[ Home ] [ Spring Quarter ] [ Summer Quarter ] [ Archives ]

    • Today's Theme:
    God wants us to choose nice friends.

     

       [ Home ] [ Reviews ] [ Free Bible Lessons ] [ Bible Story Mat ] [ Bible Cover Pattern ] [ Bible Action Figures ]  

    Today's Story:

    		King Solomon makes pretend gods.
    I Kings 11
    Optional Memory verse:  John 15:7
    "Remain in me and follow my teaching.  If you do this, 
    you can ask anything you want, and it will be given to you." 
    International Children's Bible, New Century Version
    • Materials Needed:
    		Promised Land mat,
    King Solomon figure,
    Several women figures (Fisher Price or similar),
    Shoe box temple from last week,
    Match Box Covenant Box 
    		Put a piece of paper inside with:
    		The 1'st commandment written on it or the words:
    'Never make your own gods'
    blocks

     

    • Intro. Activity:  Cereal Gorp

    Have the kids make 2 batches of gorp:

    		Use a variety of sweet cereals, raisins, vanilla wafers, animal crackers, etc.
    		Make 2 batches:
    		One in a small bowl,
    A second in a larger bowl.
    Direct the kids to add one ingredient to the small batch that would make it taste awful:
    		such as garlic powder. 
    Have the kids do a taste test of each.
    		Ask them which is better.
    Ask them what made the one taste bad.
    Summarize:  
    		"Just one wrong ingredient made the whole bowl taste bad. 
    Today we're going to learn that God wants us to choose nice friends.
     It only takes 1 bad friend to  to lead us to do wrong things.  
    Just like it only took one bad ingredient to make this taste bad." 

     

    • Closing Discussion:

    • Close in Prayer asking God to help us chose friends who won't try to get us to do wrong things.

    Telling the Story:
    		Last week we learned that King Solomon made a beautiful temple for God.
    		Lay out the Promised Land mat.
    Place temple (minus the block courtyard) near the Dead Sea.
    Place Solomon figure next to the temple.
    God reminded Solomon to obey His laws.
    What was God's most important law?
    		Look in the matchbox and review,  "Never make your own gods".
    What did God say would happen if if the people stopped following God's laws and worshipped other gods?  
    		The temple would be destroyed and 
    God would make his people leave the Promised land. 
    God gave his people another important law.  I'm going to read it to you from the Bible.
    Listen carefully so you can tell me what it is. 
    		Read I Kings 11:2a  (The Lord had told the Israelites,  'You must not marry people of other nations.  If you do,  they will cause you to follow their gods.')
    What was this important law?
    		To never marry people of other lands.
    Why didn't God want His people to marry people from other lands?
    		They will turn us away from God.
    Do you think Solomon followed that important rule?
    Let's find out. 
    In Bible times it was common for men to have many wives.  
    Well King Solomon had lots and lots of wives.
    		Place 1 or 2 women figures next to Solomon
    But king Solomon made a terrible mistake.
    		Place several women figures around the outside of the Promised Land mat.
    He married many beautiful princesses from far away lands.
    		Point to the women figures surrounding the mat.
    These princesses worshipped gods of wood and stone.
    		Walk the women figures to Solomon.
    These new wives asked Solomon to build places in the Promised Land for them to worship their gods.
    Do you think Solomon followed God's most important rule to never make pretend gods?
    I'm sorry to tell you that he did not follow God's most important rule.  
    He wanted to please his new wives more than he wanted to please God.
    So he built pretend gods right in God's special land.
    		Make several towers of blocks (2 or 3 blocks in height) in several places on the Promised Land mat.
    We'll pretend that these towers are the pretend gods that Solomon built for his wives.
    		Point out the block towers.
    God talked to Solomon 2 times and told him to stop making pretend gods.
    But Solomon would not listen.
    Next week we'll find out what happened because King Solomon would not obey God
    Why did God tell his people not to marry people from other lands?
    		Because they would lead His people away from God
    Do you think Solomon might have tried to tell his wives that it was against God's laws to make pretend gods?
    		Probably
    What do you think his wives might have done to convince him to make pretend gods?
    		Get angry, argue with him, etc. 
    God wants us to marry people who love Jesus, too.
    God wants us to choose nice friends 
    Nice friends won't try to get us to do wrong things.
    Have you ever had a friend try to get you to do something wrong?
    Discuss how it feels when someone is trying to convince you to do something wrong.

     

    • Action Game:  How many queens? 
    		Divide the class into 2 teams.
    Place 2 lines of masking tape on the floor next to each other.
    Have each team line up along one line of tape.
    Designate a spot in the room to be Solomon's palace: 
    		a row of chairs, or
    another line of tape on the other side of the room, etc.
    Each team has to guess how many queens you are thinking of.
    The team who guesses closest has to run to the palace for safety.
    The other team chases them and tries to tag them before they get there.  
    Whoever is tagged has to join the other team.
    Repeat with the new teams.

    Supplemental Bible Readings:
    (Suggested daily readings)

     

    • Materials Needed for Next Week:
    		Promised Land Mat
    King Solomon figure
    Northern king figure
    Prophet figure
    A man figure
    Optional Snack: fruit roll ups

    • Two weeks from now you will need a Daniel figure:

    • In mid December you will need the figures from a childproof nativity set.

    Figures Needed for Upcoming Lessons:

    Next week we will need 

    		A prophet figure.  
    		If making homemade figures from the pattern at this site:   Give him a characteristic to help kids distinguish him as a prophet such as:
    		Make him from wool or linen that looks like burlap (sack cloth) or
    choose specific colors or fabrics that won't be used for any other people group.
    A king from the Northern kingdom, Israel.
    		If making homemade figures from the pattern at this site,  
    		color code him as a king from the Northern kingdom by using red and gold fabrics.
    If making homemade figures from the pattern at this site,  
    		Make him as a Babylonian official, 
    Make him as a flip figure who flips from a young man to an old man, or 
    from an Israeli prince to a Babylonian official.

     

    © 1999 Linda Lawler.  
    Permission granted to copy for personal use only.  Not for resale.

    Home Sower 21      Lesson 13    Home Sower 13         Lesson 14   

    Home Sower 14       Lesson 15    Home Sower 15    Lesson 16     

    Home Sower 16    Lesson 17    Home Sower 17    Lesson 18    

    Home Sower 18    Lesson 19    Home Sower 19   Lesson 20    

    Home Sower 20    Lesson 22    Home Sower 22    Lesson 23      

    Home Sower 23     Lesson 24    Home Sower 24   Lesson 25   

    Home Sower 25    Lesson 26    Home Sower 26 

    Lesson 27    Home Sower 27

    Hit Counter     

    Lessons 1-12    Lessons 13-27     Lessons 28-33    

    Lessons 34-40    Lessons 41-46    Lessons 47-52