Lessons to Go!

What you do
In a designated place, leave a lesson photocopied from your favorite resource with everything needed to teach the lesson. A small cloth bag with a draw string works great. Staple a label to the outside with the title of the lesson, the topic, and the scripture passage. (Large manilla envelopes or file folders can also be used for this. A small toolbox also works.)

lessonbag.jpg
Here’s what you should include:
1. A Photocopy or the original teaching plan for the lesson. (This has all the details for the lesson background, key principles and teaching points, and instructions for the learning activities. This should be read in advance of the actual teaching, even if it is 15 minutes before you start.)
2. A teaching outline of the lesson with key points, discussion questions to ask, and activities listed. This is what you actually use when you teach the lesson. You should never teach directly from a curriculum.
3. Any props, objects for objcet lessons, posters, OHP cells, or other materials needed to teach the lesson.
4. Worksheets and pencils for the typical number of youth that attend your program, plus a few extras.
5. Blank Paper for students to write on
6. Whiteboard markers and eraser
7. A small Bible
8. A list of the contents of the bag needed for the lesson.
ANYTHING ELSE NEEDED TO TEACH THE LESSON

WHY?
1. For those times when you are running late and don’t have time to prepare for a lessonand collect all the resources needed.
2. When you need to teach a lesson outside the church in someone’s home, at a school, or even at another church. Just grab your “Lesson to Go” and you have everything you need.
3. When you get delayed, or find yourself ill and you need someone else to teach a lesson for you. They will appreciate your advanced preparation.

After you have taught the lesson, be sure to replace your “Lesson to Go” for the next time you find yourself in a crunch!


MORE IDEAS? See “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.

Learn More…

Connect-The-Dots

connectdots.jpgMaterials
A difficult Connect-the-Dots puzzle that is not obvious as to the final results. (You might wish to have it photocopied to a transparency and use an OHP so all can see as you connect the dots.)

Activity
Hold up the connect-the-dots puzzle or show it on the OHP. Ask the kids/ youth if they believe a picture will appear if you connect the dots.
* Let kids / youth guess what the final outcome might be if all the dots are connected?

Applications
Doing a connect-the-dots puzzle is a little like faith. 
As you’re explaining, start connecting the dots of the puzzle.
1. You begin by believing that an image-really will be revealed-even though you have no idea what it is. In other words, you can’t see the picture, but you believe it’s there. You trust that an artist designed a picture that will be revealed if you continue to trace the sequence, dot to dot.
2. If you don’t connect the dots in sequence, or if you decide to stop drawing, you’ll never see the full picture the artist has designed.

It is similar with your faith in God.
1. You don’t always see exactly where God is leading you.
2. Sometimes you have only part of the picture.
3. You need to follow the steps God has prepared for you and take life as God gives it to you.
4. If you don’t continue your journey of faith you will never see the final results God planned for you.

In John 20:19-29, Thomas wasn’t there when Jesus appeared to the other disciples so for him a piece of the picture was missing. But faith is when, in the words of one experienced Christian, we continue to trust God’s heart even when we cannot trace his hand.

Discussion
1. Why can you trust that God has adequately planned the picture even if you don’t understand everything yet?
2. What happens to the picture when you begin disregarding the proper order of things in life?
3. DO you feel, like Thomas, you missed something and now are lost and don’t understand?
4. What kinds of problems have caused you to doubt God’s design? Seemingly missing numbers? Vague dots? Big gaps?
5. For Thomas it took his hand in the nail scars and side of Christ to get him back on the journey of faith. What would it take to get you back on track in your life?
6. Can you see the dots well enough, but have lately lost interest in joining them because you can’t make sense of the image you’re outlining?
7. What is the next dot in your life? What connection do you think God has planned next for you?

Following Jesus is sometimes like completing a connect-the-dots puzzle.

 

MORE IDEAS? See “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.
Learn More…

Footprints with a Twist

footprint.jpgImagine you and the Lord Jesus walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord’s footprints go along steadily, consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your footprints are a disorganized stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures and returns. For much of the way, it seems to go like this, but gradually your footprints come more in line with the Lord’s soon paralleling His consistently. You and Jesus are walking as true
friends!

