Scripture:
for
teacher background: 1 Kings 3, 6,10
2 Chronicles 5
Making
contact:
Making choices – ask the
children if they find it difficult to choose which sweet to have or which ride
to go on.
You could hand out a sweet where there are 2 kinds and they have to
choose.
Today’s story is about a man who made a good choice.
Exploration:
The
story can be told using puppets or act it out with children.
The
story: After King David died, one of his sons called Solomon became king. One
night when he was sleeping something wonderful happened.
God spoke to him and
asked him what he would like God to give him. He could have said lots of riches
and land, but he didn’t.
He asked God for wisdom. God said he would make him
the wisest man that ever lived and give him lots of riches and honour.
Here
is an example of how he could sort out a problem with his wisdom. One day 2
ladies who lived in the same house came to him. They both had a baby, but the
one baby died.
Now the one lady said that the other lady stole her baby.
They
argued about whose baby it was.
King Solomon had a wise idea. He said – “Cut
the baby in half and you can both have half.
The idea of seeing her baby dying
was too much for the true mother and she cried: “No! Rather let her have him!”
The other mother said “Yes, cut him in half.” Solomon then said, “Now we know
who the true mother is – give her the child.”
Solomon
built the temple that David dreamed about and had planned.
It was beautiful. It
took 7 years to build. The huge stones were prepared at the quarry, so that
there was no noise at the temple.
Cedar wood was used and the inside of the
temple was covered in gold, all decorated with gold carvings and precious
stones.
There were gold lamp stands and bowls.
At the service of dedication,
the glory of the Lord came down with such a dazzling light that the priests
couldn’t continue the service.
Solomon
also built himself a palace, which took 13 years to build. He rebuilt cities
and the people had to work hard for him and pay a lot of tax.
The
queen of Sheba
She tested him with difficult questions and after
listening to him and seeing all he had done she was very impressed and praised
God.
Even
the cups Solomon drank out of were made of gold and silver was not considered
valuable.
He had 1400 chariots and a fleet of ships, which returned with gold,
silver and ivory.
His shields were even covered with gold. He had a large
throne covered with ivory and gold.
He imported horses from all over the world.
Other kings consulted Solomon for advice and gave him presents. He was king for
40 years.
His downfall was women – he loved foreign women and he married 700
princesses and had 300 concubines. They made him turn away from God and he worshiped foreign gods.
He sinned against God and set up places to worship
Chemosh, the god of Moab Israel
Application
What
we learn from this Bible buddy is that he started off well, asking God for
wisdom, but then he let his riches and his love for foreign women pull him away
from God.
He did not use the wisdom God had given him to live his own life.
He fell out of love with God.
This is like the parable of the seeds
that started growing on rocky ground and among the weeds and the plants got
choked and died. We must always put God first and be very careful not to love
money and other things more than God.
Consolidation
There
are pictures to colour in.
Find songs to sing about putting God first and not worshiping foreign gods.
The children could make a poster together where they
find pictures in magazines showing riches and beautiful women and depict how
these things can pull our hearts away from God.
They could draw a heart, which
is cluttered with these pictures, and then a white heart with the cross in it
to show how God should be our first love.
Memory Verse
"O Lord God, give me the wisdom and knowledge I need to rule over these people. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule?”
2 Chronicles 1:10
No comments:
Post a Comment