Week 1000 · about 45 minutes
Mark 11
Mark 11 · Memory verse Mark 11:3
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Mark 11), the matching word search and answer key (Mark 11 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a ribbon
Hold a ribbon. Read Mark 11 in about four minutes, stopping at Mark 11:3: “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Mark 11?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Mark 11 is a real chapter from the New Testament. It starts, “When they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”” Mark 11 opens with these words: “When they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,” The line to keep is Mark 11:3: “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.”” Carry the word “anyone” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Mark 11:3: “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Mark 11? Then try this: Read “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through Mark 11. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Mark 11:3. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Mark 11 and write Mark 11:3 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Mark 11:3
“If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Mark 11. Help us remember Mark 11:3 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.