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Unit 8 / Lesson 3

What To Do With Enemies

Teacher's Prep

  • Games

    • What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?

      • If you are not familiar with the game, here are the basic rules:

      • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3pvnYz9VNE&ab_channel=wikiHow

      • Before class, set up a line to mark a safe zone for the class, about ten feet from a wall to avoid crashing while running.

      • Mark the zone with a line of masking or painters’ tape, two pylons or two chairs 

      • The game works best in a large room. If you don’t have a large room, you can try a different game which features an adversary, e.g. blind man’s bluff with a pool noodle.

    • Sticky Note Challenge

      • Materials: 

        • Two pads of sticky notes per group of four (regular size of mini). You can buy the cheap no-name type from the Dollar store, as quality is not important. 

    • Zoom Out

      • Show these two YouTube videos:

      • Note: a large screen TV or projector is ideal for this game. In the absence of a large screen that everyone can see, a laptop might do for a small group, or maybe several smartphones in the case there are lots of helpers present. Have them all start the video at the same time.

  • Hot Chocolate with Toppings (Main Activity):

    • Prepare ingredients:

      • Milk (provide an alternative to cow’s milk if required)

      • Chocolate powder or chocolate syrup.

      • Toppings

        • Sprinkles

        • Candy canes

        • Marshmallows

        • Whipped cream

    • Note: start heating the milk during the activity (or right beforehand, if you have a helper), stirring as it heats to avoid burning 

    • A friendly reminder: please be aware of any dietary restrictions among your children.

  • Paper Snowflakes (Main Activity 2, if there’s time after hot chocolate)

    • Please watch this instructional video for easy paper snowflakes

    • Materials needed

      • Paper

      • 1 pair of scissors per child


    Intro

    SLIDE 1

  • Gathering

    • How was your week?

    SLIDE 2

  • Intro Game: What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?

    • Instructions

      • We will start with a game! It's called, What's the Time, Mr. Wolf? Let’s watch the instructions together.

      • Teacher: play this YouTube video for a one-minute summary of the game.

      • Here are the rules again: Everyone will start behind a line. This is your home, and this is where you're safe. Someone will be Mr. Wolf, and they'll start on the opposite wall. We’ll ask, “what’s the time Mr. Wolf?” Mr. Wolf will say something like, “it’s 5 o’clock.” Then everyone will take 5 steps, or whatever number Mr. Wolf said. You can take big steps or little steps, but you can’t hop or jump in your steps. They have to be walking steps.

      • If someone manages to tag Mr. Wolf, everyone wins. BUT, there’s a catch. When you ask “What's the time Mr. Wolf,” Mr. Wolf can also say, “Dinner time!”, and then Mr. Wolf will turn around and try to tag someone. Everyone else will run home. If Mr. Wolf tags someone before they're home, then everyone loses, and we'll pick another Mr. Wolf.

      • We'll need as much space as possible to run, and we'll have one of the adults be Mr. Wolf for the first round (Adults: go easier on them for the first round)

      • Teacher: play a few rounds depending on time and interest. 

        • Important: as this game involves running and chasing, there is some risk of injury. Have the running space as clear as possible, with padding if possible (or adults in front of objects) to prevent collisions with corners and other hazards. To adjust the difficulty, you can either say that the wolf can peek between rounds to see who is getting close to them, or they can’t peek to see who is getting close to them.

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because there's an enemy: there’s a wolf that wants to catch you and eat you! But, there is also a way to defeat the wolf and win the game.

  • Relevance

    • This game helps us to think about the times in our life when we feel like we have an enemy. Sooner or later, we all come across people like that. Sometimes siblings are mean on purpose, or there are students at school who are mean on purpose. Even adults are mean sometimes. 

    SLIDE 3

  • Big Question

    • Our big question today is: What should we do when we have an enemy?

  • Big Idea

    • There's a verse in the Bible that tells us what to do.

    • Romans 12:21 (CEV)

      • Don't let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good.

    • That's our big idea today.

    • When you have an enemy, don't let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good.

    SLIDE 4

  • Bible Reference

    • We’ll see this big idea in our Bible story from the life of Elisha.

    • Let’s watch the cartoon version of the story first.

    • Teacher: play this YouTube video:


    Point 1

  • Our first point is, don't let evil defeat you.

    SLIDE 5

  • Game: The Sticky Note Challenge

    • Instructions

      • Let’s start this point with a game, called the Sticky Note Challenge!

      • It's really simple: we'll have teams of about four people each. Teams will be all boys or all girls, no mixing. Each team will have two pads of sticky notes and will need a volunteer to have sticky notes put all over them. Your goal as a team is to be the first team to stick all the sticky notes to that person.

      • Now there’s a very important rule for this game: stay away from private parts!!! You can stick the sticky notes on a person’s arms and legs and their back. But none of the swimsuit areas.

      • Teacher: divide the group into teams. Each team will have two pads of sticky notes to stick on a single person. Afterwards you can play a follow up game in which teams collect all the sticky notes that have been used, and stick them in a single stack. This follow-up game would allow for easy cleanup.

    • Debrief

      • The reason why we played this game is because it's a bit challenging. You had to work together and split up the sticky notes. Maybe you ran out of space, or your sticky notes fell off and you had to put them on again.

      • So how did you win?

  • SLIDE 6

    • You had to keep going, and not let all those problems stop you. When things didn’t go your way, you just had to do your best to fix those problems.

  • Bible Reference

    • That's what we see in our Bible story.

    SLIDE 7

    • Let's read the first two verses again.

