“Armour of God”

Today's selected reading: – Ephesians 6: 10-20

Kids Address
• Have you ever played a war game? (Discuss)
• Each of the soldiers in the battles need to have some protection. What sort of protection might they need? (Discuss)
• What about at school. Have you ever had any problems where you needed help? Like being picked on and your older brother came to your rescue, or maybe Mum or Dad. (Discuss)
• As a Christian, one who knows Jesus and gives thanks for being part of his family here at Saint Thomas', at times might have a need for protection.
• Have you ever heard this slogan "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me" (Discuss)

• Sometimes, people make fun of those who go to church, and this is sad as they just don't understand how much fun it can be.

• Today's reading reminds us how there is something called Christian armour.

Use every piece of God’s armor

Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.
^Truthfulness is the mark of any Christian. People will only trust us when we are truthful

For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared.
^ If you were to run in a race you would always have your shoes on and ready to run. When we know the good news about Jesus, we are always ready to share this with others

In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.
^ Sadly there will always be people who say nasty things about you or to you. When we love Jesus, we know he will protect us from name calling because we know nothing will make him say bad things about us

Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
^ For protection against such people, that is why we enjoy coming here on Sundays because the people here will always be like a member of our family. They are like wearing a helmet or holding a sword for protection.

Jesus loves us and will always protect us, and especially when we try every day to be a Jesus Friend. And a Jesus friend looks out for one another.

Kids Church Activity:
Use the armour set for the talk. Kids to make up figures and then to cut out the armour, sword, shield etc so it can be attached and removed from the card figure. To be made about the size of A4

What you need to get ready:
Armour outfit for talk, armour cut-outs all on one A4 sheet with tabs to attach, blue tack or Velcro to attach sword to figure, scissors, paints/coloured pencils or spirit pens, cardboard figure ready to cut out