2 Lessons - Jonah - Obedience - Complete

I'm teaching children 1-7 yrs at this time 

2 with disabilities  - but the lessons could be adapted for any age.

2 Lessons - Jonah - Obedience 

Part 1

I do not get paid - I do not have to do any of this.  I do this because I want to.

God Showing Himself Powerful Through His Wrath

God Showing Himself Powerful Through His Mercy

 God was angry with the city of Nineveh and wanted to destroy Nineveh for their sins, but God was willing to show mercy.  He talked to Jonah, who was a prophet (preacher) of God.  He told him to go to Nineveh and warn Nineveh of God’s judgment.  Jonah was not happy with what God wanted him to do. Jonah was angry with the city of Nineveh for how they treated the Jewish people.  He knew that if He went to Nineveh, if they repented God could be merciful to them, but He did not want God to be merciful to them.  He wanted the judgment of God to fall upon them for what they had done to the Jewish people.

He absolutely refused to obey the Lord.  He got on a ship and paid them to take him as far away from Nineveh as possible.   He thought He had outsmarted the Lord God.  

It was all peaceful and happy, not a cloud in the sky.  They started on their way.  When they were way out at sea, something began to happen.  The sky started to gather dark clouds.  A raging storm with thunder and lightning began blowing across the sea.  The ship was whipped back a fourth by the forceful winds.  They began to fear for their lives.  They wondered if God was angry with someone. They were looking for Jonah, where could he be?  They found him sleeping.   "We are going to die! Wake up! How can you sleep?  God is angry with someone.  Get up and pray to your God lest we die.

 God’s wrath was kindled. The other men prayed to their false gods, but they did not hear.  They started throwing all the cargo overboard.   

Jonah admitted to them that he had been disobedient to God.  He told them about the one and only God. They trusted the Lord God Almighty.  They cried and prayed in fear to the living God Almighty.

Nothing worked the ship was going to go down if they didn’t do something.  They threw Jonah overboard.  Jonah was tangled in the waves of the sea. He nearly drowned to death and would have but  Jonah awoke in a dark dripping cave filled with smelly whale digestion.  He had air to breathe.  Fear filled his heart.

God had prepared the whale for Jonah.  He commanded the whale to swallow Jonah.  The female whale is the biggest fish in the sea.  So most likely it was a female whale that swallowed him.

Jonah prayed and cried to God for forgiveness.  He felt as though he had died and gone to hell.  He even called it hell.  He said he was in "the belly of  hell."

Talk about Jonah's Rebellion.

.Memory Verse

Jonah 1:1b  .......go to Nineveh

Below

This picture is just to show you

 that the whale swallowed Jonah.

It didn't happen exactly like this picture.

 He sank to the bottom 

of the sea and the whale 

scooped him up from sure death.

He was going to die but God used the whale to save his life.  

Talk about Jonah's prayers.

Let's name some things He

Could thank God For.

He could thank the Lord he was not dead.

He could thank the Lord he had breath to breathe.

He could thank the Lord that he had a chance to live.

He thanked the Lord that his prayers were heard.

He thanked the Lord that He saw the salvation of the Lord.

Jonah gave sacrifices of praise 

and thanksgiving to the Lord God.

Within the whale's belly.

He thought he would die.

but

Salvation Is of The Lord.

Where is Jonah in this picture?

Teachers Notes:

I lined my pictures up on the wall or board.

Just choose the pictures you want to use for the lesson.

I used all the above but one.

Refer to the pictures while you teach.

After teaching: or later in class.

Have the kids come up one by one.  Have them choose one of the pictures.

Have them say something about the picture in their own words. 

 Reward them with stickers for trying.

Game And Coloring Activity

Review Game Poster - Print One On Cardstock.

Print One For Each Child For Coloring Activity.

Just for the cardstock poster:

Put point values in different places of the picture.  For example, write 100pts inside the mouth.

10pts inside one of the bubbles.   25pts on one of his fins, 50 pts on top of his nose.

