B-12 Messages From Heaven—2 (Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk)

----Option 1----

Theme: God gives time for repentance but will punish those who refuse to repent. 

Nahum 1:3: "The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet."

Resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLCDJ0m_qrk; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUU8qY950wE; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhOyKdeRPXA

Materials Needed: 

• 10% povidone-iodine (available at Walmart or a local drug store)
• 500 mg vitamin C tablets
• cornstarch
• warm water
• boiling water
• 3% hydrogen peroxide
• 2 clear cups + 1 clear mixing cup

Instructions: 

Solution A (Clear solution)

1. Add 128 mL warm water to a cup
2. Crush and dissolve 1 vitamin C tablet (500 mg)
3. Add 12 mL povidone-iodine
4. → This should turn clear/light brown

Solution B (Cloudy solution)

1. In another cup, add 40 mL of boiling water
2. Stir in ~200 mg cornstarch
3. Let cool (important!)
4. Add 100 mL of hydrogen peroxide

The Reaction

1. Pour Solution A and Solution B together
2. Stir gently
3. Wait…
4. It should suddenly turn very dark blue/black

Discussion: 

• When the mixtures were combined, what did it look like was happening at first? (Nothing)
• Was the reaction actually stopped, or just delayed?
• Could you stop it once it started turning dark?
• What was actually happening?
• Vitamin C “holds back” the reaction at first
• Once it runs out, the reaction suddenly happens
• Starch + iodine = dark blue color

Main point:

• God is patient and slow to act in judgment, because He loves people and wants them to repent.
• But when people continually refuse Him, His judgment will finally come—and it cannot be stopped.
• Just like this reaction, the delay doesn’t mean that nothing is happening.

----Option 2----

Theme: God sees when unfair things happen. He wants us to be fair and just (Micah 6:8) but when humans fail, he promises to make it right someday.

Materials: ball, bucket

Instructions:

1. Tell the kids you have a challenge: the child who can throw the ball into the bucket three times in a row will win a prize.
2. Line the kids up. Place the bucket next to the first child.
3. Have the first child throw the ball into the bucket. Give them a small prize (a piece of gum or a nickel).
4. Have the first child move out of the way. Important: The next child cannot move closer to the bucket.
5. Continue down the line. Kids farther back cannot get closer to the bucket, and they do not receive a prize—even if they could have made the shot.

Debrief:

• Was this game fair? Why or why not?
• For those who weren't allowed to get closer to the bucket and thus weren't able to get a prize, how did this make you feel?
• How do you think people feel when others are treated unfairly in real life?
• In Micah’s day, the Israelites had become very unfair. The rich took advantage of the poor.
• How did God want the Israelites to treat each other? Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
• What was God going to have to do because the Israelites were not being fair? Micah 6:13: “Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, by making you desolate because of your sins.”