Family Night #1: Revised

• Theme:  Jesus was God's Plan from the Beginning
• Introduce Your Family's 2012 Christmas Memory Verse (for information on our family's memory verse, see this old post)
• Lesson for Older Children

Did you know that Jesus was God’s plan for us from the very beginning? God had a plan from the moment that Adam and Eve, the first people that God created, chose to disobey him. Do you remember the only thing that God told Adam and Eve not to do? The Lord told Adam, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Now Satan, took on the form a serpent and decided to trick Eve. He lied to her and told her that she would not die if she ate the fruit of the tree of good and evil. He said that if she ate the fruit, that she would be like God. Eve listened to the serpent and ignored God. She ate the fruit and gave some to Adam. He also ate the fruit. Instantly, sin entered the world. 
 

That very evening, God came into the garden to speak with Adam, Eve and the serpent. He told them that even though Satan would try to destroy all the people, that someday a man would come and crush Satan. Who do you think God was talking about?
 

Although this was the first time that God gave people a hint or a clue about his very special plan, it definitely was not the last. God told Abraham that all of the people on earth would be blessed through him which means that Jesus would come from his family. God made similar promises to Abraham’s son, Isaac, to his grandson, Jacob and to his great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great-grandson King David.

The Old Testament tells us other information about the birth of Christ. It tell us (i) that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, (ii) that he would be born of a virgin and called Immanuel, and (iii) that kings would bow down to him. There are also numerous prophesies about the life and death of Christ. The Bible tells us that Jesus would be killed, raised from the dead and that he would ascend to heaven. Most importantly, it tells us that through his death, we can have eternal life with God in heaven.

 

From the very beginning, God knew that we would need a Savior and that our Savior had to be perfect. Only his son, Jesus, could be the perfect sacrifice needed to atone for the sin of the world. He made all of these promises so people would have hope and would know that Christ was coming. These prophesies also helped people know that Jesus was actually God's son. He was the promised One.

• Alternate Lesson for Preschoolers:

o “The Terrible Lie” pg 29 of the Jesus Storybook Bible

o “Son of Laughter” pg 58 of the Jesus Storybook Bible

• Discussion:

o Why did God need to send his son?

o When did God first promise to send his son?

o What kind of people did God use to carry out his plan?  Abraham and David were ordinary people who made mistakes just like all of us.  God chose them because they loved God and they had great faith.  God has a plan for each of us, and He can use us to do amazing things, if we obey him. 

• Week One Memory Verse (Matt 1:21):  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.


• Activities:

o Set out the Nativity Scene. This is the first and only Christmas decoration that we will set out this evening. We do this to emphasize that the holiday season starts with the birth of Christ and that this is the most important reason to celebrate.

o Play Hiding Baby Jesus. Let the kids take turns hiding Baby Jesus somewhere in the house and then have everyone look for Him. After they have each had a turn, talk about how easy it is to lose sight of Jesus during Christmas.

o Make Christmas verse ornament: This can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. You can see a picture below of the very simple ornament that we made last year.