Mystery Man
Unit 7 Summary:
Mystery Man
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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 30 (Large Group)
Key Concept: God will send me to people who are ready to hear about Jesus
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Bible Story: Jesus sends out the disciples (Luke 10:1-10)
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Bible Verse: “Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people. — Matthew 4:19
3DM Principle: Person of Peace
Large Group Overview: Kids will see how Jesus sent out the 72 to look for People of Peace and will learn how to identify People of Peace in their own lives
Huddle Overview: Kids will play a game that will help them understand that they have to listen to God to identify the People of Peace in their lives
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Lesson Outline Game
The Unusual Suspects
(5 min)
Bible Story
Jesus sends out the disciples
(15 min)
Application
People of Peace Detector
(5 min)
Prayer
(1 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. Today’s mystery is “Who will I tell about Jesus?” Welcome back to Kairos Quest. For the past few weeks, we’ve been solving some pretty cool mysteries. By this time, I think it’s safe to say that all of us are becoming world-class detectives. But today we’re going to work on one more special detective skill — recognizing suspicious characters.
Opening Activity: The Unusual Suspects The purpose of this activity is to introduce the idea of looking for people in disguise, which will set up the concept of identifying People of Peace. Instructions How To Play: Show kids pictures of celebrities in disguise and have them guess who the celebrities are. Supplies:
6 Five pictures of celebrities the kids would likely recognize (such
as Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Tim Tebow, or other more current popular celebrities) — Get two identical copies of each picture. One copy should be doctored up with a ridiculous disguise such as a silly moustache, glasses, funny teeth, or wild hair. The other copy should be normal. If you have projection capabilities, you can show these pictures via whatever media program you use. If you’re going low tech, print out the pictures and mount them to foam board or poster board. For some extra fun, make the last picture you or another leader in the church that the kids will know well.
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Today we’re going to play a game called The Unusual Suspects. Here’s how it works: You will see some pictures of people that may look a little familiar. However, these suspects are wearing a tricky disguise. I’m going to hold up pictures and see if you can tell who these suspicious characters are. Show kids pictures of disguised celebrities one at a time and encourage them to shout out who they think the celebrity is. Then reveal the undisguised picture to unveil the answer. Continue until you’ve gone through all five pictures.
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Bible Story
Set up the teaching area by putting your homemade Person of Peace Detector on a stool and concealing it under fabric. The detector should look like a crazy gadget — the wackier the better. For example, you could take silver duct tape and tape a couple of remote controls and a flashlight together along with some random wires sticking out. Be creative and silly and have fun with it. Sometimes it can be tough for a detective to recognize a suspicious character, especially if he is wearing a disguise. But today we’re going to talk about something that can be a whole lot trickier, and that’s recognizing the people in our lives who are ready to hear the good news about Jesus. The world is full of people who want and need to hear how much God loves them, and the Bible tells us exactly how to identify who they are. Before we go any further, though, I need today’s Code-breaker to bring me the clue envelope. Get the Code-breaker to bring up the clue envelope and then have a seat. Have kids clap for the Code-breaker and then open the clue envelope to read the decoded mystery phrase. Today’s mystery question is, “Who will I tell about Jesus?” Today we’re going to find out.
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When we have exciting news, we just naturally want to tell people about it. Imagine if you won a big soccer match and you scored the winning goal. You’d want to tell everyone about it! Imagine if you got an amazing new bike for your birthday. Again, you’d want to tell everyone about it. What if you got to go on a really cool vacation to a place like Walt Disney World? You’d want to tell everyone about it. The same thing happens when we become friends with Jesus. When we ask Jesus to be our Savior and forgive us, it’s awesome. Not only does He wipe away all the bad things we’ve done, and not only do we become kids of the King and get to live in heaven some day, but we also get to go on an adventure with God here and now every day of our lives. Of course we want to tell people about it so they become a part of God’s family too. The mystery, however, is who we should tell about Jesus. The truth is that not everyone around us is ready to hear about Jesus yet. God has to get people ready so they’ll want to listen when we do tell them about God’s love. For the answer to this mystery, we need to go back to that original mystery man, Jesus, and see what His plan was for telling people about God’s love. We call Him the mystery man because He has the answer to all of life’s mysteries. If you want to know how to live life God’s way, just look at the life of Jesus.
