Mystery Man
Unit 7 Summary:
Mystery Man
E
veryone loves a good mystery — investigating the evidence, gathering clues, and finally discovering the answer they’ve been looking for all along. In this detective-themed series, kids will meet the original Mystery Man, Jesus, and see how he holds the answers to life’s greatest problems. In Jesus the great mystery of God’s love is revealed at last. The Mystery Man unit is all about knowing Jesus and following Him. In this series, kids will pick up their magnifying glasses and begin their investigation of the first great stories from the New Testament about the life and early ministry of Jesus. Kids will discover why Jesus came to earth and how He restored our Covenant relationship with God and Kingdom responsibility for God. They will see how Jesus beat temptation in the desert by remembering what God had said about Him, and they will learn what it means to follow Jesus and share Him with the people of peace God sends their way.
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GAME ON: LESSON 28 (Large Group)
Key Concept: We can beat temptation by remembering what God says
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Bible Story: Jesus tempted (Matthew 4)
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Bible Verse: So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7-NIrV
3DM Principle: Covenant (Identity leads to obedience)
Large Group Overview: Kids will see how they can resist temptation by seeing how Jesus resisted Satan in the wilderness
Huddle Overview: Kids imitate each other and then discuss how they can imitate Jesus this week
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Lesson Outline
12 1
2
11
Opening Activity
The Mystery of the Missing Evidence
(5 min)
Bible Story
Jesus tempted
(15 min)
Application & Bible Verse
(5 min)
Prayer
(5 min)
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Pre-Lesson Setup Choose a child in advance to be the Code-breaker for the day. Choose one of the earliest kids to arrive so that the kid can get to work decoding the day’s mystery. Give this kid today’s mystery code and the decoder sheet. Have the kid place the solved mystery code in the clue envelope after he/she has solved it. If you can, give him/her a Sherlock Holmes-style deerstalker cap and a magnifying glass. Tell the Code-breaker that you will ask him/her to bring up the sealed clue envelope with the solved mystery code early in the lesson. Make sure to get the cap and magnifying glass back to give to next week’s Code-breaker. Today’s mystery is “How can we beat temptation?” Welcome back to another week of Kairos Quest and our Mystery Man series. Last week we discovered Jesus’ special secret identity as the Messiah, the Son of God who came to save the world. It was a big mystery at first because no one knew who Jesus was, but then God revealed His identity the day Jesus was baptized. Today we’re going to see that soon after that, Jesus faced His first big challenge. But before we get to that, I have a special detective challenge for you.
Opening Activity: The Mystery of the Missing Evidence The purpose of today’s activity is to introduce the idea of remembering important things.
Instructions
How To Play: Place miscellaneous objects on tray and cover the tray with fabric. Bring up a boy and a girl and give them 30 seconds to study the objects. Then have the contestants close their eyes while you remove three objects from the tray. The contestants will then write down which three objects they think are missing in their notebooks.
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Supplies:
6 Tray 6 20 miscellaneous, small objects for the evidence tray (these can be anything — comb, pen, seashell, coin, gum, etc.)
6 Fabric to cover tray 6 Two small clue notebooks (spiral-bound flip notebooks will look best)
6 Two pens 6 Bag We’re going to play a game today called The Mystery of the Missing Evidence. How many of you guys think you have a good memory? Good detectives have great memories. When a crime is committed, detectives examine all the evidence and clues to help them solve the mystery. That’s what we’re doing today. This tray is full of top-secret evidence. I need a couple of detectives to come up and help me investigate it. Choose two detectives, one boy and one girl, and bring them to the stage. Hand each of them a small notebook and pen. Here’s how the game works. We have to examine this tray of evidence to solve our next big case. There are 20 objects on this tray. I’m going to give you 30 seconds to try to memorize all the objects on the tray. Then, while you’re not looking, I’m going to remove three objects. Your job is to see if you can figure out what evidence is missing and write those three things in your clue notebook. Do you think you can do it? Kids answer. You can’t write anything down until I tell you to. Get ready. Here is the evidence. Pull fabric off of evidence tray. Let kids examine the evidence for 30 seconds. Your thirty seconds are up. Now, you need to close your eyes while I take away some of the evidence. Kids close their eyes. Turn your back to them, remove three items from the tray, and place those three items in a bag where they can’t be seen. All right, guys. The evidence tray is ready. You can open your eyes. Examine the evidence and write down the three objects you think are missing. Don’t say anything — just write the three things down.
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Give kids time to write down their answers. After both contestants have written down three things, ask them to share their answers with the group as a whole. Now let’s see how you did. Here are the three missing objects. Pull the three objects out of bag and compare them against the kids’ answers. Thank the kids for playing and send them back to their seats. Great job guys. That game can be pretty tough. But it goes to show us that remembering important things is an important part of being a detective, and it’s an even more important part of following Jesus. Let me show you what I mean. Last week we saw Jesus begin His amazing mission to save the world. But along the way, He faced a powerful enemy. Jesus came to bring God’s kingdom to earth, but God’s enemy the devil wanted to be king of the earth himself. So he tried to stop Jesus any way he could. In today’s story, the devil used a very dangerous weapon called temptation against Jesus. Who knows what temptation is? Kids answer. Temptation is when we know the right thing to do but start thinking about making the wrong choice instead. For example, imagine that you see a kid at school drop some money, but he doesn’t know he dropped it. You could pick it up and keep it for yourself and no one would ever know. Or maybe your mom tells you not to eat anything before dinner, but you start thinking about sneaking some cookies when she’s not looking. Or maybe you have a friend who’s doing something you know you shouldn’t do, but you’re thinking of doing it just to impress your friend. That’s temptation. That’s decision time. In moments like these, you have to decide if you’re going to take the easy way out or if you’re going to do things God’s way. That brings us to today’s mystery. Where’s my Codebreaker? I need the Code-breaker who I picked before the lesson to bring me today’s mystery. The Code-breaker brings up the solved mystery code in the clue envelope. Thanks, Code-breaker. Let’s see how you did. Open envelope and read today’s mystery. Today’s mystery question is “How can you beat temptation?” The answer is that we can beat temptation by remembering what God says.
