Teaching Haggai

[This is the 9th and penultimate session on the Minor Prophets]

Haggai for 3-5s

Theme: Put God first as you wait for Jesus

Intro: What are your homes like? Have a picture of a house and get them to stick on doors and windows.

Do you remember last week we saw that God’s people were attacked by the Babylonian soldiers and they had to leave their homes? [show soldiers picture from last week]

Well this week we’re going to hear a story about how they come home again, back to the land God had give them. That must have been lovely.

This week we’re going to meet the prophet Haggai. He had a very important message for God’s people.

The people came home again and everything was in ruins! Oh, how sad for them. The houses they used to live in were just a pile of rubble with no roof, no windows and no doors. [show picture of ruined houses]

And the temple, God’s special house, had been destroyed, too! [show picture of ruined temple]. The Babylonian army had completely destroyed it. It would have to be rebuilt.

Well, they began to rebuild God’s temple. But then they stopped. And instead they got on with rebuilding their own houses. Their houses started looking lovely and being really comfy and nice. But God’s house was still in ruins. [put out some nice houses, made from cardboard or lego]

So Haggai came with a message. He said, ‘Hang on. Isn’t God the most important one? You should have put Him first. Instead you’ve made building your houses more important than God. Finish off God’s temple first then you can go back to your comfy houses.’

And do you know what? They did do that. They rebuilt God’s temple until it was properly finished this time. It was never as great as it was before. But one day Jesus would come as the great King and then it wouldn’t matter any more.

Well, we’re waiting for Jesus to come back as the great King. And as we do, we should make God the most important person in our lives. More important than our mummies and daddies. More important than our toys. More important than anything! The most important commandment is to ‘Love the Lord your God, with all your heart and with all your strength.’

Craft:

Build a temple (out of lego?)

Stick on pictures of important things but stick God at the top

Songs:

My God is a very, very big God

My God is so big
 

Haggai for 5-11s

Theme: Put God first as you wait for Jesus

·        Give them a list of important things in their lives (eg Mum, Dad, sweets) on separate pieces of card. They have to organise those things into order of importance. As they do it ask why. Then at the end bring out a card with ‘Jesus’ on. Ask them where this should come. Tell them that today they are going to hear about a time when God’s people weren’t putting Him first.

·     Give them a simple model of a house to stick together out of card (we used pictures cut up into jigsaws). Have a larger model of a temple (or similair simple large building) lying unfinished in the middle of the room. Do not mention this larger building or why it is there. They find a space and start making their building, but whenever you call ‘Jesus is coming!” they have to drop everything and run to you. Any of them who bring their house with them are out. Then point out the temple in the middle and say that this was God’s building in Israel and all of God’s people were busy with their own houses even though this building was unfinished and they knew Jesus was coming.

Bible Story:

[Have someone dressed as Haggai again.]

Have a large piece of green card. Get them to bring their little houses  and place them on the card and have the unfinished temple lying in the middle. Remind them that we saw last week that God’s people had been thrown out of God’s land. And they spent 50 years in exile, not allowed back into the land.

But finally they had been allowed back into the land (Label the green card ‘Israel’). But not everybody had returned and those that had returned had spent more time and money making sure their houses were lovely and comfy and they had forgotten about God.

Let’s listen to Haggai, (Haggai reads 1:4, 9-11). So you see God was not giving them all the good things he could have done because they were too busy looking after themselves, they hadn’t put God first.

So God raises up a King to do this work and this King was called Zerubbabel (have a small model of a king by the temple).

Now lets look at what they were to build. It was a temple. Originally God’s people had a temple built by Solomon and that temple was to show the people that God lived among them. But that temple had been destroyed when they had been kicked out of the land.

But Haggai had to warn the people as they built the temple, (Haggai reads 2:2-5). The temple won’t be as good however things will get better, (Haggai reads 2:6-9). God is promising his people a time when He will come and live among them in an amazing way, a way which is far better than the building that they are making now. God promises that He will come Himself. Let’s listen to what John wrote, ‘The Word (Jesus) became a human being. He made his home with us. We have seen his glory. It is the glory of the one and only Son.’ So the promise that God is making is that Jesus will come and live with us. The people at this time were waiting for Jesus to come. We are waiting for Jesus to come again. And when he comes he will ‘shake the heavens and the earth’ as Haggai told us.

[The following paragraph could be missed out]

But God makes one more promise, (Haggai reads 2:21-23). And this is to Zerubbabel the King who God raised up to do this work. He will be King forever, God promises.  And yet Zerubbabel died, so what did God mean? Well Zerubbabel’s great-great etc. grandson was a man called … Jesus! Jesus is this king who is going to come and rule forever.

So Haggai is speaking to us too. He is telling us that while we wait for Jesus to return we should put God first in all we do.

Table time:

Can do missions

Funsheets

Application / Response:

·        Bring out the list that they made at the beginning (or do that activity if you didn’t at the beginning) and give them some situations which might affect them talking to them about how they’d decide who to put first in their lives. Eg Friends don’t want you to read your bible. Are you going to put them first or God first?

·        Get them to draw themselves putting God first after talking about the list.

·        Get them to attach a label to the houses that they made at the beginning saying ‘God wants me to put Him first.’