Dead Man lives! - Easter stories + Tool Kit
Published by Di Allen at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Di Allen
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Grammy’s Investigator Series
This is part of a series of books designed to supply you with all you will need to get together with a bunch of children and have fun.
The books are inexpensive and additional costs are minimal.
There are initially twelve books with four assignments (stories) each plus the free book with two assignments - making a total of 50 assignments. I’m trusting that next year a further 50 will be added to give you two years worth of weekly meetings.
Sample book: This is a free sample book so you can see what the other books are like. The free book has two sets of stories, rather than the four stories in the other books - otherwise they’re the same. Why not try some of them?
I trust you enjoy the series, and that it works for you and your children.
I invite you to see all the other books in this series
Table of Contents
Assignment 1: Easter –Good? Friday
Assignment 2: Easter – Dead man lives!
If you’ve read other books in the series and know what it’s all about you might want to go straight to Assignment 1
Overview
The aim: My aim is to create an enjoyable experience for children - to interact and learn from the Bible the things that will be of benefit to them for their whole life.
A good mix of the modern and the old fashioned will take the best from both worlds. The children's world is so different today - television and internet, mobile phones, computers, iPods and iPads, they have it all. But there are some things we used to do that can still be enjoyed today. They might even be a novelty to the children!
My philosophy is to get together and have fun, so if you are looking for something professionally whiz bang, bells and whistles and all, look elsewhere.
The Name: Feel free to name your group the I Spy GI Club, or use whatever other name fits the situation. By the way, GI stands for Grammy's Investigators. You might prefer to change it to BI for Bible Investigators. I considered doing that but in the end I decided that using Grammy made it more personal.
Introduction: My name is Grammy. I love Jesus and I love kids. The names of our Investigators are: Moo, Noremac, FireRing, Jessa, Lozens, Flipper and PoppyPop. TopDog is a special investigator who helps us discover truths for today and EyeSpy01 kindly helps me by looking for mistakes I’ve made.
Then there’s Gramps. Gramps is a very wise man. That’s partly because he is nearly seventy (actually by the time you read this he might be seventy or more!).
Gramps loves Jesus too – he used to be a church pastor. He has some assignments for the team of Investigators.
Hopefully your children will enter in and become Investigators too. That is part of the fun of it all.
You: Did you go to Sunday school or a similar group? Do you remember the lessons? Or do you remember a teacher/leader who was special? Mostly we remember the person more than the content. So that makes you the most important ingredient in all of this. You are God’s minister to the children. If you show them God’s love and acceptance they will be blessed.
Accompanying books: Each of these series has an individual book that goes with it. These books include the stories, I Spy GI challenges, I Spy GI reports and I Spy GI Life Apps. There is a link to them in Contact Information below.
You might like to offer the children the opportunity to purchase them for themselves, they’ll be very cheap. You might even like to purchase some for them as a gift or offer them as prizes.
Copyright: I’ve been teaching Sunday school and kids clubs off and on (mostly on) for about 50 years! It’s impossible for me to know where all the ideas I will share have come from. If perchance you recognise something as your idea I trust that you’ll be glad your work hasn’t fallen to the ground, and it’s still being used. If it’s an issue for you please email me. See below for the address.
For my part, I’m happy for you to use any or all of the suggestions – that’s the whole idea of it. I would appreciate it if you would buy extra copies rather than pass this on to others. Thanks.
This is a guide: It’s totally flexible. In the world of children's ministry there are hundreds of variations, not the least of which is the particular group of children you are working with. So feel absolutely free to mix and match, to alter and adjust and to fine tune to your own individual needs. This is a jumping off point only. You might have better ideas, go for it.
Programme guide: Would you like a suggested order for using the books for 50 weekly lessons? See the link in Where to Next.
First meeting
If this is the first meeting for the year, or for using this series, welcome the children and get them excited about what’s coming up.
If you’re beginning an I Spy GI Club you’ll have to explain what it’s about. Do they have a grandmother? What do they call her? Grammy is a grandmother of real children, and she wants all children everywhere to investigate for themselves the stories we read in the Bible.