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Bible Story
Set the teaching area with three boxes wrapped in silver or gold wrapping paper. They should either have no lid or a removable lid that’s wrapped separately so that the lid can be removed without unwrapping the present. Place the following objects inside the box before the lesson:
Box 1 — A box of fresh doughnuts
Box 2 — A smiley-face sign
Box 3 — A plastic crown
Last week we saw that, even though Adam and Eve had messed everything up, God had sent His mystery man into the world to fix the sin problem. Who was the mystery man? Kids answer. No one knew at first, but yes, the mystery man turned out to be Jesus, the Son of God. Just before Jesus started His mission to save the world, God wanted to do one more thing to get Him ready. The Bible says that God’s Spirit sent Jesus out into the desert. While He was there, the devil appeared to Jesus to try to get tempt Him to disobey God. But Jesus knew that if you want to beat temptation, you have to remember what God says. It wasn’t easy, though. First the devil tempted Jesus with His appetite. Hold up Box #1: Doughnuts The Bible says that Jesus hadn’t eaten in 40 days. Forty days! Think about how long that is. That’s more than a month. Jesus had been fasting. Fasting is when you give up something for a while to help you think more about God. The Bible says that after 40 days, Jesus was hungry. I bet He was. If you hadn’t eaten in 40 days, you’d be totally starving and weak. Take out the doughnuts and place them on top of the box.
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Have you ever been really hungry? Just imagine that you hadn’t eaten all day and then you walked in and saw this box of doughnuts sitting on your kitchen table. Would you be tempted to eat one? What if you hadn’t eaten in a whole week? How good would these doughnuts look then? What if it was a month? Is there any way you could resist a hot, fresh box of doughnuts if you hadn’t eaten in a month? After Jesus had gone 40 days without eating, the devil came to Jesus and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” There weren’t any doughnuts out in the desert, but there might as well have been. Think about it. Jesus is the Son of God. He can do anything. With the snap of His fingers, Jesus could have turned the rocks to bread or doughnuts or pizza or whatever He wanted and just stuffed His face. But Jesus wouldn’t fall for it. He remembered who He was. He was God’s Son, and He loved His Dad God way more than He loved food. So instead of turning the rocks to bread, Jesus used a Bible verse to fight the devil. He remembered what God had said in the Bible. Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” In other words Jesus was saying to the devil, nothing – not even food — is more important than obeying God. Hold up Box #2: Smiley-face sign. Then the devil tried again. This time he tried to tempt Jesus with the approval of others. You know how that goes. Sometimes we’re tempted to do dumb things just to get other people to like us. The Bible says that the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem up to the highest part of the temple. That’s the special place where people in Jesus’ day went to worship God. Again, the devil questioned who Jesus was. He said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. Just jump because the Bible says God will send His angels to save you. “ Take out the smiley-face sign and place it on top of the box. The devil wanted Jesus to show off and let everyone see how special He is. If Jesus had jumped off the temple and an angel had swooped in and carried Him to the ground, it would have been incredible. He would be like a superhero, and everyone would see that He was amazing.
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But Jesus wouldn’t fall for it. Jesus beat temptation by remembering what God had said. He used a Bible verse again to fight back the devil. He said, “It’s written in Bible, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” In other words, “No way, devil. I’m obeying my Dad.” Jesus knew God hadn’t sent Him to earth to show off. Jesus loved His Dad more than He loved getting attention from others. But the devil still wasn’t done. Hold up Box #3: Crown This time the devil didn’t tempt Jesus with appetite or approval. This time he tempted Jesus with ambition. Ambition is that the thing inside of us that wants to do big things. It’s that part of us that always wants to come in first place and be the best. It’s OK to want to do big things, but only if they’re God’s big things and only if we do it God’s way. But the devil didn’t want Jesus to do things God’s way. He wanted to tempt Jesus to take the easy way. The devil took Jesus up to a really high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. He said, “Do you see that? That’s my kingdom out there, and I can give it to anyone I want to. You just have to do one little thing. Worship me, and you can have it all.” Take out the crown and put it on top of the box. Well, that’s whole reason Jesus had come to earth, to take the planet back from the devil to bring God’s Kingdom to earth. But it would be hard. Jesus would have to live a difficult life and eventually die on the cross. So the devil was offering Him the easy way out. He said he’d just give the world back to Jesus without a fight. Jesus wouldn’t have to die or anything. All Jesus had to do is bow down and worship the devil. But Jesus wouldn’t fall for it. Once again, He defeated temptation by remembering what God had said. Jesus stopped the devil with another Bible verse. He said, “Get out of here, Satan. The Bible says, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” Jesus had come to destroy the devil, not worship him. It was a slam-dunk right in the devil’s face! The devil had no choice but to turn around and run. Because Jesus is the Son of God, He has authority over the devil. Jesus is the King of the universe. His Father God owns everything. So when Jesus said, “Go!”, Satan had to go.
