Happy New Year!

Just a reminder, B Groups will not meet on January 1, 2017. We will have worship services at 8:30 (Celebration in Worship Center North) and at 11:00 (Doxa in Worship Center South and Hispanic in Memorial Chapel). There will be no 11:00 Celebration Service in Worship Center North.

 Where was Jesus born?

Jesus was born in Bethlehem as  God promised.

Why did the wise men visit Jesus?

The wise men came to worship Jesus as King.

Merry Christmas! Thank you for continuing this journey of The Gospel Project^® for Kids. Sunday’s Bible account focuses on a pivotal moment in human history. God had promised to send a Messiah to redeem sinners. God had sent angels to announce to Mary and Joseph their special part in His plan. But what about Micah’s prophecy that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem? Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth.

God is in control of all things. It was not just by chance that Caesar Augustus called for a census. God used a pagan emperor to bring about His plan and brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem at just the right time, under just the right circumstances. Jesus was no ordinary baby. He is God’s Son, sent in the most humble of circumstances, “not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life—a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

While Bethlehem slept, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to shepherds nearby. The Bible says the shepherds were terrified! But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David” (Luke 2:10-11).

The people of Israel were well aware of their need for a Savior. They made sacrifices daily to atone for their sin. Finally, a Savior had come who would be the perfect sacrifice for sin, once and for all. Jesus is also Messiah the Lord. The word Messiah means “anointed one,” especially a king. Jesus the Deliverer and Redeemer would be King over His people.

Preschoolers will hear the Bible account of wise men who travelled from a distant land in order to find the King who had been born. Have you ever found it interesting that God revealed to the wise men—pagan priests and astrologers—that the Savior had been born? Jesus was King, but not in the way these men likely thought. The wise men brought gifts to worship Jesus. We too need to give all of our worship to Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus to earth to be the Savior of all people, and He deserves the praise we give Him.

The birth of Jesus was good news! Jesus was not an ordinary baby. He is God’s Son, sent to earth from heaven. The purpose of Jesus’ birth was twofold: to bring glory to God, and to make peace between God and those who trusted in Jesus’ death and resurrection to provide salvation. Jesus came into the world to save people from their sins and to be our King.

 

What part did Mary and Joseph have in God's plan?

God chose Mary and Joseph to be 

the earthly parents of Jesus. 

 

Many of God's prophets talked about Jesus before He was born. Everything they said about Jesus was true. Before He created the world, God planned to send Jesus. Jesus came to do God's plan, to rescue people from sin.

What can you do when you are scared?

I can pray to God for help.

Hezekiah was a good king. He led the people of Judah to love and worship God. But even the good kings sin. Jesus is our faithful King. Jesus never sinned. Jesus will come back to earth to make everything right. He is our King forever.

What does Immanuel mean?

 Immanuel means "God is with us."

God told Isaiah about his plan. Isaiah said that God was going to send someone named Immanuel. Jesus is the One God promised to send. One of Jesus' names is Immanuel. The name Immanuel means "God is with us." Jesus is God with us.

Why did God call Isaiah?

God called Isaiah to warn His people.

Isaiah knew he was sinful and shouldn't be with God. God is holy. God forgave Isaiah's sin. God had a plan to send His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. We must trust in Him. When we trust in Jesus, we answer like Isaiah: "Here am I. Send me"

What is God's desire for people?

God wants all people to be saved.

 

The people in Judah sinned. To punish them, God sent locusts and stopped the rain Joel told the people to be sorry for their sin. Jesus also wants people to be sorry for their sin. Jesus died to take away our sin, and He is alive. If we trust in Jesus and are sorry for our sin, God forgives and saves us.

Does God stop loving us when we sin?

God loves us even when we sin.

Today’s Bible account in The Gospel Project^® for Kids reveals what true and unconditional godly love looks like. God told Hosea to show the people of Israel how much God loved them but in an unexpected way. God told Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman, and to raise her children who were conceived with other men.

Hosea obeyed God. He married a woman named Gomer, and she was unfaithful just as God said she would be. God’s people were no different than Gomer. They loved and worshiped idols, people and things that were not the one true God.