We need the children to become part of Grammy's Investigator team (GI for short). Explain the I Spy GI Report and Challenge. We will spy on characters who might have been there when the stories happened. What can they tell us about it? And I Spy GI Life Apps - why do we have this story, and what can we learn from it that will help us to be happy and successful?
Code Names: You might allow the children to choose an investigator code name. My investigator team have code names and this adds to the fun.
Suggestion: Spend time making an ID card for each child with their name on it.
ID cards can be made simply by printing or writing on the supplied template (or using your own) and then laminating each page if you have the facilities to do so. Then cut the sheet into rectangles. A word of warning: if you laminate two sheets back to back they will come apart if you cut up the sheet! You might like to use the ID card idea as a name tag.
Format of meetings
This will vary from group to group, depending on the number of children and the facilities available. Choose whatever meets your needs.
Singing: I would strongly recommend starting with some lively Christian children's songs. You will have to choose your own because I don't know what your children know. If you don't feel confident leading singing either enlist a volunteer (maybe even one of the older children) or purchase some of the many sing-along cd/dvd's that are readily available. Action songs are great - help them use up some of that spare energy they all seem to come with.
If you spend some time in a big group format then obviously the singing would be best done in that arena.
Discussion starter: For each story I will give you a discussion starter which you can use either before or after the story (or not at all). The aim is to encourage the children to participate in a non-threatening way. Try to be a door keeper, i.e. to open the door for each child to participate. Gently close the door on those who are overly contributive (the spell checker says there is no such word, but I hope you know what I mean). Keep this short; it is only to help each child feel that they are participating.
Story: Stories are always more interesting told than read. Again if you meet first in a big group it would probably pay to have a good story teller tell the Bible story. If not, try telling the story yourself (you might be surprised at what you can do if you try). Whichever way you do it, use as much expression as you possibly can.
I Spy GI report and challenges: The aim of this section is to make the story more real life for the children. It depends on your children's abilities how you slot this in. There are several options:
Challenge level 1: Act out the I Spy GI report. Use the scripts supplied with each story. Perhaps ask a couple of children to read the parts. The scripts are repeated at the end of the book to make them easier to print if you want to use them.
Challenge level 2: Write your own I Spy GI report. If they’re fairly creative and rise to a challenge ask them to think of a character for themselves who could have been an eye witness to some of the events in the story. Then work with them to develop some questions and answers and put it into an interview script. Afterwards have a couple of children read the script.
Challenge level 3: Make a video clip: Whichever script you use, if you have the facilities, make a video clip of the interview. Any recording device that can make videos will do (phone, camera, video recorder, webcam, iPod etc.). Some of my Investigators loved this part the most. Some of them even wanted to do the background work editing and adding an introduction. They’re more tech savvy than I am. My advice is to keep it simple and fun.
Another possibility if you have a really creative bunch would be to get them to do the exercise at home (either before, or after the particular lesson) and present that either by script or clip if you have some means of displaying it.
I Spy GI Life Apps: Apps are things that we use to help us. We want the children to be able to apply Bible principles in their life. First ask your children what we might be able to learn from the story to help us. Present this section the best way you see fit. You might read the Gramps bit and let one of the older children read the Investigator part, or you might prefer to read it all yourself, or just discuss the ideas presented. The aim is to reinforce what we can learn from the story.
Look at the Book: It’s good to encourage children to read their own Bible.
If they have a Bible, encourage them to bring it along. Show them where the story is in their Bible. You’ll find the references at the beginning of each story.
If they don't have Bibles at least show them in yours. Look up the suggested verses. I would do this sometime after the story to reinforce that it’s not just something someone made up, but God's Word.
You might need to explain why there are different versions if they don't all have the same one.
Activity: Each story comes with a suggested activity that can be used for reinforcement and fun.
Memory verse: It’s good to get God's word into the children. There are so many different versions these days. I have mostly used a loose translation of the NIV Bible. Adapt it as you see fit.
Each lesson comes with a memory verse presentation suggestion.
I think learning one memory verse each month is better than trying to learn too many. Repetition is the key and by only learning one verse over the month, they’ll learn it and remember it better. The first week's memory verse presentation is usually the longest, after that it’s more revision.
