Gideon: Mighty Judge of Israel
Video Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Uses the DVD A Bug's Life.

For scripture and memory verses see above post.

Workshop-specific Goals:

• Discover why the people of Israel were afraid of the Midianites
• Consider Gideon’s nervousness in being told to lead the battle—especially after God sent home most of the soldiers
• Consider things that make us afraid
• Know that God can give us strength and comfort

Leader Preparation:

• Review Bible Background notes
• Gather the materials.
• Preview the movie.

Supplies List:

• DVD “A Bug’s Life”
• Another option: DVD “Webster, the Scaredy Spider” by Max Lucado
• For youngest children: VeggieTales “Where’s God When I’m S-Scared”
• Popcorn

Advance Preparation:

• Familiarize yourself with the video and review the clips.
• Set up the video equipment, cue the video, and test that everything is running properly.
• Pop the popcorn

Presentation

Opening-Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Make sure you have your nametag on. Introduce yourself to the students.

Open with a prayer if guide did not.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection:

Bible Story:
Ask: Do you ever feel afraid?
Everybody does at times. Our worries change as we get older, too.
Did you worry about monsters under your bed or in your dark, dark closet when you were little?

Do you ever worry about what other people think of you?

Sometimes our worries and fears are based on real, legitimate threats.
Do you ever wonder if God knows that you are worried and afraid?

Our Bible story reminds us that the people of Israel were legitimately afraid of a group of people called the Midianites. God called an ordinary man, named Gideon, to rescue them in a very unusual and surprising way, but first he had to deal with his own fears.

We’re going to hear that story in a little bit, then watch a fun—and kind of silly—movie about some ants dealing their fear!

Bible Lesson: The story starts at Judges 6:1-10. Read the story.

Ask: Why were the people afraid of the Midianites? ( Midianites were stronger, they would steal the crops and food of the Israelites.)

Have someone read: Judges 6:11-15
Ask: How did Gideon feel about being the leader? ( Afraid, thought God had the wrong guy)

Have another student read: Judges 6:33-35
Ask: How do you think Gideon and his people felt as they saw the huge army of Midianites gathering? (frightened)
What did Gideon do? ( gathered a BIG army)

Let’s hear what happened next. Read Judges 6:36-40
Ask: Gideon tested God. Do you think he felt better when the tests were over?

Let’s read Judges 7:2-8 to find out what happened.
Ask: How do you think Gideon felt when he only had 300 soldiers in his army? Before we hear the rest of the story, let’s watch some of our movie.

Begin the movie with the beginning scenes. Make sure you’ve set the counter at 0:00:00.
In the opening the ants are gathering food for the grasshoppers. They are worried and afraid. There are a lot of ants working on the task.

Here are some suggestions for pause points, with approximate counter times.

00:03:40 –00:03:45 “They come, they eat, they leave,” says the Queen. “It’s our life.” If you want to pause at this point, ask the children to compare this to the Israelite situation.

00:05:10 Flik is a guy with a better idea, but the others think he’s nuts. Pause and discuss Gideon’s qualifications. Was he a guy people would want to lead them?

00:05:55 Pick the grain like everybody else. People are afraid to try new things, or think differently.

00:06:33 Dot has confidence in Flik. The angel assured Gideon that God had confidence in Gideon’s ability to lead.

00:07:02 Flik uses a rock to show Dot that little things can make a big difference. God gives us what we need. What did God give Gideon? God passed the tests that Gideon set up, and Gideon trusted God completely.

00:08:30 Ants are very afraid, hiding in their hill as the grasshoppers arrive.

00:09:04 What’s it lke when you’re afraid.
00:09:34 You can’t do big jobs alone
00:09:55 End

00:10:42 The grasshopper army is big and scary.

End: 00:15:00

You can end the movie at this point, or continue showing and discussing clips.

Suggestions:
Show the segments where Dot encourages Flik to become a leader.
Begin 1:07:29 Dot shows up at the circus wagon
1:08:37 The circus bugs tell Flik he is “good” he has given them hope and a purpose.
1:08:50 We believe in you – we’ll follow you
END 1:09:45

Show the surprise attack of the bird. Talk about how Gideon’s army planned a surprise attack.
1:15:16 to 1:16:48 Bird launch. Now the enemy was afraid. End when PT burns things up.

Additional Suggestions:
Another movie that also works with the story: “Webster the Scaredy Spider.”
Cue up the Main Menu. Start with “Play Feature with Max Lucado Introduction”
This movie is 30 minutes long.

Ask: What were some of the things that Webster was afraid of?
What finally brought Webster comfort and peace? (Knowing that God was always with him, and would give him the strength to face his fears and to use the special talents that he had).

If you have time, you can use the “Bonus Material” feature “The Stars’ Fears.” This feature shows the people behind the voices as they try to identify different types of fears, like arachnophobia.
Get to this by going to the Main Menu, then choosing, “Bonus Material,” then, “The Stars’ Fears.

Closing:

Holy God, we thank you that you are always with us, and that you invite us to come to us in prayer with all our concerns. Help us when we are afraid. Give us strength, as you gave Gideon the strength, to do what you want us to do in order to serve you. Let all of God’s people say…AMEN.

Age Adaptations:
Younger students:

Consider using VeggieTales “Where’s God when I’m S-Scared?” It is a lesson in handling fear. The beginning story is about watching scary TV shows at night. Use only the beginning story and discuss fears with the children.
Older students:
After discussing their fears, ask the students to write a group prayer together. They should ask God to give us strength to get through our fears, knowing that God is always present and will always help.

Resources/Bibliography
Gideon’s Trumpets, a rotation lesson posted at https://www.rotation.org/topic...son-set---judges-6-8, written by Augustana Lutheran Church, Saint James, Minnesota.

A Lesson Set written by members of: Chicago Western Suburbs Rotation Roundtable.

Permission to copy materials granted for non-commercial use provided credit is given and all cited references remain with this material

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.