First- and second-graders have a special desire to know they re loved no matter

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17 Zechariah Prophesies About Jesus Luke 1:68-79 First- ad secod-graders have a special desire to kow they re loved o matter what. It s commo for a child who s misbehaved to ask, Do you still love me?

1 17 Zechariah Prophesies About Jesus Luke 1:68-79 First- ad secod-graders have a special desire to kow they re loved o matter what. It s commo for a child who s misbehaved to ask, Do you still love me? or to stretch out arms for a hug. Childre eed acceptace eve, ad especially, whe they do wrog. Use this lesso to comfort childre, helpig them kow that God did t reject a world full of si; he set his So to save the world ad show ucoditioal love. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started 2 Bible Exploratio A World Without Words (about 10 mi.) Play a game without talkig. Zechariah Prophesies (about 20 mi.) Complete silet activities while learig about Zechariah. Zechariah s Sog (about 15 mi.) Hear what happeed to Zechariah, ad lear the Key Verse through sog. Bible, My Bible Fu, CD player, colored pecils, marker, paper Teacher Pack: CD Bible, CD player, 1 copy per child of the lyrics page (at the ed of the lesso) Teacher Pack: CD Tear out the pages from each My Bible Fu studet book. Bible Poit The world eeds Jesus. Key Verse For God did ot sed his So ito the world to codem the world, but to save the world through him (Joh 3:17). Weavig Faith Ito Life Kids will thak God for sedig his So, Jesus, ad will tell others about Jesus forgiveess. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text.

2 18 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 3 Weavig Faith Ito Life The Risig Su (about 10 mi.) Make risig-su crafts to remid them of the Bible passage. Sushie Prayers (about 5 mi.) Thak God for sedig Jesus. My Bible Fu, 2 paper plates per child, markers, yellow ad orage costructio paper, tape, stapler, scissors sus from The Risig Su activity Cut three 6x1-ich yellow paper strips ad three 6x1- ich orage paper strips per child. 4 Daily Challeges (about 5 mi.) Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. My Bible Fu, pes Lastig Impressios Weavig Faith at Home (about 2 mi.) Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text.

3 19 Zechariah Prophesies About Jesus Luke 1:68-79 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS God Promises a Child to Zechariah ad Elizabeth i Their Old Age The priest Zechariah doubted a agel s message to him that his agig wife, Elizabeth, would have a so who would prepare the way for the Lord. Because of his ubelief, Zechariah was struck with a iability to speak util the baby was bor. Joh the Baptist Is Bor Whe Joh was bor, Zechariah was suddely able to speak agai. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah delivered the prophecy cotaied i Luke 1: This proclamatio is kow as the Beedictus, which is Lati for praise be, the first words of the prophecy. the average Jew. Havig suffered ad struggled so much, the Jews loged for peace. Our world is o differet. Caught up i the hectic schedules of livig, most people year for the peace Jesus ca offer. Ad thaks to our merciful God, that peace is available to all who believe i Jesus. The Jesus Coectio We ca ask God to help us see the ways that he wats us to live i the full reality of our eed for him. Whe we ackowledge that we eed Jesus, we ca take actio o our eed for him i our ow lives. Thik about ways you re i eed right ow. Ask for Jesus help, ad trust him to meet your eeds. You ca write your prayer here. Luke 1:76 idicates that Joh would be a prophet who would prepare the way for Jesus. He would be the Elijah figure metioed i Malachi 4:5-6 who was to appear before the comig of the Lord. Joh was to give people the kowledge of salvatio. They had drifted so far away from God that they had lost eve that kowledge. Joh was to prepare them for Jesus by remidig them of what that salvatio was all about the remissio of sis. How would the forgiveess of sis be possible? Through the mercy of God. The words of Luke 1:78-79 are remiiscet of Isaiah 60:1: Arise, shie, for your light has come, ad the glory of the Lord rises upo you. The comig of Jesus would brig light to a dark world through the mercy of our lovig God. Zechariah Also Promises Peace The fial promise of peace metioed at the ed of verse 79 might have brought a sigh of relief to

