Saturday, October 17, 2015
Saturday, October 10, 2015
October 11: Jesus Restores God's Place
Read "Jesus Restores God's Place," part 16 of The Big Picture Story Bible.
For this lesson we focus on how God did not go back on his promises to Abraham after the Old Testament.
Review God's promises to Abraham: 1. Abraham's family would become a great nation, 2. God would give His people a special place, and 3. God will bring His blessings to other people on the earth.
Ask kiddos if Abraham's family became a great nation {Yes! In fact, their country, Israel, is still a country today! They've had lots of struggles due to their disobedience (sometimes even getting their "country" privilege taken away {When Jesus was born, the area was ruled by the Roman Empire}, but they were, and still are, a great nation.}
Ask students if God gave His people a special place {Yes! He gave them the land of Israel, and even though it was overtaken many times by many other rulers, it was still there waiting for them to obey and make better choices.}
Before Jesus came, God's special place was a land called Israel. Abraham's descendants lived there and God's word was followed for many years in this place. At the end of the Old Testament, however, we read a lot about disobedience. Solomon, and those after him, did not make good choices for God, and they were punished by losing their land. In some wars they were kicked off it, in other wars they were held as slaves, when Jesus came along they had to pay heavy taxes to Caesar Augustus, who was the ruler of the Roman Empire, a huge kingdom that had overtaken Israel. Jesus came to change that.
A lot of people thought that Jesus would come as a superhero, ready to fight the Romans and take back the land that the Israelites felt was theirs. God had another plan, though. Many people were surprised- and didn't believe- that God's Forever King came to earth as a baby. As Jesus grew up and preached His message, a lot of people didn't understand. They were still pretending to obey God, but making bad choices and sinning in secret. And sometimes it wasn't even a secret. The day Jesus went into the temple and saw people selling sacrifices for much more money than they should have, he went berserk!
He told His followers, and the people standing nearby, that the stone temple wasn't God's special place anymore. Instead, HE was God's special place. That sounds crazy, right? How can a person be a place!?
Many people were confused, so Jesus explained it like this: His body was now God's Holy Temple, and instead of people sacrificing animals to get the blood they needed to pay for their sins, Jesus would use HIS blood. Of course He hadn't died on the cross yet, so nobody knew what He was talking about.
Jesus told everyone that HE was the new place people should go to to worship. Instead of visiting a temple, we can pray through Jesus. Instead of a temple being so important, from now on the church is anyone who gets together to glorify God. Our bodies are kind of like a temple, too. Jesus is in our hearts and it's our job to keep our temple clean. Not just healthy-clean and physically-clean, but spiritually-clean as well.
For our activity, I chose one student to trace on bulletin board paper. We then took turns writing inside the body outline ways that we can take care of our bodies to worship Jesus. Ideas include eating healthy, not getting tattoos or piercings, not saying bad words or having mean thoughts in our heads, smiling instead of frowning, etc. I really had the kiddos think hard before they added to our word collage, and I think it gave them a better idea of how we can worship God when we're not necessarily at church or praying. I also didn't sway them one way or another (like over the tattoos, since some kids said they didn't see it as sinful), I let them go with what they felt comfortable saying.
For this lesson we focus on how God did not go back on his promises to Abraham after the Old Testament.
Review God's promises to Abraham: 1. Abraham's family would become a great nation, 2. God would give His people a special place, and 3. God will bring His blessings to other people on the earth.
Ask kiddos if Abraham's family became a great nation {Yes! In fact, their country, Israel, is still a country today! They've had lots of struggles due to their disobedience (sometimes even getting their "country" privilege taken away {When Jesus was born, the area was ruled by the Roman Empire}, but they were, and still are, a great nation.}
Ask students if God gave His people a special place {Yes! He gave them the land of Israel, and even though it was overtaken many times by many other rulers, it was still there waiting for them to obey and make better choices.}
Before Jesus came, God's special place was a land called Israel. Abraham's descendants lived there and God's word was followed for many years in this place. At the end of the Old Testament, however, we read a lot about disobedience. Solomon, and those after him, did not make good choices for God, and they were punished by losing their land. In some wars they were kicked off it, in other wars they were held as slaves, when Jesus came along they had to pay heavy taxes to Caesar Augustus, who was the ruler of the Roman Empire, a huge kingdom that had overtaken Israel. Jesus came to change that.
A lot of people thought that Jesus would come as a superhero, ready to fight the Romans and take back the land that the Israelites felt was theirs. God had another plan, though. Many people were surprised- and didn't believe- that God's Forever King came to earth as a baby. As Jesus grew up and preached His message, a lot of people didn't understand. They were still pretending to obey God, but making bad choices and sinning in secret. And sometimes it wasn't even a secret. The day Jesus went into the temple and saw people selling sacrifices for much more money than they should have, he went berserk!
