Leader Guide

Video Leader Guide

Welcome (1 minute)

Welcome everyone! Today we begin a new Superbook adventure, “Jesus in the Wilderness.” Have you ever gone somewhere with your family and become separated from them? I am sure you were thankful to find each other again. In our video, we will meet some parents who thought their son was with them on their trip, but He was not! Then we’ll check in with Chris, Joy, and Gizmo, to see what they’re doing today.

Play Video 2: Intro to Bible Story (6 minutes)

Chris is tempted to play a violent video game that his parents have forbidden. Why not—it’s just a game, isn’t it?

Chris and Joy's Dilemma

SuperTruth and Discussion (2 minutes)

What was Chris tempted to do? He wanted to play a video game that his parents didn’t allow him to play.

What did Joy and Gizmo tell him? They reminded him of his parents’ rule about violent video games and also that he was too young to play the game.    

Were they being good friends to Chris? Yes!

We all need good friends who will remind us to follow God’s ways! And who is the best friend we can ever have? Jesus!

In our next video, we will see how Jesus resisted the devil’s temptations. In fact, that is our SuperTruth for today: “Jesus resisted the devil’s temptations.” Let’s say it together. “Jesus resisted the devil’s temptations.”

Yes, Chris isn’t the only one who faced temptation. Jesus was tempted by the devil! Let’s watch what happened—and then see if Chris gives into temptation or not!    

Video 3: Bible Story and Resolution (18 minutes)

Buckle up for a high-speed adventure as Superbook takes Chris, Joy and Gizmo to ancient Israel. Witness how Jesus teaches in the Temple as a young boy, then resists Satan’s temptations in the wilderness as a grown man. Discover how the Word of God has power over every circumstance!  

Chris and Joy's Dilemma

Video Discussion (1 minute)

How do you feel if you haven’t had any food for a few hours? Children respond.

How do you think Jesus felt battling the devil after not having any food for 40 days? Children respond. 

Play Video 10A: SuperVerse Graphic  

Graphic loops 1.5 minutes without audio; turn off or freeze video after children repeat the verse.

Chris and Joy's Dilemma

SuperVerse Discussion (1 minute)

Our SuperVerse today is Hebrews 4:15—let’s say it together:

We watched as Jesus was tempted three times. He came into the world to live as a human being, so He understands our struggles. Yet He never gave in to temptation, and He gives us the power to overcome it, too!  

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

Prayer and Send-Off (1 minute)

Dear Jesus, thank You for coming into this world to live as one of us. It’s wonderful to know that You understand our weaknesses and all the problems that we face. We praise You for resisting every temptation and never sinning. Please give us Your power to win the battle over temptation and sin each day. In Your victorious name we pray, Amen.     

In Small Group today we are going to learn about the spiritual weapons that Jesus used to resist and defeat temptation. Let’s start by playing a game called “Weapons to Win.” Go have fun!    

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

Weapons to Win: Play a game to take God’s Word and Spirit with you.

Let’s say the SuperTruth together: “Jesus resisted the devil’s temptations.”   

Jesus defeated the devil with two important weapons. Here is a hint for the first weapon: Jesus quoted it. God’s Word.

Jesus quoted God’s Word three times to overcome the devil’s temptations.

Now here is a hint for the second weapon. Fill in the blank: When Jesus was baptized, He was filled with God’s ______. Spirit.        

Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. This is what our game is based on. Walk from line to line as you explain.

You will travel from one line, which represents one edge of the wilderness, to the other line, which represents the other side of the wilderness. Like Jesus, you will need to be armed with two important weapons. You will take God’s Spirit and God’s Word with you. They are represented by these balloons. Hold up the balloons. 

In the Bible, the Spirit is sometimes represented by oil or water. You could pour liquids like those into a cup, so we will place the balloon marked God’s Spirit on this cup. Place “God’s Spirit” balloon on the cup.

God’s Word is sometimes represented by something that you can eat. Can you guess what it is? Bread.

Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life. So we will place the balloon marked God’s Word on this plate. Place the balloon on the plate.

You will play as teams. Each player must travel through the wilderness with God’s Spirit and God’s Word—carrying the balloons on the plate and cup. Walk as fast as possible, but if you aren’t careful, a balloon may fall to the ground. If that happens, you must stop and place it back on the cup or plate and then continue. It would be too dangerous to enter the wilderness without your weapons—Jesus didn’t! If you created an obstacle course in the wilderness, briefly explain it.

Now, once a player reaches the other side of the wilderness, give your plate, cup and balloons to the next teammate, who will immediately begin the journey.        

Divide the children into two even teams, then divide each team into two groups. Have one group from each team stand in single file by one wilderness line, and have the other group from each team stand in single file by the other wilderness line. If teams are not equal, have one player on the smaller team play twice.