Then print off coloring sheets

Coloring Activity

Crayons

Stickers

Glue

Cut out Jonah - One per child, 

enough for your class.

and 

one for the review game. 

Store them in a sandwich bag.

For the review game:

Put tape on the back of Jonah. 

Ask review questions.  

Every time one child gets the right answer, 

blindfold him/her

and direct them as they place Jonah

onto the poster.  Highest points wins.

Review Questions: 

Review Again With The Next Lesson

1.  Why did Jonah disobey God?

2.  When the storm hit where was Jonah?

3.  Were the other men on the ship Christians?

4.  God prepared a great __________ to swallow Jonah.

5.  Why did God send a great storm at sea - in our story.

6.  How did Jonah get out of the whale?

7.  What did Jonah do when He was inside the whale?

8. Which fish is the biggest fish in the sea?

9.  What finally made the storm become calm?

10.  God told Jonah to what?  Clue - Our memory verse.

11. Does God want us to obey him?

Teachers Reading 

Please remember to read the scriptures at the bottom of this post.

Keep all the Jonah pictures up for the following week.

Next Weeks Lesson Below This Point

Part 2

Keep your games up from past lessons to review.

Go over last week's lesson in a review.

Then start off here.

God gave Nineveh 40 days to repent.  That meant many people would die in some disaster.   The sin of Nineveh was great and God became angry at their evil-doing (sin) and their violence. 

When Jonah was inside the whale he thought he was in hell.

He wasn't really in hell but there is a real hell for those who will not believe upon the Lord God.  

God promised destruction to Nineveh but he really wanted them to repent.  That is why God wanted Jonah to Go to Nineveh and to warn them.  God saw the sin rise up towards heaven.  God knows about any sin in our lives and He wants us to turn from it, just like Jonah going to Nineveh.  Jonah repented of his sin and confessed his sin to God.  He asked for God's salvation, He surely would have died in the hell he was in had he not agreed to go to Nineveh.  God calls us to obey him and love him too.  

Does God tell you to obey your parents?  Does he want you to be kind and forgiving? 

There are lots of things God tells us to do and also things he tells us not to do.

He knows everything about us and knows what we think and feel.

The most important thing Is.....

The Bible teaches us that we must believe upon the Lord 

Jesus Christ to be delivered from the real hell.

Jonah and the whale speak about hell.  

That's why God tells us to warn people about the wrath to come.

Not to just grown-ups but also to the young:

God calls preachers and teachers to tell of God's mercy and his grace.

All of Nineveh believed and saw the salvation of the Lord.

Even the King of Nineveh humbled himself fasted and believed in God.

God repented and showed mercy to all of Nineveh.

Boys and girls I'm the teacher that is telling you about these things today.

God wants us to warn both young and old.  Just as he wanted 

Jonah to warn the people of Niniveh.

In the story of Jonah, God mentions the children of Niniveh.

God thinks of children.  God cares for children.  He wanted Jonah to remember the children of Nineveh.

Why do we need to warn people today?  People need to know that hell is waiting for every soul that refuses Christ.  Those who refuse his love, and who refuse his Word.

God wants us to warn people just as Jonah was sent, we are sent.

We are sent to tell of God's mercy and forgiveness.  We are to warn people that there is hell to escape and the only way to escape is putting our trust in Christ for salvation.  God saved Jonah’s life through the whale.  God saves us through Jesus Christ his only begotten Son.

God gave Nineveh forty days.  Pray for our country that we do not turn our backs on God.   My fear is that God will see the sins of America rise up to the heavens, just like Nineveh.  Woe to the nation that forgets and rejects God.

Boys and girls, you can call to God in prayer today and ask forgiveness for your sins.  God's will is that you turn from bad behavior and bad attitudes.  Jesus came to die for our sins.  He took our sins upon himself and took our punishment.  Jesus died and was in hell three days and three nights (in the heart of the earth). just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. He took our punishment - He was literally in hell.  Why did He do that? Because he loves you and me.  He loves people.  God made a way through Jesus to be saved from our sins and the hell to come. Jesus took our place.  He arose from the dead and proved He is victorious over death and hell. 

