Yes! We want our kids to know the true meaning of Christmas but is that enough? That is not the same as UNDERTANDING CHRISTMAS as a whole! There’s so much more to learn! And our kids need to know it. Let me explain!
THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO UNDERSTANDING CHRISTMAS our kids never learn about. One of the biggest battles we face in discipling the next generation is understanding how biblically ignorant our kids really are, and how quickly they are indoctrinated to think that the Bible is just a bunch of stories that have very little basis in reality. They lose confidence that it can be trusted.
Did you know according to research that the average child who spends their first 13 years in our Sunday Schools will tell you they know everything there is to know about God and the Bible and have no further reason for going to church. How can that be?
It’s because for the most part all we do is tell them the samebasic Bible stories over and over again.
So in this curriculum I wrote called UNDERSTANDING CHRISTMAS I wanted to give children as much of the details of the Christmas story to show them the PROFOUND, PROPHETIC, FASCINATING TRUTHS surrounding His birth that they probably had never heard before.
Be sure to keep listening because later on I’m going to GIVE YOU A FREE DOWNLOADABLE SAMPLE LESSON from this curriculum!
The goal in these lessons was to let kids know that Christ’s birth was not an accident, not coincidence, and not just a good story. We want them to see that it was PROOF THAT GOD’S WORD IS REAL AND CAN BE TRUSTED.
In this curriculum we cover FIVE BASIC TOPICS:
- UNDERSTANDING WHY HE CAME
- UNDERSTANDING WHO HE WAS
- UNDERSTANDING THE PROPHECIES SURROUNDING HIS BIRTH
- UNDERSTANDING HIS BIRTH ITSELF AND
- UNDERSTANDING THE WISE MEN’S GIFTS.
#1. UNDERSTANDING WHY HE CAME helps our kids learn that the story of Christmas did not begin at the birth of Jesus. Rather it began before the foundations of the world.
They learn God did not make a last-minute decision to send His son to earth because it looked like everything at creation was going wrong. He did not need a quick alternative plan to save the world after Adam messed things up.
Rather it was an on-purpose plan to save mankind and make a way to bring people into eternal fellowship with Him. Before God ever spun the stars into space, He already knew man was going to sin, and become separated from Him. So they learn the Jesus’ birth was actually a part of God’s GREAT BIG MASTER PLAN OF SALVATION from the very beginning of creation!
LESSON 2 – IS UNDERSTANDING WHO HE WAS. Here kids learn that Jesus was God who came in the flesh, which is the very heart of the Christmas story—Emmanuel—God with us. He came to earth sneaking incognito—completely under Satan’s nose undetected as God so He could carry out God’s secret mission to save people.
It’s a fascinating truth confirming again Jesus’ birth was no accident and not a coincidence. Not just a feel good story. Our kids need to know that no matter what ideologies, concepts, religious doctrines they are confronted with, the bottom line is, they can trust what the Bible has to say on any subject even this one.
LESSON 3 — IN UNDERSTANDING THE PROPHECIES kids learn what a prophecy is and that prophecies are a part of the amazing mystery of how God wrote the Bible.
Most children will be familiar with things like Jesus being born in Bethlehem, His escape to Egypt, and that the three kings brought Him gifts. But do they know these were prophecies made hundreds of years before they actually happened?
Or do they know the other prophecies, such as He was born in the lineage of King David and was of the tribe of Judah, and why it’s important in knowing the Bible is authentically the Word of God, not just a good story or somebody’s opinion?
The prophecies are a major proof that God’s plan of salvation was no accident.
OHHH!!! And before I forget —Be sure to stick around to the end of this video so I can share the surprise ending for your annual Christmas play that is completely different than any Christmas play you have ever put on before!
Lesson 4 —UNDERSTANDING HIS BIRTH. Kids know the STORY story of His birth, but do they understand the significance of the miracles surrounding it? — Being born miraculously through a virgin— how even another baby (cousin John the Baptist) recognized He was the Messiah before either one of them was born.
And how miraculous was it for the old grandma and grandpa Simeon and Anna to see baby Jesus in the Temple and instantly know he was the Messiah they had been waiting for their entire lives? Really? Coincidence?
Finally in Lesson 5 —UNDERSTANDING THE WISE MEN’S GIFTS. Not even the gifts for baby Jesus of gold, frankincense and myrrh were an accident. But like every other part of this story, the wise men’s gifts have great prophetic significance to the story of, not just about his birth, but Jesus’ whole life! It’s just one more way God speaks to us about the miraculous, prophetic nature of the birth of Jesus which tells us it was not an accident!
Each lesson of this curriculum has a section for you as the teacher, a list of all of the visuals and object lessons you will need for that lesson, as well as your scripture verse for memorizing that goes with the lesson.
We’ve included special links to kid-friendly YouTube videos to include each week.
The lesson itself is divided into four sections so depending on the time you have available in your class, you can teach them all in one Sunday, or divide them over a two-week period.
Every lesson includes a dramatized Bible story that goes with your teaching that the children can act out. Which they love doing by the way.
Finally every lesson ends with special instructions to take them into the presence of God for a time of worship or listening for His voice or in some other way interacting with the Holy Spirit.
There are review questions in every lesson so you know how well the children are learning, and there are ten extra scripture verses to look up that go right along with the lesson you taught if you want to go even deeper with your kids.
And last but not least, there is a page at the end of each lesson specifically for you to CONNECT WITH THE PARENTS! It lets them know what their child learned, but also has special prayers for them to pray over their children and words of encouragement for them as they raise their children for Christ.
Now I told you I would give you a free downloadable sample lesson from this curriculum, and here it is. Either click on the link in the upper right hand corner of this video, or if for some reason you can’t see the link, then email me at kidsinministry@yahoo.com. Let me know you would like your free sample lesson for Understanding Christmas.
Also HERE’S YOUR SURPRISE BONUS! We have included a Christmas play in this curriculum for the churches who do this annually. You will find this one particularly unique, because the focus is not on the typical events of his birth per se, INSTEAD it is a play about God the Father and Jesus in heaven looking down on earth as the prophetic story of Abraham and Isaac is unfolding. Why this story? Because Isaac was the symbolic picture of Christ being given as the sacrifice for mankind. And the scene changes from Isaac to the stable, the manger and baby Jesus to show this was the avenue for God’s supernatural plan of salvation to begin on earth as it is in heaven.
I hope you found this interesting and helpful, and more than that I hope you will consider using the curriculum this Christmas and telling your friends about it as well!
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Till I see you next time, and have a very Merry Christmas!