Huh? What is Jesus talking about here? It sounds like another mystery! But Jesus was just saying that wherever the disciples went, they were to show God’s love to people. He told them to heal people and to tell them about God’s kingdom. Some of those people would be what Jesus called People of Peace. Everybody say, “People of Peace.” Kids repeat.
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Let’s see what the Bible says. In Luke 10 it says Jesus picked 72 of his disciples and broke them into pairs so that everyone had a buddy. Then He sent them these disciples out with their buddies to all the towns He was about to visit. Jesus said, “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.”
This just means that People of Peace would welcome the disciples and would be excited to hear what the disciples had to say about God. Other people wouldn’t be so excited. Jesus said that’s OK. Just leave those people alone and look for people who are ready to hear about God. Jesus said People of Peace are really easy to find. People of Peace are the people who like you and who want to hang out with you. They may even invite you to stay for dinner! Why do they do this? It’s because God has been speaking to their hearts, and they have been waiting for someone like you to come along and show them God’s love and tell them about Him.
Bible Verse Today’s Bible verse tells us just what Jesus wants us to do. We heard the first part of this last week. Does anyone remember last week’s Bible verse? Kids answer. Today’s Bible verse tells us the rest of the story. Matthew 4:19 says, “‘Come, follow,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’” Do you think we fish for people with a fishing pole or a net? No, we go act like Jesus and keep our eyes open for People of Peace who are ready to hear more about Him.
Application God makes it easy to tell others about His love. In fact, He starts working on people way before we even know it, getting them ready to hear the good news that Jesus loves them and wants them be a part of His family. Our main job is to walk through life with our eyes open and our ears listening to God as he reveals to us the People of Peace He has prepared. So right now we’re going to practice searching for some People of Peace who are ready to hear about Jesus. For that, we’re going to need our handy-dandy People of Peace Detector. Reveal the People of Peace Detector dramatically to the kids. Show off all the features, making fun of yourself as you do.
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In just a minute, I’m going to need some help to try this thing out, but first you need to know how it works. I’m going to bring up some of my friends, and we’re going to pretend that they may or may not be a Person of Peace. If you think that someone is a Person of Peace, when I hold the detector by him or her, I want you to make a beeping sound for the detector. Let’s practice. Hold up the People of Peace Detector and encourage all of the kids to make a beeping sound along with you. Now if you don’t think someone is a Person of Peace, I want you to make a buzzer sound when I hold the detector by him or her. Let’s try it. Hold up the People of Peace Detector and encourage all of the kids to make a buzzer sound along with you. It sounds like you guys are ready. Remember, a Person of Peace is anyone who is ready to hear the message of the Kingdom and the King. A Person of Peace…
6 Welcomes you. 6 Listens to you. 6 Maybe even serves or supports you in some way. These are the three things you’re going to look for to pick out our mysterious People of Peace. Let’s bring up our five contestants. Choose five older children who are fairly good readers. Line them up beside each other facing the rest of the kids. Hand each a card with one of the following situations. Have each kid read his/her assigned situation and then say, “Let’s see what the People of Peace Detector says.” Wave the detector around the kid, encouraging the other kids to either beep or buzz depending on whether they think this is a Person of Peace. If kids don’t play along, say something like, “Hey, is this thing on? It isn’t working. It’s supposed to be beeping or buzzing right now.” Situation #1: There’s a kid in your class who you know doesn’t go to church, but when her grandma gets sick, she asks you to pray for her. Could this be a Person of Peace?
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Situation #2: You invite some kids from school to come to a fun carnival event your church is doing. Three of them say yes, but one kid says, “Why would I want to go to a dumb carnival? Sounds boring.” Could this be a Person of Peace? Situation #3: Everyone on your soccer team keeps whining and complaining because your team is behind, but you keep trying to do your best and encourage everyone. After the game, a kid on your team thanks you for keeping it fun. Could this be a Person of Peace? Situation #4: A boy in your class is kind of a bully. When he saw a cross you had clipped on your backpack, he made fun of it and asked if you were trying to scare away vampires. When you told him it reminded you of Jesus, he said it was dumb. Could this be a Person of Peace? Situation #5: A girl in your class just got braces. Everyone else makes fun of her, but you say they look kind of cool. Later she thanks you for being kind and offers you part of her candy bar. Could this be a Person of Peace? Thank the volunteers for coming up and have them return to their seats. If you have an appropriate personal story about God helping you connect with a Person of Peace (or before you were a believer, how you were a Person of Peace to someone else), share it briefly with the kids.
