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Saul: When We Don’t Feel Like Obeying God

Unit 11 / Lesson 2

Saul: When We Don’t Feel Like Obeying God

Slides for the Lesson

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Teacher's Prep

  • Games

    • The Floor is Lava

      • Materials needed: 

        • Four chairs or pylons

        • Foam floor tiles – about four tiles per team of ten kids. For an idea of how these mats look, you can search Google for “foam floor tiles.”

      • Have foam mats ready in stacks, ready to give to each team

    • Human Ring Toss

      • Watch this video for the concept of the game:

      • Materials needed

        • One pool noodle ring per two people

          • If you have long pool noodles, you can probably make a ring out of a single pool noodle. That would be simplest and easiest. But, if your pool noodles are short, you will probably need two pool noodles to make a ring. When buying the pool noodle, you can try to bend it into a ring to see if it can fit around a person.

        • Duct tape to help make the pool noodle ring

    • Telephone

      • No preparation necessary

    • Team Building Games:

      • Choose some or all of the team building games below, based on how much time you think you will have for your main activity after the lesson. Get familiar with the instructions, and assemble materials accordingly.

      • Dots

      • Cup Stack

        • Instructions are at this website:

        • Game concept:

          • Make a cup pyramid with a special tool consisting of a rubber band attached to several strings that are pulled by different kids.

        • Materials needed:

          • About one metre of string per kid

          • Six cups per group of six (note, cups should come in multiples of six so that they can make pyramids)

          • Rubber bands of an appropriate size to grip a cup. One rubber band per six kids. If a rubber band is too large, you may be able to double it up so that it can fit around a cup.

          • Scissors to cut string

        • Assembly needed:

          • Cut string into lengths that are one metre long each

          • Tie six strings to each rubber band, spaced evenly around the rubber band so that the rubber band can be pulled from all directions.

          • Prepare stacks of cups, 6 cups per stack, so that you can easily hand out a stack of cups to each team.

      • Paper Tower

        • Get familiar with this activity by watching the YouTube video below:

        • Game concept:

          • Form teams of kids, with about four kids per team.

          • Give each team 20 sheets of paper and nothing more.

          • Set a time limit, for example, 10 minutes.

          • Measure each tower to see which team has the tallest one.

        • Materials needed:

          • 20 sheets of paper per four kids

          • 1 measuring tape

      • Move On, Look Back

        • Rules and a demonstration of the game are at this YouTube video:

        • No materials needed; you just need to play the video before the game, and recap the instructions for the kids before they play.


    Intro

    SLIDE 1

  • Gathering

    • How was your week?

    SLIDE 2

  • Intro Game: The Floor is Lava

    • Instructions

      • Teacher: Set up four chairs at the corners of the room. The chairs should not be touching the corners of the room, but rather, they should be about 2 metres away from the perimeter of your floor space. These chairs will serve as pylons so that teams will go around the outside of the pylons.

      • We'll start our lesson with a game! We're playing The Floor is Lava!

      • We'll split into two teams, and the goal of your team is to complete two laps around the room. We have four chairs at the corners of the room, and you will need to go around the outside of the chairs. Once you do that, you will go back to your starting spot to complete the lap. When you've finished two laps, your team wins,

      • The catch is, the floor is lava! The only thing you can step on is these foam mats. We will lay down some foam mats, and to effectively move forward, pick up the mat at the back, and move it to the front.

      • There's no penalty for stepping off the mat, but do your best to stay on the mat, because it's more fun that way.

      • Teacher: form two teams, and have them start at opposite corners of the room. Have them do two laps around the room, stepping only on their foam mats.

    • Debrief

      • We played our game because it helps us to start thinking about our lesson. In the game, we had to stay off the lava. However, if we ended up stepping in the lava, we knew nothing would happen, because it was just pretend.

      • Sometimes life is not pretend. Can you imagine if you were playing with real lava? You would need to make sure you did everything right so you didn’t step in it!

      • It makes a difference if we have the real thing or the pretend thing.

  • Relevance

    • That's what it's like with us and God. A lot of people think God is a pretend God who is useful because He can make you feel better about yourself.

    • But if this pretend God tells you to do things you don't like, you can just not listen, because he's just not real.

    SLIDE 3

    • On the other hand, Christians believe in a real God who truly helps us and knows how to lead us. So, we need to listen to Him when He tells us to do things we don't like. If we don't listen to Him, we can get into a lot of trouble, because He's not just pretend.

    • Our Bible story shows us what happens if we don't do what God says.

    • Now let's watch our Bible story. It’s about the first human king of God's people. His name was Saul.

  • Bible Reference

    SLIDE 4

  • Big Question

    • We can learn a lot from our Bible story because actually we're a lot like Saul.

