PSALM 23
Lesson 10: “thou prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies”
List of the items needed to do the lessons as written.
This list does not include the items needed for the review games.
Lesson 10
- 2 shepherd puppets…the main shepherd and a helper shepherd
- 3 sheep puppets
- (optional) video of Genesis 1,2 story (example The Bible with John Huston)
+ offering lesson: ten dimes
Note: Because of the poetry of Psalm 23 in the King James Version, the scriptures used will be in the KJV.
Lesson 10
“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”
Objective…Love, thankfulness, etc
Lesson 10
>BRING UP WORSHIP LEADERS
>WELCOME
Good morning (pause for a couple of seconds!) BOYS AND GIRLS! What did you think I was going to say? (Allow responses) SHEEP, of course!
For the last couple of months, we have been learning all about sheep and shepherds. King David wrote Psalm 23 just for us (actually, he wrote it for himself, for his own heart). Why? To help him live in his mixed up and crazy world.
AND you know what? Our world is still that way, mixed up and crazy! If David was helped by a SONG-I bet I/we can be too! Psalm 23 is all about my shepherd and me. We all have a shepherd, even when we grow up. I hope you will be like David (and like me) and choose correctly…choose the GOOD SHEPHERD…choose JESUS the CHRIST.
Let’s pray this morning and invite the Holy Spirit to help us in seeing what David saw when he wrote the psalm…(please stand with me)
>PRAYER
>WORSHIP
>OFFERING
Simple little object lesson this morning.
Can someone tell us what the word tithe means? (Allow answers)
Right, a tithe is giving 10% of our money that we earn or receive.
Most of you don’t have jobs! However, your parents give you money, allowances, and you get birthday gifts and presents of money.
Everyone needs to learn to tithe on all the different ways we receive money…even on gifts. Why? The easy answer is, because at your age that’s how most of you receive money. Another reason is because all money, earned or not earned comes from the Lord.
[Need 10 dimes…. pick one child who hardly ever has offering money]
Here is ______…I am going to give him/her $1.00… a gift…
So what would be a the tithe on one dollar? (Ask your volunteer.)
Right, (.10) Ten cents.
Okay let’s collect today’s tithes and offerings…______you can sit down, the $1.00 is YOURS…for all your help.
Collect Offering (Leader watches to see if the volunteer puts anything into the offering. If they don’t, go on with collecting offerings. If they do, then take it from there. An example might be…that you have bells and whistles or sirens go off when the volunteer puts something in the offering…. Maybe award another award/prize…or a piece of candy….etc. You do know that God blesses a giver!)
>ANNOUNCEMENTS
>REVIEW
(6-8 girls) 1. Last week we talked about tools the shepherd uses, name two?
{Rod, staff, slingshot}
(6-8 boys)2. Name a purpose for the ‘rod’ the shepherd uses?
{Comfort, consolation, discipline, examination, counting, protection}
(9-12 girls)3. Last week what did I say the ‘rod’ the shepherd has is like for us?
{Word of God}
(9-12 boys)4. In the puppet skit last week what was the shepherd using the rod for? The
skit had two main answers. {Count the sheep, examine them}
>REVIEW GAME
[Stage up the following…two card tables that you will set up on stage for game. Two boxes with a full dinner service for four in each box. Including, all silverware, plates, glasses, napkins, and whatever. The more items the better! You can use plastic…or…nice stuff]
On “go” the two girls will set one table up and the two boys will set up the other! Two options…let them go until they are finished then judge the best setup…or give them a time limit then judge the best setup. Note: girls should win so--- AWARD prizes…give all players the Prize! What about a TV dinner.
>LESSON
(While the puppeteers are getting set…)
Let’s have a couple (boy and girl) stand and quote Psalm 23 verses 1-4 (have them come up on stage and give them a ‘treat’ if done correctly) [do with more if more time needed]
Have you been enjoying our sheep skits? I think our sheep are ready…let’s see what they have for us today.
>PUPPETS
2 shepherd puppets
3 sheep
Sheep enter, milling around as sheep do.
Shepherds enter
The shepherd (#1): “I want you to keep the sheep here for the next two days while I go up to the tableland
And prepare it for the sheep”
Shepherd #2“What do you expect to find up there?”