Prayer In real life we don’t get to a use a People of Peace Detector. In real life we just ask God to show us who is ready to hear about Him. We also ask God each day, “God, bring someone to me today and help me say Your words to them.” Let’s pray that prayer together. Repeat after me. God, Please bring someone to me today and help me say Your words to them. Amen
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GAME ON: LESSON 30 (Huddle)
Key Concept: God will send me to people who are ready to hear about Jesus
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Bible Story: Jesus sends out the disciples (Luke 10:1-10)
Bible Verse: “Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people. — Matthew 4:19
3DM Principle: Person of Peace
Large Group Overview: Kids will see how Jesus sent out the 72 to look for People of Peace and will learn how to identify People of Peace in their own lives
Huddle Overview: Kids will play a game that will help them understand that they have to listen to God to identify the People of Peace in their lives
Supplies
6 Wind-up egg timer (one per group) 6 Blindfold (one per group) 6 The Places You Will Go worksheet (one per child and one for the Huddle leader)
6 Bible verse cards (one per child)
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Huddle Group Outline Welcome / Review questions
(5 min)
Activity
(5 min)
Missing Persons
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. We’re going to have an awesome time today talking about People of Peace.
6 Do you remember the last time someone told you some really good news? What was it?
6 What’s the good news that we can tell people about God and His Son? (That God loves us, that He wants us to be a part of His family, that He sent Jesus to die for us so we can become one of God’s kids, etc.)
6 Does anyone remember a Person of Peace is? (someone God sends to us who is ready to hear about Him)
6 What did Jesus tell the disciples a Person of Peace would do for them? (welcome them, listen to them, help or serve them)
Huddle Activity: Missing Persons The purpose of this activity is to help kids understand that they need to listen to God to identify the People of Peace in their lives.
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How It Works: Blindfold a volunteer and let him/her search for a ticking egg timer by listening for its sound. Spread out your circle of kids so that you have plenty of room to play. Bring your first volunteer up, seat him/her in the middle of the circle, and blindfold him/her. Make sure the blindfold isn’t too tight and that it prevents the contestant from seeing. Instruct the other kids to remain perfectly silent. Tell them that the quietest kid in the room gets to be the next detective. Wind the egg timer and place it somewhere in the circle. Then tell the blindfolded contestant, “Detective, find that missing person!” Let the contestant crawl around until he/she finds the timer. Then choose the next child who wants to find the timer. If the timer goes off before the contestant finds it, move on to the next child. Continue playing until all of the kids who want to be the detective get the chance to play.
Supplies
6 Wind-up egg timer
(the kind that ticks)
6 Blindfold
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Good detectives are great at finding missing people. We’re going to pretend like this egg timer is a missing person. I’m going to set it somewhere on the floor, and all you have to do is find it. The trick is that you’re going to be blindfolded. So you’re going to have to listen very closely to the ticking timer to find the missing person. Let’s spread out our circle so we have plenty of room to hide the missing person. Who wants to be our first detective? Play the game until everyone who wants to play has the chance to find the egg timer.
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Today we saw that God wants us to show His love to others and tell others about Him and that we have to learn to listen to God to figure out who is ready to hear about His love. We’re going to play a game called Missing Persons to help us think about listening to God.
Was that hard or easy? What it made it hard? What made it easy? Kids answer. Did you notice that, when you got really quiet and listened closely, it was obvious where the timer was? It’s the same way in our own lives. When we learn to listen to God and pay attention to people He brings our way, it will be obvious whom He wants us to tell about Him. Remember, Jesus told the disciples that people who are ready to hear about God will:
6 Welcome them. 6 Listen to them. 6 Help or serve them in some way. In other words, our job is just to look for people who like us, who want to hang out with us, and who connect with us in some way. When people like that show up, we can say, “Hey, there’s a God who loves you and He wants you to be a part of His family and do some really cool things with Him.”
