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Fighting Evil

Unit 15 / Lesson 3

Fighting Evil

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Teacher's Prep

  • Games

    • Human Tic Tac Toe

    • Deal or No Deal

      • You can play the game at this website: https://kbhgames.com/game/deal-or-no-deal 

      • If you have a PC with PowerPoint and not a Mac, you may want to download a different version of the game at the link below and get familiar with it. The downloaded version is better than the online version, but it is harder to use. Note, the PC version of the game works on PowerPoint but not on Google Slides.

      • Whichever version of the game you choose, you will want to get familiar with the controls of the game before the lesson starts, and you will want to play a practice round by yourself so there are no surprises.

    • Drawing On Your Head

      • In this game, you will tell children something to draw, and they will have a minute to draw it. But, the catch is, all of the drawing will be done on top of their heads

      • After a minute of drawing, they will show their drawings to everyone, so it is best to give the children felt markers so they can draw in bold colors.

      • Materials:

        • A felt marker for each child in a bold color that is easy to see from a distance (not yellow!)

        • A piece of cardstock paper on which to draw on top of their head. If there is no cardstock, regular paper could work if the paper is folded in two for extra stiffness, or paper plates

  • Main Activity (Tornado in a Bottle):

    • Teacher: please watch this video for the concept of the craft:

    • Materials (for each child):

      • Two clear plastic bottles, ideally bottles that are smooth and easy to see through

      • Duct tape or a tornado bottle connector

        • Tornado bottle connectors cost approximately $1 each on Amazon, and they would likely make a big difference for the craft.

      • Food coloring and / or sparkles to put into the water

      • Water to put into the bottles. You may be able to fill all the bottles at a tap if there is good clearance between the tap and the bottom of the sink. Otherwise, you may want to prepare basins and funnels to get water into the bottles.

    • You will want to make a sample craft before the lesson, and demonstrate how it works before they make their own.


    Intro

  • SLIDE 1

  • Gathering

    • How was your week?

  • Intro Game: Human Tic Tac Toe

    • Instructions

      • We'll start our lesson with a game called Human Tic Tac Toe.

      • For this game, we'll need a bunch of chairs in the middle of the room, so everyone, please go to the side. I'll set up some chairs while you watch the video on how to play.

    SLIDE 2

    SLIDE 3

    • Instructions for Teacher:

      • Follow the instructions in the video

      • Set up nine chairs in the middle of the room.

      • Have all the children find a partner that is about as fast as them.

      • One partner joins team X, and the other partner joins team O

      • Teams number off so that when you call a number, one person runs to the chairs.

      • Before each round, each person not on a chair has to be touching a wall.

      • In the original instructions, only one team gets to sit down per round. For a less competitive game, both teams can sit down per round. That will make it easier for those who are slower.

      • The optimal (but boring) strategy is for a team to sit only in the column of chairs closest to their wall. If teams start scoring in the column closest to their wall, you can say that having three people in that column doesn’t count.

      • If you don't have at least 8 people to play the game with, you can just play regular tic tac toe on a whiteboard, or you can play some other competitive game

    • Debrief

      • In this game we played, there were two teams, and only one team could win. If you wanted to win, you had to try your best. You had to be as fast as you could be, AND as smart as you could be.

      • And real life is like that too.

    SLIDE 4

    • Sometimes in real life, there are two teams. Sometimes one team is good and the other team is evil. And, sometimes we need to fight against evil.

  • Relevance

    SLIDE 5

    • By the way, what is evil? Well, in the Bible, evil is the opposite of good. The Bible says God created everything good, but because of sin, things are broken. The things that are broken and not right are called evil. Sometimes the evil is in peoples’ hearts, and sometimes the evil is in the things around us. But, sometimes God wants us to do something about evil.

  • Intro Movie Clip

    • So, our Bible story today is about a man who fought against evil. His name was Mordecai. Let's watch a bit of his story.

    SLIDE 6

  • Big Question

    SLIDE 7

    • Our big question today is: what should we do about evil?

  • Big Idea

    • Our big idea today is: when we see evil, we should

      • 1. Choose our fight, and 

      • 2. Expect trouble.

  • Bible Reference

    • That's what we'll see in our Bible story. Let's take a moment to read it together.

    SLIDE 8

    • Esther 3:-1-6:

    • 1 Later, King Xerxes promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha to the highest position in his kingdom. Haman was a descendant of Agag, 2 and the king had given orders for his officials at the royal gate to honor Haman by kneeling down to him. All of them obeyed except Mordecai.

    SLIDE 9

    • 3 When the other officials asked Mordecai why he disobeyed the king’s command, 4 he said, “Because I am a Jew.” They spoke to him for several days about kneeling down, but he still refused to obey. Finally, they reported this to Haman, to find out if he would let Mordecai get away with it.

    SLIDE 10

    • 5 Haman was furious to learn that Mordecai refused to kneel down and honor him. 6 And when he found out that Mordecai was a Jew, he knew that killing only Mordecai was not enough. Every Jew in the whole kingdom had to be killed.


    Point 1

  • The first thing we learn about fighting evil is:

    • 1. We should choose our fight.

    SLIDE 11

  • Game: Deal or No Deal

    • Instructions

      • We will start this point with a game of Deal Or No Deal!

      • It’s based on a TV show. We will have a bunch of suitcases, and each case will have a different amount of money in it. We play the game by getting rid of suitcases, and every time we get rid of some suitcases, the bank will call and offer us money instead of a suitcase. We need to decide if we'll take the deal or not.

      • Teacher: see instructions in the teacher's prep section for how to run the game. You may want to play more than one round of the game, depending on time and interest.

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because it's about making choices. Should we walk away with a suitcase? Or, should we keep waiting for the next one?

