MOSES: Ordinary Hero - LESSON 4 Main Focus: We must drop our excuses and obey God! Power Verse: For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. - Philippians 2:13 The Spark Intro Video Captain Obvious Lame Excusesl Watt s Up? Teaching Video Skittles teaches Watt s Up? Character Skit Wacky Wally Watt s Up: I Won t Make Excuses, I Will Obey! LEADER S INFO When God speaks to us and gives us a major assignment, often we are plagued be fear and inadequacy. We make excuses as to why we are too young, too dumb, too sinful, too slow, or too busy to follow through with what He is calling us to do. God doesn t want excuses. He wants obedience. When it comes down to it, the excuses we throw out usually mean only one thing - we just don t WANT to obey. Through the rest of the story of Moses and the burning bush, the children will learn that excuses get us nowhere with God. He has the perfect answer for all of our excuses: I will be with you. When God is with us, who can be against us? Offering Time Game On! Kleenex Kleenout Bible Story Moses Gives Excuses Power Verse Video For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. - Philippians 2:13 Brain Drain PowerPoint Review Game Small Group Experience Lesson Four - page 35
ORDER OF SERVICE Main Focus: We must drop our excuses and obey God! Power Verse: For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. - Philippians 2:13 Watt s Up: I Won t Make Excuses, I Will Obey! The Spark Intro Video Captain Obvious Lame Excusesl Watt s Up? Teaching Video Skittles teaches Watt s Up? Character Skit Wacky Wally Offering Time Game On! Kleenex Kleenout Bible Story Moses Gives Excuses Power Verse Video For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. - Philippians 2:13 Brain Drain PowerPoint Review Game Small Group Experience 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Lesson Four - page 36
CHARACTER SKIT Character: Wacky Wally (Wacky Wally thinks of himself as a Superhero, but lacks a bit of polish. He is hyperactive, compulsive and obsessed with everything there is to do with comic books.) WALLY: (walks slowly onto the stage, his head hung low, dragging his feet. He stops right in front of the kids and just stands there) Leader: Wacky Wally? Are you okay? WALLY: (looks up at the leader, hooks his fingers into his mouth, and sticks out his tongue making a funny noise, then goes back to hanging his head) Leader: Seriously? You re a super-hero! Where s the energy? Where s the whooshing noises? WALLY: (feebly holds up his arms for half a second) Whoosh. Leader: Wally what is WRONG with you? WALLY: There s NOTHING wrong with me it s HIM. (points upward) Leader: Huh? (looks upward) Is there somebody duct taped to the ceiling? WALLY: NO. I m mad at God! I m TIRED of Him telling me what to do! Leader: Excuse me?? You re a hero!! And a Christian! You re supposed to listen to God! WALLY: No more! First, God tells me He wants me to be a super-hero, THEN He tells me I have to take this really stupid test that takes YEARS to train for! I M SICK OF IT! I can come up with a BAJILLION different excuses of why I just CAN T do what He tells me to do! Leader: Uh-oh. Wally, excuses NEVER work with God. That s the lesson we re learning today! Moses had a TON of excuses for why God couldn t use Him. But, God doesn t want excuses, He just wants us to obey! WALLY: Just look at me! I ve got these puny arms, no real super-powers, and EXTREME BAD BREATH! (breathes into the leader s face) Leader: (coughs, and gags) But the Bible says you can do all things, through Christ who strengthens you! You need to believe in yourself because GOD does! WALLY: But, what if God can t do what He s saying He will?? What if He CAN T make me into a hero?? (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE) Lesson Four - page 37
CHARACTER SKIT (continued) Leader: Don t doubt God, Wally! He s the creator of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE! He s the most powerful being that will EVER exist! The simple fact that He CREATED you is proof enough that He can do WHATEVER HE WANTS through you! WALLY: (thinks for a minute) Hmm I guess that s true but, what if people don t LIKE me?? What if they re like Wacky Wally, who s THAT guy?? What a LOSER?! Leader: Moses used that excuse, too. He had a really bad stutter and was afraid the Israelites would reject him! But God told Him not to worry about what others thought, and you shouldn t either! Just worry about what GOD thinks! WALLY: Wow (snaps his fingers like he just had an idea) Okay, but how can I POSSIBLY do this?? I don t even know where to BEGIN!! I can t POSSIBLY do this on my own! Leader: Exactly. WALLY: (jumps and points his finger in the leader s face) A-HA! (pause) Wait, what? Leader: You CAN T