ession 11 The Israelites Receive Cruel Treatment

11Session

144 KidsOwn Worship • Summer Quarter

Session Sequence What Children Will Do Supplies

Let’s Praise God!

(about 25 minutes)

Sing• “All That Is Good” • “No Matter How I Feel” • “My Hope Is in the Lord”• “Power Shuffle” • “Living by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25) • “I Will Not Be Afraid”

KidsOwn Worship Kit:KidsOwn Worship DVD

Classroom Supplies: Bible, 1 miniature candy bar per child, coin, video equipment

The Israelites Receive Cruel TreatmentExodus 5:1–6:1

Worship Theme: God is our hope.

Weaving Faith Into Life: Children will give God burdens, find hope in God, and praise God for giving them that hope.


Let’s Learn the Point!

(about 25 minutes)

Hope in GodPlay a game of trust.

* Treat or Trick?Reach into a grab bag of treats.

Classroom Supplies:Grocery bag, 1 small treat per child

God Is Our HopeHear a Bible story about the Israelites in slavery, and act out words of Isaiah 40:31.

Classroom Supplies:Bible

Session 11 • KidsOwn Worship 145

* Starred activities can be used successfully with preschool and elementary children together.

Customize your session to fit your needs. You can separate preschoolers and elementary children for Section 2.

Or, if you keep the children all together for the entire worship session, we suggest you choose from the starred activities.


Let’s Pray!(about 10 minutes)

The OfferingOffer their gifts to God and pray for each child to put their hope in God.

Classroom Supplies:Offering bowl

Soaring PrayersTalk to God about the hopelessness they feel and the hope God gives.

KidsOwn Worship Kit:Large Balloon

Classroom Supplies:Markers

Closing PrayerEnd the session with prayer.



(about 25 minutes)

Sweet HopeHope the drink prepared by a friend is sweet and not salty.

Classroom Supplies:1 paper cup per 2 children, pitcher of unsweetened drink, 2 bowls, sugar, salt, 4 spoons

* “Eagle’s Flight”Watch a video of an eagle’s flight.


Classroom Supplies:Video equipment

* Lifting the BurdenIdentify burdens in their lives, and lift them up to the Lord.


Classroom Supplies:Video equipment


Before going to Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron met with the elders of Israel. Upon seeing the miracles Moses performed and hearing that God was concerned about them, they bowed down and worshipped. Unfortunately, the Israelites’ faith didn’t last when things got worse instead of better.

In view of common practices of the day, Moses’ request for his people to go to the desert to worship God was quite reasonable. However, Pharaoh’s response to Moses is understandable. Pharaoh had gods of his own—gods he considered the gods of the mighty Egypt. He knew nothing of Israel’s God and, if anything, looked upon the Lord as a third-rate god since his people were lowly slaves. Pharaoh just wanted to make sure the bricks kept coming for his building projects!

The “straw” that the Israelites were forced to gather for making bricks was likely the stubble that remained after corn or other grain was reaped. The Israelites used this stubble in the bricks to make them stronger, much as steel mesh or fibers are used to strengthen concrete slabs today.

It’s easy to criticize the Hebrew foremen for their lack of faith when they lashed out at Moses and Aaron, but they were really caught in the middle. They tried to get their own people to meet the quotas of bricks, and when the quotas were missed, the foremen were beaten. When they complained to Pharaoh about the unreasonable demands, they were accused of being lazy and were told that the increased work was due to Moses and Aaron’s request to go to the desert to worship. This seemed a no-win situation, and the foremen had little to look forward to besides further beatings by the Egyptian slave drivers. They had never seen the Lord’s power, so they had no way to know if he could rescue them.

Moses, however, had seen God’s power at the burning bush. God had performed miracles before his eyes. His plea to God was sincere: Why have you let this happen? His complaint was not an accusation, but a simple question about the facts. The people had not been freed!

The Lord’s response reminded Moses of the purpose of the rescue. The rescue was intended to show Egypt and the world who God is and to demonstrate his power. Yes, God was certainly concerned with the Israelites’ cries. But God answered in a way that would show the world that he truly is God. Essentially he told Moses, “Relax and watch. Just wait until you see what I’m going to do!”

Bible Background for Leaders


Devotion for LeadersGod doesn’t promise his followers a trouble-free life,

but in a growing relationship with Jesus, we have

hope—even in difficult circumstances.

