Teaching Time

Have children sit at arm’s length apart.

Moses was a shepherd. What does a shepherd do? Watch or care for sheep.

On the count of three, let’s do the sound a sheep makes. Are you ready? One, two, three… baa!

That was so good that I think someone outside the door might think there is a flock of sheep in the room instead of children!

Let’s baa like sheep one more time in case no one heard us. One, Two, three! Baa!

The baa of his sheep was the sound Moses heard every day in the wilderness.

Then one day Moses heard a different sound. It wasn’t the baa of a sheep, it was a voice—but not just any voice. It was a very important voice, the most important voice we can hear! Whose voice did Moses hear? God’s voice.

God said, “Moses!” … “Moses!” Say Moses in a deep but not scary voice two times, pausing in between so children can repeat.

Something else was very different. God’s voice came from an unusual place. Where did His voice come from? A bush.

That’s right, but it wasn’t a talking bush, it was God talking from the bush!

What else was different about that bush? It was burning (on fire) but didn’t burn up.

Moses had an amazing day with many new things that happened for the first time! Surprises and new things can be exciting and fun, but they can also be scary.

Doing something for the first time, like meeting a new person, trying to do something you’ve never done before, going to a new school, or even trying a new food can be scary. It takes courage to do them. Whenever you feel scared about something, whether it is new or not, you can trust in God to because He is always with you! He will give you strength to have courage!

In the wilderness, Moses was amazed when he saw the bush burning and heard God’s voice. He was probably a little scared, too.

Then God told Moses to do something new. He asked him to do a job that was very big, bigger than watching his flock of sheep. A job no one had done before. It was big… very big! How big? Hold both arms out as wide as you can and have children imitate.

It was really, really big! Stand on tip toes. Reach to the sky and have children imitate.

Who did God ask Moses to talk to? Pharaoh.

Pharoah was the leader of Egypt, and he wasn’t a kind person! Pharaoh made the Israelites work very hard, too hard! No one wanted to go to Pharaoh, especially to tell him to do something that would make him very angry!

What did God want Moses to tell Pharaoh? To let God’s people (Israelites) go (leave Egypt).

Moses didn’t have the courage to do such a big job. Hold both arms out as wide as you can and have children imitate.

He made many excuses and told God to send someone else to Pharaoh.

Raise your hand if you ever made an excuse to get out of doing something new or that seemed too hard for you to do. Children respond.

All these excuses made God angry. He told Moses He would go with him and do miracles so Pharaoh would know God sent him. God even said He would send someone with Moses to talk to Pharaoh for him. Who did God send with Moses? His brother Aaron.

After making all the excuses, Moses finally chose to trust God. God was with Moses, and gave him the strength to have courage to boldly go to Pharaoh.

There are times we don’t know what to say, or don’t know how to do something, especially when it is new. We have a choice: make excuses why you can’t do it, OR trust God to give you the courage to do it, especially when we are afraid. That is what our memory verse reminds us to do!