There is None Like God

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Learning Styles 101

Licensed to CDG, Minneapolis, MN. Copies permitted pursuant to license for web order: 38022. Download license file for terms.

Lesson 1

My Purpose Will Stand

Teacher Introduction

The words "…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me" from Isaiah 46:9 can be so familiar to us that we overlook the staggering reality that God is in a category all by Himself. In all the universe there is none like God. Nothing and no one

compares to God, who is infi nite in wisdom and power. Unlike the idols of man, God is self-existing, eternal, and active.

Pray that this truth will land on you in a fresh way this week and that you will worship this God who is so uniquely above all else. Pray that God would open the eyes and hearts of the children you teach this week to show them that there is none like Him.

Teacher Prepar ation

 Study the Scripture passages carefully and prayerfully. Ask God to make them real in your own heart. Be open to what God may be teaching you in this lesson. Study the lesson well. Pray for the students in your class.

From the R esources DV D

• Paper Airplanes Instructions (1A) • Airbus (1B)

• Isaiah 40:25-26 (1C) • Isaiah 46:9b (1D)

• Growing in Faith Together for Lesson 1 (one per student) • Overview for Parents

(one per student) Other Visuals

• Bible • 4-6 sheets of 8.5" x 11" paper (to make paper airplanes) Visuals Prepar ation

 As students are coming in to class, hand 4-6 students a sheet of paper and ask each of them to quickly make a paper airplane. You can use the paper airplane instruction sheet (1A) from the Resources DVD to help with this, if needed.

 If you will be fi lling out the chart in the lesson on a whiteboard, draw the empty chart before class and have the appropriate materials ready.

 Note: You may want to keep the Verse Visuals (1C-1D) displayed in the room for a few weeks.

There is None Like God

M ain Idea

•

There is none like God;

nothing and no one

compares with God.

Memory Verse

…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.

— Isaiah 46:9b Scripture

1) Isaiah 40:12-22, 25-26 2) Isaiah 46:9b 3) (Isaiah 40:11)

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Learning Styles 101

There is None Like God Notebook Note

 Throughout the lesson, in the student notebooks, there are questions to answer and fi ll-in-the-blank sentences to complete. Whenever you see underlined words and the word (Notebook) in parentheses in the lesson, it might be helpful for you to slow down and possibly repeat what you have said so that your students can follow along and complete their notebook pages. As much as possible, though, do this in a way that doesn’t interrupt the lesson fl ow.

Notice that the curriculum indicates that

students will be prompted to write down or

fill in definitions or phrases throughout the

lesson. This will help both

Reading & Writing

and

Visual

learners, as the lesson keeps

them constantly engaged with seeing/reading

terms written on the board, and then writing

them down in their notebooks.

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Learning Styles 101

Licensed to CDG, Minneapolis, MN. Copies permitted pursuant to license for web order: 38022. Download license file for terms. My Purpose Will Stand © 2013 by Sally Michael, Published by Children Desiring God

3 Lesson 1

Large Group Lesson

Illustration

(Call the students with the paper airplanes to the front of the class. Note that all the planes are similar; quickly point out a few unique features. Ask each student to throw his airplane to see how far it goes. Comment on the airplane that goes the farthest.)

Though it is fun to make and design paper airplanes, they are only airplanes made of paper. They have many limitations—like short flights, the inability to carry a load, and they break easily. They are, after all, only paper airplanes.

There is a plane, however, that doesn’t have those same limitations. The Airbus A380—nicknamed Superjumbo—has two decks and is the largest passenger plane in the world. Standing six stories tall and stretching two-thirds of the length of a football field, there is room to seat 853 people.

(Display Airbus.)

Flying at about 560 miles per hour, the Airbus A380 is in an entirely different class than a paper airplane. It is absurd even to compare the two kinds of planes. But as absurd as it is to compare a paper airplane to the Airbus A380, it is far more absurd to compare anything or anyone to God. In fact, a paper airplane and an Airbus are more closely alike than anything is like God. God is totally and completely in a category by Himself—far superior to anything or anyone else.

