Optional Memory verse: Jeremiah 29:11
. . ."I have good plans for you. I don't plan
to hurt you.
I plan to give you hope and a good future"
International Children's Bible, New Century Version
Today's Theme:
God warns us to keep us safe.
| Materials Needed:
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Paper Babylon mat from previous lessons
Shoe box temple from previous lessons
Priest figure
The following figures from a childproof
nativity set:
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Christ in manger,
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Mary and Joseph
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Wise Men figures (optional: with camels)
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Foreign king figure
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Blocks or Lincoln logs if you have them
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blind folds ( enough for half the class)
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masking tape
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Optional snack:
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Option 1.
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Star shaped crackers or cookies
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Option 2.
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Sliced bread
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star shaped cookie cutters,
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cinnamon
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sugar
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small mixing bowl, spoon and funnel
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empty salt shakers,
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soft butter
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| plastic knives
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| Action Game: Safe Passage
The object of the game is for one half the class to safely guide the
other half across the room.
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Blind fold one group
Set traps from one side of the
room to the other
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Set up chairs to represent lakes, cliffs,
etc.
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Use masking to designate a river to cross
or a cliff ledge to follow, or a bridge to cross.
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Assign a sighted partner to each
blindfolded child who instructs him to safely cross the room.
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Tell them, "Today we're learning
that God warns us to keep us safe. Their job is to warn their partner so he
or she can safely cross the room.
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Their instructions might be:
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Walk straight ahead 3 steps, or
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Take a big jump now (across 2 strips of tape
representing a river).
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Put your hand on my shoulder and walk close
behind me because we're walking on a narrow path (in between 2 short rows of chairs).
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Direct them to crouch down to crawl under a
table (under a cliff).
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Etc.
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| After the first group safely crosses
the room, repeat switching roles so the other group has a turn being guided while
wearing blindfolds.
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| Telling the Story: Note to the teacher: Today's story takes place in 3 areas all at the Dead Sea end
of the story mat. To make more room:
- Place the temple part way off the bottom edge of the mat.
- Try to create a little distance between it and Bethlehem by
placing Bethlehem closer to the Mediterranean Sea.
- Build the King's Palace above the temple next to the Dead Sea.
|
Just like you had a partner to warn you
so that you could safely cross the room when you couldn't see,
God is our partner every day who warns
us since we can't know what is going to happen each day.
In today's story God gives warnings to
keep Baby Jesus safe.
I want you to listen carefully to find
out who God warns, how he warns them, and why he needed to keep Baby Jesus safe.
Last week we learned that God
sent Jesus to be the perfect king.
Let's put the Promised Land
here:
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Lay out the Promised Land mat.
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Add some Fisher Price or similar type
figures to represent God's people.
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Let's put the temple down here:
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Put the temple at the very bottom of the
mat (Dead Sea end) and put a priest in front of it.
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Let's put Bethlehem right here:
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Scatter several blocks on the Dead Sea end
of the mat to represent Bethlehem
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Let's build the stable with Mary and
Joseph and Baby Jesus right here:
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Use blocks or Lincoln Logs to make a
stable.
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Add the figures of Mary Joseph and
Jesus.
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The Promised Land didn't have a king of
its own.
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A man from a far away land took over
the Promised Land and made himself king over God's people.
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His name was King Herod.
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Let's pretend that this is King Herod
and put him right here:
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Add a few blocks near the Dead Sea to
represent a palace.
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Place the foreign king figure next to the
palace.
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In today's story we are going to hear
about some wise men who lived far away near Babylon.
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Pick a child to place the Babylon mat a
distance away from the Promised Land.
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Pick several children to place the nativity
wise men figures in Babylon.
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When Baby Jesus was born, the wise men
saw a special star in the sky.
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Because of the star, they knew a
special king had been born in the Promised Land.
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The wise men wanted to go and see this
king and bring him presents.
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So they packed up their camels and
started on the long journey to the Promised Land.
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Pick several children to bring the
wise men figures to bottom edge of the Promised Land.
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The wise men came to the Promised Land
but they didn't know exactly where the new king would be born.
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So they went to see the King Herod.
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Pick other children to walk the figures to
the king.
