‘Adore Him’ Childrens Lesson

BIG IDEA: I CAN ADORE JESUS

AIM: The ‘Adore Him’ Childrens Lesson aims to help kids see that they can adore Jesus easily and freely, coming close to Him, just as the wise men once did.

SONG IDEAS:

1. ‘Born is the King’ by Hillsong Worship
2. ‘He Chose the Shepherds’ by Friends and Heroes
3. ‘Oh What a Glorious Night’ by Sidewalk Prophets

GAME IDEAS:

1. Catch the Star. (regular/widescreen) Attach a star to the back of one child’s back with tape. The child is allowed to run free until the rest of the children are given a countdown. Once the rest of the children are released to run they must only tap the star. Once the star has been ‘caught’ the child that tapped them becomes the star and the game begins again.
2. Star Light Star Bright. (regular/widescreen) Just as you would play ‘Islands’ the children dance around and when the music stops they must try and stand on a star. Once the music plays again, remove one or more of the stars. Each time the music stops, the child/ren that cannot stand on a star are eliminated. The ‘Bright Star’ is the child that is standing on a star at the end.
3. Counting Stars. (regular/widescreen) Split the group into teams. Attach stars to a number of ball pit balls. Invite the children to run around the room collecting stars and putting them into their corner of the room. Children are allowed to steal stars and cannot try to stop the opposing team from stealing them. When the leader counts down, the only stars that can be counted are those that are in each team’s corner (not those they are holding).

BIG VERSE: A child will be born to us. God will give a son to us. He will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6.

(regular/widescreen)

[mepr-s3-link src=”teaching-series-christmas-carol/Isaiah 9-6 Printable-min.pdf”] Download Isaiah 9:6 Bible verse cards [/mepr-s3-link]

INTRO QUESTION: If you could get close enough to take a photograph, to anybody in the world, who would you choose?

 

SET the Scene:

Read Matthew 2:1-12. Explain to the children that the wise men are sometimes known as kings or magi.

You could use the Adore Him Skit or the Adore Him Sensory Story.

VIDEO IDEAS:

1. ‘The Magi (Wise Men) Visit Jesus’ by Faith Kids Videos
2. ‘The Wise Men’ by Saddleback Kids
3. ‘The Story of Christmas (Jesus and the Wise Men)’ by Saddleback Kids

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Who was king when Jesus was born? (verse 1 – Herod)
2. Where did the wise men come from? (verse 1 – the East)
3. Why did they come to Jerusalem? (verse 2 – they saw his star and came to worship Him)
4. How did Herod react when he heard about the king of the Jews? (verse 3 – troubled)
5. Who did Herod call a meeting for? (verse 4 – all the leading priests and teachers of the law)
6. Where did these teachers say the king would be born? (Verse 5-6 – Bethlehem)
7. What did Herod learn from his secret meeting with the wise men? (verse 7 – the exact time they first saw the star)
8. What did Herod tell the wise men to do once they found the baby in Bethlehem? (verse 8 – tell him so he could go and worship Him)
9. What happened to the star in the east? (verse 9 – it appeared and led them to the place the child was)
10. What were the wise men filled with? (verse 10 – joy)
11. How did the wise men react to seeing Jesus? (verse 11- they bowed and worshipped and gave him gifts)
12. What gifts did the wise men bring? (verse 11 – Gold, Frankincense and myrrh)
13. Why did the wise men go back home a different way? (verse 12 – to avoid Herod as God warned them to in a dream)

 

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ADORE SOMEONE?

You will need some Baby or puppy pictures, something visible to represent a wedding (veil) and a food you love.

Say: Babies and puppies are adorable, aren’t they?! [show the baby and/or puppy pictures] We might coo over them and tell them how adorable they are… or maybe your family members do that to your younger relatives?!

When we see couples getting married they might look all gooey eyed into each other’s eyes. They might tell each other that they adore each other. That’s because they love each other; to adore someone can mean that you love them.

Maybe you’ve eaten at the best restaurant ever? What’s your favourite restaurant? {Get feedback]. You might say that you adore that food. That’s because you really enjoy eating that food.

There are lots of different ways to talk about adoring someone or something. Yet when we say we can adore Jesus, it means that we can worship Him. That’s what the wise men had traveled to do; to worship Jesus. They wanted to show Him how much they loved him, to show Him respect and honor as a king, by worshipping Him.

Matthew 2:1-2 says;

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and 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.”

The wise men adored Jesus by worshipping Him.

 

2) OUR RESPONSE MATTERS

For older children they might enjoy to watch the ‘Kids React Aww Challenge’. However, it might simply be best to do it yourself. Invite children to the front, or challenge all your kids to watch or view cute pictures or videos of animals and not say ‘aww’ or show happiness of any kind.

