Week 2 - Struggling to Put God First

Schedule of Activities

Registration in the lobby (starting at 6:45 PM)
Songs in the auditorium
Introduction for the night, with rules, points, and kids’ songs
Special Story (dismiss Tiny Trackers — 4-5 yrs)
Game Time (7:25 PM)
Restroom Break & Trivia (7:40 PM)
Bible Lesson (8:00 PM)
Training Time (Table Time, 8:00 PM)
Dismissal (8:15 PM)

Theme of the Night

When friends entice you to sin, put God first and let Him win!

When we get through the night, the kids should understand that pleasing people instead of God is a problem. People aren’t perfect, and sometimes they want to make sin look good (entice you to sin). Besides, putting people before God will always end in sin and destruction.

Memory Verse for Scripture Spies - Proverbs 1:10 - “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”

Memory Verse for Faith Force - Galatians 1::10 - “ . . .Do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should don’t be the servant of Christ.”

Special Story - led by Lucie Knight

For the special story time, Lucie can choose from the two options that our curriculum provides:

She can tell the story of Aaron and the golden cal
She can do an object lesson, where the a child will be tied between two different “people” that he wants to please

Game Time — Pool Party

Outside, we’re going to play Pool Party—a relay game that requires our three kiddy pools, mini beach balls, foam balls, and a pool noodle.

The kids will be divided into three teams that will stand in a line next to their kiddy pool. When I blow the whistle, the kids who are first in line will run to the center of the field where they will find beach balls, foam balls, and the pool noodle. They can grab only one of the balls and bring it back to their own pool, or they can take them to another team’s pool. This process is repeated for 3 minutes, until I blow the whistle and the teams count the points.

Beach balls: worth 2 points each
Foam balls: worth -1 point each

The team members can also choose to grab the pool noodle, to try to stop someone from the other team. If they grab the noodle, they can run to another player and swat them with the noodle, and that player must give their ball to the player with the noodle. The player with the noodle must then take the noodle back to the center before they can choose where to put the ball. They could bring the ball back to their own pool, leave the ball in the center, or take the ball to another team’s pool.

After playing three 3-minute rounds, the team with the most points will be the winner.

Bible Story - Samson is enticed - Judges 16:2-21

Have you ever been tricked by someone into eating a dessert or a treat that was not sweet? I had a friend who offered me jelly beans, but I found out after I ate them that they tasted awful, like spoiled milk! I’m going to show you some pictures of desserts, and you need to point to the side that has the real, sweet dessert and not the savory one.

Read the entire lesson

Visual 1 - Show pictures of oatmeal-raisin cookies & chocolate chip cookies, chocolate brownies & black bean brownies, pumpkin pie & sweet potato pie, and Turkish delight & Jello.

Our Bible lesson today is in Judges 16. This story is from God’s Word, the Bible, that tells us the big, true story of everybody! Last week, we learned about a guy named Abraham to whom God made a very special promise. (Can you remember it?) He said that someone in his big family would bless the whole world! Well, Abraham’s son Isaac had a son named Israel, and Israel had thirteen kids, and those kids had lots of kids and soon there was a whole country of people that were part of Abraham’s family! God remembered his promise, but those people—called “Israelites”—didn’t always want to serve God. They were captured by people who didn’t like them, and they needed people called Judges to help them out.

Visual 2 - Show picture of Torah, where Samson was born

Before he was even born, God told Samson’s mom and dad that he was going to be a great Judge who would help the Israelites become free to worship God. God commanded Samson’s parents to dedicate Samson to a special person to God called a Nazarite. That meant that Samson could not drink alcohol, touch a dead body, or cut his hair. So Samson’s hair grew very long. God called Samson to be a mighty man to lead Israel and free them from their enemies. God’s power came upon Samson when he needed to defeat God’s enemies, and he was stronger than anyone else. God used Samson’s hair as a symbol of God’s power on his life.

Visual 3 - Show picture of Samson & Delilah

But Samson loved his sin more than God. Though God gave him great power, he was enticed to sin by his own heart and by the people around him. You see, Samson wasn’t married, but he loved being around women, even though God says that couples shouldn’t live together until they’re married. But Samson loved this woman named Delilah, who was wicked, lying, lying for herself, and loving money. Samson was enticed to go live with her because he loved her.

Visual 4 - Judges 16:5 “And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her and said unto her, “Entice him . . . and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

Samson’s great power came from God, and his long hair was a symbol of his trust in God. Delilah enticed him to tell her his secret. He told her God’s power would leave him if he broke his promise to God and shaved his head. Delilah caused him to sleep on her lap, then invited soldiers into the room to shave off his hair. Then, she screamed, “The Philistines, God’s enemies, are upon you, Samson!” Samson jumped up but had no power from God. Why? Because Samson broke his promise to God. Samson was enticed to sin, and he gave into sin. Samson was trusting himself and living for himself. Since he gave into sin, God’s power left him, and God punished him.

Visual 5 - Show theme slide “When friends entice you to sin, put God first and let Him win!”

We all struggle with wanting to please people—and ourselves—instead of God. Samson was not putting God first when he chose to live with Delilah. And he wasn’t putting God first when he chose to tell Delilah his secret. In the end, Samson was captured, tied up, blinded, and made to work like an animal in one of the enemy’s mills.

Visual 6 - Show picture of Samson and the Philistines

One day, the Philistines, God’s enemies, took him to a party so they could make fun of him. His hair had started to grow back. He was sorry for disobeying God.

Visual 7 - Judges 16:28 - “And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, ‘O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me.”

He pushed against the pillars that were holding up the roof, and the whole building came crashing down. The enemies were defeated, but Samson died with them. His sin made him weaker and brought him as low as all of God’s enemies.

What people try to make you sin? How can you stop them? “When friends entice you stop sin, put God first and let Him win!” Only when we put God first are we be able to do what’s right.

Training Time (Girls)

Teachers, feel free to adapt the table time to fit what you think your group needs.

Group Discussion: Write different scenarios on 3x5 cards of children either pleasing God or pleasing people. For example: “Johnny’s friend drops his food at lunch. A boy yells out, “What a nerd! Right, Johnny?” All the boys and girls laugh. Johnny starts laughing too and says, “Ha! Yep!” as his friends picks his food off of the floor.” Pass out these cards and have each child with a card read it and then tell you if the child pleased God or people. Then asked them what was wrong or right with how they responded. If the child was wrong, ask what the child should have done.

Group Game: Create an imaginary line from one end of the room to the other. Instruct children to start in the middle (on the line) but then choose a side. They must choose their preference but the side with the most children wins that round. (Have the children keep track of their own wins.) For example: move to the left hand side of the room if you like chocolate, the right hand side if you like strawberry.

Sleep in or Get up Early?
Chips or fries?
Swimming in lake or pool?
Candy or ice cream?
Sun or snow?
Shorter or taller?

When everyone chooses a position, read out the next one and everyone moves again.  This can help teach children how strong peer pressure is. How many children liked one thing but were convinced to go to the other side by someone else or so they could win? Relate this to how we are tempted to please people more than God.

Prayer: Have the kids list ways children are tempted to please people and not God. Have a leader pray through each of these asking God to help the children to please God instead.

Training Time (Boys)

I’m going to go through some some physical activities that teach them that “God’s men are strong enough to put God first!”

Afterward, we will color the sheet, eat the snack, and discuss situations where we can choose to put God first or put people (or ourselves) first.