The ‘Rockin’ Peace’ Chilidrens Lesson on Philippians 4:1-9 is part of the Jailhouse Rock! teaching series.
Main Idea: Paul shows us that God doesn’t want us to worry but wants to give us peace by keeping our thoughts on Him
Suggested Schedule: (90 mins)
- Welcome (5 mins)
- Game 1 (5mins)
- Review Big Verse (5 mins)
- Set the Scene: Bible story/skit and review questions (10-15 mins)
- Object Lesson 1 talk (5mins)
- Game 2 (5 mins)
- Object Lesson 2 talk (5 mins)
- Game 3 (5 mins)
- Object Lesson 3 talk (10 mins)
- Get out of Jail Game (5 mins)
- Sense How You Feel – activity (10 – 25 mins)
- Seek God – prayer (5 mins)
Setting the Stage: This series will take us through a letter that Paul wrote to the Philippians while he was in prison. Instead of being sad and gloomy about his situation, Paul uses his time to be joyful and thankful. To create a jailhouse rock scene setting you could make your own “jail” props such as ball and chains, stocks or bars. Each week you could challenge the children to come up with a verse from Philippians that is set to music so you could also have musical instruments available.
Supplies:
- Music
- Foam ball
- Basket
- Paper
- Noise reduction headphones
- Lego building plate
- Lego
- Pens
- Embellishments
- Printables: Get out of Jail PDF, box template PDF, scripture PDF. Prayer cards PDF .
- Coloring pens
- Playdough or clay
- Lego or construction toys
- Prayer tent materials – cushions, bibles, fairy lights, cross, candles etc
- All PowerPoint games with some way of showing them (i.e. laptop and screen)
SONG and BIBLE STORY VIDEO IDEAS available via our dedicated Pinterest Board.
GAME IDEAS:
GAME 1 – OPEN CELL – 5 mins
Description: Group Game.
Supplies: Foam ball
Details: Open Cell. (regular/widescreen) The main player is “on” as a prison guard and when they shout “open cell!” all the other players (aka prisoners) run out of the cell and hide. The main player must then walk around and shout out the names of the prisoners when they see the hidden players.
GAME 2 – CHAINED HANDS RACE – 5 MINS
Description: Team Game.
Supplies:
Details: Chained Hands Race. (regular/widescreen) Children must go through an obstacle course with their hands either clasped together. You can use cones to weave around, nets or tables to go under or over.
GAME 3 – THE GUARDS ARE COMING! – 10 MINS
Description: Zoom Game
Supplies: Music
Details: The Guards are coming! (regular/widescreen) Play some music for everyone to dance to. Just before you stop the music shout “the guards are coming!” When you stop the music the children must stop moving or they are eliminated from the game. The last player standing is the winner.
BIG VERSE: His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7.
SET THE SCENE: 10-15 MINS
Description: Bible story and questions
Supplies: Bible, 2 signs – one smiley face and one sad face
Details:
Say: Does anyone here have disagreements? Maybe with your siblings or friends? Now when you arguing how do you feel? (Hold up sad face) – you feel sad right! Anyone feel full of Joy when you are arguing? (Hold up happy face). Of course not! When are in disagreements with people we lose our Joy!
Let’s find out more about what Paul says.
Read Philippians 4:1-9.
REVIEW QUESTIONS:
- What should we be full of?
- What does Paul say we should do when we worry?
- What will we experience when we do what Paul says?
- What should we be thinking about?
SPOT THE SIMPLE MEANING:
1) DON’T WORRY – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 1
Supplies: Basket, balls of paper
Details:
Say: Our mind is an amazing thing. A lot can go on in there! Let’s pretend this basket is my mind. (Show an empty basket.) Yep, it’s pretty empty right now! But let’s say I start thinking about school. Let’s say that my teacher had to move away, and last Friday was her last day here, so tomorrow we’ll be getting our new teacher. I can spend all day imagining bad things. (Put some balls of paper in the bin representing every thought🙂 Man, I bet she’ll be really mean. I bet she’ll give twice as much homework. What if she doesn’t like me? What if
she doesn’t like anyone? What if her tests are way harder? All these “what ifs” are worry. (show bin full of paper) Look at my mind – its full of thoughts about all the bad that can happen. I can’t think of anything else!
Let’s see what Paul says – Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything! So if I take Paul’s advice, I’ll pray, tell God what I need, and thank Him.
If this were my mind, I would probably start by saying, “Lord, it makes me so nervous that my teacher is moving away. I really want to hear from You about this. First, I confess to you that I’ve been worrying and I ask you to take away all my thoughts of worry and fear. Please show me any other lies I have been believing.” (Dump out the paper)
When we pray, we not only talk but we… listen! So I would ask, “What do You want me to know about this situation?” That’s when God’s Spirit can remind you of His amazing promises in the Bible!
By giving God our worry’s our mind is now empty and ready to receive God’s truth!
2) PEACE ON THE INSIDE – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 2
Supplies: Noise reduction headphones
Details:
Say: God doesn’t just want to take away our worries – he wants to replace them with his PEACE!
