October 24, 2008

• Spiritual Warfare Instructions

  These
  clues and rules are specific to our church, so you will have to adjust.
  Each team is given the same copy of the Bible so that the cryptic clues
  will work.   The verse I had the kids solve is 2 Timothy 2:15:  Study
  to show yourself approved to God, a workman who does not need to be
  ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. The verses I chose for
  the clues are verses that might help in the game, verses which dealt
  specifically with the temptations they were facing that evening.  But,
  the verses they looked up would not give them much of a clue to the
  final verse as I had them looking up the prepositions and random words
  in the 2 Timothy verse.  Then, the last clue gave them a list of all
  the rest of the words. (I didn’t want the game to go on forever or be
  too tedious!)

  I’ll let you know how the game went in a later
  post, Lord willing.  And, yes. This game did take a lot of time to plan
  and set up.  Those verses in baggies alone took me an hour to print,
  cut, figure out the order, and hide around the church grounds!

  
  

  Spiritual Warfare
  Instructions

   

  The goal of the game is to
  find all the clues and solve the puzzle at the end.  There are six locations where you will find
  clues to a mystery verse. The next location will also be given as a puzzle.  The team who deciphers the mystery
  verse—including reference—in the shortest amount of time with the fewest
  burdens will win. You are not required to get clues from all six locations to
  win the game.

   

   

  ·       
  Divide into
  groups of six or so. It is fine for friends to be in groups together.  Your team will have a number. Remember your
  team’s number!

  ·       
  Each team will
  get one or two flashlights and the same copy of the Bible. You may not take any
  other Bible with you, nor may you take any electronic device which will allow
  you to search the Bible for verses or a Bible concordance.

  ·       
  Each team will
  get a copy of the first location clue. 
  Your team must work together to figure out the clue and head to the
  correct location.

  ·       
  When you get to
  the location, look around for a bag containing the clues. It is a brown paper
  bag.

  ·       
  Remove from the
  bag the baggie with your team’s number on it. 
  Inside, you will find the clue to the next location and part of the
  verse puzzle.

  ·       
  All members of
  the team MUST stay together. The only exception is a bathroom break. Then, boys
  and girls may use the appropriate gender facilities while the opposite gender
  waits for them right next to the water fountain.

   

  Sound easy?

   

  ·       
  While you are
  searching for clues, people will be hiding in wait for you. They are the
  tempters.

  ·       
  If any member of
  your team gets a flashlight shone on them or if a flashlight flashes in your
  direction (blink, blink), you MUST stop and go to the tempter.

  ·       
  The tempter will
  present you with a situation. Your team needs to identify what sort of
  temptation is being presented. Remember, temptations can be subtle. After
  identifying the temptation, your team must work together to refute the
  temptation with scripture or Christian thinking based on scripture.  (You cannot use 1 Corinthians 10:13 over and
  over.)  You may use the provided Bible to
  look up scriptures.

  ·       
  If you are able
  to refute the temptation, the tempter will let you go on. If you cannot refute
  or argue with each other or take too long or whatnot, the tempter can give your
  team a burden (or more than one burden depending on how your team responded).   We will keep track of which teams have
  burdens, so don’t try to pretend you don’t have one.

  ·       
  A tempter can
  stop the same team more than once. But, they don’t have to.

  ·       
  If you are able
  to hide from the tempters and avoid them, it’s fine. But, if a light shines on
  you from a tempter’s flashlight (or if they call you by name!) then you MUST
  stop! The whole group MUST stop! It is possible to play the game without ever
  being stopped by a tempter.

  ·       
  If a tempter sees
  a group which is not all together (some are in the parking lot, some are in the
  church, for example), he or she can also give a burden to the group.

  ·       
  The faster you
  are able to refute the temptation, the sooner you will be able to move on in
  the game.

   

   

   

   

  How do we win?

   

  ·       
  When your team
  has all six puzzle clues for the verse, find a location where you can all sit
  down together and figure things out.  You
  are allowed to be in the church or outside for this point. Tempters can come up
  to you if they want, but if you can prove to them that you have all six puzzle
  clues, they will leave you alone. (Therefore, just sitting down in the middle
  of the game will not grant you immunity from tempters.)  If you feel you can solve the puzzle before
  you get all six clues, go for it. But, if a tempter catches you, you are NOT
  immune since you can’t show all six locations were found.

  ·       
  Once you have
  solved the verse and have the reference, too, your whole team needs to come
  into the nursery. You will find someone there with a piece of paper. You will
  tell the person your team number, the verse, and the reference.  The verse does not need to be memorized. Only
  one person from the team needs to say the verse. If you are correct, the person
  in the nursery will write down the time you came into the room and the number
  of burdens your team has.

  ·       
  Each burden adds
  five minutes to your score.  So, if you
  did the course and solved the puzzle in 35 minutes, but you had 4 burdens, you
  would have a time of 55.  (35 + (4 x 5) =
  35 + 20 = 55) If someone else did the course in 50 minutes with no burdens,
  that team would beat the other team.

   

  What if I have questions
  during the game?

   

  ·       
  Once you have
  been tempted, the tempter turns into a helper. (No, this is not scriptural at
  all. We just don’t have that many people helping!)  Feel free to ask the former tempter your
  questions or for help in solving the clue location riddles.  They will have the answers to the location puzzles,
  but not to the final verse puzzle.

   

  General Rules

   

  ·       
  Do not go into
  the road, either the Park Forest one or Valley
  Vista.

  ·       
  Do not get into
  any cars, even if it seems like a great place to work out your final puzzle.

  ·       
  Do not fall prey
  to any temptations that would cause the wrath of Bastian or Sellers to fall
  upon you.  Remember, REFUTE temptation.
  Don’t go looking for it behind the bushes for a few minutes.

  ·       
  Put away your
  cell phones. If we see you texting, calling, or fiddling with your cell and
  determine that it was not a vital reason for it, we will take your phone and
  give your team a burden.  Put the phone
  away for an hour. You can do it. I know you can.

  ·       
  Don’t be
  obnoxiously loud.  You are in Park Forest. There are no bears. (Well, except for that
  one time…) There is no reason for shrieking.

  ·       
  Be really
  careful. Don’t twist an ankle. Don’t clothesline yourself on the volleyball
  net. Be wise!

  ·       
  Running is not a
  good idea. Stealth is better. Do you want to be the cause of someone breaking
  an ankle because you thought it would be a good idea to run in the dark? Huh?

   

  
  The Location Clues (the kids only got the verses, of course)

  
  

  Location Clue–Mailbox

   

  Proverbs 25:25

  Colossians 4:16

   

   

   

  Location Clue—Front Porch
  Light

   

  Revelation 3:20

  Revelation 18:23

   

   

  Location Clue—Water Fountain

   

  John 4:14

  James 3:11

   

   

  Location Clue—Volleyball Net

   

  Exodus 27:5

  John 21:6

  Psalm 35:7

   

  Location Clue—Fence by the
  Merry Christmas Sign

  Luke 2

  Isaiah 9:6

  Psalm 62:3

   

   

  Location Clue–Piano

   

  Psalm 150:4

  Ephesians 5:19

   

  To Figure Out the Verse  (there were more than just two, but you get the idea)
  

  
  

  Puzzle Clue

  152–2–31–1–B

  467–1–63–2–A

   

  • 8:30 pm
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