Unit 1 Birth of Christ--Lesson 5 NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus

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1 1 Unit 1 Birth of Christ--Lesson 5 NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus Scripture: Matthew 2:1-18 Lesson Goal: In this lesson we will learn how God created a special star to show all the earth that His Son had been born. This symbol in the sky lead some wise men from a far away land to come and worship Him. Student will understand that God is with us wherever we go and that wise men still worship Jesus today. Students will be challenged to give a gift of service to others. Introduction: This is the fifth lesson in Unit 1: The Birth of Christ. For 5,000 years God had promised to send a Savior to the people of the earth In this lesson we will learn how God created a special star to show all the earth that His Son had been born. This symbol in the sky lead some wise men from a far away land to come and worship Him. Our lesson today is about a special star that God made to show all the people of the earth that His Son Jesus had been born. We find this story in the book of Matthew. Matthew is one of the Gospels in the New Testament. The Gospels tell the life and ministry of Jesus while He was here on earth. Let's say the names of the gospels-- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Attention Getter: How many of you remember singing or saying a nursery rhyme called "Twinkle twinkle Little Star" when you were in preschool? Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonders what you are...that was fun to sing wasn't it? For thousands of years people have studied the moon and stars. Did you know that the stars can tell us much about the earth? For example we can tell directions from the stars. Sailors can look at the North Star and the Big Dipper and know which direction is north, south, east, and west. The stars can even tell us the time at night! Sailors in the 1500's would use a wheel called a noctural to do this. This is a wooden noctural that was used by sailors long ago to tell time at sea. The phases of the moon also tell us about the months and seasons of the year. Did you know that the gravity of the moon causes the tides in our ocean? People today still study the stars. Big telescopes have been built to help us look far into space. People even want to travel in space! So no wonder astronomy has always been very fascinating! Opening Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, You have shown to us how special You Son Jesus is by putting a star in the sky just so the wise men could find him. Help us to worship and honor Jesus just like they did. The wise men gave generous gifts to Him. Help us to give generously to you by showing love, goodness, patience and kindness to others. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Memory Verse: Our memory verse is Psalms 95:6 "Come, let us bow down in worship, Let kneel before the Lord our Maker. Lesson Video: In a faraway land to the East lived some very Wise Men who studied astronomy. They saw a new large bright star in the night sky. It was a special new star that God had created to celebrate the birth of His Son Jesus. They were so impressed with this new star that they wanted to find out more about it! These men probably came from the Media Persia Empire which was the land where the Old Testament prophet Daniel had lived. The wise men may have read some of Daniel's writings which told about a special King from Judea that God would send. The wise men were convinced this was the ruler God had promised. They packed gifts for the new King and set off to find Him. They followed the new bright star for many months and it led them towards the land of the Jews and the city of Jerusalem where King Herod lived. This was a very long NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus Beverly Wilson 2015

2 2 journey that took over a year and was filled with many dangers. But they believed the promise of a King and wanted to worship Him! They probably had to travel by camel and cross many miles of hot, dry desert. When the Wise Men finally got to Jerusalem, they asked, "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him." When Herod heard the wise men's request, he became very upset! "A new king! I am the King of the Jews!" King Herod did NOT want anyone taking his place. So he called together the chief priests and teachers of the law to ask them where the promised Messiah was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied. "Many years ago the prophet Micah wrote, "You, Bethlehem, are not the least of the leaders of Judah. Out of you will come a King who will lead my people the Jews." "Bethlehem!" King Herod must have said to himself. "Why that is one of the smallest cities in the whole country! It should not be too hard to find one tiny child in Bethlehem!" Then Herod had a meeting with the Wise Men to find out what time the star had been seen. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go find the young Child. When you find Him, let me know so I can go and worship Him also." Now Herod did not really want to worship Jesus. He was secretly planning to kill the new King of the Jews. He was just using the wise men to show him where the new baby Jesus was so he could get rid of him! The Wise Men set off and were overjoyed when they saw the star. It lead them to Bethlehem and to the place where Mary, Joseph, and the young child Jesus were staying. After entering the house, the Wise Men saw young Jesus with his mother Mary. They bowed before Jesus and worshipped Him. They opened their bags of riches and gave Him gifts of gold and perfume and spices (frankincense and myrrh.) These were very expensive gifts and had special meaning. Gold is used to make crowns and coins. This gift showed that they believed Jesus was the King of Kings. Frankincense is used to burn as incense and was the symbol of prayer. Jesus had come from heaven. Myrrh were used to make an anointing oil to prepare a body for burial. These gifts showed that the wise men knew that this king Jesus was the Promised One who came to die in order to bring salvation to all men. The wise men were glad when they had found Jesus! They planned to go back to King Herod the next day and tell him the wonderful news! But that night, in a dream God warned them about King Herod. God told the wise men not to go back to Herod. So they went back to their own country by another road. When the Wise Men had gone, an angel of the Lord gave Joseph a message in a dream; "Get up. Take the young child and His mother to the country of Egypt. Go as fast as you can! Stay there until you hear from Me. Herod is going to look for the young child to kill Him." During the night Joseph got up and left Bethlehem with Mary and the young child Jesus. They headed south on the long trip to Egypt. This was a long difficult trip but God had provided the means to make this trip with the wise men's gifts. When Herod found out the Wise Men had returned without reporting to him, he was furious. He sent men to kill all the young boys two years old and under who lived in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. He wanted to be sure that Jesus would not become king and take his place! But King Herod's soldiers never found Jesus. God had protected His own Son Jesus! After Herod died, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream while he was in Egypt. He said, "Get up. Take the young child and His mother and go back into the land of the Jews. Those who tried to kill the young child are dead." When they returned to their land, God told Joseph in a dream to go to the area of Galilee and live in the town of Nazareth. It had been prophesied many years before that the Savior would be called a Nazarene. The wise men were so glad to finally meet this new King they had traveled so far to see! The first thing they wanted to do was worship Jesus to show how much they loved Him! They were grateful that God had sent this new King to earth as He had promised. We too can be ready to seek Jesus and give Him the best of all we are and have. People talk a lot about honoring Jesus during the Christmas season but it is important to remember that we can worship and honor Jesus not just at Christmas but all year long. NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus Beverly Wilson 2015

