CHILDREN’S DEVOTIONS FOR THE WEEK OF: 7/27-8/3/08
LESSON TITLE: Escape to Egypt
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 2:13-23
THEME: The Lord is our rock, our fortress and our deliverer.
Dear Parents…
Welcome to Bible Time for Kids! Bible Time for Kids is a series of daily devotions for children and their families. Our purpose is to supplement our Sunday morning curriculum and give you an opportunity to encourage your children to develop a daily devotional life. We hope you and your family will be blessed as you study God’s Word together.
This week in Children’s Church we learned about the time that Joseph and Mary had to escape to Egypt and hide out for a while. Jesus was still very young as was Mary and Joseph. But King Herod didn’t want any competition so he was attempting to destroy the newborn king by having all male children under the age of two killed.
This was no doubt a very scary time for Joseph and Mary. They just had a new baby son and would now have to go to a country that they were unfamiliar with and stay until it was safe again. It meant that they would have to trust and depend upon the Lord to see them through. But as God always does He proved Himself to be a rock, a fortress and a deliver for Joseph, Mary and Jesus. He continues to do the same for us as we trust in Him in our difficult situations.
The section of scripture that we studied was Matthew 2:13-23. The following five devotions are based on either the scripture and/or the theme for Sunday’s lesson. As a starting point it would be good for you to review these verses with your children.
These devotions are designed to help you reinforce Sunday’s lesson throughout the week with your children, provide some more ideas for the application of God’s Word in your children’s lives and provide a tool to help in family devotions.
Obviously children at various age levels will respond to the devotional in different ways. You may want to add your own ideas to these to make them more age appropriate.
May the Lord bless you as you study His Word together!
Day One
How Do We Know?
Text: Hosea 11:1 -“When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.”
Also read Matthew 2:13-23
“How do we know that the Bible is true?” Jarrod asked his Children’s Church teacher. This question had bothered him for a long time and he really wanted to know how we could know that the Bible is really from God. He sometimes thought about whether it could have been just written by men, or that they just thought up all of these stories. His teacher thought about the question for a moment and then responded with a story.
“Let’s say that one day you were given a book. In that book were several things written about your life. It said who your family was, where you were born and what town you grew up in. Then it told about other events in your life and even told about how you would one day die. Then you found out that this book wasn’t just written by just one person, but that over 40 different people wrote it. And you also found out that the 40 writers never got together to talk to one another about writing the book. In fact they didn’t even live at the same time or place as the others. They lived hundreds of years apart and in different parts of the world. But everything written about your life was completely true and happened exactly as it was told. Who could be the only possible one who could know all of this about you? Who do you suppose wrote this book?”
LESSON TITLE: Escape to Egypt
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 2:13-23
THEME: The Lord is our rock, our fortress and our deliverer.
Dear Parents…
Welcome to Bible Time for Kids! Bible Time for Kids is a series of daily devotions for children and their families. Our purpose is to supplement our Sunday morning curriculum and give you an opportunity to encourage your children to develop a daily devotional life. We hope you and your family will be blessed as you study God’s Word together.
This week in Children’s Church we learned about the time that Joseph and Mary had to escape to Egypt and hide out for a while. Jesus was still very young as was Mary and Joseph. But King Herod didn’t want any competition so he was attempting to destroy the newborn king by having all male children under the age of two killed.
This was no doubt a very scary time for Joseph and Mary. They just had a new baby son and would now have to go to a country that they were unfamiliar with and stay until it was safe again. It meant that they would have to trust and depend upon the Lord to see them through. But as God always does He proved Himself to be a rock, a fortress and a deliver for Joseph, Mary and Jesus. He continues to do the same for us as we trust in Him in our difficult situations.
The section of scripture that we studied was Matthew 2:13-23. The following five devotions are based on either the scripture and/or the theme for Sunday’s lesson. As a starting point it would be good for you to review these verses with your children.
These devotions are designed to help you reinforce Sunday’s lesson throughout the week with your children, provide some more ideas for the application of God’s Word in your children’s lives and provide a tool to help in family devotions.
Obviously children at various age levels will respond to the devotional in different ways. You may want to add your own ideas to these to make them more age appropriate.
May the Lord bless you as you study His Word together!
Day One
How Do We Know?
Text: Hosea 11:1 -“When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.”
