VERSES: 2 Kings 6:1-7
MEMORY VERSE: 2 Kings 6:6 "...and the iron did swim."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Obadiah. Write "Obadiah" on small slips of paper and hand out at the end of the class.
PRAYER: Thank God for giving us the Bible, the book tells us everything we need in this life.
SPECIAL SONG: Jesus Taught By Parables And Miracles (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #4 on this blog), The B-I-B-L-E (see February - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #2 on this blog).
VISUAL AID: Experiment: Can iron float without God's help?
Materials needed: something made of iron, a few floating items, a small tub of water, whiteboard or chalkboard, dry erase marker or chalk.
- Introduce the question: Can iron float?
- Write on the board "Can iron float without God's help?
- On the board, make two columns. At the top of one column, write: "FLOAT" and the other column "SINK."
- Before the experiment, pass around the objects under consideration for sinking or floating.
- Ask students which items they think will float or sink.
- One at a time, place items, one by one into tub of water.
- Make notes on the board after each item is tried.
- When experiment is finished and the board is completed, discuss what conclusions can be made.
- Explain how iron will float ONLY with God's intervention or help. This is called a miracle.
- The prophets said to Elisha one day that where they were living was too small. They wanted to build a larger place. They asked if they could go and build by the Jordan River. They would take wood and build a place where they would have more room. Elisha told them to go and do it. When it was suggested that perhaps Elisha could come, too, he agreed and went with them.
- When they arrived by the river, they began cutting down trees and cutting the wood into beams that they could use to build a building. Suddenly, someone cried out, "Oh no, Elisha! The ax head has fallen into the water! It was not even mine! I borrowed it!" Elisha asked, "Where did it fall?" The man pointed to where the ax head fell into the water. Elisha cut down a stick and threw it in the water and up came the ax head, floating in the water!
- An ax head is made out of iron. We have found out on our own by doing the experiment that iron does not float, does it? No! Iron sinks! Iron is very heavy, isn't it? How did Elisha make that ax head float? Elisha performed a miracle from God. God was behind that miracle and it proved that Elisha was a man of God.
- Do we perform miracles today, right now? No. We have something better now that can prove if someone is speaking the words of God. How would we know if someone was speaking the words that God wanted them to say? That's right! We would look in the Bible! The Bible is all we need today (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
- Definition of miracle: In the Bible, the most common word used for 'miracle' is 'wonder.' Nature in itself is a wonder, but there are many miracles that are written down in the Bible that are not ordinary happenings in nature, such as the Red Sea opening up and people walking through the sea on dry land, all the plagues that Moses performed in Egypt before Pharaoh, Daniel and his friends surviving in a den of lions, and so on. These were definitely miracles.
- Miracles have always had a purpose. Miracles were used in the Old and New Testaments to prove that certain men were sent by God (Hebrews 2:1-4). Miracles were credentials. How would a police officer prove he was a police officer? He would show his badge. How would a member of the press prove that they were a member of the press? They would show their press pass or press card. That is how miracles worked in Bible times. Just because someone said they were from God did not make it true, so they would perform a miracle, something that was impossible to do under normal circumstances, like walk on water, feed 5,000 people with only two fish and five loaves of bread, raise someone to life that had been dead four days, to prove that God had sent them. Elisha performed miracles because he was a man of God, a prophet. He could only perform a miracle with God's help because God was the One behind the miracle who had and has the power to do all things.
- Can people perform miracles today? Sometimes we read in magazines or hear someone say that a miracle has happened, usually it something that everyone cannot see, such as someone's liver being healed or something that was hidden and could not be seen or proven. God's miracles were always events that could be tested and found true.
- When did miracles cease or stop? Miracles ceased when the Bible was completed. There are many verses that could be read, such as 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, James 1:25. Ephesians 4:7-15, and 1 Corinthians 12:28-31, that show us that we do not need miracles today because there is no need for them. The Bible is all we need today.
Material needed: 9" x 12" yellow construction paper, 4" x 6" dark blue construction paper, scrap of red paper, tiny stick, crayons, marker, glue, scissors.
- Hand out yellow paper.
- Hand out blue paper.
- Tear top edge and round corner to make water.
- Glue water into one corner of yellow paper.
- Hand out red scrap of paper.
- Cut into an ax head.
- Color black on one edge of red ax head.
- Glue in water.
- Close by ax head, glue tiny stick that Elisha the in the water.
- Draw Elisha and the man who lost the ax head looking into the water. The man who lost the ax head should have the handle in his hand.
- Draw lots of trees already cut down and a few still standing with their leaves still on the trunks.
- Write "The Floating Ax Head" and "2 Kings 6:1-7" at the top of the paper.