Paul says that God’s peace is with us. Let’s see what he means (ask for a volunteer). When I say GO I want everybody to make as much noise as you can. But as soon as [Volunteer] raises her hand, like this (have your volunteer demonstrate sticking her hand in the air), you need to get silent immediately. Everybody got that? Okay, bring on the noise when I say . . . GO!”
(After a few seconds, cue your volunteer to raise her hand and silence everyone).Sometimes, when we pray about something that worries us, God brings us peace on the outside. He takes away the thing we’re anxious about, just like when [Volunteer] took away the noise. But life doesn’t always work that way.
Sometimes the thing that’s worrying us keeps happening – Like if you pray about a test, God won’t stop the test from happening.
Still, when you trust God, you can have peace inside, no matter what happens. You might say a prayer like this: “God, I’m trusting you with this test. Even if I get a bad grade, I know you’ll still love me.” If you can pray that—and mean it—you’ll probably start to feel some of God’s peace! Why? Because you’re letting him take care of the thing that worries you.
Let me show you what that looks like. In a minute we’re going to make noise again. But first, we’re going to give [Volunteer] some peace, even when you’re really loud. (Gently place the muffs on your volunteer’s ears. It will make the room sounds significantly quieter for her.) Okay, time for the noise—GO! (Let the children keep up their noise for longer than before. Finally, cue them to stop.) What do you think, [Volunteer]? Was that a more peaceful experience, even while everybody was going nuts?
When you trust God with the things that worry you, sometimes he brings peace on the outside, like when we stopped the noise. But other times, he works a little bit like earmuffs. He brings you peace on the inside – a peace that goes with us even in stressful situations.
3) THINK GOOD THOUGHTS – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 3
Supplies: Lego building plate, Lego
Details:
Say: When we start our lives we are a bit like a blank canvas (hold up lego building plate, then as you speak build a lego tower, making it as solid as possible so it doesn’t fall over). But gradually over time our experiences can cause us to believe things which aren’t true. We can start to think bad thoughts about ourselves and other people. We start to believe these thoughts are true. Perhaps we have believed them for so long they have become part of our lives – a bit like this tower. They are firm and hard to budge. They probably don’t give us peace either!
God doesn’t want us to have thoughts like this and we need to break these thoughts by asking God to show us what are the right thoughts and the wrong thoughts in our lives.
How do you make sure that wrong thinking doesn’t happen? By thinking about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, worthy of respect, excellent and praiseworthy.
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES:
GET OUT OF JAIL GAME – 5 MINS
Description: Team or individual game
Supplies: Get out of Jail jpeg, bibles.
Details:
Using the printout or slide (start at the ‘imprisoned’ end and move through the maze to get to the ‘free’ on the other side) to find the scripture! The correct route will take them through the passage “His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”. (Philippians 4:7)
If time, spend a few moments reading Philippians 4:1-9 and share with each other which is your favorite verse and why.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- What does it mean to think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy?
- How do your thoughts affect your actions?
- What does God think of your thought life? Is He pleased?
- How can you receive God’s peace?
SENSE HOW YOU FEEL – 10 MINS EACH OR IN TANDEM/ROTATION
Encourage the children to think about the questions above as they do one of the activities:
Description: Craft
Supplies: box template, scissors, markers
Details: Color and decorate your own box. Cut out the Philippian’s scriptures and put them in the box.
Description: Moulding activity.
Supplies: Playdough or clay.
Details: Mould something that you do that is pleasing to God.
Description: Building activity.
Supplies: Lego or construction toys.
Details: Build a scene of where you feel God’s peace.
Description: Sensory activity.
Supplies: Create a prayer tent space using cushions, lights, a cross and tent if you have one. Have some quiet music playing.
Details: Encourage the children to spend some time listening to God. Have some scriptures around to help focus them. Allow time to draw or write anything that they have heard.
Description: Activity Booklets.
Supplies: 5-7s and 8-11s booklets (included in download), markers.
Details: Fill in or color the 5-7s (PDF) and 8-11s (PDF) booklets.
SEEK GOD: 5 MINS
Description: Prayer/Encounter activity
Supplies: Soft worship music, “Don’t worry about anything but pray about everything” prayer card”, Cross.
Details: Ask the children to stand. Play some quiet music in the background
Today we have learnt that God doesn’t want us to worry but wants to give us peace by keeping our thoughts on Him
Paul tells us to turn our worry and stress into prayers in order to get peace in a situation. So as the music plays let’s spend some time just thinking about anything in our lives that is causing us to worry.
After a few moments ask the children to write their worries on a prayer card. Once they’ve done this they could place their prayer cards at a cross.
Now let’s ask God to fill us with His peace and to take away any wrong thinking.
Pray: Dear God, Thank you for the peace that you want to give us. Help us to keep our mind off of the things that are bad and please show us the way to know You more each day. AMEN.
ZOOM FRIENDLY LESSON:
HOW MANY? GAME (Keynote/PowerPoint)
JAIL STORY GAME (regular/widescreen)
COUNTING GAME (regular/widescreen)
