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Reply to "COOKING Lessons & Ideas for Isaiah foretells the Messiah"

An Isaiah "Fortune" Cookie Workshop

Summary of Lesson and Activity Objective:

Children will make jumbo fortune cookies out of tortillas to remember what Isaiah said about the coming of the Messiah, and consider our response to his Advent!

Scripture Reference:

Isaiah 9:6 (wonderful counselor...) and Acts 1:3-7 (you are my witnesses...to the ends of the earth)

Advent-Isaiah-Fortune-Cookies

Materials List:

  • Toothpicks
  • Strips of Paper
  • See recipe below for ingredients!

Advanced Preparation Requirements:

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
  • Cut strips of paper for the fortunes


LESSON PLAN

Adapted from the cookie workshop here at Rotation.org

Opening

Have everyone wash their hands before entering Loaves & Fishes Cooking Company. Hand out aprons and gather everyone around the tables.  Introduce yourself and any other adults. Explain what they'll be doing today and what you hope they will learn.



Say: We are going to be baking cookies today. We will save our prayer time for while the cookies are baking. Before we do any baking, let’s talk about what we’re learning.

Ask: Who can tell me what season of the year it is? (Advent)
What is Advent? (allow a few responses)

Say: Advent is also a time of preparing our hearts and our minds for the celebration of Jesus’ birth.  Advent is the time where we wait to celebrate the coming of Christ and we prepare ourselves for Christmas day.

Ask: I know that there are preparations to do for Christmas like shopping and wrapping gifts, but what do we need to do to get ready to celebrate Jesus' birthday?

Bible Study:

Say: Christmas is something we plan for way in advance isn’t it? We get our decorations up, shop for Christmas presents, hang lights, and we light Advent candles for four Sundays before Christmas.

Today we will learn how Jesus’ birth was actually something God planned for a very long time. God told the world about the coming birth way before it happened! Seven hundred years before Jesus was born God told prophets to tell the people about the coming Savior.  And very importantly, what God's Savior was going to do and act like.

Ask: What is a prophet? (allow any answers)
A prophet is God’s special messenger. A prophet tells people that they need to change their behavior and look for God.

Ask: If we were to read about something that a prophet reported, something that happened way before Jesus was born, where in the Bible would we read about it? (in OT)

Point out how the Books of the Prophets starts with Isaiah and includes a whole list of prophets. Name a few.

Say: The message that a prophet brings is called a “prophecy.”  Do you know what a prophecy is?  A prophecy is a message telling us what to look for, what to watch out for, and how to get ready for God's action in our lives and world.   For example, the prophet John the Baptist told the people to "get ready, prepare the way of the Lord" and he was speaking of Jesus.

Do: Have students grade three and above find Isaiah in their Bibles.

Say: Let’s look up one of the prophecies of Isaiah that told about Jesus coming. Remember these words were said 700 years before Jesus was born.

Have students find Isaiah 9:6. Read it aloud.

Ask: Who is the child referred to in this verse: “For to us a child is born”? (Jesus)  We call this "child" that God is sending, the "Messiah, "the "Savior" of the world.

Ask: What does Isaiah say that the Messiah will be like? (ask students to define the words in Is 9:6)

Ask: How are we to respond to such a great event? (Accept answers then have everyone look up an answer in Acts 1:3-7.)   

Ask:  Jesus told the disciples, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”     

Personalize this by saying the verse to each student one at a time using their name and changing the name places. For example:  "Hannah, you will be my witness in Toronto, and in all Canada and the U.S., and to the ends of the earth.”   You may also go around in the circle letting each student issues Jesus' words to the person on their left, letting the student come up with the name places.

Cookie Time:

Has anyone ever eaten a fortune cookie before?  Fortune cookies are a fun snack and inside of them you can find a little message that tells about your future.  These little messages are fun to read but they definitely aren’t true!  Only God knows our future!

Today we are going to make Jumbo fortune cookies with a message in it that reminds us of God’s promises/prophecies for our future!

Fortune Cookie Supplies and Instructions:

  • Each child will have a chance to create 2 jumbo fortune cookies - one to keep and one to give away
  • Students will write their own special message on a slip of paper to insert into the cookie.

    The "fortune" is a message. It should include 2 statements, one on each side:

    1. A quote from Isaiah 9 ("Unto us a child is born...")

    2. A prophetic word encouraging others to spread the message in ___________ and ______________.  (School, work, town, state, where people are hurting, in need, to the sad, etc etc.
    Have students brainstorm the paper slips here.

  • Students can enjoy one cookie at the end of class and then take a second one to share with someone.   Encourage them to teach that person what they learned during the lesson today.
  • Young children will need lots of help to fold their tortillas.
  • Have pre-readers/writers draw pictures on their “fortune slips” instead of writing words.  They could draw pictures about Jesus being born, Jesus going back up to heaven in the clouds, Jesus coming back, etc.

Jumbo "Tortilla" Fortune Cookies

(Recipe was from littlefiggy.com, although the recipe now appears to be have been removed from that site.)

Editor's Notes:

If you have time, you can also have your kids MAKE a 'real' jumbo fortune cookie from scratch using one of a number of recipes easily found online and quickly assembled. Google "Jumbo Fortune Cookie Recipe." Here's a good one: https://www.wikihow.life/Make-Fortune-Cookies

An important idea you can add to this lesson is making MORE cookies (with Bible verses in them) to share.


Isaiah-prophecy-fortune-cookie-Bible-lesson

Ingredients for 8 "fortune cookies":

  • 8 (6 inch) Flour Tortillas
  • 2 - 3 Tbls Butter, melted
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • ½ cup Sugar

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 350F.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Fold tortilla shells as follows:

Step 1: Fold soft flour tortilla shell in half.

Step 2: Fold over again in half (open edge end).

Step 3: Place your thumb inside left fold and carefully fold left half back to center

Step 4: Repeat above fold with right side.

Step 5: Pinch to hold together

Step 6: Using wooden toothpicks or cocktail sticks, lift up top edge and insert stick through

Step 7:  Continue to insert all the way through to fasten to other side. Be careful not to poke through the top of shell. Pinch if needed to close any gap.

Tip: Make sure tortillas are as fresh and soft as possible, because if your shells are older they will tear or crack easily. You can try to soften them by warming them up in the microwave for 20 seconds or less, just until they are more pliable.

  • After folding, mix together the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
  • Using a pastry brush, brush all over fortune cookie with melted butter.
  • Dust over buttered fortune cookie with Cinnamon Sugar and gently tap excess off.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 8 - 10 minutes.
  • Cool and remove toothpicks/cocktail sticks.

Paper strips can be inserted only AFTER baking. Do so quickly before the tortillas completely harden.

Prayer:

Use the time while the cookies are baking to have the children join you in prayer.

Closing:

One at a time, invite students to crack open their Isaiah Advent Cookie and read their "fortune" to others. As they continue to eat their cookies, follow up with reinforcing comments and encouragements about who they might share their cookie with.

A lesson written by member ZBCC

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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Last edited by Neil MacQueen
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