Huddle Discussion Instructions How It Works: This discussion is structured to help kids examine the different spheres of their relationships so they can identify potential People of Peace. The Huddle Leader and each of the kids will have a worksheet with a picture of a house, school, and the earth on it. The Huddle Leader will use this worksheet to get kids thinking about the people they’re around in each of these places. Kids will have the opportunity to write the names or (for younger kids) draw pictures of some of the people in these different places.
Supplies
6 The Places You Will Go Worksheet (one per child and one for the Huddle leader)
6 Writing utensil or drawing supplies for each child
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Places You Will The Go !
Pass out The Places You Will Go worksheet to the kids and keep one copy for yourself. Check out this paper. It has three pictures on it to remind us of all the places we go in a week. Point to the house picture. What is this? Kids answer. This is our house. I want you to think about the people who live in your house. Then think about your neighbors and the people on your street or your block. Write down the name of some of those people on your house picture. If younger kids can’t write, encourage them to draw a picture instead. Let’s look at the next one. Point to the school picture. What is this? Kids answer. This is your school. Most of us meet a lot of people at school. Think of all the kids in your class, your teacher, and others who work at school. Write down the names of some of those people on your school picture. Give kids time to write or draw. Here’s the last one. Point to the earth picture. What is this? Kids answer. It’s the whole planet. This picture reminds us of everywhere we might go outside of our house or school. Where are some of the places you go each week other than home or school? Kids answer. Take a few minutes and think about some of the people you might see in those places. Write their names down too. Give kids time to write or draw. Now, look at your papers. Some of the people whose names you wrote down might be People of Peace for you. They might be someone whom God has been getting ready for you to tell them about His love. Is there anyone on that sheet who may not know Jesus? Are any of them people who welcome you, listen to you, or have helped you in some way? If so, take a minute this week to tell them God loves them and wants to be their friend. Who knows? Someday these people may start to follow Jesus, all because you took the time to tell them about God’s love. Let’s pray together and ask God if one of these people is ready to hear about Jesus this week. Lead kids in a time of prayer, such as the following one: God, we love You and want to share Your love with everyone we can. Please show us who in our lives is
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ready to hear about You. Is there someone on our worksheet or someone else You want us to tell about You? If there is, please help us to think about their name right now. We love you. Amen. What do you think? Is there someone on your worksheet God wants you to tell about Him this week? Encourage any kids who want to share their answer to speak up. Assure them that you will be praying for them this week to tell their People of Peace about God’s love. Even if you didn’t think of anyone today, that’s OK. There’s no pressure. That’s what’s so cool about sharing God’s love. We just treat everyone we meet like Jesus would and then see who God brings our way and who wants to hear more. Share a brief, personal story about a Person of Peace who God brought to you, or a story about someone who shared Jesus with you before you were a believer.
Bible Verse Pass out Bible Verse cards. Today’s Bible verse is Matthew 4:19. It says, “‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said. ‘And I will send you out to fish for people.’” Let’s all say it together. Have kids repeat the verse a few times. How do we fish for people? What does that mean? It means that by treating people like Jesus would, we pull people toward God and help them to join His family.
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, we love You. Thanks for sending people to tell us about Jesus. Please help us to show your love to everyone we meet this week and to see who is ready to hear more about You. Amen.
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Lesson 30 Huddle
BibleVerse Cards
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
LESSON 30 (Family)
People of Peace Today I Learned: God will send me to people who are ready to hear about Jesus. |||||
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Bible Story: Jesus sends out the disciples (Luke 10:1-10)
Family Challenge Make a list of all the people you run into in a given week for each family member. Circle the names of people you know who don’t know Jesus. Talk about if any of them show signs of being People of Peace. Do any of them welcome you, listen to you, or help or encourage you in some way? Who likes to hang out with you? Who is drawn to you?
* 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’s the best news you’ve heard today? Did you tell anyone about it? 2. What ‘s so fun about sharing good news? 3. Who is someone who has shown God’s love to you? 4. If you could tell someone only one thing about Jesus, what would it be? Use these questions to help kids think about the simple, natural act of sharing about Jesus with the People of Peace God brings their way. Encourage them that they don’t have to tell people everything they know about Jesus at once but simply share the first thing God brings to mind when the time is right.
