23 Februari 2014

Kelas Balita

Coach Yemima

Asst 1 : Awan

Asst 2 : Dewi

Kelas 1 - 3

Coaches : Sianty (Andy)

Kelas 4 - 6

Coaches : Iwan (Shevica)

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! 

• Miracle #1: 
• God told Elijah to go hide by the Brook Cherith by the Jordan River. He told him that he could drink water from the brook. He also said that He had commanded the ravens to feed him there. 
• When Elijah got to the brook he had plenty of water to drink. Just as God had said, every morning and every night God sent ravens with bread and meat for Elijah to eat. I couldn’t help picturing these obedient ravens swooping down on someone’s picnic and grabbing a hamburger or hotdog for Elijah to eat! Even the ravens obeyed God. 
• As time passed with no rain, the brook began to dry up and there was no more water for Elijah to drink. God had taken care of him this far, would God continue to help Elijah? Of course! 
• God told Elijah, "Arise, go to Zarephath, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow to provide for you." 
• When he got to Zarephath, the widow was at the city gates gathering sticks for firewood.

 

• Miracle #2: 
• "Please bring me a little water in a cup," Elijah asked the woman. "Please bring me a morsel of bread." 
• "I do not have bread," the widow answered. "Only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar." Sadly, the lady told the prophet that when this was finished, she and her son would starve to death. 
• "Do not fear. Make me a small cake from it first, and afterwards make some for yourself and your son," Elijah said. "The flour will not be used up, nor the oil, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth." 
• God would have to work a miracle for that to happen. And He did! The lady and her son ate for many days, yet the bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry! Elijah lived with them.

• Miracle #3: 
• One day a sad thing happened. The widow's son died. In those days, women depended a lot on men to take care of them. After her husband died, her son was her only hope. 
• Elijah carried the boy's body to an upper room. He cried out to the LORD, saying, "O LORD my God I pray, let this child's soul come back to him." What an impossible prayer!
• The LORD heard the voice of Elijah and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. When Elijah took the child and gave him to his mother she said, "Now by this I know that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth."

(Source: Ministry to Children; Bible for Children)

 2. Lesson: 

• God provides for our every need.
• He provided food for Elijah through the ravens 
• He provided for the widow and her child with never-ending flour and oil! 
• Whenever we give what little we have to God, whether it is money, time or energy, it opens up our hearts so that God can fill us up with more. And when we give our lives to God, we can trust Him to make things right for us and to be the rewarder of our faith.

• We can trust Him even in bad times. 
• When Ahab and Jezebel tried to kill Elijah, he trusted God to protect him. 
• When the widow’s son died, he trusted God to do the impossible and bring him back to life! 
• We, too, can trust in God in every circumstance of life. Certainly, God is able to take care of us, no matter how hopeless our situation seems, just as He cared and provided for the widow and her son.

• We don’t need to look to other fake gods because we have Jesus, our Everything!

• Our faith is built as God delivers us from one difficult situation and then another, just as the widow’s faith was built. Let us keep our confidence in God. He will never fail us! God wants us to learn how to trust in Him.

 3. Suggested Activities:

• Pick a Word Review
  • Choose 10-15 key words from today’s lesson (eg: Ahab, Baal, flour, oil, ravens, Elijah, widow, son etc.). Write them on a small piece of paper and place them in a bowl. Pass the bowl around class and have each child pick one word each. After everyone has chosen a word, allow the children to take turns sharing what their word is and how it fit into today’s lesson.

• Flour Game
  • Prepare some flour, 2 bowls, 2 small spoons and 2 small jars that are the same size. Split your class into 2 equal teams. Set up a table for each team. On each table set up a bowl filled with enough flour to fill up a jar. Place one jar and a spoon on each table. Have 2 teams line up facing each table. 
  • When you say “go”, the first child in line goes to the table and takes a spoonful of flour and put into the jar. Then returns to tag their friend who goes next. Continue until all kids have their turn. Winner is team with most amount of flour in the jar. 

• Testimony time: Get kids to come up and share how they trusted God and He provided and protected them.

16 Februari 2014

Kelas Balita

Coach Jevelyn

Asst 1 : Adeline

Asst 2 : Junita

Kelas 1 - 3

Coaches : Yungcien (Dedy)

Kelas 4 - 6

Coaches : Savitri (Miguel)

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 theSouthern 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.

• Jeroboam (22 years)
  (actions: 2 fingers on sides of head like cows’ horns)  
• We’ve learnt about King Jeroboam. Who remembers what he did? He made 2 golden calves for the people to worship, so they didn’t have to go to the Temple in Jerusalem.
• Jeroboam tried to let unholy people worship a holy God everywhere. 
  Jesus’ death made us holy and opened the way for us to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. 

•  Nadab (2 years)
  (actions: show thumb; he is 1^st of 5 new kings we’re learning today)
• Son of Jeroboam; followed his father’s ways. 
• One day, when Nadab was busy attacking a town in Philistine (Gibbethon), one of his own people, Baasha, from the tribe of Issachar, plotted against him and killed him! 

• Baasha (24 years)
  (actions: show 2 fingers — thumb and forefinger)
• As soon as Baasha killed Nadab, he made himself king.
• He killed Jeroboam’s entire family, as was prophesied to Jeroboam before as a result of his idolatry. (1 Kings 14:14-16)
• Last week we learnt of how Baasha tried to attack King Asa of Judah, but Asa made a treaty with King Ben-Hadad to stop him.
• Baasha also did many evil things and worshipped idols. God sent His prophet to tell Baasha: “I lifted you up from the dust and appointed you ruler over my people Israel, but you followed the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin and to arouse my anger by their sins.” 
• As a result, God told Baasha that he and his family will suffer the same end as Jeroboam and his family. 

