Leader Guide

Video Leader Guide

Welcome (1 minute)

Welcome back to the second lesson of our Superbook adventure called “Paul Keeps the Faith.” In our last lesson, we learned the Apostle Paul faced many troubles as he shared the Good News about Jesus. In today’s lesson, we will learn a different way of looking at and dealing with trials and troubles that come our way.     

Now, it’s time to stand and praise God for giving us His Holy Spirit to fill us with His love and provide strength and protection no matter the circumstance.  

Play Video Song: Superhero (3.5 minutes)

Preview the song so you can help the children sing along with the music.

Armor of God

SuperTruth and Discussion (1 minutes)

Raise your hand if you have ever been told that you need to be patient? Children respond.

It isn’t easy to be patient; especially waiting for something you are excited about! It’s also hard to be patient in an uncomfortable or difficult situation where it just can’t end soon enough!

Patience is something we all need more of, and I think you will be surprised how the Bible tells us how we can receive it!

Our SuperTruth today is: “Troubles and trials develop patience in me.” Let’s say that together: “Troubles and trials develop patience in me.”       

We will discuss this more a little later. Now, let’s watch a short version of our Bible story. If you have seen the video before, pay close attention to name two different animals that were caged outside the Roman coliseum or arena (Circus Maximus).                    

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.

Play Video 4: Condensed Bible Story (10 minutes)

Superbook whisks Chris, Joy and Gizmo to Rome during the Great Fire. They meet the Apostle Paul, who fearlessly proclaims the Gospel despite persecution and suffering.

Be sure to preview this video, as certain scenes may be too intense for some children.

Condensed Bible Story

Discussion

Have you ever faced troubles and wondered why? Children respond.

How do you think trials and troubles can develop patience? You need to trust that God is with you and helping you even if it sometimes doesn’t feel like it.

Have you ever gone through a difficult time, looked back, and realized how you had benefitted and grown stronger because of it? If so, would you like to share about it? Children respond.    

Do you think it was more difficult to be a Christian in Bible times or today? Please explain.

In Bible times, because you didn’t have the whole Bible to read; in Bible times you had rulers like Nero who were cruel and persecuted Christians. OR: Today because of all the unbelief and opposition to God and Christianity on TV and the internet.    

Introduce Bible Background Video (1 minute)

In today’s Bible Background video, we’ll learn more about Rome and the suffering and trials that the Christians endured. Be ready for Gizmo’s questions! Wait for him to give some answers, then call out the one you think is right!

Play Video 5: Bible Background (7 minutes)

Bible Background

Play Video 10B: SuperVerse Graphic

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

10B: SuperVerse Graphic

SuperVerse Discussion (1 minute)

The SuperVerse today is James 1:2-3:

It may seem hard to believe that any good can come of troubles! Yet our SuperVerse challenges us to view times of testing and troubles in a very different way—as an opportunity to grow in our Christian walk and to experience great joy!

Let’s say James 1:2–3 together: 
When troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  

Children will have more time to learn the SuperVerse in Small Group. If they 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, Paul and all of Jesus’ disciples faced trials and troubles as they boldly spread the Gospel. Yet they developed endurance and patience, and their faith grew even stronger. Help us grow in our faith and see that hard times are an opportunity to develop patience and strength as we serve You! In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.     

Our game in Small Group is all about the power we have through Christ to live a victorious life. Who is ready to defeat some trials and troubles that try to keep us down? Let’s go be conquerors!      

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.

Small Group

In Large Group you were asked to identify two animals in the video that were caged. Raise your hand to name just one of them, then someone else can name the other one. Lion, bear.

Although Julia and Marcus were not real people in today’s Superbook adventure, they represent real people who actually did live at that time. Paul, Phoebe, and many other believers faced real suffering and persecution for their faith. The video was based on events that really happened, including the Circus Maximus arena with ferocious animals and the Great Fire of Rome caused by the wicked emperor Nero. Real life people like Jason hid and protected Paul and other believers in his house to keep them from being arrested. Jason himself was arrested for his brave acts.

In the video, what was the name of the commander of the Roman Praetorian guard who reported to Nero? Felix.

We are going to play a game in which you will pretend to be early Christians who must stay one step ahead of Felix and the Roman guards.

Have an older child or a Sixth Grade helper play Felix. He will stand in the center of the room as you explain the game.

