SCRIPTURE PASSAGES

2 Samuel 7:8-16

Matthew 1:1-17

 

OVERVIEW

Family history and family trees are always fun. And since this lesson falls around the holidays which are often a time for multigenerational gatherings, this lesson is a great opportunity for us to lean into our own family history, Jesus’ family history and how those things matter today. As we look at both the promises that God made in the Old Testament as well as how New Testament authors recorded how those promise were kept, we can see that family matters and that we are all connected to Jesus.

 

OPENING ACTIVITY: FAKE FAMILY HISTORY

Today’s game is called Fake Family History. You are going to take some of the more unfamiliar names from Jesus’ family tree and make up a history for them. Be creative. Make it interesting and then have the group vote on the following categories: Most Creative, Most Believable, Most Random Detail. Leaders don’t tell the categories until after the students have given their histories.

 

Here are some names from Jesus’ family tree that students can pick from or you can assign to them. (Next level: put the names in a hat and have students draw the names randomly.)

 

Names: Perez, Hezron, Amminadab, Salmon, Obed, Abijah, Jehoshaphat, Jotham, Shealtiel, Azor

 

DISCUSSION

• What did you like or not like about this game?
• What was hard or easy about this game?
• Is it strange to you that we don’t know a lot about many of the people in Jesus’ family tree?

 

FINAL QUESTION

• What is something interesting from your own family history that is true? Someone you are related to, or a family story, or a legend that gets told when you get together for a holiday celebration?

 

TRANSITION

Heritage is an important thing. It can be good, or it can be bad to focus on the past and where we’ve come from. If we do it poorly it can cripple us from moving on. If we do it in a positive way we can build on others’ success and learn from mistakes. It is interesting how two of the gospel writers feel that it is very important to list Jesus’ lineage. By this point in your spiritual walk you’ve probably already heard that Jesus’ family tree was far from a list of heroes. There are a lot of unexpected people that Matthew and Luke want to make sure we know are connected to Jesus. The history is important to His story.

 

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE

God in scripture made and kept many promises. He promised Adam and Even in Genesis 3 that He had a plan to fix their betrayal in the Garden of Eden. He would make them whole and return them and their descendants to full Garden status. He would punish sin and Satan. Later God promised Abraham that he would make a great nation of his descendants and that they would be a light to the world like the stars in the sky in Genesis 15. And later, as the promise of the nation is seemingly fulfilled through the kingship of David, God speaks to David and adds clarity to the promise. God promises that through David, the redeemer of Genesis 3 will fully realize the promise of Genesis 15. And because that promise included the promise of a heritage and a people, we come to the story of King David who is the most celebrated King of Israel.

 

Let’s take a deeper look at God’s promise to David. David has just established Jerusalem as the capital. He’s built a palace in the city, and he has brought the Ark of the Covenant to the city which symbolized the real presence of God in David’s new capital. David was probably on a real spiritual high, and in that vein realized that while he was living in a nice house, God was still ‘living’ in a tent made hundreds of years ago. David wanted to change that and it seems that God is honored by the sentiment. Even though it isn’t time for the temple to be built. God gives a beautiful blessing and promise to David.

 

Read 2 Samuel 7:8-16.

 

8 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

“ ‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ ”

 

DISCUSSION

• What are some parts of God’s promise that stood out to you from this passage?
• How do you feel about God making a great name for someone? Would you have a hard time staying humble if God made your name great?
• Part of the promise is rest from enemies. David still fought many battles, and the news in 2023 is filled with enemies still fighting each other in the middle east. (And the followers of Jesus have always had enemies as well.) What are some ways that in this holiday season of peace we can be the peacemakers that God desires?
• Even though you are still in high school, do you think about God blessing your offspring? What would it mean for God to be ‘a father to them’? Do you think maybe your parents or grandparents have the same prayer for you? Do you think they would hope that God disciplined you?
• Spend a moment to think about the forever aspect of this promise in verse 16. How does Jesus and everything that has happened with the movement of Jesus ensured or fulfilled the forever aspect of this promise? What specifically can your youth group do to be a part of continuing the forever promise to David?

