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Creative Youth Ideas
Youth Camp / Bible Study Series
"Go For the Gold"
Olympic themed
Evangelist Bible Study.
Only $19.97
Great for youth camps or weekly Youth Bible Study
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Creative Youth Ideas
Youth Camp / Bible Study Series
"Destined to Win"
Spiritual Training to Run the Race.
Only $19.97
Great for youth camps or weekly Youth Bible Study
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Creative Youth Ideas
Youth Camp Bible Study Series
"Fruit Of the Spirit"
Live the Fruitful, Abundant Life Jesus Promised.
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Great for youth camps or weekly Youth Bible Study
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NEW RESOURCE LAUNCH OFFER
Creative Object Lessons
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
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Creative Youth Ideas
Camp Bible Study Series
"Who Do You Say that I AM?"
Only $19.97
Great for youth camps or weekly Bible Study
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Icebreakers Ahead:
Take it to the Next Level
Only $19.97
52 of the World's Best Icebreakers applied to Spiritual Truths
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Once Lost, Now Found
Creative Scavenger Hunts
Only $24.97
More than 50 Scavenger hunts including lists, rules, riddles, step by step instructions and MORE!
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Camp Curriculum
Whale of a Tale
Only $14.99
Bible Studies based on the book of Jonah
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Camp Curriculum
The Great Adventure
Only $19.99
Western themed Bible Study Series
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Creative Youth Ideas
Christmas Collection
Only $19.97
More than 200 Christmas Ideas (360 pages)
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Skits for Fun and Learning
Only $14.99 +tax
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Creative Youth Ideas
Easter Collection
Only $14.97
More than 80 ideas
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« Easter Quiz | Main | Uneasy »

CREATIVE YOUTH IDEAS
RECOMMENDED
eBOOK OF THE MONTH:

Creative Object Lessons


Click here for a 200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.


Great for Youth,
Children
and even adults!


The Gospel According to a Tea Bag

teabag2.jpg
Materials
a tagged teabag, two saucers, a clear glass of hot water, and a match or lighter.
NOTE: Please test first as not all brands of teabags will float when lit.

Scripture
Ephesians 2:5-10

Objective
Use a tea bag as an object lesson to tell the story of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. Its the Easter message for children and adults.

Object Lesson

The Label
1. Remove the tag/label and hold it up for the children to see.
2. Explain: The label identifies the tea. Jesus was labeled with many tags. He was called Christ, Messiah, teacher, Savior, the King of Kings, the man from Galilee, the carpenter, the Son of God, Redeemer, friend of sinners, good shepherd, Great Physician, King of the Jews and many more. At the cross, he had a sign placed over his head as "King of the Jews." Jesus was in the very nature God, but he wasn't concerned with titles. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Instead he took the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. He emptied himself made himself nothing.

The String
1. Remove the string and show it to the children
2. Explain: People often become attached to things here on earth. They are often attached to possessions, pleasure, and power. Jesus was tempted by Satan after 40 days in the desert with the very same things. But Jesus was not attached to these things. His focus was on doing the will of God. He came to earth with a purpose. That purpose was yours and my redemption.

The Staple
1. Carefully remove the staple and show it to the children.
2. Explain: This tea bag was pierced and has holes from a staple. Jesus was not pierced with a staple but with nails and a spear. His body was attached to a cross.

The Tea
1. Carefully open the tea bag without tearing it. Display the bag of tea leaves to the children.
2. Explain: Tea looks like dirt. If you put it in water the water will be changed to the color of the tea. It will no longer be clear and pure.
3. Demonstrate by dropping a bit of tea into the glass of hot water and stirring it around.
4. Explain: We are all like this tea bag in that we are born with dirt in our lives. We are not pure. The Bible calls this dirt, this impurity, sin. We need help from God to remove the sin from our lives. That's exactly why Jesus came - to help us remove the sin from our lives. We must trust Jesus to remove the sin from our lives. When we ask him for forgiveness, he will make us clean and pure again.
5. Empty the tea leaves into the saucer.