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When they arrived, they asked the king,
"Where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the
east. We came to worship him."*
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Well King Herod did not know that
another king had been born in the Promised Land.
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He was upset to hear that there was
another king who might take his place.
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So he called the priests.
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Walk the priest figure to the king.
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He asked, "Where is the king of
the Jews supposed to be born?"
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The priests told King Herod that the
king of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem.
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Return priest figure to the temple
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King Herod told the Wise men to look
for the new king in the town of Bethlehem.
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He told them to be sure and come back
after they found the new king.
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They must tell him where to find
the new king.
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Because he wanted to worship the new
king, too.
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Then the wise men traveled to
Bethlehem.
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The star went before them and stopped
right over the place where Mary, Joseph and Jesus were staying.
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Pick other children to walk the wise men
figures to the stable in Bethlehem.
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They bowed before Jesus and gave him
special gifts.
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They gave him gold.
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And some spices called frankincense and
myrrh.
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Spices were worth a lot of money in
Bible times.
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So these were very special gifts.
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Then the wise men got ready to go back
to see King Herod.
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But God warned them in a dream not to
go back to see King Herod.
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So they went home a different way.
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Walk the figures past the Sea of Galilee to
the top of the mat.
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Have several children return them to
Babylon.
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King Herod waited and waited for the
wise men to come back.
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He was very upset when they never come
back to tell him the new king was.
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He was determined to get rid of this
new king.
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So he sent soldiers to Bethlehem to
kill all the baby boys there.
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But God sent an angel to talk to Joseph
in a dream.
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The angel told Joseph to run away to
the land of Egypt.
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So Joseph got Mary and Jesus up in the
middle of the night and ran away to Egypt.
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Walk Mary, Joseph and Jesus figures off the
bottom of the mat.
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They lived in Egypt until King Herod
died.
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Lay King Herod figure on his side
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Then an angel talked to Joseph in a
dream and told him to take Mary and Jesus back to the Promised Land.
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So Mary, Joseph and Jesus moved back to
the Promised Land.
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Walk the figures back to the Promised Land
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But the new king of the Promised
Land was mean King Herod's son.
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He might hear about Jesus and try to
get rid of him, too.
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So God warned Joseph and Mary in a
dream to move all the way up here near the Sea of Galilee where it would be safe.
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| Place the figures next to the Sea of
Galilee.
*Matthew 2:2 from the
International Children's Bible
Closing Discussion
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Why did God need to keep Baby Jesus
safe?
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Because King Herod wanted to kill him
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Who did God warn to keep Baby Jesus
safe?
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First, the wise men, to not go back to
see King Herod.
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Second, Joseph to run away to Egypt.
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Third, for Joseph to go back to the
Promised land
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Fourth, for Joseph to move to the region
near the Sea of Galilee.
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How did God warn them?
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In dreams.
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How does God warn us?
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We need to first ask Jesus to be our
special partner
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By telling Him that we're sorry for all the
wrong things that we do.
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Asking Jesus to be our special partner
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Then God gives us His Spirit.
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By listening to God's Spirit so that
when we get a bad feeling inside about something we know that is God's spirit warning us
not to do it.
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We need to learn about God in our
Bibles,
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We learn in our Bible what things are right
and wrong. We keep ourselves from doing wrong things that could hurt us when we
obey.
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| Sometimes God even warns people with
dreams just like in Bible times.
Close in Prayer asking
God to be our special partner and thanking God that He warns us to
keep us safe, too, just like God warned the wise men and Joseph to keep Baby Jesus safe.
Ask God to help us know when he is warning us and give us the desire to obey his warnings.
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| Optional Snack:
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Option 2: Let kids make cinnamon bread
stars by:
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1. Making a mix of cinnamon and sugar and
putting some into empty salt shakers.
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Talk about cinnamon as a kind of spice, like
myrrh and frankincense, the kinds of spices that the wise men gave to Jesus.
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2. Cutting bread slices into star shapes
with star-shaped cookie cutters.
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3. Spreading their star-shaped bread slices
with soft butter,
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| 4. Sprinkling with cinnamon and sugar.
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Supplemental Bible
Readings:
(Suggested daily readings)
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