Leader Guide

Teaching

Our video today showed the dark and evil plans of Satan. During trials and difficult times, Satan tries to isolate us and lead us to believe that we are separated from God’s love. He wants us to think there is no hope!

Choose two children to stand beside you.

Let’s imagine that our first actor is God and our other actor is called “The Child.”

Have “God” and “The Child” stand close together.

Now, The Child really loves God and wants to stay close to Him! Even so, The Child is human, and not perfect! One day, The Child gives in to a temptation and does something wrong.

Wedge the chair in between God and The Child. 

The enemy, Satan, immediately tries to separate The Child from God. Satan wants The Child to feel guilty, ashamed and unworthy. Satan’s goal is to make The Child feel condemned and completely alone.

Slowly but firmly pull The Child further from God as you talk.

Satan wants to convince The Child that God is angry and will not forgive what The Child did. Do you remember in our video from last time, how Chris felt hopeless and separated after he disobeyed?

Satan is called the accuser and the father of lies. Can we believe anything that he tells us? No!

Jesus is called “the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Can we trust what He tells us? Yes!

The Bible promises that nothing can separate us from God’s love! Read Romans 8:37-39 nkjv:

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The truth is that we will all fail; and as we try to follow Jesus, we will face trials, temptations, testing, and struggles while on Earth, but none of these things affect God’s love for us. This is called “unconditional love”—and it is what we need to show others. Our SuperTruth says: “I will help others and show them God’s love.”

Now, back to our little skit. What could you do to help The Child? Show you care by talking, praying, sharing a scripture verse, saying that God forgives everything if we ask Him, etc.

Helping others and showing God’s love does not have to be difficult. Listen to God’s quiet voice in your heart. He can show you what is needed in different circumstances. Showing His love can be as simple as taking the time to listen to someone who is having a hard time. Do you remember when Gizmo and Joy continued to search for Chris so that they could support and help him?

Chris was relieved and strengthened when he saw his friends had not abandoned him! By our words and actions today, here on Earth, we can shine God’s light in the darkness and show His love to others when they need it most. When Jesus sent His disciples out to share the Gospel, He told them this: Read Matthew 10:8:

“Give as freely as you have received!”

God has freely given us His forgiveness, love and blessings—and this is what God sends us out to give to others.

Hold up the tube and tilt it slightly toward the floor holding your hand over the lower end to close it. As you speak, put the marbles/balls in the tube, one by one.

This tube represents us as followers of Jesus. These marbles/balls represent God’s love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace that we freely receive every day. Now, do you think God is pleased if we are like a container and just store these blessings up for ourselves?

Remove your hand from the end and allow the marbles/balls to flow out onto the floor.

No, instead of a closed container, He wants us to be an open channel for His blessings to freely flow through to help others and show His love! This reminds me of our Discipleship Challenge that we began last time.

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Display the God’s Plan Revealed Craft. Hand out Craft Patterns to any children who were not present for Lesson 1, plus extras to children who wish to show them to their friends.

How many were able to learn the verses for first two sections—The Problem and The Plan?

Were any of you able to share your craft with friends—and what happened when you did?

We will continue our Discipleship Challenge by learning the verses for the other sections. Are you up to the challenge? Let’s go over the verses for those sections now.

Read the verses on the pattern. You may take extra copies of the craft home to show your friends God’s plan of salvation. Also, remember to invite your friends to come to church with you! Next time, I’ll ask what happened when you did.