This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens: your
footprints, that once etched the sand next to Jesus’, are now walking
precisely in His steps. Inside His larger footprints are your smaller ones, safely you and Jesus are becoming one.

This goes on for many miles but gradually you notice another
change. The footprints inside the larger footprints seem to grow
larger. Eventually they disappear altogether. There is only one set of footprints; they have become one.

This goes on for a long time, but suddenly the second set of footprints is back. This time it seems even worse! Zigzags all over the place. Stops. Starts. Deep gashes in the sand. A veritable mess of prints. You are amazed and shocked. Your dream ends. Now you pray:

“Lord, I understand the first scene with the zigzags and fits. I was a new Christian; I was just learning. But you walked
on through the storm and helped me learn to walk with you.”

“That is correct.”

“… and when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was
actually learning to walk in Your steps; I followed you very closely.”

“Very good. You have understood everything so far.”

“…when the smaller footprints grew and filled in Yours, I
suppose that I was becoming like you in every way.”

“Precisely.”

“So, Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints
separated, and this time it was worse than at first.”

There is a pause as the Lord answers with a smile in His voice.

“You didn’t know? That was when we danced.”

–Author Unknown


MORE IDEAS? See “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.

Learn More…

Rudy Tomjanovich

rudy_tomjanovich.jpgRudy Tomjanovich, the former basketball coach of the Houston Rockets and more recently the Los Angeles Lakers experienced an unusual event in 1973. As a robust twenty-five-year old, Rudy was playing for the Rockets.

In the middle of a close game, a fight broke out at center court. Rudy rushed over to the unfolding conflict, running at full speed, to try to break it up. Just as he arrived, a player whipped around and without looking, swung as hard as he could.

Unfortunately, the punch landed right in Rudy’s face. It was labeled the “punch heard around the world”. The blow fractured Rudy’s skull, broke his nose and cheekbones, and nearly killed him. Although Rudy was sidelined for months following the devastating punch, he eventually recovered.

One day after Rudy recuperated, a reporter asked him, “Rudy, have you ever forgiven the player who wounded you so badly?” Without hesitation, Rudy said immediately, “Absolutely, I’ve totally forgiven him.”

The reporter shook as his head as though he was perplexed. “Come on, Rudy, that guy nearly killed you. He caused you all that pain. He stole part of your career. Do you mean to tell me you don’t have any anger, any hatred or bitterness toward him?”

Rudy smiled, “I don’t have any at all.” The reporter stared at him in disbelief. He finally asked, “Rudy, tell me, how do you do it? How could you possibly forgive that man who hurt you so badly?”

Rudy replied, “I knew if I wanted to move on with my life, I had to let it go. I didn’t do it for him. I did it so I can be free.”

We often fail to consider the residual effects of unresolved conflict in our lives.

Ephesians 4:31, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice”.

From Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen, pp. 160-161.

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Need a Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series on “Running the Christian Race”?

Our “Destined to Win” series is a great follow up for youth who are new Christians or to emphasize the basics of our spiritual Journey in the Faith. This Bible Study / Camp Curriculum / Small Group Study has a sports theme and is great for athletes and works well as a tie in to the Olympics.
->Tell me about “Destined to Win”

We Doubt It

question.jpgMaterials
Form two teams to play

Activity
1. Each person one a team is given a chance to tell the opposing team something about his / herself. They may choose to say something that is true or something that is false. For example, someone could say, “My favorite food is my mom’s fried chicken” or “I went to the school swimming meet on Friday night.”
2. The other team will try to guess if the person is telling the truth. If they think he/she is lying, they’ll say, “We doubt it.” If they think he / she is telling the truth, they’ll say, “We believe you.”
3. If the person sharing the info fools the opposing team, his/her team gets a point. If the other team guesses correctly, it gets a point.
4. Alternate teams until each person has had a chance to tell something about themselves.
5. Tally the score, and declare a winner.

