Teaching 2 Timothy 4

3-5s

Theme: Listen to people who teach us about Jesus

Aim: That they love to listen, don’t get distracted but keep going

Intro

·         Listening games – eg Simon Says (one leader tries to distract them)

Teaching

[You’ll need the Timothy and Paul puppets as well as a speech bubble with a reveal of ‘Jesus’, a set of ear head bands and a picture of Alexander the metalworker]

Recap – Timothy is in charge of a church in Ephesus. Paul told Timothy that the Bible was all he needed to know about Jesus.

Paul had some instructions for Timothy as he led the church in Ephesus. Here’s what he said: Read 4v1-2.

Did you hear what Paul said? He told Timothy to ‘preach the good news’! That means to keep teaching the Bible which tells us about Jesus. [hold up speech bubble] So Timothy was to keep standing in front of the church every Sunday and reading and teaching the Bible so that they would hear about … Jesus [reveal ‘Jesus’ in the speech bubble]

Timothy was to do that always, no matter what else was going on. And Paul warned him that some people wouldn’t listen. Read 4v3-4. [put on ear head band] They would much rather listen to anything else than what the Bible has to say. ‘Oh, listen,’ they’d say, ‘There’s a really interesting story over here, let’s go there instead!’

But Timothy was to keep teaching people from the Bible, even when that happened.

Paul reminds Timothy about someone who has already wandered away. His name was Alexander, and he worked bashing metal into shapes. Listen, [read 4v14-15 and hold up picture]. It must have been really hard for Paul and for Timothy to keep teaching people about Jesus from the Bible when people were mean like Alexander.

It would have been really easy for Timothy to get angry with Alexander and people like him, but Paul said, ‘no, you’re not to get angry.’ Read 4v5

Paul said, look at me, this is what I’ve been doing. Read 4v6-8. Paul is about to die in prison, but he’s told as many people as he can about Jesus, and so his job is finished.

Timothy was to carry it on, opening the Bible with people to show them Jesus.

What about you? It’s really easy to stop listening when mummy or daddy or people at church tell you about Jesus. We need to really listen carefully so that we can get to know Jesus better and better.

Pray

Craft

·         Ear head bands

·         Make a book and stick pictures of Jesus in

·         Decorate fig rolls with white icing to look like Bibles

Songs

·         The Best book to read is the Bible – Colin Buchanan

·         2 Timothy 3:16 – J is for Jesus

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5-11s

Theme: Listen when people open the Bible to show us Jesus

Aim: That they don’t get distracted or bored by the message of Jesus

Intro

·         Listening game – eg Simon Says, with a leader trying to distract them

Teaching

Recap – Letter from Paul to younger man running church in Ephesus. Timothy has all he needs to face the pressures around him with the Bible

Paul gives Timothy some instructions this week – Read 4:1-2.

What is Timothy to do? – preach the word, tell people about Jesus. [give a ‘Timothy’ a loudspeaker and let him talk about Jesus for a bit].

He’s to do this at all times, carefully and clearly and boldly.

But, do you think everyone will listen? Read 4v3-5. Some people will get distracted and start wandering away from listening carefully.

Paul gives Timothy an example, Alexander the Metalworker [dress one up as Alexander]. Here’s what he said, read 4v14-18. So Alexander had stopped listening and was causing loads of problems, but Timothy was to keep teaching the Bible. [let Timothy do a bit more preaching, despite Alexander being there].

Paul gives himself as a great example of someone who has kept speaking about Jesus [dress one as Paul] Read 4:6-8. Here’s someone who is near death saying, I’ve done everything I can to tell people about Jesus. That is all I can do. Timothy do the same.

So, we’ve got a good example in Paul and a bad example in Alexander. So Timothy is to carry on preaching and showing people Jesus from the Bible.

What about you? Are you easily distracted from listening to the Bible? Do you sometimes get bored if you’ve already heard that story before? Keep listening carefully when people tell you about Jesus from the Bible.

Pray

Table time [make a ‘Bible’ and stick in pictures of Jesus]:

Knowledge

·         What was Timothy to keep doing?

·         Was everyone going to listen? What were they going to do?

·         What had some people already done?

Understanding

·         Why do you think some people stop listening to the Bible/Jesus?

·         What do you think people would rather listen to?

Application

·         What can you do to keep listening and not get distracted?

·         When do you get distracted or bored by the message of Jesus?

Spare – Memory verse: 2 Timothy 3:16