Sunday School in Pakistan

Ages 5-8 Jonah Obedience

Jonah and the Great Fish

You cannot run away from God, and He does not stop loving people who run.

Bible passage: Jonah 1 – 4

Memory verse

“Salvation is of the LORD.”

Jonah 2:9

Roman Urdu Najat Khudawand hi ki taraf se hai.

Teaching the lesson

  1. Told to go, and went the other way

    God said go east to Nineveh. Jonah got on a boat going as far west as a boat could go. Draw it on the board with a big arrow in the wrong direction. Children find this funny, and they should u2014 it is meant to be.

  2. The storm and the sailors

    The storm was so bad that the sailors, who were not believers, were praying. Jonah was asleep below deck. Point out gently that running from God does not only affect the runner.

  3. Three days in the dark

    Inside the fish Jonah prayed the prayer he should have prayed on land. Sometimes God lets us reach the bottom because that is where we finally look up.

  4. Why God sent him

    God wanted to forgive Nineveh u2014 a city that had been cruel to Jonah's people. That was the real reason Jonah ran. He did not want them forgiven. End here: God's mercy is wider than ours, and that is good news.

Activity

Run and return. Mark "Nineveh" at one end of the room and "Tarshish" at the other. Call out instructions and let the children run. Then tell the story again with the children physically going the wrong way and being turned around. They will remember the direction.

Craft

Fish with a pocket. Cut a large fish from card with a slit, and a small Jonah figure that slides in and out. The children push Jonah in, say the memory verse, and pull him out again.

Closing prayer

Dear God, sometimes I do not want to do what You ask. Thank You that You do not give up on me. Help me to obey You the first time. Thank You for loving everybody, even people I find hard to like. Amen.

This lesson is free to use

Print it, photocopy it, retype it or translate it into Punjabi, Sindhi or Pashto for your own class. You do not need permission and you do not need to tell us. The only thing asked in return is that it is never sold to a teacher who cannot afford it.

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