LEADER S GUIDE BIG PICTURE: ARMOUR OF GOD BIG IDEA: TAKE UP BIG POINT: PUT ON GOD S ARMOUR AND STAND UP TO ANYTHING BIG WORD: LET THE LORD MAKE YOU STRONG. DEPEND ON HIS MIGHTY POWER. PUT ON ALL OF GOD S ARMOUR. THEN YOU CAN REMAIN STRONG AGAINST THE DEVIL S EVIL PLANS. EPHESIANS 6:10-11 (NIRV) USER AGREEMENT Upon purchase of this resource, Hillsong Kids BIG gladly grants the buyer (The Licensee) or the organisation they represent, a free and non-exclusive license to tailor Hillsong Kids BIG print materials to fit their unique leadership requirements. However, it is prohibited to make changes to doctrine, scripture references, biblical principles and concepts presented. Please see doctrinal guidelines we have expressed in our What We Believe statement. These resources are intended to be printed for use only by the buyer or the organisation they represent and may not be electronically transferred to or duplicated by others. Any unauthorised reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work is a direct violation of copyright laws. Hillsong Church. All rights reserved. DOCUMENT PURPOSE This document is the Leader s Guide for BIG Picture ARMOUR OF GOD. It contains a summary of the BIG Message LIVE. The BIG Life with Jesus User Guide document contains all the service element information, including the large group segment of your service. Make sure you read through and prayerfully study this material prior to your service to be fully prepared to minister to your children.
Learning Outcomes At the conclusion of this lesson children will: Learn that with God s armour they can stand against attack from the enemy. Understand that with faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. Discover the shoes of peace and the shield of faith in the armour of God. BIG POINT: PUT ON GOD'S ARMOUR AND STAND UP TO ANYTHING BIG WORD: LET THE LORD MAKE YOU STRONG. DEPEND ON HIS MIGHTY POWER. PUT ON ALL OF GOD S ARMOUR. THEN YOU CAN REMAIN STRONG AGAINST THE DEVIL S EVIL PLANS. EPHESIANS 6:10-11 (NIRV) BIG MESSAGE LIVE OUTLINE DOCUMENT PURPOSE Use this outline to construct a message that works for you and your children s ministry. INTRO Whose shoes? Before the lesson take photos of different leaders and children s feet/shoes. Introduce today s lesson by lining up some leaders and children on stage with their feet hidden. Display photos of their feet, and children will try to guess whose shoes they are. Have these people line up on stage behind a board or screen to cover from their feet to their waist. Display the photos of the shoes and see if the children can guess whose shoes they are. When they think they ve guessed everyone s shoes correctly, take away the board/screen and see if they have guessed correctly. Today we re learning that when we put on God s armour we can stand up to anything. We ll take a special look at two items in the armour of God, the shoes of the gospel of peace and the shield of faith. God gives us armour, it s not armour we wear on the outside, it is armour that protects us on the inside, so we can be ready to face battles in the unseen. Why would shoes be included in God s armour? The shoes of a Roman soldier were not like the shoes you and I wear everyday. They were wrapped tight onto their feet all the way up to their shins. The bottom of these shoes had spikes so that a soldier could dig his feet into the ground and hold his position when opposition came against him and tried to knock him down. Without these shoes it would have been impossible for a solider to stand against his enemy. Without God s peace, it s impossible for us to stand against our supernatural enemy. Take up God s armour, Ephesians 6:15 (NIV) with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Through the gospel of Jesus we can experience peace. Jesus promised His followers peace; John 14:27 (NIV) Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Peace doesn t mean we won t face trouble. In the battle we can have God s supernatural peace and stand our ground when opposition comes. God gives us armour so we can stand strong in our life with Jesus. Scripture References: Psalm 140:7 Isaiah 52:7 Matthew 17:14-21 John 3:16 John 14:27 Ephesians 6:10-18 Intro screen images supplied in print material files.
STORYTELLING (Draw element 1 - Jesus) Jesus and His disciples were together for about three years, and a lot of that time was spent travelling around the nation, teaching the crowds that followed them. As a disciple, there was so much to learn from Jesus, and He was committed to teaching them to do exactly what He had done. One afternoon Jesus had just returned from the top of a mountain with three of his closest disciples, only to find that a crowd of people were waiting for them. As they got closer to the crowd, a man stepped out and fell to his knees crying, Master have mercy on me and my son! He is suffering from seizures and is always falling down. I took him to your disciples the other day, but they couldn t do anything for him! What a generation! said Jesus, When will you see God? When will He be the centre of your lives?! Bring your son before me. Then Jesus told the spirit that was troubling the boy to leave immediately and from that moment on the boy was well. (Draw element 2 - mustard seed) When the crowd was far off in the distance, the disciples asked, Why couldn t we do that ourselves? Jesus replied, You re not taking God seriously yet. The simple truth is that ALL you need is a little faith, faith even as small as a mustard seed. (Draw element 3 - mountain) With that little seed of faith you can say to that mountain over there, Move! and it will move. You see with God, there is nothing you won t be able to do. His teaching amazed the disciples and they took what He said to heart. (Draw element 4 - faith) That s how powerful faith is. Even the smallest amount can move a mountain. This message isn t just for the disciples and the people of the day, way back then. It s for us today. Jesus showed the disciples how to have faith and pray for those who are sick and to believe for their healing. We can have faith in God to see impossible things become possible. (Draw element 5 - shield outline) We ve been given a shield of faith in the armour of God. We can take up our shield and extinguish any attack from the enemy. Ephesians 6:16 (NIV) Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Draw element 6 - cross) Through Jesus we can have mountain-moving faith. God gives us armour so we can stand strong in our life with Jesus. It is through Jesus that we can stand up to anything. God gives us armour so we can stand strong in our life with Jesus. OBJECT LESSON Nerf Wars. The aim of the game is to use your shield to deflect darts from entering the goal. Set up a nerf wars game to highlight the shield of faith in the armour of God. Give players a shield to take up and deflect the nerf darts. Reminder: This is a great time to play the Big Story video to your group. We find it breaks up your Big Message Live really well and keeps the children focused. Large board with thick markers, drawing plan supplied with print material files.
