Fall 2019
Lesson Date Lesson Bible Passage Video #
21 Sept 21 Samuel Overview Start – 1:44
22 Sept 28 Hannah’s Song 1 Samuel 1-3 1:44 – 2:30
23 Oct 5 The Philistines vs The Israelites 1 Samuel 4-7 2:30 – 3:38
TBD In-Person 24 Oct. 19 Saul Becomes King 1 Samuel 8-10 3:38 – 4:28 25 Oct. 26 King Saul’s Downfall 1 Samuel 13 & 15 4:28 – 5:27
26 Nov. 2 King Saul and David 1 Samuel 18-26 5:22 – 6:15
TBD In Person
27 Nov. 16 Character Studies 6: 15 – End
28 Nov. 23 David’s Lament for Saul 2 Samuel 1 Start – 1:04
29 Nov. 30 David Becomes King 2 Samuel 2-6 1:04 – 1:56
30 Dec. 7 The Promise of the Messiah 2 Samuel 7 1:56 – 2:42
TBD In-Person Christmas Party
Winter 2020
Lesson Date Lesson Bible Passage Video #
31 Jan. 11 David’s Downfall 2 Samuel 11 2:36 – 3:22
32 Jan. 18 The Consequences of David’s Sin 2 Samuel 12-20 3:22 – 4:10
33 Jan. 25 The Epilogue 2 Samuel 21-24 4:10 – End
TBD In Person
Lesson 21: Samuel Overview
Bible Passage: N/A Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 1 (Start – 1:44)
Content Points:
▪ Recap of Judges: o God made a covenant with Israel after He rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Eventually the Israelites came to the Promised Land where they were supposed to be faithful and obey God. Instead, they descended into moral chaos showed need for wise leaders ▪ Overview of Samuel: ▪ The first part is a contrasting character study of Saul and David, showing the importance of humility in God’s people ▪ The book of Samuel follows three main characters, as they work to transition Israel from a group of tribes into a unified kingdom o Samuel: a prophet and key leader throughout the book o King Saul: A king of Israel who rises to power and then falls o King David: Israel’s second King, who follows a similar pattern of Saul. He also rises to power and then falls into sin
Discussion Questions:
▪ What is a Prophet? ▪ What does it mean to be humble?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 22: Hannah’s Song
Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 1-3 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 1 (1:44-2:30) (Optional) Slapstick Theatre: Hannah and God
Content Points:
▪ Hannah was very sad that she could not have a child so she prayed for God to give her a son. She promised that if the Lord granted her a son, she would give him back to the Lord ▪ God answered Hannah’s prayers for a son, and she “called his name Samuel, for I have asked for him from the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:20) ▪ Hannah keeps her promise to God and once Samuel is weaned, she places him in the care of Eli, a priest and one of the last Israelite judges ▪ Samuel later grows up to become a wise prophet and leader in Israel ▪ Hannah’s song is about how God opposes the proud and exalts the humble, how despite tragedies and human evil, God is working out his purposes in history and how one day God will raise up a Messianic King for the people of Israel (1 Samuel 2:1-10) ▪ You will notice these themes throughout the entire book of Samuel
Discussion Questions:
▪ What does this show us about God? ▪ How does this apply to our lives?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 23: The Philistines vs The Israelites
Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 4-7 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 1 (2:30-3:38)
Content Points:
▪ Samuel grew up to become a prophet and leader for the people of Israel at the same time the Philistines were becoming Israelites nemesis ▪ The Israelites were arrogant in their battle with the Philistines and instead of asking God for help, they brought out the ark of the covenant with the hopes that will help them win the battle ▪ God allows the Philistines to win the battle and take the ark of the covenant to their temple after Israel used it as to try and assure their victory ▪ Later, God defeats the Philistines and their god Dagon without the help of Israelites by using plagues ▪ After God sends plagues to the Philistines, they no longer want the ark of the covenant and so they return it to the Israelites ▪ KEY POINT: God is not a trophy. He opposes pride among the Philistines AND his own people. This is a reminder to the Israelites that they need to remain humble and obedient to God if they want to experience His blessing
Discussion Questions:
▪ What is the ark of the covenant? ▪ How does this story apply to our lives?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 24: Saul Becomes King
Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 8-10 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 1 (3:38-4:28)
Content Points:
▪ The Israelites rejected God as king and instead asked Samuel for a human king. They wanted to be like the other nations ▪ Samuel warned them of what would happen with their king but the people insisted ▪ Although the intentions of the Israelites were wrong, God allowed them to have their first king, Saul (1 Samuel 8:10-22) ▪ On the surface, King Saul is a perfect candidate for a king and begins his reign in humble obedience to God ▪ Deep down he has severe character flaws that lead to his disobedience to God and to eventual downfall. Saul is dishonest, lacks integrity and is prideful ▪ These traits led to his disobedience that eventually led to his loss of the kingdom (1 Samuel 15:26), the Spirit of God (1 Samuel 16:14) and his friendship with his friend Samuel (1 Samuel 15:35)
Discussion Questions:
▪ What does obedience mean? Is it easy to obey? ▪ What can we learn from Saul about obedience/disobedience?
