YEA Lesson Library
Action Time!
About This Lesson
Using the Israelites crossing the Red Sea as an illustration, this lesson teaches that there are consequences of sin, even when repentance brings forgiveness.
Scriptures
Exodus 14:15-31
Numbers 14:14
Nehemiah 9:9-12
Isaiah 43:1-13
Isaiah 43:10
Romans 11:33-36
2 Corinthians 7:8-10
Words to Know
HARASS - to worry and impede by repeated raids
The Lesson
How much time should you spend in prayer? Have you ever thought God wants you to pray all the time? Have you ever had God tell you to quit praying?There was a time when God thought it was Action Time and Moses needed to stop praying and to get the people of Israel moving. God said, "Forward, march! Use your rod - hold it out over the water, and the sea will open up a path before you, and all the people of Israel shall walk through on dry ground! I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians and they will go in after you and you will see the honor I will get in defeating Pharaoh and all his armies, chariots, and horsemen. And all Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah" (Exodus 14:16-18 TLB).
Does this situation tell you that sometimes God expects action, not prayers? Oh, there certainly is a time for prayer and doubtless, most of us don't pray enough. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us “There is a right time for everything: A time to be born, a time to die; A time to plant; A time to harvest; A time to kill; A time to heal; A time to destroy; A time to rebuild; A time to cry; A time to laugh; A time to grieve; A time to dance; A time for scattering stones; A time for gathering stones; A time to hug; A time not to hug; A time to find; A time to lose; A time for throwing away; A time to tear; A time to be quiet; A time to speak up; A time for loving; A time for hating; A time for war; A time for peace" (TLB). In other words, there is a time and place for everything, and timing is important.
God already knew what Moses and the Israelites needed. Moses had prayed and God was ready to answer his prayer. It was Action Time!
Moses stretched out his rod over the sea and God opened up a path through the Red Sea. A wall of water stood on each side. A strong east wind blew all night long and dried the bottom of the sea. Then the Israelites walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. Can you imagine?
The Egyptians thought, "We're gonna get 'em this time." So they followed the Israelites down into the bottom of the sea. God saw this army of men and began to harass them. Wheels came off and their chariots scraped dry ground. 'Let's get out of here' the Egyptians yelled. Jehovah is fighting for them and against us.’” Interesting! They actually recognized that the Eternal God was fighting for the Israelites. But it was too late.
The Israelites arrived on the other side of the Red Sea and God told Moses to again stretch out his hands over the sea. Guess what happened? The waters flooded back over the sea and covered the Egyptians' chariots and horsemen. Not one Egyptian soldier remained alive. God drowned them in the sea. Does that bother you? Do you remember the scripture you read above in Ecclesiastes that there is a time to kill? What does your memory verse say? Isaiah 43:10, "But I have witnesses, O Israel, says the Lord! You are my witnesses and my servants, chosen to know and to believe me and to understand that I alone am God. There is no other God; there never was and never will be" (TLB). God is Supreme, and we're not. Always remember what the sixth commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill." Abetter translation would be "Thou shalt do no murder." Even though God has the authority to kill, He doesn't do it arbitrarily. He also has the power to make alive, and we don't.
Do you remember the lesson Flip Flopped in your last book? Time and again Pharaoh appeared to repent of his stubbornness and said he'd let God's people go. Then he changed his mind. You learned that "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death" (2 Corinthians 7:10). True, God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But did you notice that Pharaoh's heart became hardened every time God removed the plague? Pharaoh was a free moral agent and always had the freedom to remain repentant, but he didn't. Payday had arrived, and Pharaoh's worldly sorrow brought death - the death of the first born, the death of his army, and even his own death!
We learned in our lessons that when you truly repent, God will forgive you, but that does not mean He will remove the consequences. This is something to think long and hard about before you ever sin. Ask yourself before you commit a sin, "What will be my consequences? Who will be affected? How long will the consequences last? Is this sin worth it?"
