Listen to Number one
Is God a priority?
Today we are looking at when King Nebuchadnezzar has another dream but decides not to listen to God or the advice Daniel gives him and so he ends up in a bad way!
The service starts at 9:30am on stwderby.online.church
But this button will go live at 11am on Sunday 21st February for you to watch the service again if you missed it live! You won’t want to miss out!
Hope you enjoyed our Werb’s Kids Service this morning!!
We would love to know your feedback or if you’d like to get involved so please don’t hesitate to message or email (amy.farrar@stwderby.org) so that we can keep making it better and better!
We are still in our new series all about Daniel which the rest of the church is doing too so the whole family can talk about the same thing and learn together!
Today we looked at Chapter 4! And guess what!? The King has ANOTHER dream!!!
Do you remember what happened in the story?
It was a bit of an odd one wasn’t it!
It’s another odd dream but it is a cool reminder that God can speak to anyone!
Once again the king asked the wrong people to try to understand the dream but then remembered only Daniel could help because he listened to God.
But what happened when Daniel explained the dream? Did the King listen?
NO!
The King thought he was better than God. He was super PROUD.
Can you explain what it means to be proud? Is it a good or a bad thing?
Well for those of you who are unsure to be proud is to have a high opinion of yourself and maybe you think of yourself as amazing or really good.
Sometimes being proud is okay. For example if you made something that you really liked making and you’d tried your absolute best at then it’s okay to feel some pride. It’s okay to think of yourself as really good when you’ve made something beautiful or amazing!
For example we love showing off your amazing work when you send in your pictures of the things that you’ve made. We are proud of you and what you create so much so we try to show them in our services.
So the fact the king was proud of Babylon, a city he had created was okay but then he let it get to his head and Nebuchadnezzar thought he was amazing and the best above everything and everyone EVEN better than God. And this is not good.
So be careful of your pride. It’s okay and a good thing for us to feel good about yourselves and I want you to be proud of who you are because God made you and God doesn’t make mistakes BUT don’t get big headed! No one is better than someone else, as the bible says we are ALL made in the image of God so we are ALL special.
Here are some verses to remind yourself of how precious you are to you and how proud he is of you!
“Psalm 139v14:
I praise you because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
Genesis 1v27:
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”
We also see in our story King Nebuchadnezzar was SO obsessed with all he had made and everything he had that he had no time for God. The more interested we are in our possessions and what we need, the less energy we have for thinking about God. We need to make sure that we get our priorities right, so what is number 1 in your life?
The more interested we are in the things we have and what we want, the less time we have to think about God and what he wants. We need to make sure that God is more important to us than the things we have or the things we want.
God spoke to King Nebuchadnezzar and he just ignored him. We probably know how it feels to be ignored or not paid attention to. It makes us mad and feel bad. That’s how God felt and that’s why he had to teach the King a lesson. Unfortunately it took him 7 years to realise that God was in charge but finally he knew.
Sometimes we can forget God is in charge. We can be so busy doing other things that we forget about God. In one of our crafts today we are going to make a few things that help us remember to talk to God and regularly ask for his help and guidance in our lives.
GO DEEPER!
SPARKS (Preschool)
What do you remember about the story?
Did you have fun playing musical statues? Play it again and turn the music up. Remember to listen very carefully and STOP when the music stops.
It’s so important to listen to those who care about us.
Our mummys and daddys and those who care for us want the best for us and so it is good to listen and make sure we hear and do what they say.
In our story the King did not listen and this got him into trouble. Do you remember what happened?
HE WENT MAD! He ended up acting like an animal.
Play another game now and see how many animals you can pretend to be like!
In our story the King did not listen and more than that he thought he was better than God. The King liked all that he had made and his money and all he had way more than anything else. Way more than God.
What is your absolute favourite toy? Do you have a favourite game to play? What is your favourite foods?
How important are these things to you and do you love them more than other things?
Our story today reminds us not to put anything higher than God. That God is the most important thing in the whole world. Make sure you keep God first and that you remember he is in control of everything.
You can end by saying this prayer together:
“Dear God,
Thank you that you want to talk to us like how you talked to the King.
Help me to listen to what you say and to do as you ask.
Amen.”
FLAMES (KS1)
It’s another weird story today about another dream King Nebuchadnezzar had!
This time when David explains the dream does the King listen? What happens to the King? All of this started because the king was proud.
Can you remember what being proud is?
This was the reason God gave the King the dream to try to help him change his ways.
Make a little presentation about the king to show your family. You could even record it to show us!
You might want it to be a drama showing what happened, or you could do a talk – possibly with actions – make up a song or rap, or draw pictures or cartoons to illustrate it. Make sure you have paper and pens or paint and you could even make costumes!
Maybe read Chapter 4 again if you need.
HERE is a version you can read.
Remember all of this was because the king was super proud and obsessed with all he had made.
Materialism is what we call it when someone puts their possessions, the things they have and love more than they value God himself.
The king was very materialistic.
What do we learn about materialism and what happens to those obsessed with the things they own and have made from this stories?
What do you think God thinks of it all?
What did Nebuchadnezzar learn from his experiences?
Do you think he continued to be materialistic after his madness left him?
Do you think he might have done anything differently? Remember he was still the king and was very rich!
Why is being materialistic and loving what you have a waste of energy?
