language.

God did not want this to happen. He wanted people to obey Him. The people forgot the flood, and they forgot God. If the building of this tower continued, God knew that the people would become as evil as they were before the flood. God caused the people to speak different languages. This caused them to break into separate groups. They could no longer work together to build this tower. There was confusion. The building stopped. 

Those who spoke the same language moved in groups to different parts of the world to start over. This very tall tower built to worship other gods was called the Tower of Babel. The word Babel means confusion.

 

3) Discussion
Why did the people want to build a tower? – to make a name for themselves
How high did they want to make the it? – to reach the heavens
Why was God not happy with the tower? – People had forgotten God and only thought of how important they were
Why did God change their language? to stop them building the tower
What does Babel mean? – confusion
What does the word pride mean? – It has two meanings:1)to have too high opinion of your own importance. 2) a feeling of satisfaction that comes from your own achievements 

Why is the first kind of pride a problem? – It separates us from God
Why should we put God first? – God knows what is best for us and wants to us to be good and happy children. When we put God first He can help us in many ways. When we forget God it is easy to think only about ourselves and become very selfish
How can we put God first? – We need to study and obey God’s word. For children it also means learning what parents teach us and obeying them.

 

4) Activities
There are several activities to choose from:
1. Build Towers with Blocks, lego or boxes
2. Tower Building Contest
3. Sandpaper Tower
4. Hello in different languages
5. Speak garbled words
6. Tower of Babel picture to colour
7. Dot-to-dot picture


5) Review the lesson aims
* To learn how the different languages of the world came to be
* To learn to put God first
6) Prayer
* Say a prayer to ask God to help us to put Him first and to learn from the story not to be too proud of ourselves.

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firstManish Saluja