He told His followers, and the people standing nearby, that the stone temple wasn't God's special place anymore. Instead, HE was God's special place. That sounds crazy, right? How can a person be a place!?
Many people were confused, so Jesus explained it like this: His body was now God's Holy Temple, and instead of people sacrificing animals to get the blood they needed to pay for their sins, Jesus would use HIS blood. Of course He hadn't died on the cross yet, so nobody knew what He was talking about.
Jesus told everyone that HE was the new place people should go to to worship. Instead of visiting a temple, we can pray through Jesus. Instead of a temple being so important, from now on the church is anyone who gets together to glorify God. Our bodies are kind of like a temple, too. Jesus is in our hearts and it's our job to keep our temple clean. Not just healthy-clean and physically-clean, but spiritually-clean as well.
For our activity, I chose one student to trace on bulletin board paper. We then took turns writing inside the body outline ways that we can take care of our bodies to worship Jesus. Ideas include eating healthy, not getting tattoos or piercings, not saying bad words or having mean thoughts in our heads, smiling instead of frowning, etc. I really had the kiddos think hard before they added to our word collage, and I think it gave them a better idea of how we can worship God when we're not necessarily at church or praying. I also didn't sway them one way or another (like over the tattoos, since some kids said they didn't see it as sinful), I let them go with what they felt comfortable saying.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
October 4: God's New People are Called
Read "God's New People are Called," part 15 of The Big Picture Story Bible.
Give each child a coffee filter and blue marker. Show examples, and have them decorate their coffee filter anyway they want- zigzags, stripes, polka-dots, etc. Then place a paper towel under and gently spritz with water.
{I use these bottles for all of our water needs, but I noticed they're discontinued.}
As the filters are drying {We swapped out for dry paper towels and it only took about 15 minutes} each kiddo chose a bird feather and eyeball to glue on a dove pattern (I drew it by hand so I don't have a copy, basically a big circle for the body, a small circle for the head, add a beak and a rectangle tail.)
Then glue the bird onto the coffee filter and have students retell the story of the dove landing on Jesus after John baptized Him to tell everyone that Jesus was, indeed, His Son. Remind everyone that just like Jesus had followers back then, we are His followers, too!
Give each child a coffee filter and blue marker. Show examples, and have them decorate their coffee filter anyway they want- zigzags, stripes, polka-dots, etc. Then place a paper towel under and gently spritz with water.
{I use these bottles for all of our water needs, but I noticed they're discontinued.}
As the filters are drying {We swapped out for dry paper towels and it only took about 15 minutes} each kiddo chose a bird feather and eyeball to glue on a dove pattern (I drew it by hand so I don't have a copy, basically a big circle for the body, a small circle for the head, add a beak and a rectangle tail.)
Then glue the bird onto the coffee filter and have students retell the story of the dove landing on Jesus after John baptized Him to tell everyone that Jesus was, indeed, His Son. Remind everyone that just like Jesus had followers back then, we are His followers, too!
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Saturday, September 19, 2015
September 20: God's Promised One is Born
Last week the kids played a game to learn about the purpose of the census and why Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem. This week is the actual "Christmas Story" of Christ's birth, but since it's only September I desperately wracked my brain trying to think of what would bring everything we've learned up to the point where we FINALLY learn who God's Forever King is.
I decided to focus on the genealogy of Jesus. BORING! You say. TOO HARD! You agree with yourself. THERE IS NO WAY TO TEACH KIDS THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS! You scream in your head.
Wrong.
That's what I thought, too, until I figured out a way to do it. And I was blown away by the awesomeness my kiddos remembered from the last 3 months as we went over it. It was a PERFECT review! (Not many lessons make me as pleased as this one did).
Basically, we reviewed last week and read the story this week from The Big Picture Study Bible. We talked a little about Mary and Joseph, and then I mentioned that all of the stories we learned from the Old Testament have led up to this moment, and I gave them this paper I created:
I gave them a minute or so to read over it and asked if they recognized any of the names. Surprising themselves, they did. I explained that this was a list from the first man, Adam, to Jesus, following through dads {except in one or two cases where there were no males and it used the female that married back into her own tribe. I also mentioned also that this is Joseph's genealogy, but Mary's is available, too. Since we talked about Jesus being born in Bethlehem because of his dad-Joseph, I decided to take the "legal" way.}
Then I gave each student a highlighter and we reviewed, beginning with Adam, all of the names that we read about. As we read, we discussed that character and what he did... "Even though Adam disobeyed God, he still got to be part of Jesus' family line... God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many- can you believe his family line traces all the way to Jesus!?... Remember David, who killed Goliath and eventually became King?! Jesus had the royal line for a bit!" The kids were SO excited and loved highlighting the people they remembered that we've read about. Some even noticed a couple others we didn't talk about... "Hey, is that the Boaz from the Ruth lady?" I was really pleased to see how much the kids remembered as we reviewed Jesus' line.