Also read Matthew 2:13-23
“How do we know that the Bible is true?” Jarrod asked his Children’s Church teacher. This question had bothered him for a long time and he really wanted to know how we could know that the Bible is really from God. He sometimes thought about whether it could have been just written by men, or that they just thought up all of these stories. His teacher thought about the question for a moment and then responded with a story.
“Let’s say that one day you were given a book. In that book were several things written about your life. It said who your family was, where you were born and what town you grew up in. Then it told about other events in your life and even told about how you would one day die. Then you found out that this book wasn’t just written by just one person, but that over 40 different people wrote it. And you also found out that the 40 writers never got together to talk to one another about writing the book. In fact they didn’t even live at the same time or place as the others. They lived hundreds of years apart and in different parts of the world. But everything written about your life was completely true and happened exactly as it was told. Who could be the only possible one who could know all of this about you? Who do you suppose wrote this book?”
Jarrod answered, “God is the only one I can think of who could do something like that!” That’s right!” his teacher said, “The Bible tells us everything about God’s Son Jesus. Many things that Jesus did during His life (over 400 in fact!) were told hundreds of years before they ever happened in the Old Testament. These are called prophecies. The prophets told about Jesus’ family, where He would be born and how He would even die and then rise again. Different people, in different times and in different places all wrote about the same thing ¬Jesus. Every single one of the things they told about Jesus happened just like the prophets said. We find three just in Matthew 2:13-23. No one could do this except for God. This is just ONE way that we know that the Bible is really true. No other book has ever been able to do what the Bible has done.”
• Read Matthew 2:13-23 and see if you can find the 3 Old Testament prophecies about Jesus. How can this help you to know that the Bible is true?
Kid’s Bible Dictionary
Prophecy: The telling forth of truth. It can either be telling about the future (like some Old Testament prophets did about Jesus), or just declaring God’s word and truth.
Day Two
Our Rock, Fortress and Deliverer
Text: Psalm 18:2 -“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Also read Psalm 18:1-3
One time we had a friend stay with us who was from another country. We had a day that we told him that we would take him anywhere that he would like to go. Out of all of his choices, he decided that he most wanted to see Yosemite. He had only seen pictures of it and wanted to see it for real. He carried a postcard of Yosemite with him and said that he wanted the see “El Capitan.” Now if you have never seen El Capitan, it is a huge rock in the middle of Yosemite. So we went and made it all the way up Glacier Point, which is the place that you can look out and see all of Yosemite. We were all amazed at the size and beauty of the huge rocks that shoot up from the bottom of the valley.
One thing we knew for sure about those giant rocks was that no one could ever move them. In the Psalm that we read today, David says that the Lord was his rock. David knew that God could never be moved or shaken. He is like that rock in Yosemite that will always stay put in its’ place. We can always rely on Him, even when others may let us down. David had a lot of things happen in his life that caused Him to cry out to the Lord for strength. God was always there for him and delivered him from all of his troubles.
For almost 10 years David had to run for his life. The king at that time, Saul was trying to kill him. In fact he had an army of over 3,000 men who was trying to catch David. Could you imagine having to hide for that long? But during that whole time David knew where his true strength was. It was in the Lord. If we trust in the Lord, we know that we can never be moved. He is our rock, and He will keep us from being moved. If you are going through a tough time, remember that the Lord is your rock, fortress and deliverer.
• Have you ever been to Yosemite? What did you think about the giant rocks?
• Why can you trust in the Lord when you are going through a tough time?
• Who did David trust in when King Saul was trying to catch him?
Kid’s Bible Dictionary
Rock, Fortress and Deliverer: “Titles given to the Lord which describe His strength, security and ability to take care of us in all of our needs.
Day Three
Jesus is the Rock
Text: Matthew 16:18 - “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Also read Matthew 16:13-18
Have you ever picked up a brand new book and read through the first chapter and got so excited that you wanted to skip to the end of the book to see how it ends? Especially those books that begin by telling you a little bit about what is going to happen to the hero of the story and then go back in time to tell the story from the beginning. Because you now know a little bit about the ending you really want to jump to the end to see what happens. It’s sometimes hard not to jump to the end.
One of the wonderful things about the Bible is that we can jump to the end of the book to see what happens. That is the book of Revelation. We see that the Lord has won and that we will be with Him forever. That is very comforting to know that no matter what happens, our trust can be in Jesus and He has won.
