shepherd

Psalm 23

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello again! Today’s psalm is about trusting God. This is very popular song and it tells us God is like a shepherd that takes care of us, His sheep.

This is a song that David wrote…and since HE was a shepherd…he knew a lot about what it takes to keep sheep healthy and safe.

shepherd-with-sheep-clip-art-p9sjih-clipart

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

For preschool understanding:

The Lord is like a shepherd, He takes care of everything I need.
He keeps me safe….like a shepherd has his sheep sleep in green pastures,
He shows me a good, peaceful way to live…like a shepherd leads his sheep by calm waters,
he refreshes my soul and makes my heart happy.
He guides me along the right paths and helps me make good choices, because that makes Him happy.
Even when sad or hard things happen, like walking through a dark, scary, valley,
I will not be afraid, for You, God, are with me;
your strength comforts me…like a shepherd’s big staff (stick) protects the sheep.

You give me everything I need AND MORE….like a whole feast of food and nothing can stop how good You are to me. 
You give me all the best things to comfort me, my cup overflows…I have more than enough.
Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will live close to the Lord in His house forever.

Like a shepherd that loves his sheep, God loves us and takes good care of us. He gives us everything we need AND more!

We did not do a craft today, but of course any kind of sheep craft would work.

I also found THIS super cute marshmallow sheep cupcake.

THIS VIDEO from Sami Cone teaches sign language along with the verses.

THIS VIDEO from zondervan retells the Jesus Storybook Bible version of Psalm 23.

And this cute video from spaz1amy is just a super cute recitation.

Thanks for joining us again. Love to you all!

David the Shepherd

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all…today’s lesson is a variance on David the shepherd. Today’s lesson is more focused whereas last year’s lesson was more broad. (Found HERE.)

Do you remember what David was doing before God said he would be the new king? He was taking care of the sheep! That’s called being a shepherd. What kinds of things do you think a shepherd has to do? (Feed the sheep, get them water, keep them safe, show them where to go, keep them healthy.) The shepherd loves his sheep.

When David got bigger, he was like a shepherd to the people of Israel. He became king and he took care of the people just like he took care of the sheep! He kept them safe, fighting in battles, and he made sure they had food and water. He led the people to God and he obeyed God which helped remind the people to obey God too! (2 Samuel 5:2, 1 Chronicles 11:2, Ezekiel 34:11-23, Psalm 78:70-72)

David would get married and have a baby boy. And that boy would grow up and have a boy and he would have a boy and on and on for 14 times, until another baby boy was born–Jesus. Jesus is like a shepherd too. He leads us to God and He keeps us safe. David wrote a lot of songs and in those songs, David called God “our Shepherd” a lot. (Psalm 23:1-3, 28:9, 95:7, 79:13, 100:3)

He takes care of us…and even more important than making sure we have the THINGS we need, He takes care of our hearts. Jesus doesn’t just take care of us, He loves us, just like a shepherd loves his sheep. (Isaiah 40:11, 53:6, Micah 7:4, Jeremiah 31:10)

Sometimes if a wolf or other scary animal would come and try to eat one of the sheep, the shepherd would fight the animal–even if he died..he would try to fight to save his sheep. Do you remember Jesus died for us? Sin (anything that disobeys God) wants to have our hearts…which keeps us away from God forever…but Jesus, the Good Shepherd, fought and died to save us. (Isaiah 53:6, John 10:11). But He didn’t stay dead–because unlike a regular shepherd, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is stronger than sin and death. Not EVEN dying can keep Jesus away from us or away from loving us.

God gave His people in Israel a good shepherd, David to lead them and protect them. But later He would give ALL of us Jesus, the Good Shepherd (the best shepherd of all) to love us, protect us, and save our hearts.

 

For today’s craft, we cut out a sheep’s head and then glued some fluffy cotton balls to make a sheep.

 

Thanks again for joining us. Love to you all!

Advent-Day 16-David

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Welcome again!

This month we are learning about God, God’s son Jesus, and Jesus’ earthly family.

The next person in Jesus’ family after Ruth and her husband had a boy named Jesse, then Jesse had sons, one of which was named David.

Our lessons can be found here and here. In the Bible, David’s stories cover from 1 Samuel 16-2 Samuel and the book of Psalms.

David was just a boy when God first chose Him. And David was a shepherd. A shepherd is someone who takes care of sheep. He would feed them, make sure none of them were lost or chased by bigger animals. David had to fight off a couple of big animals and that helped get him ready to fight the giant Goliath later.

One day, God would choose David, “just” a shepherd to lead His people, Israel. Being a shepherd was probably good practice for leading all of Israel. He took care of the people and showed them how to love God. God loved David very much and was very happy that he took good care of the people.

The Bible tells us (1 Peter 2:25, Psalm 23) that God is Our shepherd. He cares for us, protects us and leads us.

So when Jesus was born, there were shepherds in the fields, taking care of their sheep (it was night time then and even then they had to watch the sheep and make sure they were ok.) The angels came first to the shepherds (not the kings, not the fancy rich people…but to the shepherds) and told them that a Savior had been born and that He was the Messiah, Christ the Lord.

The shepherds were scared, but they ran to see baby Jesus and then they ran and told EVERYONE the good news!! They were so excited that Jesus was here! Nobody quite knew yet what kind of King Jesus would be (that He would die for all our sins) but the shepherds believed!

 

Bible Story: David, the shepherd

Attribute of God: Shepherd

Jesus’ birth story: the shepherds learn of Jesus’ birth

Craft:

Side one of our ornament is a shepherd. We made him using a circle marker for the head and then we drew on a face. We gave him some clothes and used a toothpick for his staff (a big stick the shepherds would use to lead the sheep around). Then we glued on some marshmallows to be little sheep. (You could also use pom poms or cotton balls).

Our text reads: David was a shepherd. 1 Sam 16, 2 Sam 5, God is our Shepherd. 1 Peter 2:25, Psalm 23IMG_0438

Side two of our ornament today is three surprised shepherds looking up at an angel. We again used circle markers to make all the heads and we drew surprised faces on the shepherds and (it was) a happy face on the angel. We gave the angel wings made from a cut up muffin/cupcake liner.

Our text reads: The angels appeared to the shepherds. Luke 2

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Thanks again for joining us. Love to you all!