Monthly Archives: November 2005

Humor

His and Hers ATMs

Leave a comment

His and Her ATM usage explained:

HIS
1. Pull up to ATM
2. Insert card
3. Enter PIN number and account
4. Take cash, card and receipt

HERS
1. Pull up to ATM
2. Check makeup in rearview mirror
3. Shut off engine
4. Put keys in purse
5. Get out of car because you’re too far from machine
6. Hunt for card in purse
7. Insert card
8. Hunt in purse for wrapper with PIN number written on it
9. Enter PIN number
10. Study instructions for at least 2 minutes.
11. Hit “cancel”
12. Re-enter correct PIN number
13. Check balance
14. Look for envelope
15. Look in purse for pen
16. Make out deposit slip
17. Endorse checks
18. Make deposit
19. Study instructions
20. Make cash withdrawal
21. Get in car
22. Check makeup
23. Look for keys
24. Start car
25. Check makeup
26. Start pulling away
27. STOP
28. Back up to machine
29. Get out of car
30. Take card and receipt
31. Get back in car
32. Put card in wallet
33. Put receipt in checkbook
34. Enter deposits and withdrawals in checkbook
35. Clear area in purse for wallet and checkbook
36. Check makeup
37. Put car in gear, reverse
38. Put car in drive
39. Drive away from machine
40. Travel 3 miles
41. Release parking brake

Get Icebreakers ebookIcebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

Click here to find out how to get your hands on this incredible resource!

Teaching Illustrations

Awesomites

Leave a comment

“When He saw the crowds, He felt sorry for them. They were troubled and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is large, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord who gives this harvest to send workers to harvest His crops.”
-Matthew 9:36,37

“I think Christ is awesome and wants us to be ‘awesomites.’ Humble awesomites representing His awesomeness nonetheless. More than conquerors! Christ and His Christians, changing things on the earth.

There are many wounded and hurting individuals ‘tied to trees’ around the world. You work with some, others live across the street. One of them probably just served you in a check-out line, seated you in a restaurant or served you food. Their chains are alcohol, drugs, abuse, broken dreams, rejection, money, lust…Well, you get the point.

Plan A is for supernatural, but ordinary, people like you and me to: (1) wholeheartedly believe in the victory of Calvary–to be convinced that it was complete and final and (2) to rise up in our role as sent ones, ambassadors, authorized representatives of the Victor. Our challenge is not so much to liberate as to believe in the Liberator; to heal as to believe in the Healer.

Plan B is to waste the Cross; to leave the tormented in their torment; to scream with our silence, ‘There is no hope!’; to hear the Father say again, ‘I looked but found no one”; to hear the Son cry once more, ‘The laborers! Where are the laborers?’

Come on, Church! Let’s untie some folks. Let’s tell them there is a God who cares. Let’s represent–let’s mediate–let’s intercede!”

Source: Dutch Sheets “Intercessory Prayer”
“How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and Earth”


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…

Object Lessons

Wonderfully Created

Leave a comment

sheriff.jpg
Materials
Obtain various tools and accessories associated with different occupations.

Some possibilities include:
fireman’s hat-fireman, police badge-policeman, sheriff badge-sheriff, cook’s beater-cook, baker’s hat-baker, basketball or sport’s equipment-athlete, axe-woodsman, paintbrush-artist, stethoscope-doctor, briefcase-businessman, driver’s license-driver or taxi driver, trowel-bricklayer, shovel-gardner, Bible-pastor, hammer-carpenter, Microphone- singer or speaker, telephone-secretary, bow tie-waiter, knife-butcher, ETC.

Activity
Have participants match the items with the occupation.

Discussion
1. What do you / did you want to be when you grow/ grew up.
2. Does God have a personal and specific will for each person’s life?
3. Does he have a detailed blueprint for our life?
4. How much leeway do we have in submitting our personal choices?
5. Is everything predestined?
6. Does it include every detail relating to my life? If so, how do we discover it?

Scripture
Psalm 139:15. Before you were even a baby, God knew you and what you would become. God intimately knows us. He knows our thoughts, words, and deeds (v7-12). Verse 16 says God planned all your days, all your life, before you were ever even born. He had a plan for you before you even existed.

Closing
End by discussing various things that Christians can do. Discuss the person each of us can become. Talk about the different roles in the church and how God might use some of them to accomplish these roles.

 

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…

Creative Teaching Ideas

Cracking Under Pressure

Leave a comment

egg.jpg
Materials
Divide groups into teams and provide each team with 4 sheets of paper, scissors, several straws, some string, a couple rubber bands, 4 ice-cream sticks, 2 paper plates, a pencil, 4 styrofoam or paper cups, an egg and some tape.

Activity
Give each group an egg… allow them 5 minutes to build a capsule for their egg to protect it from being dropped… then drop the egg capsules from different heights. Award the group whose egg survives the fall intact. In case of a tie, the group using theleast materials wins.

Application
1. Today we are going to learn what preparations you can make to prevent you from cracking under pressure in your spiritual walk.


