We had another fabulous Messy Church on Saturday.
It was great seeing everyone again after what has seemed like a LONG time since our last Messy Church!
This time we were learning about the Spiritual Armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). We made items of armour out of cardboard, played games, constructed a jail cell, made edible Roman Soldier biscuits in the craft time.
Then we had a fun celebration with some people dressing up as a Roman Soldier and the other as Paul who was in prison.
Matt explained that Paul was one of the early followers of Jesus. He went around many countries telling people about Jesus, but sometimes people did not like what he was saying so they would throw him in prison. On one of these times in prison we learned that Paul did not let the difficult situation or circumstance put him off. He did FOUR things. He prayed. He welcomed guests as he could receive visitors. He wrote letters and in fact the book of the Bible that the story about spiritual armour is in, is actually a letter Paul wrote from prison to a church he started in Ephesus. And he kept is eyes and ears open to how God might speak to him.
Whilst in prison, God spoke to Paul and helped him to notice spiritual things by looking at the things around him – a Roman guard’s uniform. He learnt that each piece told him something about how God wants to equip each of us who believe in Him to push back the darkness like Jesus did:
The sword = God’s Word (The Bible)
Chest plate = God’s gift of Jesus (righteousness)
Helmet = the power of the cross (salvation)
Belt = truth (The Bible also contains truth)
Shield = the ability to push away the lies of Satan (our faith in Jesus)
Shoes = our ability to carry the good news about Jesus to others (the gospel)
Thanks to everyone who came. We hope to see you again next month!
Find out more about the Messy Church Matt helps out at here.