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Mystery Man
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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 30 (Large Group)
Key Concept: God will send me to people who are ready to hear about Jesus
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Bible Story: Jesus sends out the disciples (Luke 10:1-10)
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Bible Verse: “Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people. — Matthew 4:19
3DM Principle: Person of Peace
Large Group Overview: Kids will see how Jesus sent out the 72 to look for People of Peace and will learn how to identify People of Peace in their own lives
Huddle Overview: Kids will play a game that will help them understand that they have to listen to God to identify the People of Peace in their lives
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9 10
12 1
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Lesson Outline Game
The Unusual Suspects
(5 min)
Bible Story
Jesus sends out the disciples
(15 min)
Application
People of Peace Detector
(5 min)
Prayer
(1 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. Today’s mystery is “Who will I tell about Jesus?” Welcome back to Kairos Quest. For the past few weeks, we’ve been solving some pretty cool mysteries. By this time, I think it’s safe to say that all of us are becoming world-class detectives. But today we’re going to work on one more special detective skill — recognizing suspicious characters.
Opening Activity: The Unusual Suspects The purpose of this activity is to introduce the idea of looking for people in disguise, which will set up the concept of identifying People of Peace. Instructions How To Play: Show kids pictures of celebrities in disguise and have them guess who the celebrities are. Supplies:
6 Five pictures of celebrities the kids would likely recognize (such
as Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, Tim Tebow, or other more current popular celebrities) — Get two identical copies of each picture. One copy should be doctored up with a ridiculous disguise such as a silly moustache, glasses, funny teeth, or wild hair. The other copy should be normal. If you have projection capabilities, you can show these pictures via whatever media program you use. If you’re going low tech, print out the pictures and mount them to foam board or poster board. For some extra fun, make the last picture you or another leader in the church that the kids will know well.
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Today we’re going to play a game called The Unusual Suspects. Here’s how it works: You will see some pictures of people that may look a little familiar. However, these suspects are wearing a tricky disguise. I’m going to hold up pictures and see if you can tell who these suspicious characters are. Show kids pictures of disguised celebrities one at a time and encourage them to shout out who they think the celebrity is. Then reveal the undisguised picture to unveil the answer. Continue until you’ve gone through all five pictures.
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Bible Story
Set up the teaching area by putting your homemade Person of Peace Detector on a stool and concealing it under fabric. The detector should look like a crazy gadget — the wackier the better. For example, you could take silver duct tape and tape a couple of remote controls and a flashlight together along with some random wires sticking out. Be creative and silly and have fun with it. Sometimes it can be tough for a detective to recognize a suspicious character, especially if he is wearing a disguise. But today we’re going to talk about something that can be a whole lot trickier, and that’s recognizing the people in our lives who are ready to hear the good news about Jesus. The world is full of people who want and need to hear how much God loves them, and the Bible tells us exactly how to identify who they are. Before we go any further, though, I need today’s Code-breaker to bring me the clue envelope. Get the Code-breaker to bring up the clue envelope and then have a seat. Have kids clap for the Code-breaker and then open the clue envelope to read the decoded mystery phrase. Today’s mystery question is, “Who will I tell about Jesus?” Today we’re going to find out.
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When we have exciting news, we just naturally want to tell people about it. Imagine if you won a big soccer match and you scored the winning goal. You’d want to tell everyone about it! Imagine if you got an amazing new bike for your birthday. Again, you’d want to tell everyone about it. What if you got to go on a really cool vacation to a place like Walt Disney World? You’d want to tell everyone about it. The same thing happens when we become friends with Jesus. When we ask Jesus to be our Savior and forgive us, it’s awesome. Not only does He wipe away all the bad things we’ve done, and not only do we become kids of the King and get to live in heaven some day, but we also get to go on an adventure with God here and now every day of our lives. Of course we want to tell people about it so they become a part of God’s family too. The mystery, however, is who we should tell about Jesus. The truth is that not everyone around us is ready to hear about Jesus yet. God has to get people ready so they’ll want to listen when we do tell them about God’s love. For the answer to this mystery, we need to go back to that original mystery man, Jesus, and see what His plan was for telling people about God’s love. We call Him the mystery man because He has the answer to all of life’s mysteries. If you want to know how to live life God’s way, just look at the life of Jesus.