    SLIDE 5

    • Our big question today is: Why should we do what God says even when we don't feel like it?

  • Big Idea

    • We'll see today that:

      • 1. Sometimes God tells us to do things we really don't feel like doing.

      • 2. It makes a big difference when we obey God completely.


    Point 1

  • Our first point is, sometimes God tells us to do things we really don't feel like doing.

  • Game: Human Ring Toss

    • Instructions

      • We'll start this point with a new game! It's called the Human Ring Toss. Let's watch this video to see how it works.

    SLIDE 6

    SLIDE 7

    • Let’s play the game! Find someone who is about as big and strong as you. We'll give you about five minutes, and you can see how far you can throw the pool noodle and still put it on the other person. Some of you may want to stand on a chair when you are throwing the pool noodle, because that might help you to throw farther.

    • Debrief

      • While playing this game, you probably got hit by the side of the ring a bunch of times, and you probably had to run after the ring a lot. That's all part of getting the job done.

      • This game helps us understand what it’s like to obey God. Sometimes God tells us to do things that are difficult or uncomfortable, and we won’t feel like obeying Him.

  • Bible Reference

    • In our Bible story, God told Saul to do something that made him very uncomfortable. Let's read the first half of our Bible story. This is about the time that Saul's enemies gathered a huge army to fight against him.

    SLIDE 8

    • 1 Samuel 13:5-8 (CEV)

      • 5 The Philistines called their army together to fight Israel. They had 3,000 chariots, 6,000 cavalry, and as many foot soldiers as there are grains of sand on the beach. They went to Michmash and set up camp there east of Beth-Aven.

    SLIDE 9

    • 6 The Israelite army realized that they were outnumbered and were going to lose the battle. Some of the Israelite men hid in caves or in clumps of bushes, and some ran to places where they could hide among large rocks. Others hid in tombs or in deep dry pits.

    SLIDE 10

    • 7 Still others went to Gad and Gilead on the other side of the Jordan River. Saul stayed at Gilgal. His soldiers were shaking with fear, 8  and they were starting to run off and leave him. Saul waited there seven days, just as Samuel had ordered him to do, but Samuel did not come.

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 11

    • In our Bible story, the Philistines had way more soldiers than Saul did! Saul's soldiers thought there was no way they could win,

    SLIDE 12

    • so they started running away before the battle even started, which meant the army was getting smaller and smaller. Saul only had one hope-he needed help from God. God's prophet Samuel was coming, and Saul just needed to wait.

    SLIDE 13

    • God was with Samuel, and God was more powerful than all of the Philistines, so Samuel would make everything better. However, Saul got very uncomfortable while he was waiting, because his army kept on getting smaller. Saul knew that God wanted him to wait, but Saul really felt like doing things so he would have a better chance of winning.

  • Application

    • It's like that with us too. Sometimes God tells us to do things we really don't feel like doing. For example, God wants us to listen to our parents.

    • We can see an example of this in the Bible.

    • Colossians 3:20 (CEV)

      • Children must always obey their parents. This pleases the Lord.

    • Do we always feel like obeying our parents? No! A lot of the time, we feel like we know what's better for us, and they're just making more trouble for us.

    • In those times we need to remember that God knows how to make us happy; not just for one moment, but forever. One of the best ways to do that is to listen to our parents.

    SLIDE 14

    • The key is to remember that God knows what He is doing, even when He tells us to do things that are really uncomfortable for us.

    SLIDE 15

  • Discussion Question

    • Let’s pause for a discussion question:

      • Can you talk about a time when it was hard to obey God?


    Point 2

  • Our second point is, it makes a big difference when we obey God completely.

    SLIDE 14

  • Game: Telephone

    • Instructions

      • Let’s start with a game! It's called Telephone!

      • Teacher: have students form a circle

      • Everyone take one step back so there's a bit of space between you. This is so you can't hear each other.

      • I'll whisper some words to one person. They can only hear what you say one time; they can't ask for a repeat. That person will pass it on to the next person, until everyone in the circle has heard the message, and the last person will say what they heard out loud to the group.

      • Teacher: You will want to use the phrases below one at a time. Note, you don’t need to use all the phrases.

    • Telephone phrases:

      • Pass me the pink potatoes.

      • Really rainy rivers are wet.

      • Cooked cupcakes cool quickly.

      • Kittens eat chicken in the kitchen.

      • A dog chooses shoes to chew.

    • Debrief

      • In this game we played, every person matters. We can't pass the message to the end unless we tell it to every person, and we can't pass on the right message unless we listen to every detail of what we heard.

  • Bible Reference

    • That's how it worked in our Bible story. Saul needed to follow God's instructions completely. He couldn’t just follow God halfway.

    SLIDE 17

    • Let's read the second half of our story.