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Application The same goes for you and me. When we follow Jesus, we are kids of the King, and our Dad God owns everything. We have authority over the devil to say, “Get out here and leave us alone!” This week the devil probably won’t come to you and try to get you to make any doughnuts or act like a superhero like he did with Jesus, but you can bet that you will be tempted to give in to your appetite, approval, or ambition. The devil still uses the same tricks he tried to use against Jesus on people like you and me today When you’re tempted this week, remember our mystery question, “How can I defeat temptation?” The answer is by remembering what God says. So when you’re tempted this week, remember you don’t have to give in. Do like Jesus did and use God’s word to help you to do what’s right. Jesus obeyed God because He knew God loved Him and that God would help Him make the right choice. Our Bible verse this week is from James 4:7. It says, “So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you.” Let’s pray.
Prayer Dear God, You are our loving Dad. We are your kids. We know you have good things planned for us to do. When we’re tempted this week, help us to remember we’re a part of your family and that you’ll help us do what’s right. Amen
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GAME ON: LESSON 28 (Huddle)
Key Concept: We can beat temptation by remembering what God says
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Bible Story: Jesus tempted (Matthew 4)
Bible Verse: So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7-NIrV
3DM Principle: Covenant (Identity leads to obedience)
Large Group Overview: Kids will see how they can resist temptation by seeing how Jesus resisted Satan in the wilderness
Huddle Overview: Kids imitate each other and then discuss how they can imitate Jesus this week
Supplies
6 Lie Detector cards 6 White board or poster board 6 Marker 6 Bible verse cards
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Huddle Group Outline Welcome / Review questions
(5 min)
Activity 1
Memory Master
(5 min)
Activity 2
Lie Detector
(10 min)
Huddle Discussion
(10 min)
Bible Verse & Prayer
(5 min)
Welcome / Large Group Review Gather kids in a circle either on the floor or around a table. Welcome back to Huddle. I hope you’re having a mysterious time during this Mystery Man series.
6 Does anyone remember what our mystery is for today? (How can we beat temptation?)
6 Do you remember the answer? (by remembering what God says) 6 What does it mean to be tempted? 6 Do you guys remember the three temptations Jesus faced in today’s
story? (appetite — bread, approval— jump off the temple, ambition — the kingdoms of the world)
6 How did Jesus beat temptation (by remembering what God says, by using the Bible)
Huddle Activity 1: Memory Master The purpose of this activity is to introduce the topic of remembering what God says. How It Works: Go around the circle and have each child introduce himself/herself and say what his/her favorite animal is. Then kids will introduce each of the people who have already gone and say that child’s favorite animal too.
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Supplies:
6 White board or poster board (1 per group) 6 Marker Today we’re going to start with a fun game called Memory Master. We’re going to test your memory and see who has the best memory in our group. We’ll find out who the memory master is. Remember that we said that good detectives have to remember the details when they’re investigating a mystery. So we’re going to see how well you can remember some things about everyone in our Huddle. Here’s how it works: We’ll go around the circle and introduce ourselves and then say our favorite animals. I’ll start. Hi, my name is (say your name) and my favorite animal is (name your favorite animal). It sounds easy enough. But here’s where it gets tricky. You also will introduce the person who went before you and say that person’s favorite animal too. Choose the person to your left to go first. You get to go first. Say, “Hi, my name is… and my favorite animal is…” Kid introduces himself/herself and names his/her favorite animal. Now, you have to introduce me. Say, “This is my friend… and he/she likes…” Continue around the circle having kids say their names and favorite animals and introduce all of the people who went before them and their favorite animals too. If kids get stuck, give them a hint or have other kids help them. Wow, you guys have great memories. That’s awesome, because we can beat temptation by remembering what God says. Let me draw you a picture to show you how this works. Draw a triangle. We learn from Jesus that beating temptation always starts with God the Father. Write the letter F at the top of a triangle. This “F” stands for Father. It reminds us that God’s our Dad in heaven. Do you remember what Jesus did when the devil tempted Him? He reminded the devil of what God the Father had said. Jesus knew that His Father loved Him, and He knew that God’s way was always the best way to live.
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Write the letter I on the bottom right-hand corner of the triangle. This “I” stands for identity. Our Father God gives us a special identity as His kid. Think back to last week when we solved the mystery of Jesus’ secret identity when He was baptized by John the Baptist. Do you remember what God said about Jesus when He came up out of the water? He said, “This is my Son, whom I love. With Him I am well pleased.” When Jesus thought about the Father, He remembered that He was God’s Son. He knew God’s Son would never do the things the devil wanted Jesus to do. Write the letter O in the bottom left-hand corner of the triangle. This “O” stands for obedience. By remembering His identity as God’s kid, and by remembering what His Dad had said, Jesus obeyed God every single time. He beat temptation. He beat the devil. And you can too. (Point to the letter F) What does the “F” stand for? Kids answer. The F stands for God the Father. God wants to be your Dad in Heaven. When you choose to follow Jesus, you become a part of God’s royal family. You become a kid of the King. (Draw an arrow from the letter F to the letter I.) What does the “I” stand for? Kids answer. The I stands for your identity. Your special identity comes from the Father. When you become a part of God’s family, He gives you a new identity. As a kid of the King, you’re royalty. God says the same thing about you that He did about Jesus. “This is my kid, whom I love. With him or her I am well pleased!” God loves you no matter what you do or don’t do. (Draw an arrow from the letter I to the letter O.) What does the “O” stand for? Kids answer. The O stands for obedience. The secret to obeying God and to beating temptation and the devil is remembering what God said about who you are. You’re God’s kid. God’s kids don’t have to lie or be greedy with their stuff. God’s kids don’t have to make fun of people or always be first in line. God’s kids act like their Dad. They are loving and kind. They serve others.