Start the game. The first team to have all players complete the wilderness journey wins.  

Conclusion: Of course, we don’t carry God’s Word and Spirit around like objects that can be dropped! We only did that for the game. In real life, God’s Spirit lives in us and His Word is in our hearts and minds. No one can take them from us! Now, let’s learn more about how Jesus used God’s Word and Spirit to defeat the devil!    

Teaching

It Is Written! Discuss how Jesus defeated Satan’s temptations in the wilderness.

In your own words, what is temptation? How would you describe it? Children answer.

Temptation is the desire to do something we shouldn’t do. Is it a sin to be tempted? No.

No, it’s not a sin to be tempted. Jesus was tempted! But did He give in to temptation and sin? No.

Let’s say our SuperVerse together. Hebrews 4:15:

Experiencing temptation is not sin—but giving in and disobeying God is!

OPTIONALILLUSTRATION to show the difference between temptation and sin: Go to the door where your assistant is positioned on the other side. Speak a little louder so the assistant can be alert for your cue: Think of temptation as someone knocking on your door. The assistant knocks three times and stops. Now we have to make an important decision. Should we open the door or not? The volunteer knocks three times again, a little louder.

Temptation will continue to knock, trying to wear you down so you will give up and open the door to sin. Volunteer knocks again, even louder.

If we open the door and do something that is displeasing to God, that’s when the temptation becomes sin. Remember how Chris wanted to play that violent video game? He was really tempted, but he learned a lesson from Superbook just in time and then he made the right choice to obey his parents. We can keep that door closed and stand strong with help from God’s Word and God’s Spirit! However, we should probably let our friend [name of assistant] back into the room. Let’s clap for a great performance as a door knocker! Open the door as children clap.

Now let’s discuss how Jesus resisted Satan’s temptation. Did Jesus go into the wilderness because He got lost? No, the Spirit led Him there.

Every step Jesus took had a purpose toward fulfilling God’s plan. The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness so that, as a man, He could experience and resist Satan’s temptations—and to provide a way for us to overcome them, too!

Hold up image of Temptation 1. Satan started out by questioning who Jesus was. Let’s read what God declared from heaven about Jesus after He was baptized, in Matthew 3:17:

Jesus knew who He was so that He could resist the devil. It is also important for us to know that we are God’s children, and He loves us! The more we read in the Bible about what God says, the stronger our faith grows!

Satan waited until Jesus was weak from lack of food. However, Jesus had not eaten food so He could focus on God. Satan knew Jesus was weak in His body, but he underestimated Jesus’ strength in His Spirit! What did Satan tempt Jesus to do? Prove He was God’s Son by turning rocks into bread to eat.

Jesus used a weapon that we mentioned in our game to resist the temptation. What was it? God’s Word.

Hold up the Bible. Read Matthew 4:4:

The purpose of Jesus’ power was to honor God and draw people to Him, not to satisfy His body’s desire for food. Jesus knew that in God’s timing, His needs would be met.

Hold up image of Temptation 2. Satan did not give up easily. He took Jesus to a high mountain and offered Him all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would worship him. God’s plan was for Jesus to rule over all the kingdoms of the world—but first Jesus had to suffer and die on the cross to save us. Satan was trying to tempt Jesus to take a path that seemed easier—not dying on the cross—but Jesus knew He must obey God’s plan in order to bring us salvation. (See Revelation 11:15, Matthew 28:18, Philippians 2:10.)

Hold up the Bible. Jesus used His weapon again. Read Matthew 4:10:

Satan can try to tempt us with power, popularity or success if we will turn our backs on God and follow our own selfish ways. But God’s way is always best—even if it seems hard at the moment. We must humble ourselves before God and He will exalt us in His time! (See 1 Peter 5:6.)

Hold up image of Temptation 3:

Satan still would not give up. He made one final attempt to tempt Jesus to sin. He took Jesus to the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem. This time Satan even quoted Scripture himself—Psalm 91:11–12! He told Jesus to jump and God would order angels to protect Him. Jesus would not “fall” for it. He knew God would protect Him until it was time to give His life on the cross—and then God would raise Him to life again!

Hold up the Bible. Jesus used His weapon. Give the Bible to a child who is a good reader and have him/her read Matthew 4:7 (NLT):

We must live our lives wisely and in step with the Spirit—not carelessly and selfishly. We cannot live foolishly without purpose and expect God to protect us!

Matthew 4:11 says,

God did take care of Jesus—when Jesus had overcome!

Luke 4:13 says that the devil left Jesus until the next opportunity came. Satan does not give up easily; he is relentless and we must always be on guard and full of God’s Spirit.

While Jesus hung on the cross, people passed by and shouted for Him to save Himself and come down from the cross if He was really the Son of God! (See Matthew 27:40.) Jesus chose to die on the cross and give His own life to save the world from sin!

