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Unavoidable Trouble

Unit 6 / Lesson 2

Unavoidable Trouble

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Teacher's Prep

  • Songs

  • Games

    • Beanbag Relay Race

    • Balloons Up

      • Materials needed: one balloon per child. Have several balloons inflated before the lesson so that they are ready to be used.

    • Drawing with Limited Crayons

      • Materials needed:

        • Two crayons per child

        • Two sheets of paper per child

    • Main Activity (Movie Night Part 1)

      • Prepare a movie appropriate for your group. You may want to give your group multiple movie choices to choose from.


    SLIDE 1

    Intro

    SLIDE 2

  • Gathering

    • How was your week?

  • =SLIDE 3

  • Game: Beanbag Relay Race

    • Instructions

      • We'll start our time with a beanbag relay race!

      • Teacher: you may want to play this instructional video

      • Here's how it works. We will have two teams. Each team will start at one wall. When it’s your turn, you need to walk to the far wall and back balancing something on your head. If it falls, you need to let it hit the ground before you pick it up and keep going. You start your turn by touching the near wall. Then you will touch the far wall. Then you come back and touch the near wall again. Then the next person on your team can go. When everyone on your team is done, you win!

      • Teacher: you may want to do a demonstration before the children try. Also, depending on time and interest, you may want to play more than one round of the game. For a more challenging game, you may also want to set up a more complex route, e.g. they need to touch four chairs at various corners of the room before they return to their starting position.

    SLIDE 4

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because there are a lot of ways to go wrong. If you tilt your head too much one way, the beanbag will fall off. If you tilt too much the other way, the beanbag will fall off the other way. If you go too fast, the beanbag will probably fall off. If you go too slow, the other team might get ahead, or maybe your teammates won't like it because you're taking too long.

    SLIDE 5

    • That's what it's like being a Christian. Sometimes we're in an uncomfortable spot and there are a ton of different ways to get into trouble.

    SLIDE 6

  • Relevance

    • Last week's story was a bit like that. Last week we learned about Daniel and his friends. They were in a very special school where they were training to serve the king. The school provided some amazing, tasty food for the students to eat. Daniel and his friends knew it was against God's rules for them to eat the food, but they couldn't make a big fuss about it, because they would get into big trouble with the school. So, Daniel and his friends asked the school staff if they could do things a different way. They asked nicely, and everything worked out great. It turns out there was an easy way to do the right thing.

    • But sometimes it doesn't work like that.

    SLIDE 7

  • Big Question

    • Our big question today is: What if there is no easy way to do the right thing?

    SLIDE 8

  • Big Idea

    • Our Bible story will show us that:

      • 1. Sometimes there is no easy way to do the right thing, but

      • 2. God takes care of us when we trust Him anyway.

    SLIDE 9

  • Bible Reference


    Point 1

    SLIDE 10

  • Game: Balloons Up

    • Instructions

      • Let's start this point with a game.

      • We'll call it "Balloons up." We'll start in a circle, and I'll toss in a balloon. Our goal is to try to keep the balloon from touching the ground by hitting it. You're free to move around, so you don't have to stay in the circle. The only catch is, you can't hit the balloon twice in a row before someone else hits it. You all need to work together to keep the balloon up.

      • When there's only one balloon, it will be pretty easy to keep up. I'll keep adding balloons and we'll see what happens. Remember, you want to keep all the balloons up, and you can't hit a balloon twice in a row.

      • If a balloon touches the ground, we'll stop the game and start with one balloon again. We'll see how many balloons we can manage at the same time.

      • Teacher: It is probably best to call out the number of balloons as you introduce new balloons, as a way of keeping score. Also, you may want to discuss strategy between rounds. For example, you may want to break them into sub-groups, and each sub-group can handle their own balloons. Or, you may want to spread them out across the floor for a kind of zone coverage. Play as long as time and interest allows.

    SLIDE 11

    • Debrief

      • In the game we played, we all knew what we needed to do: keep the balloons up. Sometimes it was really easy, but sooner or later, it got really challenging and it felt like no matter what we did, there was no way to keep the balloons up.

      • Sometimes it's like that if we want to follow Jesus. Sometimes we know what to do, and we're doing our very best, but there is no way to do the right thing without getting into big trouble.

    SLIDE 12

  • Bible Reference

    • That's what we see in our Bible story. First, let's rewind a bit and talk about how we got here.

    • In last weeks' story, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in a very special school that trained them to serve the king. If we keep reading from where we left off, we'll find that they finished their schooling and met the king who thought they were amazing. He gave them a great job at the king's court, which was the most special place in the palace. It was the kind of job everyone wanted. The three friends were paid well, they ate great food, and they could help the king with very important decisions.

    • One day, the king made a big statue of a god and gathered all the people in his court together to worship the statue together.

    SLIDE 13

    • Let's read what happened:

      • Daniel 3:4-7 (CEV)

        • 4 Then an official stood up and announced:

        • People of every nation and race, now listen to the king's command! 5 Trumpets, flutes, harps, and all other kinds of musical instruments will soon start playing. When you hear the music, you must bow down and worship the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Anyone who refuses will at once be thrown into a flaming furnace.

        • 7 As soon as the people heard the music, they bowed down and worshiped the gold statue that the king had set up.