Huh? What is Jesus talking about here? It sounds like another mystery! But Jesus was just saying that wherever the disciples went, they were to show God’s love to people. He told them to heal people and to tell them about God’s kingdom. Some of those people would be what Jesus called People of Peace. Everybody say, “People of Peace.” Kids repeat.
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Let’s see what the Bible says. In Luke 10 it says Jesus picked 72 of his disciples and broke them into pairs so that everyone had a buddy. Then He sent them these disciples out with their buddies to all the towns He was about to visit. Jesus said, “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.”
This just means that People of Peace would welcome the disciples and would be excited to hear what the disciples had to say about God. Other people wouldn’t be so excited. Jesus said that’s OK. Just leave those people alone and look for people who are ready to hear about God. Jesus said People of Peace are really easy to find. People of Peace are the people who like you and who want to hang out with you. They may even invite you to stay for dinner! Why do they do this? It’s because God has been speaking to their hearts, and they have been waiting for someone like you to come along and show them God’s love and tell them about Him.
Bible Verse Today’s Bible verse tells us just what Jesus wants us to do. We heard the first part of this last week. Does anyone remember last week’s Bible verse? Kids answer. Today’s Bible verse tells us the rest of the story. Matthew 4:19 says, “‘Come, follow,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’” Do you think we fish for people with a fishing pole or a net? No, we go act like Jesus and keep our eyes open for People of Peace who are ready to hear more about Him.
Application God makes it easy to tell others about His love. In fact, He starts working on people way before we even know it, getting them ready to hear the good news that Jesus loves them and wants them be a part of His family. Our main job is to walk through life with our eyes open and our ears listening to God as he reveals to us the People of Peace He has prepared. So right now we’re going to practice searching for some People of Peace who are ready to hear about Jesus. For that, we’re going to need our handy-dandy People of Peace Detector. Reveal the People of Peace Detector dramatically to the kids. Show off all the features, making fun of yourself as you do.
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In just a minute, I’m going to need some help to try this thing out, but first you need to know how it works. I’m going to bring up some of my friends, and we’re going to pretend that they may or may not be a Person of Peace. If you think that someone is a Person of Peace, when I hold the detector by him or her, I want you to make a beeping sound for the detector. Let’s practice. Hold up the People of Peace Detector and encourage all of the kids to make a beeping sound along with you. Now if you don’t think someone is a Person of Peace, I want you to make a buzzer sound when I hold the detector by him or her. Let’s try it. Hold up the People of Peace Detector and encourage all of the kids to make a buzzer sound along with you. It sounds like you guys are ready. Remember, a Person of Peace is anyone who is ready to hear the message of the Kingdom and the King. A Person of Peace…
6 Welcomes you. 6 Listens to you. 6 Maybe even serves or supports you in some way. These are the three things you’re going to look for to pick out our mysterious People of Peace. Let’s bring up our five contestants. Choose five older children who are fairly good readers. Line them up beside each other facing the rest of the kids. Hand each a card with one of the following situations. Have each kid read his/her assigned situation and then say, “Let’s see what the People of Peace Detector says.” Wave the detector around the kid, encouraging the other kids to either beep or buzz depending on whether they think this is a Person of Peace. If kids don’t play along, say something like, “Hey, is this thing on? It isn’t working. It’s supposed to be beeping or buzzing right now.” Situation #1: There’s a kid in your class who you know doesn’t go to church, but when her grandma gets sick, she asks you to pray for her. Could this be a Person of Peace?
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Situation #2: You invite some kids from school to come to a fun carnival event your church is doing. Three of them say yes, but one kid says, “Why would I want to go to a dumb carnival? Sounds boring.” Could this be a Person of Peace? Situation #3: Everyone on your soccer team keeps whining and complaining because your team is behind, but you keep trying to do your best and encourage everyone. After the game, a kid on your team thanks you for keeping it fun. Could this be a Person of Peace? Situation #4: A boy in your class is kind of a bully. When he saw a cross you had clipped on your backpack, he made fun of it and asked if you were trying to scare away vampires. When you told him it reminded you of Jesus, he said it was dumb. Could this be a Person of Peace? Situation #5: A girl in your class just got braces. Everyone else makes fun of her, but you say they look kind of cool. Later she thanks you for being kind and offers you part of her candy bar. Could this be a Person of Peace? Thank the volunteers for coming up and have them return to their seats. If you have an appropriate personal story about God helping you connect with a Person of Peace (or before you were a believer, how you were a Person of Peace to someone else), share it briefly with the kids.