Jesus used the power of the Spirit and God’s Word to resist and defeat temptation and sin. Give the Bible to a good reader and have him/her read Psalm 119:11:

What do you think it means to hide God’s Word in your heart? To study the Bible, to memorize it, to obey what it says.

To recognize temptation and sin, we must know right from wrong. We must understand what is pleasing to God and what is not. God’s Word helps us identify temptation, and God’s Spirit leads us into all truth! (See John 16:13.) By using these weapons as Jesus did, we can reject any temptation before it leads to sin!

Jesus willingly laid aside His supernatural abilities and lived on the earth as a human. He was tested and tempted in every way possible, yet He never gave in to the temptations and sinned! He is the only one ever to do that! Because Jesus withstood every kind of temptation, He understands what we face in the world, and He helps us to resist and overcome!

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Give each child a Spirit Headphones Craft page, scissors, craft stem, and sandwich bag, plus pencils to share. Hold up the finished craft you’ve already made as an example, while also assembling one craft with the children to show them how to make it.

Be prepared to assist any children with special needs. Have children:

1. Write their name on the blank line on the headband with the pencil.

2. Carefully cut out the ear pads from their patterns.

3. Place the first pair of ear pads (“What I Think”) on each end of their headbands, about an inch from either end, being careful not to cover any letters.

4. Tape the ear pads to the ends with two small strips of cellophane tape.

5. Place ear pads #2 and #3 in the sandwich bag to take home.

6. Turn the headbands over and place a craft stem across the headband, then tape it in place with two 6-inch strips of painters tape or masking tape. Make sure the tape extends over the back of each ear pad to secure it.

7. Bend the headphones so they arch over the heads and try them on!

Have children read aloud the writing on their headbands, including the scripture reference. Read Galatians 5:24–25:

When we choose to follow Christ, we begin to follow the Spirit and pursue what God wants for us instead of our own sinful desires. This is how our new life in Christ begins. This doesn’t happen instantly—it happens over time. That is what these headphones represent, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and blocking out the distractions and temptations that may hinder our walk with God and cause us to leave His path. It isn’t enough to follow the Spirit in some parts of our lives—it must be in every part of our lives: church, home, school, relationships—everywhere!

Have children read ear pad #1 attached to their headphones. What I think; Philippians 4:8.

The first part of your challenge is to listen to the Holy Spirit so you can change your thinking to remove impure and harmful thoughts—and to replace them with God’s thoughts. Doing this helps us to resist and avoid temptations to think about things we shouldn’t. Read the verse each day; and if possible, memorize it. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to transform your thoughts! If you can, discuss the verse with your family. Next time, I’ll ask who remembered to do the challenge and what your experience was.

SuperVerse

Superbook Correction: Memorize the SuperVerse with a group activity.

There are things about ourselves that we wouldn’t want other people to know, but Jesus knows us inside out! Psalm 139:1 says:

Nothing is hidden from God; our failures and mistakes, as well as our strengths and weaknesses. He understands them all and continues to love us! He endured every temptation, trick and trap that the devil put before Him and never sinned!

Let’s read the SuperVerse, Hebrews 4:15, on the board together:

Have the children turn their heads, then lower and/or cover their eyes so they cannot see the board. Using the list below, change one word of the SuperVerse on the board at a time to alter the meaning of the verse, then have the children look at the board and raise their hands to tell you what word should be fixed. Write in the correct word and then repeat the process. Vary the order of the list to make it more challenging. As they become familiar with the verse, erase more than one word at a time.

• Change “Jesus ” to “Nobody”
• Change “understands ” to “mocks"
• Change “weakness” to “strength”
• Change “ours” to “His”
• Change “was” to “wasn’t”
• Change “tempted” to “tutored”
• Change “every way” to “some ways”
• Remove “not” and leave blank
• Change “Hebrews” to “Matthews”
• Change “4:15” to “8:65” 

Let’s close our eyes and see if we can say Hebrews 4:15 together from memory.

If children cannot memorize the SuperVerse, be sure they understand its meaning. Remind them to keep working on the verse at home.

Prayer

Strength Prayers: Communicate with God.

Jesus knows and understands all of our weaknesses. He wants us to share them with Him and ask for His power to overcome them.

We are all human; not one of us is perfect! We all have different weaknesses and temptations. Some people, like Chris, are tempted to play video games that they shouldn’t. Some struggle with eating too much, or eating the wrong things. Some are tempted to lie instead of telling the truth. Some are tempted to take something that doesn’t belong to them. Some are tempted to ignore their parents when told to do something. Some want to see videos that they know in their hearts they shouldn’t watch.

