VERSES: Micah 1:1-7:20
MEMORY VERSE: Micah 6:8 "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"
BOOK TO REMEMBER: 1 John. Write "1 John" on small slips of paper and hand out at the end of class for home memorization.
PRAYER: Pray that we will all stay close to the LORD by doing the right things, showing love and compassion, and living in a humble manner before God.
SPECIAL SONG: This Little Light Of Mine (see March 2014 - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog. Click orange circle for tune.)
VISUAL AID: Large Activity (see below)
LESSON POINTS:
- Micah was a prophet of God who preached to God's disobedient people at the same time Isaiah, Amos and Hosea were preaching. God spoke to Micah and then Micah would tell the people what God had said. Micah was a spokesman for God who also wrote a book that has seven chapters. Because he did not write as much as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, Micah was considered a minor prophet. He was a country boy from a place called Morasheth-Gath. His name means "Who is like Jehovah?"
- Micah preached to the Jews who were not doing what God told them to do. They disobeyed God. In fact, Micah said that the people were doing evil things because they could do it! He said that they made up wicked things to do and did not wait until it was nighttime to do bad things, they did them in the morning when the sun was up! The people were very disobedient and they did not listen to God when He spoke to Micah. They just kept doing bad things and did not care what God thought.
- God got angry and said that only the remnant or only His people who were obeying his commandments would have hope. Micah was speaking of the Messiah, the one who was going to break their bonds of sin and have hope. God blamed the leaders of His people for the people's disobedience because they were the ones who should have known God's judgments. But the leaders did not lead the people; the leaders hated good things and loved evil things. That is not what they should have done!
- God said He was going to give up on His people and when they cried to Him to help them, He would hide His face from them. While God's face is against them that do evil deeds, His eyes eyes watch over the righteous and His ears are listening to their prayers. God is a good God.
- Read Micah 6:8. Micah told the people that God had showed them what was good and told them what He required of them. The people were do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God. But...the people would not listen to Micah or to God.
"Older Student" Tips:
- Read 1 Peter 3:12. Discuss.
ACTIVITY: Micah
Materials needed: 6" x 18" light green construction paper, 3" x 4" orange, blue, yellow, red, and green construction paper - each, markers, crayons, glue.
- Hand out light green construction paper.
- Write "Micah Told The People How To Please God" and "Micah 6:8" at the top of the light green paper.
- Hand out 3" x 4" papers.
- One each paper, write a number "1", "2", "3", "4", or "5".
- Fold top edge down on each bright colored rectangle.
- Glue TOP EDGE ONLY of each small paper. These are flaps.
- Press flaps in place on light green paper. (See picture)
- Fold each flap up.
- Under #1, write "God had shown the people what was good."
- Under #2, write "He had told them what the LORD required."
- Under #3, write "Do justly."
- Under #4, write "Love mercy."
- Under #5, write "Walk humbly with God."
- Close flaps.
- Re-read with class as they flip up the flaps.