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AHIJAH AND JEROBOAM

I Kings 11:29-39

Elementary Lesson

Year Two, Quarter One, Lesson One

Sunday, December 31, 2017

AIM: to use the story of Ahijah and Jeroboam to teach my students to use their influence properly

OBJECTS TO HAVE: A coat

A rag ripped into twelve pieces, same color as the coat

The word “influence” written on a piece of paper

A map of the twelve tribes of Israel

Your Bible

POINT OF CONTACT: How many of you have ever had brand new shoes? Isn’t it great to get brand new shoes,

shoes that you really like, and to wear them somewhere for the first time ever?

How many of you have ever had a brand new suit/dress that you really liked? Have you ever worn something for the

very first time, and the very first time that you wore it, something happened to it, like you ripped it, or you spilled

something on it? Don’t you hate it when that happens?

Today I am going to tell you about somebody in the Bible who had a brand new suit, and I am going to tell you about

how it got ruined on the very first day that he wore it.

STORY: For the past few Sundays we have been learning about King Solomon. Solomon was the son of King

David. Solomon was the third King of Israel. Solomon was the wisest man on earth. And Solomon built a beautiful

Temple for God. Solomon was a great young king who pleased God.

But as Solomon got older, he began to make some mistakes…some very BIG mistakes. In fact, they weren’t just

mistakes, they were sins against God. The first big sin that Solomon committed was that he married many wives.

God’s plan is for one man to one woman for the rest of their lives. But Solomon married 700 wives, and had 300

girlfriends! That was Solomon’s first great sin.

His next sin was the KIND of women Solomon married. God commanded His people to only marry someone who

loved and believed God, and who was living right. Solomon married many different kinds of women. He married

some who SAID they believed in God, but they did not LIVE like they believed Him. He married others who did not

believe in God at all. And he married others who made their OWN gods, little statues called idols that they bowed

down to and worshipped.

This led to Solomon’s third great sin. Not only did he marry many wives, and not only did he marry wives who

served false gods, but as Solomon got older he began to serve those false gods himself. To make his wives happy,

he would worship and honor their fake gods and their statues.

Of course, God was not pleased with Solomon’s sins. So God decided to make a change. That brings us to a man

named Jeroboam.

Jeroboam was a man who lived in Israel. He was a strong, smart, good-looking man, and people really liked Jeroboam

and followed him. King Solomon noticed what a good man Jeroboam was, and King Solomon put Jeroboam in

charge of a large part of his kingdom.

One day Jeroboam got a brand new suit. Jeroboam had somewhere to go one day, and he decided to wear his brand

new suit. Jeroboam left his house in his brand new suit, and he was feeling good. He walked down the street thinking,

“Boy, do I look good in my brand new suit!”

Jeroboam came to a field that he had to cross, and he started to cross that field all by himself. Suddenly…out of

nowhere…a prophet appeared. That prophet’s name was Ahijah. Jeroboam was surprised to see Ahijah. But he was

even MORE surprised at what Ahijah did next. Ahijah reached out and grabbed Jeroboam’s brand new suit. Ahijah

took the jacket right off of Jeroboam! And then Ahijah tore that coat into twelve pieces! Jeroboam was

SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON Kings and Prophets

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stunned as he watched his brand new jacket being torn into twelve pieces by the preacher. He didn’t know what to

say.

But then Ahijah the preacher did something very strange: he kept two of the pieces, and he handed the other ten back

to Jeroboam. Then Ahijah said: “Jeroboam, the Lord sent me to give you this very important message. God is going

to take the twelve tribes of Israel, and He is going to rip them apart. (Tribes are just like our states. Israel was made

up of twelve states, or tribes.) God is going to rip the twelve tribes apart, because of Solomon’s sins. He is going to

let Solomon keep two of those tribes. He is going to let Solomon keep those two tribes because of the promise that

God made to David, Solomon’s father. God never breaks His promises. But the other ten tribes God is going to give

to YOU! You are going to be in charge of those other ten tribes. God says that what you do with those ten tribes and

the people in them IS UP TO YOU. You will decide what happens to them. If you lead them right, they will follow

you in doing right. I will bless you and I will bless them. But if you lead them wrong, they will follow you in doing

wrong. You will bring my curse upon you and upon them. How you lead them is up to you. It’s your choice.”

Do you know what God was giving to Jeroboam? This word right here: INFLUENCE. God was giving Jeroboam

INFLUENCE. God was saying to Jeroboam, “Here are millions of my people. I am making you their leader. I am

trusting you to INFLUENCE them properly. Be very careful in how you lead them. Make sure you INFLUENCE

them to do right.”

Just like these ten rags represent the ten tribes that God was giving Jeroboam to INFLUENCE, God has given some

INFLUENCE to you. God has given you some people, people who are watching you. They are learning from you,

and they are making choices based on what they see in your life. How many of you have brothers or sisters? You

have a great INFLUENCE on your brothers and sisters…even if they are older than you. How many of you have

cousins? You have a great INFLUENCE on your cousins. How many of you have other kids that live in your

neighborhood? You have a great INFLUENCE on the other kids in your neighborhood. You have INFLUENCE

here at church. You may not realize it, but you even have INFLUENCE with grownups. There are some grownups

in your life who are watching your life, and who will make decisions about life based upon what they see you do.

What a great honor! What a great responsibility!

There are a lot of things that you ought to do with your influence. Let me tell you a few of them.