3 One way to show love to Jesus is by loving others. For example we can help our parents without complaining. We can be patient with friends or younger brothers and sisters. When we treat others in loving ways, giving them the gift of respect or patience, we are honoring Jesus. We can be kind by sharing and talking with someone. Helping other kids understand hard math problems or read hard words is honoring Jesus, too. Let's be wise and worship the Lord this week! Remember wise men still seek Jesus! Review Questions: Wise Men Worship Have children sit in a circle. Give one child the rhythm instrument. As you play "We Three Kings" or "How Far is it to Bethlehem?" or "God's Own People" on the DVD, child plays the instrument once and then passes it to the next child. Continue around the circle. After several moments, stop the music. Child holding the instrument answers one of the questions below or choose another child to answer. Repeat several times. 1. What did God put in the sky to help the wise men find Jesus? a star 2. What place did the wise men come from? from the East; Media Persia Empire 3. How long did the wise men travel to worship Jesus? many months--6 to 18 months 4. Who did the wise men go to see first? King Herod 5. Why were the wise men and King Herod surprised to find out that Bethlehem was the town where Jesus was born? Bethlehem was a very small town and not very important 6. What lie did King Herod tell the wise men? that he wanted to worship Jesus but he really wanted to find out where Jesus was so he could kill him 7. What did King Herod do when he learned about Jesus? got very angry and ordered that all the baby boys two years and younger in Bethlehem would be killed 8. What did the wise men do when they learned about Jesus? went to worship Him 9. Why did Joseph and Mary pack their belongings to go to Egypt? an angel warned Joseph in a dream and told him to go to Egypt 10. What did the wise men do to show they loved Jesus? worshipped Him by giving Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 11. Why did the wise men go home without telling King Herod where Jesus was? God warned them in a dream not to go back to King Herod. 12. Why should we worship Jesus? He is the Son of God. He loves us. He died to take the punishment for our sins. 13. What can you do to show that you love Jesus? sing songs to praise Him; thank Him for His love; obey Him. Bible Memory Verse Activity: Peppermint Toss Our memory verse is Psalms 95:6 "Come, let us bow down in worship, Let kneel before the Lord our Maker. We can show how much we love Jesus too, by worshipping Him with glad hearts! Have children locate the verse in the Bible. Read the verse aloud with children several times. Using a red marker, write each word or phrase of the verse on a paper plate. Make a second set of plates using a blue marker for the second team. Mix up each set of plates keeping the red plates in one group and the blue plates in another. Place each set of plates in rows on the floor. Divide your group into two teams. Students line up their team about 5 feet from the plates. Each student takes a turn to try to toss a wrapped peppermint onto one of the plates in their set. When a peppermint lands on a plate that team gets to pick up that plate. When all the plates from a group have been collected, the team puts the verse words in order. The winning team is the one who gets all their plates in the correct order of the verse first. Group Learning Game: Star Toss (Grades K-3) Teacher prepares game by cutting several big stars out of cardboard. Cut a large circle out of the middle of each star. Say: Today in our lesson, God was with the wise men. He put a star in the sky to help them find Jesus. Let's play a game to remind us of this story." Turn a chair upside down. Children take turns tossing the star rings over the legs of the chair. Children may stand as close to the chair as needed in order to place rings over the legs. 3 NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus Beverly Wilson 2015