Prayer In real life we don’t get to a use a People of Peace Detector. In real life we just ask God to show us who is ready to hear about Him. We also ask God each day, “God, bring someone to me today and help me say Your words to them.” Let’s pray that prayer together. Repeat after me. God, Please bring someone to me today and help me say Your words to them. Amen
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GAME ON: LESSON 30 (Huddle)
Key Concept: God will send me to people who are ready to hear about Jesus
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Bible Story: Jesus sends out the disciples (Luke 10:1-10)
Bible Verse: “Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people. — Matthew 4:19
3DM Principle: Person of Peace
Large Group Overview: Kids will see how Jesus sent out the 72 to look for People of Peace and will learn how to identify People of Peace in their own lives
Huddle Overview: Kids will play a game that will help them understand that they have to listen to God to identify the People of Peace in their lives
Supplies
6 Wind-up egg timer (one per group) 6 Blindfold (one per group) 6 The Places You Will Go worksheet (one per child and one for the Huddle leader)
6 Bible verse cards (one per child)
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Huddle Group Outline Welcome / Review questions
(5 min)
Activity
(5 min)
Missing Persons
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. We’re going to have an awesome time today talking about People of Peace.
6 Do you remember the last time someone told you some really good news? What was it?
6 What’s the good news that we can tell people about God and His Son? (That God loves us, that He wants us to be a part of His family, that He sent Jesus to die for us so we can become one of God’s kids, etc.)
6 Does anyone remember a Person of Peace is? (someone God sends to us who is ready to hear about Him)
6 What did Jesus tell the disciples a Person of Peace would do for them? (welcome them, listen to them, help or serve them)
Huddle Activity: Missing Persons The purpose of this activity is to help kids understand that they need to listen to God to identify the People of Peace in their lives.
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How It Works: Blindfold a volunteer and let him/her search for a ticking egg timer by listening for its sound. Spread out your circle of kids so that you have plenty of room to play. Bring your first volunteer up, seat him/her in the middle of the circle, and blindfold him/her. Make sure the blindfold isn’t too tight and that it prevents the contestant from seeing. Instruct the other kids to remain perfectly silent. Tell them that the quietest kid in the room gets to be the next detective. Wind the egg timer and place it somewhere in the circle. Then tell the blindfolded contestant, “Detective, find that missing person!” Let the contestant crawl around until he/she finds the timer. Then choose the next child who wants to find the timer. If the timer goes off before the contestant finds it, move on to the next child. Continue playing until all of the kids who want to be the detective get the chance to play.
Supplies
6 Wind-up egg timer
(the kind that ticks)
6 Blindfold
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Good detectives are great at finding missing people. We’re going to pretend like this egg timer is a missing person. I’m going to set it somewhere on the floor, and all you have to do is find it. The trick is that you’re going to be blindfolded. So you’re going to have to listen very closely to the ticking timer to find the missing person. Let’s spread out our circle so we have plenty of room to hide the missing person. Who wants to be our first detective? Play the game until everyone who wants to play has the chance to find the egg timer.
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Today we saw that God wants us to show His love to others and tell others about Him and that we have to learn to listen to God to figure out who is ready to hear about His love. We’re going to play a game called Missing Persons to help us think about listening to God.
Was that hard or easy? What it made it hard? What made it easy? Kids answer. Did you notice that, when you got really quiet and listened closely, it was obvious where the timer was? It’s the same way in our own lives. When we learn to listen to God and pay attention to people He brings our way, it will be obvious whom He wants us to tell about Him. Remember, Jesus told the disciples that people who are ready to hear about God will:
6 Welcome them. 6 Listen to them. 6 Help or serve them in some way. In other words, our job is just to look for people who like us, who want to hang out with us, and who connect with us in some way. When people like that show up, we can say, “Hey, there’s a God who loves you and He wants you to be a part of His family and do some really cool things with Him.”
