Psalm 23: My Good Shepherd provides me everything

1. Lesson (based on Psalm 23:1-2)

• Last week, we started looking at Psalm 23. Who can remember the first verse? The Lord is my Shepherd.
• Why do you think sheep need a shepherd? <get kids to answer> 
• People say sheep are a bit dumb. Left on their own, they’ll just walk and eat and walk and eat until they get lost. Even if they are near good food, they’ll just eat whatever is in front of them, even lousy grass.
• David tells us that when the Lord is our shepherd, He provides everything for us.

Psalm 23: The Lord is my Shepherd

1. Lesson (based on Psalm 23:1)

• Today we’re going to look at a psalm of David. 
• What’s a psalm? A psalm is a Hebrew poem or song, usually played on a harp or a string instrument. 
• Do you remember who David was? David was the shepherd boy who took down Goliath with a slingshot and some smooth stones.  
• David became King of Israel. But he was also a musician and liked to write poems and songs.  He was a famous psalm writer or psalmist. 
• This particular psalm is about God being his Shepherd-King.
• Psalm 23 is one of the more famous psalms written by David. We’re going to learn and meditate on this psalm in the next few weeks. And by the end of it, all of you will be able to memorise the psalm. 

• Psalm 23:1  The Lord is my shepherd.

God will take care of my problems

1. Hook:  

• Ever thought you had such a big problem you couldn’t solve?  Maybe someone is giving you a hard time in school eg your classmate made fun of  you or your teacher said something that made you  sad or angry. Or maybe it’s something that happened at home.
• You feel that there is nothing you can do. You don’t even know what to do. 
• But do you know that there’s nothing too difficult for God. He knows the problem you have and He is with you. He loves you and He will take care of you. 

2. Story: (Based on Joshua 6) 

• God told Joshua  that He will give him and the Israelites the Promised Land. God promised that He will be with Joshua and Joshua will be succeed in taking over the land.
• The first city that Joshua was to conquer was Jericho. Now the king of Jericho and his people knew that the Israelites were coming to take over their city. So they made sure that the gates of the city were safely locked. No one was allowed to go out and no one was allowed to come in to the city.

God fights the battle for me!

1. Hook:

• Option 1: Ready, Get set, Go!
• How many of you like to run? Who thinks they can run the fastest?
• Imagine you have to take part in a race. It’s a big competition. All the best runners will be there. What do you do? 
• You exercise every day. [get kids to do some stretching exercises, e.g. right hand over head and bend to the left, 1-2-3-4; the other side, 2-2-2-4; the other side, 3-2-3-4 etc] 
• You train hard. [get kids to run on the spot for 10 seconds]
• You build up your strength [get kids to show you their muscles. Biggest muscles or most creative pose wins prize?]
• [get kids to sit down. Give everyone a clap] 

• Option 2: Biggest, strongest, tallest
• Get children into 2 or more groups.
• Issue a challenge and each group has to send their best contender. Each kid can only come up once until all have had a chance to participate.
• Examples of challenges: the longest hair, the biggest smile, the widest palm, the largest shoe etc.
• To make it more exciting (esp for older kids), you can just give the adjective first. E.g. “I am looking for the ‘longest’ … ”. Team contenders come forward. Then only you reveal, “I am looking for the longest hair.”
• The winning contender scores one point for his/her team. Team with most points wins.

• Conclusion: 
• Yes, when you take part in a competition or race, you want to be the strongest, fastest and the best.
• But do you know, children, that sometimes God uses the weakest and the slowest to do His work? 
• Why would God do that? Why doesn’t He choose the strongest, the fastest and the best?
• Because when the weak and the slow win, everyone will know that it’s God who won it for them!
• Today we will learn that God fights the battle for you and for me!

Thank you God for all the great things you have done for me!

1. Hook:

• Memory matching game


• Prepare 12 rock-shaped cards. Behind the cards, print/draw 6 pairs of images; 2 of a kind.
• Mix up the cards and paste the image-side onto the wall with blu tack.
• Get kids to come one by one to choose a card and attempt to find its pair.
• Once a match is made, the cards are removed.
• Game continues until all 6 matches are made. 
• Conclusion: All of you have good memory! God gave us the ability to remember things and events that happened and lessons we’ve learnt. Let’s learn about how He helped the Israelites to remember a very important lesson in their lives. 

God stopped the waters for the Israelites. God can do anything for me!

1. Hook:

• Water pouring 
• Bring a pitcher of water, a large bowl and a large towel.
• Show how you will pour the water into the bowl. Just pour a trickle of water into the bowl. 
• Then ask for volunteers to come try to stop the small trickle of water coming out of the pitcher. The children can try all kinds of ways of doing it, but it won’t be able to be done. 
• Explain to the children that they could not stop even a trickle. But God is able to stop a whole river that was overflowing. That’s the amazing God we have!

2. Story (based on Joshua 3) 

• Last week we learned about the 2 spies that went to spy out the Promised Land. They returned and told Joshua, “Yes, God has given us the land!”

God liked Rahab; God likes me too … always!

1. Lesson (based on Joshua 2): Rahab & the 2 Spies

• Game: “I spy with my little eye”

• Hook:
• Have you ever felt that nobody liked you?
• Maybe some other kids don’t like you because you are different — the clothes you wear, or the way you speak. Maybe they think you are weird. Maybe they tell their friends not to be your friend. Maybe they don’t want to share their toys with you or to play with you. Maybe it’s because you once did something wrong that made them unhappy.
• It’s tough when you feel nobody likes you. It’s tough when you think you are not good enough. You can feel lonely, or sad, or angry. Sometimes we all feel this way.
• But do you know that there’s Someone who likes you ALL the time. He doesn’t care about what you wear, or how your talk or what you’ve done. Even if you made other people really, really mad. He’s there for you. And He loves you always.
• What’s His name? Jesus!
• 
  

• Story:
• Once upon a time, there was a woman called Rahab. She lived in a town called Jericho. People in the town did not like her very much. Because she did things that were not very good.
• One day, she met two men. They were Israelites from the desert. They wanted to find out some information about Jericho. They were spies.