Minor Prophets - Digging Deeper into God's Word
 

Introduction to The Minor Prophets:

Even though the Bible was written and compiled a long time ago it is still relevant today. It is applicable in the lives of people of all ages, even young children. The Old Testament can be particularly difficult for a child to tackle and it is sometimes overlooked. In this series, we will study characters in the Bible who seem obscure but have excellent messages that can be used in everyday life. We will be looking at prophets. "A prophet is one who speaks for God and interprets his will to people."

The lessons will look specifically at the minor prophets. There are a number of prophetic books in the Bible. "The prophets customarily were divided into two groups, Former and Latter. The Former prophets are historical books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. The Latter prophets are the great preachers of Israel: Isaiah, Jeremiah and the prophets included in the Book of Twelve. Sometimes called minor prophets because of their comparatively brief writings."

We have selected three of them to base this series on. These three prophets address questions that often trouble people today.

(All references in this section were taken from a book called "Old Testament Survey " listed in our resource section)

Introduction to the Miner Theme

All of the content of this series will be taught within a Miner Theme. Old fashioned coal mining equipment and miners will be used to make an exciting program. This lesson was planned for a small space . This space will be decorated to give the illusion that it is a small dark mine.

Lesson #3 - Joel

Now is the Time!

The final lesson in this series is based on the minor prophet Joel. This particular prophet is relatively unknown. Very little personal information is available regarding Joel. The date of his writing is also difficult to determine. The book that Joel wrote focuses on the plagues and droughts devastating Judah, he sees it as an indication of "The Day of The Lord". In light of this he calls on the people to repent while there is still time.

This last miner lesson will focus on the idea that "Now is the time" to accept God. It is time to turn from sin and begin to follow the way of the Lord. God loves you and is merciful but this opportunity won't be available forever so do it today. We will stress the importance of making a decision now.

We often feel (especially when we are young) that we can wait and do some living before we give our lives to Jesus. None of us know how long we will be here, now is the time!

Our puppet characters were involved in a mining accident in the first two lessons. The third lesson finds our friends still stuck in the mine. They have questioned God and worried about their future and now they will be rescued. Reflection on the event will make them realize that we don't know how much time we have.

Goals

• to teach the children that Jesus loves them
• to teach the children that they need to make a decision for Christ before it is too late.

Opening

There are a variety of ways this brief period could be used. It could be used to explain any changes in the program. If you have a group, it could be used for a variety of interactive activities. Games to help learn names are practical and fun. In a larger group the time could be used for skits or puppet plays that help to introduce the lesson. This time is not developed in the curriculum so that anyone who uses it will have an opportunity to put their own personal signature on the program.

Rules

The rules that we have put together include some basic methods. When used in combination they are highly effective. We rarely have discipline problems.

#1 Divide into Teams - Children are seperated into two groups usually boys and girl.

#2 Balloons - Each team is given three or four ballons. If the balloons are all popped due to poor behavior that team goes home without treats.

#3 Three Strike Rule - This is an individual rule. Each child is given three chances if they are spoken to three times for misbehaving they are asked to leave the remainder of the program.

#4 Other Appropriate Rules - We have found it necessary to add rules that suit our surroundings.

In combination these rules help us to maintain control and communicate our message.

Prayer

Assure the children that when we pray God hears us. Even though we can't see God, He is with us and God hears. Just because we don't get the answer that we want doesn't mean that God didn't hear us. Make the prayers very direct and simple so that the children feel like they are capable of praying on their own.

Singing

Most of the songs that we select to use at "The Zoo" have very simple lyrics. It is important that the children are able to understand the meaning when they leave the program. One that the kids really enjoy is "I Love You, Jesus".

I Love You, Jesus
Deep Down in my heart!
I Love You, Jesus
Deep Down in my heart!

Talk about deep, deep, down, down,
Deep down in my heart!
Talk about deep, deep, down, down,
Deep down in my heart!

These lyrics are catchy, easy to remember and very easy to understand.

Games

The game in this lesson is adapted to suit the miner theme. In this series one game is included in each lesson. It can be played twice to allow more children to be included.

Coal Weight Game

Select one player from each team. The first player will be given a number of bags of coal. Each bag will have a different weight written on it. The contestant will be asked to place the bags in order from the lightest to the heaviest. Each participant has one minute to get as many as possible in the correct order.

Memory Verse

The method used for this verse will be the same in each lesson in the series. This memory verse is an interaction between a puppet, a leader and the children. The puppet will be dressed as the mine boss. He is in charge of the verse. The verse is a "hangman" type puzzle. The children will be able to fill in the verse and any incorrect guess will cause the mine boss to react. The mine boss will place a bag of coal in the mine cart. Each bag of coal will cause the amount of weight in the cart to increase. If the cart is filled too much it will exceed the weight limit which will cause a mess . The weight is indicated on a large dial. The children will try to fill in the blanks in the memory verse without overfilling the cart.

