THE AMOUR OF GOD

LESSON FIVE - THE BREAST PLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Theme: Prepare yourself for the spiritual battles of life, putting on the whole amour of God

The Set: Medieval times. Turn the puppet stage into a castle. Obtain a suit of amour if possible or make one.

WEEKLY THEMES

1. The battle zone: we face many spiritual battles in life, we must be prepared. V.10-12
2. Belt of truth: The belt was the first thing a soldier put on. It was very important because it gathered together his tunic and insured that he could march without restriction. Truth of heart is the foundation of your spiritual amour. Sincerity in your relationship with Christ is crucial. This relationship is based on doctrinal truth. Truth of heart holds things together like a belt holds a soldier's tunic together.
3. Helmet of salvation: The helmet safeguards your mind with the hope of salvation. We must be cautious what we fill our minds with. It is our saving help from the power of sin. (mind your mind video by Carman)
4. Shield of faith: Your faith can see you through...avoid the devil's darts of doubt. It was a very large shield that protected the whole body.
5. Breast plate of righteousness: Guard your heart with righteousness. To neglect what we know to be righteous action is to leave a gaping hole in our amour.
6. Shoes of peace: Walk the walk. The soldiers shoes were designed for long hard marches. The shoes give us the ability to stand firm against the devil. The shoes are also for the readiness to spread the gospel.
7. Sword of the spirit: God's word is our weapon. It is our weapon to cut through defenses and prick peoples conscience. It also helps us to avoid temptation.
8. Radically saved and ready for battle on our knees (It's War by Carman)

CHARACTERS NEEDED

A knight in shining amour, a court jester, a beautiful damsel, king, kings cook, and the enemy, etc. Bobo the puppet and a town crier puppet are also needed.

This week: we will discover that righteousness is doing what is right in accordance to God's law.

GOALS

To teach the children that:

• Righteousness is doing what is right in God's sight.
• Righteousness is in part reflected by your attitude.
• We need to be upright in character as well as actions.
• Righteousness comes from the heart.

PRAYER

Encourage the children to find a place of prayer to prepare their hearts for God's message. This a great time to model the importance of prayer by gathering the leaders together to pray for the service. Remember that prayer is vital to our ministry. Open the service in a group prayer.

RULES

It is very important to review the rules on a weekly basis. It is also good to remind them of the reasons for the rules occasionally too. We need to pay closer attention to enforcement of rules as a controlled environment fosters a better learning environment. Pod leaders should pay special attention to monitoring their children's behavior.

1. No Walk: This includes fingers, feet, hands, and heads.
2. No Talk:
3. Have fun: a good attitude is imperative.

WORSHIP

Worship is a very special part of our relationship with Christ, not only for adults but also for children. They need to experience that same intimacy with Christ. Encourage them to demonstrate their love for Christ through their worship.

Theme song: God's got an army marching through this land.

OPENING

Introduce the theme and the characters, the knight, the damsel, the enemy, the king, and the cook in the King's Court. The court jester doesn't respond right away when he is called out to be introduced.

SKITS

The damsel in distress is doing something she knows is wrong and is stolen by the enemy. The enemy sprays her with some foul smelling odor. The knight in shining amour doesn't want to save her because she smells bad. The damsel tries to cover up the smell with sweet smelling perfume but it doesn't work. The knight in shining amour informs her that she needs to eliminate the odor rather than trying to cover it up. She cleans up with soap and water and then the knight saves her. We can't be righteous just by covering up our sins, we need to let God clean us. God wants us to be righteous. Righteousness means doing what you know is right according to God's law with a sincere heart.

CARMEN SONG

Carmen song about the breastplate is done as a puppet song.

OBJECT LESSONS

The cook comes out with a cook book. He talks about following recipes. It is important to follow the recipe because it tells you how to make the food. If we don't follow the recipe things can be disastrous. He can tell about when he didn't follow the recipe and what happened. God also has a book that tells us how to live. It is like the recipe book for Christians. We need to follow the instructions in the book so that everything works out.

The knight comes out with five pairs of objects to present to the king (like a banana and a banana peel, a potato and a rotten potato, fresh bread and moldy bread, a nice cupcake and a smashed cupcake, etc.) He is trying to decide which ones to give the king. He can talk about the differences between the two. Allow kids to come forward and choose which one they would rather have. Then talk about making right choices. Making right choices is important. To neglect what we know is right can leave gaping holes in our armor. If the knight chooses the wrong one he will be punished by the king. Christians must make choices all the time. We need to make right choices. To neglect to do what we know is right can lead to serious trouble for a Christian.

The damsel comes strolling along with a banana. She can't decide what to do with her peel. There is a sign there that says No Littering. She reads the sign, and ponders what she should do with the peel since she can't litter. The enemy comes along and tells her that no one is watching so she should just throw it down. After all, no one will know she did it. She throws it down and wanders off. The knight in shining armor comes along then and slips on the peel. The damsel comes running out to help him. He is all upset that someone could do such a terrible thing as littering. She confesses that she knew it was wrong but did it anyways because she knew no one was watching. The knight in shining armor can discuss righteousness with her, telling her how important it is to always to what you know is right even if no one is watching. God is always watching.

MEMORY VERSE

Over the next eight weeks we will be memorizing Ephesians 6:10-18 This week we will be focusing on verses 14b and reviewing verses 10-14a. The town crier comes out with a royal decree again that all citizens of the Celebration kingdom must learn the verse. The new portion is posted on the castle wall and the knight in shining armor attempts to teach it to the children showing off his armor as he does. Once you have practiced it several times allow two volunteers who can say the verse come up. Allow them to shoot a toy bow and arrow at a target to win a prize if they hit the target.

BIBLE MESSAGE

The court jester comes out to entertain the king with a story. He tells the story of David and Saul when David cut off a piece of Saul's robe. David knew it was wrong to kill Saul. Even though Saul had treated David badly David still did what was right.

GAMES/ POD GROUPS

You will need one large piece of card board cut to look like a breastplate with a hole in the middle of it for each pod and a water gun. Place a bucket behind each hole. The object of the game is to shoot the water gun and fill up the bucket as much as possible before time is called. After the game gather in pod groups and discuss how unrighteousness leaves a hole in our armor. Take time to answer the kids questions about what righteousness is.

OBJECT LESSON/ ALTER CALL

You will need a visibly filthy rag. Take time to explain that we are all born sinners. Our hearts are filthy like this rag. Our actions alone cannot make us clean. Only God can make us clean and righteous. However, once we have been made clean by God our actions, our character, and our motives must be righteous.

Copyright 1998, Sheryl Coats