      • 2 Kings 6:8-9 (ICB)

      • 8 The king of Aram was at war with Israel. He had a council meeting with his officers. He said, “I will set up my camp in this place.” 9 But Elisha sent a message to the king of Israel. It said, “Be careful! Don’t pass that place. The Arameans are going down there!”

  • Explanation

    • I’ll explain. God's people had an enemy. The country of Aram was sending soldiers to attack God's people and to steal their things.

    • Our hero Elisha helped God's people to protect themselves. Elisha kept telling his king where the enemies were going to be, and that helped God's people to stay out of trouble.

    • And later on in the story, when the enemies tried to catch Elisha, he didn't just let them catch him, but he prayed, and God made all of his enemies blind.

  • Application

    • Now we're a bit different from Elisha because most of us don't have special powers. But we’re not that different because God is with us just as He was with Elijah. God cares about us a lot. Most of the time, God gives us a way to protect ourselves from evil. If there are mean students at school, maybe you can find a different group of friends. Or, maybe there’s an adult and you can ask them for advice. Or maybe God has given you another way to stop people from hurting you.

    SLIDE 8

    • Whenever we have a way to protect ourselves, it’s a gift from God. 

    • Sometimes God gives us a way to protect someone else too. When we can protect someone else from getting hurt, we are doing God's work.

    SLIDE 9

  • Discussion Question

    • Let's pause for a discussion question.

    • Suppose you are playing on a playground at school, and someone starts being really mean to others. What's something you can do?


    SLIDE 10

    Point 2

  • Our second point is, defeat evil with good.

  • Game: The Zoom Out Game

    • Instructions

      • We'll start this point with a game! It's a picture guessing game on the TV. We'll be looking at a whole bunch of things that are zoomed in, and then it will slowly zoom out. As a class, let's try to guess the right answer as quickly as we can. For every picture you can only guess once. If you guess wrong, you'll have to wait for someone else to get the right answer.

      • Teacher: show these videos:

    SLIDE 11

    SLIDE 12

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because sometimes things don't make sense the first time you look at them. But, when you take a step back and think about it for a bit longer, you can see the big picture.

  • Bible Reference

    • That's what the king of Israel had to learn in the second half of our Bible story.

    • Remember, Elisha had asked God to make all of his enemies blind. Then Elisha had told his enemies to follow him, and Elisha brought them to the king of Israel. Now the king had his enemies right where he wanted them.

    SLIDE 13

    • Let's read what happened next:

      • 2 Kings 6:21-23 (ICB)

      • 21 The king of Israel saw the Aramean army. He said to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?” 22 Elisha answered, “Don’t kill them. You wouldn’t kill people whom you captured with your sword and bow. Give them food and water. And let them eat and drink. Then let them go home to their master.” 23 So he prepared a great feast for the Aramean army. They ate and drank. Then the king sent them away. They went home to their master. The soldiers of Aram did not come anymore into the land of Israel.

  • Explanation

    • In our Bible story, the king had an idea. HIs enemies had caused him so much trouble, and they had hurt so many of his people. And now, the king could destroy all of his enemies just like that.

    • But God had a different plan, and Elisha told the king what God’s plan was.

    SLIDE 14

    • God wanted the king to be kind, and to feed his enemies.

    • The king prepared a great feast for his enemies, then sent them home, and they never bothered his people again.

    SLIDE 15

    • The king overcame evil by doing good.

  • Application

    • God’s plan is for us to do that too.

    • It turns out, the best way to get rid of an enemy is not to make them pay, but to make them your friend.

    • The Bible tells us:

    SLIDE 16

    • Do your best to live in peace with everyone (Romans 12:18, ICB). 

    SLIDE 17

    • Now, there are some people who will never be your friends. Even Jesus couldn’t be friends with everyone. We can only do our best, and that’s all that God asks. Just do your best to make peace when people are mean.

    • Sometimes when we do our best we can really make peace, and we will have one more friend and one less enemy. But if we can’t make peace, we can trust that God will take care of us, and He will always make things right in the end.

    SLIDE 18

  • Discussion Question

    • Let's pause for a discussion question:

    • If there is a mean kid on the playground, what is a way you can do good to them?


    Conclusion

  • Let’s end the lesson by going over the big ideas again.

  • Our big question today was: What should we do when we have an enemy?

  • Our Bible story helped us to understand our main verse.

    SLIDE 19

    • Romans 12:21 (CEV)

      • Don't let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good.

    SLIDE 20

  • The first thing we do is, we don’t let evil defeat us. God gives us ways to protect ourselves from evil, and sometimes He gives us ways to protect other people.

  • The second thing we do is, we defeat evil with good. We do our best to make peace with everyone. Sometimes we can make a new friend. But, if we can’t, we can trust that God will take care of us and make things right in the end. 


    SLIDE 21

    Main Activity: Hot Chocolate with Toppings

  • Now let's end with our main activity!

  • We are going to make hot chocolate with toppings! The key to a great hot chocolate drink is to get all the toppings to work together. And maybe that helps us understand our Bible story. Our story is about people who are very different, but they can come together in a great way.


    Main Activity 2: Paper Snowflakes (optional)

  • We have time for one more activity, so we're going to make paper snowflakes! Let's watch this video to see how they're made.

  • Teacher: play this video

  • There's a saying, no two snowflakes are the same. That helps us to appreciate our lesson about dealing with enemies, because no two people are the same, and we need to deal with evil a little bit differently every time. But if we can defeat evil with good, then it's beautiful every time.

  • Teacher: hand out scissors and paper and coach the children as they make their snowflakes.

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