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6th week of our Journey - 6 Polished Diamonds

• The children will practice the 6 Diamond Stories they learnt last week enabling them to share the Gospel to their friends using stories and helping them to remember the order of The Gospel Plan – HEAVEN, SIN/MAN, GOD, JESUS, FAITH, leading up to a commitment and establishing GROWTH. These are ideal for Community outreach where the children are involved in sharing the Gospel on a more corporate level.

MATERIALS:
Games: 2 Rope to make a circle, or chalk to mark it on the floor, Balloons, skipping ropes, balls,

Teaching: All the materials needed in Session 5 for the Diamond skits and stories. Print Romans 3:23 Bridge flier Photocopy Sword Play Tracks one for each child. Print Acts 16:31 Footprints to help memorize the Bible verse.

‘Mystery Clue’ Witnessing Tool:

Romans 6:23 Bridge flier

AS KIDS ARRIVE PRIOR TO THE LESSON:

Welcome Teacher/Trainers, Trainers and students.

1. OPENING GAME: (10 minutes)
Fishers of Men Game: This game is like tag. One person will be the fisherman, and everyone else will be the fish. Place a circle in the middle of the play area representing the net. Whenever a fish is tagged they must go and stand in the net. The game is over whenever everyone has been caught. Depending on how many children you have you may want to use more than one net or even a large blanket.

2. TEAM GAMES: (10 minutes)
Silly Relay Race Games
Divide the children into 2 groups for this team game and have them race by:
Holding balloons between their knees, balancing an object on head, running holding a balloon between two of the team members heads, skipping backwards, bouncing a ball
Once they master the forward races, have them do them backwards!

3. ACTIVE PRAISE CHORUS: (10 minutes)
Go and make disciples. (Use music video and lyrics found in Visual Aid Manual)

4. INTIMATE WORSHIP: (5 minutes)
He’s making diamonds out of us (Use music video and lyrics found in Visual Aid Manual)

Optional: More precious than diamonds (From Session 5)

Prayer: Help us Father to follow Jesus’ example to obey His command to go and make disciples. Thank you for shaping us and molding us into pure gold, thank you that in the pressure of life you are creating diamonds.

5. TEACHING:
“Back Track”
This week we are going to Back Track from the beginning:
• Who has their Treasure Map? (Get the child to come up and share the verses)
• ‘On the right track’ (Visual aids of the Tractor and the trailers – get 7 volunteers to come up to demonstrate)
• Can anyone come up and share their Faith using the Passport? (Get a volunteer have treats as rewards)
• Who will come up and share the Gospel using Little Wiggly Fingers (Visual aids to help the child)
• Optional: Coco-Gospel-Nuts
• Six Diamonds

Diamond 1 HEAVEN: Birthday Gift - (Big paper iphone or real iphone and big paper money or real $2.00bill. Print Romans 6:23- Visual Aid ‘The Bridge demo in Visual Aid Manual or downloaded from 2Tim22.com)

Diamond 2 MAN: Bondage of Sin – (Black cloth, Jesus outfit, red cloth) Rom 3:23 verse in Visual Aid Manual or downloaded from 2Tim22.com)

Diamond 3 GOD: The Vigilante/The Boss (FOOD STORE sign, shawl and stick, scarves, caps, white gloves, food)

Diamond 4 JESUS: My Life Story– (A large book not the Bible. Photocopy Sword Play track one for each child).

Alternative: The Dying Man – (Caps for solders, Identity dog-tag)

Diamond 5 FAITH: Life Savior– (‘LIFE SAVIOR’ ring, DROWNING MAN sign, sailors cap, sheet for sail, stick mast, paper hammer and saw, blue cloth for waves, captains cap and scarf)

Diamond 6 GROWTH – Grow and Go –(Food colouring, paint or dye - green, yellow and blue, 3 clear glasses )

This week we are going to polish up our diamonds, we are going to all practice the Diamond Skits we saw last week and learn how to do them ourselves. Get volunteers to come up and practice, give help and encouragement

Diamond 1: Birthday Gift
(Teacher/Trainers will act out the story using a big paper iphone and paper money or $2.00 bill)
It’s my birthday let’s suppose my best friend worked very hard for a whole year and purchased me a very expensive gift, like an Iphone. My friend offers me this gift without any conditions. I am overjoyed and excited to receive this wonderful gift. BUT then I reach into my pocket for some money ($2.00) to pay for it, or I offer to work for it. What an insult that would be! If I pay for it or work for it, it’s not a FREE gift anymore.
God offers Heaven—eternal life—to you and me as a FREE gift that is not worked for or deserved and no amount of good works could equal the price that Jesus Christ paid for this gift.