Shepherd #1 “Hopefully it will be in great shape from the spring thaws. Last year the sheep really
grew healthy and strong up there. But I’m going prepared!”
Shepherd #2 “You almost look like a gardener, ha!”
Shepherd #1 “Well I’m going to have to remove those poisonous weeds again this year, don’t want
any of our sheep munching on junk food!”
Shepherd #2 “Junk food that’s funny!”
Shepherd #1 “ And I need to put out the salt licks in the right places, make sure that the streams are
clean and flowing good. Don’t want them blocked up. And if you remember last year…we saw those tracks of a big cat….
Shepherd #2 “ I do remember, they where very large”
Shepherd #1 “Well I need to look around and see if he’s still in the area and if he is…well I may
have to help him move somewhere else. I don’t want any sheep becoming dinner for some fat cat.”
Both exit
Sheep #1 “Did you hear that?
Sheep #2“What?”
Sheep #1 “We are going someplace in a couple of days were there is poison, salt, blocked
water and large predators…! What’s wrong with staying right here, I ask you?
Sheep #2(shaking her head) “You still haven’t learned anything yet!
Sheep #1“What, learned what? I just learned that we are heading into danger…
Sheep #2“haven’t learned that our shepherd is a Good Shepherd…!
Sheep #1“oh that!”
Sheep #3 (finally looking up from grazing) “I did hear the most important part…He is going
to PREPARE the tableland for us!”
Sheep #2“and that’s why I’m not worried because He is our Good Shepherd!”
All exit
Sheep #1 (behind stage) whose worried? Did I say I was worried….”
Let’s give our puppeteers a hand as they return to their seats…
(If you want this would be a good time to make a plug for more actors/puppeteers. Nice way to transition also.)
So, what did we hear today from our characters? (Allow answers)
We learned that the sheep aren’t going anywhere for a couple of days while the shepherd prepares the tableland. What’s a tableland you ask? Well, let me ask you this, what’s a table in your house used for? (Allow answers) Mostly eating, right! However, other things happen there such as a place for family time, for devotions, games, or to discuss family issues. Also a place to do homework (YUK)-maybe…
It’s a place where life happens! (personal example: when I was growing up-when my dad had company they would always go sit at the kitchen table. The kitchen table was the main place in my household where it seems all decisions and actions took place. It was like my dad had his court, his throne (you know his favorite spot and chair at the table) and he held court over his kingdom, his household. Even discipline was doled out from the kitchen table)
So a tableland is a place where the sheep grow up! Just like you…
It’s where they eat.
They have family time (usually the lambs are born here).
They play together…getting stronger and healthier everyday.
They do their homework, hmm, learning what’s right and wrong,(what little sheep learn) examples: what to eat and what not to eat, not to wander to far away from protection, not to attempt to drink from rapid swift streams--yeah…LIFE happens at the TABLE [It did in my home!]
>SCRIPTURE VERSE (On overhead)
Psalm 23:5a KJV
“thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”
Repeat it a couple times. Did you notice those words? Prepares! (And) Table! That’s what our skit was talking about this morning.
Here’s what a shepherd might do to prepare the land.
- put out salt licks and minerals (vitamins)
- remove certain weeds (that might poison the sheep)
- locate the night area…safe place for the sheep to bed down at
- check which fields are for light grazing or heavy grazing…don’t want to destroy
- the land, the future for the flock and for the shepherd’s family.
- prepare waterholes
- check the area for predators…what types and where they seem to move around at
Wow that’s a lot….HEY…something just popped into my head! (Scary thought huh)
Why does God, our Shepherd, do this…what motivates God to do all these things to prepare a place for me/us to have LIFE? This is a tough question…except…I bet you know, don’t you? (Allow answers, love of course)
It’s found in the Bible, our answer…John 3:16 (have someone quote it)
>BIBLE LESSON (thoughts from Genesis 1,2)
[if you want to show a video segment instead of my story or with my story try “The Bible” with John Houston:]
I want to tell you a story about a God who loved, yet there was no anything to love or to return love to him.
