Leader Guide

Video Leader Guide

Welcome back, everyone! Today is the second lesson of our Superbook adventure, “David and Saul.” In the story today, we will learn about controlling our anger so it doesn’t cause us to sin. Our music video today is called “Celebrate Your Victory.” Let’s stand and worship Jesus who is our perfect example. He was always in control and never sinned!

Play Video 11: (Song) Celebrate Your Victory (3.5 minutes)

Be sure to preview the song so you can sing along and do the motions with the children.

Celebrate Your Victory

SuperTruth and Discussion (2 minutes)

Let’s say today’s SuperTruth together: “I will not let anger control me.”

We are talking about anger today. Anger is something that we all experience, but we must learn to master it. Turn to your neighbor and say, “If we don’t control our anger, it can control us!” If we don’t control our anger, it can control us!

If you were here for Lesson 1, what did we learn was even more dangerous than anger? Jealousy, being jealous of others.(See Proverbs 27:4.)

Last time—in Chris, Joy and Gizmo’s adventure—who began to be controlled by anger? Chris began to be controlled by his anger when the two teens took his guitar. Joy was a bit frightened because Chris seemed out of control.

Anger and jealousy can both lead to sinful behavior if we allow them to control our actions, thoughts and words. Instead, we must rely on God to help us overcome them and fill us with His love and peace.

Introduce Condensed Bible Story (1 minute)

If all children watched the Bible story video in the previous lesson, you may skip it here and go straight to the Bible Background Video.

If you saw the full video last week, what happened to Gizmo when he tried to help Chris? One of the tough teens twisted Gizmo’s neck, causing him to get dizzy.

What did Chris want to do to the boys? He wanted revenge and to make them pay for what they had done to his guitar.

For those who haven’t seen our Superbook video yet, we are going to watch a short version of “David and Saul.” If you have already seen the full video, look for ways that David continued to honor and respect his king.

Play Video 4: Condensed Bible Story (11 minutes)

Condensed Bible Story

Superbook takes Chris, Joy and Gizmo to meet David, the young warrior who leads Israel’s army to victory. Although King Saul tries to kill him out of jealousy, David chooses not to take revenge. The children learn that anger and vengeance do not accomplish God’s purposes.

Discussion (1 minute)

Who advised David to take action against Saul? His soldiers.

Why did David choose to not harm Saul even though he had the perfect opportunity? Out of respect for his king; Saul was God’s anointed leader. He felt it was God’s place to judge Saul, not his.

Introduce Bible Background Video (1 minute)

In the Bible Background video, we’ll learn about the town of Gibeah, where Saul lived and reigned as king, near Jerusalem. We will also learn about David, his service to Saul, and how he managed to escape from Saul. When Gizmo asks a question in the video, wait for him to suggest some answers, then call out the one you think is right!

Play Video 5: Bible Background (8.5 minutes)

Bible Background

Play Video 10B: SuperVerse Graphic 2

Graphic loops 2.5 minutes without audio; turn off or freeze video after children repeat the verse.

SuperVerse Graphic 2

SuperVerse Discussion (1 minute)

Let’s say our SuperVerse together. Ephesians 4:26:

“Don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.

Have you ever been really angry?

Have you ever been so angry that it was difficult for you to think about anything else?

When that happens, our anger begins to control us. It can lead us to do things we normally wouldn’t do—even sin! We’ll talk about that more a little later!

Children will have more time to learn the SuperVerse in Small Group. If younger children are not able to memorize the entire verse, be sure they understand its meaning.

Prayer and Send-Off (1 minute)

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, help us to never let our anger control us so that we do not sin. Help us to give complete control of our actions, thoughts and words to the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Let’s go to Small Group where you will play a game to get rid of anger quickly!

Teachers take children to Small Group classes for Grades 1–3 and 4–6. If the combined group is small, all children may stay together for Small Group time.

Game

Let’s look at the board and say our SuperVerse together. Ephesians 4:26:

“Don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.

Hold up a ball. Today, our game is similar to a game you’ve probably all played called “Hot Potato.” Instead of a potato, you will be tossing away anger. Toss the ball with an easy underhand throw to an older child who is watching you.

Our SuperVerse tells us to not let the sun go down on our anger. If we hold onto anger, it can grow bigger in our hearts and begin to control our lives. When we let go of anger, it cannot grow and begin to control us. We are not to “sleep on it,” or dwell on it, or obsess about it, and carry it into the next day.

