VERSES: Jeremiah 1:1-52:34
MEMORY VERSE: Jeremiah 6:16 "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way..."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Philippians. Write "Philippians" on small slips of paper and hand out at the end of class, so the students may memorize another book at home.
PRAYER: Pray that we might always stay close to God's Word and listen to God as we read the Bible.
SPECIAL SONG: The B-I-B-L-E (see February - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #2 on this blog. Click on orange circle to hear tune.)
VISUAL AID: Large Activity (see below)
LESSON POINTS:
- Many times the prophets of God suffered because they spoke the words of God to the people. Jeremiah was one of those prophets who suffered. Jeremiah was called the "Weeping Prophet." The people were not kind to Jeremiah and it was only because Jeremiah told the people what God wanted them to hear.
- God told Jeremiah to warn the people that they were not serving and obeying Him and, because they were disobedient, Jerusalem was going to be destroyed and the people would go into captivity. The people did not like what Jeremiah had to say, but that did not stop Jeremiah.
- Jeremiah tried his best to explain to the people that God was displeased and that they should be sorry for the things that they were doing; in fact, they should be so sorry that they would stop doing wicked things and come back to God. That is called repentance. God wanted the people to repent.
- Jeremiah tried teaching the people through visual aids like a potter and clay and a clay jug (Jeremiah 18, 19). God told Jeremiah to go and get a clay pot and, as Jeremiah talked to the people and told them terrible things were going to happen because they disobeyed God, Jeremiah threw the clay pot down and broke it into pieces. This was a symbol of what was going to happen to the people. They would be broken and go into captivity.
- But, still, the people would not listen to Jeremiah. Instead, they rejected or refused to accept Jeremiah. They tried to kill Jeremiah (Jeremiah 11:21), they put Jeremiah in stocks (Jeremiah 20:2), they put him in a dungeon (Jeremiah 38:6), and then Jeremiah was carried off into Egypt (Jeremiah 43:5-7). But Jeremiah always obeyed God and, even if he was suffering, he obeyed God and kept preaching to the people.
"Older Student" Tips:
- Jeremiah was another prophet who wrote down the things that God wanted him to write, so the people could read God's words. He was a 'literary' prophet and that only means that he wrote down God's words.
- Jeremiah was considered a Major Prophet like Isaiah, but that did not mean that Jeremiah was more important than any of the other prophets, it just meant that he wrote more than some of the other prophets.
ACTIVITY: Jeremiah and the clay pot (Jeremiah 19)
Materials needed: 9" x 12" green construction paper, 6" x 8" brown construction paper, 6" x 12" orange construction paper, crayons, marker, scissors, tape, stapler, staples.
- Hand out brown paper.
- Round corners of brown paper to resemble a jar.
- Decorate and color jar.
- Hand out green paper.
- Place 'jar' in the middle of the green paper.
- Trace.
- Remove jar and cut into four pieces.
- Set jar pieces aside.
- Hand out orange paper.
- Fold orange paper in half.
- Staple two sides of paper to form a pocket.
- Tape pocket to BACK of green paper.
- Write "Jeremiah uses a clay pot to teach the people," at the top of the green paper.
- Write "...but they would not listen." and "Jeremiah 19" at the bottom of the green paper.
- After cutting jar into pieces to symbolize Jeremiah breaking the jar, put the jar 'puzzle' back together again in the middle of the green paper.
- When leaving class, place pieces of jar into the pocket on the back of the green paper.
