COVENANTS OF LOVE

 

memory verse for this unit

“ʻThough the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,ʼ says the Lord, who has compassion on youʺ (Isaiah 54:10, NIV*).

objectives of this unit

This unit will help your preadolescents:• Understand what a covenant is through the relationship between God and Noah, and by knowing that God keeps his promises, strengthening their trust in him.• Grow up understanding what it means to fully trust in God, knowing that he will guide them throughout life.• Know that the 10 Commandments form part of the covenant God made with the people of Israel, and that they identify actual ways in which they can obey God.• Learn that looking at the covenant that God made with David will help them understand that God keeps his promises in a much better way than we could ever hope.• Understand and rejoice over the benefits of the new covenant of grace, love, and forgiveness that God establishes with us through Jesus.

the reason we teach this unit

Earlier this year, the preadolescents learned that God had a beautiful plan in mind when creating humanity. The Lord wanted people to worship him of their own free will and develop a relationship with him that was born from their hearts and not by obligation. Therefore, he gave us the power to choose. Sadly, Adam and Eve sinned, which brought disastrous consequences for the entire human race. Now, the preadolescents will begin to see a new dimension of God’s plan. They’ll discover how he made covenants as a way to restore relationships with people who had fallen into sin. Through the study of these covenants, students will get a clearer picture of the pure and unchanging character of God. They’ll discover that the covenants made with the Lord are not like some easy arrangement made by people. God is the one who initiates them, and we can trust that he will fulfill them. He wants his people to fulfill the obligations of his covenant, obeying his laws, not only to avoid punishment, but to maintain a good relationship with him. Finally, through Jesus Christ, God offers a new covenant of grace and forgiveness that extends to all who receive him in their hearts. Although the covenants we study in this unit are for a particular time and situation, they all show God’s love, his grace, and his commitment to his own.
Remember that one of the core principles of discipleship is compassionate outreach. God's compassionate and redemptive love is foundational to discipleship and the appropriate motivation for Christian outreach. Compassionate outreach reveals God's love for humanity. God is continually reaching out to prepare people's hearts to receive salvation.

* Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™