Check out each week who has learnt the memory verse. It’s useful to give them a printed copy to take home to learn, handwritten is fine if necessary.
If you’d rather use a different verse each week or fortnight just replace the presentation ideas with your own choice of verses.
Reward those who really work at this, and remind them that putting God's word into their heart will be a great benefit to them throughout their life; it has its own rewards. You can also use a visual aid to show reward. Stamps or stickers in a book or clips out of a card are old fashioned but still practical and fun.
Sample video clips: Each book comes with one sample video clip. If you have the facilities you can show it to the children. If not you might like to give them the link so they can look it up at home. By the way our clips are not made by professionals; they’re just ordinary kids having fun, so yours can do it too!
What to do with the video clips you make? You can upload them to Photobucket (but you might have to get parental consent for those in it), then their family and friends can look at them - just give them the link. We have chosen to make our videos private, which means that only people who have the link can view them. It’s quite easy to upload them. See the contact information below for instructions.
Alternatively, you can show them straight away, next week, or when you have the four for the series - and maybe invite the parents to come in and look at them.
It’s good to involve the parents where you can.
Snacks: Most children respond well to food! If possible try to supply something. Try to be mindful of serving healthy stuff – but that's not always the children's favourite.
Password: If you’re running the group as Investigators it adds to the fun if you supply each investigator with an ID card to present at meetings. You might like to add a secret password that they have to tell you on arrival to be admitted as a full member. Guest members are welcome too of course!
Rewards: I suggest having a treasure box. Stock it with a variety of cheap little knick-knacks. When the children reach a particular target, be it attendance, memory verse, behaviour etc. let them choose something from the treasure box. You might be surprised how motivating it is for them.
Follow Up: It’s great to have contact with the children during the week. Do they have an email address or a mobile (cell) phone number? Send them a message. If you’re using passwords you could send them the new password.
Kids missing? Let them know they were missed. They are special to God, he loves them, and he can use us to reinforce that to the children.
A home visit where appropriate is invaluable. Aim for at least once a term if possible. God is part of their whole life, not just for an hour or two a week.
Prayer: Last, but certainly not least - in fact probably the most important! – pray for the children in your group. Pray for them privately, and also pray with and for them in the group. You are linking them to the power of God.
Useful Box
These are things that it will be useful to have for this series:
You will need access to a printer. You will find work sheets, game sheets and scripts for you to print at the end.
You can email me for original copies if you need them.
You can let children read from your e-reading device if you want to.
Equipment for making video clips is not absolutely necessary but will definitely add a more modern feel and hopefully generate a lot of excitement.
Ordinary things like pencils and paper are often used.
A blackboard / whiteboard is used fairly often in the series. It will probably pay you to purchase a cheap small one if you don’t have one available.
Other items for this book: 3 or 4 books; hot cross buns; 15 balloons and a pin (a couple of balloons are spare in case some pop prematurely); and a large bag of small Easter eggs to hide.
Assignment 1
Good? Friday
Discussion starter
Ask each child if they have a pet (or pets). Next ask them if any of them have had a pet that died. How did they feel? Keep it short, it is only a starter.
The Story
You can read this story in a Bible. Look in Matthew chapters 26 & 27 (you will also find it at the end of Mark and Luke and John).
Last week all the people had welcomed Jesus as he rode into town on a donkey. They waved palm branches and cheered.
Now Jesus was dead. It was a cruel death and everyone was very sad about it all. They didn’t understand that this was actually a show of power. They hadn’t read the end of the story – it hadn’t even happened yet! They wouldn’t know that for a couple more days. It was all part of God’s great plan to save you and me. This is what happened:
Each year the Jewish people celebrated how they had escaped from Egypt with Moses. They always had that special meal, just as God had told them to.
Jesus and his friends had got together for the meal, and then they went out into the gardens nearby.
A large crowd of soldiers turned up to arrest Jesus. They carried clubs and spears in case he got violent.
Jesus told them that, if he wanted to, he could call out to God and God would send thousands of angels to rescue him – but he didn’t, because he knew that it was all part of God’s great plan.
They took Jesus away and were mean to him. They took off his clothes and put a purple cloak on him and made a pretend crown out of prickly thorns and jammed it on his head. Ouch. They pretended he was a king, but then they beat him with sticks.