4 20 GETTING STARTED A World Without Words What You ll Do Welcome kids warmly as they arrive, ad ask them how their week wet. Gather everyoe together. Say: Today we ll hear about a uique situatio. Let s play a game to help us thik about the people i the Bible who were part of that situatio. Ivite oe child to lead your group i a task. Share about the task with oly that child, ad the have him or her attempt, without speakig, to get the rest of the group to do the task. Avoid helpig the child. After the group catches o ad follows alog, allow the first perso who caught o to lead a ew task. Play util everyoe has had a chace to lead. If you have a large group, have pairs or groups of childre lead the tasks together. Here are some task ideas: take off their shoes, walk to the restroom i a sigle-file lie, clea a area of your room, sit o the floor crisscross applesauce, or show their age by puttig up that may figers. Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What was it like to try to tell everyoe somethig without talkig? Explai whether it was easier for you to act or to guess. Explai why you might be frustrated if you had amazig ews but you could t talk. Say: Today we ll read i the Bible about a ma who had really excitig ews but lost his ability to talk. We ll lear how he commuicated ad the amazig thigs he said oce he could talk agai, ad we ll lear what all that has to do with Jesus. Let s lear about that ma right ow.

5 21 2 BIBLE EXPLORATION Zechariah Prophesies What You ll Do Gather the childre i a circle. Say: Today we ll hear about a ma amed Zechariah ad his wife, Elizabeth. Zechariah lost his ability to talk. Let s preted that you ca t talk. Wheever I ask you to do somethig, you ll have to do it without talkig. Check for uderstadig. The childre wo t talk at all util you tell them to at the ed of the activity. Say: Let s practice a little bit before we begi our activity. Show me how you might try to commuicate with someoe if you did t have your voice. Let childre respod without talkig. Ope your Bible to Luke 1:68-79, ad show kids the passage. Say: Zechariah ad Elizabeth were very old. Let s walk aroud the room oe time as if we were very, very old. Remember, o talkig! Let the childre preted to be old as you lead them aroud the room. Give each child a My Bible Fu page, ad poit out the Show Me! activity. Set out colored pecils. Zechariah Prophesies Supplies Bible My Bible Fu CD player colored pecils marker paper Teacher Pack CD: Zechariah ad Gabriel (track 2) Zechariah Prophesies Easy Prep Tear out the pages from each My Bible Fu studet book. Say: Eve though Zechariah ad Elizabeth were married for may years, they had o childre. That made them sad. Draw sad mouths o Zechariah ad Elizabeth i the top picture o your page. Allow time. Remid childre to be silet for the activity. Say: Zechariah was a priest, ad he worked at the Temple. Oe day he wet ito the Temple aloe to bur icese because that was part of his job. While he was iside the Temple, a amazig thig happeed a agel appeared to Zechariah! Show me your best surprised face! Pause to let childre respod. Say: The Bible tells us what was said betwee the agel ad Zechariah that day. Let s liste. Play Zechariah ad Gabriel (track 2 o the CD). Say: The agel s words came true. From that momet o, Zechariah could t talk. He could t tell the people what happeed to him. He had to try to tell them i other ways. Have kids form pairs. Tell kids to thik of oe piece of importat ews they d like to tell their parters. For example, a parter might wat to say that he has a ew puppy or that she has a baby brother. Explai that parters must try to covey the ews to each other without speakig; they may oly commuicate i ways other tha talkig or whisperig. Give kids a few miutes to try to covey their ews. The let parters whisper to each other what they were tryig to commuicate. The gather everyoe back together.