God showed mercy to Nineveh because they believed and feared the Lord God.  God gave mercy because they repented of their wrong behavior and their violence. 

Matthew 12:40

For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so, shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (hell)

Father God, we pray for each child here, we pray if there is one here that does not know you as their Saviour, that you will speak to his or her heart today.  Help them to understand your Word.  Help them understand your will for their lives.  Help them understand that there is a heaven and that there is a hell.  Help them understand that this lesson about your mercy for all those who will believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I pray this in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Teach the class the word "repent"-

Teachers Notes:

When the bible says God repented it means that God gave

them mercy based upon their repentance.

 Our repentance is turning away from living wrongly in

 God's sight, to living a life pleasing to God.

It does not say Jonah told them about the whale

but I'm sure he did.  God does not do anything evil in the way that we think of it. 

God was going to bring judgment upon a nation that was rebellious to him.  God is all-powerful and hates sin.  He would bring about a disastrous happening- Evil means disastrous.

Have the kids guess what the picture under the sun is.

Then show them the same picture with the whale on it. 

Jonah told them about the whale

I'm sure he did.  His story was a testimony of God's wrath and mercy.

This could be the coloring sheet as well as a visual on the wall or board. 

Have them try to draw the whale.  

Jonah 4

The gourd could of been a pumpkin plant.  

Jonah cared more for his gourd than even the smallest child in Nineveh.  God wanted him to care more for people.  He didn't have forgiveness in his heart.  God used the gourd to show him he was selfish. He took no thought for the innocent in that city.  

 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

Game And Coloring Activity

Review Game Poster - Print One On Cardstock.

Print One For Each Child For Coloring Activity.

Put points on the gourds.  100pts 200 pts ( Big Gourd, 200 pts, Big Flower 100 pts,  Small Gourd 50 pts, Leaf  Or Small Flower 25 pts. Back Flower 10pts  Then put tape on worms.

Ask the review questions. 

For the review game:

Put tape on the back of worms. Make 10 worms.

Put tape on each one.

Ask review questions.  

Every time one child gets the right answer, 

blindfold him/her

and direct them as they place a worm

onto the poster.  Highest points win.

Cut Out 10 Worms

Game Board

The gourds would not have been on the vine.

This picture could explain what a gourd vine

grows and looks like, if it would have grown.

The gourd vine died and made Jonah very sad.

Review Questions:

1.How many days did God give Nineveh to repent?

2.What does repent mean if it is God, repenting?

3.What does it mean if we repent?

4.Does God want us to repent of wrongdoing?

5. What did Nineveh do when Jonah preached?

(They believed God.) 

6. Did Jonah want God to show mercy to Nineveh?

7. What did Jonah find that made Him so happy?

8. Why did Jonah not care for Niniveh? They were mean to Jonah's people the Hebrews.

9.  Who believed and fasted when Jonah preached?

10. What is fasting?

11. The king took off his robe and took off his what?

12. When Jesus died he was In the heart of the earth for how long?

 

Play the same games you played last time

Play the same games you played last time. But use 

This is to help you prepare.

Teachers Study And Reading 

Please remember to read the scriptures at the bottom of this post.

Teachers Reading - Vital

Jonah 1:1-17 and Jonah 2:1- 4:11

 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 

 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.  Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?

And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.  

Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.  And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee.

 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.  Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 

Jonah 2:1-10

 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,

 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.  For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.  Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.  When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

Jonah 3:1 

And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.  And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water: 

 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Jonah 4:1-11 

Jon 4:1 ¶ But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?  So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.  But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.  Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

Poetry And Other Materials On This Site Can Be Freely Used For Christian Bible Centered Non-Profit Ministries And must Remain Unchanged In Any Way. All Other Purposes Are With Permission Only. You May Make Requests At treasurebox18@yahoo.com - All my poems with stories are both real and fictional designed to illustrate a biblical truth. All Rights Reserved. Please Include Site Name And Proper Credit Back To This Blog. Thank-You.