When they had finished they put his own clothes back on him and made him carry his cross. It was very big and heavy.
In the end they made someone else carry it for him.
They nailed Jesus up on the cross and left him to die.
They put a sign above him on the cross. It said “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews”.
People who passed by yelled at him. They made fun of him.
The Jewish leaders made fun of him too. “He said he could save others but he can’t even save himself” they said, and “He trusts God, let God rescue him now”; and they laughed at him. They didn’t know that it was all part of God’s plan.
For three hours in the middle of the day everything went dark. Then Jesus died.
That was God’s plan. Jesus had never done anything wrong but he died so we wouldn’t have to be punished by God for the things that we do wrong.
Jesus’ dead body was taken and placed in a rock tomb.
A big stone was rolled in front of it and soldiers were put in place to guard it. The soldiers thought it was a bit of a joke to guard a dead man; but it was really so the disciples couldn’t steal the body and then say that Jesus was alive.
But God had other plans.
I Spy GI Challenge
Gramps: Have you got any interview ideas?
I’ve asked Moo and FireRing to do this interview. Here it is.
Moo: I am going to interview the disciple John. He was there when the things we have read about happened. But we decided we would find him a year later, because by then he knew what happened next, and by then he could understand what happened better. So welcome John.
John (FireRing): I’m glad to be here.
Moo: So now it is the first anniversary of the things that we have been reading about. Do you see things differently now John?
John (FireRing): I certainly do. At the time it was all very confusing.
One week the crowd were all for Jesus, and by the next week it was all over, they’d killed him on the cross.
Moo: You were there when he died?
John (FireRing): Yes, I was there with some of the others.
Jesus asked me to look after his mother Mary for him. Even when he was up there dying he still thought about others. So Mary came to live with me.
Moo: Of course you were all very upset.
John (FireRing): Yes, we thought that the cross was the end of it. We didn’t understand what was going on. We didn’t realise that it was part of God’s plan.
Moo: So, what was going on? Why is it called Good Friday?
John (FireRing): Jesus chose to die. No one made him do it.
At the time we thought it was the end. But it wasn’t!
Moo: Jesus chose to die?
John (FireRing): Yes. Even though it seemed bad at the time it was all part of God’s great plan, and it was good – hard for Jesus, but good for all of us.
Moo: It was God’s plan?
John (FireRing): This might seem strange to you, but that was the only way that we could become friends with God – someone had to take the punishment for all the wrong things we have done.
Moo: But Jesus died!
John (FireRing): Yes, but three days later he was alive again – we all saw him!
Jesus was the winner. And it was good, very good.
A very good Friday for all of us.
Moo: Mm, I don’t think I really understand it; it does sound a bit strange.
John (FireRing): Trust me, it is Good Friday.
Moo: Thank you John, please give our love to Mary.
I Spy GI Life App
Gramps: This is an interesting story TopDog. What can we learn from it?
TopDog: For those of us who believe in Jesus and trust in him it is the best story in the whole world. At least it is when you know the rest of the story, and what God’s plan was.
Gramps: Why is Good Friday good? Because if Jesus didn’t die then we couldn’t get to know God! Let me try to explain why:
Imagine just for now that God is above us, up there in the air.
Now, hold out your hand. That hand is you.
If you put a pile of books on your hand, the books are between you and God.
The books are all the things in our life that are not good, things like not telling the truth, or not obeying our parents, or not loving God and putting him first. Even little things that aren’t very bad go onto that pile.
Because God can’t stand anything bad, (because he is totally good) we can’t get close to him. The bad things are in the way.
On the other hand we have Jesus. So hold out that hand too.
Jesus never did one single thing that didn’t please God. So he could always be with God, nothing was in the way like the books (or bad things) on our hand.
Now, swap the books onto the other hand. Jesus took all the wrong things we do, and he took the punishment for it. That’s why he died on the cross. That was the punishment for sin. It was our sin, so we should have died. But now our hand is the empty one, and we can come to God because there is nothing between us and him. Jesus died instead of us.
But that’s not all.
Jesus didn’t just take away our sins; he also gave us his perfect goodness. That’s a very good swap, don’t you think?
