Re:verse Game Planner October week 1. Christian living Matthew 22:37

Transcription

1 Re:verse Game Planner October week 1 Christian living Matthew 22:37

2 Oct. week 1 Teaching a Bible verse through games THIS MONTH S TOPIC: Christian Living Children will explore this topic by learning and understanding this month s Bible verse. THIS MONTH S VERSE: Matthew 22:37 Jesus answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Copyright 2006 by World Bible Translation Center. Week 1 objectives: To discover that this verse can be found in the book of Matthew and to talk briefly about rules. GAME: 8 mins Aims: To think about the need for rules and instructions. You will need: Instructions sheet (see Printables), cardboard boxes, a selection of items that could be used to play a game such as a table tennis ball, a sponge football, a shuttlecock, a bean bag, a hoop, inflatable beach ball, blindfolds, a spoon etc. If you have a quieter group use items such as a dice, counters, chess board etc. Divide the children into groups of no more than five. Give each group three or four items from the list above, a cardboard box, a instructions sheet and a pen. Explain to the groups that they need to quickly make up a game that involves the items they have been given. Make it clear that the games can be silly. Ask them to think of a name for their game and three simple rules that must be obeyed to play it properly. Give the children as much help as they need. When they have decided on their game encourage them to write their rules on their sheet and put it in the box with the items. Give the groups a couple of minutes to swap boxes and try and play each other's games. For an alternative activity play a game of musical statues and then ask the children to name three rules that must be obeyed to play the game correctly i.e. to listen, to move when the music plays and stand still when the music stops. TALK ABOUT: 7 mins You will need: A whiteboard or a large sheet of paper, marker pens and a Bible. Write out the verse on a whiteboard or a large sheet of paper. Read the verse aloud and explain that this verse will help us understand more about living God s way. Circle the word Matthew in the reference. Explain that this verse comes from the book of Matthew. Ask one of the older children to find the book in the Bible. Talk about the book of Matthew being one of the four Gospels, the books that tell the story of Jesus life. Briefly show the children the Gospels and the book of Matthew. Copyright 2016

3 Oct. week 1 Draw a stick person next to the verse and write the name Matthew underneath. Matthew used to be a tax collector; he worked for the Romans collecting money. Draw another stick person and write Jesus underneath. One day Jesus asked Matthew to become one of His disciples. Matthew travelled with Jesus; He watched and listened to Him, then wrote down what he saw and heard. The things he wrote have been put into the book of Matthew. When Matthew wrote this verse he was writing about a time when Jesus was talking to some teachers. Draw a group of stick people next to the verse. The teachers were called Pharisees. Write the word Pharisees under the stick people. The Pharisees studied God s rules. One of the Pharisees thought he was cleverer than Jesus and wanted to ask Him a difficult question. Draw a speech bubble with a question mark in it next to one of the stick men. Which of all God s rules are the greatest? the Pharisee asked. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. said Jesus. Point to the verse as you repeat what Jesus said. Draw a heart next to the verse. After Jesus had said this, He said that the second most important rule is to love other people and treat them well. Draw a second heart next to the verse. Spend some time talking about God s rules. Remind the children of the games they have just played, explain that the groups needed to follow each other s rules to play the games properly. Ask the children if they knew that thousands of years ago God gave His people, the Israelites, rules to live by. The rules showed God s people how He wanted them to live. When the Israelites followed the rules they lived God s way. Explain that Christians still find God s rules helpful today - they still show how God wants people to live. In fact Christians believe God s rules are like instructions showing them how to live God s way. If you have time briefly talk about why Christians choose to live God s way, explain that Christians believe God created everybody everywhere to live His way. The Bible teaches that living God s way is the best way to live. Christians believe living God s way feels good and right because it s the way they were created to live. Explain that we will talk more about living God s way over the next few weeks. Reminders... Copyright 2016