God saved the people of Israel. They actually saw hundreds of dead bodies wash up on the seashore. "When the people of Israel saw the mighty miracle the Lord had done for them against the Egyptians, they were afraid and revered the Lord, and believed in him and in his servant Moses."
Have you noticed why God did this mighty miracle? Notice Exodus 14:18, "And all Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah." Why should we want other people to know who God is? Romans 11:33 (NKJV) shows that God's judgments are 'unsearchable' and His ways 'past finding out!' God has a plan for us that far exceeds this human life. He wants to share what He has with us. But we must know Him. How do we know Him? By studying the pages of your Bible, spending time with Him in prayer and meditation, and studying your YEA lessons. Sometimes it's difficult for teenagers to read the Bible and understand it. YEA lessons are put into words that will help you understand and really come to know God. But, you must read your lessons and be in class to benefit from these studies. Are you willing to do these simple things? Is it worth it to you to really know God?
Student Prayer
Almighty God and Father,
Thank you for opening your Word up to me. Help me to understand your Word as I read it. Help me to remember to read
my YEA lessons, to think about what I read, and learn my memory verse so I can recall it when I need help that comes from the Bible.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
Daily Devotions
Sunday - Isaiah 43:1-8
Monday - Isaiah 43:9-13
Tuesday - 2 Corinthians 7:8-10
Wednesday- Romans 11:33-36
Thursday - Exodus 14:19-20
Friday- Nehemiah 9:9-12
Saturday - Numbers 14:14
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Explain how repentance should be a permanent change.
2. Discuss that repentance gains forgiveness, but it doesn't always do away with the consequences.
Topics & Themes
Chosen
Consequences of Sin
Forgiveness
God’s Judgment
God’s Omnipotence
God’s Plan
Miracles
Repentance
Witnesses
Materials Needed
Bible, YEA Students' and Teacher's Books, attendance and memory verse charts, Songbook, butcher's paper, markers, prize
How to Teach This Lesson
Greet students warmly and open with prayer. Explain that again, students will teach this class by drawing a mural of today's story. Appoint six team leaders. Assign students to each team. Then the leader is to select one of the six drawing assignments, brainstorm with their team, and draw the scene under the matching caption. They may use their Bibles and YEA books to gain information and add details to their scene. They can use cartoon-type balloons to add words or phrases as needed. About 25 to 30 minutes will be allowed for this. Tell them that when they are finished, they will vote on the best drawing. When time is up or they have completed their mural, have them vote on the best one. Give that group a prize.
Debrief - How did you feel about drawing a mural as a means to learning today's Bible lessons? How many of you have participated in drawing a mural, maybe a historical mural on a wall at school? How was this like or unlike doing that, or anything else you may have done? How much better do you think you will remember this lesson because you drew it? What was the most difficult thing you found to depict? What was difficult about drawing the wall of water standing on both sides of the Red Sea?
The Egyptians - How did you feel about Pharaoh and his men tracking down the Israelites after they had gone through plague after plague and had their nation utterly destroyed? Why did they think God would allow them to get away with tracking down the Israelites? How did you feel about the two walls of water caving in on the Egyptians and killing them? Why do you think God decided to finally kill them? What attitude brought about Pharaoh's and his army's deaths? (They saw no need in having a permanent repentance that they didn't go back on.) How did you feel about drawing the dead Egyptians that washed up on the seashore?
Application - Ask: What lessons can you learn from what we've studied today? When you sin, what should you do differently than what Pharaoh did? (Stay repentant.) Ask a student to read 2 Corinthians 7:10. When you repent what happens? (God forgives you.) Then does God completely do away with the consequences? What illustration can you give to show that He doesn't? (If you're responsible for the death of someone in an automobile accident, God can forgive you, but He won't bring that person back to life at this time.) Then what are you going to do before you decide to sin?
Background - Ask a good reader to read down to the last paragraph under Background.
Teacher-Directed Activity
Go over the Activity in the Students' book with the class.
REACH Activity
Memory Verse Spotlight: Isaiah 43:10
Look up the word “know.” Write down the Hebrew word and its meaning. Then find three other Scriptures where this word is used.