1. You should use your INFLUENCE to show others how to be obedient.

2. You should use your INFLUENCE to show others how to be respectful.

3. You should use your INFLUENCE to show others how to be honest.

4. You should use your INFLUENCE to show others how to be kind to others.

5. You should use your INFLUENCE to show others how to work hard.

The greatest way that you can use your INFLUENCE is to use it to point people to Jesus Christ. The greatest

opportunity in the world is the opportunity to INFLUENCE people for Jesus. You can use your words, your actions,

your attitude and your talents to show people how important it is to receive Jesus, and to live for Jesus.

Remember that INFLUENCE is a precious gift. It is a precious gift that comes only from God. You will either

INFLUENCE people to do right or you will INFLUENCE them to do wrong. And if you will use your

INFLUENCE properly, God will give you more INFLUENCE.

As we will learn in the weeks to come, Jeroboam didn’t use his INFLUENCE right. Because Jeroboam didn’t use

his INFLUENCE right, millions of people suffered for many, many years. Make sure that you use your

INFLUENCE to lead people to do right.

Let’s learn our memory verse. Daniel 12:3 – And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;

and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

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AHIJAH AND JEROBOAM

I Kings 11:29-39

Teen and Adult Lesson

Year Two, Quarter One, Lesson One

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Teacher, choose one of the following truths to expand upon in teaching this portion of Scripture to your

teen/adult class. Teach and apply the truth that you choose using statements and illustrations that are most

helpful and applicable to your students.

I. WITH GOD’S GREAT BLESSINGS COMES GREAT ACCOUNTABILITY.

Solomon had been greatly blessed of God, with wisdom, wealth and peace. As Solomon

got older, he failed to remember where those blessings came from. Because God had

blessed Solomon so greatly, God held Solomon greatly responsible when he turned away

from God. Don’t ever take God’s blessings so lightly that you turn from Him and live

according to your own rules.

II. GOD DOES NOT EVER HAVE TO BLESS SIN IN ORDER TO KEEP HIS WORD.

God had promised to keep the throne in David’s lineage. But now God, in order to be

just, had to punish Solomon’s sins. Did this pose a problem for God? No. God had a

solution that fixed both problems. God is not mocked. Don’t ever think that you have

God “in a corner.”

III. GOD GIVES EACH OF US A MEASURE OF INFLUENCE. Just as God gave

Jeroboam influence over ten tribes, God has given us influence over other people. There

is no way around it: we must recognize our God-given responsibility to influence people

properly.

IV. WE MUST DECIDE HOW WE WILL USE THE INFLUENCE THAT GOD GIVES

US. The prophet said, “What you do with your influence is your choice.” Likewise,

what we do with the influence that God entrusts to us is our choice. If we choose to

ignore that decision, we will have a negative influence on the people who are watching

us.

V. HOW WE USE OUR INFLUENCE WILL AFFECT OUR LIVES AND THE LIVES

OF OTHERS. As we will learn in the weeks to come, Jeroboam chose to use his

influence to lead the people around him to disobey God. Not only did that destroy his

own life; it destroyed the lives of thousands of people in Israel, the lives of their children,

their children’s children, and so on, for many years to come. If you take lightly the

influence that God entrusts to you, your bad influence can have a damaging affect for

many generations. But if you choose to use your influence properly, you can be a

blessing to many people for many generations.

SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON Kings and Prophets

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The Opportunity to Influence Others

I. I KINGS 11:29- -Getter

29 Ahijah confronts Jeroboam in a field

30 Ahijah rips up new coat

II. I KINGS 11:31-

31 God will give ten tribes to Jeroboam

32 God will keep ten tribes for David

III. I KINGS 11:33-

IV. I KINGS 11:37-

37 The opportunity

38 The inivitation

39 The future

Adult Bible Class

Ahijah and Jeroboam I Kings 11:29-39

Sunday, December 31, 2017

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AHIJAH AND JEROBOAM I Kings 11:29-39

Sunday, December 31, 2017 The prophet Ahijah told Jeroboam that God was going to give him great influence in Israel.

We must be sure to use wisely the influence that God gives to us.

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness

of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness

as the stars for ever and ever.

DANIEL 12:3

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J E R M S K I N G T I M

O D X R S U I T N P W D

G B T Q L A M T C R I Y

G H R I S Y S V R O N U

R E I T P C O T N P F W

I Y B Z H U L B K H L L

P J E R O B O A M E U V

P A S L A K M O C T E A

E P W U M M O Z J R N H

D O D V Q I N H P W C O

K T W E L V E G L B E B

U R K I D A H I J A H S

WORDLIST:

Ahijah Jeroboam

influence ripped

tribes prophet

twelve Solomon

suit king

Ahijah and Jeroboam

I Kings 11:29-39 Sunday, December 31, 2017

Search the puzzle below to find the ten words in the wordlist from today’s

story. Circle each word that you find.

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness

of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness

as the stars for ever and ever.

DANIEL 12:3

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J E R M S K I N G T I M

O D X R S U I T N P W D

G B T Q L A M T C R I Y

G H R I S Y S V R O N U

R E I T P C O T N P F W

I Y B Z H U L B K H L L

P J E R O B O A M E U V

P A S L A K M O C T E A

E P W U M M O Z J R N H

D O D V Q I N H P W C O

K T W E L V E G L B E B

U R K I D A H I J A H S

WORDLIST:

Ahijah Jeroboam

influence ripped

tribes prophet

twelve Solomon

suit king

Ahijah and Jeroboam

I Kings 11:29-39 Sunday, December 31, 2017

The answers to today’s puzzle