When God looks at you and me he sees the goodness of Jesus - if we have invited Jesus into our life and are living for him.
God’s plan was to save us from our sins so we can be with him for ever.
On Good Friday Jesus did that for us. That’s good news.
Look at the Book
Show the children where to find the story in their own Bible. Read Matthew chapter 26 verses 53 & 54.
Activity
GOOD Friday and Hot Cross Buns
Talk to the children about why we have hot cross buns and show them the cross that reminds us of Jesus. If practical, share some hot cross buns with the children while they do the Word find.
Children can complete the Word find in the Work sheets section.
Memory verse
1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18
“Christ died for sins once for all to bring you to God.”
You will need 13 balloons and a pin. Blow them up and tie them. Then take a felt pen and write 1 Peter 3:18 on one, and one of the verse words on each of the others.
Give the children a balloon each, or if you have less children they can hold two balloons. When you say Go they have to try to get in a line with the balloons in order. Depending on their ability you might tell them in advance what the verse says.
When they have it in order say it a couple of times to learn it.
Then invite one child at a time to pop their balloon/s. Some like to jump or sit on them, others prefer to accept the pin you offer, and some want someone else to do it for them!
Review the verse after each balloon is deleted.
Assignment 2
Dead Man Lives!
Discussion starter
Good news. Take a vote to see which would be the best news for the children.
They can only vote for one thing. Here are the choices:
You can have an extra week off school.
You can have $100 to buy anything you would like.
Someone special you haven’t seen for a long time is coming to stay.
You can meet your favourite person (ask those who vote for this who it is).
The Story
You can read this story in a Bible. Look in Luke chapter 24 and Acts chapter 1 verses 9 to 11.
You might remember that the last part of the story went something like this:
Jesus’ dead body was taken and placed in a rock tomb. A big stone was rolled in front of it and soldiers were put in place to guard it. The soldiers thought it was a bit of a joke to guard a dead man; but it was really so the disciples couldn’t steal the body and then say that Jesus was alive. But God had other plans.
God certainly did have other plans. Now that Jesus had taken our punishment by dying in our place God wasn’t about to leave him dead.
Early next morning the women went to the tomb. They were going to put special spices on the dead body, but when they got there, the body was gone.
There was quite a bit of confusion. Two men in gleaming white clothes (I suppose they were angels) told them that Jesus was not there because he was alive again – just like Jesus had said!
Jesus had tried to tell them about this before he died, but it didn't make sense until after it happened.
When the women ran back and told the other disciples that Jesus was alive, they thought the ladies were talking nonsense. But when they checked it out by going to the tomb themselves, sure enough it was empty.
Jesus actually spoke to his friend Mary Magdalene. She was standing outside the empty tomb crying. She was very upset. They all were. At first she thought Jesus was the gardener, but when he looked at her and spoke her name she recognised that it really was him.
A bit later a couple of men were walking along the road and they were talking about all the things that had happened. Jesus walked with them and talked with them along the way.
Another time most of the disciples were locked in a room because they were still scared they might get arrested next.
Suddenly Jesus himself stood among them. He told them not to be afraid.
At first they thought they were seeing a ghost, but Jesus asked for something to eat. They gave him some fish and he ate it. Ghosts don’t eat solid food! Jesus was alive.
One of the disciples wasn’t there when Jesus came. His name was Thomas. He said he wouldn’t believe unless he saw Jesus for himself and touched him. Do you know that right to this day if someone doesn’t believe something they are sometimes called a “doubting Thomas”? Have you heard of that? Poor Thomas got a bad reputation over that. It wasn’t really fair because the others had had their doubts too.
Anyway, Jesus came back again when Thomas was there. Then Thomas believed too. Jesus said that anyone who believed without actually seeing him was very special. I guess that makes us special if we believe.
Jesus continued to visit with his friends. He taught them lots of things about God’s kingdom. One time some of them had gone fishing, and he told them where to catch the fish. I think Gramps would like some information like that when he goes fishing - would you?
Lots of people saw Jesus alive. The Bible tells us that one time five hundred people saw him at once. It would be pretty hard for that many people to be making it up wouldn’t it.
