Year C. 3rd Term. Lesson 5. Bible Buddy: JEREMIAH

Scripture: for teacher background:  Jeremiah 1, 10, 18

Making contact: 

Have some play dough or clay for the children to play with and ask them to make something and then put it on the table.

 Exploration:

Jeremiah was young and shy when God chose him to be a prophet. 

Jeremiah tried to do a Moses wriggle and said he was too young, but God touched his lips and told him He would give him all the words to say and he was not to be afraid because God would be with him. He told him he had chosen him to be a prophet before he was even born.

Jeremiah felt God’s message inside him like hot fire and he just had to speak.

He kept telling the people that they had to repent or else terrible things would happen to them. They ignored him and just went on sinning against God. 

Jeremiah tried using pictures to get his point across. One day he went to a potter’s house and watched him at work. When something went wrong with the article he was making, he would just squash it and begin again.

God said to Jeremiah:

“The people of Israel are in my hands, just like clay in the potter’s hands. I have the right to destroy and remake them, and I will if they don’t listen. They must change their ways and stop doing what they know is wrong.”

Another day, Jeremiah stood in front of the temple and told the people God would destroy the temple. He was arrested and beaten and not allowed to speak. He then wrote it all down and when the king read it, he threw it in the fire. 

Jeremiah simply wrote it out again. Then it all happened as Jeremiah had said. 

King Nebuchadnezzar’s army came and conquered Jerusalem, taking many captives to Babylon. 

Then he came back 10 years later and besieged Jerusalem. Jeremiah told the king to surrender, but they threw him in a well. 

A man named Ebedmelech rescued Jeremiah from the well. The king was captured just like Jeremiah warned and most of the people were taken off to Babylon as slaves. Jeremiah stayed behind with a few and he wrote letters to comfort the people in exile, telling them that one day they would come back home.

Application

 Are we like soft clay in God the Potter’s hands or rebellious and disobedient people?

Let’s listen when God speaks to us and let’s obey the laws that He gives us. 

Remember continual disobedience will eventually be punished.

Challenge to Mission

Is God calling you to be a messenger like Jeremiah was?

Consolidation

 There is a worksheet with pictures of clay and the potter. There are questions about the potter and the clay. There is a memory verse.

Memory Verse

“I know the plans I have for you, plans to bring about the future you hope for.”

Jeremiah 29:11              Print the memory verse on cards with pictures of clay jars.