🔥Chapter 3 – Powerless to Powerful

25 mins:   [🔥🔥]

ACTIVITY: Power Songs

This game is a fun twist on Antakshari, the popular Indian singing game.

Divide the children into small groups of 3–4 members. Assign each team a number. (If possible, ask them to write their team number on a sheet of paper and hold it up so everyone can easily identify them.)

Choose a team at random to begin. That team should sing a few lines from a Christian song that speaks about God’s power, strength, or victory. Once they finish, they must call out another team’s number.

The chosen team then sings a different song on the same theme before calling out another team.

The round continues until a team is unable to think of a suitable song. That team is eliminated from the round.

The remaining teams continue playing until only one team is left or until your allotted time is over. The last team standing is declared the winner.

Rules:

• A song cannot be repeated within the same round.
• Songs may be used again in later rounds.
• Encourage teams to sing confidently, even if they know only a few lines of the song.

35 mins:   [🔥]

Bible Passage: Exodus 7:14 – 14
Bible Event: God makes the powerless Israelites powerful

Context:

God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. At first, the Israelites were afraid. But when Moses encouraged them with God’s Word and showed them God’s miraculous signs, they found the courage to believe. They were finally ready to leave Egypt.

But there was one big problem.

They were powerless.

The Egyptians were one of the greatest powers in the world. They had a mighty army, powerful horses, and chariots—the most advanced military force of that time. Pharaoh was a powerful king who treated the Israelites unfairly.

Compared to Egypt, the Israelites had no army, no weapons, and no military training. They were simply powerless.

Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to do something and even had the courage to do it, but you didn’t have the strength or the ability to do it? (Let the children answer.)

The Israelites felt the same way.

But there was one important difference.

Even though they were powerless, they had the most powerful God with them.

God was about to show them what His power could do.

Shall we find out just how powerful our God is?

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ACTIVITY

Divide the children into two teams. Give each team a sheet of paper, markers, and Bibles.

Ask them to skim through Exodus and write down the Ten Plagues in the correct order. The first team to complete the list correctly wins.

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STORY CONTINUES…

After the tenth plague, Pharaoh reluctantly agreed to let the Israelites leave Egypt.

Can you imagine how excited they must have been? At last, they were free!

God Himself went before them in a pillar of cloud during the day to guide them and in a pillar of fire at night to give them light, so they could travel safely at any time.

Although they were finally free, God knew something they did not.

The Israelites had spent their entire lives as slaves. They had never been trained to fight. If they had taken the shorter route through the land of the Philistines and faced a battle, they would have become frightened and returned to Egypt.

So, in His wisdom, God led them through the wilderness toward the Red Sea instead.

Interestingly, the Israelites left Egypt ready for battle (Exodus 13:18). They may have felt confident, but God knew they were not ready for war yet. He wasn’t keeping them from something good—He was protecting them from something they were not prepared to face.

Isn’t that what a good teacher does?

God never asks His children to do more than they are able. If He asks you to do something, He already knows that, with His help, you can do it. And when you are weak, He becomes your strength. He supplies the power you do not have.

The Israelites, like us, still had much to learn.

So they camped by the Red Sea, exactly where God told them to.

While they were enjoying their new freedom, something was happening back in Egypt.

Pharaoh and his officials suddenly realized what they had done. They had let more than six lakh men leave Egypt—nearly twenty lakh people including women and children. Without them, Egypt had lost its workforce.

They changed their minds.

Pharaoh gathered his army, his horses, and his chariots, and set out to bring the Israelites back.

The Israelites were trapped.

The sea was in front of them.

The Egyptian army was behind them.

They had nowhere to run.

What would happen now?

Let’s read God’s Word together.

[ Read Exodus 14:13–31 aloud. Encourage the children to explain the passage in their own words. These Bible-reading moments are important because they help children discover that God’s Word is full of truth, wisdom, and life. Our prayer is that they will grow to love reading the Bible for themselves. ]

Can you see how powerful our God is? With God, we become powerful too.

When His people were powerless, God fought for them.

He expects us to do what we can, but He also takes care of what we cannot. When life feels impossible, we can trust Him because His power is greater than our weakness.

The next time you feel afraid or powerless, will you choose to trust God?

Lead the children in a short time of prayer.

5 mins:   [🔥]

Ask the children to share their previous session’s homework from Exodus 16 and reward the kids who completed it.