Jonah

Listen to God (Obedience)
HOOK:
Show pictures from library books of big fish and whales and compare it to the size of a man.  TELL THE CHILDREN:  “We will be learning a Bible story about a man named Jonah and a big fish.”

BOOK:
Jonah (or use a children’s Bible or the flannel board)

LOOK:
Jonah was a man from the Bible that had a special job to do.  His job was to tell people about God.  He was to tell them that God loved them and that God wanted them to say they were sorry to Him when they did things that made God sad or mad.

ASK THE CHILDREN:  “What are some things that we do that make God sad or mad?”  (Example:  being mean to a friend, hit your brother or sister, hurt someone’s feelings)

God asked Jonah to tell some people from Nineveh about God.  God was mad at the bad things they were doing, so He sent Jonah to tell them.  But, Jonah didn’t want to go and tell them, so he disobeyed God and tried to hide and runaway on a ship.

God saw Jonah on that ship.  A storm started and all the sailors were afraid.  They said to each other “let’s pray so that we will be safe in the storm.”  They knew God was upset.  They asked Jonah why he wasn’t praying.  Jonah knew it was because of him that God sent the storm, So he told the sailors if they wanted the storm to stop, they would have to throw him into the water.  They didn’t want to, but as soon as they threw him in, the storm stopped.

God sent a really big fish to swallow Jonah.  When Jonah was in the belly of the fish, he prayed to God.  He promised to do what God asked him to do.  TO OBEY GOD!

After 3 days, the fish spit up Jonah.  Jonah went to Nineveh, to the people and told them what God wanted them to hear.  The people were really sorry for the bad things they were doing (their sins).  God forgave them.  Jonah did the right thing and obeyed God.

TOOK:
We need to do the right thing and obey God too.  God wants us to obey.  God wants us to do what our parents say.  He wants us to be kind to our friends.  And, God wants us to tell the truth.

ASK THE CHILDREN:  “What can you do to make God happy?”  LET THE CHILDREN EXPRESS IDEA’S.  (Example:  Pray)

MEMORY VERSE:
“We must obey God”  ACTS 5:29

CLOSING PRAYER:
Jesus, we love you and we want to obey you.  Please help us to listen to our parents and our teachers and to do the right thing even when it is hard.  In Jesus’ Name, AMEN!!

Lesson from Kingdom Kids from Catalyst Ministry