Have you ever played a game called Four Corners? Today’s game is very similar. The goal is not to be caught by Felix and the Roman guards! Felix will close his/her eyes and slowly count aloud to 10. As Felix counts, you will quietly move to the sign of your choice. The signs at each corner of the room represent faithful and courageous believers who opened their homes to protect Christians from being arrested. Now, remember to move very quietly so Felix can’t hear you! When the counting is finished, Felix will keep his/her eyes closed and shout, “I think someone is hiding at sign number _____ (1,2,3, or 4). You never know which number Felix will say! Everyone hiding by that sign must sit down in the middle of the room near Felix because you have been caught! The game continues until only one player remains. That player successfully escaped from the Roman guards! Let’s play two practice rounds to make sure everyone understands the game. If you’re caught in these first two rounds, you don’t need to sit down.

To shorten the game, once a corner is named, you may announce that it is closed so players may no longer flee there. This limits play to three turns per round, after which there will probably be a group of winners in the fourth corner. You can say that the believers successfully escaped Felix and the guards and won! Children who were “caught” are then free to play in the next round.

Conclusion:

How did you determine which corner you would flee to? Children respond.

Was it hard not to follow the crowd? Children respond.

Was it difficult to remain quiet as you played? Children respond.    

This game was fun, but we should remember that today, some Christians in parts of the world suffer terrible hardships and suffering because of their faith in Jesus. We are going to pray for these believers in our prayer time today.    

Let’s learn more about how we can turn adversity and troubles into growth and even an opportunity for great joy in today’s Teaching!

Teaching

Just Admit it! Discuss everyone's need for Jesus

Raise your hand if you have ever had a pop quiz? Children respond.

If you raised you hand; please explain why you like or dislike them. No, I don’t have time to study; I don’t like any quizzes. Pop quizzes aren’t fair, etc. Yes, they are easy if you have paid attention in class and done the homework.

For those of you unfamiliar with pop quizzes, a teacher gives them to students unannounced. The goal is to help the teacher determine if the class is listening, if they understand the material being taught, or to see if the class has done the assigned homework. Students do not have a chance to study or prepare for a pop quiz.     

The troubles we face are very similar to pop quizzes because they are often unexpected and catch us off guard. We don’t know they are coming and we haven’t had an opportunity to prepare.

This is what our Discipleship Challenge is all about; who can tell me what God gives us to put on each day? Spiritual armor, the Armor of God.  

Can you actually see this armor? No, it’s invisible.

When we put on God’s armor, we can prepare for the unexpected trial or test. Whatever and whenever they come, we won’t fail because we are more than conquerors through Jesus!

Let’s say today’s SuperVerse together. James 1:2–3:

Wow! Troubles and trials are an opportunity for great joy! If we ever wonder where God is when something bad happens; the answer is that He is right beside us and inside us—loving us, helping us, and empowering us! Deuteronomy 31:6 says:

Knowing I am in God’s presence gives me joy, how about you?

We also know that when our faith is tested, our endurance has a chance to grow. What is endurance? Children answer.

Endurance is the ability to withstand hardship, troubles and trials. To endure means to make it through a challenging or difficult time and come out on top.

If we are never tested or face hard times, our endurance can’t grow. Consider a marathon runner. Does anyone know the distance of a marathon race? 26.2 miles or 42.195 kilometers.

Marathon runners must train and build their strength and endurance to be successful. It is only through challenging their bodies on different terrains and in conditions such as hills, sand, wind, and heat, that their endurance has a chance to grow. It is the same with our spiritual endurance. Our endurance grows as we trust God in different trials, troubles, hardships, and challenges.

Paul kept his faith and grew spiritually by enduring unspeakable hardships. He found great joy in suffering for Jesus as he spread the Gospel.  

Optional: Paul encouraged a young minister named Timothy to do the same in 2 Timothy 4:5:

Hold up the flower seed packet and the pot filled with soil. If I wanted to grow these flower seeds, what would I put in the pot first? Dirt, soil

Tilt the pot just enough for children to see or pinch some soil and drop it back in the pot.

You place the seed in the soil and then add some sunlight and water. I could not expect the seed to grow unless I provided those elements.

Hold up the “Endurance” packet. These are different seeds. What type of seeds are these? Endurance seeds.

Hold up the pot with the strips of paper inside. What do you think we would put inside this pot if we wanted these endurance seeds to grow—more dirt or soil? Children answer.

Let’s find out.

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Give any child who missed Lesson 1 the appropriate Conqueror Page and an Armor of God Page. Show children the sample craft made in lesson 1 and have them assemble the craft at home. 

Use the model craft as you discuss the challenge. The challenge last time was to learn the first two pieces of God’s invisible armor. What are they? Belt of truth, breastplate or body armor of righteousness. 

You had one other important challenge to do daily; what was that? Pray.

Who modeled the importance of daily prayer to live a victorious life as a conqueror? Jesus. 

Who leads us into all truth? The Holy Spirit.

Righteousness is a big word that means being right with God. Can we do that on own? No, only through Christ.

Would anyone like to share an experience from the challenge? Children respond.

SuperVerse

What good can possibly come of troubles—not much, right? Not according to today’s SuperVerse!

This verse challenges us to view troubles in an entirely different way. According to James 1:2–3, what do troubles give us an opportunity to experience? Great joy! 

Point to the top of the board. Let’s say James 1:2–3 together:

When troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

What has a chance to grow when our faith is tested? Our endurance.

Who was paying attention to the teaching and can say what endurance is? Children respond.

The dictionary defines endurance as the ability to withstand hardship or adversity, especially the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity.  

Paul and the other believers certainly had their faith tested! They withstood hardship, adversity, stress, physical suffering, persecution, and even death in many cases! Paul’s faith stood firm even when he was beaten and thrown into prison.

As our faith is tested, we can praise God for developing endurance and patience inside us. As we do this, our faith will grow stronger; and we will experience joy even in the midst of adversity.   

Point to the verses near the top of the board. Let’s say today’s SuperVerse together one more time. James 1:2–3:

Erase the correct version of the verse from the board. You will unscramble one line at a time from the jumbled words. Raise your hands to tell me the first, second, third word, etc. until the line is correct. Then, we will move to the second line, and so on. I will write the correct words in order next to the jumbled line as you answer.

Once all lines are corrected, say the SuperVerse together again.

Conclusion: When this was jumbled up, it represented how we may feel inside when facing trouble or stressful situations. You corrected the confusion and restored order. When we trust in God during tough times of testing, He will work on our behalf and we can experience peace and joy as we wait on Him. In the process, our endurance grows and our patience can increase.      

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

Prayer

If we keep our focus on and trust in God, we can be filled with joy and our faith and endurance can grow.

It is not wrong to pray for God to remove it. Paul prayed for a hardship that he faced to be removed. God didn’t remove the problem, but God answered his prayer by telling Paul something amazing. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

In our prayer today, it is fine to ask God to remove a tough situation we face, However, let’s also be willing to accept a different answer from Him. We can’t imagine what God will do if we patiently trust Him to give us His grace and power.   

Please close your eyes for a moment and think of something that you face now or may face in the coming days. Is there something you continually pray for God to “fix” or remove? Bring these things to God and ask Him to do what is best for you in His timing. Allow children time to pray.

Now let’s take time to pray for Christians in the world today who are facing terrible persecution and suffering for their faith. Mention specific nations, people or situations that the children would relate to and understand. Allow time for them to pray silently or out loud.

Jesus always wants us to come to Him with our needs and to remember the needs of others.    

Active Game

Today, we are being challenged to consider trials and troubles in a different way. Instead of a totally negative experience, God wants us to see hardships as an opportunity for spiritual growth.

Optional: Ask if anyone can say the SuperVerse from memory. Let’s read aloud today’s SuperVerse from the board. James 1:2–3:

When we trust in God and allow Him to do His perfect work in us, our endurance and patience will develop and grow! That’s the basis for this game.

Have the children stand single file behind the starting line.

Walk through the course and model the actions as you explain the game. 

Give one domino to each player. This domino represents troubles we may face. Each player will carry the domino slowly to the first table this way: step, stop, another step, stop, and so on until reaching the table.

When trouble comes, we must deal with it. It can sadden us, weigh us down, and slow us down. The player will then stack the domino he/she is carrying on one of the “foundation” dominos.

The player will then walk to the box and get one domino from it. This domino represents a trial we may face. 

The player then slowly proceeds as before—step, stop, step, stop—to the second table. Once a player reaches the second table, he/she will place the domino on one of the “foundation” dominos, just as before. The player will then skip or jump up and down with arms waving all the way back to the starting line.

Why would you return this way? Hint: look at the SuperVerse on the board. We are full of joy because Jesus is working in us and is with us through the trial or troubles.

Why do you think we are stacking dominos in the shape of an “E”? Hint: Look at the SuperVerse again. E stands for endurance. God builds or grows endurance in us as we trust in Him during hardships.  

This game has one more rule. After the first player takes a turn, every player who follows will stack a domino on that same level until that level is completed for all five parts of the E. For example, stack five dominos evenly across the second level before beginning the third level, and so on. Demonstrate to help the children understand.

Encourage the children to cheer each other on as each builds endurance. Play until each child has taken a turn.

Conclusion: Wow, look at how endurance grew! It could not have grown without experiencing troubles and trials! Having our faith tested is never fun; yet, if we are willing to stand strong, trusting in God through a tough circumstance, God can do great things!  

