THE ARMOUR OF GOD

LESSON EIGHT - RADICALLY SAVED

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

The Set: Medieval times. Turn the puppet stage into a castle. Obtain a suit of armour 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 armour. 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 armour.
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 defences 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 armour, 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 as soldiers for Christ we must do battle on our knees in prayer.

GOALS

To teach the children that:

• As soldiers we must be dependant on Christ through prayer
• We must communicate with our commander.
• A Christian who doesn't pray will lose the battle against Satan.
• We must be radically saved and ready for battle on our knees.
• It's time for battle!!

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 behaviour.

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

This week the knight in shining armour is sitting out in front of the castle playing marbles. He asks the damsel if she would like to play marbles with him. She tells him she can't because she needs to go do her devotions and spend some time in prayer. The knight in shining armour complains that she can do that later, but she insists that spending time in prayer is important. She asks him if he has spent time praying today. He tells her that he will do it some other time. The damsel explains to him that it is time for battle, not time for playing. The knight says he will battle some other time. The damsel, who is distraught over the knights lack of commitment, leaves. Then the enemy comes and attacks the knight and captures him. He cries out from the tower for help. The king calls the damsel out and asks her if she is ready for battle. She tells the king that she is because she has spent time in prayer. She prays a simple prayer that God help her defeat Satan and save the knight and then she goes out fighting and saves the knight. The king can take time to explain to the knight that God is the commander and chief of Christian soldiers. He gives us our marching orders. He tells us the battle plan. If we don't pray we won't know what we are to do in battle. We must communicate with God.

CARMEN SONG

Carmen song puppet show

OBJECT LESSONS

The cook comes out with some baking soda and some vinegar and a balloon. He tells the kids that he has some things from his kitchen that will help them understand how the holy spirit helps them when they pray.

This balloon is empty, but we want it filled. This bottle is your life. The baking soda inside is Christ in you. When you pray (pour the vinegar in the bottle) you are empowered by the holy spirit. (Place the balloon end over the bottle and it will fill with air as the vinegar and baking soda react.) As Christians we are empowered to do great things for God when we pray. If we don't pray though we will not see great things happen.

MEMORY VERSE

Over the next eight weeks we will be memorizing Ephesians 6:10-18 This week we will be focusing on verse 18 and reviewing verses 10-17. 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 armour attempts to teach it to the children showing off his armour 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.

GAMES/ POD GROUPS

You will need blindfolds, plastic pitchers of water and paper cups. Divide children into pod groups. The first child in each team is blindfolded. They walk to the table across the room and attempt to pour water in a cup from a pitcher and then walk back to tag the next player who is then blindfolded and does the same thing. The teams are competing to see whose cups will have the most water. (Stress that it is not a timed relay so they don't need to run while blindfolded) After the relay have kids meet with their pod to discuss how people who are living in spiritual darkness need us to pray for them. It is time for battle. Pod leaders should make sure that the children in their pods understand the importance of prayer in spiritual battle. When we pray for others salvation we are battling Satan who doesn't want them to be saved.

BIBLE MESSAGE

The court jester comes out to entertain the king with a story. He tells the story of the believers who prayed for Peter when he was imprisoned (acts 12) and of his miraculous escape. The main point to stress here is that there is power in prayer to defeat Satan.

OBJECT LESSON/ ALTER CALL

The evil one comes out with a plan sheet and tells the kids that Satan has a plan. His plan is to defeat all Christians and keep all those living in darkness from knowing Christ. Satan hates it when children pray. He knows that great things happen when Christian pray. When Christians pray they are doing battle against Satan.

The knight then comes out and explains to the kids that God has equipped us for battle. He reviews the armour that we have learned about. He then explains that once you are equipped with armour it is time to do battle.

We need to pray for those in darkness, we need to pray for those who are being persecuted, we need to pray in the power of the Holy Spirit that great things might happen. It's time for battle, not for play. Make a list with the children's help of things they can pray for. Encourage them to come forward and spend some time in prayer for those things.

Copyright 1998, Sheryl Coats