Tag Archives: moses

Red Sea Rescue – Moses

Aim:

To show the children that God has power over his creation.

Bible base:

Exodus 14

You will need:

  • Simple picture clues drawn either on acetates or on large sheets of paper
  • A stick to represent the one Moses had (You could use a walking stick.)
  • Two large flash cards: ‘Egyptians’ and ‘Israelites’
  • A cassette player and tape of God’s words to Moses

Preparation

  • Prepare simple picture clues on paper, similar to the game ‘Dingbats’.  Examples: Bluebell (draw a bell and colour it blue), Happy Birthday (draw a smiley face followed by a birthday cake), Baa baa black sheep (draw Babar the elephant followed by a sheep coloured in black), Red Sea (draw the letter ‘C’ and colour it red).
  • Prepare the two flash cards, ‘Egyptians’ and ‘Israelites’
  • Record on a cassette tape God’s words to Moses in Exodus 14:16. ‘Moses, lift up your stick and hold it out over the sea.  The water will divide, and the Israelites will be able to walk through the sea on dry ground.’
  • If possible, before the assembly begins conceal the tape recorder and have a teacher lined up to operate this on cue.

Presentation

Introduction

  1. Have fun playing the picture clue game, where the children must say what they see.  Do one or two for them until they grasp how to play.  End with the red ‘C’.
  2. Use this last clue to lead into the story.  Ask the children if they know where the Red Sea is.

Story

  1. Begin with the background:  The Israelites, God’s special people, had been slaves in Egypt.  The Pharaoh, who was like the king, had decided to let them go free, so they had set out into the desert and reached the Red Sea. The Pharaoh changed his mind and chased them with his great army.  The Israelites were trapped.  They turned to Moses their leader in panic.
  2. Choose a group of children to be Israelites and a group to be Egyptians, one child from each group holding up the appropriate flash card.  Choose a child to be Moses.
  3. Tell the story from Exodus 14 very simply, using the children to act it out as you go and using the tape recording at the appropriate point.

Application

  1. Ask the children how Moses and the Israelites must have felt when they realised they were trapped.
  2. Point out to the children that they prayed to God for help and he rescued them.  What did he do?

Time to reflect

  1. Ask the children to be very still and close their eyes for a few moments and to think how powerful God must be to have done this.
  2. Remind them that God made the world and everything in it. He can tell seas what to do!

Song suggestion

How did Moses cross the Red Sea? 83, Junior Praise

You don’t have to be a star – God’s special messengers – Moses

Topic:

Moses

Aim

To help pupils understand that you don’t have to be ‘a star’ to be a leader.

Things you’ll need

A flipchart

Bible base

  • Exodus 2, 3; 4:10-16
  • 1 Samuel 16:7

Content

1 Tell the pupils that you are going to play ‘fantasy football’. Ask them the following questions, writing their suggestions up on the OHP as you go.

  • Choose four or five players who you would pick to play in the first eleven for England. Why did you pick those players?
  • What qualities would you look for in your team members?
  • Who would you choose for captain? Why?

Now ask the children to imagine that their team has a big match coming up. Is it important to know who the opposition are? How would it help to know what the opposition is like?

2 Talk about Moses. Explain that he was adopted. (Be sensitive. Remember that some of the children listening might not be living with their natural parents. Moses was given up out of love – his parents believed this would be best for him.)

Explain that he was brought up as a prince – Pharaoh’s son. He would have had the best in education and lived in comfort. Then it was discovered that really he was a Jew (the Jews were slaves to the Egyptians). From having everything and being highly respected as a member of Pharaoh’s family – a very important person – he went to being ‘a nobody’.

Tell the children about these aspects of Moses:

  • he was the son of a slave;
  • he was a murderer;
  • he couldn’t speak very well.

Now refer back to the qualities the children said they would look for in a team captain. Tell the children that this is the man God chose to be his team captain.

3 Talk about Moses as the captain of God’s team. He knew the opposition very well. After all, he had been brought up in Pharaoh’s home. He knew all about the powerful Egyptians. Point out that Moses must have had a lot of courage. He had to ask the man whose home he had lived in to let all the Jews go. He knew the power of the Egyptians and how important the Jewish slaves were to them.

4 Ask the children which ‘team’ they think was most likely to win: the disgraced, stuttering, son of a slave, Moses, and his team of slave labourers? Or, the powerful ruler, Pharaoh, and his strong team, the mighty Egyptians?

5 Say that the children might think that Pharaoh and the Egyptians would win easily. But Moses and his team had something special. Their team manager was God. And Moses had something else – a friend who worked alongside him. Talk about how Aaron, Moses’ brother, spoke for him, because Moses didn’t feel he could speak to Pharaoh himself.

Application

A Christian viewpoint

1 Talk about how you don’t have to be ‘a star’ to speak up for what is right, or to be brave enough to do what is right.

2 Talk about how sometimes it takes courage to believe in God and have faith in him, when others don’t.

For everyone

Encourage the children, like Moses, to stand up for what is right – even when it’s very hard or frightening to do so. Sometimes it helps to find a friend who will support you. Can they think of some times when they might need to stand up for what is right?

Response

1 Ask the children to think about leaders of the nation or local leaders. Ask them for suggestions (eg the prime minister, the police, their headteacher). Write their suggestions up on the flipchart. Lead the children in a prayer for those who are struggling to stand up for right, even though it might be hard.

2 Pray for people in leadership (like those listed on the flipchart).

3 Ask God for his help to be brave enough to stand up for what is right, even when others don’t.