    SLIDE 12

    • That's what it's like when we see evil. There's a lot of evil around us. A lot of things are broken, and we can't fix everything. But, we can wait for the right fight, and choose the right fight for us.

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 13

    • In our Bible story, Mordecai chose his fight. Everyone else was bowing down to Haman, but Mordecai did not bow down. Mordecai knew this could get him in big trouble, because Haman was a very powerful man and could do terrible things to Mordecai. But, for Mordecai, this was the right fight.

    SLIDE 14

    • He knew it because he belonged to God. Our Bible story tells us Mordecai was a Jew. This meant he belonged to God. But, Haman was a descendant of Agag. Agag was an enemy of all of the Jewish people, and God had told His people to always be at war with the people of Agag. The people of Agag were very evil, and they were enemies of God.

    • So, Mordecai decided not to bow down to Haman, because Mordecai loved God, and Mordecai loved what was right.

  • Application

    SLIDE 15

    • It works like that for us too. Sometimes if we love God, we will need to do something about the evil around us. We can’t always fight everything that is wrong. But, if we love God and love people, all that love in our hearts will tell us when it's the right time to fight.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 16

    • Now, let's pause for a discussion question:

      • What is something that is wrong with the world?

      • Teacher: consider this teaching point to wrap up reflections on what is wrong with the world:

        • None of us can fight all the problems that are out there. But, once in a while, there is a problem that is just right for us.


    Point 2

  • The second thing we learn about fighting evil is:

    • 2. We should expect trouble.

    SLIDE 17

  • Game: Drawing On Your Head

    • Instructions

      • We'll start this point with a game! It's called Drawing On Your Head. 

      • It's really simple -- in a moment, you'll all get a felt marker and a piece of paper. And, I'll tell you what to draw, and you'll have a minute to try to draw it. BUT the tricky part is, all of the drawing will need to be done on top of your head! So, you'll put the paper on top of your head, and you'll try to sketch something without seeing it.

      • Teacher: pass out a pen and a piece of cardstock to each child.

      • The first thing we are going to draw is: a cat!

      • Teacher: give them a minute to draw. If you see that some are having trouble drawing on their head, they can draw on the ground or a table with their eyes closed (but take care not to mark up the surface!). After a minute, have the children show the pictures they drew. Praise them for their efforts. If they are done early, you can encourage them to draw other things.

      • Let's play one more round, drawing on our heads again. The second thing we are going to draw is: a car!

      • Teacher: give them a minute to draw, and then have them share all their drawings again.

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because it was hard! We all had an idea in our heads, and then we started drawing it, and all kinds of things happened that we didn't expect.

      • And that's the kind of thing that happens when we fight against evil. Things don’t always go the way we want. We start getting into trouble, because evil fights back.

  • Bible Reference

    • And that's what happened in our Bible story. Let's read a bit of the story again.

    SLIDE 18

    • Esther 3:5-6

      • 5 Haman was furious to learn that Mordecai refused to kneel down and honor him. 6 And when he found out that Mordecai was a Jew, he knew that killing only Mordecai was not enough. Every Jew in the whole kingdom had to be killed.

  • Explanation

    • Now we can see how evil Haman was! Mordecai didn't bow down, so Haman decided to kill him. And, Haman didn’t just want to kill Mordecai,(continue)

    SLIDE 19

    • but Haman wanted to kill all of Mordecai’s family and everyone from Mordecai's country.

    • This story reminds us that when we fight against evil, we can expect evil to fight back.

  • Application

    • That means, we need to be prepared for those times when evil fights back. So, let's think about the ways we can get stronger before we fight evil.

    SLIDE 20

    • There are lots of ways we can get stronger before we fight evil. We can get stronger in our mind by getting more knowledge and wisdom.

    SLIDE 21

    • We can get stronger with our body, (continue)

    SLIDE 22

    • by taking care of our health and practicing our skills.

    SLIDE 23

    • We can get stronger in our relationship with God by following His instructions and learning why His instructions are good for us.

    SLIDE 24

    • We can be stronger in our friendships by talking about things that matter. There are lots of ways to get stronger.

    SLIDE 25

    • If you get stronger, you'll be better prepared when evil fights back. And, if you can fight evil in just the right way, you'll be able to help a lot of people.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 26

    • What is one way you can get stronger so that you can be better at fighting evil?


    Conclusion

  • Let's wrap up our lesson by going over the big ideas again.

  • Our big question today was: what should we do about evil?

    SLIDE 27

  • The first thing we learned was that we should choose our fight. There are too many things that are wrong with the world, and we can't fight them all. But, there is a right fight for us, and we know it by following our love for God.

  • SLIDE 28

  • The second thing we learned was, we should expect trouble. When we fight evil, we can expect evil to fight back. So, we should get stronger while we can. Because sometimes if we can win the fight, we can help a lot of people.


    SLIDE 29

    Main Activity: Tornado in a Bottle

  • Instructions

    • Now it's time for our main activity. Today, we are making tornadoes in a bottle! Let's watch a video about our craft.

    • Teacher: show the children this YouTube video:

    • Teacher: show the children your sample craft and show how it works

  • Devotional Reflection

    • This craft reminds us of what it's like when we bring evil under control. Tornadoes in real life can be scary, and they can break things. But, when the world is right again, tornadoes will just be cool creations that God made, and we can enjoy watching them.

    • Every time we fight against evil, we're helping to build a world where evil is under control, and the world is more awesome.

  • Further instructions for the teacher and volunteers

    • Help each child to fill a water bottle until it is about 80% full of water.

    • Add food coloring and/or sparkles to the water

    • Attach the second water bottle to the first one using duct tape or a tornado adapter

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