6 22 Say: Zechariah could t speak durig the whole time he ad Elizabeth were waitig for their baby. Several moths later, whe Elizabeth had a baby boy as the agel had said, Zechariah ad Elizabeth were very happy. Draw smiles o Zechariah ad Elizabeth o the bottom of your My Bible Fu page. Allow time. Say: Frieds ad family came to see the baby. They wated Elizabeth to ame him Zechariah like his father, but Elizabeth said she wated to ame him Joh. The frieds could t believe it because o oe i Elizabeth s family was amed Joh. Whe they asked Zechariah what he wated to ame the baby, Zechariah asked for a writig tablet to give them his aswer. Zechariah wrote, His ame is Joh. Show me how you ca write the same thig that Zechariah wrote. O the picture of the baby, write Joh. Write Joh i large letters o a piece of paper so the childre ca see how to write it. The allow time for childre to copy the word oto baby Joh. Say: As soo as Zechariah amed the baby Joh, God made it so he could talk agai. That meas all of you ca talk agai i a momet. Whe I say the baby s ame aloud, call out the first thig you wat to say after ot talkig for so log. Ready? Check that childre uderstad that they ll call out a word or a cheer as soo as you say Zechariah ad Elizabeth s baby s ame. The say: The baby s ame was Joh! Let kids respod with shouts ad cheers. Say: Zechariah was very happy, ad right away he bega to praise God! Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What were you thikig ad feelig as you had to keep silet through our etire activity? Tell about a time you had to stay really quiet at home or at school. Why do you wat to tell others whe you have great ews? Zechariah s Sog Supplies Bible CD player 1 copy per child of the lyrics page (at the ed of the lesso) Teacher Pack CD: Zechariah s Sog, Part 1 (track 3); Zechariah s Sog, Part 2 (track 4); To Save the World Through Him (Joh 3:17) (track 5) Say: Zechariah had great ews, but he could t talk about it util his baby was bor ad he amed the baby Joh. It must ve bee pretty hard ot to be able to talk for all that time. Ad Zechariah had eve more good ews he could t share his baby was the oe who would prepare people for Jesus. Joh would tell everyoe that THE WORLD NEEDS JESUS. Let s hear more about that. Zechariah s Sog What You ll Do Say: The Bible tells us that Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit ad that he prophesied about his ew baby ad Jesus. Prophesied meas that God gave him the words to tell about the future. Let s liste to what Zechariah prophesied about Jesus. Play Zechariah s Sog, Part 1 (track 3 o the CD).

7 23 Say: The Bible calls Zechariah s message a sog. Zechariah was joyful about God s message, which said that Jesus was comig to save his people. That s just what our Key Verse for today says. Let s look at our verse right ow. Ope your Bible to Joh 3:17, ad show kids the verse. The read the verse aloud for the kids: For God did ot sed his So ito the world to codem the world, but to save the world through him (Joh 3:17). Have kids repeat the verse with you several times. Say: This verse says that God did t sed Jesus ito the world to puish the world. God set Jesus to save the world. Now that s somethig to sig about Jesus came to save all of us! Ofte whe people are excited about good ews, they sig, like Zechariah s sog we just heard. Let s sig a sog that tells our Key Verse. Had out the lyrics pages. The play To Save the World Through Him (Joh 3:17) (track 5 o the CD). If time allows, play the sog a secod time to help the childre lear the Key Verse. For God did ot sed his So ito the world To codem the world. For God did ot sed his So ito the world To codem the world, oh o, But to save the world through him, But to save the world through him. For God did ot sed his So ito the world To codem the world. (Repeat from the begiig.) To Save the World Through Him (Joh 3:17) by Dea-o. 2003, 2006 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved. Say: Our Bible Poit tells us that THE WORLD NEEDS JESUS. God set Jesus to save the world from si. Let s liste to some more of what Zechariah said about his ew baby ad about Jesus. Play Zechariah s Sog, Part 2 (track 4 the CD). Say: God told Zechariah that his so, Joh, would prepare the way for Jesus. God had a really special pla, ad he ivolved people i his pla like Zechariah, Elizabeth, ad Joh. Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What s so great about kowig that God ivolves people i his pla? What are some special thigs about you that God could use to let others kow about Jesus?

24 Say: Zechariah said that his so, Joh, would prepare the way for Jesus. He said that Joh would prepare people s hearts for Jesus. God ca use you, too.

Let s make a craft to help us remember that Jesus is a light to the world.

paper strips ad three 6x1-ich orage paper strips per child. The Risig Su What You ll Do Say: Zechariah called Jesus the risig su from heave. Close your eyes. Pause.