4 Printables 1. Topic overview 2. Instructions sheets

5 1. Topic overview TOPI C OVERVI EW: Christian Living THIS MONTH S VERSE: Matthew 22:37 Jesus answered, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Copyright 2006 by World Bible Translation Center. Week 1 Objectives: To discover that this verse can be found in the book of Matthew and to talk briefly about rules. This verse comes from the book of Matthew, one of the four Gospels that tells the story of Jesus life. Matthew travelled with Jesus; He watched and listened to Him, then wrote down what he saw and heard. When Matthew wrote this verse he was writing about a time when Jesus was talking to some teachers. The teachers were called Pharisees. One of the Pharisees thought he was cleverer than Jesus and wanted to ask Him a difficult question. Which of all God s rules are the greatest? the Pharisee asked. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. said Jesus. Point to the verse as you repeat what Jesus said. After Jesus had said this, He said that the second most important rule is to love other people and treat them well. Explain that thousands of years ago God gave His people, the Israelites, rules to live by. The rules showed God s people how He wanted them to live. When the Israelites followed the rules they lived God s way. Christians still find God s rules helpful today - they believe the rules are like instructions showing them how to live God s way. Briefly explain that the Bible teaches that living God s way is the best way to live. In fact Christians believe living God s way feels good and right because it s the way they were created to live. Week 2 Objectives: To think about the Ten Commandments and our need for God s help to live His way. Point to the Ten Commandments. Explain that these are some of the most well know of God s rules. Jesus told the Pharisee that the greatest of all God s rules was: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. After Jesus said this, He said the second most important law is to love other people and treat them well. Jesus wasn t saying the Ten Commandments were no longer important, He was explaining that the commandments are about two main things, loving God and loving others. Jesus wanted people to understand that by loving God and loving others they would be able to follow all the commandments. Explain that the Israelites found it really, really hard to follow God s rules. They kept making mistakes and getting things wrong. However there is one person who always lived God s way that person is Jesus. When Jesus lived on earth He showed people the perfect way to live; He showed people how to live God s way. Today, instead of trying hard to follow God s rules, Christians long to be like Jesus. They want to think, feel and live like Jesus; they want to become more peaceful, patient and kind just like Him. Christians understand that by being more and more like Jesus they will grow to live God s way. But people can t change themselves to be like Jesus. They can t make themselves perfectly peaceful, patient and kind. In the same way the Israelites needed God s help Christians need His help too. The good news is that God does help Christians. In fact the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit guides and changes Christians from the inside out; He helps them learn and grow to more peaceful, patient and kind. Each day the Holy Spirit helps Christians all over the world to live God s way; He helps them to live the way God created them to live.

6 1. Topic overview Week 3 Objective: To think about what it means to love God. Jesus told the Pharisees that the greatest of all God s rules was: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. After Jesus said this, He said the second most important law is to love other people and treat them well. Jesus was explaining that the commandments are about two main things, loving God and loving others. Underline the word Love in the verse. Explain that loving someone or something means liking them or it very much. Talk about the game you have just played. Show the love it sign. Describe how the children really, really loved some things and other things they liked just a little bit. Jesus was telling the teacher that God wants us to really, really love Him. In fact he wants us to love Him more than we love anything else. Week 4 Objective: To think about what it means to love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. Underline the words heart, soul and mind. Ask the children what they think Jesus meant when He said to love God with our heart, soul and mind. Talk about what people see when they look at us e.g. the colour of our eyes, how tall we are; they might be able to guess our age. But there is a lot about us that people cannot tell just by looking e.g. what we like and don t like, what makes us happy and what makes us laugh. Show the children a couple of the hats from the game they have just played. All these thoughts and feelings go on inside us. When Jesus talked about our heart, soul and mind He was talking about these thoughts and feelings. He was saying that we should love God with our thoughts and our feelings. God doesn t want us just to go to church on a Sunday and to talk about being a Christian, He wants us to think about Him and to really love Him everyday of the week. Week 5 Objectives: To play a game that will help the children remember this month's verse and to talk about times when Christians make mistakes and bad choices. If you have time, talk briefly about occasions when Christians don t manage to live God s way. Explain that just because a Christian is learning and growing to live God s way, doesn t mean they get things right all the time. All Christians at one time or another make mistakes and bad choices. When we don t live God s way it makes Him sad because we are not living the way He created us to live. But making mistakes and bad choices doesn t stop a person being a Christian and certainly doesn t stop God loving them. Explain that there is nothing we can do or say that will make God love us less. The really good news is that when we say sorry to God He forgives us straight away. We might still need to put things right or say sorry to other people, but a good place to start is to say sorry to God and ask Him to help us get things right next time.

7 2. Instructions sheet The name of the game is... Rule 1 Rule 2 Rule 3