Week 1006 · about 45 minutes
Luke 3
Luke 3 · Memory verse Luke 3:4
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Luke 3), the matching word search and answer key (Luke 3 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a cup of water
Hold a cup of water. Read Luke 3 in about four minutes, stopping at Luke 3:4: “As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Luke 3?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Luke 3 is a real chapter from the New Testament. It starts, “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,” 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, “added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.” Luke 3 opens with these words: “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee,…” The line to keep is Luke 3:4: “As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths…” Carry the word “written” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Luke 3:4: “As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Luke 3? Then try this: Read “As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness,…” 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 Luke 3. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Luke 3:4. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Luke 3 and write Luke 3:4 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Luke 3:4
“As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Luke 3. Help us remember Luke 3:4 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.