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Kings: Ahab & Prophet Elijah

1. Story: King AHAB & Prophet ELIJAH (1 Kings 16:29 – 1 Kings 17)

• In our story today, the king who is ruling over the northern kingdom (Israel) is King Ahab. Let’s read what kind of king he was. 
• King Ahab was a very famous king in the Bible. Do you know why he was soooo famous? King Ahab was famous because he was a very wicked king. 
• He was also famous because he had a very wicked wife. Her name was Jezebel. She was not a Jewish woman. God told His people that they should not marry women who do not worship the One, True God. Jezebel had not been taught in her home to worship Jehovah God, but she had been taught to worship a fake god, called Baal, which was made of stone. (They offered their infant children as sacrifices to their god.) 
• King Ahab who never should have married Jezebel in the first place brings her into his family and makes her his wife. As the leader of his family he should have never allowed her to bring her Baal worship into their home. But since he didn’t make a good first choice and married a woman who didn’t love God, he made a second bad choice and allowed her to worship Baal in their house. This was a very wicked thing. 
• The bad influence of Ahab and Jezebel affected the Jewish people and many people sinned as a result. The people of Israel began to follow their leader’s example and many people in Israel began to worship Baal. They forgot that they had the One True God who made the whole world, who loved them, and who brought them out of Egypt. 
• Because God loved His people He sent messengers called prophets to call the people of Israel back to Him. Sometimes they didn’t listen, so sometimes God had to allow them to get into some sort of trouble before they would call out to Him. 
• One of God’s prophets was called Elijah. Elijah’s name means ‘my God is Jehovah’. 

 

• One day, Elijah went straight to King Ahab and said, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will neither be dew nor rain in the next few years, except at my word.” 
• What do you think King Ahab and Jezebel did as this messenger from God stood before them? It’s not written in the Bible, but based on what Elijah did next, we can only imagine that they threatened his life. 
• But God proved His faithfulness and love to Elijah with 3 wonderful miracles! 

 

Kings: Review & Kings of Israel

1. LESSON: Review & Kings of Israel (1 Kings 15: 25-16:28)

 

• In the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at the kings of Judah who ruled over the Southern Kingdom (2 tribes): (use actions to reinforce and review)
• Rehoboam: Not a servant king
  (actions: an “X” sign with hands then open palms for “serving”)
  Proud and refused to serve the people. As a result, his father’s kingdom was split into 2 — Judah (2 tribes) and Israel (10 tribes).
  Jesus is our servant King who came to give us rest.

• Abijah: Relied on God for victory
  (actions: do V for victory sign with fingers)
  God gave him victory over Jeroboam (who tried to ambush Abijah with double the number of troops) because of His covenant with David.
  Because of His New Covenant with Jesus, God fights our battles for us and gives us victory!

• Asa: Trust in God or trust in self?
  (actions: stand on 1 foot and lean to one side; ie who are you leaning on?)
  When Asa trusted in God, God gave him victory over the Egyptian king and his mighty army. But when threatened by King Baasha, Asa decided to rely on himself and formed his own alliances, instead of trusting God.
  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

• Today, we will look at 5 more kings of Israel (Northern Kingdom; 10 tribes) and see how they fared. 
• Generally, all the kings of Israel didn’t follow God. They did evil and led the people to worship idols. It was a vicious cycle with each new king. And there were always wars and unrest as a result.

Kings: Asa of Judah

1. HOOK: Whom do you seek? Or related icebreaker

• Create two cubes/lists:
• possible decisions that kids have to make (e.g. school work, recreation, choosing friends etc)
• possible people or things they seek help from (e.g. parents, friends, doctors, teachers etc)  

• Have kids roll the two dice together and discuss the way people might seek the help for the decision. 
• God puts wise people in our midst, and we should get help from these people, especially our parents. But our parents are also human. They don’t have all the answers or know what’s going to happen. The One person who knows everything and whom we can depend on is Jesus. So whenever we have issues or problems or have to make big decisions, talk to Jesus first, and He will show us the way. 