In our reading today we see that Jesus has built His church on the strongest foundation possible, Himself. He says, “…on this Rock I will build My church,” referring to Himself. We are His church and if Jesus is our foundation then we too will overcome with Him. Since He is the rock, nothing will ever be able to move Him. God knows that everything will be OK because He is in control. All we have to do is just trust in Him and we will be OK as well.
We also see that our enemy will never be able to defeat us. No matter what Satan tries to do he can never prevail, or win over Jesus. Jesus is in control and when He died on the cross and rose again on the third day He forever defeated the enemy. He is our rock and how wonderful it is to be able to build our lives upon Him.
• When you get a new book do you like to jump to the end to find out what happens?
• Is Jesus the rock that you are building your life upon?
• How does knowing that Jesus wins help you to trust in Him?
Kid’s Bible Dictionary
Church -Called out assembly, all of those who believe in Jesus.
Day Four
Their Rock is Not Like Our Rock!
Text: Deuteronomy 32:31 - “For their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges.” Also read Matthew 7:24-27
Whenever someone builds a house probably the most important thing about that house is what kind of foundation it has. A foundation is what is under the house that holds it up. If there is a strong foundation then the house will be held up for a long time. But if the foundation is weak then the house can fall down under its’ own weight. Jesus used an example of this in the story of the wise man and the foolish man.
Jesus said that a wise person would build their house on the rock. Remember that Jesus is the Rock. When we listen to Him and His word and then obey Him we are building our lives upon a rock, a strong foundation. The wise man in the story built his house on a rock and when the rains came down and beat on the house, his house stood strong. So, when we build our lives on Jesus, no matter what storm may come our way we will remain strong.
Then there is the foolish man. He refuses to build his house on the rock. He decides to build his house on the sand. The problem is that when the storms come and hit his house, it is destroyed because the sand will move out from under the house. So if we build our lives on this world and not on God’s word then we will never be able to stay strong in a storm. The world’s rock is not like our Rock, because the world’s rock is really sand! Your life will be built on the Rock when you trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior and obey His Word. Then, no matter what storms may come into your life (and there will no doubt be some storms), you will be able to stand firm on your Rock--Jesus.
• Who is it who builds their house upon the Rock?
• How do we build our lives upon the Rock (Jesus)?
• Is your life being built on the rock or the sand?
Kid’s Bible Dictionary
Wise Person: The person who builds their life upon the rock (Jesus). Foolish Person: The person who builds their life upon the sand (this world). Storms: Tough things that happen in life.
Day Five
The Rock That is Higher Than I
Text: Psalm 61:2 -“From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Also read Psalm 61:1-4
Marina’s heart was beating very fast. She had never had any kind of surgery before. And now she was in the waiting room waiting for the doctor to arrive to talk to her and her parents before they began. There were so many things that she didn’t know or understand about what was happening. She just knew that she was very afraid. Her Dad took her hand and talked to her to try to help her feel better. He had his Bible with him and turned to Psalm 61 and shared verses 1-4 with her. He reminded her how that God has always taken great care of her and will continue to do so through the surgery.
Marina’s Dad told her about a time in his life when he was a little boy and had to have his tonsils taken out. It was pretty scary for him, but his Mom and Dad prayed with him and the Lord helped him through the surgery. In fact, about the only thing he could remember from the surgery was all of the ice cream and Jello that he got to eat because of the surgery. He shared that sometimes we can be very much afraid, but because we belong to the Lord we can cry out to Him. We know that He hears us and cares very much about us. He is the rock that is higher than us. We can take shelter under His wings in hard times, just like baby birds hide under their mom’s wings during scary storms. He reminded Marina that she does not have to be afraid because she is trusting in the Lord.
Marina and her Mom and Dad prayed and asked the Lord to give her strength and to help her to not be afraid. After their prayer the doctor arrived and explained everything. He told Marina that she should be home in a couple of hours and back playing in a couple of days. She felt a lot better because she knew that the Lord was with her. And you know what? Marina did just fine! Isn’t it great that we can call out to the Lord anytime we have need?
• Tell about a time that you have been frightened?
• How did it help you knowing that God was there to help you when you were afraid?
Kid’s Prayer Time
This week we looked at how Jesus is our rock. When you pray you can thank the Lord for always being there for you. If you are going through a tough time remember that you can pray and ask Him to help you. He is faithful to do that!
Memory Verse
First and Second Grade
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”
Third Grade and Above
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”
Hosea 11:1