One day Jesus was talking to his friends out on a hillside. After he had spoken to them Jesus rose up into the clouds and was gone. He’d gone back to heaven to be with God. They watched him go - up, up, up - until he was out of sight.
One of the last instructions that he gave them was to go to Jerusalem and to wait until the Holy Spirit came to them. He had promised them that when he got back to his Father, God, he would send the Holy Spirit to help them. He said it would be even better than having him right there with them.
He also told them that one day he would come back again, just the way they had seen him go. Now that will be a special day, won’t it!
I Spy GI Challenge
Gramps: Hello, PoppyPop and Jessa are taking up the challenge to interview someone for us. Can you guess who they have chosen?
PoppyPop: I’m going to interview a reporter from the Jerusalem Times.
She was given the job of finding out exactly what happened.
Good evening Cassia.
Cassia (Jessa): Good evening.
PoppyPop: I believe you had to do a bit of running around to check all this out. It’s not every day people claim someone is alive again after they’ve been dead three days. Who did you find to interview first?
Cassia (Jessa): Actually the first person I interviewed was one of the soldiers who had been guarding the tomb. He was quite happy to show me in the empty tomb. There wasn’t much there, only a small pile of folded clothes that were supposed to have come off the dead body.
PoppyPop: What did the soldiers tell you?
Cassia (Jessa): They said that the friends of Jesus had come and stolen the body.
That sounded a bit suspicious to me because if they had let someone steal the body they would have been in big trouble.
When I questioned them a bit more they admitted that the Jewish leaders had paid them quite a lot of money to tell people that.
PoppyPop: Who did you catch up with next?
Cassia (Jessa): Mary was the next one I spoke to. She claimed she had actually seen Jesus alive, and he had spoken to her.
Next I went to find the other friends of Jesus and do you know what? They thought that Mary was imagining things because she was so sad about Jesus dying.
PoppyPop: They didn’t believe Mary?
Cassia (Jessa): They didn’t for a start; but next thing I know they all came looking for me. They were really shaken this time. They said they had been locked in a room and Jesus had turned up. They had all seen him.
Now they all believed that Jesus was alive.
PoppyPop: Did anyone else see him, or did they see him again?
Cassia (Jessa): They say that they saw him a number of times.
There are stories going around that more than five hundred people actually saw him at once.
It’s hard to believe isn’t it, but they all seemed quite sure they had seen him.
PoppyPop: So, if Jesus was really alive again what happened to him?
Did he die again or what?
Cassia (Jessa): I interviewed Doctor Luke about what happened next, because he had researched it already.
After Jesus had been around for about forty days he was talking to his friends one day, and after he finished talking to them apparently he was taken up to heaven in a cloud. They watched him go up; then they kept looking at the sky. No doubt they were wondering what was going to happen next.
PoppyPop: This story gets stranger and stranger. Where had he gone?
Cassia (Jessa): Doctor Luke told me that they were still standing there looking up at the sky when suddenly two men in white clothing were standing beside them. The men asked them why they were standing looking at the sky. The men told them that Jesus had gone back to heaven, and that one day he would come back again – the same way they saw him go. So that’s the story.
PoppyPop: Thankyou Cassia. I’m sure your report was very interesting. Thank you for speaking to them all for us.
Cassia (Jessa): Thank you.
You can look at PoppyPop and Jessa doing this interview on Photobucket. Follow the link in Contact Information.
I Spy GI Life App
Gramps: What do you think might help us today? TopDog is here with his ideas.
TopDog: I think there are a number of things.
One is that Jesus really is alive. So he really was the winner in all of this.
Good Friday is good, and so is Easter Sunday, because that’s the day we celebrate that Jesus is alive.
When things aren’t looking good (like how it seemed to the disciples when Jesus died) we can still trust God, because he is working out his good plans, even if we can’t see why things are going the way they are.
Gramps: That’s right. God has promised that he will never leave us, and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help us. We’re on the winning side.
Jesus is alive, the Holy Spirit is always there to help us if we ask him to, and God loves us. It can’t get much better than that.
Why don’t you take a minute right now to say thank you to God, and to ask him to help you today, and every day.
