Unit 4 / Lesson 4
How Can We Make Good Use Of Our Time?
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Teacher's Prep
Games
Prisoner Game
One roll of toilet paper per group of four
Stacking Froot Loops Game
One box of Froot Loops, or any other multi-colored loop shaped cereal
Have tables prepared so that children can work together in pairs to stack the cereal on a table. Recommended: one table per four children.
Have bowls to hold dry cereal. Recommended: one bowl per two children.
Blind Man's Bluff
One pool noodle (or two pool noodles, if your room is large)
A blindfold
Field Games or Group Games (Main Activity)
Assemble equipment and ideas for group games.
Intro
SLIDE 1
Gathering
How was your week?
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Intro Activity: The Prisoner Game
Instructions
We'll start our lesson with a game! We'll call it The Prisoner Game!
Here's how it works. We'll have groups of four people each. One of you will be the prisoner, and three of you will be the prison guards. Every group will have one roll of toilet paper. The three prison guards will try to use that toilet paper to tie up the prisoner so they can't escape.
If you're the prisoner, you need to be very cooperative for about five minutes as they tie you up. Prisoners should be nice because nobody suspects that a nice person is going to do anything tricky. As a prisoner you have a secret plan, which is that after five minutes, you're going to try to break out of the prison!
Teacher: form groups of four. Set a timer for five minutes for the children to tie up the prisoner. After five minutes, the prisoners will try to escape.
Alright everyone, let's quickly clean up the toilet paper, and then I'll show you how strong toilet paper can be.
SLIDE 3
Teacher: after the toilet paper is cleaned up, you may show them this episode from Mythbusters:
Mythbusters- Tori's Toilet paper Rope
SLIDE 4
Debrief
In the game we just played, you had only five minutes to tie up your prisoner. As it turns out, there’s a good way to tie up a prisoner, and a bad way. The bad way is to just put toilet paper everywhere and hope it's strong enough. But, if you knew what to do, you could actually make a rope so strong that it can hold the weight of an adult.
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Relevance
That's how it's like in the Christian life. If we know what to do with the time that we have, we can do amazing things. But if we don't have a good plan, we'll probably end up disappointed.
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Big Question
This brings us to our big question today: How can we make good use of our time?
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Big Idea
Our big idea is, we need to focus on the things that are important.
As it turns out,
1. Some things are not important, but
2. Some things are really, really important.
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Bible Reference
We'll see this in the story of Peter.
Let's watch our story first.
Teacher, play this YouTube:
Jesus Forgives Peter, by Saddleback kids
Point 1
SLIDE 9
Our first point is, some things are not important.
SLIDE 10
Activity: Stacking Froot Loops
Instructions
Teachers: set up tables, about one table per group of four. Put a bowl full of Froot Loops on the table.
Let's start our point with a game
It's the Stacking Froot Loops game!
Everyone needs to find a partner. Once you have a partner, you can head to a table, and I'll tell you when to start.
For this game you'll have two minutes to make the highest cereal tower you can!
Teacher: when everyone is at their tables, give them two or three minutes to stack cereal and make towers. Praise them for their efforts.
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Debrief
We played this game because it helps us to think about what's important. If you only have a couple minutes to make a tower, you'll be super focused on the important things. You won't care what the cereal tastes like or what color it is, because those things aren't important in the game.
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Bible Reference
In our Bible story, Peter and the disciples did something that was not important. Let's read.
John 21:3-6 (CEV)
3 Simon Peter said, “I'm going fishing!” The others said, “We will go with you.” They went out in their boat. But they didn't catch a thing that night. 4 Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize who he was.
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5 Jesus shouted, “Friends, have you caught anything?” “No!” they answered. 6 So he told them, “Let your net down on the right side of your boat, and you will catch some fish.” They did, and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat.
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Explanation
When we first read the story, it doesn’t seem like Peter is doing anything wrong. Peter is just going fishing with the other disciples. What could be so bad about that?