do this on your own. Moses couldn t either! That s why God said that He would be with Moses, and God promises that He ll be with EACH of us! WALLY: But but but DO I HAVE TO?? Leader: Well, if it s something that GOD told you to do? Then YES. No matter what it is. That s one of the GREAT things about God! His plans DON T have to make sense to us at all. All we have to do is simply OBEY and follow through. God will take care of the rest! WALLY: (thinking hard) So, what you re saying is I don t need excuses or whining. I just need to do what God tells me to do and since it s GOD telling me what to do it s already taken care of?? Leader: EXACTLY!! It s a REALLY important lesson that all of God s people need to learn. WALLY: Wow you got THAT right! If it worked for Moses, it can work for me! I don t need to worry about anything, NO MORE EXCUSES!! If God told me I can do it, I CAN DO IT!! Leader: That s awesome to hear! So, now what? WALLY: (strikes a heroic pose) Back to my training!! God has called me to be a HERO! And I m going to be the BEST HERO I CAN BE!! I ll see you later, citizens! THERE S NO NEED TO FEAR, WACKY WALLY IS HERE!! (runs away at full speed, arms-outstretched, making whooshing noises right into a wall. Gets up, dusting himself off, and wanders offstage in a daze - all while his theme music plays) Lesson Four - page 38
GAME ON! Kleenex Kleenout Items Needed For Game: two boxes of Kleenex Preparation: Choose two boys and two girls to play in this game; choose one contestant on each team to hold the Kleenex box and another to be the Kleener How To Play: When you say, Go!, the Kleeners open the Kleenex box and begin pulling the Kleenexes out of the box (while they go flying everywhere). First one to kleenout their Kleenex box completely - their entire team wins! Lesson Four - page 39
Bible Story Moses Gives Excuses Materials Needed: The Data Disc; the PowerPoint presentation for Lesson 4; begin with the slide that says Bible Story ; follow the instructions below, changing the slides to follow along with the story (as shown) Preparation: Familiarize yourself with the story in Exodus 3:8-4:17; have your open Bible in your hands as you tell the story The Story: Today s Bible Story is found in Exodus chapters 3 & 4. When we last left Moses, he had just had an amazing encounter with God. The Lord appeared to him in the wilderness and spoke to him through a bush that was burning, but did not burn up. God told Moses that He wanted to use Moses to set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt. You would think that Moses would be excited about this, right? After all, Moses had been angry about the Israelites being slaves in Egypt. That s why he killed that Egyptian soldier and ended up running for his life from Pharoah. But, that s not at all how Moses reacted. (show pic) Moses said to God, Who am I to speak to Pharoah? In other words, I m a nobody, God. Pharoah won t listen to me! (show pic) God answered, I will be with you. That didn t seem to convince Moses. (show pic) Moses responded, What if they ask me what God s name is? God said, (show pic) Tell them I AM sent you. That means that God doesn t need to tell His name - HE IS God just because HE IS. Moses STILL had questions. (show pic) What if they don t believe me? God understood that the Egyptians and Israelites would need convincing. So, God said, (show pic) I will help you perform miracles to convince them. Then, God showed Moses some incredible miracles. But, Moses STILL had excuses. (show pic) I can t speak very well! We don t know if maybe Moses had a stuttering problem or something like that. But, we know he didn t think he had what it took to speak to Pharoah and tell him to let God s people go free. So, God said, (show pic) I will speak through you. Finally, Moses revealed the truth. The fact is, he just didn t want to obey God on this one. So, Moses said, (show pic) Lord, please ask someone else to do it! God was not happy with this response. He commanded Moses, (show pic) Take your staff and GO! I will be with you! God didn t accept Moses excuses, and He won t accept ours. We must drop our excuses and just obey God. That s what you are going to learn about today. (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE) Lesson Four - page 40