Debrief
* What was it like to try to guess if someone was telling the truth?
* How is this similar to real life situations?

Read the story John 20:24-31 then ask:
* How is this game like trying to decide whether to believe what Jesus says? How is it different?
* What are some things that you have doubted in the Bible? About God?
* What are some of your doubts?
* Are doubts good or bad?

Application
Doubting Thomas exemplifies an honest seeker that asks for solid evidence before belief. Jesus did not reject his questioning, instead He met his questions head-on and provided the evidence Thomas needed to believe. We see in scripture that God does not reject honest and sincere seeking after the truth. If some obstruction occurs in our trust and relationship with God that impedes progress, then God does give us room to ask questions. The issue that remains is how do we go about seeking after the truth.

The Fish Bowl

fishbowl.jpgJack, a 9-year-old elementary student, is sitting at his school desk. All of a sudden there is a puddle between his feet, and the front of his pants are wet.

He thinks his heart is about to stop, because he knows when the boys find out, he’ll never hear the end of it. And when the girls find out, they’ll never speak to him again.

The boy puts his head down and prays this prayer: “Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I’m dead meat.” He looks up from his prayer, and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he’s been discovered.

As the teacher is coming to snatch him up, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl filled with water. She stumbles and dumps the goldfish bowl in his lap. He pretends to be angry but prays, “Thank you, Jesus!”

Now, rather than being the object of ridicule, Jack is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. When he comes back to class, all the kids are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The turn of events and the unexpected sympathy are wonderful!

But as life would have it, the ridicule that belongs to Jack has been transferred to Susie. She tries to help, but they tell her to get out: “You’ve done enough, you klutz!”

Finally, at the end of the day, Jack and Susie are waiting at the bus stop. The boy walks over to Susie and whispers, “Susie, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Susie whispers back, “I wet my pants once too.”

In the moments of another person’s discomfort, the Lord calls us to “dump the water out of our fishbowl” and do a kind act for someone else.

– Author Unknown

 


MORE IDEAS? See “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.

Learn More…

The Church

cruiseship.jpg“The church used to be a lightning bolt, now it’s a cruise ship. We are not marching to Zion – we are sailing there with ease. In the apostolic church it says they were all amazed – And now in our churches everybody wants to be amused. The church began in the upper room with a bunch of men agonizing, and it’s ending in the supper room with a bunch of people organizing. We mistake rattle for revival, and commotion for creation, and action for unction.”

— Leonard Ravenhill

Dear God

Children’s Letters to God

Dear GOD,
In school they told us what You do. Who does it when You are on vacation?
Jane

Dear GOD,
Did you mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident?
Norma

Dear GOD,
I read the Bible. What does ‘begat’ mean? Nobody will tell me.
Love, Alison

Dear GOD,
Are you really invisible or is that just a trick?
Lucy

Dear GOD,
Is it true my father won’t get in Heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house?
Anita

Dear GOD,
Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don’t You just keep the ones You have now?
Jane

Dear GOD,
Who draws the lines around the countries?
Nan

Dear GOD,
I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that okay?
Neil

Dear GOD,
What does it mean You are a Jealous God? I thought You had everything.
Jane

Dear GOD,
Did you really mean “do unto others as they do unto you”? Because if you did, then I’m going to fix my brother.
Darla

Dear GOD,
Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.
Joyce

Dear GOD,
It rained for our whole vacation and is my father mad! He said some
things about You that people are not supposed to say, but I hope You will not hurt him anyway. Your friend, (But I am not going to tell you who I am)

Dear GOD,
Why is Sunday school on Sunday? I thought it was supposed to be our day of rest.
Tom L.

Dear GOD,
Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before, You can look it up.
Bruce

Dear GOD,
If we come back as something – please don’t let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her.
Denise

Dear GOD,
If You give me a genie lamp like Aladdin, I will give you anything you want, except my money or my chess set.
Raphael

Dear GOD,
My brother is a rat. You should give him a tail. Ha ha.
Danny

Dear GOD,
Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother.
Larry

Dear GOD,
I want to be just like my Daddy when I get big but not with so much hair all over.
Sam

Dear GOD,
You don’t have to worry about me. I always look both ways.
Dean

Dear GOD,
I think the stapler is one of your greatest inventions.
Ruth M.