It would have been easier for God (and Hosea) to throw up His hands and say, “Enough! I’m done with you!” But God’s love never gives up. He gave Hosea a love for his wife that compelled him to buy her back from the slave market after all she had done.

Hosea’s relationship with Gomer reminds us of God’s relationship with the people of Israel and with us. Even though God’s people are unfaithful and love other things more than they love God, God still loves us. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sin and bring us back to Him.

 

What does God do when people sin?

God loves people, but He punishes sin.

 

God is Holy and He punishes sin. But God also loves people. God wanted His people to stop sinning and love Him, but they would not. God punished His people. God loves us. We sin and should be punished. But God sent Jesus to be punished for us. 

 

Why did God scatter His people?

God's people sinned against Him.

God’s people in the Northern Kingdom had a long history of disobeying God. God sent His prophets to the people of Israel. The prophets told the people of Israel to repent and worship God again. Many times, the prophets told the people what would happen in the future if they continued to sin.

Some of God’s people listened to the prophets, repented of their sins, and followed God. But many people did not. God had been very patient with the Israelites. He had helped them in times of trouble and had delayed their punishment because He is gracious and compassionate. (2 Kings 13:23) But many years passed, and God knew His people would not love Him with all their hearts.

God had had enough of His people’s sinning. They wouldn’t listen to Him, so He allowed their enemies to send them into exile. The king of Assyria attacked Israel and laid siege to Samaria. Assyria captured Samaria and forced the people to leave the city. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and the people were scattered, just as God had said it would be. (1 Kings 14:15)

When the Israelites disobeyed God, God judged their sin and punished them by removing them from His presence. Jesus took the punishment for our sin upon Himself. He unites and restores those who trust in Him. Jesus brings us into God’s presence and keeps us there.

 

Who heals us from our sin?

Jesus heals us from our sin.

 

This week in The Gospel Project^® for Kids, we turn our attention to Elisha, Elijah’s friend and successor, and Naaman, commander of the Syrian army. The Syrians often attacked Israelite cities and took whatever they wanted, including people to work as slaves. One of the slaves carried off by the Syrians has a pivotal role in Sunday’s account.

Naaman was sick with leprosy—a serious skin disease. Without a cure, Naaman would suffer horribly. A young slave girl from the land of Israel, however, knew about the one true God. She told her mistress that Elisha the prophet could heal Naaman.

Naaman told his master, the king of Aram (Syria), what his servant said. This king of Aram wrote a letter to the king of Israel, commanding him to heal Naaman. The king of Israel panicked. He couldn’t heal Naaman—only God could do that! Elisha heard of the problem and sent for Naaman; he told Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan River. It wasn’t the “cure” Naaman was expecting, and he rejected Elisha’s instructions. His servants, however, encouraged him to obey, and when Naaman washed in the Jordan as Elisha had instructed, he was healed! Naaman told Elisha, “I know there’s no God in the whole world except in Israel” (2 Kings 5:15).

Naaman was sick. He had a problem with his skin. When Naaman washed in the river, his skin got better. No one can obey God all the time. We are all sick with a sin problem. When we trust n Jesus, He heals us. God forgives us and makes us better.

 

How does God help in times of trouble?

God promises to be with us.

Elijah was a special messenger for God. Queen Jezebel did not like Elijah and threatened to kill him, but God was in charge. God kept Elijah safe. Jesus is God's messenger too. People did not like Jesus, but God was in charge. God used Jesus' enemies to carry out His plan to rescue people from sin.

 

Who is the one true God?

Yahweh is the one true God.

 

This week in The Gospel Project® for Kids, our journey will take us to a power-encounter between God’s prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal, a false god.

King Ahab was a very evil king. In fact, “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:33). God sent Elijah to get Ahab’s attention. God prevented rain in the land for three years. Ahab worshiped Baal—the Canaanite false god of rain and fertility—and the drought was a clear demonstration of the power of the one true God. When God was ready to send rain to the earth, Elijah appeared to Ahab and told him to gather all the people and the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. Elijah issued a challenge to the people: Follow God or follow Baal.