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When we remember this, it becomes a lot easier to say no to tempting things that we know are wrong. We can’t just start by saying no. We can’t just try to be good. We have to always start with the Father and what He says about us and about how we should live.
Huddle Activity 2: Lie Detector The purpose of this activity is to help kids remember the truth of their identity in Christ. How It Works: Divide the kids in your Huddle into two teams. Choose one person from each team to face off each round. Play a Lie Detector Card on the floor between the two contestants and read it aloud. The first player to slap the card and correctly identify if it’s a truth or a lie gets to keep that card for his/her team. The team with the most cards at the end wins.
Supplies:
6 Lie Detector cards (1 deck per group) Now we’re going to play another game to help us remember what God says about us. This game is called Lie Detector. Good detectives know how to tell the difference between the truth and a lie. They know when someone’s lying to them. God wants us to remember our special identity as His kids, but the devil wants us to believe lies about ourselves so we’ll get discouraged and give in to temptation. But you guys are too smart for that! This stack of cards includes some true things that God says about our identity and some lies that the devil says about our identity.
’s neverYou’re You’ll od God G ’s kid . it right. ’re iget n u . Yo reat o c
I’m going to divide you guys into two teams. One player from each team will face off in each round. I’ll play a card between you and read it out loud. The first player who slaps the card and correctly says whether it’s the truth or a lie gets to keep the card for his/her team.
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Shuffle the Lie Detector cards thoroughly. Divide the group into two teams and choose the first two contestants. Play until you have completed the deck. Have each team count its cards and declare a winner. LIE DETECTOR CARDS Truth:
6 You’re God’s kid.
6 You’re forgiven.
6 You’re God’s special agent.
6 You have God’s power.
6 You’re God’s creation.
6 You’re one-of-a-kind.
6 God loves you.
6 God is pleased with you.
6 You’re a part of God’s family.
6 You’re a world-changer.
6 Jesus died for you. Lies:
6 You’re a loser.
6 You’re no good.
6 You’ll never get it right.
6 You’re bad.
6 You’re lame.
6 No one likes you.
6 You’re weird.
6 God is disappointed in you.
6 You’ll never be good enough.
Huddle Discussion Collect the Lie Detector cards and display all of the true ones face up. Look at all of the cool stuff God says about who you are. You have such a special identity as a kid of the King. So when you’re discouraged or tempted this week, I want you to remember what God says about you. Let’s read these cards together, but instead of saying “you,” change it to “I.” For example, I’m God’s kid. Let’s all say that together. Go through each of the cards and have the group read them aloud, personalizing each card.
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We’re going to go around our Huddle so that each of you can share which one of these true things about you encourages you the most. Encourage kids to share which truth encourages them the most today. Ask them how it makes them feel. God loves to talk to His kids and remind us of how special we are to Him. So when you’re tempted this week to do something you know you shouldn’t, remember how much your Dad in heaven loves you. Remember that you’re made to live as a kid of King.
Bible Verse Pass out Bible Verse cards. Today’s Bible verse comes from James 4:7. It says, “So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you.” Let’s all say it together. Have kids repeat the verse a few times. Try it loud. Try it in a whisper. Make it fun! Think about that. The Bible says when we stand up to the devil, he will run away from us! We don’t have to be scared of him because our Dad is the King of the Universe and gives us the power to beat him. Jesus didn’t have a Bible with Him in the desert or even a Bible verse card like this one. He stood up to the devil by remembering God’s word, so I’m going to challenge you guys to go home and memorize this verse this week. When you’re tempted, say it out loud, just like Jesus did, to beat temptation.
Prayer Take prayer requests. Write them down so that you can pray over them during the week. Take time to pray together as a group. Encourage kids to pray for each other during the group time. You may want to close with a prayer like the following one. God, thanks that we get to be Your kids. Please protect us from the devil and from temptation. When we’re tempted this week, please help us to remember that what You say about us is true and help us to remember Bible verses that will help us obey. Amen.
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Lesson 28 Huddle
BibleVerse Cards
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
LESSON 28 (Family)
Beating Temptation Today I Learned: We can beat temptation by remembering what God says |||||
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Bible Story: Jesus tempted (Matthew 4)
Family Challenge Have a family ID scavenger hunt. Get together as a family and collect as many forms of identification as you can: driver’s licenses, school IDs, etc. Talk about how these ID cards prove who you really are. Now make a “God’s kid” ID badge for everyone in your family (grownups too). Glue a picture of the family member on an index card and write words that reflect their identity in Christ (God’s kid, loved, forgiven, free, secure, holy, etc.). Talk about how remembering that we are God’s kids helps us to do what’s right.
* Act • Account •
• Observe Learning Culture
Plan •
• Reflect • Discuss
* The four questions you are asking are ways of figuring out what your kids’ Kairos moment was
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Dinnertime Discussion At dinnertime this week, ask one of these questions to get your family talking. 1. What was the best part of your day? 2. What was the hardest part of your day? 3. When did you face the most temptation today? 4. If you could have a do-over today, what would you do differently? Remind kids that God’s love and grace gives us a fresh start each day and that our bad choices don’t change our identity as God’s kids. Help your kids this week to look up and memorize a Bible verse that helps them deal with any specific temptation they are facing.
