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Reply to "BIBLE SKILLS & GAMES Workshop Lessons and Ideas for Empty Tomb/Resurrection"

The Resurrection

Bible Skills and Games Workshop

Summary:

The children will play a quiz game to reinforce and remember the events of the Resurrection story. The lesson uses a spinning wheel to determine point values of questions.  It also uses the spinner in the opening demonstration and the closing prayer!

The quiz assumes knowledge of the story, thus you may want to use this lesson after others have been taught about the Resurrection. Otherwise, allow students to look up answers in their Bibles.  See game options for several suggestions along those lines.

Scripture Reference:

Matthew 28 (entire chapter which includes Jesus' final instructions, aka, "The Great Commission."  If you don't want to include that part, stop at Matthew 28:18 and remove questions related to it from the quiz game.

Concepts:

  1. God raised Jesus from the dead.
  2. The risen Jesus rules over heaven and earth.
  3. Even disciples sometimes doubt.
  4. Jesus Christ is always present with us and with his church.

Teacher preparation:

  1. Read the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.
  2. Prepare opening and closing prayers.
  3. Write the scripture verse on the white board or display it in the room some other way.
  4. Gather the Materials.


Materials List:

  • spinning-wheel-Rotation.orgBibles
  • Pencils
  • Post-it Notes
  • Dry-erase marker and whiteboard (or similiar way to keep score)
  • Questions for game (provided at the end of this lesson)
  • Game Spinning Wheel with random numbers (Question point values) on it.

    Game wheels can be inexpensively purchased and find many uses in the Games Workshop. Check Amazon. In lieu of a wheel, you can use a spinner from Twister and add numbers to it, or have kids roll a large dice.  By using a spinner to select a question's point value, it adds an element of random grace to the game and de-emphasizes competition by giving a chance to teams that are behind to spin a large point value.



Lesson Plan

Opening:

Welcome your students and explain what they'll be doing today and what you hope they will learn.

Begin with this "Very Good News" Spinner Demonstration

Pull out the game spinner and mark/label each section on it with the word "sinner" as you say the following.  (Depending on the style of spinner you have, you might be able to write "sin" on post-it notes that won't get knocked off as you spin the spinner, or write "sin" directly on the spinner with a dry-erase marker.)

Say: I want you to imagine you have come before God is trying to decide whether you deserve to JOIN HIM in his Kingdom and live with him eternally in paradise, that is, heaven. And the only way you can be "saved" and enter into God's paradise is to be WITHOUT SIN, GOOD ENOUGH, perfect enough, faithful enough, kind enough, unselfish enough, and worshipful enough to enter into his Kingdom and have eternal life with him.  Now God has been watching you and frankly, all God sees is a WHOLE LOTTA SIN.  God sees that you haven't been always kind or unselfish, worshipful or good (as you say this, write "sin" covering the entire spinner.)

Let each student spin the wheel and see it come up "sin"

sin-wheel

If our eternal life is something WE have to WIN, we are in trouble! Fortunately for us, Jesus brought us some VERY GOOD News. He told us about it, and then SHOWED IT TO US on the Cross, and that news is that Jesus has forgiven all our sins, and does not judge or condemn us based on OUR sins, but based on HIS perfect love for us.

Remove the words "sin" from every part of the spinner and replace it with "LOVE" or "JESUS." Then have each student come spin the spinner to see how God is going to judge them.

Jesus-Forgives-Spinner-Rotation.org

"No one is worthy, not one" the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:10, EXCEPT for Jesus -- because he IS perfectly loving, perfectly unselfish, and and perfectly forgiving. Jesus has paid the price for our sins by sacrificing his life on the cross so that we might have eternal life with him in heaven. ((Spin the spinner a few more times.) How do we know it's true?  Because Jesus rose from the dead to say so. He said, "go tell everyone this VERY GOOD NEWS!   

Say: Today's Bible story is so important, it is such Very Good News, that we're going to read it together, and then play a quiz game about it.

Read the Story from Matthew 28

It's not very long. Consider having different students read parts of it.

Pause and ask the following life application questions, keeping in mind, that the quiz game will ask more questions!

  1. What would you have been thinking and feeling BEFORE dawn as you prepared to visit Jesus' tomb?

  2. What would have been YOUR reaction to the earthquake and appearance of the angel? (fear? run!?)

  3. What is your reaction NOW when you are reminded that Jesus' has come back to life?  How does that news make you feel?
  4. If Jesus came back to life THEN, that means you can meet him NOW!  How can you do that? What would he have to say to you? (What did he say in his "great commission" ??)