Weaving Faith Into Your Life: The Hebrews lost hope,

and we can certainly understand why! Yet God never

stopped planning for their future. What are you hoping

for today? Remember that God is working out your

future—even when it seems impossible. Thank Jesus

for his constant involvement in the events of your life.


Why We Worship for LeadersHope is the feeling of expecting that what you want will happen. It is wanting and expecting at the same time. Research has shown that hope is often the only ingredient that sustains human beings and enables them to endure horrific and tragic circumstances. Hope is what gets us through the tough times, helps us overcome setbacks and sorrows, helps us press on into tomorrow. The greatest hope of all comes from knowing and loving God.

Though children may not be able to identify it, their hearts thrive on hope, as well. They eagerly anticipate special times with friends and family, vacations from school, birthdays, and holidays. Use this worship session to help kids identify what hope is and to teach them that their greatest hope lies in a God who will never leave them or forsake them. God is our hope.

Easy Prep for LeadersLet’s Praise God!—Make sure your video equipment is ready. Put the miniature candy bars in a place kids won’t see them. Set out the coin and only one candy bar.

Sweet Hope—Set out small paper cups in the worship area, one for every two elementary children. Prepare unsweetened powdered drink mix according to directions but without sugar, and pour the unsweetened drink into each cup. Place two bowls nearby. Fill one bowl with sugar and the other with salt, and put a spoon in each. Set an extra spoon next to each bowl for stirring.

“Eagle’s Flight”—Watch the video segment titled “Eagle’s Flight” before the children arrive.

Soaring Prayers—Inflate the Large Balloon from the KidsOwn Worship Kit before the session. Put it out of sight.

Preschool Activities—Refer to the preschool pages for preparations.

Let’s Praise God!Play music videos from the KidsOwn Worship DVD as children arrive. Ask some children to stand at the door and welcome everyone who comes into the room. Ask them to smile, shake hands, and say “Welcome!”

When everyone has arrived, begin worship.

Welcome to our worship time, everyone! Today we’re going to worship God because he is a God of hope. My hope is that we will have a great worship time together! Think about “hope” for a moment, and tell me what you hope for.

Give children time to respond.

To hope means to have the feeling that what you want will happen. It’s wanting and expecting. Our God is a God who loves us and wants us to hope for good things. We can hope in him for good things, even when we’re having a bad day. Our


hopes are safe when we trust him because he is faithful to give good things! Let’s worship him as we sing.

Sing ”All That Is Good.”

Briefly share about a time in your life when you hoped and prayed for something and God gave you what you asked for.

• Have you ever experienced a time when you hoped and prayed

for something and God took care of it? Tell us about it. (I hoped

that I could still hang out with my friends this summer, and God

helped me do that; I was hoping that my parents would work

things out instead of fighting, and they did.)

God is our hope. Listen to what the Bible says about hope in Ephesians 1:18. “I pray also that you will have greater understanding in your heart so you will know the hope to which he has called us and that you will know how rich and glorious

are the blessings God has promised his holy people” (New

Century Version). God wants us to have hope in all situations. He has rich and glorious blessings for us.

Ask a volunteer to come up and read Romans 8:28.

This verse is a promise from God. When you believe a promise like this, you have hope that everything will be OK. When life’s not going our way, it’s OK because God will work it all out in the end. That’s what the Bible means when it tells us to have hope. God is our hope!

Sing ”No Matter How I Feel.”

Have you ever hoped and waited for something for a long time? You might still be waiting. But don’t give up! Sometimes we get tired of waiting—for example, you wait and wait for your birthday or Christmas to come, and it seems to take forever. God’s Word says that when we trust in him, he’ll renew our strength, he’ll help us while we wait.

Sing “My Hope Is in the Lord.”

I need the person whose birthday is closest to today to come and stand up here with me.

Have the child join you in front of the group. Hold up the candy bar and the coin you set aside before the session.

[Name of child], I’m going to flip this coin. You call heads or tails to see if you get this candy bar! If you don’t call it right, someone else gets to flip the coin and try to win the candy bar.


Before flipping the coin, address the following question to the rest of the group.

• What do you think [name of child] is hoping right now? (He

hopes to guess right; she hopes to win the candy bar.)

• What are the rest of you hoping? (That he won’t get the candy

bar; that she’ll guess wrong.)

Flip the coin. If the child doesn’t win the candy bar, repeat with the child who has the next closest birthday. Continue until someone wins the candy bar.