Say: The wise men had a choice. They chose to find the king by following the star, but they could have ignored it. They could have decided to go home. Yet they chose to go and worship Jesus, bringing gifts to the newborn king. Matthew 2:11 says; “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”

After the wise men had visited Jesus they could also have chosen to go back to Herod and tell him where the baby lay. Yet they chose to go in a different direction. Matthew 2:12 says, “And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” They chose to listen to their dream and avoid King Herod.

How we respond to God matters. That means that what we choose to do when God asks us to do something really matters. We can choose to say yes or choose to say no. We can choose to make Him the most important person in our lives or we can make things more important than Him. The choice is ours. We show our choice in the way we spend our time and in the things that we do and say. How we use our pocket money/allowance. The way we speak to and act around others. How we treat those that can’t do anything for us. When God is first in our lives then we will learn to love what He loves. When God is first in our lives we will take the time to come close to Him in prayer, worship, thanksgiving and reading His Word.

So, how will you respond to Jesus? Will you ask Him to be number one in your life? If you already follow Him, will you ask Him to be the most important person to you? Will you ask Him to help you live for Him?

3) WE CAN COME CLOSE TO ADORE JESUS BECAUSE HE CAME CLOSE TO US

1. You could bring in a pet and watch how the children are all drawn to come close to the animal. Alternatively you could use a giant teddy bear. Lots of children love to hug teddies! For older children you could bring in a digital device! 
2. Alternatively you could have two people start walking from opposite sides of the room. One represents Jesus coming down from heaven to earth and who will also come back again sometime soon in the second coming of Christ. The other person represents us. We can choose to draw close to Jesus also. 

Say: Jesus chose to come close to us when He was born into the world. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He sent His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not die but have everlasting life.” God first chose to come close to us by sending His Son Jesus. He had come close to us in the past through speaking to the Prophets and Priests. Now He was sending Jesus. 1 John 4:19 says; “We love because he first loved us.” We love and adore Jesus because He first loved us.

So we can choose to draw close to Jesus. Just as we’ve come close to ____ (the animal or the other person). Perhaps you don’t know Jesus today. You can come to know Him. All you have to do is ask Him to come into your life and to make you holy as He is holy. If you already know Him, you can come close to Jesus today by spending time talking to Him and reading about Him in the Bible. You can go to church and hear about Him and you can ask Him to help you in your daily life.

Prayer: Father God, thank You for sending Jesus. Jesus, thank You for being the Holy One. Thank You for living a perfectly holy life. Please come into my life. Be my Lord and Savior. Make me holy as You are holy and help me to live a holy life. Amen.

 

SEARCH the Scriptures:

Wrap It Up. (regular/widescreen) You will need some Christmas music, a dice, a hat, scarf and some gloves. You will also need a gift and wrapping paper. Begin by cutting up the People that Came Close to Jesus Printable. Wrap the gift with wrapping paper multiple times and put each slip of paper in between each layer of wrapping paper.

How to Play: Children sit in a circle. Place the gift, the dice, scarf and gloves in the centre of the circle. When a child rolls any odd number they can go into the centre of the circle and put the hat, scarf and gloves on. They can then try to rip a layer of the wrapping off. However, if another player throws an odd number whilst they are trying to do this, they must stop and hand them the items.

The winning player is the player to rip the last piece of wrapping paper off and reveal the present. Once the game is played, the children can read the Bible characters out that they have collected. They can try and guess or remember how these people came close to Jesus.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

You will need some paper and pens.

1. 1. Draw a picture on your page of Jesus. Draw yourself. How close do you feel to Jesus? Why?
   2. Do you want to be closer to Jesus? Why?
   3. How do you come close to Jesus?
   4. Has someone or something led you close to Jesus? How?
   5. Are there other people that you want to see come close to Jesus too? Who? Why?
   6. How can you help others come close to Jesus?

 

 

SENSE How You Feel:

Encourage your children to think about the question below as they do one or more of the following activities:

How would you feel to be led close to the King of kings by a star?

1. Make some clothespin camels using the Clothespin Camel Template. Simply print the template, color or decorate the camels and attach clothespins to their legs.
2. Build: a giant star our of Lego or other building blocks.
3. Sensory: Place fairy lights (if you can do this safely) on a sensory table with crowns and lots of sparkly jewels or old pearls. If you have any stars of any kind, you can add these to the table for the children to touch and feel. You could even add glow sticks, as these glow.
4. Mould: a giant star out of play dough or clay.
5. Fill in/Color the 5-7s and 8-11s Activity Sheet booklets.

 

SEEK God:

You will need a manger, some hay and a doll. You could ask someone to play ‘O Come Let us Adore Him’ on the guitar or use one of the versions here:

1. ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’ by Bethel Kids
2. ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’ by Wayne Burton and One Voice Children’s Choir
3. ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’ by Pentatonix

Place the manger in the middle of the room and have all the children gather around it. Encourage them to sing as the music plays and imagine being there the night Jesus was born. Ask the children to pray and tell God how they feel about Him sending His only Son.