Mustard Seed Children s Lesson Summary for March 7, 2010 Released on Wednesday, March 3, Jonah s Mission

Transcription

1 Mustard Seed Children s Lesson Summary for March 7, 2010 Released on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 Jonah s Mission Lesson Text: Jonah 1:1 3; 3:1 9 Background Scripture: Jonah 1:1 3; 3:1 9 Memory Verse: The people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them (Jonah 3:5). Jonah 1:1 3 1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. Jonah 3:1 9 1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? TEACHER'S NOTES God called Jonah to an uncomfortable task. God called him to go outside his own Jewish community to share God's message. Not only that, but God called him to go to people whom Jonah regarded as his archenemies, people who were responsible for the destruction of his homeland.

2 The community of Nineveh was part of the Assyrian Empire. Its people were wicked, bloodthirsty, and idolatrous. They did not even pretend to worship the God Jonah loved. They deserved God's judgment, and there was no attraction that would cause Jonah to desire them to be spared from it. God did not change Jonah's mission when he refused to obey and tried to run away from God. The mission was too important; so God sent a storm and a fish to bring Jonah to the point that he would accept the mission to which God had appointed him (Jonah 1:4 2:10). This portion of Scripture is not part of today's lesson. God gave Jonah a second opportunity to do the mission to which God had called him. When he did obey, the Ninevites repented and expressed sorrow for their sins. When God gives us a mission, our only responsibility is obedience. God handles the results. THE OBJECT IN VIEW: Teach that when God gives us a mission, we must go where God says and do what God says. TRUTHS TO STRESS: 1. Jonah did not want to go where God told him to go or to do what God told him to do, but God would not let him run away from his mission. 2. At last Jonah obeyed, and God did a great work. 3. When God tells us to go somewhere or to do something, we must obey. PLANNING VISUAL AIDS For Telling the Lesson, print "DO" in big, bold letters on a piece of cardboard. Print the letter G in the same size on another price of cardboard, and tape it over the top so that, using the same letter 0, you can flip back and forth between the words "GO" and "DO." For Helping to Remember, bring paper and crayons for the students. For the lesson activity, make a copy of the Word Search for each student. BEGINNING THE LESSON Tommy had a bad habit. Whenever his parents told him to do something, he would whine, "Why do I have to do that?" He did not understand that his parents had good reasons for what they asked him to do. One day his mother asked him to watch his little sister Rachel for a minute. Tommy's mother had an important phone call to make. Tommy whined, "Why do I have to do that?" He went right on playing his game. In a few minutes, Tommy's mother looked up. Rachel was at the top of the stairs. She was about to tumble down them. Tommy's mother ran to stop her. She caught little Rachel just in time, falling herself as she stretched to reach her. Tommy knew he was in trouble. He knew Rachel could have been hurt badly. He knew that Mom fell because of his disobedience. "Go to your room now!" Tommy's mother said sternly. "Why do I have to?" the question was out of Tommy's mouth before he knew what he was saying. "Young man, you will go where I tell you to go and do what I tell you to do!" his mother said. Tommy knew she meant it. He went to his room quickly. Today we will learn about a man in the Bible who had a problem like Tommy's. God told him to do something something very important but this man did not want to go where God told him. He did not want to do what God said.

3 TELLING THE LESSON Jonah was a prophet. God gave him messages for other people, and Jonah told them what God said. One day God spoke to Jonah and told him to GO (use the sign and have the children repeat the word) to Nineveh. Nineveh was a big city, and it was a wicked city. The people who lived there were enemies of Jonah's people. They did not worship the God Jonah loved. They had been hurting some of Jonah's people. They were bad people! Jonah did not like them at all. God told Jonah what to DO. (Use sign.) God told Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh. If they did not turn away from their wicked ways, God was going to destroy them. They had only forty days left to make up their minds. Where did God tell Jonah to GO? (Use the sign, and have the children point to the right.) Yes, to Nineveh. Jonah got up and began moving. He began going, but he did not go to Nineveh. No. He did not go where God told him to go. He went the other way and headed toward a town called Tarshish, far, far away from Nineveh. Where did Jonah start to go to? Yes, to Tarshish, which was way in the other direction. (Have the children point to the left.) Jonah got on a ship to go to Tarshish. He thought he could get away from God. He thought God would not see him there on that ship. How foolish that was! God can see us anywhere! There is nowhere we can go to get away from Him! Well, it is a long story, but God went after Jonah. Jonah realized that he could not run away from God; so he told God he would GO (use sign) where God told him to go and DO (use sign) what God told him to do. God spoke to Jonah again and told him the same thing. GO to Nineveh. DO what I tell you warn the people to turn from their wicked ways. This time Jonah decided to GO to Nineveh. He walked and walked until he got to that big city. He decided to DO what God told him to do. He began to warn the people of Nineveh. He told them that God said they must stop doing wrong and begin doing what was right. The people listened! Even the king listened! They all began to pray to God. They decided to pray so hard that they would not even take time to eat. They asked Him to forgive them. To show that they were sorry, they changed from their nice clothes and dressed in itchy clothes. They promised to stop doing wrong. They promised to begin doing what was right. TELLING HOW TO LIVE God gives everyone who believes in Jesus a job to do. Our job is to tell others about Jesus, God's Son. God tells us where to GO (use sign). Sometimes God tells adults to go to India and Africa and Europe. Usually He begins by telling us to go to our friends and family. God tells us what to DO (use sign). He tells us how to share His good news. When God tells us to go somewhere, we need to be ready to obey. You could pray and ask God who He wants you to talk to this week about His love. When God tells us what to do, we need to do what He says. You could ask God how to tell others about Him. Do you have a friend who needs to know Jesus? Could you invite him to come to Sunday school with you? If he came, he would learn more about Jesus. Maybe, like the people of Nineveh, your friend will say yes to God. You can practice saying yes to God by obeying all you know He wants you to do, all you read in His Word, and all you hear in church and Sunday school. When you are obeying what you know God wants you to do, God can always tell you more.