2. LESSON: King Asa of Judah (1 Kings 15, 2 Chronicles 14-16)

•  King Asa 
• Today we meet King Asa. He was the son of King Abijah and ruled over Judah for 41 years.
• Unlike his father Abijah and grandfather Rehoboam, the Bible records for us that “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God” (2 Chron 14:2) and that he had a whole heart like David (“Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.” 2 Chron 15:17)
•  What did Asa do? He:
• Stopped worship to the false gods: Removed the foreign altars and high places; smashed the sacred stones; and cut down the Asherah poles (He even removed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother because she made an idol for the worship of the false goddess Asherah)
• Commanded Judah to seek God and obey Him
• Built up and prospered the cities of Judah in times of rest/peace

Kings: Abijah of Judah

1. HOOK:

• Prepare a plastic chair. Get a volunteer to come forward and put a hand on the chair. Get the volunteer to lift up the outside leg and lean towards the chair. The chair would move (control it a bit for younger kids), and the kid would lose balance.
• Then get another volunteer to come forward. Get this volunteer to put a hand on the wall and lean towards the wall. The wall doesn’t move, and the kid doesn’t lose balance. 
• Today we’re going to learn about somebody who put His trust in the Lord. He didn’t put his trust in other things (like numbers or his own strength and power), because those are like the plastic chair. If you lean on it, it may fail and you may fall. But if we trust the Lord, he is firm, like the wall.

 2. LESSON: King Abijah of Judah (1 Kings 15, 2 Chronicles 13)

• REVIEW: KINGS OF ISRAEL

• So far, we have learnt: 
• Rehoboam: Solomon’s son. Did not want to serve the people. People rebelled, and the kingdom was split into 2 — Israel and Judah. Rehoboam ruled over Judah.

• After Rehoboam died, his son Abijah succeeded him as king of Judah. He ruled Judah for 3 years.  
• What else do we know about Abijah? 
• The Bible records for us 2 main things in 1 Kings 15:
• Abijah did not have a WHOLE HEART like King David. He only had HALF HEART. He committed the sins of his father and grandfather of worshipping other gods etc.
• There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam (King of Israel) throughout Abijah’s lifetime.

Kings: Jeroboam and the Golden Calves

1. Lesson:

• Review of Kings of Israel

• So far, we have learnt:

• David: God promised David that there will be a Forever King on his throne. 
• Solomon: Solomon disobeyed God, so God told him that his kingdom will be taken away from him.
• Rehoboam: Solomon’s son. Did not want to serve the people. People rebelled, and the kingdom was split into 2 — Israel and Judah. Rehoboam ruled over Judah (2 tribes) 
• Jeroboam: God chose Jeroboam to rule over 10 tribes (Israel)

• Today we will take a look at King Jeroboam, the King of Israel (Northern Kingdom) 

Kings: Rehoboam the Proud King

1. Lesson:

• Last week we learnt: God had prophesied to Solomon that because of his disobedience, his kingdom will be taken away from him. The prophet Ahijah had prophesied to Jeroboam that he would become king over 10 of Israel’s 12 tribes. 

•  The People’s Request

• Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, succeeded to the throne after his father, Solomon, died.
• Rehoboam went from Jerusalem to Shechem, a city about 40 miles north of Jerusalem, to establish himself as king in the north. (This is where Joshua spoke his last words and where Joseph’s bones were buried.)
• Jeroboam had been an administrator of Shechem during the reign of King Solomon. He was popular there.
• During the reign of King Solomon, Solomon had many big building projects, such as the Temple and his palace. And the people had to do a lot of the work and pay a lot of the taxes. So the people asked Jeroboam to talk to King Rehoboam on their behalf for some help.