4 4 Craft Activity: Mobile "Showing Jesus' Love to Others" Children will make a mobile to ways to "Show Jesus' Love to Others." Say: "One of the best ways to show love to Jesus is to show love to others. Let's fill this mobile with words and pictures describing people and situations in which we can show Jesus' love." Use the following questions to guide students to think what to write on their mobile: "What words could you use to describe God? (He is forgiving and good and loves everyone.) How do you think a person who believes God is loving would show his love for Jesus? What is the most important choice a person can make? (To believe in Jesus and to accept God's gift of salvation) Who are some people who might needs Jesus' love at home? (parents, siblings) at school? (teachers and other students) at soccer practice? (your team and the opposing team). What are some times that kids your age can choose to show love to Jesus? Why do you think that people sometimes choose not to show love to Jesus?" Students are to write descriptions or draw small pictures of people and ways they can show Jesus' love to people. Students can cut around pictures to make a variety of shapes and then use the hole punch to make holes at the tops and bottoms of their paper shapes. Students tie string through the holes to attach their papers to the mobile. Students continue adding shapes until mobile reaches the follow. Craft Learning Activity: Star Wand Print the template of the two yellow stars below on heavy cardstock. Give one sheet of two stars to each child. Each child cuts all pieces and slides the star pieces together to form a star. Tape each child's star to secure it. Give each child four 16" lengths of curling ribbon. Tie all four ribbons together to hang from the bottom of the star. Tape the curling ribbon to the bottom of one of the star tips. Trip ribbon ends so that each is a different length. These streamers are like "star rays." Attach the star to the end of a 12" dowel rod. The child can whirl the star through the air like a sparkler! Say: "Why did the wise men want to worship Jesus? (He was the new King God has promised to send.) "Why do you think King Herod did not want to worship Jesus? (He wanted to be the ONLY king.) What are some reasons to worship Jesus? (He is God's son. He loves us. He died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins.)" Group Learning Activity: Wise Men Charades Teacher should prepare by printing various actions of people from the Bible story on separate strips of paper and put the strips into a bag or box. Examples of actions to print: Wise men following the star in the sky. Wise men asking King Herod where the new king was. King Herod pointing toward Bethlehem. Wise men kneeling at the feet of Baby Jesus. Joseph and Mary packing their belongings to go on the trip to Egypt. Volunteers take turns choosing a strip from the bag and pantomiming the action indicated on the strip. (The teacher may need to help read words on the strip.) Child who correctly guesses the action takes his or her turn or choose a volunteer to choose another strip and pantomime an action. Optional: Have students wear Bible time costumes as they act out the entire story. Narrate the story for children as needed. Craft Art Learning Activity: Camel Silhouette Print the camel silhouette template below on heavy cardstock. Have students cut out the center of the camel without cutting the edge of the camel. Basically you have to start with a hole in the middle of the paper and trim out the image. You will discard the image of the camel. You will be left with a piece of white paper that has a camel hole in it. Trim the white paper to the outside square line. Mount the white paper with the cutout onto a piece of black construction paper so it looks like you have a black camel with a black border. Note: Portraits and scenes cut from paper date back to ancient Greece. The word silhouette comes from the Frenchman Etienne de Silhouette who was famous for his free cut portraits. In England in the days of Queen Victoria, these same types of pictures were called shades or shadow portraits. NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus Beverly Wilson 2015