The Lord says, "Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me all of your heart." Joel 2:12

This verse is something the Lord is telling us. It is something that God wants us to know about. God is asking us to stop sinning. He wants us to change the way we live. God does have a deadline, this offer won't be on the table forever. One day the time will run out. So turn now while you can. God wants us to give our whole heart to him. This applies to people of all ages . We don't know when we will run out of time, so why not NOW?

Puppet Skit

This skit is designed to introduce and interact with the children during the memory verse.

Orangeo: Hello everyone, I am back again this week. I don't think I have slept since the last time I saw you.

Leader: You must be really tired. Why haven't you been sleeping?

Orangeo: You'll never believe this. Those two guys who got stuck down in the mine are still down there.

Leader: My goodness, that has been a long time.

Orangeo: It is my job to get them out. I was on my way down into the mine earlier when I found another great verse in the Bible.

Leader: All of these verses seem to be helping you through this hard time. First, there was that one about God answering prayers.

Orangeo: The second verse was from Jeremiah and it told us that God has a plan for us and that gives us hope.

Leader: So what is the new verse?

Orangeo: Here it is. (hands out verse) It has some blanks in it. Maybe you and the kids can fill them in.

Leader: Sure, no problem. (allow time to fill in the blanks and repeat the verse.)

Orangeo: That sounds pretty good, could you repeat it one more time just to make sure I got it?

Leader: Ok... "Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me all of your heart." Joel 2:12

Orangeo: Excellent! Do you know what it means? It is no good to you if you don't know what it means.

Leader: (asks the kids if they have any ideas)

Orangeo: Those were good guesses. In this verse God is talking. He wants us to turn to him. He wants us to start living for him. Right now, not later. God wants all of our hearts. It is best to decide to have God in your life today. You shouldn't wait because you never know what will happen in your future.

Leader: How can that help us with this mine diaster?

Orangeo: I didn't know this was going to happen, neither did you. If you already asked Jesus into your heart then He will be with you in this bad time. You don't know what will happen in the future so ask God in now.

Leader: That is very good advice. We will remember that verse.

Orangeo: Oh, excuse me I just heard the horn blast, that means it is my turn to go down there and try to dig the guys out. See you later. (exits)

Leader: I hope you find them.

Object Lesson

As in previous lessons there will be no object lesson. This time slot can be used to recap the last two stories. This will help any new children to understand what is taking place in the story.

Story

This story will involve a narrator who will read a brief introduction to the puppet skit. The puppet skit will be about two mining characters. They are puppets who are dressed to look like miners.

Narrator: Garbonzo & Joshua are miners. They work in a deep, dark mine not too far from here. A while back they were about to finish their shift when the mine collapsed. All kinds of rock fell from the roof blocking the entrance. They have been down there for a long time.

(Both puppets are leaning over the edge of the stage. Suddenly Garbonzo lifts his head.)

Garbonzo: Josh, did you hear that? Wake up.

Joshua: Hear what?

Garbonzo: Shh, listen (scratching noise)

Joshua: I heard that!

Garbonzo: I think someone is trying to dig us out... (starts to yell) ... Help, we are in here.

Joshua: (yells) We are down here. Help us.

Garbonzo: Oh, Joshua. We are going to be ok. We are getting out of here. Thank goodness someone found us.

Joshua: What a relief! I was so scared.

Garbonzo: So I was I. It helped a lot when we prayed.

Joshua: I'm glad that we could talk to God and that he was right with us the whole time. It is a good thing we knew God, we really needed His help this time.

Garbonzo: That's true.

Joshua: You never know what is going to happen so it is best to decide to live for Him right away. The sooner you ask Him to be part of your life the sooner He will be there for you.

Garbonzo: We will have to share this with people when we get out.

(large bang and crashing - the Mine boss breaks through)

Joshua: Are we glad to see you! (all three hug)

Mine Boss: I'm glad you two are ok. We were all pretty worried about you.

Joshua: We are fine. We just kept praying and God was with us. It is a good thing we already accepted Him.

Mine Boss: I guess that goes to show you... Now is the time.

Narrator: So Garbonzo and Joshua were ok but they learned some really important lessons.

Leader's Conclusion: You never know what circumstances you might find yourself in or when time will run out. It is important to make a decision about Jesus right away. Remember that He loves you very much and that is why he died on the cross. Now you can be forgiven. If you believe that and want to have Jesus in your life. Now is the time.

Dismissal: Closing prayer, quiet seat prizes and treats.

Copyright 1997, Bread of Life Ministries