Dear GOD,
I think about You sometimes even when I’m not praying.
Elliott

Dear GOD,
I bet it is very hard for You to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it.
Nan

Dear GOD,
Of all the people who work for You I like Noah and David the best.
Rob

Dear GOD,
My brother told me about being born but it doesn’t sound right. They’re just kidding, aren’t they?
Marsha

Dear GOD,
If You watch me in church Sunday, I’ll show You my new shoes.
Mickey D.

Dear GOD,
I would like to live 900 years like the guy in the Bible.
Love, Chris

Dear GOD,
We read Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday school they said You did it. So I bet he stoled your idea.
Sincerely, Donna

Dear GOD:
The bad people laughed at Noah – “You made an ark on dry land you fool.” But he was smart, he stuck with You. That’s what I would do.
Eddie

Dear GOD,
I do not think anybody could be a better GOD. Well, I just want You to know but I am not just saying that because You are GOD already.
Charles

Dear GOD,
I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool!
Eugene


MORE IDEAS? See “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.

Learn More…

Machines

machines.jpg
Materials

A list of possible machines

Activity
1. Divide the youth into groups of a minimum of 5 to 10 participants (Larger groups are better).
2. Randomly assign each group a machine from your list.
3. Give each group time to prepare. Each group must act out the machine they are given. Sound effects are encouraged! Everyone in a group must be involved in the charade.
4. Have groups take turns presenting their machine while other groups guess the identity of the machines.

Some machines that are very effective are: 
washing machine
vacuum cleaner
car engine
elevator
escalator
typewriter
pinball machine
jack-hammer
bus
blender
toilet
jacuzzi
lawnmower
building crane
pipe organ
MAKE UP YOUR OWN

Application
After each group has demonstrated their machines,discuss how each machine had specific parts. And while some of the youth may not understand how all the parts work, the person who originally invented / created each machine thought of every part and understood every piece. In the same way God created us and knows how we all fit together. He knows how everything works. And we can only discover our part by going to him as our Creator.

Alternate Application
After each group has demonstrated their machines, tell them that we discovered the machines by their actions. Tell them that the most important way that other people discover love / Christianity is through our actions!


MORE IDEAS? See “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.

Learn More…

Light

A young lady working in a factory became frustrated with the immorality around her. She went to her pastor for counseling one day and began to tell him how difficult it was to work in a factory with so many non-Christians. “Pastor,” she said, “You Just don’t know how hard it is to go to work on Monday morning and hear all the stories about the partying that took place the weekend before.” Her pastor replied, “Where do you place lights?” the girl, barely hearing the question, rushed on saying, “And you can’t imagine how terrible it is to work with people who smoke and curse all day!” “Where do you place lights?” he questioned again. This time the girls hesitated with a puzzled look on her face and continued on. “Pastor, you couldn’t possibly know how hard it is to work with a bunch of men and women who come in after the weekend and talk about their sexual exploits and affairs.” Again the pastor challenged the girl, ‘Where do you put lights?”

The conversation continued on until the girl stopped in frustration and responded to the question. “Well, I don’t know where you place lights–in dark places I guess!” When the words had barely left her lips, it was as if a light had come on, for the girl understood the point her pastor was making. She was to be God’s light in the factory where she worked. She left her church that day with a vision in her heart for what she could do to reach her coworkers for the Lord. In the next several months she led several of them to the Lord.

If we are going to win our friends to Christ we are going to have to start sharing with more of them outside the four walls of the church. If we refuse to tell them about Jesus on their own ground, in the work place and in homes, many of them will never hear the good news of salvation.

Read Matthew 5:14-16; and I Peter 2:12.
* What common theme is there in these verses?
* How do these verses apply to daily life?
* Is your life a light on a hill? Do you live a life that causes others to glorify God?


MORE IDEAS? See “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.

Learn More…