Mystery Manor

Mystery question: Are God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit the same? Need to Know: God is Three in one! Bible Story: Creation; Angel speaks to Mary; Jesus is Baptized; The Cross Genesis 1:1-2, 26-27 Luke 1:26-38 Matthew 3:13-17 Luke 23:44-47 Memory verse: But without faith (cover eyes) no one (shake head) can please God. (Point up) We must believe (hand over heart) that God is real (nod head) and that He rewards everyone (hands out in front) who searches for Him. (Point up) Hebrews 11:6 Preparation: Making invisible ink! Please have the following items ready for after the lesson: Baking soda (A tablespoon measurement) A bank paper Earbuds (4) Small bowl Newspaper to work on (we don’t want to make a mess) A glass of water Colouring pencils/ grape juice Paintbrush (if you going to use grape juice) Worship Time Lesson: Welcome back to our new series Mystery Manner!️‍♀️🕵️‍♂️ I hope that you are excited to hear what Parker and Stevie are going to find today! Before we get into our great mystery with Parker and Stevie, let’s get up! Shake up! And get ready for praise and worship. Story time: Question: Has anyone ever wondered if God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the same? I can definitely say that I have. Are you ready to meet up with Parker and Stevie as they investigate this great mystery today? Let’s meet up with them in 5…4…3…2…1 here we go! Stevie holds on to Parker’s T-shirt pulling him to the kitchen. Parker all confused and doesn’t understand why Stevie is pulling him to the kitchen shouts “Stevie! Why are you pulling me to the kitchen? Now is definitely not the time for a snack, we just found our next clue! “Don’t be ridiculous Parker” Stevie says laughing, “I didn’t come in here to get a snack, I came here because the kitchen has better light”. Stevie took a close look at the page from grandpa Pif-Paf’s Bible “Please be careful with it, you don’t want to tear it” Parker exclaims. “Oh Parker, just as I thought, this is probably some meaningless little note that Great Grandpa Pif-Paf left on this Bible page, like a reminder dentures (artificial teeth) in. Stevie holds the page up for Parker to see. “Now Parker, I’m one step closer to proving that this mystery is all made up” Stevie says to Parker. Parker however, disagreed with Stevie, believing that this could be the next BIG clue. Parker believes that these are like a series of clues that will definitely lead to them solving the MYSTERY! Stevie in disbelief rolled his eyes, still unable to grasp the fact that Parker believes that there is a  ”BIG MYSTERY” to be solved. “This is just some old man scribble scrabble” he says. Parker being persistent reaches into Stevie’s detective bag to find the magnifying glass “I’m going to find out what the clue says, okay! Stevie was not okay with the fact that Parker took the magnifying glass out of his bag “Uhm….first of all excuse you! Second of all, there is no way that you’ll be able to read that Parker, it’s almost impossible to see” “Well I’m sure you probably have something in your bag that can restore faded ink, don’t you Mr Smarty pants” Parker sarcastically says. Stevie surprisingly had something that could restore faded the ink on the Bible page that grandpa Pif-Paf left. This according to Stevie is a risky procedure, and the cousins should be very cautious when doing it, because one wrong move could mean that the document would be ruined! This left the cousins with one tough choice to make, either not do anything and never know what the clue says or risk ruining the document while trying to figure what the clue says.  “As a scientist, I would recommend that we be thorough in our search, but if you want to give up now Parker, I’m okay with that too. Parker was stressed and didn’t know what to do, this was a pretty tough choice to make, and he was really excited about the clue. Parker gained confidence after giving it a thorough thought, he then took the Bible page and placed it on the kitchen table “Okay the Stevie, let’s do it!”  Stevie reached into his detective bag and took out three different bottles. One of the three solutions could work to restore the ink. “I’ve got lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide (bleach), and some ammonia (for purification)” Parker was disgusted by the smell of the ammonia, “EWWWWW! You have a sickness in your bottle”. Stevie rolled his eyes ad explaining “No, ammonia is a cleaning material”  The ink on the paper has just faded over time according to the observation Stevie had made while examining the page. After thinking for quite some time Stevie decided that the best solution to use is lemon juice. Stevie took out his safety goggles and gloves from the detective, he puts them on before he did the experiment. Parker was very impressed that Stevie –who didn’t believe that this MYSTERY could be true- was prepared.  Just as Stevie was getting ready to use the lemon juice he discovered that the lemon juice bottle was empty, he had forgotten to refill it after his previous experiment. The cousins ended up using stale lemon heads that Parker found behind some kitchen utensils. It WORKED! The stale lemon heads actually worked! “Quick Parker, grab a notebook and pen from my detective bag and write down what it says before the lemon juice fades”. After writing it down Parker read the clue aloud “It looks like some kind of riddle, it says” clue “HOLY SPIRIT, FATHER, SON. THIS GREAT MYSTERY: 3in1, this is definitely the next CLUE!” Parker took the recipe box that had a 3in1 symbol on it, from the shelf he found the Lemonheads. Stevie opened up the recipe box (clue 2) that had the same 3in1 symbol on it as the Bible

