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.
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