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Mystery Man
E
veryone loves a good mystery — investigating the evidence, gathering clues, and finally discovering the answer they’ve been looking for all along. In this detective-themed series, kids will meet the original Mystery Man, Jesus, and see how he holds the answers to life’s greatest problems. In Jesus the great mystery of God’s love is revealed at last. The Mystery Man unit is all about knowing Jesus and following Him. In this series, kids will pick up their magnifying glasses and begin their investigation of the first great stories from the New Testament about the life and early ministry of Jesus. Kids will discover why Jesus came to earth and how He restored our Covenant relationship with God and Kingdom responsibility for God. They will see how Jesus beat temptation in the desert by remembering what God had said about Him, and they will learn what it means to follow Jesus and share Him with the people of peace God sends their way.
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GAME ON: LESSON 28 (Large Group)
Key Concept: We can beat temptation by remembering what God says
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Bible Story: Jesus tempted (Matthew 4)
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Bible Verse: So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7-NIrV
3DM Principle: Covenant (Identity leads to obedience)
Large Group Overview: Kids will see how they can resist temptation by seeing how Jesus resisted Satan in the wilderness
Huddle Overview: Kids imitate each other and then discuss how they can imitate Jesus this week
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9 10
Lesson Outline
12 1
2
11
Opening Activity
The Mystery of the Missing Evidence
(5 min)
Bible Story
Jesus tempted
(15 min)
Application & Bible Verse
(5 min)
Prayer
(5 min)
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Pre-Lesson Setup Choose a child in advance to be the Code-breaker for the day. Choose one of the earliest kids to arrive so that the kid can get to work decoding the day’s mystery. Give this kid today’s mystery code and the decoder sheet. Have the kid place the solved mystery code in the clue envelope after he/she has solved it. If you can, give him/her a Sherlock Holmes-style deerstalker cap and a magnifying glass. Tell the Code-breaker that you will ask him/her to bring up the sealed clue envelope with the solved mystery code early in the lesson. Make sure to get the cap and magnifying glass back to give to next week’s Code-breaker. Today’s mystery is “How can we beat temptation?” Welcome back to another week of Kairos Quest and our Mystery Man series. Last week we discovered Jesus’ special secret identity as the Messiah, the Son of God who came to save the world. It was a big mystery at first because no one knew who Jesus was, but then God revealed His identity the day Jesus was baptized. Today we’re going to see that soon after that, Jesus faced His first big challenge. But before we get to that, I have a special detective challenge for you.
Opening Activity: The Mystery of the Missing Evidence The purpose of today’s activity is to introduce the idea of remembering important things.
Instructions
How To Play: Place miscellaneous objects on tray and cover the tray with fabric. Bring up a boy and a girl and give them 30 seconds to study the objects. Then have the contestants close their eyes while you remove three objects from the tray. The contestants will then write down which three objects they think are missing in their notebooks.
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Supplies:
6 Tray 6 20 miscellaneous, small objects for the evidence tray (these can be anything — comb, pen, seashell, coin, gum, etc.)
6 Fabric to cover tray 6 Two small clue notebooks (spiral-bound flip notebooks will look best)
6 Two pens 6 Bag We’re going to play a game today called The Mystery of the Missing Evidence. How many of you guys think you have a good memory? Good detectives have great memories. When a crime is committed, detectives examine all the evidence and clues to help them solve the mystery. That’s what we’re doing today. This tray is full of top-secret evidence. I need a couple of detectives to come up and help me investigate it. Choose two detectives, one boy and one girl, and bring them to the stage. Hand each of them a small notebook and pen. Here’s how the game works. We have to examine this tray of evidence to solve our next big case. There are 20 objects on this tray. I’m going to give you 30 seconds to try to memorize all the objects on the tray. Then, while you’re not looking, I’m going to remove three objects. Your job is to see if you can figure out what evidence is missing and write those three things in your clue notebook. Do you think you can do it? Kids answer. You can’t write anything down until I tell you to. Get ready. Here is the evidence. Pull fabric off of evidence tray. Let kids examine the evidence for 30 seconds. Your thirty seconds are up. Now, you need to close your eyes while I take away some of the evidence. Kids close their eyes. Turn your back to them, remove three items from the tray, and place those three items in a bag where they can’t be seen. All right, guys. The evidence tray is ready. You can open your eyes. Examine the evidence and write down the three objects you think are missing. Don’t say anything — just write the three things down.
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Give kids time to write down their answers. After both contestants have written down three things, ask them to share their answers with the group as a whole. Now let’s see how you did. Here are the three missing objects. Pull the three objects out of bag and compare them against the kids’ answers. Thank the kids for playing and send them back to their seats. Great job guys. That game can be pretty tough. But it goes to show us that remembering important things is an important part of being a detective, and it’s an even more important part of following Jesus. Let me show you what I mean. Last week we saw Jesus begin His amazing mission to save the world. But along the way, He faced a powerful enemy. Jesus came to bring God’s kingdom to earth, but God’s enemy the devil wanted to be king of the earth himself. So he tried to stop Jesus any way he could. In today’s story, the devil used a very dangerous weapon called temptation against Jesus. Who knows what temptation is? Kids answer. Temptation is when we know the right thing to do but start thinking about making the wrong choice instead. For example, imagine that you see a kid at school drop some money, but he doesn’t know he dropped it. You could pick it up and keep it for yourself and no one would ever know. Or maybe your mom tells you not to eat anything before dinner, but you start thinking about sneaking some cookies when she’s not looking. Or maybe you have a friend who’s doing something you know you shouldn’t do, but you’re thinking of doing it just to impress your friend. That’s temptation. That’s decision time. In moments like these, you have to decide if you’re going to take the easy way out or if you’re going to do things God’s way. That brings us to today’s mystery. Where’s my Codebreaker? I need the Code-breaker who I picked before the lesson to bring me today’s mystery. The Code-breaker brings up the solved mystery code in the clue envelope. Thanks, Code-breaker. Let’s see how you did. Open envelope and read today’s mystery. Today’s mystery question is “How can you beat temptation?” The answer is that we can beat temptation by remembering what God says.
