LEADERS HUB
Year 1, Term 3, Week 9: Ideas for Senior Group
Week 9: God is Powerful – To Change our Lives
Lesson Objective:
God is powerful to change our lives so that we stop doing the old wrong things we were doing, and start doing what Jesus wants us to instead.
Bible Passage:
Acts 9:19 – 21, Acts 16:20-34 (Saul preaches/ Paul and Silas in prison)
Memory Verse:
Acts 16:31 – They replied, ‘Have faith in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved! This is also true for everyone who lives in your house.’
Story Idea: Mystery Bags & Read It!
You will need:
- 3 Pillowcases
- 3 Items relating to the story (eg. handcuffs - in dress ups cupboard, padlock, worship CD) - put one in each pillowcase
- Bibles
Recap last week:
- Ask the kids if they can remember who had a big change in their life from last weeks lesson
- Prompt them to remember that Saul was being nasty to Christians, but Jesus spoke to Him and he became a follower of Jesus!
Introduce:
- Ask for three volounteers
- Have each child put their hand in one of the pillowcases, feel the object and attempt to guess what it is by feel
- Ask the kids if they can guess what today's story is about based on the three items
Have the kids read Acts 9:19 – 21 and Acts 16:20-34
Quiz Questions:
1. Who did Saul hate before He met Jesus? Christians/people who followed Jesus
2. Paul was so excited to know Jesus! What were he and his friend, Silas, doing (See Acts 9:20-21)? Telling others about Jesus
3. What unfair and bad thing happened to Paul and Silas? They were thrown into jail
4. How do you expect somebody to feel when they are locked in jail? Sad, angry, like giving up etc.
5. What were Paul and Silas doing while they were in jail? Praying and singing praises to God
6. What happened to the walls of the prison? They started shaking and fell down
7. Paul and Silas were free - they could have escaped and left straight away, but did they? No
8. What question did the jailer ask Paul and Silas? 'What must I do to be saved?'
9. What was their response? Have faith in Jesus
10. How does Jesus save us? By dying on the cross
11. What changes did God help Paul make in his life? From somebody who hated Jesus/Christians to somebody who trusted Jesus, even in a terrible situation!
12. How did Paul and Silas' trust in God help the jailer and his family to trust Him too? They saw that God was powerful and was with them, and so He could be trusted
Game Idea: Stop, Slow, Go!
- Before the lesson, download and print the stop, slow, turn around and go signs
- Make a circle with markers and have the kids walk around to music
- Hold up one of the signs and call the direction; eg. 'STOP!'
- All the kids must change according to your direction:
* Go = Walk normally
* Slow = Walk in slow motion
* Stop = Freeze
* Turn around = Turn and walk in the opposite direction
Remind the kids that Jesus changed Sauls life - He was against Jesus and then he became a follower of Jesus! Jesus can change our life too!
Game Idea: Skittles with a Jail Twist!
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You will need:
- 4 Hoops
- Rope to divide room
- 6 Beanbags
- Cones to mark out jail areas
To Play Skittles:
- Set the room up as per the diagram, close the curtains so the room can be darkened
- Split the kids into teams and assign each team one half
- When the game starts, kids must attempt to run to the other teams side, grab a bean bag and bring it back to their own side without being tagged - the first team to collect all 6 wins!
- Once on the other teams side, a player can be tagged by the other team, unless they are in a safe hoop
- If a player is holding a bean bag when tagged, the bag goes back to the centre with the others
- Tagged players go to jail and remain there until one of their team members can run to the jail and tap their hand without being tagged in order to free them
- Once somebody is free from jail - both players have a free walk back to their side of the field
THE TWIST:
- At random points during the game, turn off all of the lights for a few seconds
- When the lights are off - everyone who is in jail automatically swaps to play for the other team and game play continues until one team has all 6 bean bags on their side!
Discuss:
What changed when the lights went out? (People swapped to the other team!)
Remind the kids that Jesus blinded Saul and he started trusting Jesus instead of hating him - his life changed SOO much that he continued to trust Jesus, even in prison!
Activity Idea: Tricky Tower Building
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Before the lesson:
- Gather some items for tower building that might be a little tricky to use (eg. toothpicks and marshmallows, jelly beans or potato cubes), as well as eggs, paper towels and/or pool noodle foam, sticky tape and string
The Challenge:
- Split kids in to teams (2 or 3 per team works well)
- Kids must wrap the egg in paper/towel or foam and tape to keep it from cracking - this should be done first!
- Next, they should build a tower using the toothpicks and marshmallows (or similar) to hold the egg up off the ground
- Watch as they go about building the tower and trying to hang the egg - the egg will probably take a few knocks in the process but should stay in tact!
Discuss:
Was it tricky to build a tower to hold the egg?
Did you have mishaps along the way? What were they?
What was the most important thing to keep safe? (The egg)
Even if everything else was falling apart, was your egg still safe?
Application:
Sometimes, life is hard, things don't go how we think they should - but even when things are not working - we know that God is always with us and our relationship with God can stay strong - just like the egg! Our relationship with God is the most important thing! That's why Paul and Silas could praise God, even in prison!
