Trust and Obey

Scripture quotations are from the EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2018, 2024 – UK Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.easyenglish.bible 

Exodus 4:10 - 12 

In the earlier part of this story, God appears to Moses to tell him that He (God) has heard the prayers of His people who were suffering in Egypt. God tells Moses that he (Moses) must lead God’s people out of Egypt, and that Moses must go to the elders * of His people, and then the King of Egypt (the Pharaoh)  to tell them they must leave the country. Moses is afraid to obey God… 

10 Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘My Lord, I cannot speak well. I speak slowly and I speak with difficulty. I never could speak well. And even now, when you have spoken to me, I still cannot speak well.’

11 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Who has made human mouths? Who makes a person that cannot speak? Who makes a person that cannot hear? Who makes a person who can see, or who cannot see? It is I, the Lord God! 

12 Now go! I will help you to speak well. I will teach you what you must say.’ 

And in the New Testament, Jesus tells His disciples *…

Matthew 28:19-20

19 So you must go to people in every country of the world. Teach them how to become my disciples. Baptise * them by the authority * of God the Father, his Son and the Holy Spirit. 

20 Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you. You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will be with you until the end of time *.’

 

Jesus promised to help his disciples when they speak about Him, even when people are against them. He said…

Luke 21: 14

12 But before all those things happen, people will take hold of * you. They will cause you to suffer. They will take you to the leaders in their meeting places and they will put you in prisons. They will make you stand in front of kings and rulers. All this will happen because you are my disciples. 

13 This will be the time to tell people the good news about me. 

14 You will have to answer their questions. But decide not to think now about what you will say. Wait until that time comes. 

15 I will give you the right words to speak at that time. I will help you to be wise. Your enemies will not be able to argue against you. They will be quiet.

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Important Vocabulary to Learn

1. Words from the first 1000 high frequency General Service Word List

against, answer, appears, argue, cause, country, decide, difficulty, enemies, happen, hear, human, king, lead/leaders, leave, Lord, meet(ing), mouth(s), (a) person/ (many) people, promise(d), question(s), quiet, ruler(s), slow(ly), speak/spoken, suffer(ing), teach/taught, wait, wise

(and all the other words in the reading that are not listed in numbers 2 to 5 below.)

2. Words from the second 1000 high frequency General Service Word List

afraid, argue, obey, prayers, prisons, quiet, slowly 

3. Words from the High Frequency Academic Word List 

authority

4. Off List words (these words are marked with a *)

baptise, disciples, elders

5. Special expressions (these words are marked with a *)

(to) take hold of (someone/something)

until the end of (something)

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Learning Questions and Activities 

1. Remembering - Who promises to help those who are given a message from God? Where do the words come from, for the people that God sends? 

2. Understanding - What did God want Moses to do? Did Moses trust God? How do you know? How did Moses really feel about doing what God told him to do? Who was really going to do the work that had to be done? How do you know?

3. Applying - Think about the reading from Matthew 28 again. Do you think of yourself as a messenger of good news? Why/why not?

If you agree that you are a messenger, but you feel unable or afraid to share the good news of Jesus with other people, what can you do?  (Think again about Luke 21:15 above. How can the promise in this verse help you?) What can you do if someone doesn’t want to listen to what you want to tell them? 

Think about these words (teach/learn). What is the difference in their meaning? 

Give some examples of ways that God might use to teach you about Himself, His truth and His plans? 

Give some examples of ways that God can use you to teach others to become His disciples?

4. Evaluating - Why is it  important to use words to tell others about the good news of Jesus? Why is it not enough just to show love, kindness and care for others by our actions alone (that is, without using words)? What might have happened if Moses had not used words and spoken the message that God gave him. 

5. Creating - Read the story below. It comes from the New Testament. Before you read, check that you understand all the words in the list below…

angels, coins, find/found, heaven, joy, lamp, lose/lost, silver, sweep(s), valuable

The Lost Coin

Luke 15: 8-10

8 Jesus told them another story: ‘Now think about a woman who has ten valuable silver coins. She may lose one of them. What does she do then? She lights a lamp and she sweeps inside her house. She looks carefully until she finds the coin. 

9 Then she speaks to all her friends and to those that live near to her. She says to them, “I have found the coin that I lost. So come to my house and we can all be happy together.”

10 In the same way, I tell you this. When one person turns back to God, it causes a lot of joy among God's angels in heaven.’

Now that you have finished reading the story above, here is what you need to do…

Part One: 

1. Think about how you can share this story just by acting it out without using any words. (Telling a story in this way is called a 'miming'.)

2. Now get ready to act out the story for someone. Before you start, do NOT tell the person who is going to watch you anything about the story. Just say, “I am going to act out a story for you. I am not going to say any words. You must guess what the story is about. When I have finished, I want you to tell me what the story was about.”

3. Now, act out the story, then ask the person who watched you to tell you what the story was about. (If they can.) Do not explain anything yet. Just listen to what they tell you.

Part Two: 

1. Now, explain that you are going to tell that same person the story. This time tell them the story and use your own words. (Do not just read it.) Explain everything as clearly as you can. 

2. When you have finished, ask the person if they have any questions. Answer their questions, then ask… “Which story was easier for you to understand, the story that I acted, or the story I told you using words?” (Of course the second story in which you used words will be easier for them to understand.) 

Part Three: 

1. Make sure to explain that the coin in the story is like a person who is lost because they do not know God. Explain that the woman is like Jesus, who comes looking for us because He wants us to come back to Him. 

2. Now explain what you learned from the rest of today’s lesson about how God helps us to tell others His truth. Say why it is important to obey God by using words to share His good news.