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Bible Story
Set the teaching area with three boxes wrapped in silver or gold wrapping paper. They should either have no lid or a removable lid that’s wrapped separately so that the lid can be removed without unwrapping the present. Place the following objects inside the box before the lesson:
Box 1 — A box of fresh doughnuts
Box 2 — A smiley-face sign
Box 3 — A plastic crown
Last week we saw that, even though Adam and Eve had messed everything up, God had sent His mystery man into the world to fix the sin problem. Who was the mystery man? Kids answer. No one knew at first, but yes, the mystery man turned out to be Jesus, the Son of God. Just before Jesus started His mission to save the world, God wanted to do one more thing to get Him ready. The Bible says that God’s Spirit sent Jesus out into the desert. While He was there, the devil appeared to Jesus to try to get tempt Him to disobey God. But Jesus knew that if you want to beat temptation, you have to remember what God says. It wasn’t easy, though. First the devil tempted Jesus with His appetite. Hold up Box #1: Doughnuts The Bible says that Jesus hadn’t eaten in 40 days. Forty days! Think about how long that is. That’s more than a month. Jesus had been fasting. Fasting is when you give up something for a while to help you think more about God. The Bible says that after 40 days, Jesus was hungry. I bet He was. If you hadn’t eaten in 40 days, you’d be totally starving and weak. Take out the doughnuts and place them on top of the box.
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Have you ever been really hungry? Just imagine that you hadn’t eaten all day and then you walked in and saw this box of doughnuts sitting on your kitchen table. Would you be tempted to eat one? What if you hadn’t eaten in a whole week? How good would these doughnuts look then? What if it was a month? Is there any way you could resist a hot, fresh box of doughnuts if you hadn’t eaten in a month? After Jesus had gone 40 days without eating, the devil came to Jesus and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” There weren’t any doughnuts out in the desert, but there might as well have been. Think about it. Jesus is the Son of God. He can do anything. With the snap of His fingers, Jesus could have turned the rocks to bread or doughnuts or pizza or whatever He wanted and just stuffed His face. But Jesus wouldn’t fall for it. He remembered who He was. He was God’s Son, and He loved His Dad God way more than He loved food. So instead of turning the rocks to bread, Jesus used a Bible verse to fight the devil. He remembered what God had said in the Bible. Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” In other words Jesus was saying to the devil, nothing – not even food — is more important than obeying God. Hold up Box #2: Smiley-face sign. Then the devil tried again. This time he tried to tempt Jesus with the approval of others. You know how that goes. Sometimes we’re tempted to do dumb things just to get other people to like us. The Bible says that the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem up to the highest part of the temple. That’s the special place where people in Jesus’ day went to worship God. Again, the devil questioned who Jesus was. He said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. Just jump because the Bible says God will send His angels to save you. “ Take out the smiley-face sign and place it on top of the box. The devil wanted Jesus to show off and let everyone see how special He is. If Jesus had jumped off the temple and an angel had swooped in and carried Him to the ground, it would have been incredible. He would be like a superhero, and everyone would see that He was amazing.
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But Jesus wouldn’t fall for it. Jesus beat temptation by remembering what God had said. He used a Bible verse again to fight back the devil. He said, “It’s written in Bible, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” In other words, “No way, devil. I’m obeying my Dad.” Jesus knew God hadn’t sent Him to earth to show off. Jesus loved His Dad more than He loved getting attention from others. But the devil still wasn’t done. Hold up Box #3: Crown This time the devil didn’t tempt Jesus with appetite or approval. This time he tempted Jesus with ambition. Ambition is that the thing inside of us that wants to do big things. It’s that part of us that always wants to come in first place and be the best. It’s OK to want to do big things, but only if they’re God’s big things and only if we do it God’s way. But the devil didn’t want Jesus to do things God’s way. He wanted to tempt Jesus to take the easy way. The devil took Jesus up to a really high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. He said, “Do you see that? That’s my kingdom out there, and I can give it to anyone I want to. You just have to do one little thing. Worship me, and you can have it all.” Take out the crown and put it on top of the box. Well, that’s whole reason Jesus had come to earth, to take the planet back from the devil to bring God’s Kingdom to earth. But it would be hard. Jesus would have to live a difficult life and eventually die on the cross. So the devil was offering Him the easy way out. He said he’d just give the world back to Jesus without a fight. Jesus wouldn’t have to die or anything. All Jesus had to do is bow down and worship the devil. But Jesus wouldn’t fall for it. Once again, He defeated temptation by remembering what God had said. Jesus stopped the devil with another Bible verse. He said, “Get out of here, Satan. The Bible says, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” Jesus had come to destroy the devil, not worship him. It was a slam-dunk right in the devil’s face! The devil had no choice but to turn around and run. Because Jesus is the Son of God, He has authority over the devil. Jesus is the King of the universe. His Father God owns everything. So when Jesus said, “Go!”, Satan had to go.
