Preschool January 25, 2015 8:45am
Leader BIBLE STUDY Use Week of : January 25, 2015 Jesus was about thirty years old when He began His ministry. After John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, Jesus was tempted in the desert. Jesus traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover. Then, He headed north to Galilee. He went through the region of Samaria, stopping at Jacob s well to talk to a Samaritan woman. Jesus began teaching in the synagogues. He went to the town of Nazareth. Nazareth was a small village in the hills between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. This was the place Jesus grew up. 4 On the Sabbath day, Jesus went into the synagogue. He read aloud the words of the prophet Isaiah. (See Isa. 61:1-2.) Jesus sat down. Everyone s eyes were on Him as He explained, Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled. What was Jesus saying? Jesus was saying, It s Me. The words Jesus read were coming true. Some of the people might have remembered Jesus from His youth. They asked, Isn t this Joseph s son? Jesus knew their thoughts; Jesus had performed miracles in Capernaum, and the people wanted Jesus to do miracles in His hometown too. Jesus reminded them of two Old Testament accounts. Many widows lived in Israel when the prophet Elijah was there, but God sent Elijah to help a widow in another country. And Elisha likely encountered Israelites who had leprosy, but he healed Naaman the Syrian. Jesus wanted the people to understand that His miracles were an act of grace a gift. No one deserves God s grace, so God may show grace to whomever He pleases. The people were angry. They drove Jesus away, intending to kill Him, but Jesus escaped through the crowd. Jesus came to give sight to the blind and to set the captives free. He came preaching good news. Finally, the Messiah had come! Jesus is God s plan to save sinners. 42 Preschool Bible Study Leader Guide Unit 25 Session 4 2014 LifeWay 1
Preschool BIBLE STUDY OVERVIEW Session Title: Rejection at Nazareth Bible Passage: Luke 4:16-30 Big Picture Question: What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. Key Passage: John 3:16 Unit Christ Connection: Jesus was revealed as the fulfillment of Scripture, the promised Savior. Small Group Opening Large Group Bible Study U N I T 25 4 Small Group Activities Snack and Transition Jesus Early Ministry 43 2014 LifeWay 2
The BIBLE STORY Rejection at Nazareth Luke 4:16-30 Jesus went to the town of Nazareth. Nazareth was special to Jesus. He grew up there as a young boy. But Jesus wasn t a young boy anymore; He was a man. Jesus had grown up, and now He traveled and taught people about God. On the Sabbath day, Jesus went to the synagogue, a special building where Jews met together to pray, worship, and learn about the Scriptures. The Sabbath day was a special day a day set apart for God s people to rest. On that day, God s people the Jews all went to the synagogue to worship God. One of the ways people worshiped God was by listening to God s Word. That day, Jesus stood up to read God s Word. He opened a scroll. The scroll had words on it that the prophet Isaiah had written long ago. Jesus read the words: God s Spirit is on Me. He has chosen Me to tell good news to the poor. He has sent Me to tell the captives that they are free, to help the blind people see, to free people who have been treated badly, and to announce that God s favor is on us. Then Jesus rolled up the scroll. He gave the scroll to a man who worked in the synagogue, and then He sat down. The people in the synagogue stared at Jesus, waiting for Him to do something. Jesus said, These words came true today. Yes, Isaiah s words came true because Isaiah s words were about Jesus! God was with Jesus, and God had chosen Jesus to tell people good news! Many of the people in the synagogue were happy. Jesus was saying wonderful things! But some people said, Isn t this Joseph s son? Those people had grown up with Jesus. They knew Him when He was a young boy. They did not think there was anything special about Him. But Jesus is very special! Jesus father on earth was Joseph, but His true Father is God! Jesus knew the people in Nazareth would not accept Him. No prophet is accepted in his hometown, He said. When Jesus was done talking, the people listening to Him were angry. They forced Jesus to 44 Preschool Bible Study Leader Guide Unit 25 Session 4 2014 LifeWay 3
leave Nazareth. They wanted to hurt Jesus, but Jesus walked away. Christ Connection: Long before Jesus was born, Isaiah the prophet talked about God s plan to send Jesus to earth. Jesus would bring good news and help people who were hurting. Jesus read Isaiah s words. Jesus said that He is the One God promised to send. Jesus Early Ministry 45 2014 LifeWay 4
