Objective:
The children will learn that God speaks to His people
Scripture:
Luke 1:5-25
Arrival:
Tell the children that today they are going to have to listen carefully to everything. Then, sing with them.
Prayer:
Pray that everyone in the room will listen when God speaks to them.
Lesson:
Zacharias was a priest. This means it was his job to perform important duties in the temple during certain times of the year. One year, when Zacharias was very old, he was chosen to take the incense in to God. This was a very special duty that not all priests got to perform.
Zacharias and his wife, Elisabeth, had no children. They were old, probably as old as your grandparents, but they had not been able to have children. Many people in this time felt that being childless was like being punished by God. Some even felt Zacharias should not be able to present the incense to God because he had no children and was therefore not right with God since God was punishing him.
However, Zacharias was chosen, and he entered the inner part of the temple to present the sacrifice. When he entered the room, an angel was waiting for him. When Zacharias saw the angel, he was scared. The angel said, “Fear not, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elisabeth, will bear a son, and you will call his name John.”
The angel told Zecharias that he would have great joy with his son, and that many would rejoice with them over the birth of John. Then he told Zacharias, “for he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will be filled with the Holy Ghost. He will turn many Israelits to the Lord their God.”
Can you imagine hearing a message like that from God’s angel? Would you believe it? Zacharias didn’t! He said, “How will I know this is true? I am old and my wife is stricken with many years of life.”
The angel replied, “I am Gabriel, and I stand in the presence of God. He sent me to speak to you and tell you this good news.”
“As a sign, you will be struck dumb for your unbelief. You will not be able to speak until everything I have said comes to pass.”
While this was happening, the people outside of the temple were wondering what had happened. They started to get worried because he had been inside so long. When he finally came out, he could not speak!
You know what? The things the angel said to Zacharias came true! His wife got pregnant and had a son! When the baby was born, the people kept telling Elisabeth that his name should be Zacharias or something else that was a family name. This was the tradition of the time – people named their children after themselves or their family members. Elisabeth was stern with them, saying the baby’s name was John. They finally asked Zacharias about it, and he asked for something to write on because he still could not speak. He wrote “His name is John,” and instantly his speech returned. Everything happened exactly as the angel said it would!
God spoke the Zacharias in a wonderful way. Today, He chooses to speak to us in a different way. You are not going to be visited by an angel carrying good news. How does God speak to us today? (Take responses) He speaks to us through His Word, His preacher, and other Christians. We have to learn to listen carefully so we can hear and obey His words.
Memory Verse:
Psalm 27:14 – Help the children learn this verse and talk about how it applies to Zacharias’s story.
Game/Craft:
Play the telephone game. Have the children sit in a line, and whisper something in the ear of the child closest to you. They then repeat the phrase to the next child, going down the line. The phrase cannot be repeated if a child does not hear it properly. The child at the end has to say what he or she thinks the phrase is. Most of the time something will get switched around during the game. Talk about how you have to listen carefully to the Bible and preaching to hear what God says, just like you have to listen carefully during the telephone game.
Dismissal:
Tell the children to listen to teaching in the upcoming week to hear what God has for them.