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4th & 5th Curriculum

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PEOPLE CAN
CHOOSE TO
OBEY GOD.

GIDEON OBEYED GOD

LIFE POINT:
People can choose to obey God.
LEVEL OF BIBLICAL LEARNING:
God commands people to obey Him. People can trust that He will help them resist temptation and give them self-control.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE:
Judges 6:11–7:22
BIBLE VERSE:
“Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.” Psalm 119:34
FOR THE WEEK OF:
July 5
LEADER BIBLE STUDY
CONTEXT AND COMMENTARY FOR PERSONAL STUDY AND PREPARATION
(For age-appropriate language, use the Bible story on the following pages.)

Christians often include Gideon as one of the heroes of the Bible, but his story serves as a stark reminder that God, not heroic people, brings victory and does the saving. God chose to work through Gideon to defeat the Midianites, not despite his weaknesses, but because of them. Gideon’s family was the weakest in Manasseh, and Gideon was the youngest in his father’s family. Gideon had nothing to boast about, no temptation to believe that he had brought about the victory himself. God made it obvious that He won the battle, not the small, weak army Gideon led.

Gideon’s story was not the first or last time God worked this way. Throughout Scripture, we see God repeatedly use unlikely people to fulfill His plans. David was a youngest son and was still out tending sheep when Samuel went to anoint the new king (1 Samuel 16:5-13). Moses was a fugitive with a speech impediment when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3-4). Rahab was a woman with questionable morals when God used her to protect the Israelite spies (Joshua 2). Mary was a young, unmarried woman of modest means when God blessed her with the miraculous pregnancy of Jesus (Luke 1:26-38).

God is the hero throughout the Bible, and He is still the hero today. When He works through you, despite your weakness, how do you respond? Look at Gideon’s responses to God’s directives. What was Gideon most afraid of? What holds you back from walking in obedience? As you pray this week, ask God to give you the strength to trust Him instead of yourself. Ask Him to help refocus your mind to always give God the glory for the battles He wins.

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CF Kids | 4th & 5th  |  © 2025 Lifeway Christian Resources
💬 TELL THE STORY
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY

Rock, paper, scissors build up the army. Everyone will play rock-paper-scissors with one person. When you lose, you become that person’s cheerleader. If they lose, you both become the cheerleader for the person who beat them. Keep playing until everyone is cheering for the same person! Play a few rounds. Say, “Just like how we had to choose to follow and support someone, God chose Gideon to have people follow and support him. But Gideon also had to choose to follow and obey God.”

1. GETTING TO THE POINT
  • Decorate a banner with the Unit 2 title, “Making Choices.” Explain that experts say that you make over 35,000 choices every day. Researchers at Cornell University have discovered that you make about 226 decisions each day on food alone.
  • Discuss with preteens the importance of asking the right questions before making important choices that would honor God and their families. Think about important choices they make each day, such as cell phone use, choosing friends, and respecting parents and step-parents.
2. LOOK IN THE BOOK
  • Begin today’s Bible story by inviting preteens to listen for the choices Gideon made. Instruct preteens to locate Judges 6:11-14 and call on a volunteer to read the verses aloud.
  • Explain that the Lord confirmed that Gideon was to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites. Then the Lord instructed them to pull down the false altar of Baal and build an altar to God in its place. Gideon chose to follow God’s instructions. Read Judges 6:27-28 to find out what time of day Gideon did this and why.
  • Call attention to chapter 7 and encourage a volunteer to read verses 2-3. God directed Gideon to send home the soldiers who were scared. Ask: “How many soldiers went home because they were scared?” (22,000) “How many soldiers remained?” (10,000)
  • Mention that the Lord told Gideon there were still too many soldiers, so the soldiers took a test of drinking water. Read Judges 7:5-7.
  • Ask: “How many soldiers were left after the water test?” (300) Read Judges 7:16-18. With only 300 men, Gideon gave each of his men a trumpet and an empty pot. They broke their pots, played their trumpets, and shouted: “Fight for the Lord and for Gideon!” The Midianites were so confused that they turned on each other with swords and fled. The Israelites won the battle.
  • Lead preteens to sing “Follow It With All My Heart (Psalm 119:34).”
3. REVIEW CHALLENGE
  • Show the teaching picture and allow a volunteer to share what part of today’s Bible story is depicted.
  • Direct half the preteens to one side of the room and the other half to the opposite side. Distribute “Unit 2, Session 1 Review” question cards to one group and answer cards to the other side.
  • Direct preteens to pair themselves based on a matching question and answer. Review by inviting preteens to read each question and answer on their cards.
4. UNIT VERSE CHALLENGE
  • Invite preteens to locate Psalm 119:34 in their Bibles. Teach that Psalm 119 is a psalm honoring God with 22 sections following the Hebrew alphabet — it is the longest chapter in the Bible.
  • Show the “Hebrew Psalm 119:34 Poster” and provide highlighters for marking the unit verse.
  • Ask: “At what parts in the story did you notice that Gideon listened to the Lord’s instruction and chose to obey?”
5. APPLY THE BIBLE AND PRAY
  • Show “The Adventures of Dab and Derek” video.
  • Ask preteens to share how the video corresponds to the life point — People can choose to obey God.
  • Lead preteens in prayer, asking God to help each of them choose to obey Him in every circumstance.
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CF Kids | 4th & 5th  |  © 2025 Lifeway Christian Resources
💡

BIBLE LEARNING ACTIVITIES

STATION 1: WHEAT PAINTING
Paint using stalks of wheat. Encourage preteens to dip it in paint and use it like a paintbrush, or to dip it in paint and press it onto paper to leave its outline. Use red, white, and blue paint for an extra Fourth of July flair!
STATION 2: CUP STACKING
Preteens will stack cups into a pyramid shape, then put them back in a stack as quickly as possible. Say, “Just like how the people in Gideon’s town built an altar to a false god, and Gideon obeyed God by taking it down, we will build something and take it down.”
STATION 3: LEGO
Build a LEGO structure that will survive a fall. Say, “Gideon trusted God by obeying and destroying the altar to a false god, even though his town got really mad at him!” Challenge preteens to build a LEGO structure they can drop without it shattering, like the altar to the false god did when Gideon and his men broke it down. Drop from 1 inch, 6 inches, and 1 foot; keep adding inches to see whose structure can survive the biggest fall!
STATION 4: DICE GAME
In partners, give one child one die and the other partner two dice. Kids roll their dice at the same time. Continue until the player with only one die rolls a higher number than the player with two dice added together. Say, “It was unlikely that the player with one die would roll a higher number than the player with two. It was unlikely that Gideon’s small army could defeat the big Midianite army. The odds were not in their favor, but God was with them. The Israelites won because God was with them.”
STATION 5: PLAY-DOH SMASH
Using Play-Doh, pretend to make items from the story like grapes, wheat, cakes, goat, meat, pot, torch, and basket. Then, smash it! Say, “Gideon was found hiding in a wine press when God asked him to obey. In a wine press, you smash grapes! Just like how we smashed items from our story. Where have you been when God has asked you to obey?”
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CF Kids | 4th & 5th  |  © 2025 Lifeway Christian Resources