4 We may think we do not want to do what God says, but good things happen when we obey. Jonah could not believe the Ninevites turned to God, but they did! But even if they had not turned to God, Jonah would have pleased God because he did what God told him to do. HELPING TO REMEMBER Give each student a piece of paper and crayons. Have each one draw pictures of Jonah listening to God, walking to Nineveh, and warning the people of Nineveh. Let the children use their pictures to retell the story to one another. EXPLAINING THE GOLDEN TEXT "The people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them" (Jonah 3:5). The people of Nineveh were bad people who did not love God. They worshiped many idols instead of worshiping God. They were hurting Jonah's people. When Jonah warned them that God said they must turn from their sins, they believed. They believed God, and they believed His message. To show they were truly sorry for their sins, they decided not to eat anything for some time. They would spend their time praying instead. They would ask God to forgive the wrong things they had done. They would stop doing those evil deeds. In those days, when people were truly sorry, they did not dress up nicely. They put on old itchy clothes that were uncomfortable. This showed that they were truly sorry for the wrong things they had done. The Ninevites listened to God's message that Jonah gave them. They were sorry they had done wrong. They all decided to turn to God! It was a good thing that in the end, Jonah went where God sent him and did what God told him to do. PRAYER Dear God, we want to honor You by loving everyone. Yes, everyone! In Jesus name. Amen. ANTICIPATING THE NEXT LESSON Next week we read about God s Great Mercy, after Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh. Study Jonah 3:10-4:5. LESSON SUMMARIZED BY Willie Ferrell Jesus Is All Ministries WORKS CITED: Summary and commentary derived from Standard Lesson Commentary Copyright 2010 by permission of Standard Publishing. Reprinted by permission of The Incorporated Trustees of the Gospel Worker Society, Union Gospel Press, P.O. Box 6059, Cleveland, Ohio (Web site: The Pulpit Commentary, Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Hrsg.), Bellingham, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc. The KJV Parallel Bible Commentary, by Nelson

5 WORD SEARCH PUZZLE Jonah s Mission (Jonah 1:1 3; 3:1 9) T A R S H I S H D P J W N A N E M T L E Y Z I R E H O I T W T E U A V V T H O G K C N F O H D R Q U S I H W Z T V E A R G B N C A N A L J G N M V A H S H B F E T S O O G E Q E N T I S Z E A D U D N K P P H G R L B E E L R E I N D E R L E E T V R N N I H R T H R E E R V Y G L E D C E P K I N G X X O X T Y L A E A V Y Y W V G X L R F I E B I K D E N O R H T L V R R C D D D C T D E R A F E F P M J Q G K J I G P Y K L E B B W C A A T R Z W M Q G O Z ANGER BELIEVED CITY DECREE EVIL FARE FAST GOD GREAT JONAH JOURNEY KING NINEVEH OVERTHROWN PAID PREACHING REPENT TARSHISH THREE THRONE TURN WICKEDNESS WORD 23 words were placed into the puzzle.

6 WORD SEARCH SOLUTION Jonah s Mission (Jonah 1:1 3; 3:1 9) T A R S H I S H D + J + N + N E + T + E R + + O I + W + E U + + V T + O N + O + + R + + S I + W + T + E A R + + N C A + + L J G N + V A H S + B F E T + O O G E + E N T + S + E A D U D N + P + H G R + + E E L R + I + + E + + E E + + R N N I H + T H R E E R V Y G + E D C E P K I N G + + O + T Y + A E A V I E + I K + E N O R H T R C D + + C + D E R A F + + P I W (Over,Down,Direction) ANGER(14,5,S) BELIEVED(3,6,SE) CITY(4,13,NW) DECREE(6,7,NW) EVIL(5,2,SE) FARE(14,13,W) FAST(4,6,NE) GOD(10,5,SW) GREAT(2,10,NE) JONAH(11,1,SE) JOURNEY(9,5,SW) KING(9,10,E) NINEVEH(13,1,S) OVERTHROWN(15,10,N) PAID(8,10,SW) PREACHING(2,14,NE) REPENT(11,9,N) TARSHISH(1,1,E) THREE(9,9,E) THRONE(14,12,W) TURN(3,2,S) WICKEDNESS(10,15,NW) WORD(9,4,N)