The ball represents anger. I will start the music and you will quickly toss it back and forth until the music stops. When the music stops, it is sunset! The player holding the ball must sit out of the game for two rounds. Are you ready to play?

Divide the class into groups of up to six players.

Each group will stand in a circle.

Give each team a ball.

Begin the music.

Players in each group toss the ball back and forth to each other.

The goal is not to be holding the ball—representing anger—when the music stops.

A player holding the ball when the music stops must sit out two rounds before rejoining the game.

Start the music and stop it after about 10–15 seconds. Continue starting and stopping the music at longer and shorter intervals.

Option: Have all the children who never had to sit out play a round to determine a grand champion.

Conclusion: That looked like fun! When we let go of anger quickly, it will not have a chance to control us! Let’s learn more about anger in our Teaching time.

Teaching

Let’s say our SuperTruth together: “I will not let anger control me.”

Hold up the Steering Wheel image, then the other “control items” you have gathered. Briefly discuss what each one is used to control, such as a car, game, television, toy, etc.

These items are all used to move, lead or steer something in the right direction. They are used to accomplish good things, right?

Now, I am curious; is there someone here who has never been angry? No.

Everyone has experienced feelings of anger. Sometimes we get angry over very small things like someone cutting in front of us in line, or losing a game. At other times, we may become angry over bigger things that we see or experience.

Quickly tape the Anger label to a controller and hold it up so children can see. Manipulate the controls as you speak.

Did you know that anger can control us? Who allowed anger to control him in the Bible story; was it David? No, Saul.

Yes, Saul did. He was angry and jealous of David. Instead of asking God to help him with his feelings of anger, Saul held onto his anger. It grew and began to control him. Have you ever been so angry that you felt out of control? Anger never leads us in the right direction!

Have a volunteer read Psalm 37:8:

Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm.

Hold onto the controller tightly with both hands. Yes, if we choose to hold tightly to our anger, it can control us and will lead to harm. This is not what the Bible tells us to do!

Have a volunteer read Ephesians 4:31:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.

Instead of holding tightly to anger, what should we do? Get rid of it!

Place the controller out of sight. Right; get rid of it! We shouldn’t allow anger to control our lives. Yet there is someone we should allow to control our actions, thoughts and words: the Holy Spirit! Quickly tape the Holy Spirit label to a different controller and show the children. Manipulate the controls as you teach.

Have a volunteer read Romans 8:5–6:

⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Our sinful nature leads to evil behavior, which includes anger that is out of control. In comparison, the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace! When we choose to give the Holy Spirit control, we can stop anger, jealousy and revenge in their tracks!

Let’s say our SuperVerse together. Ephesians 4:26:

“Don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.

Hold up the bed pillow. Have you ever heard someone say, “I will sleep on it and let you know in the morning”? This is a saying which means someone will take time to consider the facts, consequences and options before making an important decision. This way, they can avoid making a rash or quick decision based on emotion or pressure. This is a wise thing to do when you need to think carefully about a decision.

However, when dealing with anger, this isn’t a wise choice to make! According to the SuperVerse, we should never let our anger carry over into the next day. In other words, we should not sleep on it! If we do, the anger can grow as we replay the situation in our minds. Saul probably kept thinking about the songs of praises that the women sang to David for his victories in battle. This led to Saul’s anger controlling him to the point that he tried to kill David! In contrast, David put the matter in God’s hands and gave Him complete control. Let’s read what David said.

Have a volunteer read 1 Samuel 24:12:

“May the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you.”

Even when David’s own men advised him to kill Saul, David would not do it. He let God judge the situation. David was willing to accept God’s decision, even if it meant that Saul was not punished! When we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, our lives produce good fruit.

Have a volunteer read Galatians 5:22–23:

²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Hold up the controller with the Holy Spirit label. Now, it is time for our Discipleship Challenge where we will discuss giving the Holy Spirit control of our lives!

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Give David’s Kinnor Pattern, materials, and instructions to children who missed the previous lesson to assemble at home.

