VBS DAY 1

Day 1 Lesson 1

Light in the Darkness.

GAME:

DYM GAME: One must Go.

Craft: Luminaries

GAME: 4 corners /POkey

Songs:

1. Rise and Sing

2. God of Revival

Lesson:

What do you love about Christmas?

*discuss*

One thing I love about Christmas is the lights.

My family loves to drive around and look at Christmas lights.

I enjoy Hollywild, that’s always a good time.

We enjoy going to the Christmas house in Inman.

We also love going to the Nodine Christmas house, which is just this random guy in Inman who has something like 60,000 LED lights around his house and he has them connected to a music playlist.

Why do we put up lights at Christmas?

I’m sure there are lots of reasons, some biblical and some not so much, but let me give you one good reason today connected to Christ.

At the end of the Old Testament, there was a period of 400 years where it’s generally thought of as God being silent.

He wasn’t. He was working.

But, still there is a time from Malachi to Matthew of about 400 years where the world seemed dark.

God seemed to be missing.

Darkness ruled the day and the lights had been turned off.

That’s what it felt like.

Darkness with no light.

But then God turned the lights on and he did it through a young girl.

We can read about this through some of the Christmas story.

Let’s read from Luke 1 today.

Can I have a volunteer read

Luke 1:30-31 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.

Likely a teenager or at least not much older than most of you in this room, God sends an Angel to Mary.

What would you do if tonight, you lay down and you pray to God.

You pray for your mom and dad, your siblings, your friends.

Then BOOM… an angel shows up and starts talking to you.

What are you doing?

you’re probably afraid.

You’re probably asking a lot of questions.

I love that every time an angel shows up in Scripture they say on thing immediately.

What is that?

What is the first thing the angel says to her?

“do not be afraid”

The Angel then tells her that she will have a son of the lineage of David.

He will be a king whose kingdom never ends.

His name will be Jesus.

The lights are beginning to come back on.

Now lets flip over to Luke 2:1-7 “1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”

Can I get a raise of hands for how many of us in this room tonight were born in a cave?

Born in a barn?

no?

How many of you know that your first nap was surrounded by farm animals?

Who is someone important to you or influential in your life that you don’t know?

Someone famous?

Ok lets say this person comes to visit you.

Where are you going to let them sleep?

Probably the nicest place you can find, right?

The God of the universe, the one who came to bring light in the darkness.

He’s born in the worst conditions.

Humble beginnings, the King of the Universe comes to get on our level.

This is the birth of Jesus.

But the announcement was a little different.

Read Luke 2:8-14 “8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.””

Ok, call out to me a few of the hopeful things the angels proclaim here?

Just yell them out.

What are some messages of hope proclaimed here?

DO not be afraid.

Joyful news

The Messiah is born.

He’s a baby lying in a manger.

The Angels join in praising God.

At this time, the world wasn’t just literally dark because it was night time.

Rome ruled the world at that time.

Rome was generally kind to allow cultures to exist and operate as they normally do…

However, the price for that “freedom” was that you had to do what Rome said when they said to do it.

You had to pay what Rome said, etc…

If you didn’t do that, you would probably die.

Consequences were harsh. Taxes were harsh.

People were burdened.

People were looking for hope.

They were looking for light in the darkness.

What are some ways our world is looking for hope today?

What are some ways our world is dark and needs light?

Why do people in our culture resist the hope Jesus offers?

Did the shepherds resist?

NO… They hear the proclamation of the angels and with excitement, they run to tell others the good news.

So how else did Jesus bring light into the world?

Flip to John 8:12 “12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

In John 8, something called the Festival of the booths had just occurred.

This is a Jewish celebration

It remembers and celebrates the time when God led the Israelites through the wilderness after being freed from Egypt.

At that time, God led them as a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

Constantly, Israel saw the presence of God through these signs.

In the New Testament, Jews would remember God leading them by living in temporary shelters for a week or so.

They would build these structures and live out of them and light lots and lots of candles.

The temple itself would have huge candles lit and all of Jerusalem would be lit up during this celebration.

It’s during this celebration amidst the entire city being lit up that Jesus says, in John 8:12 “12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

APPLICATION:

I don’t know what you may be experiencing in your life this summer.

I don’t know what you experience during the school year.

I do know this.

No matter how dark life my seem at times, Jesus is the light of the world.

He came in the humblest of fashions by being born in a dirty manger.

He now desires to light up your life.

To give you life.

That you would turn from death to life and trust Him every day of your life.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 “5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”

If you have believed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures, then you are a child of God.

You no longer live in the darkness but in the light.

If you’ve never done that, then why not?

Leave a life of darkness behind.

Live in the light of Christ.