The Data Disc; a small hand-held mirror Materials Needed: Preparation: Open the PowerPoint presentation on the Data Disc titled Lesson Four, begin with the slide titled God, Are You Talking To Me? The Message: (title slide) Excuses, Excuses, Excuses! We are so good at making them. When we don t get our chores done, we say, I didn t have time! When we didn t bring home something from school, we say, I forgot! When we get into an arguement with our brother or sister, we say, They started it! It almost seems like we have an excuse for everything. Moses had a lot of excuses for why he just couldn t go speak to Pharoah and demand that he let God s people go. He used several excuses that WE often use as well. Sometimes we don t want to obey when God asks us to do something. Whether God is calling us to tell others about Jesus, serve on a ministry team at church, or to give money in an offering for missionaries, we often make some of the same excuses that Moses made... Excuse #1 - Who Am I? (low self-esteem) (slide) When God told Moses to go tell Pharoah to let the Israelites go, Moses said, Who am I to talk to Pharoah? Sometimes we struggle with low self-esteem, too. We think, Who am I to serve in ministry? Who am I to tell others about Jesus? Who am I to be a leader among my friends? Low self-esteem is a difficult thing. (hold up the mirror) People look in the mirror and they just don t like what they see. They think they are a nobody. But, God says, I will be with you! That s what He said to Moses, and that is what He says to us. If you struggle with self-esteem, don t say, Who am I? Instead say, I KNOW who I am - a child of God! Another excuse that we sometimes make... Excuse #2 - Who Are You? (doubt in God) (slide) When the first excuse didn t work, Moses said, What if they ask me the name of God? Who are you anyway? (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE) Lesson Four - page 41
(Continued) There was something deep inside of Moses that doubted that God was who He said He was. Sometimes we are that way, too. We doubt that God really has the power that He says He has. We have heard of how He does amazing things, but we really aren t sure He can do what He says He can. God told Moses, I am who I am! In other words, I am God. Don t doubt me. I AM! We don t need to doubt God. He IS God. He IS powerful. He IS amazing! Another excuse that we sometimes make... Excuse #3 - What If I Am Rejected? (rejection) (slide) Moses told God, What if they won t listen to me? What if they say, God never really appeared to you. In other words, What if they reject me and don t want to listen? I think that is something many of us are afraid of. None of us want to be rejected or made fun of. But, God showed Moses something incredible to use as a sign to show the Israelites. God told Moses to throw his shepherd s staff down on the ground. When he did, it turned into a snake. Then, when Moses picked the snake up by the tail, the snake turned back into a staff. God told Moses to show this sign to the Israelites and to Pharoah to show that God had truly appeared to him. That way, he would not be rejected. Another excuse - down the drain. But, Moses wasn t done making excuses... Excuse #4 - How Am I Supposed To Do This? (low confidence) (slide) Moses said, I can t speak very well. I never have been able to. How am I supposed to go speak to Pharoah? Moses wasn t very confident in his abilities, so he tried to use that as an excuse not to obey God. Sometimes, we do this. We think, I can t sing very well. How am I supposed to be on the worship team? Or, I can t possibly tell others about Jesus - I don t know enough about the Bible! God s response to Moses is the same as it is to us, I will be with you. You don t have to have a lot of confidence in yourself - just have confidence in God! If He is with you, you can do ANYTHING He calls you to do! After all of these excuses, Moses comes down to the REAL truth... Excuse #5 - Do I Have To? (slide) Moses tells God, Please send someone else. In other words, Do I have to do this? Can t someone else do it? When it came down to it, all of Moses excuses were really all because he just didn t want to obey. God (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE) Lesson Four - page 42
(Continued) was NOT happy with this attitude. He told Moses, Pick up your staff and GO! I will be with you! God wasn t impressed with Moses lack of obedience. And, He is never impressed when we start making excuses to make up for the fact that we just really don t want to obey Him. Insted of excuses, God wants obedience. Do you know what? No one has ever done anything big for God who settled for making excuses. Even Moses wised up and obeyed. You and I must do the same thing. Realize that if God called you to do something BIG for Him, He is not going to make you do it alone. He will be with you! If God is with you, then you can t fail! So, let go of the excuses - and OBEY! ALTAR RESPONSE: (play soft music) Pray for the children who have been making excuses and struggling to obey God. Pray that they will drop their excuses, trust God, and fully obey Him. Remind them that God is always with them, just as He was with Moses. Lesson Four - page 43