 

What a great blessing from God. It’s much further beyond what David had asked for and in fact, he had not asked for anything. He had wanted to give something to God, a temple. What a wonderful example, and perhaps why God seemed to love David so much! Sometimes generosity is the result of gratitude and worship. Not that we earn God’s generosity, but much like a parent, God does love to bless His children perhaps especially when they live up to the ideals He has set for them.

 

Also key to this chapter is David’s response to God’s blessing. David is overwhelmed by God’s response. I love this worship response. Have you ever wondered what gift you can give to someone who has everything? Sometimes I remember finding it hard to figure out what to give my parents for Christmas. They had more money than I did as a teenager, how could I possibly give them something that was worthwhile when they were giving me a place to live, food, clothes and a Christian education? Any gift I could give would seem really small. Perhaps I needed to learn from David’s response to God.

 

Read 2 Samuel 7:18-22.

 

18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:

“Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human!

20 “What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord. 21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.

22 “How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.

 

DISCUSSION

• Do you ever feel small in God’s eyes? What reminds you of your importance to Him?
• How can we learn from this response of David’s?
• What promises do you believe God has given you?

 

As we close today, let’s think back to the genealogy of Jesus that we started with in our Opening Activity. It is easy to look back on the past and see the family tree of Jesus. But sometimes it is hard to remember that we are living proof of all of the promises of Scripture! We are part of the promises made to Abraham, Moses and David. We are the forever that was promised to those people so long ago. I hope that we can remember that God is still faithful in His promises for our future, including His soon return.

 

 

APPLICATION

Take some time this week or this Sabbath afternoon, as we get ready to start a new calendar year, to talk to your parents and grandparents about their spiritual history. How did your family become Christians? What is their Adventist story? Are there people that you could FaceTime that could add even more details about that story? Maybe even make a video of some of those conversations and share with your family!

 

 

SCRIPTURE PASSAGE

Matthew 1:1-17

 

LEADER’S NOTE

For a Relational Bible Study (RBS) you’ll want to get into the Scripture passage and encourage the youth to imagine participating in the story while it’s happening. Then you will be able to better apply it to your own situation today.

 

You will need to ask God for the Holy Spirit to be present as your small group discusses the questions (no more than 3-6 people in a group is recommended). Start with the opening question. It is a personal question and the answer is unique for each individual. There is no right answer and nobody is an expert here, so don’t be surprised when you hear different responses. You are depending on the Holy Spirit to be present and to speak through your group. Say what God prompts you to say, and listen to what others share.

 

Take turns reading the chapter out loud. Follow that with giving the students some time to individually mark their responses to the questions (a PDF version of the handout is available as a download). This gives each person a starting point for responding when you start to share as a group. Next, begin the discussion by asking the students to share what they marked and why on each question as you work your way through. Feel free to take more time on some questions than others as discussion warrants.

 

Encourage each person in the group to apply what is discussed to their personal lives and to share with the group what they believe God wants them to do. Then ask them to pray that God will help each of them to follow through in doing so. Remind them to expect that God will show them ways to live out the message of this passage in the coming week, and that they are free to ask others in the group to help hold them accountable.

 

DOWNLOAD THE HANDOUT

 

OVERVIEW

Over the holiday season relatives often gather. Sometimes it's full of good times and making memories. Certain family traditions can bond you together. Catching up with some relatives makes you miss them even more, while others make you glad you don’t see them more often.

 

What’s it been like for you? What has it been like for others who connected to you this past Christmas?

 

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ about 2,000 years ago. Today’s passage provides the family tree for Jesus, tracing it back from the first Jew, Abraham, and through Israel’s consummate king, David, as well as all of the others in the bloodline. Many of these we hardly know. Some of the kings in this genealogy were good (righteous), but others were not good (wicked). And then, surprisingly for a patriarchal society, four women get mentioned. Many of the people listed in this genealogy lead complicated lives. Yet Jesus came in this bloodline. This opens the door for us to consider how Jesus came to earth and became “one of us.”