    • 1 Samuel 13:7b - 11 (CEV)

      • Saul stayed at Gilgal. His soldiers were shaking with fear, 8 and they were starting to run off and leave him. Saul waited there seven days, just as Samuel had ordered him to do, but Samuel did not come. 9 Finally, Saul commanded, “Bring me some animals, so we can offer sacrifices to please the Lord and ask for his help.” Saul killed one of the animals, 10 and just as he placed it on the altar, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to welcome him. 11 “What have you done?” Samuel asked.

  • Explanation

    • In our story, Saul just had to wait for Samuel and not do anything, so he waited.

    SLIDE 18

    • He waited one day.

    SLIDE 19

    • Two days.

    SLIDE 20

    • Three days.

    SLIDE 21

    • Four days.

    SLIDE 22

    • Five days.

    SLIDE 23

    • He did the right thing for the first six days! Each day he watched his army get smaller and smaller, and he got more and more nervous. Finally he couldn’t wait anymore.

    SLIDE 24

    • It was the seventh day, and he couldn't see Samuel. He took an animal, killed it and he sacrificed it on the fire. Kings did that kind of thing back then. They thought killing an animal would make it easier to get help from God. But, Saul wasn't supposed to do that; he was supposed to keep waiting! Right after Saul finished burning the animal,

    SLIDE 25

    • Samuel arrived. Let's read what Samuel said:

    SLIDE 26

    • 1 Samuel 13:13b - 14

      • “You didn't obey the Lord your God. If you had obeyed him, someone from your family would always have been king of Israel. 14  But no, you disobeyed, and so the Lord won't choose anyone else from your family to be king. In fact, he has already chosen the one he wants to be the next leader of his people.”

    • In the end, Saul didn't trust God enough to do things His way. God's people needed a better leader. God chose a new king, and this new king would trust and obey God even when it got difficult. The new king would help a lot of people. God would take care of the new king, and eventually God would give the new king the best of everything.

  • Application

    • The lesson for us is, we can't just obey God when it's easy, and we can't just obey God halfway. We need to follow God’s instructions completely, even when we don’t feel like it.

    SLIDE 27

    • We need to be brave and do what is right, because a lot of people depend on us. If you keep trusting God and obeying Him, you will eventually be able to help more people than you can count. God will take care of you, and eventually, if you wait long enough, you will have the best of everything.

    SLIDE 28

  • Discussion Question

    • Let’s pause for a discussion question.

      • How can we be more brave when we are trying to do what is right?


    SLIDE 29

    Conclusion

    • Let’s wrap up our lesson by going over the big ideas again.

    • Our big question today was: why should we do what God says even when we don't feel like it?

    • In our Bible story, we learned that:

      • 1. Sometimes God tells us to do things we really don't feel like doing.

      • 2. It makes a big difference when we obey God completely.

    • Let's always obey God completely, just like Saul needed to. We can trust that God will always take care of us.


    SLIDE 30

    Main Activity: Team Building Games

    • Today for our main activity, we are doing team building games! Team games remind us that we need to do our part because other people are depending on us.

    • Game: "Dots"

      • Our first game is called "dots." It's really simple. You'll all have a colored dot on your forehead, and your goal will be to find everyone who has the same colored dot, and group together as a team. BUT you need to do everything without talking!

      • Teacher: have the children form a circle, facing outward so they can't see the colors that you are giving to the others. When you have given each one a dot, you may start the game.

    • Game: "Cup Stack"

      • Our next game is called the Cup Stack! We'll need to form groups of six people or less. Each group will need to form a cup pyramid that is three cups wide at the bottom and three cups high. But, you can't touch the cups with your hands! The only thing that can touch the cups is a rubber band, which you can pull with some strings.

      • Teacher: form groups of six and give them cups and a rubber band apparatus. You may want to play several rounds of the game

    • Game: "Paper Tower"

      • Our next game is called The Paper Tower! It's really simple. We'll have teams of about four people each. Each team will have 20 sheets of paper and nothing else. You'll need to build the tallest tower you can in ten minutes. In order to count, it needs to stand up long enough for us to measure it.

      • Teacher: form teams of four and give each team 20 sheets of paper and ten minutes to make their tower. Ideally, have a ten minute timer on a big screen. You can search YouTube for “ten minute timer.” You may want to have extra paper on hand if they want to exchange crumpled sheets of paper for fresh ones.

    • Game: 4. "Move on, Look Back"

      • Our last game is called "Move on, Look Back." Let's watch this video to see how it works:

      • Teacher: show this YouTube video:

      • Teacher: review the rules, and lead the game like the teacher in the video led it. Have the children form a circle with each one placing their hands on the shoulders in front of the one in front of them. Then use the phrases, "move on," "look back," and "forever alone."

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