8 24 Say: Zechariah said that his so, Joh, would prepare the way for Jesus. He said that Joh would prepare people s hearts for Jesus. God ca use you, too. THE WORLD NEEDS JESUS, ad you ca share with people about Jesus, like Joh did. Joh was excited about Jesus arrival because Joh kew that Jesus would be a light to the world. Let s make a craft to help us remember that Jesus is a light to the world. 3 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE The Risig Su Supplies My Bible Fu 2 paper plates per child markers yellow ad orage costructio paper tape stapler scissors The Risig Su Easy Prep Cut three 6x1-ich yellow paper strips ad three 6x1-ich orage paper strips per child. The Risig Su What You ll Do Say: Zechariah called Jesus the risig su from heave. Close your eyes. Pause. Thik about whe the su comes up i the morig. Pause. Whe the su comes up, the darkess goes away. The su s light helps us see. Imagie for a momet a dark world becomig light. Pause for five secods. Say: Jesus is called a light because he shows people the way to heave. He came to save us from our sis; he shows us how to live for God. Give each child two paper plates ad the colored strips you cut ahead of time. Say: Let s make our ow risig sus to remid us that Zechariah said Jesus would be the risig su to shie the light ad lead us to heave. Let the childre color the backs of both paper plates to look like the su. Help them each write Jesus o oe plate ad the tape the strips of yellow ad orage paper aroud the edge of oe paper plate to look like rays of the su.

9 25 Show the childre how to match the paper plates together so the paper strips are sadwiched i betwee ad the sushie artwork shows o the outside of each. Staple the plates together. Say: Whe you take your risig sus home today, use them to help you remember that THE WORLD NEEDS JESUS. Before we go, let s say a sushie prayer to thak God for sedig Jesus. Sushie Prayers What You ll Do Have kids hold their sus ad sit i a circle. Sushie Prayers Supplies sus from The Risig Su activity Say: We re goig to say a fu circle prayer usig our risig sus. Just as the su rises every morig, each of us is goig to rise ad say thak you to God for sedig Jesus. Whe it s your tur, stad up, hold your su high i the air, ad say, Thak you, God, for sedig Jesus! Tell childre they ca add i other thigs they re thakful for o their tur if they wat to. Go aroud the circle, lettig each child stad ad say the prayer. The close by thakig God for lovig all the childre eough to sed his So to save them. 4 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges What You ll Do Say: Let s thik about how THE WORLD NEEDS JESUS. Daily Challeges Supplies My Bible Fu pes Have kids fid this week s Daily Challeges i their My Bible Fu pages ad choose oe to do this week. They ca choose oe or more of these three optios: Pray ad thak God for his So, Jesus, who died for our sis so we ca be forgive. Tell a fried about Jesus, ad ask if he or she would like to pray with you. Hag your risig su above your bed, rememberig each time you see it that Jesus is the Savior ad forgiver of our sis ad we all eed him! Make sure you choose a Daily Challege as well, ad tell kids what you chose. Kids will be more iclied to follow through o their commitmets whe they see you doig the same.

10 26 Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What s a practical way you re goig to do your Daily Challege? Iclude a time, a place, ad other ideas. Say: Everyoe eeds Jesus. Let s share with others that THE WORLD NEEDS JESUS by followig through o our Daily Challeges. Weavig Faith at Home Ecourage kids to talk with their parets about the Daily Challeges they chose ad what they leared about how the world eeds Jesus. Kids ca also do the activities i the HomeCoect sectio of their My Bible Fu pages with their families. Talk to your Director about ig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Take a couple of miutes to pray with your kids, thakig God for Jesus. Give childre a momet to talk to God about why they eed Jesus. The close the prayer. Pray: God, thak you that you love us so much. We kow we eed Jesus so that we ca be frieds with you. Thak you for forgivig us through Jesus. I Jesus ame, ame.

11 27 Lyrics To Save the World Through Him (Joh 3:17) For God did ot sed his So ito the world To codem the world. For God did ot sed his So ito the world To codem the world, oh o, But to save the world through him, But to save the world through him. For God did ot sed his So ito the world To codem the world. (Repeat from the begiig.) To Save the World Through Him (Joh 3:17) by Dea-o. 2003, 2006 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved.! OK TO COPY

Third- and fourth-graders are old enough to understand the difference between right

Third- and fourth-graders are old enough to understand the difference between right Lesso 2 15 Zechariah Prophesies About Jesus Luke 1:68-79 Third- ad fourth-graders are old eough to uderstad the differece betwee right ad wrog. However, kids this age may ot completely uderstad the cocepts