All right! You got what you hoped for! Give the volunteer the candy bar.

• How did the rest of you feel when you didn’t get what you

hoped for? (Sad; I was disappointed; I didn’t think it was fair that

only one person got it.)

Distribute the rest of the candy bars.

• How does it feel to finally get what you were hoping for? (I’m

happy; it’s exciting.)

• How is flipping a coin like or unlike hoping in God? (Either

way we don’t know what to expect; we can always have hope in

God, but we can’t always hope in the coin.)

Some of you had to wait a little longer to get what you hoped for, but you still got it. The person who guessed the right side of the coin got something sooner, but that was only based on luck.

Flipping a coin is just chance, but God is God—he’s the most powerful being in the universe! He plans everything he does for us. He doesn’t leave anything to chance!

Listen to this verse from Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Tell me in your own words

what that verse means. (Pause.)

God will help you in the same way that he helped Moses part the Red Sea and save the Israelites. He’ll help you just as he helped David kill Goliath to save the people and just as he saved Noah and his family from the flood.

Sometimes people in Bible times waited and hoped for a long time before God answered them. The people of Israel waited more than 400 years for God to send Moses to set them free! So don’t give up hope—trust in God! He will be faithful to [name several children] just as he was to Moses and David and Noah. Let’s sing “Power Shuffle” and worship God for being our hope.

Sing ”Power Shuffle.”

ALLERGY ALERT See Session 1.


Some of you might be thinking that you’ve been disappointed because you haven’t received something you hoped for. Sometimes God gives us the things we hope for. But sometimes God says no because he knows they wouldn’t be good for us or because he has something better in mind. And sometimes God just says, “Wait—not now.”

Sometimes we wish for material things, like a bike or an electronic device or maybe even your own bedroom in a bigger house. Sometimes we wish for serious things—that divorced parents get back together, for example, or that a sick family member would get better.

But no matter what things we hope for or think we want, nothing compares to the promises we have in Jesus—promises of love, peace, joy, and eternity in heaven with him. All we need to do is follow God’s path. Let’s remember that as we sing “Living by the Spirit.”

Sing “Living by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).

Let’s praise God for his faithfulness. He will never change his mind or heart of love toward us. God is our hope.

Sing “I Will Not Be Afraid.”

Your hopes are precious to God. They are safe in him. Let’s all close our eyes now while I pray for you. I’m going to pray a verse from Romans 15:13. Think about something that you’re hoping for while I pray.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”


Preschool Activities, pages 151-152At this time, have the preschool leader invite the preschoolers to go to

their own room for this section of activities. Tear out the Preschool Activities page, and give it to the preschool leader. Have the preschool leader bring the preschoolers back to participate in Let’s Pray! with the older children. If you prefer to keep all the children together, do the starred (*) activities. They will work well with both elementary and preschool children.

(continued on page 153)

151

11Preschool Activities

Session 11 • KidsOwn Worship


Worship Theme:

God is our hope.

Easy Prep for Leaders

Treat or Trick?—You’ll need a grocery sack filled with small treats, such as sheets of stickers, packs of gum, small boxes of raisins, bouncy balls, or miniature candy bars. Make sure you have at least one treat for each child.

Using TheoConsider using Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet today in these ways:

• Have Theo lead the preschoolers from the main worship area to the preschool room.

• Have Theo tell the children about things he hopes for during the “Treat or Trick?” activity.

• See the KidsOwn Worship Kit for a puppet skit written for today’s worship session.

Hope in GodEncourage children to play this game of trust. Stand a small distance behind the first child—about a foot. Hold your arms directly behind the child. Encourage the child to fall backward without bending his or her knees or moving his or her feet. Be ready to catch the child as soon as he or she starts tipping backward. Assure children that you will catch them and will not let them fall. Give each child a chance to try the game.

• How did you feel when it was your turn to fall backward?

• Was it easy or hard to trust me?

You had to trust me to play this game. It’s like that with God. He wants you to trust him with

your life. He loves you and wants to give you good things. God is our hope. Let’s sing a song now to tell God that we hope in him.

Teach children to sing the following words to the tune of “God Is So Good.”

I hope in God;

I hope in God;

I hope in God.

He’s so good to me.

Repeat the song, using “I trust in God” and “God loves me so.”

Session


Preschool Activities

God Is Our HopeGather the children around you.

A long time ago, God’s people, the Israelites, were held captive by a wicked man called Pharaoh. He was very, very mean to them. They had to make bricks out of mud and straw for his buildings. Each day he got meaner and meaner.