 

For those into gematria (symbolic use of numbers), the number 14 symbolizes the name for David, as in “King David.” The genealogy in Matthew 1 (different from Luke 3) presents the bloodline in three sets of 14 generations. Literally, this means Jesus is “David, David, David.” Symbolically, this means Jesus is God’s ultimate king (3 = God and 14 is David—Israel’s ultimate king).

 

How will your youth relate to the people for whom Jesus is family? On this last Sabbath of 2023, let’s give pause and then dialogue about the family line of Jesus and our own family line.

 

 

Family Matters

 

Name a relative you are proud of. Describe a relative you’re not proud of.

 

 

Read Matthew 1:1-25.

 

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
9Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
11and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
13Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
14Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
15Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,

16and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

 

 

1.  Why are genealogies important?

• It provides identity.
• To know who is part of your bloodline.
• They provide boring spots—a good excuse not to read the Bible.
• It lays out a frame of reference for how people relate to each other.
• To practice reading names you’d usually never attempt.
• I don’t think genealogies are important.
• To make it clear who are Jews and who are Gentiles (in and out).
• To expose the good and the bad in your family line.
• Other.

 

2.  Why does Abraham get singled out for “Jesus the Messiah”?

• He is clearly the most important Jew—the father of the Jews.
• It’s more likely Americans will pronounce his name correctly.
• God promised Abraham a son, and Jesus is God’s promised son.
• Abraham followed God to an unknown land; Jesus did the same.
• The others in the genealogy did too many embarrassing things.
• It’s all based on the song “Father Abraham had many sons . . .”
• Jesus is the ultimate Jew—a descendent of Abraham.
• It’s not just Abraham; David gets singled out as well.
• Other.

 

3.  Why does David get singled out for “Jesus the Messiah”?

• He is clearly the most important king of God’s people.
• It’s more likely Americans will pronounce his name correctly.
• God promised David an eternal heir who would reign.
• David was an example of rising from a humble beginning to be king.
• The others in the genealogy did too many embarrassing things.
• All Jews, from kings to commoners, wanted the Messiah to be King.
• Jesus is the ultimate king (David).
• Just like David, Jesus defeated all of the enemies of God’s people.
• Other.

 

4. Who would you have kept off the list in the Matthew 1 genealogy?

• The names I can’t pronounce.
• The kings who were wicked (like Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon).
• No one—keep them all there.
• People with a problematic past.
• Those after the Babylonian captivity really don’t matter.
• Judah (see Genesis 38).
• Jesus.
• Other.

 

5.  If you are a “child of God” how are you related to this genealogy?

• I’m not related to any of them.
• I’m only related to Jesus (my “brother”).
• It’s spiritual, not literal or biological.
• Because I belong to Jesus, I’m related to all of these people.
• Galatians 3:26-29 indicates I’m related to even more such people.
• I’m “related” to fellow believers at church.
• I’m “related” to everyone who is a follower of God.
• This seems like a bunch of talk, but it doesn’t affect how I live.
• Other.

 

6.  What is the significance of three sets of 14 generations (vs. 17)?

• The Jews were really into the symbolic meaning of numbers.
• The total is 42, used in other parts of the Bible (Rev. 11:2; 13:5).
• It’s a coincidence that the genealogies came out this way.
• The genealogies were actually altered some to make it 3 x 14.
• The number 14 is the symbolic name of David, so Jesus = David.
• The number 3 is the symbolic number for God, so Jesus = God.
• It divides Jewish history based on three significant events.
• This is not truly significant.
• Other.