• Elah (2 years)
  (actions: show 3 fingers — thumb, forefinger and 3^rd finger)
• Son of Baasha.
• His official, Zimri, who commanded half his chariots, plotted against him. One day when Elah was drunk, Zimri came in and struck him down.

• Zimri (7 days)
  (actions: show 4 fingers — thumb, forefinger, 3^rd finger and ring finger)
• Zimri succeeded Elah as king of Israel and ruled in Tirzah.
• Just as Baasha killed the entire family of Jeroboam, Zimri killed all of Baasha’s family, as was prophesied.
• However Zimri was the shortest-reigning king in Israel. Guess how long he reigned? 7 days!
• When the Israelites in the army camp heard that Zimri had plotted against the king and murdered him, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that very day there in the camp.
• Omri and the Israelites then attacked Tirzah (where Zimri was ruling).
• When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. So he died. 

• Omri (12 years)
  (actions: show 5 fingers)
• Some Israelites supported another person to be king —Tibni, but Omri’s followers were stronger, so Omri became king.
• Omri bought a hill from a man called Shemer for 2 talents of silver. He built a city on the hill and called it Samaria, after Shemer (the former owner).
• Sadly, like the other kings before him, Omri also did evil in the eyes of the Lord. In fact, the Bible says he sinned more than all those before him.

 

• Conclusion: 
• What can we learn from the kings of Israel? (revise with actions)
• Jeroboam
• Nadab
• Baasha
• Elah 
•  Zimri
• Omri

• Because they didn’t follow God, because they did evil and led the people to worship idols, there were always wars and unrest 
• (note: If you recall, in the beginning, God was the King over the nation of Israel when He brought them into the Promised Land. He had judges to rule over Israel. But Israel grumbled and complained — all the other nations had kings, so they wanted a human king too! That was how Saul was appointed as Israel’s 1^st king.) 
• Through history, we see how human kings always fail. Because they are human. They are not perfect. They make bad decisions. They try to do things their own way, not God’s way. And as a result, the people will suffer.
• Today, we have a good King. He never fails. He is perfect. He makes wise decisions. He does things His way because He is God. And as a result, all of us are blessed in Him! His name is Jesus!
• Out of the 5 kings, 3 became king by killing the previous king — Baasha, Zimri and Omri. They were greedy for power and seized it for themselves by destroying others.
• Jesus was King of all who came to give His life for us. When the people wanted to make Him king by force, Jesus withdrew because He knew that was not God’s time (John 6:15). When He finally entered Jerusalem as a king on a donkey (John 12:15), his purpose was to die on the cross and give His life for us.
• Because Jesus died for us, you and I can be prince and princesses of the Most High God! Thank you Jesus!

9 Februari 2014

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

•  Asa & his 2 Battles: Where do you place your trust?

• During Asa’s reign, Judah had peace for many years. But there were 2 instances where he faced some external threats.

• #1: Zerah and the Cushites (1 Chron 14)
• There was a man called Zerah, who was a Cushite. He had a large and powerful army — 1 million men and 300 chariots — from Egypt.
• One day, Zerah decided to come and attack King Asa at the Valley of Zephathah. 
• King Asa had about 580,000 fighting men, but Zerah’s army was greater — 1 million men and 300 chariots. The odds were heavily stacked against King Asa. 
• What did Asa do? He called to God. “Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.” (1 Chron 14:11)
• Asa trusted and relied on God. And God struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushite armies fled, and Asa and his men chased them and destroyed them.
• King Asa and his men also carried away a large amount of plunder from the fallen Cushites. God gave them a great victory indeed!

•  #2: Baasha King of Israel (1 Chron 16) 
• In the 36^th year of Asa’s reign, there was another threat against Judah. 
• King Baasha of Israel went against King Asa. He fortified the town of Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering Judah.
• What did Asa do? Call to God?
• Unfortunately this time, he didn’t. 
• Asa decided to rely on his own cleverness this time. Asa decided to make a treaty with Ben-Hadad king of Aram, from Damascus. 
• Ben-Haded had a treaty with Baasha already. But King Asa gave Ben-Hadad gold and silver from the treasuries of the temple and palace and asked him to break his treaty with Baasha. 
• Ben-Hadad agreed. He broke off his treaty with Baasha of Israel and began conquering the towns of Israel — Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, Naphtali etc. 
• When Baasha heard about it, he abandoned his work at Ramah. So the men of Judah went to carry away all the stones and timber that Baasha had been using in Ramah, and they used it to build up the towns of Geba and Mizpah.
• That seemed like a smart move on King Asa’s part, right?
• But God didn’t think so. Asa had trusted in his own cleverness and in another man (King Ben-Hadad) instead of in God to deliver him … even though God had delivered him from Zerah and the Cushites before. 
• He sent Hanani the prophet to speak to Asa:“Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on theLord, he delivered them into your hand. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
• Asa didn’t listen to the prophet. He was angry with him and put him in prison. 
• Even when Asa was old and sick, he only trusted the doctors and did not seek help from the Lord. (1 Chron 16:12)

• Asa was a good king who followed God and kept His commandments. He didn’t worship idols. But He forgot to trust God fully. He thought that he was smarter than God. He put his trust in other men. In the end, he missed out the big victory God had in store for him.
• We can be good and follow God’s commandments. We can choose not to worship idols. But when we rely on our own goodness and smartness and abilities, we lose out on something greater. Jesus is our goodness. Jesus is our wisdom. Jesus is our ability.
• So children, do we trust men or trust Jesus? Trust our own selves? Or trust Jesus?When we are faced with issues and decisions in life, call upon Jesus, and He will answer us and show us the best way!

• Memory Verse Activity: (play game or activity to get kids to memorise)
  Proverbs 3:5-6  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.