Lesson 25: King Saul’s Downfall
Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 13 & 15 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 1: 4:28 – 5:27 Saddleback Kids David and Saul: (Start - 00:45)
Recall: Hannah’s song tells of how God opposes the proud and exalts the humble
Content Points:
▪ Samuel confronts Saul after he disobeys God and informs Saul that God will rise up a new king that is humble and faithful to God ▪ God chooses David to be the next king of Israel ▪ David is the youngest of 8 brothers and his job is to take care of the sheep ▪ On the surface, David appears to be an unlikely king; however, underneath he is radically humble and trusting in God, a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14) ▪ This heart of faith and adoration is what led David to defeat the Philistine giant Goliath o Heart refers to how a person controls how he feels, what he thinks, what he wants and the choices he makes ▪ This story exemplifies the themes in Hannah’s song o Proud Saul and Goliath are brought low while humble David is exalted
Discussion Questions:
▪ What does a Shepherd do? ▪ Why do you think God chose David to be King? Hint: Read 1 Samuel 16:7 ▪ How can we be more like David in this passage?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 26: King Saul and David
Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 18-26 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 1 (5:22-6:15) Saddleback Kids David and Saul: 00:45- end)
Content Points:
▪ David trusts in God and fights Goliath with no armor, just the tools of a shepherd ▪ After defeating Goliath, David began working in King Saul’s army. He was very successful at winning the battles and began to attract a lot of attention. Saul became jealous of David’s fame ▪ We see that the Spirit of the Lord left Saul and he began to descend into madness (1 Samuel 16:14). Tormented by an evil spirit, Saul begins to believe that David is plotting his death ▪ Even though David had done nothing wrong, he runs away and hides in the wilderness ▪ David has multiple opportunities to kill Saul but he doesn’t. Instead, David trusts that God will raise up a king for his people, despite Saul’s evil ▪ Eventually Saul dies in a battle with the philistines
Discussion Questions:
▪ What does revenge mean? ▪ What does this story teach us about hurting those who hurt us?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 27: Character Studies
Bible Passage: N/A Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 1 (6:15 – End)
Content Points:
▪ The characters of Saul and David are depicted realistically so that readers can see themselves in them ▪ Saul’s story provides a warning to readers – We don’t want to be like Saul o We must reflect on own character flaws and how they harm us and other people o With god’s help, we must humble ourselves and deal with our dark side so Saul’s story doesn’t become ours ▪ David’s story provides an example of trust o Although David was alone in the wilderness and being chased by someone who wanted to kill him, He knew that God had not abandoned him o We are to trust God and be patient with His timing in our lives o Even though there is evil in the world, we must trust that God will oppose the proud and exalt the humble
Discussion Questions:
▪ Is it easy to trust God, even in the hard times? ▪ How do we stop from becoming prideful like Saul?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 28: David’s Lament for Saul
Bible Passage: 2 Samuel 1 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 2 (Start – 1:04)
Recall: The first video introduced the structure of the book and the characters as well as traced the rise and fall of King Saul in contrast to David
Content Points:
▪ Overview: o Second Samuel continues to show us the virtue of humility, the destructiveness of pride, and the faithfulness of God’s promise. o We see David succeed and fail, and we see God’s promise for a future king at the beginning and end of the story. ▪ David cries when he finds out that King Saul and his son Jonathan die in a battle o David’s sorrow over the death of his enemy shows his humility
Discussion Questions:
▪ What does humility mean? ▪ How can we be humble in our daily lives? ▪ What does it mean to “love your enemies”?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 29: David Becomes King
Bible Passage: 2 Samuel 2 - 6 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 2 (1:04 – 1:56)
Content Points:
▪ After Saul’s death, Israel experiences a time of success and blessing and 7 years after Saul’s death, the Israelites ask David to unify the 12 tribes of Israel by being their king ▪ The first thing Kind David does is conquers the city of Jerusalem and establishes it Israel capital city, which he renames Zion ▪ After making Jerusalem the political capital Israel, David tries to make it the religious capital as well by moving the ark of the covenant into the city ▪ David prays to God and tells him that, since Israel now has a permanent home, God too should have a permanent home. David asks if he can build God a temple but God has other plans
