Christmas Prophecies Sunday School Lesson (cont.)
Part 3: Explore the Bible: The Promise Fulfilled
Time: About 10 minutes
You’ll need:
Make sure each child has a Bible.
Say: Our Key Verse today is Matthew 1:22-23.
Have kids find the verse in their Bibles, and ask a willing child to read it aloud: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us.’ ”
Say: God promised to send a Messiah to save us, and Jesus fulfilled God’s promise when he came to earth. Our Bible passage tells us what God promised, and our Key Verse tells what happened more than 500 years later. The best part is that God also included a promise even as he was fulfilling the first promise. He promised to be with us.
Have kids close their eyes.
Say: Without opening your eyes, line up in order by height. You can talk, but you can’t open your eyes. Allow kids a few minutes to try lining up according to their height.
Before kids finish lining up correctly, say: That seemed pretty difficult. Let’s find a way to make this easier.
Choose two kids to open their eyes and help the other kids get lined up in the right order. Have these kids promise the rest of the group that they’ll help them and accomplish this task together. These kids can direct the other kids based on what they see. Allow time for them to finish lining the group up.
Talk About It
Ask:
- What difference did it make to have someone who could see help you line up correctly?
- How is God like our friends in the game who could see, even when we couldn’t?
Say: God loves you. He loves everyone. That’s why God sent Jesus—because he loves us. God knew that it was only through Jesus that he could be with us. When God makes promises, he’ll do incredible things to keep those promises. Jesus fulfilled God’s promise.
Part 4: Weave Faith Into Life: Keeping Promises
Time: About 15 minutes
You’ll need
- Bibles
- construction paper
- markers
Say: Let’s take a look at our Key Verse, Matthew 1:22-23, again.
Have kids again turn in their Bibles to Matthew 1:22-23, and read the verse aloud while the kids follow along: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us’ ” (Matthew 1:22-23).
Say: Let’s think about the things we’ve learned about making and keeping promises.
Form circles with no more than six kids per circle.
Say: Think about a time you made a promise to someone and kept it. Pause.
Invite willing kids to share their thoughts on keeping that promise. When anyone who wants to share has done so, have kids all take a step toward the center of their circles.
Say: Think about a time someone made a promise to you and kept that promise. Pause.
Invite willing kids to share their thoughts on others keeping their promises. When anyone who wants to share has done so, have kids all take another step toward the center of their circles.