Huddle Discussion Instructions How It Works: This discussion is structured to help kids examine the different spheres of their relationships so they can identify potential People of Peace. The Huddle Leader and each of the kids will have a worksheet with a picture of a house, school, and the earth on it. The Huddle Leader will use this worksheet to get kids thinking about the people they’re around in each of these places. Kids will have the opportunity to write the names or (for younger kids) draw pictures of some of the people in these different places.
Supplies
6 The Places You Will Go Worksheet (one per child and one for the Huddle leader)
6 Writing utensil or drawing supplies for each child
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Places You Will The Go !
Pass out The Places You Will Go worksheet to the kids and keep one copy for yourself. Check out this paper. It has three pictures on it to remind us of all the places we go in a week. Point to the house picture. What is this? Kids answer. This is our house. I want you to think about the people who live in your house. Then think about your neighbors and the people on your street or your block. Write down the name of some of those people on your house picture. If younger kids can’t write, encourage them to draw a picture instead. Let’s look at the next one. Point to the school picture. What is this? Kids answer. This is your school. Most of us meet a lot of people at school. Think of all the kids in your class, your teacher, and others who work at school. Write down the names of some of those people on your school picture. Give kids time to write or draw. Here’s the last one. Point to the earth picture. What is this? Kids answer. It’s the whole planet. This picture reminds us of everywhere we might go outside of our house or school. Where are some of the places you go each week other than home or school? Kids answer. Take a few minutes and think about some of the people you might see in those places. Write their names down too. Give kids time to write or draw. Now, look at your papers. Some of the people whose names you wrote down might be People of Peace for you. They might be someone whom God has been getting ready for you to tell them about His love. Is there anyone on that sheet who may not know Jesus? Are any of them people who welcome you, listen to you, or have helped you in some way? If so, take a minute this week to tell them God loves them and wants to be their friend. Who knows? Someday these people may start to follow Jesus, all because you took the time to tell them about God’s love. Let’s pray together and ask God if one of these people is ready to hear about Jesus this week. Lead kids in a time of prayer, such as the following one: God, we love You and want to share Your love with everyone we can. Please show us who in our lives is
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ready to hear about You. Is there someone on our worksheet or someone else You want us to tell about You? If there is, please help us to think about their name right now. We love you. Amen. What do you think? Is there someone on your worksheet God wants you to tell about Him this week? Encourage any kids who want to share their answer to speak up. Assure them that you will be praying for them this week to tell their People of Peace about God’s love. Even if you didn’t think of anyone today, that’s OK. There’s no pressure. That’s what’s so cool about sharing God’s love. We just treat everyone we meet like Jesus would and then see who God brings our way and who wants to hear more. Share a brief, personal story about a Person of Peace who God brought to you, or a story about someone who shared Jesus with you before you were a believer.
Bible Verse Pass out Bible Verse cards. Today’s Bible verse is Matthew 4:19. It says, “‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said. ‘And I will send you out to fish for people.’” Let’s all say it together. Have kids repeat the verse a few times. How do we fish for people? What does that mean? It means that by treating people like Jesus would, we pull people toward God and help them to join His family.
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, we love You. Thanks for sending people to tell us about Jesus. Please help us to show your love to everyone we meet this week and to see who is ready to hear more about You. Amen.
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Lesson 30 Huddle
BibleVerse Cards
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
“Come, follow,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” — Matthew 4:19
LESSON 30 (Family)
People of Peace Today I Learned: God will send me to people who are ready to hear about Jesus. |||||
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Bible Story: Jesus sends out the disciples (Luke 10:1-10)
Family Challenge Make a list of all the people you run into in a given week for each family member. Circle the names of people you know who don’t know Jesus. Talk about if any of them show signs of being People of Peace. Do any of them welcome you, listen to you, or help or encourage you in some way? Who likes to hang out with you? Who is drawn to you?
* 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’s the best news you’ve heard today? Did you tell anyone about it? 2. What ‘s so fun about sharing good news? 3. Who is someone who has shown God’s love to you? 4. If you could tell someone only one thing about Jesus, what would it be? Use these questions to help kids think about the simple, natural act of sharing about Jesus with the People of Peace God brings their way. Encourage them that they don’t have to tell people everything they know about Jesus at once but simply share the first thing God brings to mind when the time is right.
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