Small Group OPENING Session Title: Rejection at Nazareth Bible Passage: Luke 4:16-30 Big Picture Question: What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. Key Passage: John 3:16 Unit Christ Connection: Jesus was revealed as the fulfillment of Scripture, the promised Savior. The Only Name (Yours Will Be) song Welcome and Session Starter Play the unit theme song in the background as you greet preschoolers and follow your church s security procedures. LOW PREP Find the Scrolls activity page, 1 per kid crayons Activity Page: Find the Scrolls Help the preschoolers find nine scrolls hidden in the picture (ten if kids count the scroll Jesus is reading from). Explain that a synagogue is a place where people went to worship God and learn about Scripture. Say In our Bible story today, Jesus went to the synagogue. Jesus read from a scroll the words of Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah wrote the words long before Jesus was born on earth. When Jesus finished reading Isaiah s words, Jesus told the people that Isaiah was talking about Him! 46 Preschool Bible Study Leader Guide Unit 25 Session 4 2014 LifeWay 5
paper crayons G Pictures large piece of paper and markers material such as shaving cream Home drawings Invite each child to draw a picture of his home. Kids can include their favorite things in their houses, their backyards, their rooms, and so forth. Encourage kids to describe what they are drawing and why those things are their favorite. Say The picture you drew shows where you are living and growing right now. Do you know what city you live in? In our Bible story today, Jesus went back to the town He grew up in. It was called Nazareth. Can you say that with me? NAZ-uh-reth. Examine the letter G Write the letter G on a large piece of paper. Show the G Pictures of familiar words that start with the letter G. Select a material such as shaving cream. Let the children practice writing a G into the material with their index fingers. Say Today we re going to learn the meaning of a new word. It starts with the letter G. The word is gospel. Gospel means good news. What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. Transition to Bible study Tell the children you re going to tell the first person a piece of good news. See if the kids can whisper the good news from person to person all the way to the end of the line without changing the message. Jesus Early Ministry 47 2014 LifeWay 6
Large Group BIBLE STUDY Session Title: Rejection at Nazareth Bible Passage: Luke 4:16-30 Big Picture Question: What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. Key Passage: John 3:16 Unit Christ Connection: Jesus was revealed as the fulfillment of Scripture, the promised Savior. Large Group Bible Study Key Passage Poster God So Loved song Bible Rejection at Nazareth picture Bible Story Picture Poster Big Picture Question Poster Introduce the Bible story Ask the children if they ve ever received good news. This could be good news for someone else or for them. What was the news? How did they hear about it? (phone call, in person, letter, invitation, and so forth) How did they feel when they received the good news? Allow kids to talk about their good news for a few moments. Say Our Bible story today is about Jesus telling the best news ever. Our key passage tells us what this news is. Read the key passage aloud several times. Since it is the last week, ask if any children would like to say the key passage by themselves. Then sing together God So Loved. Tell the Bible story Say Today s Bible story comes from the Book of Luke, which is in the New Testament. [Open your Bible to the Book of Luke.] This story has a sad ending because some of the people in the story chose not to believe Jesus good news. Listen carefully so you can hear where Jesus went, what He said, and how the people reacted to His words. Tell the Bible story with your Bible open to Luke 4. 48 Preschool Bible Study Leader Guide Unit 25 Session 4 2014 LifeWay 7
Say Jesus came to share the gospel with people in need. What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. The good news is that God loves us so much, He sent Jesus to earth to save us from sin. Jesus came to help us. Timeline Map Talk about the Bible story Refer to the timeline map as you review the Bible story. 1. Where did Jesus grow up? (Nazareth) 2. Where did Jesus go to read the scroll? (the synagogue, a special building where people met to worship God) 3. Who were Isaiah s words from the scroll about? (Jesus) 4. What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. 5. What did Jesus come to do? (tell good news to the poor, tell the captives that they are free, help blind people see) 6. Did the people believe Jesus was sent from God? (No, they remembered He was from their town. They were angry. They wanted to hurt Jesus.) Say Long before Jesus was born, Isaiah the prophet talked about God s plan to send Jesus to earth. Jesus would bring good news and help people who were hurting. Jesus read Isaiah s words. Jesus said that He is the One God promised to send. Transition to small groups Return to small groups, where you will do activities to reinforce the Bible story. Jesus Early Ministry 49 2014 LifeWay 8
