LEADERS HUB
Year 1, Term 2, Week 3: Ideas for Senior Group
Week 3: Serving God - To show others His love!
Lesson Objective:
When we serve God, we can show others his love and power!
Bible Passage:
Daniel 3: 16-30 (Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego Part 2)
Memory Verse:
Daniel 3:28- King Nebuchadnezzar said: Praise their God for sending an angel to rescue his servants! They trusted their God and refused to obey my commands.
Story Idea: Word Snail & Read It!
.jpg)
Introduce:
- Play a game of word snail (like hangman) with words relating to the story (eg. king, statue, saviour, fire etc):
- Draw the example snail on the board
- Draw dashes on the board corresponding to the number of letters in a word that relates to the story (eg. four dashes for 'fire')
- Have kids guess letters - if they guess correctly, write the letter on the correct dash, if incorrectly - write the letter to the side and draw the next part of the snail
- The kids win if they guess the word before the full, snail is drawn but if the snail beats them, they are too slow!
Recap:
- Ask the kids what they remember from last weeks story and prompt them to remember that King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue and wanted everyone to bow down to it when the music played and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego wouldn't bow down because they loved God above everything else!
Read:
- Have the class read Daniel 3:13-29
Quiz Questions:
1. From last week, why didn’t Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego bow down to the statue? They loved God above everything else/they knew their God was the one true God & the statue wasn’t
2. From last week, did King Nebuchadnezzar believe that God could save the three men from the furnace? No
3. How hot did King Nebuchadnezzar heat the furnace? Seven times hotter than usual, hot enough for the flames to kill the soldiers outside!
4. The King jumps and shouts in surprise! Why? There are four men in the furnace instead of three!
5. What does the King call the men when he asks them to come out? Servants of the most high God
6. What does this show us about the Kings opinion of God now? He understands that this God (of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego) is the most powerful
7. The men are pulled out of the fire, are they burned? No
8. What does king Nebuchadnezzar do/say? Praises God for sending an angel to rescue the men
9. How does the king know that these men really trust their God? Because they chose to trust him even though they might die!
10. What are some ways that we can obey God in our lives? Being kind to others, obeying parents, standing up for God even if others think we are silly
11. How might this show other people about God? They see that we are different and that we love God & take him seriously
Activity Idea: Balloon Rockets!
.jpg)
Before the lesson:
- Gather string, tape, straws and balloons from the cupboard
For the activity:
- Split the kids into teams, give each a balloon, some tape, a straw and a length of string
- Have them thread their straw onto one end of their string, blow up the balloon and tape it to the straw
- Allow them to stretch out the string, release the balloon and which it fly along the string
- Make it into a competition and see which teams balloon can go the furthest!
Discussion:
- What makes the balloon move? (Air)
- How do you know it's the air? (You can hear it whooshing out, you see the balloon move along as it's propeled along by the air)
- How do you know that the men in the story loved God? (They trusted Him and were willing to die for Him)
- How do you know that God is powerful and can be trusted? (He showed everyone when He protected the men from the fire)
Remind the kids that when we love and trust God above all else, it shows the world how awesome and powerful and loving He is!
Craft Idea: Fire Collage
.jpg)
Before the lesson:
- Download and print the Find-A-Word
- Have the kids fill the gaps in the story then find those words in the fire below
- To make it more interesting, have the kids form teams and race!