Look at the Book
This week do this when you do the memory verse. Show the children where to find the story in their Bible, but then have them look up 1 Peter 3:18 and read the whole verse. We have only learnt part of it, but the other part is important too.
Activity
Easter egg hunt: Explain to the children that Easter isn’t really about chocolate, it’s about Jesus. Tell them that the egg represents new life (a new chicken would come from an egg). Also a hollow chocolate egg reminds us that Jesus wasn’t in the tomb. There was nothing inside when his followers went to find him. He was alive, not dead.
It is more fun if you can hide a lot of small eggs outside. Tell the children they can only carry one egg at a time, and must bring them all to the collection point until all the eggs have been found, and then they will be divided evenly among them.
Memory verse
1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18
“Christ died for sins once for all to bring you to God.”
(See also Look at the Book)
Tell the children that 1 Peter 3:18 is a lot longer than the part we have chosen to learn. Write the whole verse on a large piece of paper, or blackboard or whiteboard.
(For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit)
Ask the children if they think the rest of the verse is important. Which part has to do with our story last week / this week? Explain the verse to them if necessary.
Ask one child to put a circle around the address where we find the verse in the Bible (1 Peter 3:18). Another child can put a circle around the first seven words we have been learning (Christ died for sins once for all). Someone else can put a circle around the last five words we have been learning (to bring you to God). Rub or cross out all the other words. Review the verse several times, then rub or cross out a few words at a time and continue to repeat the verse until the words are all gone.
Remind the children at the end that our sins are all gone too if they trust Jesus to forgive them.
Where to next?
Don't stop now. There are many more books you can choose from.
Initially I hope to provide one year's supply (50 individual stories).
Eventually I trust there will be enough to cover a second year.
There’s also the companion story book for this tool kit.
Other books
in the Grammy's Investigator Series will be found online.
12 Month Guide
You’ll find a suggested program guide for the year here.
Book of the Month Specials
Each month there will be a Book of the Month (both the story book and the story + tool kit book). These books will be on special for two months. See which books are on special now.
Online Quiz
If the children want to participate online there is a simple quiz with the opportunity to be the Chosen One and receive a free eBook from the Grammy’s Investigator Series. Give them the link:
http://ispygiclub.weebly.com/grammys-investigators.html
Contact Information
If you don’t already run a group, why not start an I Spy GI Club?
Do you have a bunch of children you can get together to have fun with?
Read the stories. Make scripts and videos. Even upload them to Photobucket.
Find out more online at I Spy GI Club.
Look at a video clip from this book online at Photobucket:
You are important!
Would you like to share how you got on with the I Spy GI Challenge?
We’d like to read your I Spy GI reports.
The Club email address is: ispygiclub@hotmail.com
We’d also love to see your videos on Photobucket
To upload your video to Photobucket is quite easy. Just go to:
http://photobucket.com/dead-man-lives and enter ispygi as the password.
Click on the upload button. When you’re asked for a user name and password enter ispygi for both, then click ‘select photos and videos’, find your file on your computer and upload it. If you prefer you can use your own Photobucket user name and password if you have one. After you’ve uploaded your video clip simply click on ‘direct link’ and it will copy the link address for that video clip. Go to a word document and paste it and then use the link to give to those you would like to view the clip. Because we don’t want other rubbish being uploaded, Photobucket will email me for acceptance of the clip. I’ll accept your video clip as soon as I can.
I Spy GI Club proudly support the Bolivain Adventure. Check out the details.
Last Words
Grammy: Thank you for taking the time to read these stories. I hope you enjoyed the challenge. God's word has some amazing lessons for us.
The companion book Dead Man Lives! is available now.
This and other books in the I Spy GI series can be found here:
Keep reading!
Work sheets
The work sheets that follow might not print particularly well, or you might not be able to print them at all, depending on which format you downloaded. Therefore if you would like .jpg files or .pub files please email me and I’ll forward them to you. Please mention which book you want the files for, and which files and format you want.
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I D cards
Good? Friday I Spy GI Report
Moo: I’m going to interview the disciple John. He was there when the things we have read about happened. But we decided we would find him a year later, because by then he knew what happened next, and by then he could understand what happened better. So welcome John.
