Fitted feet in God's armor

Since we are teaching the armor of God on Wednesday evenings for kids' club, this week's lesson is on fitted feet. And what better way to illustrate this important piece of God's armor than with shoes and lots of different ones at that!

To start with, Jena reviews the memory verse from last week and the kids who have it memorized can put a piece of armor up on the wall on their "person". I'll show pictures of our "army" next week.

And then Jena goes over this weeks memory verse - Romans 1:16. She had then do different things like jump up and down, jumping jacks, turn in circle and such while repeating the verse.

Then it's snack time and then the lesson...

This is my basic lesson outline (complete with photos & even video!). My talking parts are in pink and they are kinda improvised according to what the kids said and did. And of course you have to imagine the typed words put into actual speech...it makes the emphasis on certain words much more interesting! :)

Q. Did you have something exciting happen this week? Michael: won in a sports tournament

And you did not tell anyone about it, right?? (You should have seen the facial expression I got when I said this! :)) And of course, Michael's response was,"I told everyone I knew."

And that was good news you wanted to share, right? It was exciting and you couldn't wait to share it with everyone.

I repeated my question with a couple other kids and their responses and faces were just as great as the first! :)

We have the most important good news that we can share with everyone and we need to do it!

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6, that we are to make sure our feet are fitted with the Gospel of peace. The Gospel of peace is referring to the good news of Jesus Christ. If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, that He died on the cross to take the punishment for your sins, you are at peace with God and He is on your side, helping you to stand firm in His Word.

Q. Do you know what the word Gospel means? good news

Q. What is the Gospel or good news that we have? Jesus died for us on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins. If we trust Him as our Savior, we can have eternal life and live with Him in heaven.

Believers can stand firm, knowing that Jesus Christ is there to help and guide us. But not only do your feet remind you of your relationship with Jesus, but they also take the same Gospel that you believe and share it with others. Our feet take us everywhere and we should take the Gospel everywhere we go and share it with others.

Someone look up in their Bible and read - I Peter 3:15 - ...always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you...

Q. What is the hope that we have? Jesus Christ died for us and we can look forward to living forever in heaven with Him.

We always need to be ready and prepared to share with others the hope we have in Jesus Christ and the reason we can look forward to living in heaven with Him.

So....we need to be prepared....

When you are packing to go on a trip, you have to pack the things you will need, right? If you are going to Alaska and you don't pack a coat, you're not going to be very prepared for the cold days, are you?

We're going to take a journey. You will be given a pair of shoes to wear and you must follow the path you are given, pick up three items that might be helpful on your trip and reach your destination, which you will find out at the end of your journey.

Note: Jena and I taped six different colors of crepe paper to the floor in a crazy pattern. Then I put three items (some would apply to their destination and some would not) on each path of crepe paper. At the end of the path (crepe paper), I put a paper plate with the destination written.

The kids would follow the path with different pairs of shoes on, gather their items, find out their destination and come back to the group and explain why or why not these items would be useful. The object of this: None of their shoes would be appropriate for where they are going. They wouldn't have all the correct items for their destination. :)

follow the colored line

Blue flip flops - going to Greenland
items: gloves, marshal badge and sunblock

The gloves would certainly be needed in Greenland, but the marshal badge? You're going there for a vacation, not to be a policeman. And the sunblock and flip flops? Your feet were not prepared for this journey!

White tennis shoes - dancing in a ballet recital
items: sheets of music, matches, sunglasses

If you were going to be in a ballet recital, the music would be a definite must, but the matches and sunglasses...hmmm...would they be part of your performance? And tennis shoes for ballet dancing....I don't think that would work, do you?!

Pink hearts house slippers - going to Church
items: pen, paper, earmuffs

It's Sunday morning and you're prepared to go to church in those shoes? The pen and paper are a good idea, but the earmuffs....hmmm? And what important item are you missing if you are ready to go to church? (Bible!)

Black snow boots - going to the beach
items: towel, Bible, coat

Let's see....snow boots and the beach....that doesn't quite make sense. I would say your trip and your shoes don't match, don't you think? The towel would be a good idea and maybe your Bible, but a coat?

Orange flip flops - you are the President giving a speech
items: speech, ballet costume, farmer's cap

You're the President of the US, giving a speech on national tv and you're wearing flip flops (and orange at that!), in a ballet costume (in colors of pink and blue, which don't even match the flip flops) and you have a cap on your head? It's a good thing you do have your speech in your hand, but your clothing and shoes aren't appropriate.

Ballet shoes - hiking up Mt. Everest
items: water bottle, men's suit, scarf

For hiking up a mountain, a water bottle and scarf would be most useful. However, I don't think you would be wearing a suit or have ballet shoes on your feet. Your feet would never make it to the top in those shoes.

With each trip you took, you can see that you have to be prepared with the right shoes that would work for your journey. It's the same with us. We need to be prepared to share with other the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news and what He has done for us. It's such good news that we need to be excited to share it with everyone we meet.

Needless to say, the kids all enjoyed wearing different shoes and following the trails. Some more than others as you can see below! And hopefully they also have a better understanding about witnessing and how important it is that we share Jesus Christ with others.

the boys seemed to have fun dressing up...

some...ummmm....more than others...

Let's just say Jena and I have small feet which was
a challenge for some of the kids! Which of course made it
all the more fun for the kids to run and keep on their shoes!



click to play a video snippet