25TH JUNE 2023 CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH

SUNDAY, 25TH JUNE, 2023.

BIBLE TEXT: Book of Jonah

MEMORY VERSE:

We must obey God rather than men!

Acts 5:29 (NIV).

To help the child realise that no one hides from God and that no one can disobey Him and get away with it.

OBJECTIVES:

During and after the lesson, each child will show that he or she understands the lesson by:

1. Explaining what it means to obey.

2. Identifying God’s commands he or she needs to obey.

3. Telling how Jonah learned to obey God.

1. Jonah Disobeys God – Jonah 1:1-17

2. Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance – Jonah 2:1-10

3. Jonah Obeys God and Goes to Nineveh – Jonah 3:1-10

4. God Teaches Jonah a Great Lesson – Jonah 4:1-11

When it comes to obeying God, many of us act like Jonah, one of the prophets of God in Israel. He thought he could get away with disobeying God when God asked him to do something that he did not want to do.

The story we will study shows that God loves all people. He wants to extend His love, mercy and forgiveness to all people so that they can repent. God’s children must be willing to spread the gospel to everybody. There is power in the gospel that can change the wicked.

1. Jonah Disobeys God Jonah 1:1-47

God told Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh and tell the people that they would soon be destroyed because their wickedness was very great. Because he didn I want to preach to the city Nineveh, he deliberately disobeyed God. Jonah felt the people of Nineveh did not deserve to be warned or r to be saved. So he was not happy that God wanted to spare the city.

Instead of doing as God I told him, Jonah ran away to a city known as Joppa. There he boarded a ship that was going in the opposite direction and tried to run away from God.

Not long after the ship had set out, a great wind started blowing and the sky turned black and there were roaring waves. The waves and the winds were so much that the ship reeled to and fro and everybody was in great distress.

The sailors became terrified and each of them began to pray to his god for help. When the storm got worse, they threw everything in the ship into the sea to make the ship lighter, but nothing changed. During this terrible storm, however, prophet Jonah was fast asleep inside the ship. When the captain saw Jonah sleeping, he woke him up and ordered him to get up and call on his own god. He asked Jonah who he was and Jonah said he was a Hebrew and that he served the God that made heaven and earth. He confessed that he was trying to run away from God. Knowing that his disobedience was the cause of the storm, he told the sailors to take him and throw him into the Sea.

The sailors, on realising that Jonah was a prophet of God and that he was running away from God, were afraid. They did not want to throw him into the sea. Rather, they rowed harder. But the storm grew really worse. So they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea. Immediately, the storm stopped and the sea was calm again. The sailors feared God, offered a sacrifice to Him and promised that they would serve Him. As soon as Jonah fell into the sea, a big fish swallowed him. God had prepared the fish to swallow Jonah. And for three days, he was safe in the belly of the fish.

2. Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance – Jonah 2:1-10

Jonah found himself alive inside a great fish. He was terrified. And the first thing he did was to pray to God to deliver him from the belly of the fish. He was now willing to obey God. He made promises unto God that he would serve Him. Finally, he thanked God. God spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out on the shore. Jonah was now willing to obey God. It was in the belly of the fish that Jonah repented of his disobedience.

3. Jonah Obeys God and Goes to Nineveh – Jonah 3:1-10

God told Jonah again to go to Nineveh and warn the people about their sin and the coming destruction. Jonah obeyed. He went around the city in three days telling the people that God would destroy them after forty days. When the people heard the message, they became afraid. The king and all the people proclaimed a national fasting and prayer. They begged God to forgive their sins. God heard the prayer and mourning of the people of Nineveh and changed His plans about destroying them.

4. God Teaches Jonah a Great Lesson – Jonah 4:1-11

When Jonah saw that the people of Nineveh were not going to be destroyed after all, he became very angry. He reminded God that that was exactly why he ran away to Tarshish. He told God that he knew that He, God, is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and full of loving kindness, and relents from doing harm. Jonah became so angry and disappointed that he wanted to die. He prayed and asked God to take his life. But rather than kill him, God tried to reason with him. He asked him whether he was right to be angry.

Jonah went outside the city and sat on a hillside waiting for the city to be destroyed. He made a shelter for himself there and sat there. But God prepared a plant that grew and shaded Jonah and he was very happy. The next morning, however, the plant died because God sent a worm that destroyed it. Jonah became so angry again that he wished to die. God pointed out to him that it was not right for him to be angry about a common plant that he did not even plant. And yet he had no pity on 120,000 human beings who were ignorant.

We should never try to run away from God’s will in our life. Nobody can run away from Him. Neither can we disobey Him and get away with it. The true test of love for God is obedience to Him and His Word. God wants us to obey Him. He wants to give us the desire to obey Him. Disobedience will make us feel sad and guilty inside, and sometimes it can bring real trouble into our lives as it did in the life of Jonah.

We should have a right attitude towards sinners. Prejudice is a sin. Prejudice makes us feel that we are superior to others. God wants us to accept and care for everybody, and to give everyone the message of salvation. God wants us to preach to our friends and neighbours, and also to people that are far away, and even our enemies.

1. The following make people to disobey God’s instructions except?

(A) Pride

(B) Lust of the flesh/eye

(C) Obedience to God

(D) No reason.

2. What should be our attitude when in difficulty?

(A) Forsake God

(B) Look for help anywhere /any place outside God

(C) Pray to God

(D) Go to another city.

3. The following happens when we chose to obey God’s instructions.

(A) He hears and answers our prayers

(B) He protects and directs us

(C) He blesses and restores us

(D) All of the above.

4. God punishes His disobedient children in order to teach them to obey Him?

True or False.

Monday: Obedient Is Better Than Sacrifice – 1 Sam 15:21-23

Tuesday: Love Provokes Obedience – John 14:15,22-23

Wednesday: Obedience Keeps Us in God’s Love – John 15:9-10

Thursday: Grace for Total Obedience – Rom 5:15-17

Friday: Dangers of Willful Disobedience – Heb 2:1-4

Saturday: Learning Obedience – Heb 5:8