Kings: The Divided Kingdom

1. Lesson: The Divided Kingdom (1 Kings 11)

• REVIEW: ORIGINS OF NATIONS OF ISRAEL

 

• Abraham: God promised, "I will make you a great nation"
• Jacob: Renamed "Israel" after wrestling with God
• 12 Sons:
• Went to Egypt when Joseph was leader 
• Descendants became slaves
• God delivered from Egypt
• Entered promised land as nation of Israel (12 tribes)

•  REVIEW: KINGS OF ISRAEL<suggest using flashcards or pictures for younger kids to stick up at correct places>
  

• God was the King of Israel. He spoke to His people through prophets and judges.
• But the people of Israel wanted their own king that they could see, like all the other nations around them. (1 Sam 8)
• God was not happy. But He gave them a king anyway.

• Saul had NO HEART for God: Disobeyed God
• David had WHOLE HEART for God: Man after God's heart
• Solomon had HALF HEART for God: Started well, but ended up worshipping false gods

• Solomon turned to worship his many wives’ false gods. He did not keep his promise to God to follow the One and Only True God with his WHOLE HEART, as his father David did.
• Because of that, God told him that his kingdom will be divided (1 Kings 11:9-13).

Seek first His Kingdom

1. Icebreakers

• Play a simple age-appropriate icebreaker. Some examples:
• Freeze!
  Play praise music and lead the children in movements (stepping side to side, clapping their hands, stomping their feet, tiptoeing, following the teacher in a circle, slapping their legs, doing jump and jacks, reaching up high and down low, etc). Have an assistant shut the worship music off and have the students freeze, standing completely still.  Play the music again and repeat multiple times.  For an added challenge, while students are freezing, recite a memory verse and begin again.

• Simon says 
  One teacher is Simon.  Simon yells out a command such as, “Simon says, march in place!”  The students would then follow the command because “Simon says” to do it.  If Simon does not use the phrase “Simon says” before stating the command and a child still follows, then that child will be seated and is out of the game until the end of the round.  Play continues with eliminations until one child remains who will become the next Simon.

• I spy with a little eye
  Get kids to take turns spying out objects or people in the room. You may want to put some props around (e.g. stuffed animals, pictures from Bible lessons from last year etc) or get kids to sit in a circle and spy out each other. E.g. “I spy with my little eye someone wearing a red dress.”

• Blanket game
  Get all the kids to introduce themselves. Divide class into 2 teams. Hold a large blanket in between. Each team sends a representative to sit in front of the blanket. When blanket is dropped, first side to shout out name of the other wins a point for their team.

2. Lesson

• At Christmas time, some of you had a list of presents that you wanted. Maybe it’s a new Transformers. Or a Barbie doll. Or a truck. Or a book.
• As we enter this new year, what is it that we want? Is it good results? Favour with your parents? Good health? Nice new clothes? A holiday? PSP?
• We all want and need good things in our lives. And God our Father wants to give us good things. He wants to bless us tremendously every day. We just need to look to Him. He is the source of everything.
• Jesus tells His disciples (Matt 6:25-33): DON’T WORRY! 
• Don’t worry about: 
• What you will eat 
• What you will drink
• Your body
• What you will wear

 

• Jesus gave us 2 examples: 
• Birds of the air: They don’t sow or reap or store, but the Heavenly Father feeds them.
• The flowers of the field: They don’t labour or spin. They are here today and gone tomorrow. Yet God dresses them in more splendour than King Solomon.

Christmas: Magi come to worship Jesus

1. Lesson

• We’ve been looking at various Biblical prophecies about Jesus’ birth: 
• A Messiah from the line of David will come 
• A virgin will be of child
• The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem

• Today we look at another essential part of the Christmas story — the Magi/ Wisemen / Kings that visited Jesus (Matt 2:1-16)
• Usually in Christmas cards and nativity plays, we see a picture of 3 Wisemen who visited baby Jesus in a stable, together with the shepherds.

 

• But in reality:
• We don’t know how many there were; at least 2 or more (Matthew uses the plural “we”). There were 3 gifts mentioned — gold, frankincense and myrrh — hence the idea of 3 kings. 
• The wisemen visited Jesus in a house (Matthew 2:11), not the stable. So it was not at the same time as the shepherds.
• Jesus was probably aged between 40 days to 2 years old at the time of the visit.

