Today I’m so excited! I’m sharing the first week of the new series I wrote called “Wonders of the Bible”. This series is based on the movie “Wonder” that was released last fall. My kidmin kids were so engaged during this series and I hope that it works well for your group! As always, the PDF version of the lesson is available at the bottom of this post. Lessons are always free, but I would love to hear that you are using them. Be sure to tag KidMin Mama on social media. (post may contain affiliate links)

Large Group Lesson

Bottom Line: God is our rescuer and always with us.

Objective: Kids will learn that our outward appearance doesn’t matter as much as the condition of their heart.

Key Passage: 1 Samuel 17, David & Goliath

Introduction & Object Lesson: Great Book with a Boring Cover

How many of you like to read? What’s the best book you ever read? (allow kids to share)

So let’s say you head to the library or bookstore and stumble upon a book that looks like this one (hold up boring book). What would you think by looking at? It doesn’t look like the best book, right? But what if I told you it was the most exciting book you’ll ever read! You would have passed it on by because of judging it by one thing: it’s cover.

Have you ever heard the expression, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”? It means, don’t make a decision about something or someone until you know more about them, until you dig a little deeper.

There is a great movie that came out in the fall called “Wonder”. Can anyone tell me what that movie is about? (let someone share/recap it) Yes, this movie is all about a boy named Auggie who has a rare medical facial deformity and it’s his first time going to public school ever. Starting a new school is hard for any kid, but imagine being a kid who doesn’t look like everyone else…Let’s get a peek into Auggie’s life from the Wonder movie trailer:

What’s the first thing everyone does when they see Auggie? They judge him right from the start. They are mean to him and they don’t take any time to get to know who Auggie really is before they decide they don’t like him. Did you know that there is a verse in the Bible that talks about just that? In 1 Samuel 16, the prophet Samuel is supposed to anoint the next king of Israel, God was done with the disobedient, current King Saul. Samuel goes to the guy named Jesse and checks out all his sons. He looks them all over, these big, tall strong king-looking men. But God tells Samuel with each son that passes him, “that’s not the one”. Samuel is thinking God must be crazy, but God tells Samuel in verse 7, “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart”. The whole time Samuel is looking at the outside, but God knew each of their hearts. Finally, the youngest son comes, a boy named David and that’s the one God tells Samuel will be king.

Main Point:

It’s easy for us to judge the outward appearance of others, just the school kids in the “Wonder” movie. Samuel did the same thing we all do and so did some other people in the Bible about this guy named David. You see, there was a war going between Israel and a group called the Philistines. The Philistines had one prize fighter, Goliath. This guy was HUGE and scary and ready to fight. Let’s read about him in 1 Samuel 17:3-11

3 The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them. 4 Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall 5 and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed one hundred twenty-five pounds.6 There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed fifteen pounds.  In addition, a shield-bearer was walking in front of him.

8 He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations: “Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?” He asked them, “Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. 9 If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.

Yikes! Saul was so scary and big and did I already say scary? The Philistines figured they could use Goliath to terrify the Israelites and win a battle against them. And it was working. No one, wanted to go out and fight him, even Saul.  Remember, Saul was the king of Israel who was not in God’s favor. Who was God’s new chosen king? David!

That’s where he comes into the story. David actually worked for Saul playing the harp when we got all angry, but during this battle David was off taking care of his dad, Jesse’s sheep. Jesse’s other sons were all at this battle, scared to death and so he decides to send David with grain and bread for his brothers. David gets to the camp, sees the scary giant who is mocking them all and asks what is going on. He wants to know, in verse 26, who is this guy mocking the “army of the living God”?

He finds out no one will stand up to him, David decides he will fight Goliath. Let’s read what happens when he volunteers in 1 Samuel 17: 32-37

32 David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!” 33 But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.”

34 David answered Saul: “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Then David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

Saul is judging David by his appearance. He’s not a soldier, he’s young and has no battle experience. Saul was looking at him like he was CRAZY. But David wasn’t there to impress Saul, he was doing what God asked him to do. Saul tries to put armor on David to make him look better and David took them off, he wasn’t used to them. He instead goes to get a few stones and with his sling in his hand goes to the battlefield.

Let’s read how the battle goes down in 1 Samuel 16:41-50

41 The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a youth, healthy and handsome. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?”Then he cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” the Philistine called to David, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!”

45 David said to the Philistine: “You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel—you have defied him. 46 Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, 47 and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s.He will hand you over to us.”

48 When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground. 50 David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword.

David won. He actually won. The Philistines were counting on Goliath to take care of this battle, but they ran off in defeat as soon as he was down. No one expected David to win. He didn’t look like a champion, but God saw a winner. David had faith in God when no one else did. He knew his God was bigger than the giant and was bigger than what people thought of David.

Conclusion:

David was a WONDER. He was a wonder because he trusted in God. David knew in His heart who God was, he was His rescuer. When everyone else was fearful and judging that giant from the outside, David was relying on God in his inside, his heart.

We need to be Wonders. We need to rely on God to rescue us. We need to remember He is always with us and he may ask us to do some things that look a little crazy. We have to be ready to be the one that stands up for Him when no one else will, just like David. We worry a lot about what we look like on the outside, but we need to be worrying about our heart and if we’re ready to stand up for God in the battle we face everyday.

Close in Prayer.

Small Group Discussion

Welcome: Introduce yourself to the kids and ask their names, welcome guests.

Icebreaker: In the Wonder video clip, Auggie and Jack talked about what their superpower would be. What would your superpower be?

Discussion:

• David was judged a lot on his outward appearance. How did David look to…
  • the Israelites?
  • the Philistines?
  • to King Saul?
  • to Goliath?
  • to God?
• Why did David want to go up against Goliath? He was defying the armies of God
• What did Saul try to give David to change his “appearance”? His armor
• What do you think David was thinking as he walked up to Goliath? How would you feel?
• What kind of “battles” do you face at school? At home?
• Are you afraid to stand up to God on your own?
• How does it make you feel knowing God is always with you?

Memory Verse: Read the verse and then practice saying the verse together out loud. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart”. 1 Samuel 16:7

Activity: This activity is all about what’s on the inside. First, have each child draw their self-portrait on the stick figure sheet. Cut out that portrait and lay it on top of the verse sheet. Trace this image. Then have each child write what God sees in their heart. After this activity, pray that others can see how God made us and how he designed our hearts.

I based this post on a blog post from “I Have Not Greater Joy”. I made my own verse sheet and used the “person” template she shared. This was a great small group activity and really made the kids think about what they look like when God sees them. This page also acted as their “verse card” for this week. 

Printable Resources:

Wonder Week 1: David

1 Samuel 16.7 Verse Sheet

Thanks for letting me share,