judges

Samson (reboot)

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Today we studied Judges 13-16 about Samson. We used last year’s lesson found HERE.

What I tried to emphasize today is that Samson did not always obey God. But God used him anyway. Sometimes we disobey God too…but that doesn’t mean God doesn’t have big plans for us!

God gives you special things YOU are good at. He wants you to use those things to worship Him and to love others. Samson gave his power to Delilah instead of keeping it and using it for God. If you sing, sing songs of praise to God. If you draw, draw pictures to give to others. If you play sports, show the love of God while you play…be a good sport. Work hard in whatever you do. But don’t let anything become more important than God and always see how God can use your gifts to help others.

The Bible says Samson was more useful when he died (because he also killed those mean Philistines)…but that wasn’t God’s plan for Samson. God WANTED Samson to do great things with his strength while he was alive! (Like that time he defeated the 1000 men all on his own!) Let’s think about the things WE are good at…the things God has given US and see how we can serve God with those things NOW.

 

For today’s craft, we made “Samson knocking down the pillars” pictures. We drew our Samson (long hair and arms extended). Then we took toilet paper and paper towel tubes and taped them on each side to be the pillars. You could paint or marker these as well to look even more “pillar-y.”

Our text says: Samson-Judges 13-16.

 

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

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!

 

Deborah and Jael

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all! Today’s story is from Judges 4-5. Last year’s lesson and craft can be found HERE.

deborah

So the Israelites needed a leader. God was giving them judges (people who help make decisions) to help lead the people and remind them of God’s laws. When the people had a judge, they obeyed God. When a judge got old and died…the people would disobey God again until He gave them a new judge.

One of those judges was named Deborah. She was very wise and the Bible says she would give advice and teach the people outside under some palm trees.

The Israelites had been disobeying God so they were now working for the Canaanites (the people who lived in the promised land that they were SUPPOSED to defeat before but hadn’t). The people complained and asked God for help. Deborah told Barak (the leader of the Israelite army) that God said he should lead the army to face the Canaanite army leader. She said God would help them defeat Sisera (the leader) and his army.

And big, strong Barak said….”ummm only if you go with me??” He was too scared to go alone!

Deborah said “Yes, I will go with you…but because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will give Sisera into the hands of a woman.” (A woman will defeat Sisera and not you!)

So off they went. They met Sisera and his army and Deborah was not afraid. “Go! God is with you!” she said. And the Israelites defeated the Canaanites. Only Sisera was still alive and he ran and ran until he came to a tent.

There was a woman there named Jael.

Jael said  to Sisera “Come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

“I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” So she gave him a drink, and covered him up so he could take a nap.

“Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”

But instead, while he fell asleep, Jael killed him.

Just then Barak came by looking for Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera–dead.

Deborah sang a song of praise to God for helping them defeat their enemies.

God used two women, Deborah and Jael in His big plan. Barak was scared to go without Deborah, but we never have to be afraid to follow God. Deborah and Jael were brave and they trusted God to help them.

We can always trust God to help us do the things He asks us to do. And no one can ever tell you that you can not be a leader for others. No one can say “because you are a girl, or a kid, or have brown skin, or white skin, or are too short, or too tall, or have curly hair, or wear glasses you can’t be a leader.” God can use ANYONE He wants to be a great leader! Let’s trust God to use us to do big things and not be afraid to follow Him always!

THIS is the link to the BrickTestament retelling of the story (a LEGO version).

THIS is a video by BimBam (formerly G-dcast).

And THIS video is a song about Deborah posted by sheilahamil. (While admittedly, it’s not the best quality video…it is full of truths that could be adapted to your own home or Sunday school lesson).

Thanks for joining us! Love to you all!

Judges

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hey all! Today’s brief story is from Judges 1-3:6.

judge-clipart-occupations_judge

Joshua was leading the Israelites into the promised land. They were SUPPOSED to defeat everyone and take over the WHOLE land…but they didn’t exactly do that. There were still some of the people that they didn’t defeat.

But Joshua was getting old and all the people who had been mommies and daddies when they got to the promised land were now grandmas and grandpas! And there were new mommies and daddies and new kids and babies. Joshua and the others were getting old and they died.

The new mommies and daddies started to forget all the great things God had done. And they became friends with the people they hadn’t defeated. But those other people didn’t worship God. They had their own pretend gods–statues and idols. They prayed and worshipped to those things….and the Israelites started to too!

God was NOT happy. This was supposed to be the land for His people and they were supposed to worship only Him. So He gave them some judges. A judge is the person who sits in the court and decides if people are following the rules and if they AREN’T…what their consequences will be. If someone steals or kills somebody, they go before a judge. A judge decides if that person really did do those bad things and then they decide what the consequence will be.

So for a long time there were judges who helped Israel make good choices. When God gave the people a judge, that person would help them make good choices and they would follow God…but when there wasn’t a judge…the people would start making bad choices again–and even worse than before!!

Over the next couple of days we will learn about a COUPLE of these judges. The Bible tells us about 15 of these judges. We will be learning about 5 of them.

Thanks for joining us again! Love to you all!

Samson

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hi all. Welcome back!

We are finishing up the month of August and our journey through Leviticus-Ruth.

Our story today comes from the book of Judges, in chapters 13-16.

As always, these stories are how i generally tell them to my children, who are preschoolers.

Recap: The Israelites had been living in the promised land…the land God had promised them long ago and through many miracles, had brought them to. He led them and provided for them. But, the Israelites (like all of us), would follow God, and then forget, then they’d follow Him, and then forget. So, God appointed judges (people who make decisions) to lead the Israelites. When they had a judge, they obeyed God and worshiped Him. When a judge would die, they would turn around and disobey God and forget everything He’d taught them. Then God would have to punish them, and then He would send another judge/leader. Last time, we learned about Gideon leading the people out of the hands of the Midianites.