The Bridge: SIN, GOD and US dramatization. (See Visual Aid Manual)
Give each child a Romans 6: 23 ‘Bridge’ flier and go through the verse getting them to write in the appropriate places, give them each the cross and get them to fill it in and stick it on.

‘Mystery Clue’ (Romans 6:23- Use The Bridge demo)

What keeps us from getting this gift?

Diamond 2: Bondage of SIN
SIN - What is SIN? Sin is anything we think, say, do or do not do that displeases God. Sin blinds us from the truth, (Get a volunteer to come up, explain before the session what we are going to do. Tie the black cloth over his eyes.) Sin stops us from hearing God. (Tie the black cloth around his ears.) Sin binds us. (Tie the black cloth around his hands and lead him around) Sin trips us up (Tie the black cloth around his feet and he stumbles and falls ) and sin eventually will kill us. (Cover the boy on the floor with the black cloth) ‘The wages of sin is death’. (Jesus appears wearing a white wrap and blue sash and crown, carrying a red sheet, He places it over the ‘body’ laying dead on the floor and instantly he/she leaps up praise God and hugging Jesus)
For all have sinned – and come short – of the Glory of God. - (Romans 3:23)

There must be a different way… God’s way

Diamond 3: The Vigilante / The Boss
(The Vigilante story can be told while the Trainers act in the drama. This story is an illustration of God’s love and justice both being satisfied and the transfer of the punishment from man to Jesus. Vigilante’s hat, capes, white gloves, walking stick, Lieutenants cap, sword, FOOD STORE sign, food eg fruit)

Once upon a time there was a Vigilante, he lived on top of a mountain with his army and their families. The Vigilante and his army were always on the run as they fought against an evil dictator. In their camp on the top of the mountain, they had everything they needed to fight the evil dictator that had taken over their island. They had their weapons, their ammunition, their food and water.

One day, the Lieutenant came before the Vigilante and stated that someone had been stealing the food. The Vigilante became very angry because the army could not fight against the evil dictator without food. He gave the order to the Lieutenant “Go tell all the army and their family that anyone caught stealing food will be punished severely in public to make an example of them.”

The Lieutenant returns a few days later and brings the person that has been caught stealing the food. The Vigilante orders the person to be unmasked and just then realizes it was his own mother that has been stealing the food. He is shocked and asks his mother if she is guilty of this and she said ‘Yes I was so hungry.’ The Vigilante loves his mother and does not want to punish her because he knows the punishment may kill his mother BUT at the same time he is a just man and he knows that if he does not punish his mother his men will lose respect for him and will not fight for him.

What will the Vigilante do? What the Vigilante did next surprised everyone in the camp. He removed his coat, his hat and his white gloves. He wraps his arms around his mother and instructs the Lieutenant to punish him instead of his mother.

Boys and girls we are the mother in this story. We are guilty and deserve to be punished. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. The Vigilante firstly represents God in the story. God loves us and does not want to punish us but He is just and must punish sin. The Vigilante secondly represents Jesus who takes the punishment that we deserved, on the cross He died for us, to pay the penalty of our sin. He then rose from the dead and is in Heaven now offering us the FREE gift of eternal life in Heaven with God. This story reminds us that one hand God loves us and does not want to punish us BUT on the other hand He is also just and does not leave the guilty unpunished.

Optional: Bajan Boss skit

Do you see the problem?

God solved the problem by sending His Son Jesus.