The Tea Bag
1. Carefully open up the tea bag completely. It will open into a long tube that you can stand on the second saucer.
2. Explain: When Jesus removes the sin from our lives we can stand pure and proud in the sight of God. We will become a light for God. Philippians 2:15 says that among the perverse generation we will shine as lights in the world.

Lights for Christ
1. Light the bag from the top and allow it to burn.
2. Explain: As you shine for Jesus you shall become closer to God in your Christian walk, and one day your soul shall join him for eternal life. Just as Christ was resurrected and went to be with the Father, we will also rise up to be with him. We will be exalted and raised with him.
3. The tea bag will float up as it burns.

Summary
That's the story of Easter. Jesus set aside his titles and emptied himself and became one of us. He came with a purpose, to cut us free from the things of the world. He was pierced for us. And when we ask his forgiveness, he will take away the dirt from our lives and make us pure. We will can stand strong and become his light to the world. Just as as he was risen we will also rise to be with him.



easterebook_sm.jpgLooking for some Creative Easter Ideas for your Easter Party or event?

Easter icebreakers! Creative Teaching Ideas! Easter Children's sermons, Easter illustrations and Devotions and MORE! Get more than 80 creative youth ideas for Easter in the
Creative Youth Ideas Easter Collection.
Or just visit www.CreativeEasterIdeas.com

Comments

Hi,

I love this object lesson! I want to know how you get the tea bag to float. Does the room temperature have anything to do with the results? I tried it about 3 times and my tea bag will not float. Thanks for your help and time. This is such a great object lesson.

I love the object lesson on the tea bag. It is great for my WMU (adult) class and my daughter also teaches college and career age Sunday School. She also loved it as a great illustration for her lesson beginning first Sunday in March bringing them up to Easter. Mine will be March 19th for WMU.
Thanks again

Great idea! I plan on using this one for Sunday School tomorrow if the tea bags we have will float! Have a Blessed Weekend!

This is an awesome lesson. It had my students' attention. The only downfall is when I lit the tea bag one student thought I was burning the "person", so I had to go back over the part about begin a light for Jesus. All the other's got it, but just beware for that one kid who may need further explanation:)

This is SO great!!! I just tried it in my kitchen too, to see how the tea bad floats up... so COOL! I'm definitely going to suggest this for Easter this year...

I did this lesson last Wednesday night. I was fearful about doing it at first because there is nothing warning us about how high it floats and whether it is still glowing while floating. I was sure I was going to light my ceiling on fire! It didn't work in my house with Salada, so I tried another tea at school (I am a teacher). Another teacher and I did it in the hallway with a herbal tea from Korea. It worked, but didn't go very high. I was happy with that as I was planning on using it in my church. I was still nervous about curtains or carpets, so I did it in Fellowship Hall where there are very high ceilings. The tea bag went up so high it almost touched the ceiling! it was awesome! Of course each time I did it, I was so afraid it would like the ceiling on fire. The kids loved the lesson! I just wished I had some more direction and warnings about how much it burned. Thank you and God bless. Ann

What brand of tea works with this? I've bought three different kinds, and none will float!

We love this lesson. "Earl Grey Biegelow" tea bags work great... silver box, at most grocery stores. Took a few purchases to find the right tea bags!

I was in a last-minute bind for a "Jesus is Powerful" activity. This worked soooo good! I just used the type of tea I had on hand (Red Rose - original) and it "rose" just fine. The kids were super impressed! Thank you soooo much for having this activity online. This "saved" me tonight!!!

Love, Love, LOVE this object lesson! I used Earl Grey Bigelow and it worked perfectly. I've done this three times now with different groups and everytime it ended with applause. Powerful message!!!

this works best if the tea bag is in the individual wrapped foil packages.

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CREATIVE YOUTH IDEAS
RECOMMENDED
eBOOK OF THE MONTH:

Creative Object Lessons


Click here for a 200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.


Great for Youth,
Children
and even adults!


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