October 27th TEACHER BIBLE STUDY. God Called Isaiah. Bible Passage: Isaiah 6 Christ Connection: God s promised Messiah comes out of.

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1 Big Picture Question: How could Isaiah stand before God? Isaiah could stand before God because God took away Isaiah s sin. Bible Passage: Isaiah 6 Christ Connection: God s promised Messiah comes out of David s family and is described in Isaiah s prophecy. God Called Isaiah October 27th 1st-2nd grade TEACHER BIBLE STUDY King Uzziah s death marked the end of an era. His reign had been long and prosperous. Uzziah became king when he was 16, and he reigned over Judah for 52 years. Uzziah had listened to the prophet Zechariah; he feared God and God made him prosper. But Uzziah s pride got the best of him. When he became strong, he grew arrogant and it led to his own destruction. He acted unfaithfully against the Lord (2 Chron. 26:16). God struck Uzziah with leprosy. Then Uzziah died. Under Uzziah s leadership, God s people had turned away from the promises of God and trusted in the promises of the world around them. God had promised to bless the entire world through Abraham s family, but God s people were rebellious. Instead of blessing, they set themselves up to receive God s judgment. But God s plans and promises were not thwarted. God sent Isaiah to preach a message of hope. Even though God was going to correct His people through judgment, His purpose was one of grace through which God would receive glory. God planned to send a Messiah who would bring salvation to the world. Isaiah 6 opens with Isaiah worshiping in the temple. Then God gave Isaiah a vision. Isaiah saw God sitting on a throne. In the year that King Uzziah died, God was sitting on the throne. God was reigning over the universe. The magnitude of God s holiness made Isaiah realize the magnitude of his own sin. His response? Woe is me! God extended His grace to Isaiah. He took away Isaiah s guilt. God passed over Isaiah s sins because He was going to send Jesus to pay for them. In His death on the cross, Jesus paid for the sins past, present, and future of those who would trust in Him. When we trust in Jesus, God says to us, Your guilt is taken away. Your sin is atoned for.

2 THE BIBLE STORY God Called Isaiah Isaiah 6 Isaiah was a prophet. God had chosen Isaiah to take God s message to His people. Isaiah had a special name. The name Isaiah means The Lord saves. God used Isaiah to tell His people a very important message. God s message was this: God saves sinners. God spoke through Isaiah. Isaiah had heard God s voice, but Isaiah had never seen God. One day God gave Isaiah a very special experience. In the year that Uzziah, king of Judah, died, Isaiah was worshiping God in the temple when he had a vision. Isaiah saw God sitting on a throne. God s robe was long; its edges filled the temple. Seraphim heavenly beings stood above Him, each with six wings. They called out: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord; His glory fills the whole earth. The foundations of the doorways shook at the sounds of their voices, and the temple filled with smoke. Isaiah saw that he was in the presence of God, and he said, I am ruined! I am sinful; I am no better than anyone else. I don t deserve to be in the presence of a great and holy God. Then one of the seraphim flew to Isaiah. He had in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched Isaiah s mouth and said, Now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed and your sin is wiped away. Then Isaiah heard God s voice saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? God had an important message to share, and He wanted someone to tell God s message to everyone. Isaiah said, Here am I! Send me. Go, God said. God sent Isaiah to preach to the people. The people will not listen to My message, God said. You will preach to them, but they will ignore you. They will turn away from you. If they would just listen to Me, they would turn from their sin and be healed. How long? Isaiah asked. How long should I preach to people who won t listen to me? How long will they reject Your message and face judgment for it? God answered Isaiah. Preach until the cities are destroyed and no one lives in them. I am going to send the people far away. Some of the people will return to the land, God explained. God was going to show grace to those people like He showed grace to Isaiah. The people God would bring back to Judah would be some of the only people left in Abraham s family. God was going to keep His promise to Abraham through them. He would make their family big again, and they would be a blessing to all the nations. Christ Connection: Isaiah saw God in a vision and he knew he didn t deserve to be with God because God is holy. God forgave Isaiah s sin. One day God would send His Son, Jesus, to pay for Isaiah s sin. God forgives anyone who trusts in Jesus. When we trust in Jesus, we answer like Isaiah: Here I am. Send me. Our Prayer for You: We pray this week that you will abide in the vine and pursue a life of holiness. Flee from the temptation to sin and seek what is righteous and holy, leaving no room for sin to take root in your hearts.

