Week 963 · about 45 minutes
Malachi 4
Malachi 4 · Memory verse Malachi 4:6
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Malachi 4), the matching word search and answer key (Malachi 4 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a small lamp
Hold a small lamp. Read Malachi 4 in about four minutes, stopping at Malachi 4:6: “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Malachi 4?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Malachi 4 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, ““For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, ““Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.” Malachi 4 opens with these words: ““For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that…” The line to keep is Malachi 4:6: “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”” Carry the word “turn” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Malachi 4:6: “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Malachi 4? Then try this: Read “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers,…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through Malachi 4. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Malachi 4:6. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Malachi 4 and write Malachi 4:6 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Malachi 4:6
“He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.””
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Malachi 4. Help us remember Malachi 4:6 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.