[This is part one of our series on Jeremiah]
5-11s
Theme: Listen! God will follow through on His
threats
Aim: That the children listen even when God is
saying things we don’t like
Intro:
Leader sits during news
time with finger in their ears singing ‘la, la, la’!
Listening games – Chinese
whispers, record leaders’ voices, Simon says
Bible teaching:
Recap kings and timeline –
Josiah (but also 2 bad kings following Josiah)
Introduce Jeremiah (dress
up one child). God called Jeremiah to be His messenger, His prophet: read v5 or
play a recording.
But Jeremiah objected
(have Jeremiah read v6).
God reassured Jeremiah
that He was the right man for the job and that He had a message for God’s
people that Jeremiah had to deliver (read v8-10).
God gave Jeremiah 2
pictures. Here’s the first:
Read v11-12. [Have a
picture on screen or made of a tree with eyes on it] It’s a funny picture,
isn’t it? What do you think it means?
It was a watching tree.
God was making absolutely sure that everything He says comes true. And we can
be absolutely sure of that with God: everything He says comes true.
Here’s the second picture:
read v13. [have a picture] What do you think this means?
God is saying that an army
is going to come and take the people away from this land, away from their homes
and families and jobs. Read v14-16.
Do you think the people
will want to hear this? Is this a nice message to take to people? Jeremiah was
afraid but God reassured Him. Read v17-19.
But God’s people didn’t
listen, they never do! When God speaks, its really important that we listen to
what He says. Particularly when God is saying something we don’t want to hear.
So when God is saying that we mustn’t do something that we want to do: its
really important that we listen to Him and do it, because He is the Almighty God.
When God tells us to stop doing something that doesn’t please Him, we must
listen and stop doing it. When God says we must trust in His Son, the Lord
Jesus, then we should do it. What sorts of things does God tell us not to do,
which we really want to? What things does God tell us to do, which we don’t
want to?
Pray
Table time:
Have pictures of Jeremiah,
the tree and the pot.
Knowledge:
- What job did Jeremiah have?
- What was the tree tell us about God?
- What does the pot tell us about what God was going to do to His people?
Understanding:
- How did Jeremiah feel about his job as a prophet?
- How did the people feel about what God had to say to them?
- What promises did God give Jeremiah?
Application:
- What do you know God wants you to do, but you don’t want to do it?
- What do you know God wants you to stop doing, but you don’t want to?
- When do you really need to start listening to
God?
3-5s
Theme: Listen! God will follow through on His
threats
Aim: That the children listen even when God is
saying things we don’t like
Intro:
Leader sits during news
time with finger in their ears singing ‘la, la, la’!
Jeremiah says – do your
Mum or Dad tell you what to do? What do they tell you to do? Do you always want
to do what they tell you? Sometimes we don’t like it what they say to us. Does
that mean we don’t need to listen to them? What happens if we don’t listen to
our Mums and Dads?
Bible teaching:
Do you remember these
kings we’ve been looking at? Do you remember Josiah? (get them to remember what
he did).
Well, when Josiah was
King, God sent someone to speak to His people. God’s messengers are called
prophets. [get them to say] This prophet was called Jeremiah. [get them to say,
have a picture of Jeremiah]
So God called Jeremiah –
read Jeremiah 1:5 (or play a recording). God had always planned that Jeremiah
would be a prophet and speak to the people.
But Jeremiah wasn’t so
sure: read v6. He thought he was too young, he wasn’t able to do what God was
asking.
But God reassured
Jeremiah: read v7-9. God was going to be with Jeremiah. He would go with
Jeremiah to speak to the people.
So if God was speaking to
the people it was really important that they listened to God. And its really
important that we listen to God too. God speaks to us in the Bible, even
through these words of Jeremiah. So we need to listen carefully to all that
God’s going to say to us through Jeremiah this term.
So what message did God
give to Jeremiah for His people? Well, he showed Jeremiah a picture: read v13
and have a picture of a boiling pot.
Do you think this was a
nice message, a good message? Read v14. An army is going to come and attack
Judah, God’s people, just as they attacked Israel in the north. This isn’t a
nice message for the people. But they still needed to listen really carefully because
God was definitely going to do it. He always does what He says He’ll do.
The problem is they
wouldn’t listen, because they have never listened to God. Read v17 and 19.
Boys and girls, we must
never ignore God. Even when He is saying difficult things to us that we don’t
want to hear, we must still listen. God is in charge of everything. When he
tells us we’ve done something wrong, we must listen and say sorry. When He says
we must stop doing something, we must listen. When He says that we’re to trust
in His Son, Jesus, we must listen.
Pray
Activities:
Ears – decorate and attach
ears to a headband (memory verse Jer 7:13)
Megaphones
Jeremiah colouring sheet
Songs:
- God speak, we listen (from Doctor Rocktrine album)
- God sits in the Highest Place (from God Rock)
