Teaching

For those of you who saw the full-length Superbook story last time, why was Joy so worried? She did not feel confident or capable of handling the responsibility of sending help to her parents.

What did Joy learn from Gideon? She can have victory over her fears and lack of confidence; she can do what was asked with God’s help.

Can anyone remember our SuperTruth from Large Group? “God gives me the victory.”

We can experience victory like Joy and Gideon when we let go of our fears and fully trust in God.

Our SuperVerse for today is Isaiah 12:2: 

“See, God has come to save me. I will trust in Him and not be afraid. The Lord God is my strength and my song; He has given me victory.” 

God alone is our Savior, He gives us strength, and we need to trust in Him alone! 

When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon under the tree and said, “The Lord is with you,” what did Gideon ask? He asked why bad things had happened to the Israelites if God was with them.

Pick a child to stand beside you, and quietly tell the child not to move. Explain to the class that the child represents Gideon and you represent God—then walk away from the child. Gideon believed this had happened to Israel. He thought God abandoned Israel! Was this true?

Absolutely not! God will never leave or abandon us—we have His promise in Deuteronomy 31:6: 

“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Stand beside the child again, and quietly tell the child to walk as far away from you as possible. This is what really happened: Israel chose to walk away from God and abandon Him! God never moved! In what way do you think they abandoned God? Hint if needed: the answer was in the Pole Bowl Game. They disobeyed God and worshiped false gods.

God told Gideon to tear down his father’s altar to the false god and the pole used for idol worship. Gideon did what God told him to do. He cut down the pole used for idol worship and tore down the altar to the false god, then he built an altar to God in the same place. As Gideon found out, victory starts with obedience.

To experience God’s victory in our lives, the first step we must take is to serve Him only. We must ask Him to cleanse our hearts and purify our lives of things that do not please Him. We need to make sure that there is nothing more important in our lives than the living God. 

We aren’t perfect, and God understands that! When we sin and stray away from God, it is urgent that we run back to Him as fast as we can! Have the child run quickly to you and give him/her a hug.

We should pray every day, asking God to show us things in our lives that don’t please Him. Israel cried out to the Lord, not understanding that the people themselves had moved away from Him. They were worshipping false gods that could never save them or protect them!

As we grow and continue to serve God, the Holy Spirit will speak to us and ask us to tear down things in our hearts that do not please Him. He will show us that we should remove things in our lives that have taken God’s place or have caused us to stray away from God.

Let’s think of things that people may think are more important than God. Have children raise their hands one at a time to name something. For each suggestion, knock down one pole on the table. Suggestions may include: money, jobs, sports, videogames, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. You may briefly discuss each one before knocking down the pole. Then go on to list other things, such as: 

• Doing what the world says instead of trusting the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
• Trusting in our good works instead of Jesus.
• Trusting in our own strength and ability instead of God’s.
• Fearing what the world thinks more than God.
• Disobeying God’s Word and allowing sinful things to exist in our lives. 

Some of the things we listed are good—for example, families are wonderful! We all should love our families, and the Bible tells us we must honor and obey our parents. But should we love our family more than God?

We should not love anyone or anything more than we love the Lord God. 

The people of Israel had disobeyed God and worshiped other gods before the time of Gideon. When Israel first crossed into the Promised Land, Joshua called the people to make a choice!

Read Joshua 24:15:

“But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

Yes, God gives us the victory when we trust and honor Him above all else!

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Now it is time for our Discipleship Challenge, where we have been learning to look at ourselves as God sees us!

Hand out Pitcher and Torch Patterns to any children who missed Lesson 1. Display the sample and ask children to learn the next two verses on the torches before the next lesson. Ask anyone who participated in the challenge last time if they would like to share about what the first two verses mean to them.