3 WELCOME TIME As the kids arrive, ask them questions that might help you get to know them better. This is the time that makes or breaks how welcome a child feels and whether they will come back or not! Be friendly! :) EARLY ARRIVER ACTIVITY [9:45-10:00] (begin as soon as children enter; this activity is not neccessary for ALL children, it just gives the early arrivers something to get started on) The Messenger Choose four volunteers. For smaller groups, allow half the kids to volunteer. These volunteers will be messengers. Invite the remaining kids to close their eyes and bow their heads. Encourage the volunteers to quietly choose one of the kids with his head bowed and whisper, I have a message for you. Once each messenger has chosen someone, they should all go to the front of the room. Invite the kids to open their eyes. Invite those who were chosen to guess who had a message for them. Say: In today s Bible story, God chose a special messenger to send to His people in Judah. ENGAGE ACTIVITY [10:00-10:10] 10:00; even if children haven t finished the Early Arriver Activity; this sets up the Bible Story for the day) Hot Coal Use a piece of black construction paper to form a paper wad. Invite the kids to form a circle. Just add kids to the circle as they arrive. Encourage them to pass the hot coal as quickly as possible. When a leader says stop, the kid holding the coal must name something he could do to serve God. Examples include pray, read the Bible, help others, send cards, and so forth. Give help as needed. Say: God used a hot coal to touch a man s lips in today s Bible story. We will find out why in just a few minutes. TRANSITION TO LARGE GROUP [10:10] Note: Please be sure to stay with your class to help children stay focused and listen to the lesson. Be sure to actively participate with your class. They are looking to you as the example to follow! LARGE GROUP BIBLE STORY & WORSHIP [10:10-10:40] Big Picture Question: How could Isaiah stand before God? Isaiah could stand before God because God took away Isaiah s sin.

4 Note: As students come back to the classroom, it is a good time to distribute snack as you take prayer requests and praises. PRAYER TIME [10:45-10:55] Use the class Prayer Journal to write down any prayer requests that the kids might have, as well as any prayer requests that have been answered! Take time for the kids to praise God in prayer and lift up the prayer requests mentioned. Allow 1 or 2 students to pray and then pray to close out the time of prayer. Remember, kids are learning to pray by your example. The importance and energy you put into prayer will be directly reflected in your class! BIBLE STORY REVIEW [10:55-11:05] Encourage the kids to find Isaiah 6 in their Bibles. Help them as needed. Say: Is Isaiah in the Old Testament or the New Testament? (Old Testament) It s the first book in the division called Major Prophets. Once again, this isn t because Isaiah was more important than other prophets. The books of the Major Prophets are just longer than the Minor Prophets. The first half of Isaiah talks about how God s people should obey Him. The second half gives God s people hope for the future, the promise of a Savior. Who is the promised Savior? (Jesus) Use the Timeline to show kids today s Bible story. This Bible story is only 13 verses. Form groups of two or more. Make sure each group has a Bible. Encourage each group to choose a volunteer to come to the front of the room and read one or more of the verses. The volunteer must say, Send Me. I ll go. Once the entire text is read, repeat one of the verses aloud without the reference. The first group to stand up and tell the verse number gets a point. Play as time allows or until you ve read all the verses. The group with the most points wins. Say: Isaiah knew he was not worthy to stand before God. God made a way for Isaiah s sins to be paid. God used a hot coal from the altar to remove Isaiah s sin. How could Isaiah stand before God? Isaiah could stand before God because God took away Isaiah s sin. Our sins are removed when we repent and trust in Jesus. We are not worthy to stand in front of God either, but Jesus is. He took our sin. He was punished for our sins when He died on the cross. God said Jesus payment was enough when He raised Him from the dead. Because of that we can seek God, pray to God, and spend time with God. Once Isaiah saw how awesome God is and how God had removed his sins, he volunteered to be a messenger for God. When we understand what Jesus did for us, we should want to be a messenger, telling all people about Jesus. Show the Big Picture Question poster. Say: Who would like to answer the Big Picture Question and answer? How could Isaiah stand before God? Isaiah could stand before God because God took away Isaiah s sin. Key Passage: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one- to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

5 KEY PASSAGE ACTIVITY [11:05-11:10] Make sure the Key Passage, Isaiah 53:6, is visible for each child. Read the verse together. Say: Isaiah 53 tells us about a Suffering Servant. Does anyone want to guess who the Suffering Servant is? The Suffering Servant is Jesus. Our key passage tells us that we all have sinned, but Jesus was punished for our sin so that we wouldn t have to be punished. Explain that the seraphim repeated the word holy three times. Invite the kids to repeat the Key Passage three times. Encourage them to follow the rule of three. Give them three seconds to read the verse, use your hand to cover every third word in the verse, and then choose three kids to say the verse together. SINK IN ACTIVITY [11:10-11:20] Stop and Go Sign Provide each kid with a red square and a green square. Make sure each kid has a pair of scissors, permanent markers, and a large wooden craft stick. Demonstrate how to cut the four corners off one of the squares to form a stop sign shape or octagon. Invite the kids to cut the other square using the octagon they cut as a guide. Encourage the kids to write STOP on one side of the red square and GO on one side of the green square with Isaiah 6:8 underneath. Glue or staple the craft stick in between the squares, making sure the two squares are bonded together with the words to the outside. Say: Isaiah stopped and realized just how holy God is, and Isaiah knew he wasn t. God provided a way for Isaiah to be forgiven and stand before Him. How could Isaiah stand before God? Isaiah could stand before God because God took away Isaiah s sin. EXTRA ACTIVITY (can be sent home as a fun activity for families to work together if you do not get around to doing it) There is a Coloring Sheet if you need it, depending on the length of the service. ***THE HANDOFF*** As children are picked up, briefly state one of the things that were talked about in class today. You can do this by asking the child a question in front of their parent, or remind them of something they learned. Also, direct parents and kids to the website for the Family Journal page- a way for parents to lead their kids to know Christ at home! Supplies Needed: black wad of paper, red squares, green squares, craft sticks