5 Group Learning Activity: Star Walk (Grades K-3) Draw a star on each sheet of yellow paper making one paper for each child. Make one of the stars larger than all the others. Say: "In our lesson today, the wise men followed a star to find Jesus. The wise men thanked and praised God for Jesus. Let's play a game and tell what happened in our story today." Place paper on the floor in a large circle. At your signal children walk around the papers. When you signal stop, each child stands by one of the papers. The child standing by the large paper tells the name of a person or an item from today's Bible story. The class can help the child name the person or item. (This game is similar to musical chairs.) Ex. People in story would be wise men, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, Angel, King Herod, chief priests and teachers of the Law. You can change to tell an item and how it was used. Ex. star--used to guide the wise men; gold--gift for Jesus that showed He was a King; frankincense--gift of incense to show Jesus was from heaven or prayer; myrrh--gift of perfume to show that Jesus would die on the cross; etc. Repeat the game until all children have had an opportunity to stand by the large star and name a person or item. Group Learning Activity: Follow the Light Say: "The wise men followed the unusual star to the place where Jesus us. Today we are going to see if you can follow the star light!" If possible dim the lights where you teach in the room. Turn on the flash light as far from the students as you can. Shine the light on one student, and ask the kids who the light is shining. The further ways you are, the harder it will be to tell who you have chosen. After the kids guess, or say they can't tell, move the flashlight closer to the chosen student. Ask if they can guess. Keep moving closer until the light is right over the students. Say: "More than likely the wise men were experts in studying the stars. This must have been a very unusual star in order for the men to want to follow it. And it must have positioned itself close enough to earth so that they could travel many, many miles right to the home of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Say: It is very fitting that God used a star, a great light to guide men to Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus is the Light of the world. Whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness. (John 8:12). Matthew 5: 14 says that those in Jesus are also light in the dark world. When we tell others about Jesus we are like stars in a dark night sky. (Philippians 2:15-16) Craft Learning Activity: Three Kings Banner Cut a rectangle approximately 20" X 30" from burlap. Fray the edges. Burlap has an uneven weave but that is just part of the rustic charm. Trim fringe so it is even. Make a pocket at the top to hold the stick or dowel rod. Use a sewing machine to sew this pocket securely. Take 3 different colors of felt (green, blue, purple or red) and cut out tall skinny triangles to make the bodies of the three magi. Make the three triangles of different heights and different colors. Cut round circles of flesh toned felt for the heads. Use tacky glue (white glue doesn't stick well) and attach the felt triangles and heads to make the three wise men. You can line the wise men up by height or put the shortest one in the center. Glue wise men into place. Cut out a large star from yellow felt. You can also cut out a crown or two for the wise men. Add some trim to the front of the triangles. You can use ribbon or rickrack. You can add some hair with brown or black yarn. A snowflake cut in half also makes a good crown. Add curly hair and a beard if you wish. Glue on some goggly eyes, little pompoms for a nose or use a small piece of felt, a button or bead. Add some felt strips for arms. Use little trims or buttons for the gifts for each King. Finally add the dowel stick and make a hanger from string or ribbon attached. See photo for finished product. Snack Learning Activity: Decorate Star Shaped Cookies Teacher provides one or two star shaped cookies for each child; frosting in small containers, candy sprinkles, plastic knives, napkins, and paper plates. Children can frost and add sprinkles to their cookies. Say: "In our lesson today God put a bright star in the sky to lead the wise men from a faraway place to Jerusalem. God took care of them on their trip and showed them where to find Jesus. God is also with us wherever we go. 5 NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus Beverly Wilson 2015

6 Craft Learning Activity: Three Kings Toilet Paper Rolls You can make a set of three kings from toilet paper rolls. Give each child a set of three toilet paper rolls. Have them cover the end of the roll with brown construction paper cut in a 1 1/2" wide strip and long enough to wrap around the tube with enough overlap to glue or tape easily to the toilet paper tube. Using black markers draw a face on the brown construction paper. Draw the face on the side opposite the tape. You might want to draw first in pencil and go over it with black marker. To make the bottom half of the king use some luxurious fabric such as velvet or silk in gold, blue, purple or even shiny white satin. Have children make the fabric selection for each of their kings. Adults should hot glue the fabric to the toilet paper tube for them. Then use gold rope for belt. You can then add additional decoration such as thin gold ribbon, thick gold rope, or even fluffy feathery material. The crowns can be cut from shiny gold paper. Coordinating the color of the robe with the crown gives a nice effect. Life Application Challenge: Coupon Book Our Bible lesson today talked about ways that we can show love to others. I am going to give you a blank coupon. You are to think of a way that you can show love and honor to others by giving them a gift of service. Complete the following coupon and give it to someone you wish to show love to this week. For example your coupon could say: This coupon is good for...taking out the trash; cleaning my room; washing the dishes; making my bed; cleaning out the car; walking the dog, etc. Give students multiple copies of the blank coupons if they wish. 6 NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus Beverly Wilson 2015

7 7 Wise Men Worship Jesus Psalm 95:6 Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus Beverly Wilson 2015

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14 14 Print these stars on heavy cardstock. Cut on solid lines. Slide stars together at the slits to form three dimensional stars. NT1.5 Wise Men Worship Jesus Beverly Wilson 2015

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