Discussion Questions:
▪ David had to wait about 15 years after being anointed to become king. Do you think it was easy to be patient? What do you think helped David be patient ▪ Remember the fruit? Is there anything we can do to make it ripen faster? ▪ What do you think God’s plan is? HINT: Read 2 Samuel 7:12-17
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 30: The Promise of the Messiah
Bible Passage: 2 Samuel 7 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 2 (1:56-2:42)
Content Points:
▪ After the ark of the covenant was returned to the Israelites, David wanted to build a temple to honor God and to place the ark in (2 Samuel 6:17) ▪ Instead of David building a house for God, God promised to build David a house o Gods promise to David: From David’s royal line will come a future king who will build God’s temple here on Earth and set up an eternal kingdom (2 Samuel 7:9- 17) ▪ This Promise of the Messiah is written about and developed in Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah ▪ This King is connected to God’s promise to Abraham o The future messianic kingdom will be how God brings his blessing to all of the nations ▪ After David is given this divine blessing he falls into temptation
Discussion Questions:
▪ ‘Messiah’ is the Hebrew word for ‘anointed’. What does it mean that Jesus was anointed? ▪ Who is the King that is promised to Israel? ▪ How long will the throne that God promises last? ▪ What similarities do you see between David and Jesus?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 31: David’s Downall
Bible Passage: 2 Samuel 11 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 2 (2:36-3:22)
Content Points:
▪ Even though David loved God, he was still human and was still able to fall into temptation (Galatians 5:17) ▪ One day, David sees the wife of one of his soldiers, Uriah, bathing on the roof top. He is infatuated by her and gets her pregnant ▪ Instead of confessing his sins, David tries to cover up what he has done by having Uriah killed and then marrying his wife ▪ When David is confronted by the prophet Nathan about what he has done David finally confesses and repents to God. ▪ Although God forgives David for what he has done, he doesn’t take away the consequences of David’s actions and decisions and his family is taken away from him ▪ KEY POINT: David’s heart was not perfect – no man’s heart is. But David loved and trusted God rather than his own ways and judgements. We see this in his repentance over his sin (Psalm 51)
Discussion Questions:
▪ What could David have done to try and stop his temptation? ▪ What does this story tell us about God?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 32: The Consequences of David’s Sin
Bible Passage: 2 Samuel 12-20 Video: Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 2 (3:22 - 4:10)
Recall: David sinned and although God forgave him, David still experienced the consequences of his actions
Content Points:
▪ David’s sin sparks a spiral of rebellion from his children. They commit various sinful acts and David is forced to flee the kingdom because of his sins ▪ Absolom, one of David’s sons creates a plan to overthrow his father and unseat him from power ▪ David flees from his home, just like he did when he was fleeing from King Saul. This time David has actually done something wrong ▪ Eventually Asolom, David’s son, is killed. This makes David very sad and he writes another poem of sadness, just as he did when King Saul died ▪ David is able to return to his thrown but he is a broken man, wounded by the consequences of his sin
Discussion Questions:
▪ Why do parents set limits and punish their children? ▪ Does God punish His children because He wants to be mean? ▪ Why does God punish and disciple those who love Him?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______
Lesson 33: The Epilogue
Bible Passage: 2 Samuel 21 - 24 Video: Read Scripture Samuel Part 2 (4:10 – End)
Content Points:
▪ The final chapters recount the stories of David, not chronologically but thematically. ▪ Themes of Failure: o Both David and Saul hurt other people through their bad decisions ▪ Theme of David and his Mighty men: o Twice David is found to be weak in battle and depends on others for help ▪ Poetic memoirs: o David remembers the times when God faithfully rescued him from danger ▪ God was faithful to His covenant promise to David and God’s family – even when they were not always faithful to Him ▪ David concludes by looking forward to the hope of a future King who will build the promised eternal king ▪ David’s Epilogue and the Story in Samuel point back to Hannah’ Song o Despite Saul and David’s evil, God remained at work, moving forward his redemptive purposes o God opposed David and Saul’s arrogance but he exalted David when he humbled himself o The book looks to the future of the messianic king who will bring God’s kingdom and blessing to all of the nations
Discussion Questions:
▪ What was one thing that learned from the book of Samuel?
Prayer Requests: ______
Notes:______