 

7.  Which people in Christ’s genealogy are admirable? Which are complicated?

 

 

 

8.  Why did God place Jesus in this line of people? Why did God place you in your line of relatives?

 

 

SUMMARY

At this holiday season, we thank God for the gift of Jesus coming to earth. We might be surprised at the bloodline through which Jesus came. He certainly identified with us as humans, and perhaps this makes Jesus more approachable to us. And yet Jesus was also God. Jesus came to us as human and divine. And because we are also “children of God” we are related to humans and also to God. That’s quite the combination. Let this give you a focus as you start the new year.

 

 

APPLICATION

Some of the youth in your Sabbath School might be pleased to be in the family where they are right now, but some might not be so pleased. Jesus became part of the human family, and yet He is God, and a transforming God at that! Here are a few ideas for applying this week’s lesson to your life as you transition from 2023 to 2024.

 

ROOTS.

• Do you know your family tree? After a holiday like Christmas, we sometimes have been in contact with relatives we know well and some we don’t know so well. You might have done some type of DNA test to trace your ancestry. Here’s a link to what some consider to be the top 7 DNA tests: https://www.dnaweekly.com/best/ancestry/?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=20525412170&cq_term=dna%20ancestry%20test&cq_plac=&cq_net=g&cq_plt=gp&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI07iz8d30ggMVlimtBh3sNgIOEAAYAiAAEgLqN_D_BwE
• Make a family tree that lists your relatives.
• Take time this week to pray about those who are related to you. Talk with God about each one of them.
• On another day this next week, go deeper into the roots of your family tree.
• Read through Christ’s genealogy in Matthew 1 and pray about these “ancestors” as well.
• Google some of the names you don’t recognize if you want to find out more. You are related to a lot of messed up human beings, and you’re also related to Jesus Christ, who is God.
• Take that into your new year!

 

NEW BEGINNINGS.

With the start of a new calendar year (for most teens, their “new year” is the start of a school year, not the start of the calendar year, but point out it’s the start of a new calendar year anyway), this is a natural time for a new start—a new beginning.

• Just like discovering you suddenly have a new beginning, use the start of a new calendar year and the reality that you are connected to Jesus Christ encourage you and broaden your vision to see yourself the way God sees you.
• Talk this over with a parent and/or a friend.
• Acknowledge this identity and ask for God’s guidance as you begin a new year—2024.

 

CHILD OF THE KING.

I’m a child of the king, and so are you.

• Pump that into your ears and eyes and mind as often as you need to do so. Here’s one video link to a song that explains it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5ulNuYKknE&t=51s
• Play it as often as you need to for this to be your identity—you “child of God!”
• If you’d like another praise version of this same message, try this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcC1Bp13n_4

​​​​​​​

​The Miracle

Created By NAD Youth And Young Adult Ministries

 

What if the Miracles of Jesus are more than meets the eye?
What if there is so much more to each story than we see?
What if each time Jesus did something supernatural, He was inviting us to look deeper?
Beyond the healing.
Beyond the deliverance.
Beyond the acts that defied the laws of nature.
What if Jesus were inviting us to see something bigger?
Something more amazing about the love of God.
Something mind-blowing.

What if the ultimate Miracle is that God can transform us?

The Miracle Series is an interactive study of 15 of Jesus’ awe-inspiring encounters while here on earth. These lessons, and messages are designed to connect with teens and youth and take them on a journey of discovery. Included in this kit is everything you need:

• Small group scripts
• PowerPoint presentations
• Promotional video and files
• Participant Study Guides

We invite you and your youth to not just study the Miracles of Jesus but to experience The Miracle.

 

Purchase from AdventSource

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Help parents stay sane. Assemble bags with activities to keep small children busy.

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2. Placemats For Meals On Wheels
Cheer up the homebound. Thoughtfully decorated placemats are a lovely extra to bring to meal recipients. If you’re able to laminate the placemats, all the better!

Cost: Less than $5.00
Example: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1g4J3g36pQ


3. Deliver Meals For Meals On Wheels
Help fight hunger. Pick up and deliver meals to seniors and people with disabilities. 

Cost: Less than $5.00
Example: www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/americaletsdolunch