After we finished highlighting, they cut out their book and glued it onto a piece of construction paper. Then we cut around it to make a book cover, and some chose to fold it to make their own part of the Bible.
I decided to focus on the genealogy of Jesus. BORING! You say. TOO HARD! You agree with yourself. THERE IS NO WAY TO TEACH KIDS THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS! You scream in your head.
Wrong.
That's what I thought, too, until I figured out a way to do it. And I was blown away by the awesomeness my kiddos remembered from the last 3 months as we went over it. It was a PERFECT review! (Not many lessons make me as pleased as this one did).
Basically, we reviewed last week and read the story this week from The Big Picture Study Bible. We talked a little about Mary and Joseph, and then I mentioned that all of the stories we learned from the Old Testament have led up to this moment, and I gave them this paper I created:
I gave them a minute or so to read over it and asked if they recognized any of the names. Surprising themselves, they did. I explained that this was a list from the first man, Adam, to Jesus, following through dads {except in one or two cases where there were no males and it used the female that married back into her own tribe. I also mentioned also that this is Joseph's genealogy, but Mary's is available, too. Since we talked about Jesus being born in Bethlehem because of his dad-Joseph, I decided to take the "legal" way.}
Then I gave each student a highlighter and we reviewed, beginning with Adam, all of the names that we read about. As we read, we discussed that character and what he did... "Even though Adam disobeyed God, he still got to be part of Jesus' family line... God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many- can you believe his family line traces all the way to Jesus!?... Remember David, who killed Goliath and eventually became King?! Jesus had the royal line for a bit!" The kids were SO excited and loved highlighting the people they remembered that we've read about. Some even noticed a couple others we didn't talk about... "Hey, is that the Boaz from the Ruth lady?" I was really pleased to see how much the kids remembered as we reviewed Jesus' line.
After we finished highlighting, they cut out their book and glued it onto a piece of construction paper. Then we cut around it to make a book cover, and some chose to fold it to make their own part of the Bible.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
September 13: Many Silent Years
We went outside for a big-area activity with this lesson.
Set up a cone labeling each area (You may want to use a map of Israel during Jesus' time to get an accurate-ish idea of where to set the areas in relation to each other)
-Nazareth
-Jericho
-Bethlehem
-Jerusalem
-Capernaum
-Bethany
Read part 12 of The Big Picture Story Bible, "Many Silent Years" and explain how the census works today and how it worked back then.
Take the kiddos outside and set up cones labeling different areas of Israel. I have about 25 kids, so I had 6 cities. You can always set up more if necessary.
I color-coded each one of my cities to help the younger ones out, so blue=Nazareth, green= Jerusalem, etc. Have students go to a city of their choice to begin the activity.
We are in the ancient city of Israel and the city you're in now is where you live. Our country was taken over many years ago and we're now part of the Roman Empire. Our government leader, Caesar Augustus, has declared that everyone must go to their home city to be counted for the census.
Hand out cards {mine were actually colored balls} that list what city each person must return to. Give students about 30 seconds to reach their destination. Mix the cards up and repeat, giving only 10 seconds. {My kiddos didn't need an actual challenge, they really enjoyed traveling, but read below if you're up for more adventure.}
If you want to make the game into a challenge, lay out hula hoops at each "city." Only the first 3 citizens to reach their home city are allowed to stay, the others must leave the game. Continue playing, only allowing 2 to stay, and then once more with only the 1st person. Lastly, have the remaining players all rush from their current location to Bethlehem. The first person will be the winner.
Describe how Mary and Joseph had to travel from Nazareth, where they lived, to Bethlehem, where Joseph's family was from. Talk about the distance and how with other travelers on the road it was a very long and at-times-confusing journey for many people.
Set up a cone labeling each area (You may want to use a map of Israel during Jesus' time to get an accurate-ish idea of where to set the areas in relation to each other)
-Nazareth
-Jericho
-Bethlehem
-Jerusalem
-Capernaum
-Bethany
Read part 12 of The Big Picture Story Bible, "Many Silent Years" and explain how the census works today and how it worked back then.