God’s Greatness

The Bible shows how absurd it is to compare anything to God.

(Ask the students to turn to Isaiah 40:12-17 and read it aloud together. Also, note the first of the fill-in-the-blank questions in the Student Notebook, indicated by the underlining in the answer to the question following the Scripture.)

Isaiah 40:12-17—Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows

him his counsel? 14_{Whom did he consult, and who made him understand?}

Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15_{Behold, the nations are like a}

drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold,

PAPER AIRPLANES

Large Group Lesson

Illustration

(Call the students with the paper airplanes to the front of the class. Note that all the planes are similar; quickly point out a few unique features. Ask each student to throw his airplane to see how far it goes. Comment on the airplane that goes the farthest.)

Though it is fun to make and design paper airplanes, they are only airplanes made of paper. They have many limitations—like short flights, the inability to carry a load, and they break easily. They are, after all, only paper airplanes.

There is a plane, however, that doesn’t have those same limitations. The Airbus A380—nicknamed Superjumbo—has two decks and is the largest passenger plane in the world. Standing six stories tall and stretching two-thirds of the length of a football field, there is room to seat 853 people.

(Display Airbus.)

Flying at about 560 miles per hour, the Airbus A380 is in an entirely different class than a paper airplane. It is absurd even to compare the two kinds of planes. But as absurd as it is to compare a paper airplane to the Airbus A380, it is far more absurd to compare anything or anyone to God. In fact, a paper airplane and an Airbus are more closely alike than anything is like God. God is totally and completely in a category by Himself—far superior to anything or anyone else.

God’s Greatness

The Bible shows how absurd it is to compare anything to God.

(Ask the students to turn to Isaiah 40:12-17 and read it aloud together. Also, note the first of the fill-in-the-blank questions in the Student Notebook, indicated by the underlining in the answer to the question following the Scripture.)

Isaiah 40:12-17—Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows

him his counsel? 14_{Whom did he consult, and who made him understand?}

Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15_{Behold, the nations are like a}

drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold,

PAPER AIRPLANES

This teaching prompt encourages

students to use both both sound

(everyone reading aloud) and

note-taking (filling in the blanks),

successfully targeting both

Auditory

and

Reading & Writing

learners.

An attention-getter is crucial to the start of

any lesson.

Kinesthetic/Tactile

learners are

targeted specifically in this illustration when

the teacher asks them to come to the front

of the class (move), take a paper airplane

(touch), and throw it to see how far it goes

(move self and object being touched).

The previous learning target is now

directed to

Auditory

learners: by comparing

the paper airplane to a real airplane,

and then using that analogy to lead the

students into thinking of God’s being

superior to everything else, the teacher

can seamlessly incorporate the kinesthetic

activity to an auditory teaching moment.

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Learning Styles 101

he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for

fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17_{All the nations are}

as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

What is Isaiah’s point in this passage? [God is great, and His power and understanding are unlimited.] (See Notebook.)

• Isaiah is giving us a word picture of the immense greatness of God.

• He is so great that it is as though all the waters of the world could be held just in the hollow of His hand. (Demonstrate the hollow of your hand.)

• A span is the distance between the thumb and your pinkie (or smallest) finger in an outstretched hand.

Illustration

(Ask a student to quickly come to the front of the room and measure a table or other object in spans.)

• Isaiah says that the immense heavens—galaxy after galaxy—is measured by a span of God’s hand.

• Isaiah is trying his best to show that God is infinite in greatness—so great, that we really can’t comprehend His greatness.

• Not only is God great, but He is also infinitely wise. (See Notebook.)

• No man can give Him advice or teach Him anything.

