December 17th Lessons

9:00am DiscipleLand1st-2nd grade 

Christmas Lesson--My Shepherd (Psalm 23)

Verse: Luke 2:11 "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."

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9:00am DiscipleLand

3rd-4th grade 
Powerful Messengers Lesson 3—Gentiles for Jesus

Acts 10:23-48

 The Holy Spirit fills Gentiles who believe the message about Jesus.

Verse: 

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile."

—Romans 1:16

Focus:

~God does not show favoritism, and neither should His followers.

~Peter, a Jew, obediently shared the gospel of Jesus with Cornelius and other Gentiles.

~All who receive forgiveness of sins through Jesus also receive the Holy Spirit.

Missionary Biography: Ali Wallayat, 1857, Delhi, India

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10:45am TRU 1st-4th grade 

Main Focus: God Honors Faith

(Simeon and Anna--Luke 2:21-40)

Anticipate: Make An Ornament

We are celebrating Christmas this week and how God honors faith. What does honor mean in this context? It means that He VALUES faith, He REWARDS faith and He PROVIDES for those who believe.
He did this for the whole world by giving us Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Jesus is the greatest gift we could ever receive and is the reason we give each other gifts on Christmas—to celebrate His birth.

Worship with singing:  Youth Band
Game: Heads or Tails
Memory Verse:

"The Lord your God is with you,

 the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

    but will rejoice over you with singing.”  --Zephaniah 3:17

God values faith.  He rewards those who believe and are willing to wait upon Him.  Today, we learn about Simeon's and Anna's faith were rewarded by having the opportunity to meet baby Jesus, the promised Messiah.  

RESPOND: 

Some of God’s gifts are for special occasions like the ornament we already made, some are for right now like the cookie ornaments we’ll make now… but the gift of Jesus is forever and for all the time.

Bless:

May our children's understanding of God’s great love for them grow every day, and as it does, may they have the faith to be all that He calls them to be in the power of His Holy Spirit.