Armor of God: Helmet of Salvation

5/1/2024

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 fifth piece of armor is the helmet of salvation. When a solider went into battle the helmet protected his head. Think of all the important body connected to your head-your brain, your eyes, and your throat! These are very delicate and VERY important parts of your body.

Do you want to know one of the sneakiest tricks the devil plays on Christians? He tricks them into focusing on something other than God. He doesn't make them hate God, he just distracts them with money, possessions or other things they make more important than God! He traps their mind!

The helmet of salvation represents the knowledge and assurance of our salvation. It protects our mind from the tricks of the devil. In many ways, it is like putting the mind of Christ into our own mind. When we set our minds on heaven, we can see this world for what it truly is...temporary. And if that is the case, we can face anything and Satan can't distract us from our purpose!

We must protect our mind and focus from Satan.

Today, we are going to remember a story in the Old Testament about Moses. The Israelites were trapped! They were slaves to Pharoah in the land of Egypt. God called Moses to free his people. It took 10 different tries and some crazy plagues for Pharoah to finally let the Israelites go. This is the story of the Passover-an important night where God gave the Israelites important directions they had to follow in order for the angel to Passover their home. If they followed those directions exactly, they could be confident their family would be spared.

Key Themes:
1. God wants to have confidence in our salvation!
2. I need to use the helmet of salvation to protect my mind from the enemy and give me the mind of Christ.
3. It's not a secret code! Just like God gave the Israelites very specific directions in order to be saved, he has also give us the exact directions of what we need to do to be saved.

Memory Verse

Ephesians 6:11 ESV
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. Helmets
Supplies: try to find 3-5 different kinds of helmets: bicycle, football, hard hat, firemen, motorcycle, catcher's helmet, etc. (Note: You may need to ask around church and borrow some).
Allow the kids to try on the different helmet. Point out the different features of each one? Why is it useful? How does it protect you from that activity?

Transition into discussion why it's important to protect our brain? see more about this idea from KidMinMama

2. Brainiac
Better for older kids
Share some of the more interesting facts from this slideshow about brains. Let this lead into a discussion about the importance of your mind and why you should protect it.

3. Use Your Head
Supplies: 2-4 Sand pails and small soft balls such as ping pong balls.
Divide into teams and split the soft balls evenly between the groups. One team member must hold the bucket on top of their head while their teammates try to toss the soft balls into the bucket. First team to get all of their balls into the bucket is the winner.

Story: Paul told the Ephesians to take the helmet of salvation into battle. I wonder why? How important is it to protect your head? Satan is not out to attack your head, as much as he wants to attack what is in your head! Your mind!

The devil knows if he can control your mind, he can make your eyes see what he wants them to see, and your mouth say what he wants your mouth to say. He can make your feet go where he wants you to go! When he controls your mind, he has you completely!

Satan would love to convince you that God doesn't love you and that he would never actually save you! But we know God does love us, so much that he made a special rescue plan to come and save us from Satan and the bondage of sin. He gave us clues about his plan when he rescued the children of Israel from the evil Pharoah with the blood of a lamb.

SHOW the story of Moses or read Exodus 10-12 in the Bible.

EMPHASIZE that: