LEADERS HUB
Year 1, Term 1, Week 3: Ideas for Junior Group
Week 3: The Good News... From Micah!
Lesson Objective:
Because of sin, people were separate from God and living difficult lives. God sent prophet’s like Micah to tell them that God would send a ruler/king to save them.
Bible Passage:
Micah 4:9-11 – Micah 5:1-4
Memory Verse:
Micah 5:4- Like a shepherd taking care of his sheep, this ruler will lead and care for his people by the power and glorious name of the Lord his God.
Story Telling:
Ask the kids if they remember anything from last week’s lesson, prompt them to recall:
- Life was good in the Garden
- Eve and Adam ate the fruit and were sent out of the garden away from God
- Life would be difficult from then on
Tell the story:
- Ask the children to listen carefully for the 'feelings words' in the story and pull a face that shows that feeling
READ:
God’s people were very sad… So sad that they were crying... 'Boo hooo' They were crying because they did not have a king… they had no one (raise arms in the air hopelessly) to lead them and tell them what to do, and they were VERY confused... They walked around moaning like they were hurt 'moaning noise'. They were scared because there were many people who wanted to find them, hurt them and put them in jail because they had been naughty and done the wrong thing. There were SO many people that were angry at them.
But there is exciting news for God’s people! Micah, a prophet of God came to speak to them. He said that God will give them a SPECIAL king... Somebody from the town of Bethlehem. The people would not be sad forever, because this king would take care of them. Like a shepherd taking care of his sheep, this SPECIAL king would lead and care for his people. They would feel loved and safe with this King as their leader. This was such happy news!
The people did not know it yet, but Micah was talking about Jesus! He had come to tell them that God would send them a special King who would look after them, even though they had done the wrong thing! Jesus loves all of God's people, including us! When we are sad or scared, we can always remember that God cares and God loves us - He knew that we would do the wrong thing and that would ruin our friendship with God and make life hard for us, so He sent Jesus to fix it! What happy news!
Quiz Questions:
1. How were God's people feeling at the start of the story? Sad/scared
2. Had God's people done the wrong thing? Yes
3. Did that get them into trouble and make people mad at them? Yes
4. Micah had a special message of good news for the people, who was God going to send to help them? A SPECIAL KING! JESUS!
5. Was Jesus going to help His people? Yes
6. Does doing the wrong thing hurt our friendship with God too? Yes
7. Does God have a plan to fix it? Yes - Jesus!
Game Idea: Stuck in the Mud
- Have the kids dance around the room to some music
- When the music stops, all the kids should freeze with their legs apart like they are stuck in mud
- Choose 2 kids each round to go around un-sticking everyone else (by crawling around and touching the feet/shoes/ankles) of all of the other kids
- Have the kids try to un-stick everyone as fast as possible each time!
Remind the kids that God's people were stuck and feeling scared and sad, but Micah had a great message for them - God was sending Jesus to help His people!
Craft Idea: Cup Phones
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- Before the lesson, gather paper cups, string, paper clips, scissors and a tack from the cupboard, as well as pencils/pens/sequins/glitter/glue etc. for decoration
- Download and print the Micah's Message template on coloured paper and cut out the speech bubbles - one of each per child
- Poke a hole in the base of each cup with the tack
- Have the kids decorate their cups and stick on the printout (one of the speech bubbles on each cup)
- Help the kids poke a length of string through the end of one cup, tie it off to a paper clip, then do he same with the other cup to make a phone
- Allow the kids to use their phones to say things to each other (the string must be tight!)
- Remind the kids that Micah had an important message for God's people - help was on it's way! Jesus was coming!