Option 1: One child deflects nerf darts from entering a goal, using a shield. Take turns and whoever deflects the most darts from entering the goal is the winner. Option 2: Two children playing against one another, each with a nerf gun and a shield, protecting their own goal. The winner is the one with the least number of darts getting into the goal. A shield works by deflecting things that come against the warrior. We ve been given the armour of God with a shield that we can use to deflect attack from the enemy. Ephesians 6:16 (NIV) Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Just like the players in this game used their shield to deflect things flying towards them, we can use our shield of faith to not just deflect, but to extinguish arrows from the enemy! Arrows of fear that want to wound us and take us out of the fight. Arrows of worry that would cripple and hold us back. What is the opposite of fear and worry? Faith! We ve got the shield of faith that can extinguish fear and worry! Our nerf warriors couldn t deflect darts if their shield were left lying on the ground. What did they need to do with their shield? Take it up! They had to pick up their shield and hold it high. We can t leave our shield of faith lying by the wayside, we need to take it up and hold it high, we need to put it into action. God gives us armour so we can stand strong in our life with Jesus. Put on God s armour and stand up to anything. Nerf guns and darts, goals (use portable soccer goals or set up sporting cones and flags), shields (use clean garbage can lids) POINTS 1. Take up. Do you love to dress up and wear fun bright clothes? Mixing and matching clothes and accessories can be such fun! There are necklaces, headbands, bows and bracelets, bags, bow ties, jackets and hats. Planning your outfit can be a fun thing to do. From your head to your shoes you get to put together your look for the day. Every morning you get to choose what you will put on. The truth is, what you wear on the outside isn t nearly as important as what you wear on the inside. Ephesians 6:13 (ESV) Therefore take up the whole armor of God. Just like we choose what to wear on the outside, we can choose what to wear on the inside. We need to take up the armour of God, not leave it hanging in the closet. Take it up and put it on. Just like we need to get dressed everyday, we need to put on God s armour everyday. When I go out for the day, I like to be ready for anything. I ve always got my rain coat ready, as well as my hat and sunnies. Whatever the day throws at me, sunshine or rain, I can keep going. That s why we need to put on God s armour everyday, so that we re ready for anything. We don t know when the battle might come, what the enemy might throw at us. If we have God s armour on every day, we ll be ready! Ephesians 6:11 (NIV) Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil s schemes. We have already won the battle because of Jesus, all we need to do is take up the armour and stand! Buckle on the belt of truth. Put the breastplate of righteousness in place. Fit your feet with the shoes of the gospel of peace. Take up your shield of faith. Put on the helmet of salvation and raise your sword of God s Word. Put on God s armour and stand up to anything!
2. Good news shoes. What is your favourite pair of shoes? Funky sneakers? Big red gumboots? There are all kinds of shoes for different purposes. When I go hiking, I need to wear my hiking boots. When I ballet dance, I wear my ballet shoes. If I go snorkelling under water I wear flippers and when I play footy, I wear my football boots. The armour of God says we need to put on the shoes of the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:15 (NIV) with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. If you don t wear shoes, you could step on something sharp or stub your toe. If you live in Australia and you try to cross the street in the summertime with no shoes on ouch! (Hop from one foot to the other like you re trying not to get your feet burnt.) Shoes are an important part of a soldier s armour. Not just to protect their feet from getting hurt, but to help them stand firm in battle. A Roman soldier s shoes actually had spikes on the bottom to make sure that wherever they put their feet, they could hold firm into the ground and stand strong. When we put on the shoes of the gospel of peace, we can face the enemy with firm footed stability and readiness. These shoes are good news shoes. What s the good news? The good news is that God sent His one and only son Jesus to be our saviour. John 3:16 (NIV) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This is the Gospel! On this firm foundation nothing can shake us. This good news is our sure footing, we can stand firm in any battle. Shoes are made for going places. We need to go places with the good news we have and share it with those around us. We can bring the good news of Jesus to others. Isaiah 52:7 (NIV) How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation Put on your good news shoes and tell others. Put on your good news shoes and stand strong. 3. Shield of faith. A shield protects you from attack. In a Roman soldier s armour a shield stops flying arrows or sharp swords as they come hurtling towards them. Ephesians 6:16 (NIV) Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. With our shield of faith we can deflect the arrows of the enemy. The shield deflects arrows of fear, arrows of worry, arrows of doubt. The shield of faith protects us from anything the enemy might throw in our direction. A Roman soldier s shield was big, over one meter (3 ft) tall! Their shields were so tall and wide, that they could bend down behind them and be protected from any arrows coming their way. How big is your shield of faith? Did you know that faith is so powerful that even the smallest amount is powerful. Jesus said, Matthew 17:20 (NIV) Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Faith as small as a tiny mustard seed can move mountains! No matter how big the enemy s attack is, no matter what he throws our way, we can be protected with our shield of faith, because even a small amount of faith is way more powerful that anything the enemy can serve up. We can take up God s armour because of what He has done for us. Because He has saved us and because He is powerful, we can stand strong and be protected. Psalm 140:7 (NIRV) Lord and King, you save me because you are strong. You are like a shield that keeps me safe in the day of battle. Put on God s armour and stand up to anything!