Unit 19 / Lesson 7
Making the Most of Trouble
Slides for the Lesson
Click for slides
(they may take a moment to load)
Teacher's Prep
Games
Not In My Backyard
Materials needed: about four sheets of paper per child. So, a class of 25 children should have about 100 pieces of paper in total.
Split the paper into two even piles, one per team. These will be made into paper snowballs to be thrown back and forth.
You will need several chairs to form a fence to divide the room. The chairs do not need to form a tight wall; they just need to divide the room clearly.
Red Solo Cup Behind the Back
Materials needed:
Four plastic cups per ten children. Red Solo cups work great.
Speed Eraser (modified)
For the concept of the game
Watch this video:
Minute to Win It: Speed Eraser (Head-to-Head)
We will modify the game for our lesson:
Instead of having single cups in a line, we will have a 3 x 3 grid of cups, so that pencils have more places to land.
And, instead of having one person bounce pencils into the cups at a time, we will have three people per team bouncing pencils into the cups at a time. So, you can imagine three kids on different sides of a table, and between them, the goal is to bounce a pencil into all nine cups in the 3 x 3 grid that you make.
Materials needed
About 40 pencils (20 per team) with rubber erasers on one end. An ideal pencil is unsharpened.
18 drinking cups (9 per team). Cups should ideally have some weight to them, e.g. ceramic cups, so that the cups will be harder to knock over.
Before the game, please prepare two tables for playing. Each table should have a 3 x 3 grid of 9 cups, and about twenty pencils on it.
Main Activity (Sheet Pan Nachos):
Please see this video for the general concept of sheet pan nachos:
LOADED NACHOS RECIPE || Sheet Pan Suppers || Easy Dinner Idea
Ingredients are highly flexible, and the exact quantities are not very important as long as you think everyone will have enough to eat. You will just want to avoid using spicy ingredients, especially jalapeno peppers.
Core ingredients:
Tortilla chips
Oil
Ground beef
Onions
Shredded cheese
Optional toppings
Taco seasoning
Olives
Corn
Black beans or pinto beans
Avocados
Crushed garlic
Lime
Tomatoes
Salsa
Sour cream
Equipment needed:
Sheet pans
Oven
Please rewatch the video to get a feel for the quantities of ingredients needed.
Note: you will probably need to avoid using spicy ingredients, especially jalapeno peppers.
Also, please be mindful of people with dietary restrictions. E.g. some people cannot eat meat or regular cheese.
Intro
SLIDE 1
Gathering
How was your week?
SLIDE 2
Intro Game: Not In My Backyard
Instructions
Teacher: make a "fence" out of chairs to cut the room in half. On each side of the room, make a pile of paper for teams to make into paper snowballs.
We'll start our lesson with a game! We'll call it, "Not In My Backyard." We're going to form two teams, and each team will stay on one side of the room. We'll split this room into two halves, divided by a fence made of chairs..
Each team will have a stack of paper, which you can scrunch into a ball to throw.
And your goal will be to get as much paper as you can on the other side of the fence by throwing it over the fence. And, you want as little paper as possible on your side of the fence. You can't cross the fence, but you can throw the paper over the fence.
And after two minutes, we'll see which team has less paper on their side!
Teacher: play two rounds of this game. In the second round, you may want to re-balance the teams (perhaps add an adult on one side). And, you may want to give them a moment to discuss strategy. After you are finished with the game, put the fence away, and gather the children together for the next bit of teaching.
SLIDE 3
Debrief
We played this game because it's a bit frustrating! You're doing your best to get the paper to the other side, but it keeps coming back!
Relevance
SLIDE 4
And, sometimes life is like that. Sometimes it feels like we want to do something, but we run into problems, and the problems never end!
There are all kinds of problems in life. There are problems with friends. There are problems at school. There are problems with our family.
Some people look at all the problems and they just want to give up and not try anymore.
But, God put you on earth to make a difference. And, if you want to do God’s work, the problems don't have to stop you. In fact, the problems are part of God's great plan for you.
