VERSES: Proverbs 1:1-31:31
MEMORY VERSE: Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: 1 Corinthians. Write "1 Corinthians" on small slips of paper and hand out to the students at the end of class, so they will take them home and memorize them.
PRAYER: Thank God for His Word and that we are blessed with a copy to read.
SPECIAL SONG: The Books of the Old Testament and The Books Of The New Testament (See words and tune on March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class on this blog. Click on orange circle for tune.)
VISUAL AID: A Large Activity (see below)
LESSON POINTS:
- Did you know that there is a book in the Bible that tells many short sermons using two sentences for each sermon? Yes, Proverbs is the book and King Solomon wrote most of the book. Do you remember how King Solomon was asked by God what he desired or wanted? And what did King Solomon want more than anything? That's right! Wisdom! He wanted to know how to deal with the people in his kingdom. God was so pleased with Solomon's answer that he also gave him riches and fame. Solomon was very wise and wrote down many, many proverbs and now we can read his wise sayings by reading the book of Proverbs.
- Let's turn our Bibles to Proverbs in the middle of the Bible. Who brought their Bible today? That is wonderful. We need to read the Bible every day, so we can know what God wants us to do, don't we? Let's read from a verse from Proverbs. Turn to Proverbs 3:5. (Read verse.) Here, Solomon has given us advice! The wisest man who ever lived, besides Jesus, is telling us a smart thing to do. What did he say? Trust in the LORD. We have studied a lot about different people in the Bible who trusted the LORD. Can you name someone? Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, even Solomon. So, one smart thing we can do is trust God. We live our life reading the Bible and doing what it says and always trusting in God.
- But that verse says something else, doesn't it? It said not to 'lean on thine own understanding.' What does that mean? That's right! We don't trust in ourselves. How do we know what to do? We don't know unless someone tells us or shows us. Here, Solomon is telling us the smart thing to do and that is to trust God and not ourselves.
- The book of Proverbs is full of good advice. The verses tell us the right thing to do or not to do in God's eyes. If we know to do the right thing the first time, it can save us a whole lot of time, money, energy, and heartache. Solomon was very wise and we can be wise, too, if we take his advice.
"Older Student" Tips:
- The book of Proverbs was mostly written by King Solomon. Remember he had chosen wisdom when God had asked him what he wanted. God, through Solomon, shared His wisdom with us by writing short truisms or sayings down. Now, we can read these short, usually two lines and learn a great deal.
- Perhaps the theme of Proverbs is "Get wisdom!" There are many verses on different themes though out Proverbs, such as fearing God, how parents can raise their children, how to handle anger, how to be a good friend, the danger of pride, how we should watch our tongues, and the book talks a lot about fools.
ACTIVITY: "A Wise Proverb...Or Not?"
Materials needed: 5" x 12" strip of construction paper, leftover 3" x 5" rectangles of scraps of construction paper (or pre-cut index cards), stapler, staples, crayons, pencils, or markers.
- Hand out 10-12 cards to each student.
- The student copies a proverb from the Bible on half of the cards.
- On the rest of the cards, the student makes up an unwise proverb. Students may take a proverb from the Bible and alter it a bit to make it an unwise proverb.
- At the bottom of each card, in very small print, write the verse or the word "Not!"
- When the students are finished writing, set aside.
- Hand out 5" x 12" strip of paper.
- Fold paper a little less than in half.
- Staple on two opposite sides. This is the card pocket.
- Write "A Wise Proverb...Or Not?" and "Book of Proverbs" on the outside of the card pocket.
- Tuck in the finished cards in the card pocket to take home.
- Before leaving class, it is nice if the student share their 'proverbs' whether it be with whole class (if the class is small) or with a partner.
- One student holds up one of the cards, making sure their fingers cover up the tiny verse or the tiny word, "Not!" and test each other to see if they know wise proverbs from unwise proverbs.
