Armor of God-Belt of Truth

4/17/2024

Jacob and Esau by Jennifer Tolbert

In Ephesians 6: 10-17, Paul tells the Ephesians that to be ready against Satan, we must put on the full armor of God. The first piece of armor was the belt of truth. Lies are one of the main weapons of the devil. In fact, in John 8:44, Jesus said that Satan is the father of lies.

A lie is very dangerous. It can cause fear, harm and divide friends, families and churches. Today, we are going to remember a story in the Old Testament about a brother who lied. He caused heartache and pain for his entire family and faced some consequences too.

Key Themes:
1. God wants me to know the truth and to only say things that are truthful.
2. I need to put on the belt of truth.
3. There are two kingdoms-God's and Satan's. We should choose to stand for God's kingdom.

Memory Verse

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Songs

1,2,3 The Devil's After Me
Books of the New Testament
Be Careful Little Eyes
This Little Light of Mine
There is a Flag that Flies in the Castle of My Heart
I'm in the Lord's Army
My God is So Big
I Am A C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N
Saint's Medley

Story

Begin Class with Songs, Games, Table Activity, or Sharing Time

Open Class in Prayer

Introducing the Story Ideas
1. Two Truth and a Lie
Each person takes turns sharing two things that are true about themselves and one thing that is a lie. The group has to try to guess which of the things is a lie. SAY: How do you feel when someone really lies to you? Can you trust that person?

2. Trick or Truth Object Lessons
Recreate some of these trick or truth object lessons to get the kids thinking about how they determine what is true. SAY: How do we decide what is true? How do we know what the Bible says is true?

Story: When Paul visited Ephesus, Paul met people who were eager to learn more about following God. However, he was locked in prison in Rome and couldn't visit them so he wrote them a letter. He wanted to teach the Ephesians that God had equipped them with everything they needed to battle with Satan. First, they would need to put on the belt of truth. Paul knew that we were battling "the Father of Lies." In order to defeat a liar, you would need to arm yourself with truth!

READ Ephesians 6:10-14a. SAY: Today, I want to remind you of a story in the Old Testament. Jacob was a man who was not truthful. Show the story of Jacob Deceives Esau or read Genesis 27.
EMPHASIZE that: