Leader Guide

Leader Introduction

Gears and Widget are in line at the movie theater to see a scary movie. Gears is excited but Widget is not so sure it is a wise choice. Gears believes God will give them the courage to watch the scary movie. Thankfully, Miss Tina shows up in time to correct Gears’ misunderstanding about the courage that God gives to us. This prevents Gears and Widget from making a bad choice that could give them bad dreams! Gears and Widget decide to join Miss Tina and the other robots to watch a more appropriate movie about kittens.     

Today’s Bible story reinforces and expands the lesson from last time about God speaking to Moses through a burning bush. God calls Moses to free the Israelites from Pharoah in Egypt. Moses makes many excuses, but through God’s help and patience, Moses makes the right choice to courageously trust God.

In this lesson, we will learn that God provides help and strength to give us the courage to do what He asks us to do, not so that we have the courage to do things that are careless or foolish. 

Welcome students as they arrive with their parents.

OPTIONAL: As they arrive, play the song “Be Courageous” 

Be Courageous

Optional Opening Game

Who remembers what a shepherd does? A shepherd takes care of sheep. 

The name of the shepherd in today’s Bible story is Moses.

Can you say Moses? Moses. 

Raise your hand if you have played a game called “Simon Says.” Children respond. 

The game we are going to play is like Simon Says, but it’s called “The Shepherd Says.” Only do the motion if you hear “The Shepherd Says” first. If the shepherd doesn’t say to do it, then just stay very still! Are you ready?    

Have the children stand. Give each direction below, beginning some by saying “The Shepherd Says” and others without saying it, to see if the children are really listening!

[The Shepherd says:]

Baa like a sheep.

Jump up and down

Bark like a puppy

Skip in place

Oink like a pig

Twirl around three times

Cluck like a chicken

Pat your head

Growl like a tiger

Touch your toes

Hiss like a snake

Pat your tummy

Moo like a cow

Shout “AMEN!”

Snap like an alligator

Wiggle your ears

Neigh like a horse

Wave goodbye

Add other directions until it is time to do the next activity.

You may choose to play three different ways:

●      The shepherd stands at the head of the class and gives directions for the sheep to follow (or not to follow, if you don’t say “The shepherd says”).

●      The shepherd stands in the circle of sheep to give directions. This is a good choice for a small room.

●      The shepherd can lead the sheep around the room in a parade and do different actions or noises for the sheep to follow. This is fun in a large room or outside.

Object to Go!

Hold up the kitten and softly stroke/pet it while leading a short discussion with the following comments and questions:

●      Raise your hand if you have a kitten for a pet. Children respond.

●      What is the difference between a cat and a kitten? A cat is older or an adult, a kitten is a baby cat.   

●      Can you make the sound a kitten makes? Meow. 

●      Which robot do you think loves kittens; do you think it is Gizmo, Gears, Rig, or Widget? Children guess. 

●      Good guesses! Let’s watch the video now to find out!    

Leave the question unanswered until it is revealed in the video.

Today we are going to join Miss Tina and the robots at the movie theater.

Play Video (Clouds and Kittens)

Clouds and Kittens

Video Discussion

●      Hold up the kitten from the Object to Go! Now I think we know the robot’s name who loves kittens. Who knows the answer? Rig!  

●      What was the movie about that Miss Tina, Rig and Gizmo were excited to see?  Kittens!

●      What was the name of the robot who wanted to see the movie, “Scary Cloud 3”? Gears.

●      Name the robot who thought the movie would be too scary? Widget. 

●      Why did Gears think he would be fine to see the scary movie? He thought God would give him the courage to do it.

●      Who showed up at the movie and told Gears it was a bad idea to see the scary movie? Miss Tina.   

●      What did Miss Tina say God gives us the courage to do? Good things He wants us to do. Good things that help us or help others.

Teaching Time

Make copies of the Moses Page on cardstock in color or black and white, one for each child. 

Cut each page in the middle so there are two separate pictures of Moses.

Today’s lesson is about Courage. Courage is trusting God to help you do something that may seem hard or difficult.

Like we learned in the video, God gives us the courage to do good things that may seem scary to us. But He doesn’t want us to make bad choices and do things that don’t please Him.

Now let’s watch our Bible story about how God called a man named Moses to do a very important thing that would require a lot of courage!

Play Video (Bible story)

Moses and the Burning Bush

Bible Story

Make two stacks of the pictures: one for the Happy Moses and one for Sad Moses.

Hold up the two pictures of Moses—one happy and one sad. 

Have the children sit in rows and place their Moses pictures in front of them

Tell the Bible story slowly using the bullets provided. Be expressive! Bring excitement and interest to the story by varying your facial expression, voice, and volume level. 

When God speaks, use a deep but not scary voice.  

Pause at any bold text, which indicates it is time for the children to select a picture of Moses to hold up

OPTIONAL: After each bullet point, ask, “Which picture of Moses do you think shows how he is feeling right now.”  

●      There was a man named Moses who lived in the desert and happily watched over his flock of sheep. Hold up the happy Moses picture.

●      Moses liked being a shepherd. He loved and cared for his sheep. Hold up the happy Moses picture

●      Suddenly a bush began to burn in the desert.

●      Moses was surprised; he had never seen anything like this before and he was afraid. Hold up the sad Moses picture. 

●      The bush burned brightly with fire, but it did not burn up!

●      The fire was God speaking to Moses in the bush!

●      God told Moses to take his shoes off because the ground was holy, which means it was very special and set apart for the Lord.

●      Then God said, “I see what Pharoah is doing in Egypt to my people, the Israelites. Pharoah makes them work too hard, and they are tired and hurting!” Moses was glad that God wanted to help the Israelites.  Hold up the happy Moses picture

●      God said: “I am going to send you to free them!”    

●      Moses was afraid. He wanted God to send someone, but NOT HIM!  Hold up the sad Moses picture

●      God said, “I will go with you to Pharaoh; you will not be alone!”   

●      Moses shook his head no. He did not think anyone would believe that God sent him. Hold up the sad Moses picture.

●      God said, “Moses, put your staff on the ground.”

●      Moses put his staff on the ground. The leader places the staff on the ground.

●      God did a miracle to give Moses courage. The staff turned into a living snake, right before his eyes! Pick up the staff and lay the snake on the ground.

●      Ask children to hiss like a snake. HISSSSSSSS       

●      God did even more miracles to prove He had sent Moses.

●      Moses shook his head no. He was STILL scared because he could not talk well to people. Hold up the sad Moses picture.

●      God told Moses that He created people with a mouth to talk and ears to listen. Let’s point to our mouths … and our ears. God would teach Moses what to say.  

●      But Moses shook his head no again. He was still afraid! Once more, Moses asked God to send someone else!  Hold up the sad Moses picture.

●      Moses had a brother named Aaron, and God sent Aaron to help Moses.

●      Moses was very happy to see his brother Aaron! Now Moses FINALLY had the courage to go to Pharaoh. Hold up the happy Moses picture.

●      Moses and Aaron were happy to be together again. They went to the Israelite people. Hold up the happy Moses picture.    

●      Moses told the Israelite people that God cared about them and wanted to free them from the hard work that Pharaoh made them do. 

●      This made the Israelite people happy. Let’s have our happy Moses jump up and down.

●      Then they bowed down and worshiped God! Let’s have our Moses bow down to the ground to worship God.

Moses was happy because he had the courage to make the right choice to trust God and obey Him. Hold up the happy Moses picture.

Verse to GO!

Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)

Optional: Show the memory verse presentation at 10:00 of the video (which is the complete verse, rather than the abbreviated version here).

Bible Story and Resolution

Raise your hand if you remember when Gizmo and Widget showed us the Bible verse in the video. Children respond.

Can anyone say the first part of the Verse to GO that we learned last time? So be strong and courageous.  

Today we are going to learn the second part of our Verse to GO.  

Do not be afraid …. God will … go ahead of you.

Suggestion: Teach the verse with the motions below to help kids remember the words in the verse.

Do not be afraid… Shake your head no and put one arm forward with your palm out to indicate STOP.

God will go ahead of you… Hold both arms up and point toward the sky and march in place.

God doesn’t want us to be afraid. God will never leave us. He goes with us everywhere. Even though we cannot see Him, He is always there!   

Note: Preschool children may not be able to memorize the entire SuperVerse. They may simply repeat it with you. Be sure all children understand its meaning

Music Time

Be Courageous!

The lyrics and chords for this song are found in Resources and described in Lesson 1 here. 

Bible Story and Resolution

Prayer Time

Close the lesson in a simple prayer to encourage the children to thank God for giving us the courage to make wise choices to do good things to help ourselves and others. 

For example: Dear God, thank You for speaking to Moses through the burning bush. Thank You for giving him all he needed to have the courage to do what You asked him to do. Please give us Your courage to make wise choices so that we can do the right thing. We want to serve You and to help others. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. 

Take-Home Coloring Page

As children color, review today’s lesson using the discussion points below: 

●      Who is in this picture? Moses and Aaron.

●      How did Moses know Aaron? Aaron was Moses’ brother.

●      What did God send Aaron to do? Speak to Pharaoh for Moses.

●      What does God give us the courage to do? Good things for Him. To make good choices to help ourselves and others.  

●      Can someone tell us today’s memory verse? Do not be afraid; God will go ahead of you.

●      Can someone tell us the memory verse from last time AND this time? So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid … God will … go ahead of you.

OPTIONAL TAKE-HOME TRADING CARD:

Optional: Hand out GizmoGO! trading cards for MISS TINA, one per child; available for purchase under Products. Explain to the children that there is a different trading card for

each of the three lessons, so if they come back to Sunday school each week, they can collect all three! (Last time was the Moses card and next time will be the Gizmo card!)

Optional Game

Optional opening game from Lesson 1