Small Group ACTIVITIES Session Title: Rejection at Nazareth Bible Passage: Luke 4:16-30 Big Picture Question: What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. Key Passage: John 3:16 Unit Christ Connection: Jesus was revealed as the fulfillment of Scripture, the promised Savior. Small Group Activities Talk about the big picture question and answer, Christ connection, or details from the Bible story in each activity to reinforce God s big story. LOW PREP masking tape Jump in, freeze! Use masking tape to mark a wide circle. Lead the kids to line up around the outside of the circle. Read a few key words or phrases relating to the Bible story. After each word or phrase, the children will jump into the circle and play out what that word or phrase looks like. Play a practice round with the word eat. The children should jump into the circle and freeze in the eating position (pretending to bite into a hamburger or spoon cereal into their mouth). Suggested words and phrases from the story: Jesus, synagogue, travel, read the scroll, watching Jesus, young boy, good news, angry, and so forth. Say Jesus read the scroll in the synagogue in Nazareth. He read words that Isaiah had written long ago. God sent Jesus to make Isaiah s words come true. Jesus came to help the hurting, heal the sick, give peace to those who are worried, and give joy to those who are sad. This was good news, and it s still good news today! 50 Preschool Bible Study Leader Guide Unit 25 Session 4 2014 LifeWay 9
paper craft sticks, 2 per kid glue crayons yarn paper art supplies Make a scroll Provide paper, craft sticks, glue, crayons, and yarn. Invite the children to make a scroll by gluing craft sticks along the edge of their paper and writing a message in the middle. When the glue is dry, help each kid roll up her scroll and tie a piece of yarn around it. Say The words on the scroll Jesus read were written hundreds of years before Jesus came, but the words were about Him! The words told about the gospel. What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. Talk about Jesus stories Give the kids paper and art supplies. Tell the children to draw stories they know about Jesus. They could have heard the stories at church or at home. They could be about when Jesus was little or grown up. You may choose to refer to the small group visual pack to help kids remember past Bible stories about Jesus. Kids may draw one story or many stories. As kids work, ask them what stories they are drawing. Say How do you feel toward Jesus when you remember the story you drew? Think about our Bible story today and what we learned about the gospel. What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. How did the people in Nazareth feel about Jesus message? Were they happy when Jesus said that God sent Him? Jesus Early Ministry 51 2014 LifeWay 10
Sing a song about the gospel Sing the big picture question and answer to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb : 1) What does the word gospel mean? Gospel mean, gospel mean? What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news! 2) Jesus came to bring good news, Bring good news, bring good news. Jesus came to bring good news, Jesus said, God loves you! Say What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news! The good news about Jesus is that He came to earth to die on the cross to save people from their sins. Jesus did that because He loves us! The gospel isn t just good news it s the best news ever! Snack and Transition Take a restroom break and wash hands. Choose volunteers to help set up for the snack. Remind children during snack time to say please and thank you. Thank God for the snack. Journal Page crayons Transition - Journal Page When a child finishes her snack and throws away any trash, offer the journal page and encourage the preschoolers to draw a picture of Jesus reading at the synagogue. Talk about the good news that Jesus shared with the people who had probably known Him when He was a little boy. Lead the children through a prayer time. Ask God to give the children hearts that are eager to hear and believe the truth about Jesus. Pray that God will help them tell others about Jesus good news. 52 Preschool Bible Study Leader Guide Unit 25 Session 4 2014 LifeWay 11
Journal Page January 25, 2015 Jesus Early Ministry Key Passage: John 3:16 Session 1: Jesus Met Nicodemus John 3:1-21 Session 2: Jesus and John the Baptist John 3:22-36 Session 3: Jesus Met a Samaritan Woman John 4:1-26 Session 4: Rejection at Nazareth Luke 4:16-30 2014 LifeWay OK TO PRINT
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 Unit 25 Key Passage Poster (ESV) 2014 LifeWay OK TO PRINT Jesus Early Ministry
What does the word gospel mean? Unit 25 Session 4 Big Picture Question 2014 LifeWay OK TO PRINT Jesus Early Ministry
What does the word gospel mean? Gospel means good news. Unit 25 Session 4 Big Picture Question 2014 LifeWay OK TO PRINT Jesus Early Ministry
Unit 25 Session 4 Rejection at Nazareth 2014 LifeWay OK TO PRINT Jesus Early Ministry
Find the Scrolls Instructions: When Jesus visited Nazareth, He went to the synagogue to worship God. The people asked Jesus to read from a scroll. Jesus read the prophet Isaiah s words. Isaiah s words told about Jesus! Can you find the scrolls hidden in the picture? Unit 25 Session 4 Preschool Activity Pages Jesus Early Ministry
Rejection at Nazareth Luke 4:16-30
G Pictures Instructions: Print out the pictures and use as directed in the leader guide. Talk about how each item pictured begins with the letter G. Unit 25 Session 4 Preschool Bible Study 2014 LifeWay OK TO PRINT Jesus Early Ministry