LESSON 1 Happy Birthday Jesus MEMORY VERSE: So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him... Romans 12:1 (NCV) BOTTOM LINE: What does Jesus want for Christmas? Leader Study Guide: Imagine for a minute that it is your birthday and your best friend has planned a birthday party for you. You are super excited as you arrive at your party. Everybody is having a great time, but for some reason no one talks to you. When it s time for gifts, your friends give gifts to one another, but nobody gives you a present. It s hard to imagine a birthday party like this, and yet it happens every year on December 25th. We say that Christmas is the day that we celebrate Jesus birth and then we tend to ignore Him. Children especially have a tendency to get caught up in the gift giving, but the reality is most of our kids are thinking, What am I going to get for Christmas? I am not saying that we should not give gifts to one another on Christmas day, but I am saying it s secondary to what we are to give to Christ. Have you ever asked yourself the question, What does Jesus want for Christmas? What do you buy for God, who has everything? The streets in Heaven are paved with gold, what could Jesus possibly want for Christmas? LESSON 1 PAGE 1
There is really only one thing that Jesus wants for Christmas. Jesus wants you. Of course He wants other people too, but you cannot give other people to Jesus. You can only give yourself. You can exhort and challenge others to give themselves to Christ, but that begins by giving yourself fully to Christ. In a practical sense, how do I give myself to Christ? I give myself to Christ by giving Him my time, my talent and my money. I give myself to Christ by serving others instead of serving myself. I give myself to Christ by living a holy life in an unholy world. I give myself to Christ by slowing down, turning off Facebook, and spending time in His presence, listening to Him. I give my life to Christ by teaching others about Him. I love this quote by Billy Graham, The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not, What a lovely sermon! ; but I will do something. This year let s do more than tell kids the Christmas Story. What if we ask kids to give Jesus a present? And not just on December 25th. Why not give Jesus a present every day in December? One last thing - the kids that you teach are not going to do this if you don t do it. What are you waiting for? Stop procrastinating. Write out your Christmas list today. What are you going to give to Christ? LESSON 1 PAGE 2
Happy Birthday Jesus SCHEDULE Today s Date: Lead WHO LESSON OUTLINE WHAT 1. Jump Start (Ice Breaker) 2. Praise & Worship 3. Announcements 4. Offering 5. Motion Comic: The Adventures of the Masked Hero #1 6. Motion Comic Follow-Up 7. Bottom Line: What does Jesus want for Christmas? 8. Memory Verse: Romans 12:1 9. Drama: Birthday Presents 10. Object Lesson: Let s Party 11. Inter-Active Lesson: Gift Giving Relay 12. Altar Call 13. Digital Review Questions 14. Small Groups LESSON 1 PAGE 3
JUMP START What is Jump Start? Jump Start is an opportunity for you to break the ice with your kids through a couple of simple questions and a game that flows with the subject matter for today s lesson. Why should I Jump Start? The purpose of jump start is to engage the kids and get them prepared for today s lesson. If you stop to think, it has been between 4-7 days since you ve seen the kids in your children s ministry. This is why we purpose to engage the kids through Jump Start. Jump Start Questions: Question #1 - What makes a birthday party so much fun? Example: Getting to hang with friends and family, plus the presents aren t too bad! Question #2 - if you could have a birthday party anywhere in the world, where would it be? Example: I would have my birthday party at Disney World! Jump Start Game: Line Em Up! Preparation: No preparation needed How the game is played: 1. Everyone will participate in this game. 2. You call out the phrase everyone please line up... and fill in the rest of the sentence with one of the suggestions below. 3. Once you ve called out how they are to line up, the kids will line up in order. 4. After they are lined up, repeat the phrase everybody line up... and select a different way for the kids to line up from the suggestions below. In order of age, oldest at the front, youngest at the back. By height, shortest to tallest, or tallest to shortest. By your birthdays - first in the year goes first. By how many cousins you have. The least amount of cousins in front. What color is your shirt? Line up in alphabetical order by the color s first letter. Most hair at the back, least hair at the front. LESSON 1 PAGE 4
MOTION COMIC The Adventures of the Masked Hero Episode #1 TO THE TEACHER: 1. Preview the Motion Comic during the week. 2. After you teach Lesson 1, there is a Previous Episode for each week. This allows kids who missed last week to catch up. 3. Show the Motion Comic to your class (including the Previous Episode) and then ask the questions we provided to review. Question - Whose birthday was it? Answer - It was Johnny s birthday! Question - Did Johnny have a lot of presents to open at his birthday party? Answer - No, everyone was giving gifts to each other at Johnny s birthday party. Question - Did Johnny have a good time at his birthday party? Answer - No, he was bummed that everyone was giving gifts to everyone but him! LESSON 1 PAGE 5
DRAMA Birthday Presents Take Home Point: Characters: Props: Jesus wants the gift of your life. Stevie Wrapped present Drama Skit: You and I can give Jesus the BEST birthday EVER this year. (Stevie walks on stage whistling, holding a present in his hands) Hey there,teacher! Hey Stevie. What are you up to? (tosses present back and forth in hands) Ohhh just trying to find a bow for this present. (peering over to see what it could possibly be) Hmm, who is that present for? Jesus... That is awesome! What did you get Jesus? It wouldn t be a surprise if I told you what it is! Come on... You can tell us! (shrugs shoulders) I got Jesus Super Smash Brothers and a Nintendo DSi! WOW! Wait... You got Jesus a video game? (look of disbelief) Who wouldn t want this gift! Well... I heard that we were throwing Jesus a birthday party, and I went and bought a gift I would like to get! Continued on next page LESSON 1 PAGE 6