Take the kiddos outside and set up cones labeling different areas of Israel. I have about 25 kids, so I had 6 cities. You can always set up more if necessary.
I color-coded each one of my cities to help the younger ones out, so blue=Nazareth, green= Jerusalem, etc. Have students go to a city of their choice to begin the activity.
We are in the ancient city of Israel and the city you're in now is where you live. Our country was taken over many years ago and we're now part of the Roman Empire. Our government leader, Caesar Augustus, has declared that everyone must go to their home city to be counted for the census.
Hand out cards {mine were actually colored balls} that list what city each person must return to. Give students about 30 seconds to reach their destination. Mix the cards up and repeat, giving only 10 seconds. {My kiddos didn't need an actual challenge, they really enjoyed traveling, but read below if you're up for more adventure.}
If you want to make the game into a challenge, lay out hula hoops at each "city." Only the first 3 citizens to reach their home city are allowed to stay, the others must leave the game. Continue playing, only allowing 2 to stay, and then once more with only the 1st person. Lastly, have the remaining players all rush from their current location to Bethlehem. The first person will be the winner.
Describe how Mary and Joseph had to travel from Nazareth, where they lived, to Bethlehem, where Joseph's family was from. Talk about the distance and how with other travelers on the road it was a very long and at-times-confusing journey for many people.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
September 6: God's Promise Remains
Last week the students destroyed their beautiful artwork to symbolize God destroying the temple Solomon built for Him before turning his heart away. We kept the pieces in a ziploc bag for today.
Read part 11 of The Big Picture Story Bible "God's Promise Remains."
Have multiple copies of enlarged cards for each character- Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel- and also a poster for each action- "raise the Temple and give the people new hearts," "a forever King would come from David's family," "the people would return home in 70 years," and "prayed for God's promise to come true."
Students will work in small groups to match each prophet with what they said. Then go over together.
After many years and God's people finally were able to come back to God's special place, they were very sorry for disobeying Him for so long. The city and the temple had been destroyed and they had to work hard at repairing their mess.
Hand out puzzle pieces from last week along with a slightly larger sheet of construction paper and glue.
Just as God's people rebuilt Solomon's temple, you are going to rebuild your artwork today. It will take some hard work and a lot of time, but when you are done it will be cause for celebration!
After giving students time to work, have them review their final project. Does it look like it did before? How is it different? Is it better or worse? Why?
The pictures will look similar, but not identical, to their picture from last week. Students may note that their are missing pieces, open spaces, torn edges or rough spots. I had a quick mini-lesson about how this is similar to when we sin, also. Even though we say we're sorry and we try to fix our mistakes, we can't take away hurt or pain we've caused someone else. Saying hurtful things to someone can't be undone, just as the temple couldn't go back to it's original condition. Only God can fix what's been broken and make it like new, we can apologize for our mistakes and try to fix our problems, but our relationships with those we've hurt will never be "like new."
"The old men cried because they remembered Solomon's beautiful temple and knew that Israel could never completely rebuild God's place. They cried because they still longed for God's forever king to come."
Read part 11 of The Big Picture Story Bible "God's Promise Remains."
Have multiple copies of enlarged cards for each character- Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel- and also a poster for each action- "raise the Temple and give the people new hearts," "a forever King would come from David's family," "the people would return home in 70 years," and "prayed for God's promise to come true."
Students will work in small groups to match each prophet with what they said. Then go over together.
After many years and God's people finally were able to come back to God's special place, they were very sorry for disobeying Him for so long. The city and the temple had been destroyed and they had to work hard at repairing their mess.
Hand out puzzle pieces from last week along with a slightly larger sheet of construction paper and glue.
Just as God's people rebuilt Solomon's temple, you are going to rebuild your artwork today. It will take some hard work and a lot of time, but when you are done it will be cause for celebration!
After giving students time to work, have them review their final project. Does it look like it did before? How is it different? Is it better or worse? Why?
The pictures will look similar, but not identical, to their picture from last week. Students may note that their are missing pieces, open spaces, torn edges or rough spots. I had a quick mini-lesson about how this is similar to when we sin, also. Even though we say we're sorry and we try to fix our mistakes, we can't take away hurt or pain we've caused someone else. Saying hurtful things to someone can't be undone, just as the temple couldn't go back to it's original condition. Only God can fix what's been broken and make it like new, we can apologize for our mistakes and try to fix our problems, but our relationships with those we've hurt will never be "like new."
"The old men cried because they remembered Solomon's beautiful temple and knew that Israel could never completely rebuild God's place. They cried because they still longed for God's forever king to come."
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