Object Lesson

Have you ever been in a situation that tried or tested your patience? If so, please share it. Waiting in a long line at a ride at an amusement park; sitting on the bench waiting to play in a game; waiting for a person to arrive who is late; waiting for something I really want to buy; etc.  

As an adult, two things that can really test my patience are sitting in traffic or standing in a long line at the store, waiting to purchase my items. Personalize as desired.   

The word develop doesn’t have the same meaning as immediate. The difference is that development is a process over time. It isn’t instant and doesn’t happen immediately.

We may pray for patience and expect God to just drop it on us or inject it in us so that, all of a sudden, we become patient. The SuperTruth reminds us that it doesn’t happen that way. Let’s say our SuperTruth together: “Troubles and trials develop patience in me.”

Place Box #1 on the table with Trials and Troubles Page visible. Instead, we may experience troubles and trials in our life. A trial is another way of saying a test. Notice how the troubles and trials are not all the same size. This represents how we will all encounter small and large troubles and trials. Each one is different.

Jesus said in John 16:33 that in this world, we will not only have a few trials, but many!

Place Box #2 beside Box #1, place Box #3 beside Box #2. You should now have 3 boxes in a horizontal line on the table with only the Trials and Troubles pages visible.  

That’s a lot of trouble isn’t it!

The exciting part is that God uses these things for our good to grow patience in us. Let’s say that on the playground or in physical education class, you are always the first player chosen on a team or the first to get the ball. In these examples, can patience develop in you; why or why not? No, you never need to wait; and you get used to always getting what you want quickly.  

Now, let’s see the exciting part.

Turn Box #3 around so “CE’ is visible to the children. Look perplexed. Hmmm, that doesn’t seem very exciting, does it? 

Place Box #2 on top of Box #3 and rotate it to display “IEN.”

Hmm, that’s a little better, but what is IENCE? Does anyone have a guess what this is? Children respond.

Place Box #1 on top of Box #2 and rotate it around to display “PAT” and complete PATIENCE.   

AHHHH, now I see it; can you shout it aloud together? PATIENCE!

Each time more troubles and trials are added, patience has a chance to develop. If we never experience times of waiting and trusting in God, we will never develop patience. When troubles seem to come, one on top of the other, we can learn to trust Him in a much greater way.

We still aren’t done yet—there’s more! Carefully remove the three “Patience” pages to reveal “Joy.” 

Isn’t that amazing? Today’s SuperVerse says that when troubles come our way, consider it an opportunity for great joy! As we trust in Jesus, difficult circumstances not only develop patience, they also are an opportunity for great joy!  

Bible Activity

Make no mistake, troubles and trials are not fun; however, God will use them to help us grow our faith. In this activity you are going to look up verses about patience and endurance.

Have the children sit in pairs. Try to pair an experienced Bible user with a child who isn’t as familiar with the Bible. Give each pair a Bible. The experienced Bible user can quickly look up the verse while the other player writes the answer on a sticky note. The notes are then stuck to the board. If both players are experienced Bible users, the players can alternate looking up a verse and writing down the answer. Have children close their Bibles before you announce the next verse.

Note that the suggested answers are from the New Living Translation. If children are using different translations, their answers will vary.

I will say a Bible reference, telling you whether it is in the Old or New Testament, and then write it on the board with the initials O.T. or N.T. You may start to look it up while I read a fill-in-the-blank question for that verse. One player in each group will write the answer on a sticky note and then walk quickly to stick it on the board. You have 30 seconds to do that. The first team scores 10 points for the correct answer or answers; all other teams score 5 points for the correct answer(s) stuck to the board within the time limit. Every pair will have a chance to finish, so don’t give up! The most important part of the game is to search God’s Word and let it sink into our hearts. After points are awarded, we will take turns reading the entire verse. The team with the most points wins. Let’s get started!

Allow spelling errors because of the fast pace of the game. Do as many verses as time allows. Be prepared to help any children with special needs. If time permits, after points are scored for each question, read the entire verse and briefly discuss it.

1. Colossians 1:11 (N.T.): We will be strengthened by God so we will have _____ and _____. (Endurance, patience)  

7. Galatians 5:22–23 (N.T.): The Holy Spirit _____ fruit in our lives including love, _____, peace, _____, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Produces, joy, patience)

8. 2 Peter 3:9 (N.T.): God is patient for our sake because He wants everyone to _____ and not be _____. (Repent, destroyed)

9. Colossians 3:12 (O.T.): God chose us to be _____ people. We must _____ ourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (Holy, clothe)   

10. Ephesians 4:2 (N.T.): We are to always be humble, gentle, patient, and make allowance for each other’s _____. (Faults) 

Conclusion: The key to forgiveness is knowing that we have sinned and need Jesus!