Question: Is God Real? Need to Know: God is Real! He Created Things That Are Impossible for People to Make! Bible Story: Creation of Heaven and Earth Genesis 1-2; Romans 1:19-20; Hebrews 1:10-12 Memory Verse: But without faith (cover eyes) no one (shake head) can please God. (point up) We must believe (hand over heart) that God is real (nod head) and that He rewards everyone (hands out in front) who searches for Him. (point up) Hebrews 11:6 Preparation If your children are of an age where they love building blanket forts, let them build a blanket fort that can serve as your mystery manor for this lesson.  Using string, build a giant spider web obstacle course either inside or outside the house. The idea is that the kids need to climb over, under and through the strands. If you have a stopwatch, you can time them and challenge the kids to beat their best time. It will be even more fun if mom and dad also joined in and worked their way through the obstacle course. Lesson Start the lesson at the dining room table / in the lounge. Introduce the new topic. Over the next few weeks we will be following the story of two cousins Parker and Stevie and the mysteries that their great grandpa left for them to solve.  But before we start with our praise and worship, let’s work through this giant spider web.  Take turns climbing through the spider web obstacle course. Time for praise and worship.  Encourage your children to follow the dance moves and go through effort to also join in. When we are willing to lose ourselves in God’s presence and surrender by worshiping him not just with our voices, but through movement, we discover a deeper level of intimacy with Him. Children need permission to let their hair down, and the only way you can give that permission is by letting your own hair down and dancing like David.  Story Time If possible gather inside or in front of your own mystery manor. Settle everyone and start reading the story of Parker and Stevie. We catch up with cousins Parker & Stevie just as they meet up in the dark and dusty study of their Great Grandpa Pif-Paf’s old house, called the Mystery Manor. Parker was delighted to see Stevie there. Both Parker and Stevie received mysterious letters, inviting them back to the house where they had spent so many happy hours as young children. Stevie was less impressed. He said that the only reason he came was to save Parker from making a fool of himself. Stevie accused Parker of always being gullible. “I don’t know what you are talking about!?! I’m not gullible!” said Parker. Stevie rolled his eyes, unable to believe that Parker believes this nonsense. “Oh Parker, remember when we were little and you thought a dragon lived in the basement of this old house because Pif-Paf read Pete’s Dragon to us the night before? And whenever the wind blew you thought for sure the trees had claws that would snatch you out of the window, thanks to that big imagination of yours!” Parker shook his head. That was a long time ago, and he is no longer at the mercy of his own wild imagination. There is something special about this clue that Great Grandpa Pif-Paf sent to them. He can feel it in his gut. There really is something here to be discovered. Parker and Stevie each got a different clue in their letter. After a long discussion (more like an argument) Parker finally gave in and read his clue first. “NIGHT REVEAL CAN PROVE REAL. ”I have no idea what it means, but that’s why I need to see what yours says” Parker moaned. “THROUGH THE STARS THISGOD IS” Perplexed by the two clues that make almost no sense, the two cousins put their heads together to try and piece the puzzle together. “What if we put the two halves together?” asked Stevie. Parker was delighted by the idea. He was even happier that Stevie was getting into the whole mystery thing, but he dared not say anything, just in case he spoiled the mood. Ok, well there are two choices: “NIGHT THROUGH THE REVEAL STARSCAN PROVE THISREAL. GOD IS” Or maybe it is the other way around, said Stevie: “THROUGH THE NIGHTSTARS REVEAL THIS CAN PROVEGOD IS REAL” Parker was more confused than ever. “What are we suppose to do with this clue?” He asked. “Waaaaait a minute,” said Stevie. “This clue says something about proving that God is real? Great Grandpa Pif-Pafwas always trying to talk to us about God, but I’m just not buying the fact that someone you can’t see can actually be real.” Parker could not believe what he was hearing. He asked Stevie what he meant and Stevie replied that he found it hard to believe in things he could not see. This gave Parker an idea. He took a huge book and dropped it on the floor. (Perhaps this was not such a good idea. When the book hit the ground, it sent dust flying into the air. They had dust up their noses, in their eyes, they were both coughing and spluttering) But when the dust finally settled, Parker asked Stevie why the book fell down and did not float in mid-air. Stevie was now very annoyed. His spit had turned to mud in his mouth because Parker was trying to prove a point. “Gravity,” Stevie answered. Parker then giggled, are you sure? Have you ever seen gravity?” Stevie just shook his head. “You see, you say it is gravity, but you can’t see gravity, so how do you know that it is real?” Stevie was catching on to Parker’s clever angle, but he confessed that he would need to see more evidence before he could believe that God was real. Parker was saying to Stevie how there is evidence of God all around us. This caused Stevie to look around and