This time, the Israelites had done it again. After Gideon died, they again made bad choices and forgot to follow God’s rules. He in turn, gave them to the Philistines, who didn’t like the Israelites, and they were mean to them.

One day, an angel from God came to an Israelite man named Manoah, and his wife. The angel told them they would have a baby. A special baby. This baby would save Israel from the Philistines who were controlling them. BUT, the baby boy could not drink wine, or eat food God said was yucky, or ever ever cut his hair.

The mommy and daddy had a boy and they named him Samson. He didn’t drink wine, he didn’t eat food God said was yucky, and he never cut his hair.

When Samson was a grown up, though, he made some bad choices. He married one of the Philistine women (even though God had said not to). They didn’t stay married though and Samson actually liked a lot of the Philistine women…this got him in a lot of trouble.

Now God had given Samson superhero strength. One day, a lion came to attack him, and he defeated the lion with just his hands…no sword, no bow and arrow, just his hands. Another time, the Philistines were mad at Samson and he defeated 1000 of them all by himself! (Because God gave him strength).

The Philistines knew they needed a way to get rid of Samson. They found a beautiful woman named Delilah and said they would give her a LOT of money if she would find out what made Samson so strong.

Samson though Delilah was very beautiful and he fell in love with her. She tried to get him to tell her what made him so strong, but he said, “If anyone ties me up with seven strings, then I will lose my strength.” So while he was sleeping, she tied him up and yelled “The Philistines are here!”…but he broke through the strings.

Delilah was mad and said, “No really! You made me look silly! Please tell me what makes you so strong?”

Samson answered, “If you tie my hair into the fabric you’re making and stick a pin in it, then I will lose my strength.”

So while he slept, Delilah wove his hair into the fabric and put a pin in it, then she yelled, “The Philistines are here!”…but he got up and broke away…he still had his strength.

Delilah was really VERY mad now and she whined and she cried and she whined and she cried. “How can you say you love me if you won’t tell me what makes you strong?! Pleeeeeease Samson! Pleeeeeease!” Well, she bugged him enough, he was finally so sick of it, he said, “Fine! My strength comes from my hair. As long as I obey God and don’t cut my hair, then I am strong.”

So while he slept, she cut his hair and she called the Philistine leaders. This time when she yelled, he had no strength left and the Philistines took him away to jail and beat him up.

He was there a long time, and they made him work hard…but his hair started growing back.

The Philistine leaders had gotten together to have a party for one of their pretend gods, and they called Samson to come put on a show for them. “Lift this heavy thing! Push this heavy thing! Hold all these heavy things!”

Then they put Samson next to the big pillars (like giant boards) that were holding up the building.

Samson prayed to God and asked Him for more strength. “Just one more time, please. Let me be strong again so I can defeat these Philistines.”

God gave him strength and Samson pushed and pulled on the pillars and the whole building came crashing down. The Philistines died, and so did Samson.

Samson didn’t always obey God. He loved the Philistine women, instead of the Israelite women. He chose to give his power to Delilah instead of keeping it for God. And he had a bad consequence…he was in jail and beaten up. But, God remembered Samson, and He still used him to do a great thing. The Bible says that Samson did more for God when he died than the whole time he was alive, because when he died, he saved the Israelites from the Philistines…but while he was alive…he really only made the choices HE wanted to make, instead of what God wanted him to do.

We can remember that God can always use us to do big things, even if we make mistakes. It is also important to remember to obey God…He always knows what is best for us. We can also know that our strength only comes from God.

“I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

For our craft today, we drew Samson’s face and then added a LOT of yarn hair.

IMG_7306 IMG_7307

We also watched this video posted by Godcast.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Thanks for joining us today. 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.

images

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!

A Tale of Two Women

~ hebidsthemcome ~ Leave a comment

Hello again!

We have arrived at the book of Judges (Judges 4 specifically today).

So Joshua had been leading the people into the promised land and then he died. The Israelites (God’s chosen people) had not defeated EVERYONE like they were supposed to, and the people who were left got them to worship other statues and idols (fake Gods).

God was not happy that His people were disobeying and as a bad consequence, they now had to work HARD for the Canaanites that were left.

God put Judges in charge of His people. A judge is someone who makes decisions. That person would be in charge and would remind the people of how to follow God. They would also settle arguments if two people were fussing. When Israel had a judge, they would obey God…when that judge died, they would forget again and make bad choices, until God gave them a new judge.

One of the judges God gave the people was a woman named Deborah. During this time, she helped the people make good choices and she encouraged them (helped them feel better) because they were working so hard for the Canaanites. It was supposed to be a wonderful land God had given them, but since they made bad choices, they now had to work really hard there.

But God told Deborah to call Barak, a man who could lead the Israelites’ army and they could fight Jabin the king and Sisera, his army leader.

Barak came, but you know what? He was too scared to fight! And asked Deborah to come with him. Deborah said she would, but since he was too scared, that God would let another woman defeat the king, not Barak. But Deborah was a good leader, and when there was a dangerous job to do, she was willing to help.

So the army went to fight and they fought and fought and all the Canaanites ran away. Even the king ran away…to a house where he thought he’d be safe. The mommy there was named Jael. She invited him in, but she knew God wanted him defeated and after he laid down to hide, she killed him.

After that, the Israelites were able to defeat Jabin and the Canaanites. Because two women obeyed God, the Israelites were able to be free in the promised land once again.

For our craft today, I had each child draw a woman’s face, then we cut them in half and glued taped them together, to make two women. Deborah on one side, Jael on the other.

IMG_7208 IMG_7210

Next time, we’ll learn about Gideon. Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!