John (FireRing): I’m glad to be here.
Moo: So now it is the first anniversary of the things that we have been reading about. Do you see things differently now John?
John (FireRing): I certainly do. At the time it was all very confusing.
One week the crowd were all for Jesus, and by the next week it was all over, they’d killed him on the cross.
Moo: You were there when he died?
John (FireRing): Yes, I was there with some of the others.
Jesus asked me to look after his mother Mary for him. Even when he was up there dying he still thought about others. So Mary came to live with me.
Moo: Of course you were all very upset.
John (FireRing): Yes, we thought that the cross was the end of it. We didn’t understand what was going on. We didn’t realise that it was part of God’s plan.
Moo: So, what was going on? Why is it called Good Friday?
John (FireRing): Jesus chose to die. No one made him do it.
At the time we thought it was the end. But it wasn’t!
Moo: Jesus chose to die?
John (FireRing): Yes. Even though it seemed bad at the time it was all part of God’s great plan, and it was good – hard for Jesus, but good for all of us.
Moo: It was God’s plan?
John (FireRing): This might seem strange to you, but that was the only way that we could become friends with God – someone had to take the punishment for all the wrong things we have done.
Moo: But Jesus died!
John (FireRing): Yes, but three days later he was alive again – we all saw him!
Jesus was the winner. And it was good, very good.
A very good Friday for all of us.
Moo: Mm, I don’t think I really understand it; it does sound a bit strange.
John (FireRing): Trust me, it is Good Friday.
Moo: Thank you John, please give our love to Mary.
Dead man lives! I Spy GI Report
PoppyPop: I’m going to interview a reporter from the Jerusalem Times.
She was given the job of finding out exactly what happened.
Good evening Cassia.
Cassia (Jessa): Good evening.
PoppyPop: I believe you had to do a bit of running around to check all this out. It’s not every day people claim someone is alive again after they’ve been dead three days. Who did you find to interview first?
Cassia (Jessa): Actually the first person I interviewed was one of the soldiers who had been guarding the tomb. He was quite happy to show me in the empty tomb. There wasn’t much there, only a small pile of folded clothes that were supposed to have come off the dead body.
PoppyPop: What did the soldiers tell you?
Cassia (Jessa): They said that the friends of Jesus had come and stolen the body.
That sounded a bit suspicious to me because if they had let someone steal the body they would have been in big trouble.
When I questioned them a bit more they admitted that the Jewish leaders had paid them quite a lot of money to tell people that.
PoppyPop: Who did you catch up with next?
Cassia (Jessa): Mary was the next one I spoke to. She claimed she had actually seen Jesus alive, and he had spoken to her.
Next I went to find the other friends of Jesus and do you know what? They thought that Mary was imagining things because she was so sad about Jesus dying.
PoppyPop: They didn’t believe Mary?
Cassia (Jessa): They didn’t for a start; but next thing I know they all came looking for me. They were really shaken this time. They said they had been locked in a room and Jesus had turned up. They had all seen him.
Now they all believed that Jesus was alive.
PoppyPop: Did anyone else see him, or did they see him again?
Cassia (Jessa): They say that they saw him a number of times.
There are stories going around that more than five hundred people actually saw him at once.
It’s hard to believe isn’t it, but they all seemed quite sure they had seen him.
PoppyPop: So, if Jesus was really alive again what happened to him?
Did he die again or what?
Cassia (Jessa): I interviewed Doctor Luke about what happened next, because he had researched it already.
After Jesus had been around for about forty days he was talking to his friends one day, and after he finished talking to them apparently he was taken up to heaven in a cloud. They watched him go up; then they kept looking at the sky. No doubt they were wondering what was going to happen next.
PoppyPop: This story gets stranger and stranger. Where had he gone?
Cassia (Jessa): Doctor Luke told me that they were still standing there looking up at the sky when suddenly two men in white clothing were standing beside them. The men asked them why they were standing looking at the sky. The men told them that Jesus had gone back to heaven, and that one day he would come back again – the same way they saw him go. So that’s the story.
PoppyPop: Thankyou Cassia. I’m sure your report was very interesting. Thank you for speaking to them all for us.
Cassia (Jessa): Thank you.