The Kingdom Proclaimed, Part Six

Week forty-nine | december 8-14

The God that we have been getting to know through the Bible is Triune, three persons in one, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person of the Trinity perfectly loves and exists together. Jesus is the person of the Trinity who came to earth to be born as a human, existing as fully God and fully human. There is none like him. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word,” and Revelation 21:6 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Jesus has existed since before time began and will exist for eternity. He is what the Old Testament pointed toward, what the Gospels point out, and what the rest of the Bible proclaims! He fulfilled it all. There is nothing greater than Jesus. There are a lot of amazing people, places, and things in this world and throughout time, but nothing compares to Jesus. He is the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe, the Savior of the World, the Way, Truth, and Life, the LORD and Ruler of everything. No angel, spiritual being, or created being can take his place or claim the glory that he alone deserves. Jesus is better than anything else and when we know him we experience that, just as God designed it to be.

Memory Verse

“But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

Hebrews 1:2

Worship

Day One

 Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about how Jesus has existed since the very beginning, which is why he is better than anything else.

John 1:1-4

John 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

Day Two

Read

Here are some verses for you and your family to read about how Jesus is better than the angels.

Hebrews 1:1-4 

Hebrews 1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

Day Three

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about how Jesus is better than sacrifices. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, fulfilling what the previous sacrifices could never fulfill. 

Hebrews 9:11-14

Hebrews 9:11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

Day Four

Read

Here are some verses for your family to read about how Jesus is better than the law of Moses/Old Covenant that God gave his people to be obeyed. The Old Testament law was a good thing but Jesus is better because nobody could ever keep the law perfectly. Jesus kept the law perfectly but also gave us a better promise -the promise of eternal life through believing in Him. The law really only shows us how much we sin but Jesus promises heaven for even the worst sinners who believe in Him. Through Jesus, we are forgiven for disobeying God’s law and given a relationship with God forever. 

Hebrews 7:22, 8:6-13, 9:15,12:24

Hebrews 7:22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

8:6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. 8 For he finds fault with them when he says:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah,
9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
    and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
    and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

9:15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

 12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Pray

Lead your family in a time of prayer over what you read.

Consider the ACTS model:
A – Adoration/ praise God (remember that this is part of worshiping God)
C – Confession (confess sin and your need of God)
T – Thanksgiving (thank God)
S – Supplication (ask God to supply your needs) 

Day Five: Family Sabbath

Be Present

Set aside distractions (electronics, work, chores, etc.) and spend time with God and each other. 

Pray

Spend some time praying about the things you have learned in this week’s lessons about Jesus. Do a recap of each lesson and give praise for the things that stand out about Jesus.

Play

Choose something fun/intentional to do as a family. Here are some ideas:

• Get some construction paper, crayons, and whatever other crafts you need and have everyone write cards telling Jesus how amazing He is. Put those in a box to pull out during Christmas to read as we celebrate the birth of Jesus in a few months. 
• Cook your family’s favorite meal or go out to your favorite restaurant. Talk about how amazing the food is. Really talk up how delicious it is and how it is the best food ever. Then talk about how Jesus is even better than the food. Have the children talk about all of the things that they love that Jesus is even better than. 
• Make up a song as a family that tells Jesus how awesome He is.  

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