Then look up John 17:3. How important is it to really know God?
Where in the World? Red Sea Crossing
Scholars have debated back and forth about where the Red Sea crossing was. As you look at a few of the ideas, keep in mind these points:
1) It had to have been deep water. If it was shallow, the Israelites would have waded. And if it was shallow, there’s no way Pharaoh’s army would have drowned.
2) It had to have been on the way to the wilderness - not the northern route to the Promised Land.
Write what you find in your Bible notebook. Compile a list of resources you have researched or ones that you still need to peruse.
They Did What Back Then? Into the Sea
Can you imagine God parting the waters of the Red Sea and drying out the bottom so that more than two million people and all their animals and possessions could cross? Imagine how high the water might have been on either side. Imagine the pillar of fire preventing Pharaoh’s army from getting to the Israelites. Then, once the Israelites were across, God allowed Pharaoh’s army to descend into the crossing. What do you think the soldiers were thinking? Do you think there were any who said, “This doesn’t look like a good idea”? They’d experienced the plagues. They saw the pillar of fire. They saw the Red Sea miraculously open. What in the world were they thinking?!
Albert Einstein once said he observed that two things were infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And he wasn’t sure about the first.
One of the things you learn from reading the Bible and reading your YEA lessons is that people often rebel against God. For whatever reason, they think it’s a good idea to take on the God of the Universe and they think they’re going to win. Knowing that, spend some time thinking about your life. Are there choices you are making that are contrary to what God wants from you. You will want to seriously evaluate what you do and what you think. You certainly don’t want to find yourself opposing God.
Making It Mine: Knowing God
There’s a big difference between knowing someone and knowing a lot about someone. Let’s suppose you want to find out everything about a famous person, like Catherine, Princess of Wales. You can find out where she went to school, how many siblings she has, what her father does for a living, how she met William, how many children they have. You can learn a lot about her. But if you went up to the door and knocked, would you be invited in? No. You don’t really know her. You don’t have a relationship with her. You only know a lot about her.
Sometimes that’s what Christians are like. They read the Bible. They keep the Holy Days. They can accurately speak the truth from the Bible. But they don’t have a close relationship with God. They haven’t really experienced the goodness of God. They haven’t really trusted Him when trouble came.
What about you? Do you know God? Is He your God? Do you talk with Him? Do you honor Him? Do you enjoy learning more about Him? Even if you think you know God pretty well, relationships have to be maintained. If you stop talking, the relationship grows more distant. Make God a priority in your life. It will affect eternity.
Worldview Collisions: God’s Will
Worldview collisions also occur in Christianity. There are some people, who claim to be Christians, who believe that you can do whatever you want to do; God will protect you. You can walk down a street in the worst neighborhood in town late at night, and God will set His angels around you to keep you safe. They believe you can play with poisonous snakes and not be bitten. You can drink poison and not die. They believe God will heal all illnesses. They believe that if anything bad does happen, the person just didn’t trust God.
Other people, who also claim to be Christians, believe that God can protect you or heal you in each of those situations, according to His will. If God wants you to be in a bad neighborhood, He can keep you safe. God can protect you from all harmful things and heal you. He has the power. But it would be foolish to put the Lord our God to the test.
So how do you know what God’s will is? Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” In other words, you need to have the Holy Spirit dwelling within and you need to be as close to God as you can get. We definitely want to do God’s will!! We need to be diligent to seek it.
Questions
As you’re working through the YEA lesson, Daily Devotionals, doing the activity, or reading the Bible, be sure to write down any questions you have. That way you’ll remember to ask someone. Also remember to share the really interesting things you’re learning with family and friends.
Song
"Be Not Afraid" is on page 86 of The Group Songbook.
Closing Prayer
Ask the students t o form a circle and join hands. Beginning with yourself, go around the circle and tell one thing you learned from today’s lesson. Ask for a volunteer to lead in prayer thanking God for delivering the Israelites from the Egyptians and for the hope this gives us.
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