Use this children’s Sunday School lesson to teach kids about how Israel chose their first king, and how God is the true King.
Scripture: 1 Samuel 8
Needed: two King playing cards, one of which should be the King of Hearts
Children’s Sermon
Show kids your first King playing card (not the King of Hearts). Ask, What does a king do?
Most countries don’t have kings anymore, but almost all of them used to. A good king made rules for the people, took care of them, and commanded the army to protect the country.
But, at first, Israel didn’t have a king. They had leaders like Moses and Joshua and the Judges and Samuel. But they didn’t need a king. Do you know why Israel didn’t need a king?
It was because God was their King! God made the rules. God took care of the people. And when another group of people came to attack Israel, God helped the Israelites defeat their enemies.
But then, the Israelites decided that they wanted their country to be like all the other countries. They said they wanted a human king.
How do you think God felt when the people asked for a human king?
God said…
(Read 1 Samuel 8:7.)
“…they have rejected Me as their King.”
And God warned them that a human king wouldn’t be as good as He was. Human kings would sometimes do bad things and fail to take of the people as they should. But when the people still said that they wanted a human king, God gave them one.
But God had a trick.
He let the Israelites have a human king for many years. But then, He sent His own King.
(Show the King of Hearts.)
Jesus was a very special person for two reasons. The first is that He was a descendant of the kings of Israel. That means that Jesus was the rightful King.
But the second reason is that Jesus was also God. Jesus is God in a human body. So, if Jesus was the rightful King, and Jesus was God, that makes God the King again.
But God isn’t the King of Israel only. God made the whole world, and that means He’s the King of everything. He’s our King. Even if we have other human leaders too, we always have to listen to God first.
God tells us His rules in the Bible and He takes care of us, and He helps us fight against the devil when the devil tries to tempt us to do something bad. God is our King, and we have to serve Him as our god and rightful ruler.
Closing Prayer
Lord, You are the King. You are the King of everything, and You’re the King of us. Help us to respect and serve You all the days of our life. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
You can also find this children’s sermon for Kindle or in print in my book, Children’s Sermons about Samuel and David.