• The wisemen from the east travelled to visit Jesus because they saw a sign — a supernaturally bright star. They entered Jerusalem and asked around, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 
• The star led them ahead and stopped over the place where Jesus was staying. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Christmas: Shepherds heard the Good News!

1. Lesson

• Last week, we talked about a special visitor for Mary and Joseph and how a government ruling made them travel all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. This was done so God’s prophecy would be fulfilled — the Saviour will be born in Bethlehem.
• Let’s find out what happened the night Jesus was born, according to Luke 2:8-20.

• The lowly shepherds heard the good news first
• The first people to find out about Jesus’ birth were not important dignitaries or VVIPs. They were lowly shepherds who had to spend the night in the fields to keep watch over their flocks and ensure their safety. 
• We don’t know why God decided to announce the birth to the shepherds first. Perhaps He wanted them to know that the Good Shepherd of the world has come! Do you remember Psalm 23? The Lord is my Shepherd …

Prophecy: Jesus will be born in Bethlehem

1. Lesson

• Last week, we talked about a special visitor for Mary and Joseph. Who visited them? An angel, that’s right! What did the angel tell them? That they would be having a baby! Their baby would be special because He was from God. 

• The Bible tells us that God made a promise to King David. God promised him that one of his great, great, great, great, great children would be king forever. That was a promise from God that He would send Jesus.

• [extra info] In the Bible, we read that King David came from the very first man, Adam. He came by way of some other names you will remember: Noah (and his son Shem), Abraham (and his son Isaac), Isaac’s son Jacob, a man named Salmon (and his wife Rahab). Rahab’s son Boaz (and his wife Ruth). Ruth’s grandson was Jesse, King David’s father. Many kings followed David until a man name Jacob had a son whom he named Joseph. Joseph was the husband of Mary, the mother of the Messiah!

• Prophecy #3: Jesus will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) 
• God had given promises all along the way. The people believed and waited. One of those promises, though, was that the Messiah would be born in King David’s town, Bethlehem. It was a small town. 
• Not only was Jesus King David’s forever king, but God promised — through the prophet Micah 750 years before Jesus’ birth — that Jesus would be born in King David’s town, Bethlehem.  
• Micah 5:2
  “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
  though you are small among the clans of Judah,out of you will come for me
  one who will be ruler over Israel,
  whose origins are from of old,
  from ancient times.”

Prophecy: Jesus will be born of a virgin

1. HOOK: Matching game: Animal & their young

• Prepare separate pix of animals and their young for kids to match them.
• E.g. What do dogs give birth to? Puppies.
  What do cats give birth to? Kittens.
  How about snakes? They lay eggs that hatch into baby snakes.

• Just like we get puppies from dogs, what do we get from sinners? Yup, more sinners. 
• Last week we heard about how when Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Because Adam sinned, his children, grandchildren, great, great, great, great children and everyone in this world are born as sinners. We know the result of sin is death. 
• But God promised that a descendant of the Eve will defeat the serpent. God wanted to change our family line so that we will not continue to be sinners but become righteous. Today we know He was talking about Eve’s great, great, great, great …. Great, grandson, Jesus.
• One thing we cannot choose in life is who our parents are. But long before Jesus was born — a few hundred years before, in fact — God’s prophet, Isaiah, had already told the people what sort of person Jesus’ mother would be.

2.  Lesson: We are part of a great family, thanks to Jesus!

•  Prophecy #2: Jesus will be born of a virgin 
• Isaiah the prophet said, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”(Isa 7:14)
• The mother of the Saviour of the world would be a virgin. (A virgin is someone who had never had any sexual relationship with another person.) This was special because virgins don’t get pregnant. You need both a father and a mother to become pregnant. But in Jesus’ case, there will only be a mother. God Himself will be the father, not a man. 
• Hundreds of years after Isaiah, there was a young teenage girl lady called Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph.