Teaching 2 Kings 22

3-5s

[This material is adapted from ‘Some Kings did obey God’ – First Steps: St Matthias Press, 2006]
[This is the second introductory week to our series on Jeremiah]

Theme: Josiah was the best king ever, but still he wasn’t good enough

Aim: That they see how much they need Jesus to change their hearts.

Intro:

There’s a big problem: we all do things wrong. And when we do it makes God sad and angry [get them to do a sad and angry face]. When we forget about Him it makes Him sad that we’ve forgotten the God who gave us life. When we deliberately do something we shouldn’t it makes God angry.

Who can help us? [bring out some pictures of people who help] Can our Mums and Dads stop God being angry with us? Can doctors, teachers, firemen? Can the leaders of our country?

Bible Story:

We’ve been looking at lots of kings. Do you remember any of their names? [remind of some of the good ones and the bad ones. Put crowns on their heads with names on and get them to make suitable faces]

Do you remember what an idol was? [Set up a ‘temple’ in the space, fill it with the idols]. Manasseh was a terrible king, long before Jesus. He put up lots of these statues and caused the people to worship them too. His son Amon did them too. But he was killed and his son Josiah became King when he was only 8.

King Josiah was a great king [get them to repeat and put thumbs up. Repeat throughout]

When King Josiah was king he gave money to some men to fix up the

Temple. He sent carpenters and builders to fix the Temple. The man in charge of the

Temple found the book of the Law in the Temple. This was part of the Bible that we have today—probably part of the book called Deuteronomy. [find a tea/coffee stained old looking scroll in the ‘temple’]

When King Josiah heard the book being read he was upset that in the

past God’s people, the Israelites, had disobeyed God’s word—written in the Bible. King Josiah then read God’s word to all the people. He promised to obey God and all the people promised to obey God too.

Then King Josiah ordered people to get rid of everything that had been

used to worship made-up gods, because he knew that God didn’t want people to have made-up gods.

God wants us to treat him as the one, true God. In every city of Israel, King Josiah pulled down all the places of worship for made-up gods that the kings of Israel had built. [throw out all the idols in your ‘temple’]

Then there was a big celebration to God. In the Bible (in 2 Kings 23:25) it says that King Josiah served God ‘with all his heart, mind, and strength’. That means that King Josiah served God as much as he could. He really loved God and really obeyed God.

And he brought in lots of rules from this scroll to get people to do what God wanted. But bringing in lots of rules wasn’t enough.

Josiah was a good King, but he wasn’t good enough [thumbs up, then down]

But the problem was that we’re told that, ‘God didn’t turn from His great anger at His people.’ It wasn’t enough just to be good. They needed a better king than Josiah. One that would change people’s hearts and bring them forgiveness.

Which King is that? JESUS!

After King Josiah died the people just brought the idols back. But King Jesus helps us to be forgiven by God and helps us to put Him first too.

Josiah was a good King, but he wasn’t good enough. Jesus is the best King [thumbs up, down, then higher]

Apply:

So, if you keep all the rules and you never get told off by your mum or dad, or your teacher, is that enough? No.

Is there anyone who can help us when God is sad and angry with us? Can doctors, etc [bring out pictures from the start]

We need King Jesus to forgive us and to change us.

Pray

Activities:

• Pipe cleaner kings – make a man out of pipe cleaners and stick a crown on
• Make a scroll – get them to mark it with tea/coffee. Have a simple version of Deut 17:20 written on it.
• Sticking pictures of people who help – in the middle stick Jesus

Songs:

• King David – from A Very, Very Big God

• Jesus is the Mighty, mighty King – Colin Buchanan
• Who’s the King of the Jungle?

5-11s

Theme: Josiah was the best king ever, but still he wasn’t good enough

Aim: That they see how much they need Jesus to change their hearts and deal with lawbreakers

Intro:

Challenge them to do something impossible, or answer all the questions in a really tough quiz. Make sure they fail. At the end give them the answers/solution and the prize. Purpose – we all fail and need Jesus.

Bible Story:

We’ve been looking at lots of kings. Do you remember any of their names? [remind of some of the good ones and the bad ones. Put crowns on their heads with names on and get them to make suitable faces]

Do you remember what an idol was? [Set up a ‘temple’ in the space, fill it with the idols]. Manasseh was a terrible king, long before Jesus. He put up lots of these statues and caused the people to worship them too. His son Amon did them too. But he was killed and his son Josiah became King when he was only 8. [find on timeline]

When King Josiah was king he gave money to some men to fix up the

Temple. He sent carpenters and builders to fix the Temple. The man in charge of the

Temple found the book of the Law in the Temple. This was part of the Bible that we have today—probably part of the book called Deuteronomy. [find a tea/coffee stained old looking scroll in the ‘temple’, also find Deuteronomy in the Bible]

When King Josiah heard the book being read he was upset that in the past God’s people, the Israelites, had disobeyed God’s word—written in the Bible. King Josiah then read God’s word to all the people. He promised to obey God and all the people promised to obey God too.

Josiah realised that there were lots of rules that the people needed to keep, and so he and the people made a promise to keep all the rules from now on.

Then King Josiah ordered people to get rid of everything that had been used to worship made-up gods, because he knew that God didn’t want people to have made-up gods.

God wants us to treat him as the one, true God. In every city of Israel, King Josiah pulled down all the places of worship for made-up gods that the kings of Israel had built. [throw out all the idols in your ‘temple’]

Then there was a big celebration to God. In the Bible (in 2 Kings 23:25) it says that King Josiah served God ‘with all his heart, mind, and strength’. That means that King Josiah served God as much as he could. He really loved God and really obeyed God.

But the problem was that we’re told that, ‘God didn’t turn from His great anger at His people. It wasn’t enough just to be good and to keep all the rules. They needed a better king than Josiah. One that would change people’s hearts and bring them forgiveness.

Which King is that? JESUS!

After King Josiah died the people just brought the idols back. But King Jesus helps us to be forgiven by God and helps us to put Him first too.

Apply:

So, if God is angry with us for forgetting Him and breaking the rules, is the answer to just try harder to keep the rules?

Is there anyone in charge of us who can help? What about Mums and Dads, if they just bring in lots of rules for us, will that make God happy with us?

What about the leaders of our country? If they just make the right rules will our country be better?

Who’s the only person who can help us when God is angry with us? King Jesus!

Pray – could also pray for our country and leaders at this point

Table time

Putting pictures in order and asking questions:

Knowledge

What was good about Josiah?

What did he find?

What did he do?

Understanding

Did keeping all the rules save Judah?

Why not?

Why is Jesus so much better than Josiah?

Application

How good are you at keeping the rules?

When are you tempted to think that you’re good enough for God?

How can you love the Lord Jesus with all your heart?