Jonah for Kids Part 3

Jonah Preaches

If you have read about Jonah in a Children’s Bible or heard about him in a Sunday School lesson or Vacation Bible School, it was probably chapter 1 and maybe chapter 2 that you learned about. In Jonah for Kids Part 1, based on Jonah chapter 1 in the Bible, there is a storm at sea and Jonah is thrown off a ship. He is swallowed by a great fish – perhaps you’ve heard whale, it’s not worth arguing about because that is not the point – and all of that happens in just the first chapter. In Part 2/chapter 2 we learn that after three days in the fish’s belly Jonah decided it was time to pray. Children, adults, Old Testament prophets; stubbornness is common among many different people. You may have never read or heard about what happened next. Jonah’s story is not done and if you are willing to keep reading we can continue this journey together.

Jonah For Kids Part 2

Jonah Prays

Begin by reading Jonah chapter 2, either in your own Bible or one online.

Have you ever put something off that you didn’t want to do? It might have been homework, washing the dishes, cleaning your room, mowing the grass or any number of things. You planned to do it later, just not right then. Later the job has gotten bigger so you really don’t want to do it. If you keep putting it off then the assignment will come due, you will run completely out of dishes or the grass will be so tall it is almost impossible to cut. Sometimes we know what the right thing to do is but putting it off until later keeps making things worse.

Jonah for Kids: Part 1

Maybe think of this as a creative writing project. I’m not entirely sure what my motivation for this endeavor is, perhaps divine inspiration. I have an 11-year-old at home and this is sort of a children’s sermon version of the Jonah Runs sermon I preached on Sunday. I printed it out for her and turned in her illustrated children’s Bible to Jonah 1. If you or anyone you know could be served by this series then please share and God bless.

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Jonah for Kids
Part 1: Jonah Runs

Jonah is the story of a prophet that did not listen to God. In Jonah 1, he does exactly the opposite of what God tells him to do. When God spoke and told him to go to Nineveh and preach, he tried to flee (run away) from the presence of the Lord. It can’t be done and our hero will learn that lesson the hard way. Notice everything in chapter 1 goes down. He went down to Joppa, down in the lowest part of the ship where he then laid down and went to sleep. Later he is thrown into the sea. The Bible does not use the word down again but we can reason that he goes down into the sea and into the belly of the whale. When the chapter ends he is somewhere under the Meditterarranean Sea.