Dear families,

In the first two sessions of this unit, we have seen a common thread of God’s glory. God created everything, including people, to display His glory. In this session, we want to make sure that our kids understand what that means. What is God’s glory?

God’s glory can be thought of as God’s greatness. The Bible often uses the picture of a brilliant white light when it comes to God’s glory. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after spending time with God, his face shone. When Jesus was transfigured, He shined like a brilliant white light. And when Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, he saw a blinding light. Such an intense light helps us understand how pure and powerful God’s glory is.

But we don’t just see God’s glory revealed in bright light. In this session, we looked at a Psalm that King David wrote many years after Adam and Eve. David used creation to speak of God’s glory. For David, it was easy to see God’s glory—at least its fingerprints—all around him.

If you have ever looked up into the heavens on a clear, dark night, maybe you have sensed it too as you consider all the stars that cannot be counted and think that each is a giant sun, like ours—only our sun is relatively modest in comparison—and that they stretch over billions and billions and trillions and trillions of miles. And that is just what we can see!

Or maybe you have caught a glimpse of God’s glory as you looked over a stunning mountain range or walked on a beach. Creation is full of beauty, wonder, and power—all of which hints at the greater beauty, wonder, and power of the Creator who made it all. God is glorious indeed.

But one of the greatest ways we can know of God’s glory is that the Creator who made everything not only made us too, but wants to have a friendship with us. That is why He gave us the Bible—so that we might come to know Him, love Him, and live for Him.

As you talk with your kids, seek to leave them in awe of how big and how good and how loving God is.

Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.

FAMILY TALKING POINTS

CHRIST CONNECTION

This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.

●      Babies & Toddlers: All creation shows God is great.

●      Younger Preschool: All of creation shows how great God is. Jesus is God. Jesus is the best way we can know how great God is.

●      Older Preschool: All of creation shows how great God is. Jesus is God. Jesus is the best way we can know how great God is.

●      Kids: All of creation displays the glory of God—how great He is—although not perfectly. The perfect revelation of God’s glory is found in Jesus, who came to show us exactly what God is like. Because Jesus is God, He is the perfect display of God’s glory.

BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER

This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.

●      Younger Preschool: Why did God create everything? God created everything to show He is great.

●      Older Preschool: Why did God create everything? God created everything for His glory.

●      Kids: Why did God create everything? God created everything for His glory and our good.

KEY PASSAGE

This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.

●      Babies & Toddlers:The heavens show God is great! — Psalm 19:1

●      Younger Preschool: The heavens show God is great! — Psalm 19:1

●      Older Preschool: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. — Psalm 19:1

●      Kids: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. — Psalm 19:1

** Next week: Sin Entered the World (Genesis 3)

Dear families,

Humans are at the center of everything God created. Only God Himself is more important. That is why the creation of the first man and woman—Adam and Eve—deserved its own session.

As you talk with your kids about this week’s session, there are two words that might be unclear or even confusing. The first is our in Genesis 1:26. “Let us make man in our image.” This can be confusing because the Bible is clear that there is only one God (see Deuteronomy 6:4 and 1 Timothy 2:5). Why then does God say our image and not my image?

Bible scholars have long debated what is meant by this word, but here are two of the most common explanations. The first is that this word is affirming the doctrine known as the Trinity—that God is one in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Our in this verse is drawing from that important aspect of who God is. This would make sense here because a common, but wrong, belief of why God created people was because He was lonely. But God as three Persons in one is never alone. He has always enjoyed a perfect relationship of love within who He is. It would make sense that God wants to make that clear here.

A second explanation for our is that it is the use of what is called the “plural of majesty.” In this case, God is establishing from very early on how glorious He is, even in how He refers to Himself.

The second word that deserves a note is image. Once again, scholars have debated for ages about what this word means. But we can know what it does not mean: physical form. God is spirit (see John 4:24), so we are not made with a body like God’s body; He has no body. Instead, being made in God’s image includes attributes of people that separate us from the rest of creation (such as our ability to reason, our morality, our will, and our emotions) and our unique role in creation as ruling over it under God’s greater rule.

While we might not know what these two words mean exactly, we do know this for sure: our glorious God has made people to be special in all of His creation and designed us to be in relationship with Him.

Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.

FAMILY TALKING POINTS

CHRIST CONNECTION

This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.

●      Babies & Toddlers: We can know and love God.

●      Younger Preschool: People are special because God made us to know and love Him. Through Jesus, we can know and love God.

●      Older Preschool: God created people in His own image. He loves us and gives us everything we need. People are special because God made us to know and love Him. Through Jesus, we can know and love God just as He planned.

●      Kids: God created people in His own image and provides for everything He made. People are special because God made people to live forever in a relationship with Him. Through His Son, Jesus, we can have eternal life with God just as He planned.

BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER

This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.

●      Younger Preschool: Why did God create everything? God created everything to show He is great.

●      Older Preschool: Why did God create everything? God created everything for His glory.

●      Kids: Why did God create everything? God created everything for His glory and our good.

KEY PASSAGE

This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.

●      Babies & Toddlers:The heavens show God is great! — Psalm 19:1

●      Younger Preschool: The heavens show God is great! — Psalm 19:1

●      Older Preschool: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. — Psalm 19:1

●      Kids: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. — Psalm 19:1

** Next week: Creation Glorifies God (Psalm 19)

Dear families,

This week, your child learned about God creating the world from Genesis 1:1-25. The true story of the Bible begins where we would expect it to begin—at the beginning of all creation. Everything in the universe has a starting point except God. He alone is eternal—He has no beginning and no end. He has always existed. So the beginning in this week’s Bible story is the beginning from our perspective. It is humanity’s beginning.

You might notice that the Bible story stops a little earlier than you might be used to—before God created Adam and Eve. That happened on Day 6, along with the animals of the earth, but it is not included here because that will be covered next week in much more detail.

Instead, during this week, be sure to emphasize three things:

First, that God created everything from nothing. God did not create like we do—by taking some raw materials like clay and making a beautiful sculpture. Instead, God made everything that exists—everything we see and even that we don’t see—simply by speaking it into existence from nothing. That’s important because it teaches us that everything belongs to God because He made it all and also how powerful He is to be able to create the universe by speaking it into being.

Second, that God created everything with order. Not only do we see that God created the different kinds of plants and trees as well as animals according to their different kinds, but we also see an orderly pattern in the days of creation. God created by separating things on days 1-3 (light from darkness; sky from water; and then land from oceans) and then He filled what He had created on days 4-6 (the stars, sun, and moon in the heavens; birds and fish in the sky and waters; animals on the land).

Third, that God created everything for a reason—to bring Himself glory. We will talk a lot more about this during the next few weeks, and all of our study through Scripture. But for now help your child see that everything exists to show how good God is—to show His glory for all to see. 

Check out The Gospel Project At Home for resources designed to help you lead a family worship experience as well as suggestions for morning and evening prayer times and family activities.

FAMILY TALKING POINTS

CHRIST CONNECTION

This is the big idea of how this week’s Bible story points to Jesus.

●      Babies & Toddlers: Jesus makes everything work.

●      Younger Preschool: The Bible says everything was created by God and for God and that Jesus makes it all work. Everything shows how good God is!

●      Older Preschool: Jesus is Lord over everything. The Bible says everything was created by Him and for Him. Jesus holds everything together and everything brings God glory.

●      Kids: Jesus is Lord over all of creation. The Son has always existed. The Bible says everything was created by Him and for Him, and He holds everything together. All of creation exists to bring God glory.

BIG PICTURE QUESTION & ANSWER

This is an important biblical truth that your child will encounter each week of this unit.

●      Younger Preschool: Why did God create everything? God created everything to show He is great.

●      Older Preschool: Why did God create everything? God created everything for His glory.

●      Kids: Why did God create everything? God created everything for His glory and our good.

KEY PASSAGE

This is a Bible verse that relates to what your child will encounter each week of this unit.

●      Babies & Toddlers:The heavens show God is great! — Psalm 19:1

●      Younger Preschool: The heavens show God is great! — Psalm 19:1

●      Older Preschool: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. — Psalm 19:1

●      Kids: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. — Psalm 19:1

** Next week: God Created People (Genesis 1–2)