​Looking Ahead…Mark your calendars!
 
March 4th: OCBC Kids to Ellen’s!
March 16th: No Kids’ Choir (Spring Break)
March 19th: No TeamKID (Spring Break)
April 9th: Palm Sunday (All kids will lay Palm Branches), Kids’ Choir Sings
April 16th: Easter Sunday, No Children’s activities during PM Service
May 17: Final Kids’ Choir
May 21st: Final TeamKID
May 26th: End of School Bash for all OCBC Kids, 6pm
June 4th-8th: VBS
June 14th: Summer Kids’ program begins
June 25th-28th: PowerPlus Preteen Camp @ Pineywoods
 
*Please note: There will be no children’s activities on Sunday evenings throughout the summer.  

TeamKID, Sundays @ 6pm
Bible Story: God Has No Favorites
Memory verse: Acts 10:34 (ESV)
Application: I can treat others as God would like me to treat them and as I would like to be treated.
 
​Kids' Choir, Wednesdays @ 7pm
 Hymn of the month: 
Blessed Be the Rock
 
THE GOSPEL PROJECT FOR KIDS, Sundays @ 9:30am
 
 Unit 16: God the Sustainer
Unit Description:After years of living in sin, God’s people were sent into exile. The Southern Kingdom of Judah was captured by Babylon. Through Daniel and other faithful men, God showed His power to the people of Babylon and eventually Persia. When the time of exile ended, God brought His people home and helped them rebuild the temple.
Key Passage: Daniel 2:20-21
Big Picture Question: How can we obey God? We trust God to give us strength to obey Him.
 
Bible Story: God Brought His People Home
Bible Passage: Ezra 1:1–2:2; 2:64–3:13
Main Point: God changed the king’s heart so the Israelites could go home.
 
God’s people had been living in Babylon for 70 years. Some of God’s people had died in Babylon. Some of their children and grandchildren were born in Babylon and grew up there. But Babylon was not their home. Before the people of Judah were exiled, God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. These are the words of the Lord: “These nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years” (Jer. 25:11). Then the Lord said, “When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm My promise concerning you to restore you to this place” (Jer. 29:10). 

The time had come for God’s people to go back home. Cyrus, the king of the Persian empire, overthrew Babylon. Cyrus took over the kingdom, including the lands of Israel and Judah. In the following year, the Lord did something miraculous in Cyrus’s heart. He prompted Cyrus to issue a decree: All the Jewish exiles are free to return to their ancestral homes. The exile was over! God’s people were free to return to their own land. They were free to live as God’s special people.
The first group of Judean exiles returned home under the leadership of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the grandson of King Jehoiachin, who had been taken to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. (See 2 Kings 24:8­13.) Ezra 2:64­65 says nearly 50,000 people traveled back to Judah. When they got to Jerusalem, they began working to rebuild the temple that the Chaldeans had destroyed. (See 2 Chron. 36:19.) Zerubbabel led God's people back to the temple to rebuild it. The temple was the place where God met with His people on earth. Jesus came to earth to rescue God’s people. 
​
One day, Jesus will return to restore a greater home for all of God's people, and we will spend eternity with Him. Help your kids understand that the temple was designed to point to Jesus. We meet with God not through a building now, but through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
 
Check this session’s Activity Page and Big Picture Card as well as the Gospel Project for Kids Family App for ways to interact with the Bible content this week.
 
FAMILY STARTING POINTS
 ● Babies and Toddlers
○ God helps us obey Him.
○ God brought His people back to their land.
○ Zerubbabel led the people to build the temple.
○ Jesus brings us to God.
 
● Preschool
○ How can we obey God? We trust God to help us obey Him.
○ God brought the Israelites back home.
 
● Kids
○ How can we obey God? We trust God to give us strength to obey Him.
 ○ God changed the king’s heart so the Israelites could go home.
 
UNIT KEY PASSAGE
● Daniel 2:20­21​ (Preschool: Daniel 2:20​)
 
NEXT WEEK
● “The Temple Was Completed” ​(Ezra 4:1­7; 5:1­5; 6:13­22)
  
In Christ,
Stephenie

TeamKID, Sundays @ 6pm
Bible Story: God’s Promise to Noah
Memory verse: Psalm 105:8 (ESV)
Application: God is truthful, dependable, and reliable.
 
Kids' Choir, Wednesdays @ 7pm
 Hymn of the month: 
Blessed Be the Rock
 
THE GOSPEL PROJECT FOR KIDS, Sundays @ 9:30am
Unit 16: God the Sustainer
Unit Description:After years of living in sin, God’s people were sent into exile. The Southern Kingdom of Judah was captured by Babylon. Through Daniel and other faithful men, God showed His power to the people of Babylon and eventually Persia. When the time of exile ended, God brought His people home and helped them rebuild the temple.
Key Passage: Daniel 2:20-21
Big Picture Question: How can we obey God? We trust God to give us strength to obey Him.
Bible Story: Daniel Was Rescued
Bible Passage: Daniel 6
Main Point: Daniel was faithful to God, and God rescued him.
 
The fifth chapter of Daniel ends with the death of King Belshazzar when the Persians
took over Babylon and Darius was put on the throne. Babylon was on the decline—no
longer the powerful, prosperous empire it once was. By this time Daniel was an old man,
probably in his early 80s. He served the new king as one of the three leading supervisors
in the kingdom.
 
Daniel was very good at his job. So good, in fact, that King Darius planned to put him in
charge of the entire kingdom. The other supervisors and governors were jealous of
Daniel. They watched for him to do something wrong so they could complain to the king.
Read Daniel 6:4. Daniel was “trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in
him.”
 
Through the malevolent persuasion of the king’s leaders, King Darius passed a law that
no one could pray to anyone but him, the king, for 30 days. Daniel continued to pray
boldly to God. Even the king’s threat of death did not stop Daniel from praying. The
jealous officials turned him in, and Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den.
Daniel was in the lions’ den all night long. When morning came, the king rushed to find
out what happened to Daniel and discovered that Daniel was alive and unharmed! God’s
protection of Daniel served to show all the people that the God of Daniel “is the living
God, and He endures forever; His kingdom will never be destroyed, and His dominion
has no end” (Dan. 6:26).
 
God showed His power to rescue Daniel from the lions, but Daniel was just a small
part of a much bigger story. God ultimately rescued us from a much bigger
problem--sin and death--through His Son, Jesus.
 
Help your kids understand that God also calls us to trust and obey Him no matter what.
God sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue us from something much more dangerous than lions.
Jesus rescues us from sin and death. Pray that through your faith, and that of your kids,
“may the name of God be praised forever and ever” (Dan. 2:20).
 
Check this session’s Activity Page and Big Picture Card as well as the Gospel Project for
Kids Family App for ways to interact with the Bible content this week.
 
FAMILY STARTING POINTS
 
● Babies and Toddlers
○ God helps us obey Him.
○ Daniel would not pray to anyone but God.
○ God kept Daniel safe from the lions.
○ Jesus was hurt to keep us safe.
 
● Preschool
○ How can we obey God? We trust God to help us obey Him.
○ God rescued Daniel.
 
● Kids
○ How can we obey God? We trust God to give us strength to obey Him.
○ Daniel was faithful to God, and God rescued him.
 
UNIT KEY PASSAGE  Daniel 2:2021
(Preschool: Daniel 2:20 )
 
NEXT WEEK
“God Brought His People Home” (Ezra 1:1–2:2; 2:64–3:13)
 
In Christ,
Stephenie