Big Question
So, our big question today is:
What can we do when we have lots of problems, but we still want to do God's work?
Big Idea
Our big idea for the lesson is:
We can just do our best for God and not worry.
Bible Reference
We'll see this big idea in the story of Paul.
Just to catch us up on the story: Paul was going around telling everyone about Jesus. And, some people really didn't like the way he was telling everyone about Jesus. So, Paul got into trouble. He got into so much trouble that people put him in prison. They kept him locked up so he couldn't escape. And, they moved him from one place to another until he ended up in the city of Rome.
The city of Rome was the most important city in the world back then. It was the city where the emperor lived, and a lot of very powerful people lived there. If Paul could just help them to know Jesus, all those powerful people could use their power to serve God and do great things!
But, how could Paul help those people if he was stuck in prison?
Well, let's watch a video about what Paul did.
Teacher: please play this video from 0:00 to 2:14
The Book of Acts for Kids #12: Paul in Rome, by PursueGOD Kids
Now let’s read what the Bible said about Paul’s adventures. This is Paul’s friend writing:
Acts 28:16 (ICB)
16 Then we arrived at Rome. There, Paul was allowed to live alone. But a soldier stayed with him to guard him.
Acts 28:30-31 (ICB)
30 Paul stayed two full years in his own rented house. He welcomed all people who came and visited him. 31 He preached about the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. He was very bold, and no one stopped him.
Point 1
The first thing we learn from our Bible story is that:
1. We can always do our best
Game: Red Solo Cup Behind the Back
Instructions
We'll start this point with a game! It's a really simple game.
We’ll form teams of about five people each. Each team will have two plastic cups.
Everyone on your team will take turns dropping the cup behind their back. If it lands right side up or upside down, you’re done, and you can pass the cup to someone else on your team. If the cup lands on its side, you need to pick it up and try again.
You have two cups so your team can have two people at a time doing the challenge. You win when everyone on your team has finished the challenge.
So, help each other out -- you can pick up the cup for each other, and you can cheer each other on.
Teacher: you may want to do a demonstration for how to drop the cup behind your back, and what counts as a good landing (right side up, or upside down, but not resting on the side). Also, you may want to play two or three rounds of this game depending on time and the level of interest.
Debrief
We played this game because it's about doing your best even when things don't happen the way you want. Sometimes you’ll have problems that you can’t fix no matter how smart you are, or how strong you are. But, what matters is that you keep doing your best and don't give up. That's what Paul did.
Bible Reference
Let's read our Bible verses again.
Acts 28:16 (ICB)
16 Then we arrived at Rome. There, Paul was allowed to live alone. But a soldier stayed with him to guard him.
Acts 28:30-31 (ICB)
30 Paul stayed two full years in his own rented house. He welcomed all people who came and visited him. 31 He preached about the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. He was very bold, and no one stopped him.
Explanation
These verses tell us that Paul was a prisoner in a house. He couldn’t leave his house, but the soldiers guarded him day and night in his house. Paul wanted to go outside and lead churches and tell everyone about Jesus. But, instead, Paul was stuck in a house, with a chain that locked him to a soldier.
So, Paul just did his best. People came to visit him, and he welcomed them all, and he talked to them all.
Paul didn't get everything he wanted. But, God gave him something to do, and he did what he could.
Application
And, it's like that for us too sometimes. Sometimes we just don't get what we want. Sometimes we might feel like we're in the wrong place. Sometimes we might feel like everyone else is doing better than us, and we're going nowhere. But, God always gives us something to do, and we just need to do our best.
Discussion Question
Now, let's pause for a discussion question.
What is a problem that you wish you didn't have?
Point 2
Moving on, the second thing we learn from Paul is:
We don't need to worry.
Game: Speed Eraser (Head-to-Head)
Instructions
We’ll start our point with a game! It's called Speed Eraser!
Let's watch a video to see what it's like.