    SLIDE 14

  • Explanation

    • Everyone was bowing down and worshiping the statue. However, if we read on for a few more verses, we’ll see that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't bow down. They couldn't bow down because they knew God wouldn't like it. So they kept standing even while everyone else was down on the ground. Everyone saw them. The Bible tells us the king got really, really mad. The king talked to the three friends and told them if they didn't bow down to the statue, he would throw them into a fiery furnace. There was no way for our three friends to do the right thing without getting into a lot of trouble.

  • Application

    • This story is in the Bible to teach us that even if we are doing everything right, sooner or later, we will get into trouble. Maybe someone will be mean to us because we follow Jesus. Maybe Jesus wants us to take care of people that everyone else is ignoring, or maybe we will get sick or get into an accident. Some Christians are surprised when they get into trouble, and they wonder if God has forgotten about them. But, really, it's part of God's plan for every Christian to get into trouble, so we should expect trouble, and we should prepare for it.

    SLIDE 15

  • Discussion Question

    • What is one way that we can prepare for trouble?

      • Suggested answers:

        • We can do our homework early in case something comes up.

        • We can build really strong friendships, so that we can rely on our friends when things get difficult.

        • We can train our minds to be really good at solving problems.

        • We can get to know the Bible, so that we will know the truth when things get confusing.


    Point 2

  • Our second point is, God takes care of us when we trust Him anyway.

    SLIDE 16

  • Game: Drawing with Limited Crayons

    • Instructions

      • We'll start our point with a game! It's a drawing game. Each of you will get two crayons and a couple of pieces of paper. I'll tell you what to draw, and you'll have two minutes to draw each picture. Make the picture as nice as you can in two minutes, and then we'll share the pictures that we drew.

      • Our first picture is: a farm

      • Teacher: Set a timer for two minutes. If they look like they need more time, you can extend the time a bit.

      • Time's up! Let's see what we all drew.

      • Alright, let's draw a couple more pictures.

      • Flip over the page that you drew on, so we'll draw on the backside.

      • Our second picture is: a beach

      • Teacher: For the third and fourth pictures, you can draw things like: a person riding a motorcycle, and a spaceship

    SLIDE 17

    • Debrief

      • In this game we played, we all had only two crayons to draw with. Maybe you wished that you had more colors or different colors, but if you just did your best, it probably turned out just fine.

      • The Christian life is like that too. A lot of times, things don't go our way. But, if we do our best, it normally works out okay. There is a promise in the Bible that it will always work out eventually if we wait long enough, but sometimes we will need to get to heaven before it works out.

    SLIDE 18

  • Bible Reference

    • Let's read the ending of our Bible story.

    • Remember, the king was really mad at our three friends, and the king gave them one last chance to worship the statue. But listen to what the friends said to King Nebuchadnezzar. They said:

      • Daniel 3:17-18 (NIV)

        • 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

    SLIDE 19

  • Explanation

    • Notice that the friends said that God CAN save them, and God WILL save them. They already knew that God would save them. As it turns out, they were right.

    • If we read on in the story, we find out that the king threw them into the blazing furnace. The fire was so hot that it killed the soldiers who threw the three friends in. But, the fire didn't hurt the three friends. They were just walking around the fire. Most amazingly of all, there was a fourth person walking around in the fire with them! Some people think the fourth person was Jesus. The king saw all of these things, and he was amazed.

    • The king asked them to come out of the fire, and when the three friends came out of the fire, they weren’t hurt at all. Because of this, the king told everyone to respect God. And he gave the three friends even better jobs in his royal palace. So, our story has a very happy ending.

  • Application

    • Did you know that every Christian is a lot like the three friends in our story?

    • When we go through trouble, know that God is able to save us from the trouble, and He WILL save us from the trouble.

    • But, we have to be clear. Christians go through a lot of trouble. 

    • Even the three friends in our story had to get really uncomfortable. They got tied up and thrown into a fire. Sometimes it’s like that for us too.

    • Like I said before, maybe someone will be mean to us because we follow Jesus. Or, maybe Jesus wants us to take care of people that everyone else is ignoring, or we will get sick or get into an accident. Sometimes Christians even die.

    • No matter what happens, God is with us, and He will make everything turn out okay in the end. We already know the end of our story. The end of our story is that we will live forever with God and everything bad that happens to us will lead to something better.

    • Because we know that, we can always do what is right, because we know that God will take care of us.

    SLIDE 20

  • Discussion Question

    • Do you think God will ever let you get hurt? Why or why not?


    Conclusion

    SLIDE 21

  • To wrap up our lesson let’s go over the big idea again:

    • 1. Sometimes there is no easy way to do the right thing, but

    • 2. God takes care of us when we trust Him anyway.

  • So we prepare for trouble, and we always do what is right, just like the three friends in our Bible story.


    Main Activity: Movie Night Part 1

  • SLIDE 22

  • For our main activity today, we will be watching a movie!

  • Movies help us to understand our Bible story because they remind us that sometimes life is like a movie. Normally some parts of the movie are a bit scary, but everything turns out alright in the end. For every Christian, our life is like a really good movie. Even if we go through scary and painful times, we'll be fine in the end.

  • Teacher: pick a movie with the group, and then watch for the remainder of your time together. In the next lesson, the main activity will be movie night part 2, so you can continue the movie.


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