Our Discipleship Challenge is about being led by the Holy Spirit and filled with His love instead of jealousy, anger and revenge. Saul was controlled by His anger and jealousy. In contrast, the Spirit of the Lord was upon David. He placed the dangerous conflict with Saul in God’s hands. David was able to soothe Saul’s anger and jealousy for a while by playing the harp or kinnor. When we are led by God’s Spirit, we can bring harmony and peace to situations by showing God’s love.

Would anyone like to share your family discussion of Galatians 5:25–26 from Lesson 1? Did you ask the Holy Spirit to help you with any feelings of pride or jealousy? What was the result?

Continue with the challenge for Lesson 2 by reading Ephesians 4:31–32 and discussing it at home. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything in your heart and mind that doesn’t please Him. Ask God to help you forgive others as He forgives you.

Optional: if time allows, read and briefly discuss Ephesians 4:31–32:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

SuperVerse

Have children sit facing the board. This verse contains two “don’ts.” I would like the boys to read the first “don’t” sentence and then the girls to read the second “don’t” sentence. Let’s try it.

Good! The first part says, “Don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Anger is sinful when we let it control us. When we are controlled by anger, we don’t think clearly and we make unwise decisions.

The second part of the verse tells us to not let the sun go down while we are still angry. Do you remember what that means? Don’t hold onto your anger.

We need to let go of our anger inside so it doesn’t grow and begin to control us. Instead, we should confess our anger to God in prayer. If possible, we should attempt to work things out with others, to give and receive forgiveness. The verse following our SuperVerse tells us why it is dangerous to hold onto anger. Read Ephesians 4:27:

For anger gives a foothold to the devil.

Have you ever climbed up a high wall? If the wall is completely smooth and shiny—like glass—it would be nearly impossible to climb. But if the wall has cracks and crevices, we can use them as footholds to climb. Do we want to give the enemy a foothold to climb higher in our lives? No!

The enemy wants us to keep thinking about how angry we are and then act in a sinful way. The longer we hold onto anger, the more likely it will lead to harmful actions and words. Remember what we said in Large Group: If we don’t control our anger, it can control us!

Read the SuperVerse on the board with the children. Have children turn their heads and cover their eyes as you erase a word. Then, have the children raise their hands to tell you what you erased. Write the word(s) back on the board as the children answer. As children become more familiar with the verse, erase more than one word at a time and then don’t write them back on the board after children say them.

Younger children may not be able to memorize the entire SuperVerse. Be sure all children understand its meaning.

Prayer

It is so important to bring our feelings of anger to God instead of keeping them locked inside. When we open up to God, He can help us before our anger grows and begins to control our thoughts, words and actions.

Did you ever lie awake at night and think about something that made you angry? The more you thought on it, the angrier you became! This is giving a foothold or opportunity for the devil to stir up bad thoughts inside us.

Instead, we should do what the Bible says in Philippians 4:8. Hold up the poster and have children read the words out loud: Philippians 4:8:

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

The Bible tells us to think on good things that are pleasing to God. They strengthen our faith and give us peace inside. Rather than thinking about anger and revenge, we should meditate on the excellent things of God!

So right now, bow your heads, close your eyes, and think. Has anyone hurt you or made you angry? Do you want to take revenge on someone? Now silently pray and give that situation to God. Share your desire to let go of the anger before it controls you. Ask for help to forgive anyone who has hurt you. Pause a few moments to allow children to pray.

Close in prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to let go of any thoughts of anger, jealousy and revenge that may grip our hearts and minds. Instead, help us focus on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Help us think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Thank You, Jesus, for dying to pay the price for our sins and to set us free from sin. Help us forgive others as You have forgiven us. Fill us with Your joy, peace and love. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Let’s read the words on the poster again, but this time, wherever you see a word in bold-face print, shout that word, okay? Philippians 4:8:

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Anger Game

Have you heard the expression, “seeing red”? The color red is associated with hot anger or rage. So, “seeing red” means to be extremely angry. Like Saul, it is all you can think about. Read Colossians 3:8

But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.

Rage is violent anger. Being malicious means purposely harming someone or something. Slander means lying about someone. Anger can cause all of these—so we need to get rid of any hidden anger right now! This is what our game is about. Let’s get rid of anger so all that remains is joy and peace!

Give two paper plates to each child.

Distribute markers, crayons, or colored pencils; make sure there are plenty of red ones, plus other colors.

Display your sample plates. Have each child make an angry face on one plate and color it red.