The people were afraid of Pharaoh. So Moses talked to God about it. He told God how upset and scared the people were. God promised Moses that he would take care of his people and would set them free from Pharaoh.

So Moses and the people put their hope in God. They waited for his help. And he did it! He helped them escape from Pharaoh. That’s how God is—he does what he says he’ll do!

Listen to this verse from Isaiah 40:31: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will

run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” The Israelites learned this by putting their hope in God.

Let’s pretend we’re sad and tired Israelites. Stand up and show me how you look when you’re sad and tired. Good job! As I read each part of the verse again, act it out to show how God helped the Israelites.

Read the verse phrase by phrase as children act out being strong, soaring like eagles, running and not getting tired, walking and not fainting. Then have children sit down.

• Why is it hard to have hope sometimes?

• Why do you think God wants us to have hope?

• Why is it good to hope in God?

God is our hope. He’ll take care of our needs. Let’s act out our verse one more time.

Have children say each section of the verse with you as they act it out. Remind them that God will take care of them just as he took care of the Israelites.

* Treat or Trick?Hold up the grocery bag you prepared before the session.

Today we’re learning about hope. This bag is filled with something. It might have sticks and stones, it might have treats for everyone, or it might even have dirty laundry!

• What do you hope is in the bag?

Each of you will get a turn to reach inside the bag and pull something out of it without looking. I hope you’ll get something good!

Give each child a chance to pull a treat out of the bag. Remind children not to peek as they reach into the bag. When everyone has gotten a treat, continue.

• What kinds of things were in the bag?

• Did only a few people get something good?

• How did you feel when you got your treat?

You hoped for something good, and that’s what

you got! There was no dirty laundry, and there were no sticks or stones in the bag! It’s just like that with God—he has something good for everyone. God is our hope. He never gives bad gifts, and he never leaves anyone out. Let’s pray and thank God for being our hope.

Thank you, God, for being our hope. You are always good to us. Thank you for always giving us good things. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Be aware that some children have food allergies that can be dangerous. Know your children, and consult with parents about allergies their children may have. Also be sure to read food labels carefully as hidden ingredients can cause allergy-related problems.

ALLERGY ALERT


Elementary Activities

Sweet HopeHave kids form pairs. Point out the cups of punch.

We’re going to do an experiment in hope today. I have cups of fruit punch here. I need a volunteer to come up, try this fruit punch, and tell me how it tastes.

Ask the volunteer taste the drink and describe it.

It doesn’t taste good, does it? It needs sugar. I have a cup here for each pair of kids. I also have two bowls here with something that looks like sugar—but one of them is actually salt. You must add the one you think is sugar to one of the drinks for your partner to taste. Decide with your partner now who will be the Stirrer and who will be the Taster.

Pause while children choose jobs. Have the Stirrers come to the front and add a spoonful from one of the bowls to the punch. Have them stand near the table holding the drink until each Stirrer has had a chance to add sugar or salt to one of the cups. Watch carefully so that no one sneaks a taste!

• Stirrers, what are you hoping right now? (That I put the salt in;

that I can make this taste good.)

• Tasters, what are you hoping for? (I hope it tastes good; I hope

the Stirrer chose the right thing.)

Have the Stirrers return to their partners, and have the Tasters taste the drink. Give children time to tell if their partner guessed right or not.

• What did this experiment tell you about hoping in a person?

(We can’t always trust a person; people can let us down; it makes

me nervous to place my hope in a person.)

• What are some of the reasons your partner may have let you

down? (She might have just chosen the wrong one; he might have

wanted to make it taste bad.)

• Which of those reasons or excuses might apply to God? (None

of them; God will never let us down.)

Some of you were disappointed because your partner guessed wrong and added salt to your drink. Life is like that sometimes. Disappointments happen. But God will never disappoint us. That’s why the Bible tells us to put our hope in God, not people. God is our only fail-proof hope.

(continued from page 150)


* “Eagle’s Flight”Show the video segment titled “Eagle’s Flight.” It illustrates Isaiah 40:31, showing an eagle’s flight and exploring how God helps us to rise above our circumstances. It explains what hope is.

• How is hoping in God like an eagle’s flight? (We can rise above

our problems; God will help us get past things that happen to us.)

• What circumstances in your life do you want to rise above? (My

fear of starting school again soon; when my friend and I don’t get

along, I want to get past that; I want to rise above the problems my

family is facing.)