So He came up with a huge idea! What if I made someone/something that could be loved and could choose to return love, hmm what a thought! But first He decided that they or them or you would need a place…a garden to dwell in…
Yes, a place to dwell in, so He “prepared” the world…and a special place in the world…for a special creation…one who could be loved and who could return love. We call this world “earth”.
Listen to his preparations:
He formed a mass (earth). He put waters (seas, oceans, etc) on it. He separated them and called the separation land. He created a space above the mass, the sky. He made the land burst forth with all kinds of trees and plants (food, shade, protections). He made a sun in the sky for warmth, light, and a moon for the night (so his creation wouldn’t be afraid in the night, maybe). He created fish, reptiles, mammals, birds, all types of creatures (even sheep) to fill his world with color, sound, beauty, glory. Oh, I could go on about his creations of the creatures. Then He set aside a very special place, a tableland, a ‘garden’ and in that special place He planted the very best of all sorts of trees and plants and that is where He brought his finest creation to!
Do you know what He said every time He did one of these things to prepare this world, this garden place, and this place of life for His finest creation…? “that it was good”
And of course you know who His finest creation is….yeah….YOU!
God, our shepherd, prepared the finest table (land) before us…(sadly, sin changed it all!)
You say but Pastor ______that was the creations of the world, it’s not like that now and it wasn’t like that when King David wrote Psalm 23!
David when he wrote verse 5a, “thou preparest a table before me”, was thinking of God’s love.
David was in hiding from the king (Saul) who wanted to kill him. He was living in the mountain areas that he understood and knew as a shepherd boy.
- Point: God always has desired and always is preparing a place for you to have life…(and to get Bible-ish)… life more abundantly!
Let me tell you a couple more stories that show God’s love…I started with creation (‘a perfect table’).
Some hundreds of years later…
Moses led the people out of Egypt. They went into the desert… a LOT of people…in those days there where no restaurants, malls, or grocery stores so all these people soon ran out of the stuff it takes to live. They said very loudly to God…’Can God furnish a table here in the wilderness’ (Psalm 78:19)?
He did! Water gushing out of a rock, bread falling every night from the sky, chicken of the desert just appearing… God even took care of their other needs…no new shoes or clothes needed…they just didn’t wear out (I probably just made that up! Or did I?)
Hundreds of years later…
At dinner one night, Jesus told his disciples, his sheep, ”I now grant you the right to eat and drink at my table in that Kingdom” (Luke 22:30NLT). and “I am going to prepare a place for you(the table-land) when everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:2-4)
- Point: You see…He is still preparing a table for us…the last one is in our future…right?
LOVE! God still loves us even when our enemies, the predators are all around us, He still is preparing what we need for life! This is a way we know who loves us and what is very interesting, we can choose to return love to Him. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Life…your mom and dad they love you…and they prepare everything they can to show you their love for you…wow…and then we show our love back to our moms and dads…don’t we?
That’s what it’s all about! This BOOK (hold up your Bible) is a love story…a romance novel!
A divine romance, A divine love…
A romance, a love between a shepherd and his sheep.
A romance, a love between GOD and HIS children!
>CLOSING
How do you show your love to your mom and dad? (Allow answers, all are right of course)
Our God also looks, seeks, and desires your manifestations of love to Him.
He is pleased when we talk to Him. Have an intimate friendship based on love. Love of the Father and love to the Father. To live this way is to live in the high meadows, the tableland, the ‘garden’ that He has prepared for us!
>PRAYER/ALTAR TIME
[Close in prayer as the Holy Spirit leads you…the example below is how I was led]
I just want us to close our Kid’s church service with thanks. In fact a whole bunch of thanks for God’s love in “preparing a table before us”
Let’s do a fun thank you thing…
I’ll call out a few things…one at a time…and you all tell God “thank you my Shepherd”
Ready (remember your going to say and hopefully mean, “thank you my Shepherd”)
For love (your response “thank you my shepherd)
For my health “
For my parents“
For my church“
For etc, etc, etc
Now it’s your turn…one at a time, call out something you are thankful for and we will all say “thank you my Shepherd”
Do for 10 or 15 more things (if possible)
Then close in a quick thank you Lord ending prayer.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies
Psalm 23:5a
Psalm 23
Lesson: 10