You need to remember what happened before the story. They had just spent three years with Jesus, training and preparing to save the world.
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Then Jesus died, but He didn't stay dead. Jesus defeated death for all of us so everyone can live forever if they trust Him and follow Him. This was the greatest moment in history! The disciples needed to get ready to take the news everywhere! Just a few weeks later though, Peter and the disciples were just fishing -- which is exactly what they would have done if they had never met Jesus.
They didn’t need to catch those fish. Jesus had taught these disciples that as long as they were doing God's work, God would give them everything needed. They didn't ever need to worry about what they would eat or drink or wear, but they needed to focus on God's work.
If they stayed up all night fishing, they would be too tired to do the more important things.
If they just listened to Jesus, they would have all the fish they needed and more.
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Application
We aren't too different from the disciples, because Jesus has made us promises too -- that He will give us everything we need if we are doing His work. If Jesus is with us, He will take care of us.
So, maybe we don't need to care so much about seeing the latest TV show, or impressing our friends, or winning an argument. Maybe we don't have to care so much if we lose a game, or if we're eating food that is not so tasty.
The little things matter, like making a good first impression.
Most of the time, we don’t need to care so much about the little things, because as long as we are doing God’s work, He will give us everything we need and more.
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Discussion Question
Let's pause for a discussion question.
What is one thing that you don't need to care so much about?
Point 2
SLIDE 18
Our second point is, some things are really, really important
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Activity: Blind Man's Bluff
Instructions
Our next game is Blind Man's Bluff!
It's a bit like “tag,” but the person who is "it" can't see. They get a pool noodle to tag everyone with.
Teacher: There are two variations of this game. In one variation, the blind man tries to tag one person and then that person becomes "it." In the other variation, the blind person tries to tag everyone, so it becomes a “survivor” type game where the last person to be tagged wins.
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Debrief
We played this game because it reminds us that some things are really important. If you're the blind person in the game, you don't really need to see, but you do need to use your pool noodle. If you're trying to get away from the blindfolded person, you probably don't need to run very fast. However, it’s important to have a strategy so you don’t get tagged.
That's what it's like being a Christian sometimes. There are some things that are really, really important. Let's see what was really important for Peter.
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Bible Reference
John 21:15-17 (CEV)
15 When Jesus and his disciples had finished eating, he asked, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than the others do?” Simon Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I do!” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus said. 16 Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you!” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus told him.
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17 Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus had asked him three times if he loved him. So he told Jesus “Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.” Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep.
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Explanation
Jesus told Peter what he had to do. Peter had to take care of God's people by teaching them and making sure they had everything they needed. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “feed my sheep.”
Someone else could fish. Peter needed to help other Christians to follow Jesus. Jesus had given Peter a special ability to lead Christians. Jesus had prepared Peter for three years for that work. Now, Peter had to use the special ability that Jesus gave him.
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Application
That's how it works for us too. God has given us important work to do. Each of us has special abilities that other people don't have. Maybe you have special skills, and you're just good at certain things. Maybe you have really close friendships, so you can talk to your friends in a way that nobody else can. We can't get distracted and waste our time doing things that don't matter. When we use our special abilities to help people in special ways, we will be using our time well.
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Discussion Question (optional)
If you could have any special ability to help people, what would it be?
Do you think you could get that special ability if you really tried for a long time?
Conclusion
SLIDE 26
Let’s wrap up today’s lesson by going over the big ideas again.
Our big question today was: How can we make good use of our time?
Our big idea was, we need to focus on the things that are important.
That means we need to leave behind things that are not important. Maybe we don't have to care so much about winning, or impressing people, or having fun all the time.
God has given us important work to do, and He has given us special abilities that we need to use.
If we follow God’s plan, we’ll be happy in the end.
Main Activity: Field or Indoor Group Games
SLIDE 27
Now it's time for our main activity. It's games day! Games help remind us that some things are important and some things are not. They help us to remember our lesson, which is to focus on the things that are important.
Teacher: lead games