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…

Creative Teaching Ideas

Blind Guide

Leave a comment

Materials
Blindfolds for 3 or four youth/ children

Activity
Choose 3 or 4 volunteers and blindfold them. Then divide the group into two teams for each volunteer. The objective of one team is to direct the blindfolded person through an obstacle course you have created while the objective of the other opponent’s team is to lead the blind-folded person astray. The Blindfolded person will not know which team to trust… If the blindfolded person completes course, the team leading him wins; if he is led astray the distraction team wins.

Application
1. Sometimes in life, the right path is difficult to see and even more difficult to follow
2. We need to learn to differentiate the voices around us so we can make wise decisions


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…

Teaching Illustrations

Allen Gardiner

Leave a comment

gardiner.jpgOne of God’s faithful missionaries, Allen Gardiner, experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Savior. Despite his troubles, he said, “While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me.” In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness. The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, “I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God.”

Source: 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…

Teaching Illustrations

Agonizing Silence

Leave a comment

During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin in a public meeting, Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience. “You were one of Stalin’s colleagues. Why didn’t you stop him?” “Who said that?” roared Khrushchev. An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly, “Now you know why.”

Source: Today in the Word, July 13, 1993


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…

Humor

Albert Einstein

Leave a comment

einstein.jpgIn the course of their conversation at a dinner party, Albert Einstein’s young neighbor asked the white-haired scientist, “What are you actually by profession?” “I devote myself to the study of physics,” Einstein replied. The girl looked at him in astonishment. “You mean to say you study physics at your age?” she exclaimed. “I finished mine a year ago.”

Source: Today in the Word, September 25, 1992

Get Icebreakers ebookIcebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

Click here to find out how to get your hands on this incredible resource!

Humor

Age is a Funny Thing

Leave a comment

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re kids?
If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
“How old are you?”
“I’m 4 and half.”
You’re never 36 and a half, but you’re 4 and a half going on 5! That’s the key.
You get into your teens, now they can’t hold you back. You jump to the next number.
“How old are you?”
“I’m gonna be 16.”
You could be 12, but you’re gonna be 16.
And then the greatest day of your life happens: you become 21.
Even the words sounds like a ceremony–you BECOME 21. YES!!!!
But then you turn 30. Ooohhh, what happened here?? Makes you sound like bad milk. He TURNED.
We had to throw him out. There’s no fun now. What’s wrong?? What changed???
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you’re PUSHING 40…stay over there, it’s all slipping away…
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, you’re PUSHING 40, you REACH 50…my dreams are gone…
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, you’re PUSHING 40, you REACH 50 and then
you MAKE IT to 60…Whew! I didn’t think I’d make it.
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, You’re PUSHING 40, you REACH 50, you MAKE IT to 60, and
by then you’ve built up so much speed, you HIT 70!
After that, it’s a day by day thing. You HIT Wednesday, you get into your 80s, you HIT lunch.
I mean my grandmother won’t even buy green bananas, “Well it’s an investment, you know, and maybe a bad one.”
And it doesn’t end there…Into the 90’s, you start going backwards: I was JUST 92. Then a strange thing happens, if you make it over 100, you become a little kid again: I’m 100 and a half!!
Age is a funny thing.

Source: Unknown

Get Icebreakers ebookIcebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

Click here to find out how to get your hands on this incredible resource!

Creative Teaching Ideas

Battle

Leave a comment

blankcards.jpgMaterials
Index Cards

Setup
Known as “battle” or “slap.” Write key words, phrases and other facts that match up on a set of index cards. Place the names listed below as well as descriptions on separate note cards. Include as many copies of the names as there are descriptions.

Activity
Divide the cards into two stacks, one for each team. Players turn over cards simultaneously. If two cards match the first player to slap the discard pile gets all the cards in it. The object is to collect all the cards. After a couple minutes change players on each team.

Example of cards: The Rebuilding of the temple
Babylonians – Destroyed Jerusalem
Darius – King of Persia
Cyrus – King of Persia
Cyrus – allowed Jews to return
Cyrus – granted money for rebuilding the temple
Cyrus – ordered temple vessels returned
Zechariah – Prophet
Haggai – Prophet
Haggai – said “Jews too busy with own houses and God’s house is in ruins.”
Daniel – exile
Temple – Place of sacrifice
Temple – dedication
Temple – rebuilt
Exile – noble family
Exile – wealthy, educated, or skilled
Exile – The “children of the captivity”
Tatnai – Persian Governor over Judah
Shadrach – exile
Meshach – exile
Abednego – exile
Belshazzar – Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzer – Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzer – statue of self
Zerubbabel – Governor of Judean community
Worship – Temple
Ezra – Post-exilic book
Nehemiah – Post-exilic book
Malachi – Post-exilic book

Application
1. This can be used for any lessons that have facts for review that can be matched.
2. Rebuilding the temple: 2Chronicles 36:23; Ezra 1-6; Isaiah 44-45


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…