Key Verse
“For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” Ezra 7:10
Understanding the Key Verse: Before beginning today’s lesson, consider today’s key verse. Christians should adhere to this verse. We must prepare our hearts to seek the law of the Lord (God’s Word). We must live it out in our lives, and then proceed to tell others. Then we will be able to teach others – first by the way we live our lives, then by being a verbal witness to others. It must happen in this order. Just as we see it in Ezra 7:10. It is important to know God’s Word. That is why we are studying it in detail.
Since this is a review, encourage your students to do most of the “telling” this week. Encourage them to “unload” all the knowledge they have of the Old Testament on you. This will also help you, the teacher, know where your classes’ deficiencies in Old Testament knowledge stand. Then you can focus more on you classes’ needs.
Always use your Bible. Become very familiar with it. To help in the understanding of the Old Testament, first –find Esther 10 in your Bible and hold Genesis through Esther 10 in your left hand. Next, hold the rest of the Old Testament (Job – Malachi) in your right hand. Understand that everything in your right hand takes place in the time-frame your left hand is holding.
Review and be prepared to share about the following looking back to Lesson 4 for additional information.
Ideas for review:
- Make it a game for your students to tell you which book is found in which division
- Have them tell you what each book is about.
- Let them tell you an event from each book. (Be prepared to tell one if no one has one!)
- Have Old Testament Bible Drills
- Use any (or all) of the resource reviews you have made this quarter.
Above all, encourage your students to want to know the Bible!
Optional Worksheets to be downloaded:
Lesson 12 Volume 1 Children’s Worksheet
Lesson 12 – Volume 1 Children’s Reinforcement Worksheet
Ideas for children:
In any lesson, you may want to work on your coloring timeline – especially when it relates to the lesson.
Display the poster of the books of the Old Testament (may be downloaded from lesson 4 blog). Review the books and the five divisions (showing them on the poster). Review the 3×5 cards if you made them, practicing the divisions. Focus on putting the books in order for today’s lesson. Be encouraged to memorize them!
If you drew pictures of different events from each division, you could compile them into folders – one for each division (see picture below).
There are many free coloring sheets online. Just type in a favorite for review and search away! You could always trace the child’s hand and write the five divisions on each finger – much like in lesson 4.
One class wrote the name of each book on a clothespin and hung them in order on a hanger.
Mural idea:
Continue adding to your wall in your classroom that is a huge mural. For this week, have them each choose their favorite Old Testament book and write a riddle about it for someone else to try and figure out which book it is.
Continue to have them bring a picture, a news article, a poem they have written, a picture they may have drawn, etc. of something that is relevant to each of the following week’s lessons. Encourage everyone to participate. Watch as it grows weekly, as they express what God is revealing to them through our study of how the Bible fits into His plan to help us become more like Him.