Birthday Presents Drama Script Continued That is very thoughtful, but do you think there might be another gift that Jesus would like? (scrunches up face and thinks) Hmmm... Another gift... (snaps fingers) I ve got it! What is it? It is so obvious. He wants a gift card to the movies! I don t know about that. Think a little longer. (scrunches up face and taps chin) Ah ha! He wants figs! I saw in the Bible that he liked figs! He wants you, Stevie! Ohh... That does make a lot of sense. So what are some ways you can give your life to Jesus? First, I can ask Jesus into my heart, which I have done! After that, I am stumped! Here are a few gifts you can give Jesus: live a holy life in an unholy world, serve others instead of serving yourself, less time on Facebook and more time in God s book, the Bible. I see what you did there with the Facebook and God s book! It was a good one! So do you think you can choose a birthday present for Jesus now? Definitely. I m going to spend time in Jesus presence, listening to Him! See you later! Bye! LESSON 1 PAGE 7
OBJECT LESSON Let s Party Scripture Reference: Luke 2:8-20 (NLT) Take Home Point: What You Need: Preparation: Christmas is a birthday party for Jesus. Birthday cake, balloons, streamers, hats, plates, forks Set up your children s ministry room like you are throwing a birthday party for Jesus. The bigger the party, the better, be cause it will create excitement within the children as they come into children s church for service. Object Lesson Application: Are you guys excited!? (allow kids to respond) I told you we were going to throw a HUGE party for Jesus birthday this week. I have streamers, balloons, hats, and a DELICIOUS birthday cake. I think we are ready to have a par... Wait a second, where are your gifts? (allow kids to respond) Silly me, I forgot to get Jesus a birthday gift too! In the Bible, it talks of the angels and armies of Heaven praising God. There were also wise men that came bearing gifts for Jesus. Can anyone name the gifts they brought? (allow kids to respond) That is right, they were frankincense, myrrh, and gold. Whenever we go to birthday parties, we always have a gift for the person we are celebrating. In December, we celebrate Jesus birthday; however, we can get caught up in the Continued on next page LESSON 1 PAGE 8
Let s Party Object Lesson Continued excitement of giving gifts to our family and friends instead of celebrating the reason for the celebration... Jesus! We are going to change that this year. I think we can give Jesus the biggest and most awesome birthday EVER. ASK: What does Jesus want for Christmas? (write down responses on whiteboard) ACTION STEP: Celebrate Jesus in one of the ways we discussed this morning every day this week! LESSON 1 PAGE 9
INTER-ACTIVE LESSON Gift-Giving Relay What Your Kids Will Learn: I can give gifts to Jesus. What You Need: Special prize for the participant, 4 small objects gift wrapped. Instructions: 1. Select two kids to be runners in a gift-giving relay and four people to receive the gifts. 2. Each runner will get a turn individually. 3. Each child will go from the stage to the back of the room to pick up one of the gifts and return it to one of the gift receivers. They will repeat this process until all the gifts have been received. 4. Whoever has the fastest time wins the gift-giving relay. Spiritual Application: If there is one thing we can all agree on, it is that receiving gifts is a lot of fun. When Christmas rolls around, usually Mom and Dad will ask you what kind of gifts you would like for Christmas. It is not a problem for you and I to produce a wish list full of our potential gifts we would like to receive; however, Christmas is not all about the gifts you and I will receive. It is Jesus birthday and our focus should be on what kind of gifts we can give to Him. What kind of gifts do you think we can give to Jesus? (allow kids to respond) Those are all great answers. You and I can give our hearts to Jesus and this is the greatest gift we can give Him. I also like to think we can be the gift that keeps on giving, so I will suggest a few gifts that you and I can give to Jesus for His birthday: The gift of our time: We do this by spending time with Jesus in prayer, reading our Bibles, and serving at church. Continued on next page LESSON 1 PAGE 10
Gift Giving Relay Object Lesson Continued The gift of our money: Jesus does not need our money to go out and buy a new bike; however, He does need our money to help people that are in need. The gift of our worship: It is easy to get caught up in sports, video games, and life. These things can become the focus of our worship, but we need to keep our focus on Jesus and spend time worshiping Him with music. Let s turn our attention to Jesus this Christmas and give Him the best birthday ever! LESSON 1 PAGE 11
Happy Birthday Jesus DIGITAL REVIEW QUESTIONS NEEDED: Review Prizes (penny candy for right answers) TO THE TEACHER: The Digital Review Questions are a part of The Masked Hero download. Once you get to the Memory Verse, then PAUSE the video. After you have done your teaching, then PLAY the Digital Review Questions. You can turn this into a Review Game by rewarding kids for correct answers. 1. So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your as a living sacrifice to him... Romans 12:1 (NCV) a. Candy b. Video games c. Lives d. Toys 2. Whose birthday was it in today s motion comic? a. Billy s b. Suzie s c. Johnny s Mom s d. Johnny s 3. What does want for Christmas? a. Jesus b. Dad c. Mom d. My Little Pony 4. What are some gifts we can give to Jesus? a. Our Time b. Our Money c. Our Worship d. All The Above 5. The Christmas gift Jesus wants is. a. Super Smash Brothers b. Nerf Guns c. Baseball Cards d. You and I LESSON 1 PAGE 12
Happy Birthday Jesus PROP LIST Teaching Date: Birthday Presents Pages 6-7 Characters Stevie Props Wrapped Present Object Lesson: Let s Party Pages 8-9 Birthday Cake Plates Forks Streamers Balloons Inter-Active Lesson: Gift Giving Relay Pages 10-11 4 small wrapped presents Small Groups: Present For Jesus Part #1 Present For Jesus Worksheets Pens Activity page How many needed? Small Group Notes How many needed? Home Devotional How many needed? LESSON 1 PAGE 13