God is our hope. He loves us and gives us good things. Sometimes we have to wait, but he promises to give us strength to rise above our circumstances. He keeps us going and will help us make good choices while we hope in him.

* Lifting the BurdenBack in the days of Moses, God’s people, the Israelites, were held captive by a wicked leader called Pharaoh. He was very, very mean to them. They had to make bricks out of mud and straw for his buildings. Each day Pharaoh got meaner and meaner to the Israelites. He made them do more and more work with fewer and fewer supplies.

The people were afraid of Pharaoh. God heard the cries of his people and looked for someone who could lead the Israelites out of their bondage. Of all the Israelites God could have chosen for this job, he picked Moses.

Moses was not at all confident that he could lead his people, but he put his hope in God. Moses and the Israelites waited for God to show them the way out of Egypt, as he said he would. The people waited and waited, and God came through! He helped them escape from Pharaoh. That’s how God is—he does what he says he’ll do!

We don’t have Pharaoh in our lives today, but we all have hard times when we feel as though we’re wearing heavy chains. Or we can be trapped in situations we don’t like in much the same way the Israelites were trapped in Egypt.

Have kids stand and scatter around the room.

Think about something in your life that makes you feel sad, scared, or burdened the way the Israelites felt. Pretend the thing you’re thinking of is very, very heavy and you’re carrying it on your shoulders. It’s so heavy you can hardly stand. Move around the room, and show me how heavy your burden is.


Have children sit to rest their burdens. Share something that you’ve felt burdened about. Encourage others to share about things that burden them.

We all have burdens. Sometimes we feel like we’re all alone, and we feel tired and sad, as the Israelites did. But sharing our hurts and burdens with someone makes us feel not so alone. It builds our faith and helps us hope in God to see us through difficult times. Having hope in God helps us to “rise above” our hurts and keeps us strong through those hard times. Let’s sing “My Hope Is in the Lord.”

While we sing, talk to God about your situation and trust him to take care of you. Then let’s rise up, shake off our burdens, and move around the room as if we were eagles. God promises to strengthen us. If you don’t have anything hard in your life right now, talk to God about someone else’s burden. Think about something that someone shared today or someone else you know who’s struggling.

Sing “My Hope Is in the Lord.”

Encourage children to move freely around the room in time to the music.

God, thank you for being our hope. Thank you for taking care of our worries, fears, and hopes. Help us to trust you today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s Pray!The Offering

Have the children form one large circle.

God is our hope. He is willing and able to help us and give us what we need. But we have to decide to trust him. We’re going to take the offering by passing the offering bowl around the circle. As it comes to each person, notice who’s holding it and silently ask God to help that person put his or her hope in him.

Take the offering.

Soaring PrayersThink about the situations in your life that make you feel tired, frustrated, angry, sad, or hopeless. Let’s walk around the room as if we’re weighed down by all these cares.

Set out the Large Balloon you inflated before the session and some markers.

• What’s it like to feel frustrated, angry, and hopeless? (It’s not a

good feeling; I want to feel happy and hopeful.)

• What do you think God thinks and feels when we feel

hopeless? (Sad; he wants us to hope in him.)


Everyone feels hopeless sometimes. But the good news is that God gives us hope. The Bible tells us that when we hope in God, he’ll give us strength and rest. Let’s thank God for the hope he gives us.

Have children take a moment to pray and ask God to help them with situations in which they feel hopeless. As they pray, have them use the markers to write one word or draw a symbol on the Large Balloon to represent that situation or the hope they receive in that situation. For example, some words might be “sad,” “lonely,” light,” or “happy.”

When everyone has written on the balloon, encourage the children to lightly bat the balloon around the room as they take turns thanking God for giving them strength and rest and hope so they can soar on wings like eagles.

Closing Prayer God, you are a wonderful, loving God—a perfect parent. We thank you for giving us what we need, and we thank you for taking care of us all the time. You care for us so much that you give us hope when we’re without hope. Thank you, God. In Jesus’ name, amen.

WarningChildren under 8 yrs. can choke or suffocate on uninflated or broken balloons. Adult supervision required. Keep uninflated balloons from children. Discard broken balloons at once. Balloons may contain latex.

Encouragement for Leaders

Ask God to give you the strength and encouragement you

need to teach these little ones. He will provide with

abundance.

Documents

ession 11 The Israelites Receive Cruel Treatment