Play the Quiz Game with the Scoring Spinner

Rules:

Divide into teams and have each team appoint an "answer captain." That captain is the only one who can officially answer. Instruct the answer captain that THEY cannot answer without consulting their teammates. Majority rules on the team, so one person cannot dominate the answering process.

Give each team 10 seconds to come up with an answer.

  • If they get it right, they get to SPIN FOR POINTs, then their turn is over.
  • If they get is only partially right, they get to spin and are awarded only half the points.
  • If they get it totally wrong, they still get to spin for points (getting only half the points)

Teams step forward to first answer a question, and

If they get it wrong, they ALSO get to spin for points -- but only get HALF of the points the spinner lands on. (So there's grace in the game, and you can even win when you lose, and at the end of the game, you're going to give EVERYONE enough points to make your "Grace Point."

If the team gets an answer mostly wrong, and after they spin for half-points, ASK THE SAME QUESTION to the other team!

Feel free to adjust the easy/hard factors in a question, such as, offering multiple choice answers, or reducing the number of possible answers.  Feel free to encourage a "better answer" by offering a hint when a team is on the cusp of getting it right.

Reflection:

Give each student a post-it note and a pencil. Have them write a "thank you for" prayer on it and place it on the Spinner. Spin the spinner as your group prayer and read the notes it points to. And all the people said AMEN!

[The spinner is a great metaphor about the fact that we don't win our salvation, we are given it by Jesus. This is what the cross symbolizes (his payment, not ours) and which his resurrection proves as true! By the end of this lesson, the spinner will have taken on symbolic significance.]

Prayer-Spinner




Questions for game

Please note that some of the vocabulary here comes from the CEV version of the Bible. If you're using a different translation, such as the NIV, some of the words/answers might be different that what's typed here. In that case, accept answers that are close. For example, in the CEV Jesus says "go quickly" but in the NIV he says, "Hurry."

  1. True or false: According to Matthew, Jesus’ body was placed in an unguarded tomb.
    False – soldiers guarded the tomb.
  2. True or false: According to Matthew, Jesus' tomb dug in the dirt.
    False, it was carved into the rock.
  3. According to Matthew, how was Jesus’ tomb sealed up/secured?
    A stone was rolled in front of it.
  4. According to Matthew, who came to the tomb on Sunday morning?
    Mary Magdalene and the other Mary
  5. What time of day was it when the women came to the tomb of Jesus?
    Dawn
  6. Why did the women come?
    To look at Jesus’ tomb.
  7. True or false: According to Matthew, there was a thunderstorm and a bolt of lightning hit the tomb.
    False – a violent earthquake.
  8. According to Matthew, when the earthquake struck, what did the angel do?
    Went to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
  9. What did the angel look like?
    He was as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. (Note: the scripture doesn’t say he had wings. An angel is a messenger from God.)
  10. What did the guards do when they saw the angel?
    Shook and fell down like dead men.
  11. True or false: The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid.”
    True
  12. True or false: The angel said to the women: I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is right here!”
    False
  13. Who raised Jesus to life?
    God
  14. Where did the angel say Jesus had gone?
    To Galilee
  15. What did the angel tell the women to do?
    Hurry and tell the disciples.
  16. What were the disciples supposed to do when they heard the news of Jesus' resurrection?
    Go to Galilee and see Jesus
  17. How did the women feel?
    Frightened but happy
  18. As the women hurried to tell the disciples, who did they meet?
    Jesus
  19. What did the women do when they saw Jesus?
    They held onto his feet and worshiped him.
  20. True or false: According to Matthew, the guards decided not to tell the chief priests what had happened.
    False
  21. What did the chief priests do when they heard what had happened?
    Gave the soldiers money to say that the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body.
  22. True or false: The soldiers refused to accept the bribe.
    False
  23. According to Matthew, once the disciples met Jesus in Galilee, they all believed he was risen.
    False -- some doubted.
  24. True or false: Jesus told the disciples: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
    True – the risen Jesus rules over the world.
  25. True or false: Jesus said: “I will be with you always.”
    True.
  26. Complete this sentence: Jesus said, “I will be with you always, even until ______”
    The end of the world."
  27. According to the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:9, who is worthy of God's salvation?  (no one, only Christ)
  28. Which of the following did Jesus actually say on the cross:
    Father forgive them*
    I'll be back
    I will rejoice in the Lord even at the hour of my death

A lesson written originally posted by Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church and updated/revised by the Rotation.org Content Team

Attachments

Images (4)
  • spinning-wheel-Rotation.org
  • Jesus-Forgives-Spinner-Rotation.org
  • sin-wheel
  • Prayer-Spinner
Last edited by Neil MacQueen
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