gideon

Gideon the warrior

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello again! Today’s story is from Judges 6-8 in the Bible. Last year’s lesson can be found HERE.

gideon-tools.jpg
image from 
https://kelund.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/stolen-bibles-and-a-restored-marriage/

 
Today’s story is about a man named Gideon. Gideon was just a regular guy, one of the Israelites (God’s chosen people). He was living in the promised land with the other Israelites, taking care of his sheep. Now since they had moved in, the Israelites had a bad habit of following God and then forgetting and making bad choices. Then God would punish them, send them a new leader (a judge) and they would follow Him again. Over and over and over. (God is very very patient!)

After Deborah was gone, they once again started making bad choices and God let the Midianites be in charge of them for seven years. The people were scared and had to hide because the Midianites were so mean to them.

One day, an angel came and told the people to stop disobeying God! Make good choices!

Then the angel appeared to Gideon, and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!”

Gideon couldn’t believe the angel was talking to him. He wasn’t a mighty warrior?! “Who ME?!”

But the angel answered, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand.  I am sending you! I will be with you.” (God was with Gideon and would help him defeat the Midianites.)

Gideon asked God for THREE different signs before he believed that God had really chosen him. And God was patient enough that He did show Gideon over and over “YES! I want YOU to lead the army!”

Finally Gideon trusted! So he rounded up a big huge army and set out. But God said no. It was too many fighters. So everyone who was scared was allowed to go home. Then Gideon started off again, but God said no again. The army was still too big. He had Gideon send even more men home. God did this so that when the Israelites won, everyone would know it was GOD who had defeated the Midianites and not the army, or Gideon.

So Gideon led his tiny army to the place where the GIANT Midianite army was camped. They had over 135000 men in their army and Gideon was allowed to have 300 men. That’s like if Pluto was going to fight the sun!

So Gideon’s army split into three teams and quietly tiptoed around at night time and surrounded the Midianites. They brought breakable clay jars, trumpets, and torches (fire) with them. Then, when Gideon told them to, everyone blew their trumpets really loudly, smashed the jars and yelled. They waved the firy torches around. The noise and commotion scared the Midianites so much, that started killing each other?! Only a few of them got away but the Israelites got them and defeated every last one.

After Gideon and the men returned, the people wanted Gideon to be their king. But he said, “No. Let GOD be your king.”

 

Gideon was a good leader. Remember, God doesn’t always pick the most important people or the most popular to be the leader…God cares about what’s in your heart. Gideon was a good leader not because he was someone important, or because he was big or strong…he was a good leader because he pointed the people back to God! When you are being a leader for your friends, make sure you a good leader…who trusts and obeys God. We know God’s plan is the BEST plan and that we can always trust Him. A good leader follows God and helps other people trust Him too!

THIS VIDEO is from Teaching Kids About Jesus.

There is also a veggie tales about Gideon.

A cute snack for today’s lesson is to have bugels be the trumpets, cheese for the fire and maybe tortilla scoops to be the clay jars. The kids *could* smash them on the table if you’re really that brave :0)

Thanks again for joining us, love to you all!

 

Gideon

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Good day, friends!

Today’s Bible story comes from the book of Judges, chapters 6-8.

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This is the story of a man named Gideon. Gideon was a regular guy, one of the Israelites (God’s chosen people). He was living in the promised land with the other Israelites. Now since they had moved in, they had a bad habit of following God and then forgetting and making bad choices. Then God would punish them, send them a new leader and they would follow Him again. Over and over and over. God is very very patient.

Once again, they were making bad choices and God let the Midianites rule over them for seven years. The people were scared and had to hide because the Midianites were so mean to them.

One day, an angel came and told the people to straighten up! Then he appeared to Gideon, and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!”

Gideon couldn’t believe the angel was talking to him. He wasn’t a mighty warrior?!

But the angel answered, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you? I will be with you.”

The angel promised that GOD would defeat the Midianites.

Gideon asked for a sign that God had REALLY chosen him to lead the people against the Midianites. God told Gideon to cut down the idols (pretend gods) in his house and to make a sacrifice to God instead.

So during the night, Gideon cut down the pretend gods and the statues the people worshipped and instead made an altar (a place to worship) God. When the people got up, they were surprised and wanted to hurt Gideon. But Gideon’s dad said, “Isn’t it clear which God is more powerful? His altar is still here and the other statues and pretend gods have all fallen down. We need to follow the REAL God.”

Gideon still wasn’t quite sure God wanted HIM to lead the people against the Midianites, so he asked God for another sign. He said, “I will lay out a blanket of sheep’s hair. In the morning, let the sheep hair be wet and the ground be dry.”

And it was. But even that wasn’t enough and Gideon asked for one more sign. “I will lay the same sheep hair out tonight and this time let the sheep’s hair be dry and the ground be wet.” And the next morning, it was.

Gideon finally trusted! So he rounded up a big army and set out. But God said no. It was too many fighters. Everyone who was scared was allowed to go home. Then Gideon started off again, but God said no again. The army was still too big. He had Gideon send even more men home. (This way when the Israelites won, everyone would know it was God who had defeated the Midianites and not the army.)

So Gideon led his tiny army to the place where the GIANT Midianite army was camped. They split into three teams and surrounded the Midianites. They had breakable jars and trumpets. When Gideon told them to, everyone blew their trumpets and smashed the jars. The commotion scared the Midianites so much, that started killing each other?! Only a few got away and those guys the Israelites rounded up and they defeated every last one.

After Gideon and the men returned, the people wanted Gideon to be their king. But he said, “No. Let GOD be your king.”

Sometimes it can be hard to trust God, but we can remember that God always keeps His promises and that if He calls us to do something, He will always help us do it.

We didn’t do a craft today. Instead we watched the veggie tales Gideon the Tuba Warrior.

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!