Lesson For This Week
Theme: You can’t run away from God
Scripture: The book of Jonah
Props: A fishing rod (optional)
Have you ever been fishing? There’s a story in the Bible about a man who went fishing backwards! Instead of him catching a fish, the fish caught him!
You’ve heard the story about Jonah and the big fish, right? (Note: the Bible says “fish”, not “whale.”) God told Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and preach to the people there. But instead of obeying God, Jonah ran away and boarded a ship that was sailing to Tarshish.
So God caused a storm that was so big, the ship was about to break into pieces. When the sailors found out that it was because of Jonah that God sent the storm, they threw Jonah overboard.
As soon as they threw him overboard, the storm calmed down and the ship was saved. But let’s read Jonah 1:17 to see what happened next. It says, “The Lord provided a big fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.”
He tried to run away and hide from God, but do you think you can hide from God? No! God is everywhere, so wherever you run to, He’s already there!
Fortunately, God caused the big fish to release Jonah, and He told Jonah a second time to go and preach to Nineveh. This time Jonah obeyed, and because of Jonah’s preaching, Nineveh was saved from destruction.
So when God asks you to do something – whether it’s a special task like Jonah’s or simply obeying His word – it’s a whole lot easier to do it than it is to try to run away and avoid it. You don’t want God to have to ask you twice – and you don’t want to go fishing backwards!
Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, please give us hearts to obey you and not try to run away from what you want us to do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Song: “Have Thine Own Way, Lord” or “Yes, Lord, Yes”
From ChildrensSermonsOnline.net
© Copyright 2009 by Steven Rudolph. All rights reserved.
Activities To Do After The Lesson
1. Have your kids watch the animated Bible Story of the Book of Jonah after the lesson:
2. The theme of the story is OBEDIENCE. The simplest act of obedience is reflected through these four (4) keys which your children will easily remember. Let your kids make this craft: Four Keys to Obedience (samples as seen below):
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