Imagine what it must have been like to watch the thousand prophets of Baal face off against the one true God and His prophet. The prophets of Baal shouted to their false god. They cried out, and they even cut themselves. Where was Baal? Why didn’t he answer? When it was Elijah’s turn, he drenched his altar with water, and then called out to God. And God answered with fire from heaven that consumed the offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water in the trench Elijah dug. The people fell facedown, shouting “Yahweh, He is God! Yahweh, He is God!”

Elijah called on the power of God to prove to the worshipers of Baal that God is the one true God. By sending fire from heaven, God displayed His great power. God would use His power years later to raise Jesus from the dead, showing that Jesus is the Son of God.

 

What kind of king did God's people need?

God's people needed a king who loved God. 

This Sunday, our journey takes us to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, created as a result of King Solomon’s sin. King Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom, had made two golden calves for his people to worship. Needless to say, his kingdom wasn’t starting out very well.

The Northern Kingdom was plagued by evil kings who led people away from worshiping the one true God. Baasha (BAY uh shuh), Elah, Zimri (ZIM righ), and Omri (AHM righ) each reigned as evil, sinful kings of Israel. Each king led the Israelites further away from worshiping God.

Then Omri’s son Ahab (AY hab) became king of Israel. Ahab was more evil than the kings who were before him—more evil than Omri, more evil than Zimri, more evil than Elah, and more evil than Baasha! If that wasn’t enough, Ahab married Jezebel, who encouraged him to serve and worship the false god Baal. Ahab built an altar for Baal in Samaria. All the things Ahab did made God very angry.

God’s people asked for a king to lead them, but no king ever led them perfectly. Was there any king on earth who would be faithful? God would send a king from heaven—His own Son—who would lead God’s people back to God. He would be the King of all kings—Jesus Christ.

 

Where does wisdom come from?

Wisdom comes from God.

In Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, we learn about the poetry and wisdom the Bible offers.

King David wrote many of the 150 Psalms included in this book. Remember Psalm 51? David prayed to God for repentance. Many other Psalms are words of praise, expressions of joy, thanksgiving to God, and a listing of the importance of God’s Word. Many times David cried out to God in anger or fear, but always returned to trusting in God and in His Goodness. Take a few minutes and read Psalm 119 and praise God for His eternal Word.

King Solomon wrote much of the Book of Proverbs. Proverbs are short sayings that teach a truth. Since God had granted Solomon great wisdom, much of his writing centered around ways to live a holy life to God. Solomon also wrote in Ecclesiastes why God created the world—so people would worship God and see how good He is.

Wisdom in the Bible is not just words about how to live. God gives us wisdom because He wants us to be like Jesus—in how we live, how we speak, and how we think. We become wise by knowing and loving Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us. (1 Corinthians 1:30)

 

How should we love God?

We should love God with all our hearts.

I Kings 8:61
"Let your heart be completely devoted to the Lord our God to walk in His statutes and to keep His commands, as it is today.” 

 

No king led God's people perfectly. Solomon sinned, and Israel was divided between two kings. God's people needed a perfect king. God would send His own Son, Jesus, to be King. Jesus is a perfect King.

What did King Solomon build?

King Solomon built a temple for God.

God is Holy. Only the priests could go into God's special place in the temple, and they had to follow special rules because they were sinful. Jesus took away our sin when He died on the cross. When we know and love Jesus, we talk to God on our own.

 

What did King Solomon ask from God?

Solomon asked God for wisdom.

Moving on from David, this week our journey in The Gospel Project for Kids takes us to David’s son Solomon. Solomon was the second son of Bathsheba and he became the next king of Israel. Remember God made a covenant with David in which his sons would always rule on the throne. David was very old when Solomon became the king. David encouraged his son to always follow God and to walk in His ways.

After David died, Solomon had a dream in which God told him to ask for anything he wanted. Solomon told God that he was a young man and that what he wanted most of all was the wisdom needed to be a good leader for the people of Israel. God was pleased with Solomon’s request and granted it. God told Solomon he would have more wisdom than any person yet to live. Because he had not asked for selfish desires, God also granted that Solomon would be rich, would live a long life, and would receive honor from others. God told Solomon that he would be greater than any other king who had ever lived.

  

Solomon could have asked for anything, but he chose to ask for wisdom to accomplish God’s will. God created us to do His will. Jesus gave us the perfect example of doing God’s will when He willingly died on the cross for our sins.