What are some of the things we must learn after we are born? [skills—how to eat, talk, tie a shoe, dress ourselves…; relational skills—how to greet people, how to apologize…; math, science, geography, history…; who God is, His plan of salvation…] (Don’t try to get a long list. Just ask for quick responses to show the vast amount of knowledge that we must be taught.)

God knows it all—and more. And He knows what we have not yet discovered—the cure to every disease and every imaginable and even unimaginable technological advance. He knows what will happen tomorrow and next year, and He knows what happened in the past—every detail of every war, every history of every nation, even the secrets of every government. He knows the secrets of the entire universe—things we can’t even imagine. He knows the right decision in every situation and how that situation will be resolved. And He knows every thought you and I think, everything we desire, every cell in our bodies, and every hair on our heads.

There is None Like God

This illustration provides the perfect

opportunity for a

Kinesthetic/Tactile

learner to grasp what Isaiah meant by the

galaxies being measured by the span of

God’s hand—the student will move from

his seat to the table/object, and then use

his hand to touch and measure it in spans.

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Learning Styles 101

5 Lesson 1

Illustration

(Ask two girls to come to the front of the class. Instruct one of the girls to start counting the number of hairs on the other girl’s head. You may also do this illustration with the whole class, pairing them up, boys with boys and girls with girls. Be sure to progress through the illustration quickly. After they have counted long enough to see how futile the task is, ask the following rhetorical questions that will lead them to see the awesomeness of God.)

How long do you think it would take you to count the hairs on your neighbor’s head? How about the hairs on the heads of five people in the room? Could you count the hair on the heads of everyone in our church?

God knows not only the number of hairs on the heads of everyone in our church, but of everyone in our town...everyone in our state...everyone in our country...and everyone in the whole world. He knows how many hairs you have on your head even after you comb your hair and some of it falls out in your brush (Luke 12:7). Do you know anyone else who can do this?

What does Isaiah say about the nations—the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Japan, Brazil…? [Compared to God, they are "as nothing." They are as a drop of water in a whole bucket of water. They are insignificant. God is so great and so worthy of our worship that a nation cannot contain enough wood and animals to make a sufficient sacrifice to Him.] (See Notebook.)

God is Greater than Idols

Isaiah then makes a comparison. (Ask a student to read Isaiah 40:18-20.)

Isaiah 40:18-20—To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and

a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.

20_{He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that}

will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

(Ask the students to turn to the chart in the Notebook and fill it out together, talking through verses 19 and 20. You may want to fill out a chart on the board at the same time.)

• Men (craftsmen and goldsmiths) make idols out of existing materials like wood—they are man-made. No one made God. He had no beginning—He is self-existing (Colossians 1:17; Acts 17:25).

5 Lesson 1

Illustration

(Ask two girls to come to the front of the class. Instruct one of the girls to start counting the number of hairs on the other girl’s head. You may also do this illustration with the whole class, pairing them up, boys with boys and girls with girls. Be sure to progress through the illustration quickly. After they have counted long enough to see how futile the task is, ask the following rhetorical questions that will lead them to see the awesomeness of God.)

How long do you think it would take you to count the hairs on your neighbor’s head? How about the hairs on the heads of five people in the room? Could you count the hair on the heads of everyone in our church?

God knows not only the number of hairs on the heads of everyone in our church, but of everyone in our town...everyone in our state...everyone in our country...and everyone in the whole world. He knows how many hairs you have on your head even after you comb your hair and some of it falls out in your brush (Luke 12:7). Do you know anyone else who can do this?

What does Isaiah say about the nations—the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Japan, Brazil…? [Compared to God, they are "as nothing." They are as a drop of water in a whole bucket of water. They are insignificant. God is so great and so worthy of our worship that a nation cannot contain enough wood and animals to make a sufficient sacrifice to Him.] (See Notebook.)

God is Greater than Idols

Isaiah then makes a comparison. (Ask a student to read Isaiah 40:18-20.)

Isaiah 40:18-20—To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and

a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.

20_{He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that}

will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

(Ask the students to turn to the chart in the Notebook and fill it out together, talking through verses 19 and 20. You may want to fill out a chart on the board at the same time.)

• Men (craftsmen and goldsmiths) make idols out of existing materials like wood—they are man-made. No one made God. He had no beginning—He is self-existing (Colossians 1:17; Acts 17:25).

Whether you choose two boys or two

girls for this illustration,

Kinesthetic/

Tactile

learners will be aided in their

understanding of God’s infinite,

personal knowledge by touching and

“counting” each other’s hairs.

This prompt directs the teacher to

instruct students to fill in the underlined

words in the Student Notebook. Writing

things down in the notebook during the

lesson helps synthesize the information,

especially for

Visual

and

Reading &

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Learning Styles 101

• Idols are temporary—they are made of materials that rot. God is eternal (Revelation 1:8).

• Idols don’t move. They can’t do anything. They are inactive. God is active—He speaks and works (Psalm 50:1, John 5:17).

IDOLS GOD

Man-Made Self-Existing

Temporary Eternal

Inactive Active

What point is Isaiah making by showing this comparison? [the absurdity of comparing anything to God or worshipping anything other than Him] (See Notebook.)

God is Greater than Man

Isaiah shows us another comparison to make his point even stronger. (Ask a student to read Isaiah 40:21-22.)

Isaiah 40:21-22—Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its

inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in.

What comparison does Isaiah make in these verses? [He compares God and man. God is so great that He “sits above the circle of the earth,” sustaining and controlling the whole universe. In comparison to God, men are like tiny grasshoppers.]

• The greatness of God is so immense, so magnificent that Isaiah says it should be shouted about—shouted out loudly from the top of a high mountain (Isaiah 40:9).

• The whole world should know of God’s greatness. Everyone should know the greatness of God—it is obvious if you only open your eyes and look.

• There is no one or nothing like the God of Isaiah. There is None Like God

Students fill in the chart in their

Notebooks, while the teacher fills it

out at the same time on the board:

a perfect teaching channel for

both

Visual

and

Reading & Writing

learners.

Asking a student to read a

passage aloud is a great way

to target

Reading & Writing

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Learning Styles 101

7 Lesson 1

Only One God

(Display Isaiah 40:25-26 and Isaiah 46:9 b, while reading the verses with vigor and enthusiasm.)

Isaiah 40:25-26—To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created

these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

Isaiah 46:9 b—…I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.

(See the final question in the Student Notebook: "What does God say about Himself in Isaiah 46:9 b?" Answers will vary.)

(End the teaching time by singing a worship song showing or praising the greatness of God, or with a prayer praising God for His greatness—as shown in Job 38:4-39:1.)

Small Group Application

The following are some possible discussion topics.

None Like God

List some things that show that no one is like God and no one can do the things God can do. For example: • He is the only One who can part the sea.

• No one else can cover the earth with a flood. • No one else can be everywhere all the time. • No one can pardon sin like God.

What then should be our response to the God who has no equal, who has no comparison?

After the students respond, ask what this would look like practically in their lives. For example: “We should respect God.” What does respect for God look like as you go to school tomorrow?

Shepherd

Isaiah shows Israel the greatness of God in the context of extending God’s comfort to a downtrodden people (40:1-11). Read Isaiah 40:11.

The revised editions of Children

Desiring God curricula include stunning

visuals, like the ones shown in this

portion of the lesson. By having the

students see the amazing, galaxy

background as they read the verse, the

teacher is targeting both

Visual

and

Reading & Writing

learners.

Some lessons will encourage teachers

to lead their students in a time of

singing and worship—perfect to draw

Auditory

learners in and cement the

truths about God they learned in the

lesson through song.

Licensed to CDG, Minneapolis, MN. Copies permitted pursuant tolicense for web order: 38022. Download license file for terms.