{"id":8846,"date":"2014-01-23T01:00:07","date_gmt":"2014-01-23T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=8846"},"modified":"2014-01-23T14:04:20","modified_gmt":"2014-01-23T22:04:20","slug":"teaching-gods-big-plan-to-sparklers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2014\/01\/23\/teaching-gods-big-plan-to-sparklers\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching God’s Big Plan to Sparklers"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kyle Grindley<\/em><\/p>\n

God\u2019s Big Plan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Teaching in Sparklers has blessed me because, as a staff, we teach through the both Old and New Testaments, every 2 years. We have been using this curriculum since 2008, which means I am on my third lap teaching through the Bible with the Sparklers. Distilling dense Bible passages down to 10 minute lessons that 3-year-olds can understand has really helped me focus on the big overarching themes in the Bible. Going through the Bible like this has shown me two amazing things: God has a big plan, and we have an exciting role in His big plan.<\/p>\n

The Bible is one unified story of God displaying His glory through redeeming His people. God made this plan in eternity past, and shared it with us in the Bible through 40 authors over more than a thousand years. God validated His word by writing history in advance, something only God could do. First Peter 1 says that Christ and His work were foreknown before the foundation of the world. God didn\u2019t just predict history, but He planned the redemption of His people through Christ before creation. God didn\u2019t interrupt history by sending Jesus, He orchestrated history to lead up to Christ in a perfect story about God\u2019s glory.<\/p>\n

We can see a concise picture of God\u2019s glory when we look at God\u2019s proclamation when He agreed to let His glory pass before Moses. God did not just say \u201cI will let my glory pass before you,\u201d He said \u201cI will cause all my goodness<\/em> to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord<\/em>, in your presence.\u201d (Ex. 33:19, emphasis added) God proclaimed that he is Lord and He is good. Time after time throughout redemptive history demonstrates this goodness-lordship couplet. God has the power and right to rule, thus He is \u201cThe Lord\u201d, and motivated by His merciful goodness, He uses that rule to bless His people. God is committed to His glory, and the Bible is the story of God displaying His glory, showing the whole of His attributes by using His power for the good of His people, which results in praise from His people.<\/p>\n

God has allowed us to join as willing participants in displaying His glory. We display the goodness and lordship of God when we trust Him. His goodness is on display because we trust that God will do what is best for us and keep His promises. His lordship, or sovereignty, is on display because we trust that He knows what is best for us and has the ability to accomplish it. God is worth our complete trust because He is completely good and completely in control.<\/p>\n

Teaching God\u2019s Big Plan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This February Sparklers is getting a lot of new kids, not quite doubling our numbers. To accommodate for the growth we are making some changes, trying to mix new ideas with our tried curriculum. One thing we are adding is a Bible outline to try to keep unity of God\u2019s big plan from being lost amongst the many stories. These stories are testaments to God\u2019s glory in and of themselves, but they are so much richer when woven in the context of God\u2019s larger plan of redemption.<\/p>\n

The outline we are going to try is based on a telling of redemptive history through a series of \u201ckingdoms\u201d; where a kingdom is defined as \u201cGod\u2019s people, in God\u2019s place, under God\u2019s rule and blessing.\u201d (A great summary can be found at davemiers.com<\/a>; Kingdoms Summary<\/a>). This struck me as a good way to digest and understand what God is doing throughout history because it specifically highlights His sovereignty in His \u201crule\u201d and His goodness in His \u201cblessing\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Big Picture Story Bible<\/em>, by David Helm, is a children\u2019s Bible that tells the Bible\u2019s story through the lens of \u201cGod\u2019s people, in God\u2019s place, under God\u2019s rule and blessing.\u201d It describes the Bible as \u201ca big book, about a big God, who keeps a big promise.\u201d Teaching about our big God who keeps His big promise falls right in line with the current Sparklers curriculum. Helm\u2019s adaptation for children omits the explicit \u201ckingdom\u201d terminology, while preserving the meaning behind it. We are taking a similar approach in Sparklers. The original alliterated titles were changed for more 3-year-old friendly titles, and the explicit \u201ckingdom\u201d references were dropped so the titles could be more descriptive and point directly to God.<\/p>\n

As we teach through the Bible we will use this outline to show the Sparklers God\u2019s plan for bringing glory to himself through saving us. It will also help them understand where each of the individual stories fit in this plan. Hopefully what they learn in Sparklers will feed a sense of wonder at the awesome God behind everything.<\/p>\n

A Bible Outline for Sparklers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n