The Temptation of Jesus
Holywood & Vine – "Movie" Workshop
Grades K-4*
Editor: The lesson was originally K-2, but with some language adjustments it can easily stretch to 4th or 5th grade. The videos work for all.
Summary of Lesson Activities:
Watch the verses as portrayed in Matthew ("The Visual Bible”) and watch “Temptations in the Desert”
Lesson Objectives: - children will:
- Children will describe the account of Jesus’ temptation in the desert.
- Children will recognize that Jesus was tempted.
- Children will recognize that the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ knowledge of scripture helped him resist temptation.
- Children will understand that we must be obedient to God and authorities in our lives.
- Children will describe temptations in their lives.
- Children will discuss ways to resist temptation.
- Children will memorize Hebrews 2:18
Life Application:
To learn that Jesus was tempted like us, and even more --he was tempted to be some sort of super-hero "messiah," but instead, chose to be obedient to God's will for him.
Supply List:
- Pastor Greg’s Bible Background
- “Matthew – The Visual Bible” DVD ISBN 0-9674397-28. This video can be purchased on DVD or streamed via Amazon.
- “Jesus, A Kingdom Without Frontiers” “Temptations in the Desert” This video is now available for free on YouTube. See the video preview below.
- TV, DVD player, Video player
- TEV Bibles
- Journals, colors or markers
- Crossword puzzle sheets available if the lesson runs short and Children’s bulletins for the Sunday of the common lectionary
The video is available for free viewing at https://youtu.be/pKOCmVcFEnM
LESSON PLAN
Opening-Welcome and Lesson Introduction:
Please remember to introduce yourself to the students. These children interact with different theme room leaders every week so the possibly don’t know you or know your name.
- Some of the children may be very familiar with the computer where there may be others who need extra help.
- Please feel free to use your own ideas. This is only a guide – you are the teacher and know the students far better than I do.
Say: Before we begin, let’s say this month’s Bible verse together:
“Because Jesus himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:18 NIV
Prepare to Show the Videos
SAY: There are a couple words that we’re going to be hearing a lot today. Let’s just make sure we understand what the meaning is in scripture because one is different than the way that we are use to understanding the words:
fast - to go without food in order to devote time to prayer
tempt - to try to get someone to do something wrong, an attraction to do the
wrong thing
ASK:
- What does it mean to be tempted?
- What kind of things are you tempted by?
SAY: Jesus has been baptized in obedience to God’s will. At his baptism the Holy Spirit descended from heaven and rested on Jesus. The Spirit did not land and gently flutter away. The Holy Spirit lingered and strengthened Jesus. And now, led by the Holy Spirit, Jesus heads to the wilderness. In Mark’s gospel, the wording is even stronger, ”the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness” (Mark 1:12). This describes not just a gentle leading, Jesus was being led by the Holy Spirit. In obedience to His Father, Jesus had been baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. Now he MUST go. Like so many of the great prophets before him, including Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist, Jesus heads to the wilderness desert to encounter the Lord.
Read or have the students take turns reading Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13 from the Bible (emphasize “angels came and helped him in Mark).
THEN watch Matthew 4:1-11 from “The Visual Bible”
Repeat verse 11 a couple times so the kids recognize what’s missing in the next video.
SAY: Now we’re going to watch an ANIMATED video about Jesus’ experience in the wilderness. There is one very important thing about Jesus experience that is not shown in this movie. See if you can pick out something from the Bible verses that is missing in the movie.
Jesus: Kingdom without Frontiers video —Temptations In The Desert clip is about 20 minutes long. Cue to right after the credits and stop at 20 (+/-) minutes after the temptation.
Feel free to pause the video and discuss what they are watching. After the video discuss some of the following with the children:
- How much time did Jesus spend in the desert? (40 days)
- What happened to Jesus there? (fasted, prayed, tempted by devil)
- What were the three temptations told in this story? (food/physical desires, power/bowing down to Satan, miracles/testing God)
- Why did Satan tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread? (he was hungry from the fast)
- What did Jesus mean when he said, “man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God?” (physical things are not as important as spiritual, we need to depend on God, not try to do everything on our own)
- What did Satan show Jesus he could be in charge of? (all the kingdoms of the world)
- What would Jesus have had to do to have that power? (worship Satan)
- Jesus knew that only God should be worshiped and put first in his life. What types of things do we “worship” today by giving them priority in our lives and making them more important than God? (toys, TVs, money, game boys, video games, computers, etc.)
- What things are you most tempted to worship?
Final Comments:
- Is it a sin to be tempted? (no, this lesson is all about the fact that Jesus himself was tempted) What is a sin is when we give into our temptation to do something that we know is against what God wants us to do.
- Is it God who tempts us to sin? In the Bible, read James 1:12-16.
Journal Time:
- Write or have someone help you write this month’s Bible verse in your journal.
- Jesus spent a lot of time all by himself praying. Draw a picture of how you think Jesus looked when he was praying just before the devil began to tempt him.
A lesson plan prepared by Diane from: Augustana Lutheran Church
A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.
Adapted from another lesson at rotation.org
