Use this free children’s sermon object lesson to teach the Bible story of Naaman for kids church or Sunday School from 2 Kings 5:1-14. Gather your object lesson supplies, watch our teaching demonstration video, and download the free lesson plan below.
Lesson Objective: Every now and then we have to follow apparently odd instructions. The story of Elisha and Naaman reminds us that God always has our best interests in mind, even if we don’t quite understand what it is He asks us to do or why. This message uses a round of “Elisha says” to open the idea of receiving strange directions that have positive benefits.
Law/Gospel Theme: This story encourages students to honor God and follow His commandments, even when they sound strange. The Lord will always provide for us and grant us what we need. Even if we are not healed immediately like Naaman, or given a mighty “success story”, God still works in and through us. This account also reminds us of the significance of Baptism. Naaman was healed after bathing in the Jordan River, but it wasn’t the water of the river that saved him; it was God. When we celebrate Baptism, we remember that it’s the blood of Jesus that saves us.
Object Lesson Materials: Water, pictures, Bible
Bible Passage: 2 Kings 5:1-14
More Children’s Ministry Teaching Ideas
- Watch our children’s sermon lesson and Bible craft directions on 2 Kings 5:1-14
- Compare our full Naaman Healed Sunday School Lesson and Children’s Bible Lesson on Naaman
- Browse all the lesson activities on the Story of Naaman for kids from Ministry-To-Children
- Compare the Mission Bible Class lessons on the Healing of Naaman
- Read the Bible Story of Naaman from 10 Bible Verses
Children’s Sermon on the Healing of Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-14)
Greet children and start with an opening game…
Hello, children of God! Have you ever played a game called “Simon Says”? You probably have at some point. It’s pretty simple: One leader gives instructions, and if they start out with “Simon Says,” you need to do what the instructions ask. If “Simon” didn’t say, you don’t act. Well, I want us to try a variation on this game. It’s called “Elisha says”, because we are talking today about a story that involves a man named Elisha, who was a prophet of God. More on him soon. But first, let’s play!
Invite students to stand and play along with “Elisha says.” Make the instructions strange and perhaps difficult to follow. After a few rounds of direction, consider giving children a small prize or treat to reward them for following instructions. Then discuss what it’s like to be asked to do things you might not love.
Were some of these things I asked you to do a little funny? Maybe it even felt weird to follow some of those directions. There are sometimes in our lives when people will ask us to do things that we don’t fully understand. In fact, even God might at times give us directions that seem strange! We might not always want to obey God’s commands, but it’s important to listen to His voice.
This reminds me of a story in the Bible. There was a man named Naaman, who had a yucky disease called leprosy. Leprosy can make your skin have spots, and sometimes even makes you lose parts of your body! Well, Naaman wanted to be healed. There was a servant girl living with him who had been captured from among God’s people. This servant girl knew that there was a prophet named Elisha who could speak God’s words and help her master. She told Naaman about him, and Naaman set off to find him in Israel. When he did, Elisha told Naaman that he needed to bathe himself in the Jordan river, seven times. Well, that sounded like some rather strange instruction! Naaman thought it sounded pretty silly, and at first, he wasn’t going to do it. Fortunately, his advisors reminded him that it was worth trying, even if it didn’t sound glamorous. So Naaman took a bath in the Jordan! And then another, and another, and…well, after he did what Elisha instructed, he was healed! He came out of the water clean and fresh and cured of leprosy, and he praised God for it.
What does this mean for us? Is it a reminder that we should take baths when our parents ask to? Not exactly…this story can help us see how we should listen to God. Naaman wasn’t just healed because he dipped in the river. He was healed because God’s hand was at work. We are not saved from sin because of anything that we do, but because God works in and through us to accomplish His work. Naaman decided to trust what Elisha told him, knowing it came from God. So we can trust God’s words in the Bible, and in the lessons that we hear from pastors and parents and teachers. We can follow their instructions, and we can listen for the voice of God’s commands all around us. We know that He has healed our hearts, and that even when we aren’t sure how, He is working in our lives. This story reminds me a little bit of Baptism. Naaman’s cleansing was sort of like a Baptism (and guess who was baptized in the Jordan River many years later? Jesus!). In Baptism, it’s not the water doing the work, but God’s spirit that takes our sins away and heals our hearts.
So ask God for instructions! Pay attention to His word in scripture, and ask what He wants you to do with your life. Why don’t we pray now and thank God for healing?
Children’s Prayer Moment
(Have kids repeat each line)
Dear God,
Thank you for healing us.
Thank you for the gift of Baptism.
Please help us to follow your instructions
Even when they might seem strange.
Thank you for your love
We love you, God!
In Jesus name, Amen!
Scripture Passage & Bible Story Reference: 2 Kings 5:1-14 ESV
“Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels[c] of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”
8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.
13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
-2 Kings 5:1-14