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Application The same goes for you and me. When we follow Jesus, we are kids of the King, and our Dad God owns everything. We have authority over the devil to say, “Get out here and leave us alone!” This week the devil probably won’t come to you and try to get you to make any doughnuts or act like a superhero like he did with Jesus, but you can bet that you will be tempted to give in to your appetite, approval, or ambition. The devil still uses the same tricks he tried to use against Jesus on people like you and me today When you’re tempted this week, remember our mystery question, “How can I defeat temptation?” The answer is by remembering what God says. So when you’re tempted this week, remember you don’t have to give in. Do like Jesus did and use God’s word to help you to do what’s right. Jesus obeyed God because He knew God loved Him and that God would help Him make the right choice. Our Bible verse this week is from James 4:7. It says, “So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you.” Let’s pray.
Prayer Dear God, You are our loving Dad. We are your kids. We know you have good things planned for us to do. When we’re tempted this week, help us to remember we’re a part of your family and that you’ll help us do what’s right. Amen
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GAME ON: LESSON 28 (Huddle)
Key Concept: We can beat temptation by remembering what God says
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Bible Story: Jesus tempted (Matthew 4)
Bible Verse: So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7-NIrV
3DM Principle: Covenant (Identity leads to obedience)
Large Group Overview: Kids will see how they can resist temptation by seeing how Jesus resisted Satan in the wilderness
Huddle Overview: Kids imitate each other and then discuss how they can imitate Jesus this week
Supplies
6 Lie Detector cards 6 White board or poster board 6 Marker 6 Bible verse cards
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Huddle Group Outline Welcome / Review questions
(5 min)
Activity 1
Memory Master
(5 min)
Activity 2
Lie Detector
(10 min)
Huddle Discussion
(10 min)
Bible Verse & Prayer
(5 min)
Welcome / Large Group Review Gather kids in a circle either on the floor or around a table. Welcome back to Huddle. I hope you’re having a mysterious time during this Mystery Man series.
6 Does anyone remember what our mystery is for today? (How can we beat temptation?)
6 Do you remember the answer? (by remembering what God says) 6 What does it mean to be tempted? 6 Do you guys remember the three temptations Jesus faced in today’s
story? (appetite — bread, approval— jump off the temple, ambition — the kingdoms of the world)
6 How did Jesus beat temptation (by remembering what God says, by using the Bible)
Huddle Activity 1: Memory Master The purpose of this activity is to introduce the topic of remembering what God says. How It Works: Go around the circle and have each child introduce himself/herself and say what his/her favorite animal is. Then kids will introduce each of the people who have already gone and say that child’s favorite animal too.
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Supplies:
6 White board or poster board (1 per group) 6 Marker Today we’re going to start with a fun game called Memory Master. We’re going to test your memory and see who has the best memory in our group. We’ll find out who the memory master is. Remember that we said that good detectives have to remember the details when they’re investigating a mystery. So we’re going to see how well you can remember some things about everyone in our Huddle. Here’s how it works: We’ll go around the circle and introduce ourselves and then say our favorite animals. I’ll start. Hi, my name is (say your name) and my favorite animal is (name your favorite animal). It sounds easy enough. But here’s where it gets tricky. You also will introduce the person who went before you and say that person’s favorite animal too. Choose the person to your left to go first. You get to go first. Say, “Hi, my name is… and my favorite animal is…” Kid introduces himself/herself and names his/her favorite animal. Now, you have to introduce me. Say, “This is my friend… and he/she likes…” Continue around the circle having kids say their names and favorite animals and introduce all of the people who went before them and their favorite animals too. If kids get stuck, give them a hint or have other kids help them. Wow, you guys have great memories. That’s awesome, because we can beat temptation by remembering what God says. Let me draw you a picture to show you how this works. Draw a triangle. We learn from Jesus that beating temptation always starts with God the Father. Write the letter F at the top of a triangle. This “F” stands for Father. It reminds us that God’s our Dad in heaven. Do you remember what Jesus did when the devil tempted Him? He reminded the devil of what God the Father had said. Jesus knew that His Father loved Him, and He knew that God’s way was always the best way to live.
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Write the letter I on the bottom right-hand corner of the triangle. This “I” stands for identity. Our Father God gives us a special identity as His kid. Think back to last week when we solved the mystery of Jesus’ secret identity when He was baptized by John the Baptist. Do you remember what God said about Jesus when He came up out of the water? He said, “This is my Son, whom I love. With Him I am well pleased.” When Jesus thought about the Father, He remembered that He was God’s Son. He knew God’s Son would never do the things the devil wanted Jesus to do. Write the letter O in the bottom left-hand corner of the triangle. This “O” stands for obedience. By remembering His identity as God’s kid, and by remembering what His Dad had said, Jesus obeyed God every single time. He beat temptation. He beat the devil. And you can too. (Point to the letter F) What does the “F” stand for? Kids answer. The F stands for God the Father. God wants to be your Dad in Heaven. When you choose to follow Jesus, you become a part of God’s royal family. You become a kid of the King. (Draw an arrow from the letter F to the letter I.) What does the “I” stand for? Kids answer. The I stands for your identity. Your special identity comes from the Father. When you become a part of God’s family, He gives you a new identity. As a kid of the King, you’re royalty. God says the same thing about you that He did about Jesus. “This is my kid, whom I love. With him or her I am well pleased!” God loves you no matter what you do or don’t do. (Draw an arrow from the letter I to the letter O.) What does the “O” stand for? Kids answer. The O stands for obedience. The secret to obeying God and to beating temptation and the devil is remembering what God said about who you are. You’re God’s kid. God’s kids don’t have to lie or be greedy with their stuff. God’s kids don’t have to make fun of people or always be first in line. God’s kids act like their Dad. They are loving and kind. They serve others.