Diamond 4: My Life Story
(Trainer holds out the Big Book not the Bible and says)
Let’s suppose this book is a record of my life, first page is a birth certificate the last page is my death certificate and all the pages in between contain a record of my life all the good things I have done and all the bad things I have done. There are some things in this book I am not very proud about.
(Trainer holds out his left hand and says)

Let’s suppose this represents me and laying right on top of me is the record book of my life and its heavy!
(Trainer places the Big Book on his left hand and pretends that it is very heavy)
It contains all the good things I have done but it also contains a record of all the BAD things I have done.
(Trainer holds up his right hand high up in the air directly above the Big Book and says)

Let’s suppose this represents God. God is Holy, loving and just and His eyes are too pure and holy to even gaze on sin. (Habakkuk 1:13) So when God looks at me He can’t see me because of the sin in my life. The sin
separates me from God.

The Bible says ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the was God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:1,14)
(Trainer now brings his right hand down to the same level to his left hand and the Big Book and says)

Jesus is God, He came from Heaven to earth, He lived a perfect life, the Bible says “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him (Jesus) (Trainer transfers the Book, which contains all his sins, from his left hand to the right hand that represents Jesus saying) the iniquity (sins) of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins,

(Trainer now lowers his right hand with the Big Book to the ground allowing the book to drop) He was buried

(Trainer now raises his right hand back up to Heaven high above his left hand and says)

He rose from the dead and He is in Heaven now offering us the free gift of eternal life. Is there anything now that separates me from God?
(Teacher now moves his right hand down and interlocks his left hand and says)

NO, my sin is gone as far as the east is from the west and now I can be in the right relationship with God.

Alternative: The Dying Man
During World War 1 (Or any other war that the children may be familiar with) a soldier became terribly wounded, and he knew he has only moments to live. (Have a young boy, dressed in camouflage with make believe gun lying down as though he is in the trenches – with a red cloth over his shoulders to demonstrate blood from the wounds)

He had a friend with him. (Introduce another young boy, dressed in camouflage with make believe gun) This young lad had a bad start to a bad life. (Hold him on the shoulder as you talk about him)
He'd made wrong decisions that took him down the wrong way, mixing with wrong people, getting involved in drugs, he became a robber and he'd already served time in prison. In fact, he was wanted, back home, by the police again.
The wounded man, the dying man, pulls the wanted man close to his face. He took his dog tag, his ID chain, and presses it in the hand of his buddy. "Listen, buddy, you've led a bad life," he said. "Everywhere you are wanted by the police. But there are no convictions against me. My name is clear, so, here, take my dog tag, take my wallet, take my papers, my identity, my good name, my life and quickly, hand me your papers that I may carry all your crimes away with me in death."

That is the same offer that Jesus makes to us through His saving death on the cross - and his life-changing resurrection. Jesus, the Lamb of God, still offers to take your sins to the cross with him. And because of the resurrection, you can take his good name ... Christ ...you can be called a Christians, a Follower of the Way, the Truth and the Life.

How do we get this relationship with God and the gift of eternal life?
By Faith

Diamond 5: The Life Savior
(Cloths to represent sea ( blue) and wind ( white) Life Savor, Sign Drowning man)

Once upon a time there was a little boy and the little boy lived on an island and he loved to run and play all around his island, but the little boy grew tired of running and he decided what he really needed was a sail boat so he could sail all around his beautiful island.

The boy didn’t have any money to buy a boat so he decided he would build his own boat. So he got some wood and some sail cloth and started to work on his boat and pretty soon it began to take shape.

One day, he lowered his boat into the water and set sail around the island. But just then a big storm came blew up with a big wind (wave white sheet) and large waves came crashing over the boy’s boat. (Wave blue sheet)

He was struck by lightning and very soon the boat began to sink and break apart. The little boy was in big trouble his boat was sinking lower and lower into the ocean. He was holding on to the boat that he had build with all of his might. The storm subsided but he was about to go under.

Just then off in the distance, he heard a sound. The sound of a fog horn (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhooooooo)

And there was a ship coming straight at him and soon he could read the name of the ship it was called ‘The Way the Truth and the Life’ The captain of the boat yelled to the boy “Ahoye little boy do you need some help?’

The little boy said “No, no I don’t need any help I built my own boat and I’m hanging onto it, I don’t want to let go of my boat” The captain throws him a life ring and yelled to the little boy “I really think you need some help take hold of this life ring.” The little boy does not want to let go of the boat that he has build but he is about to slip under the water and drown.

The little boy has to decide, he reaches out and takes hold of the ‘Life Savior’ and the captain of ‘The Way the Truth and the Life’ pulls him to safety. The little boy represents you and me. We have all built our own boats trying to work our way to Heaven. But our boats get holes in them and fall apart this represents the sin in our lives which tears apart our good works. The captain represents God and He throws us the life ring which is our ‘Life Savior’ JESUS without the Life Savior we will perish;

Diamond 6: GROW AND GO!
(Have the three clear glasses filled with green water, yellow water and blue water on a table in front of you - use food colouring dye)
Are you sensitive to others, patient and kind, have you learnt to master your mouth, are you a peace maker instead of a trouble maker? These are the characteristics of a mature Christian person. None of this stuff comes naturally, it’s very hard in fact we can’t do it on our own. That’s why I am so thankful for the Bible, that informs and corrects me, that I can pray to God and worship Him. I am thankful that I have Christian friends to help and guide me as I grow and go sharing my faith with others.

These glasses of coloured water will illustrate what it means to grow and mature. The green glass (lifting it up) is growth and that is what we need to be doing, growing, but in reality we are not always mature, sometimes we are blue, (lifting blue glass up) maybe our relationship with our parents is not what it should be, maybe we are rude and disobedient to our teachers. We are blue things are not going as we had hoped. We are blue. Have you ever felt blue? Sometimes we feel green (lifting green glass up) sometimes we feel blue (lifting blue glass up)
When you are feeling blue what you need is a little light (lifting yellow glass up) from God’s Word, the Bible tells us His Word is a light unto our path. We need Jesus, He is the Light of the World. So if you are a little blue you need to get filled up with His Word filled up with Jesus (Pour some of the yellow into the blue glass which turns green)

If you do that you will green right up again (Lift up both green glasses) and start growing and maturing ready to GO into all the world

OPTIONAL TEACHING: One day, Jesus was walking along the sea of Galilee when he saw two brothers Peter and Andrew. They were fishermen Jesus called out to them, "Follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!" Do you know what they did? (They laid down their fishing nets and followed Jesus. Jesus wants you and me to fish for people too. That means that he wants us to tell others about what he has done for us and what he wants to do for them. What does it take to be a fisher of people? What does it take to be good fisherman?

Firstly you need to be properly equipped. (That is what we are doing with you all these weeks equipping you with bait)

Next you can't sit around talking with your friends about fishing or reading fishing magazines and expect to catch any fish. You have to go where the fish are to catch fish! (That’s what Fishing Trips are all about)

Finally, if you want to be a good fisherman you have to learn patience. Sometimes the fish just aren't biting. Don’t give up! (You may share your faith and your love for Jesus to a friend and they may not be interested don’t despair.)

Extracts from http://www.sermons4kids.com/fishing4people.htm

6) APPLICATION/ENCOUNTERING GOD: Refer to our Encountering God Handbook for ideas for this important section of the session.

CLOSING PRAYER: Heavenly Father help us to be well trained and properly equipped to share the Gospel, give us the courage so we do not just sit around talking about evangelizing. Help us to go where the fish are to catch fish! Give us the patience needed to be good fishermen and Lord help us not to give up when the fish just aren't biting. Help us to learn all the skits, drama and tools provided to assist us in this program. Help us to mature and grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. Amen.

TAKE HOME PAGE:
Give each child a Romans 6: 23 flier they worked on in class to take home and share their Faith.

NEXT WEEK: Plan “Fishing Trips” Start identifying opportunities to have a Fishing Trips enabling children to share the Gospel in Sunday school classes, schools, orphanages, other communities using their ‘Mystery Clue’ Witnessing Tools.

CLICK to view Session #7.