When we ask Jesus into our hearts, He gives us His Holy Spirit, who shows us what is right and wrong and who gives us power to overcome temptation. Luke 5:16 tells us that Jesus often withdrew from other people to spend time in prayer. If Jesus needed to pray often, shouldn’t we do the same? We need to come to Jesus to confess our weaknesses and to ask for His strength to overcome them.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray, using something that we call the Lord’s Prayer. Part of the prayer says in Matthew 6:13: 

Let’s close our eyes right now and pray. Optional: You may have the class pray the entire Lord’s Prayer in the way your church does. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts, showing us any weaknesses or temptations that we struggle with. Allow children time to think and pray silently.

Let’s continue to pray silently, asking Jesus for His power to strengthen us and overcome our weaknesses. Allow children time to pray silently and then close in prayer. 

Pray: Dear Jesus, thank You for hearing and answering our prayers today. We praise You that You understand all of our weaknesses. You experienced every temptation that we will ever face, yet You never once sinned. Thank You for replacing our weakness with Your strength today. Help us to pray each day for Your help and strength to live a life that is pleasing to You. In Your name we pray, Amen.

Action Game

Seek or Flee: Play a game to pursue godly things and reject temptation.

We have been talking about how Jesus resisted temptation and defeated the devil’s attempts to cause Him to sin. Because He did not sin, Jesus became the perfect offering to pay for our sins so we can be right with God! So do we spend our entire lives simply avoiding sin? Certainly not! We must pursue the things of God! Read 2 Timothy 2:22 (CEV):

In this game there are 24 cards for each team. There are 12 “Seek Cards” which are the righteous things of God we should desire. The other 12 cards are temptations that we need to flee or run from. Are you ready to seek the things of God and flee from temptation? 

Divide the class into two teams. Teams do not need to be even.

Have teams line up single file behind the line on opposite ends of the room.

Shout “1, 2, 3, Seek!” The first player from each team begins.

Players walk quickly to the cards and choose one card.

If the card is a Seek Card, the player will keep it and quickly return to the team and the next player takes a turn.

If it is a Temptation Card, the player holds it up to his/her teammates and the team will shout “Flee Temptation!”  Then the player will quickly place it face up on the floor and return home. The next player then takes a turn.

The first team to collect all twelve Seek Cards wins.   

Hold up one set of cards, one at a time and have the children shout each good thing we should seek to grow more like Christ.   

Conclusion: As we pursue the things of God, we will encounter temptations along the way that try to distract us and tempt us to leave God’s perfect path. Remember that Jesus defeated every temptation we will ever face, and He is ready to help us! 

Optional discussion: Read 2 Timothy 2:22 (CEV) again:

In the last sentence of this verse we read one very important way we can avoid and defeat temptation. When we choose friends wisely and spend time with people who are seeking the good things of God, we can all help each other grow stronger in our faith!   

Guessing Game

• Whiteboard and marker, or chalkboard and chalk
• Eraser 
  
• Timer, such as a stopwatch, clock or watch with second hand, or timer app

In our game, we guessed weaknesses. Jesus doesn’t guess or need a clue—He knows us inside out! We are human and struggle with different sins and temptations. He understands this because He also faced them on the earth. He faced every temptation and did not sin! We can’t beat temptation in our own strength; we need God’s help! Let’s take a moment right now to ask God to forgive us for the things we have done wrong.

Let’s pray. Dear Jesus, we confess that we’ve done things that we shouldn’t have. We’ve given in to certain temptations. Thank You for dying on the cross to pay the price for our sins. Please forgive us, and give us Your strength to stand strong when we are tempted again. We love You, and want to live for You. In Your name we pray, Amen.

Coloring Activity

More than a Game: Color a page about Chris.                    

1. Why do Chris and Gizmo have such different expressions in this scene from the video? Chris is excited to play the video game. Gizmo is panicked and tries to stop Chris from playing.

2. Why does Gizmo care if Chris plays? Chris’s parents do not allow him to play games like Blades of Bedlam. The game is for age 17 and older. The game is very violent and scary.

3. What were some of the excuses Chris made to justify or make it seem okay for him to play? He is old enough, the other guys are going to play it, he will only play one level, it’s no big deal, he really wants to play.

4. Have you ever used similar excuses or reasons like Chris used to do something that you know is wrong? What are some different reasons or excuses you have used? Children answer.

5. Why does it seem to be even more difficult to do the right thing when friends or other children are around? You don’t want to be made fun of or look like you are young, or too good. You don’t want to miss out on fun or be left out. Others put pressure on you to do what they do.

6. What are some things you have learned today to help you resist temptation? Pray, ask Jesus for help when you are weak, read and know God’s Word. Listen to God’s Spirit, Desire to obey and please parents and God over doing what we want to do.

Conclusion: Even though Jesus’ body was weak with hunger, He was able to resist the devil’s temptations because He was strong in His Spirit. He wanted to obey God more than anything else.

Bible Activity