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When we remember this, it becomes a lot easier to say no to tempting things that we know are wrong. We can’t just start by saying no. We can’t just try to be good. We have to always start with the Father and what He says about us and about how we should live.
Huddle Activity 2: Lie Detector The purpose of this activity is to help kids remember the truth of their identity in Christ. How It Works: Divide the kids in your Huddle into two teams. Choose one person from each team to face off each round. Play a Lie Detector Card on the floor between the two contestants and read it aloud. The first player to slap the card and correctly identify if it’s a truth or a lie gets to keep that card for his/her team. The team with the most cards at the end wins.
Supplies:
6 Lie Detector cards (1 deck per group) Now we’re going to play another game to help us remember what God says about us. This game is called Lie Detector. Good detectives know how to tell the difference between the truth and a lie. They know when someone’s lying to them. God wants us to remember our special identity as His kids, but the devil wants us to believe lies about ourselves so we’ll get discouraged and give in to temptation. But you guys are too smart for that! This stack of cards includes some true things that God says about our identity and some lies that the devil says about our identity.
’s neverYou’re You’ll od God G ’s kid . it right. ’re iget n u . Yo reat o c
I’m going to divide you guys into two teams. One player from each team will face off in each round. I’ll play a card between you and read it out loud. The first player who slaps the card and correctly says whether it’s the truth or a lie gets to keep the card for his/her team.
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Shuffle the Lie Detector cards thoroughly. Divide the group into two teams and choose the first two contestants. Play until you have completed the deck. Have each team count its cards and declare a winner. LIE DETECTOR CARDS Truth:
6 You’re God’s kid.
6 You’re forgiven.
6 You’re God’s special agent.
6 You have God’s power.
6 You’re God’s creation.
6 You’re one-of-a-kind.
6 God loves you.
6 God is pleased with you.
6 You’re a part of God’s family.
6 You’re a world-changer.
6 Jesus died for you. Lies:
6 You’re a loser.
6 You’re no good.
6 You’ll never get it right.
6 You’re bad.
6 You’re lame.
6 No one likes you.
6 You’re weird.
6 God is disappointed in you.
6 You’ll never be good enough.
Huddle Discussion Collect the Lie Detector cards and display all of the true ones face up. Look at all of the cool stuff God says about who you are. You have such a special identity as a kid of the King. So when you’re discouraged or tempted this week, I want you to remember what God says about you. Let’s read these cards together, but instead of saying “you,” change it to “I.” For example, I’m God’s kid. Let’s all say that together. Go through each of the cards and have the group read them aloud, personalizing each card.
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We’re going to go around our Huddle so that each of you can share which one of these true things about you encourages you the most. Encourage kids to share which truth encourages them the most today. Ask them how it makes them feel. God loves to talk to His kids and remind us of how special we are to Him. So when you’re tempted this week to do something you know you shouldn’t, remember how much your Dad in heaven loves you. Remember that you’re made to live as a kid of King.
Bible Verse Pass out Bible Verse cards. Today’s Bible verse comes from James 4:7. It says, “So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you.” Let’s all say it together. Have kids repeat the verse a few times. Try it loud. Try it in a whisper. Make it fun! Think about that. The Bible says when we stand up to the devil, he will run away from us! We don’t have to be scared of him because our Dad is the King of the Universe and gives us the power to beat him. Jesus didn’t have a Bible with Him in the desert or even a Bible verse card like this one. He stood up to the devil by remembering God’s word, so I’m going to challenge you guys to go home and memorize this verse this week. When you’re tempted, say it out loud, just like Jesus did, to beat temptation.
Prayer Take prayer requests. Write them down so that you can pray over them during the week. Take time to pray together as a group. Encourage kids to pray for each other during the group time. You may want to close with a prayer like the following one. God, thanks that we get to be Your kids. Please protect us from the devil and from temptation. When we’re tempted this week, please help us to remember that what You say about us is true and help us to remember Bible verses that will help us obey. Amen.
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Lesson 28 Huddle
BibleVerse Cards
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He will run away from you. — James 4:7 (NIrV)
LESSON 28 (Family)
Beating Temptation Today I Learned: We can beat temptation by remembering what God says |||||
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Bible Story: Jesus tempted (Matthew 4)
Family Challenge Have a family ID scavenger hunt. Get together as a family and collect as many forms of identification as you can: driver’s licenses, school IDs, etc. Talk about how these ID cards prove who you really are. Now make a “God’s kid” ID badge for everyone in your family (grownups too). Glue a picture of the family member on an index card and write words that reflect their identity in Christ (God’s kid, loved, forgiven, free, secure, holy, etc.). Talk about how remembering that we are God’s kids helps us to do what’s right.
* Act • Account •
• Observe Learning Culture
Plan •
• Reflect • Discuss
* The four questions you are asking are ways of figuring out what your kids’ Kairos moment was
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Dinnertime Discussion At dinnertime this week, ask one of these questions to get your family talking. 1. What was the best part of your day? 2. What was the hardest part of your day? 3. When did you face the most temptation today? 4. If you could have a do-over today, what would you do differently? Remind kids that God’s love and grace gives us a fresh start each day and that our bad choices don’t change our identity as God’s kids. Help your kids this week to look up and memorize a Bible verse that helps them deal with any specific temptation they are facing.
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