God is Good (Genesis 50) Lesson #10 in What is God Like?

When you think about what you want your children to learn at church, what’s the first thing that pops into your mind? We’ve all been there. With so much truth in the Bible where do we start? Why not start where the Bible starts. No, not necessarily creation, but GOD.
Who is God? What is God like? What does God do?
“The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls Father.” ~ C. H. Spurgeon

Through this series of 42 lessons we’ll be introducing children to fullness of God’s character one attribute at a time. Most churched children will tell you that God created the world, or He rescues His people, or even that Jesus came to earth to rescue God’s people, but the goal of these lessons is for them to begin to know more of who He is and what it means to worship Him for who He is.

AGE GROUP: elementary (ages 6-11)
TIME REQUIRED: 45 minutes
This is lesson 10 of 42 in our study on the Attributes of God called “Can you tell me what God is like?” Visit the series index to view all the lessons and get more ideas for using this curriculum in your children’s ministry. 
Updated 2/19/2019*  ONE — TWO — THREE — FOUR — FIVE — SIX — SEVEN — EIGHT — NINE — TEN

LESSON 10: GOD IS GOOD

• Key Verse:“‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good except God alone.’” Mark 10:18
• Teaching Passage: Joseph- Genesis 50
• Supporting Texts: Psalm 73:1, Mark 10:18, Psalm 25:8, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 118

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Bibles, previous attribute of God posters, a large piece of paper with the words GOD IS  GOOD  written on it, key verse (Mark 10:18) printed on a piece of paper, blank paper and markers or colored pencils for each child in the group

LESSON OUTLINE:

REVIEW PREVIOUS LESSONS:  
Ask one of the kids in the group to remind you what you’re learning this year. Remind them that each week we’ll be looking into the Bible to answer the question… “Can you tell me what God is like?” and will be learning one of the many truths about God that we see in His Word.
Ask if anyone can remember the truths we’ve learned so far. Have the kids stand up and say the attributes of God and do the motions.

• • God is Almighty=  He has absolute power or is all powerful
  • God is the Alpha and Omega= He is the beginning and the end, the first and the last
  • God is Awesome = He inspires awe and amazement

• • God is Compassionate = He shows a deep concern for His people & a desire to meet their needs
    

• • God is the Deliverer = He is the rescuer or savior
    

• • God is Exalted = He is noble, elevated and lifted up
    

• • God is Faithful = He is reliable, trustworthy, true to His Word & keeps His promises
    

• • God Forgives = He grants pardon and cancels the debt of sin
    

• God is Glorious = He is full of glory (praise, honor & distinction)

TEACH- GOD IS GOOD: 

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Start out by telling the kids that this week’s attribute is probably one of the easiest truths about God that we’re going to learn this year and that is the truth that God is good. Have them list things that they would call good. Ask them to tell you what the opposite of good is and name some things that they would call bad.

Then have the group read this week’s memory verse (Mark 10:18) from the poster. Act confused and say, “what, no one is good except God Himself?” Explain that when Jesus said these words He was acknowledging that He and the Father were one…that because He is good….He is God.
Tell the kids that you want to tell them a story from the Bible that explains what it means that God is good.
Tell the story of Joseph from (Genesis 37-50) briefly using the following outline – walk through various scenes from the life of Joseph and indicate that no matter what was happening in his life that it was good because it was from God. You might want to pause between scenes/sections and ask the class questions like…. “was it good for Joseph to be sold as a slave?”- Yes, because it was part of God’s plan and God is good.

1. Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob
   
2. Joseph had dreams that his brothers and parents were bowing down to him.
   
3. Joseph’s brothers got angry and jealous that Jacob was giving Joseph all the attention, so they plotted to kill him, but instead they threw him in a pit, sold him to slave traders and then lied to their father and said that he must have been killed by wild animals.
   
4. Joseph worked for a guy named Potiphar. Potiphar’s wife felt hurt because Joseph didn’t like her the way she liked him, so she lied about him to her husband and he got thrown into jail.
   
5. In jail, he told some fellow jail-mates the meanings of the dreams they had and their dreams came true. So, one day when the Pharaoh had a dream, Joseph was called to interpret the dream. Joseph told the Pharaoh that there would be 7 years of plenty in Egypt followed by 7 years of famine.
   
6. Pharaoh made Joseph 2nd in command in Egypt and he organized the food so everyone didn’t starve.
   
7. Eventually Joseph’s brothers came to buy food and they didn’t recognize them. Joseph sold them food and asked about his father and finally told them who he was and that he forgave them.
   
8. Joseph’s family all moved to Egypt.
   

Then, read Genesis 50:15-21 and have a few of the boys act out this scene between Joseph and his brothers. Pause and really focus in on what Joseph said to his brothers in verse 20.

DEFINE AND REMEMBER:

To help the kids remember this truth about God, take a few minutes to define the attribute.
GOOD = MORALLY EXCELLENT, VIRTUOUS, RIGHTEOUS
EXPLAIN: Talk about how we saw the goodness of God in today’s story. This story reminds us that God is good because God is always right. Everything that He does is good. God alone is morally, excellent, virtuous and righteous. God alone is without sin and therefore He alone is good.

Since motions & actions help kids remember, choose an action for GOOD. A good motion might be to show 2 thumbs up. 

MEMORY VERSE:

SAY: “This week’s memory verse is Mark 10:18. In this verse we have Jesus saying that only God os good. Jesus’ definition of good is that God is Holy and perfect and without sin. In comparison to God’s goodness, we are not good because we are sinners… and that is what makes us not good.“

Read the memory verse (Mark 10:18) a few times together and do the motion for good.

CROSS CONNECTION:

Read Romans 3:10-12 & 23. Explain that we like to think that we are good because we keep some of God’s laws (most of us aren’t murderers for example), but that the Bible is clear in teaching us that there is no one who is good. In fact Isaiah 64:6 says that without Jesus that even the good things we do are like filthy rags. That’s true because on our own, none of us are good. The amazing news is that we can be made good. We can be made righteous so that we can stand in front of a Holy God. God gave His only Son. Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect and sinless life and then died the death we deserve. Jesus was good in our place and He paid the price for our sin. Jesus took our sin on Himself when He died on the cross.When we repent of our sin and trust in Jesus for salvation, Jesus gives us His righteousness/ His goodness, so that now, when God the Father looks at us He sees the goodness of Jesus in the place of our sin. What an amazing truth!

 
 

REVIEW:

Give each child a blank piece of paper provide markers or colored pencils. Encourage them to write the word good somewhere on the paper and then write or draw something to help them remember this attribute of God. They could write the definition for good or the memory verse or they could illustrate any of the passages you read about God being good, or they could draw something comparing their sinfulness to God’s holiness. After a few minutes, bring the group back together and give kids time to share what they have drawn or written.

PRAYER:

Pray that the kids in the group would come to know God more and more each week through this study and that they would remember that all of us are sinners who need to be saved and that they would turn to this good God for salvation.

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