Have each child make a joyful face on the other plate. Don’tcolor it red!

Divide the class into two teams. If teams are uneven, add the two sample plates to the pile of the smaller team.

A small class may play as just one team. Time the first round, then play again to beat the time.

Teams will make two separate lines near one end of the room.

Have each team place their finished plates face down in a pile and shuffle them.

Have an assistant or sixth grader volunteer help you. Use the plates to make a “game board” for each team on the floor near the other end of the room. See illustration for set-up of rows and columns. Important—leave enough space between the plates to walk through.

The game is played like a matching game but is more active.

The goal is for each team to “get rid of” the angry red faces by matching pairs of them.

One player from each team plays at the same time. Players walk quickly to their team’s plates, flip two over, and briefly hold them up for their team to see.

If both plates are colored red, they are removed from the board and put in a pile near the team. If the plates do not match (angry and joyful face), they are turned face-down again in the same spots.

If two joyful faces are turned over, they are returned to the board, face up. Joyful faces never leave the board!

The players then return to their team and the next player for each team takes a turn.

The first team to reveal all the happy faces and “get rid of” all their red plates wins!

Conclusion: Great job getting rid of all the hidden anger! The faster we rid ourselves of anger, the sooner we can be filled with God’s joy and peace.

Object Lesson

Put the tray with the cup, bowl and towel on a table and stand behind it as you speak. We are discussing anger today, and how to deal with it.

Let’s read Proverbs 15:1 from the board together:

A kind answer soothes angry feelings, but harsh words stir them up.

When we speak harsh words, we can make a stressful situation worse! Begin to stir the water; the glitter will begin to rise and fill the liquid.

The red glitter represents angry feelings. When we speak harsh words, we stir up these feelings. Harsh words can agitate a situation and make it worse.

Continue stirring with one hand; with your other hand, hold up the cup so children can see “Kind Words” written on it. This cup represents kind words that we can speak when angry feelings are present.

Stop stirring and pour some water from the cup into the container. Watch what happens when we speak kind words instead of harsh words. They can have a calming or soothing effect on angry feelings. Pause to let the glitter settle to the bottom of the container.

The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of kindness in us. When we choose to speak kind words instead of harsh words, we can help bring peace to an angry situation. If we will take the time to pray and ask for God’s help, the Holy Spirit will show us what to do and say. God can move through our words and actions to bring harmony and peace!

Conclusion: When we are angry and upset, and if someone mistreats us or insults us, it’s very easy to fire back at someone with harsh words and an angry tone. Will this bring peace?

No, this only makes things worse and stirs up angry feelings. When we are led by the Holy Spirit, we can choose kind and gentle words that can help bring harmony and peace.

Activity

Saul’s jealousy and anger controlled his actions. David was not safe anywhere near Saul even though he had done nothing to disrespect or hurt the king! David had to flee from Gibeah, where Saul lived. He was forced to hide in the wilderness and caves.

Give each child a maze sheet and a pencil.

For this activity, you will find the correct paths from Gibeah to the caves at Adullam and En-gedi for David to hide from Saul.

As children work, lead them in a discussion.

• Imagine you were David. What might you be feeling as you hide from Saul? Fear, frustration, exhaustion, and anger at times.
• How would it feel to be anointed as the king, yet have to run for your life? It would be difficult to understand; you would need to completely trust God that He would work things for your good. Frustrating, knowing you are called to do big things for God, yet not able to focus on that.
• Can anyone share a time when you trusted God even when you didn’t understand what was happening in your life?
• David’s men encouraged David to take revenge on Saul. Did David listen to his men, or to what God was telling him in his heart? He obeyed God.
• Can you share a time that you felt pressure from others to do something that you knew wasn’t right in God’s eyes?

Bible Activity

The book of Proverbs in the Bible has a lot to say about anger. Sometimes we call angry words “cross words.” So, we’re going to do a crossword puzzle with some cross words! You will look up the verses, consider the clues, and complete your puzzle in pairs—so find someone you don’t know very well to be your partner!

Give a puzzle and a pencil to each pair. After a set amount of time, discuss the children’s answers together.

Conclusion: The book of Proverbs was written to teach people wisdom about how to live godly and successful lives. Anger is an emotion that we need God’s help to control. When we are led by the Holy Spirit, we can live joyful lives that glorify God.