Are there things that you are obsessed with at the moment? Maybe a game or a toy?
What is your absolute favourite thing at the moment?
What is the most important thing you have right now?
Is it more important to you than God?
If it is you might want to say sorry to God now.
Nothing is ever more important than God and he is above everything. Things can go wrong when we put the wrong things first. Trust God with everything.
“Father God, I am sorry when I don’t put you first. Please forgive me and help me to keep you at the top above everything else. I love you God. Amen”
BLAZE (KS2)
What did you think about today’s story?
Who do you think is the most powerful person you know. Who do you think is the most powerful person in the country? What about the world?
We are looking at a story from Daniel and the most powerful person in his time was called King Nebuchadnezzar. In this passage of Daniel, the King is writing – a bit like a diary!
Read Daniel 4:4-37 (28-37 are the key verses).
Think about these questions
What happened to the king?
Why do you think God allowed the King to be driven away and live with wild animals?
How long did it take for the King to realise God was the true King?
How did he respond to God after his experience?
What do you think this story can tell us today?
King Nebuchadnezzar had let power go to his head – he was so full of himself he had no space for God in his life. He was full of pride and took the credit for all that God has done. God warned him that he needed to change his attitude but when he didn't, God allowed the king to go through a hugely humbling experience. Eventually, Nebuchadnezzar got the message and worshipped God.
God is the same today as he was for Nebuchadnezzar – powerful and in control.
Can you think of any times when they have put themselves above Him and tried to take over.
Often when we do take over, we'll find things start to go wrong in our lives. God sometimes needs to remind us to make sure that he's the boss in our lives and that we don't try to go our own way.
Check out this story:
A woman visiting in Switzerland came to a sheepfold on one of her daily walks. Venturing in, she saw the shepherd seated on the ground with his flock around him. Nearby, on a pile of straw, lay a single sheep which seemed to be suffering. Looking closely, the woman saw that its leg was broken. Her sympathy went out to the suffering sheep and she looked up inquiringly to the shepherd, asking how it happened.
"I broke it myself," said the shepherd sadly, and then explained. "Of all the sheep in my flock, this was the most wayward. It would not obey my voice and would not follow when I was leading the flock. On more than one occasion it wandered to the edge of a perilous cliff. And not only was it disobedient itself, but it was leading other sheep astray. Based on my experience with this kind of sheep, I knew I had no choice, so I broke its leg. The next day I took food and it tried to bite me. After letting it lie alone for a couple of days, I went back and it not only eagerly took the food, but licked my hand and showed every sign of submission and affection. And now, let me say this. When this sheep is well, it will be the model sheep of my entire flock. No sheep will hear my voice so quickly nor follow so closely. Instead of leading others away, it will be an example of devotion and obedience. In short, a complete change will come into the life of this wayward sheep. It will have learned obedience through its sufferings."—Campbell, Donald K., Daniel: Decoder of Dreams
What did you think of that story?
It is never okay to deliberately hurt anyone or any animal, but has there ever been a time when you learnt something important because you or someone else got hurt?
We often think punishment is a bad word but we can learn really important lessons when we see the consequences of our actions.
This is why it is so important to listen, because then we do not have to get hurt of told off and instead can learn the lesson the first time round.
FUN ACTIVITIES + CRAFTS!
REMEMBER we’d love to see what you’ve made! So do send in your photos or videos to amy.farrar@stwderby.org so we can show off your work in next weeks service!
For those who LOVE colouring and activity sheets check these out:
Make a tree or tower using lego or duplo.
Do you remember what happened with the tree in our story today? It got cut down!
So have fun demolishing and cutting down your trees too! Remember that God tried to tell Nebuchadnezzar what was getting in the way of him and God and he had to cut it down.On some card write a list of some things that you want.
Now colour in the paper making a pretty pattern over it all so that the list becomes almost impossible to read. Next they should take a black wax crayon and colour in the card so that everything is deep black.
Now using a cocktail stick or something similar scratch away the crayon writing the words “God comes first!” You can decorate the edges of the card with their cocktail stick if you want. But allow this craft to remind you to put God first over the things you want.Colour in THIS TEMPLATE of a tree. Draw your own leaves and some animals and cut them out and add them to the tree.
Recreate king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream by making the animals run away from the tree and the leaves fall off. If you have some toy animals they could use those instead.
WORSHIP + PRAYER
Is God trying to talk to you and teach you something now? Spend some time talking to him.
Remind yourself that God is above everything and that nothing should come first but God.
“There’s a peace here
That I can’t explain
There’s a rest here
Even in the wait
I will trust, I will trust
I’ll trust You
Oh, I’ll just
Oh, I’ll just
Keep my eyes on You
It’s enough, it’s enough
To hold onto
I will trust
I will trust
You
Above it all, it’s You
Exalted, God, it’s You
And nothing in this world can take Your place
There’s a hope here
That I can’t deny
There’s a power
When we lift You high”
“And the darkness can’t deny it
You are higher
And the heavens can’t contain it
You are higher
And the darkness can’t deny it
You are higher
And the heavens can’t contain it
You are higher
Even death cannot define it
And no death could ever hide it
No, there’s nothing and there’s no one
That could ever come before
You
Above it all, it’s You
Exalted, God, it’s You
And nothing in this world can take Your place”
Created using several sources including energize.uk.net