Teacher: play this video:
Minute to Win It: Speed Eraser (Head-to-Head)
So, the point of the game is for your team to bounce a pencil into every cup!
So, now we will split into two teams.
And to make it easier, each team will send THREE people at a time to bounce the pencils.
We'll all start at the same time, and when all your cups have a pencil, you win the round! And then, after your round, your team can send out another three people and we'll play again until everyone has had a turn.
Teacher: praise the children for their efforts.
Debrief
We played this game because it reminds us, we have a goal, and if we just keep trying, we have nothing to worry about. Sooner or later, we'll get all the pencils into the cup.
And, life is like that too. If we are doing God's work, the Bible tells us that we have nothing to worry about. God is with us, and he will make everything good in the end. Paul's life is one example of that.
Bible Reference
Let's read what Paul wrote to some of his friends when he was stuck in that house.
Philippians 1:12-14 (ICB)
12 Brothers, I want you to know that what has happened to me has helped to spread the Good News. 13 I am in prison because I am a believer in Christ. All the palace guards and everyone else knows this. 14 I am still in prison, but most of the believers feel better about it now. And so they are much braver about telling the Good News about Christ.
Philippians 4:22 (ICB)
22 All of God’s people greet you. And those believers from the palace of Caesar greet you, too.
Explanation
These verses tell us something amazing was happening in the prison. Paul was talking to all the soldiers who guarded him. Paul kept talking to the soldiers about Jesus, and a lot of them believed and they started following Jesus!
And, these weren’t just ordinary soldiers, but they were the soldiers who worked in the palace where the emperor lived!
The soldiers took turns guarding Paul. Every six hours there was a different soldier. And, when they left Paul’s house they went back to the palace, and they told all their soldier friends about Jesus! And that way, the palace guards all heard about Jesus. They even shared the good news with people in the emperor's family, and some of the emperor's family members started to follow Jesus!
If Paul was out of prison, he would never have gotten to reach the emperor's family like that! But, God had a better plan than Paul did.
And, there was one more thing that was great about being in prison. Paul had time to focus on writing letters. He wrote lots of letters from prison, and many of those letters eventually became part of the Bible. If Paul were not in prison, he could have travelled around and talked to thousands of people about Jesus. That would have been really good. But, because he was in prison, he wrote letters, and his letters have helped millions of people! So, Paul was even better in prison!
Like Paul said, everything that happened to him was really helping to spread the good news. God was working, and nothing could stop God from reaching the world!
Application
And, it's like that for us too. We are all part of God's story, and God is the hero of our story. God is working all the time for the people who love him. Even if something bad happens to us, it's only because God has a better plan than we do. So, we have nothing to worry about, because God is with us.
Discussion Question
Let's pause for a discussion question:
When has God used a bad thing to help you?
Conclusion
Let's wrap up this lesson by going over the big ideas again.
Our big question today was: What can we do when we have lots of problems, but we still want to do God's work?
As it turns out, life is full of problems. But, our Bible story shows us the best way to deal with the problems.
First, we can always do our best. Even if we don't get what we want, God always gives us something to do. So, we can just do our best.
Second, we don't need to worry, because God is working, and nothing will stop him. And, God will take care of us, and he will make sure everything will be good for us in the end.
Main Activity: Sheet Pan Nachos
And now it's time for our main activity. Today we are making sheet pan nachos!
Let's watch a video to see how to make them:
Teacher: play this video from 0:33 to the end:
LOADED NACHOS RECIPE || Sheet Pan Suppers || Easy Dinner Idea
You might have noticed, there are a lot of different ingredients! You might have your favorite ingredients, like cheese or beef, or tortillas. But, everything works together to make the sheet pan nachos better.
And, God's plan is like that too. We might have a favorite part of God's plan. But, everything in God's plan works together to make it great -- and he even uses trouble and hard times to do great things for us.
Now, let's make our sheet pan nachos!
Teacher: lead the children in making the sheet pan nachos.
We'd love to hear from you!
What can we do better? And what did you enjoy? Your insights will help us to serve churches better!