Monthly Archives: August 2007

Discussion Questions

Spiritual Battle Discussion Questions

Leave a comment

What best describes my current situation in spiritual battle? Explain your answer.

  • In basic training
  • In the mess hall
  • Running from the battle
  • Running to the battle
  • In communication with Headquarters
  • In the latrine
  • Dedicated to my mission
  • A prisoner of war (P.O.W.)
  • Camouflaged
  • Absent without leave (A.W.O.L.)
  • A M.A.S.H. unit
  • Wounded
  • On the front lines
  • Obeying my orders
  • Ready to help other soldiers
  • Practicing my drills daily
  • Military observer
  • Sitting Duck
  • Covert Operations

My biggest problems in spiritual battles are: (Explain your answer)

  1. I forget my equipment
  2. I run away from battles
  3. I doubt my enlistment into the army of God
  4. Enemy distractions
  5. Fatigue (I’m tired)
  6. I lose communication with the Commander
  7. I don’t know my training manual
  8. Family road blocks
  9. The enemy takes me prisoner to sin
  10. I lose focus in the battle
  11. I fail to trust the commander
  12. Sneak attacks on my faith
  13. Sabataged friendships
  14. I worry about what others will think
  15. Enlisting God’s help
  16. False intelligence
  17. Lack of courage
  18. Too many battles at one time
  19. Fear
  20. Other?_________________________
Teaching Illustrations

Irish Blessing

Leave a comment

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you:
May you see your children’s children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
Rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.


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

Heaven and Hell

Leave a comment

A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.” The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, “You have seen Hell.”

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man’s mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, “I don’t understand.” It is simple” said the Lord, “it requires but one skill.

You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.”

 


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

Put on the Full Armor of God Daily!

Leave a comment

Description
Youth will look at a series of common situations, struggles, temptations, etc and determine which piece of spiritual armor would be most useful in the given situation.

Preparation
Make a list of activities/ situations:
Examples

  • A close family member just passed away
  • Someone has done something to hurt your feelings
  • Someone is gossiping about you at school
  • Someone tempts you to view a pornographic picture
  • The desire for money, power, or fame tempts you to do things you know are not good
  • You and a good friend are not talking to each other anymore
  • You are accused of cheating on a test
  • You are afraid to tell your best friend about Jesus
  • You are being taught evolution in school
  • You are having doubts about your faith
  • You are not prepared for your examination
  • You are trying to decide your life career
  • You best friend uses profanity all the time and you find yourself picking up some of it
  • You discover a 50 dollar note on the subway
  • You discover your best friend is gay
  • You don’t feel like God is listening to your prayers
  • You feel very alone
  • You find a person’s wallet on the ground
  • You found out your best friend is pregnant
  • You have doubts about your faith
  • You really want to attend youth camp, but your parents have grounded you.
  • You saw your best friend shoplift an item
  • You see someone begging on the street for food
  • You want to read a novel that has some sexually explicit parts
  • Your exam results were not satisfactory to go to the school you wanted
  • Your friend doesn’t believe in God
  • Your friend is asking about your faith
  • Your friend is having a fight with her parents
  • Your friend needs some advice on a relationship
  • Your friend offers you alcohol at a party
  • Your friend says Jesus never claimed to be God
  • Your mother and father are always fighting
  • Your parents ask you a question and you know if you answer honestly you will be in more trouble
  • Your parents discover you lied to them
  • Your parents never seem to understand you
  • Your parents wish you to be Buddhist
  • Your teacher seems to be treating you as if you are stupid
  • Your worship life is stale
  • You’ve lost your prize possession

Getting Started
Using Ephesians 6:13-18 give youth a few minutes to discuss the “six” pieces of spiritual equipment.
Here are the original 6 pieces of equipment for the passage:

  • Belt – Truth
  • Breastplate – Righteousness
  • Shoes – Gospel of Peace
  • Shield – Faith
  • Helmet – Salvation
  • Sword – Word of God

Note: Sometimes people also add “prayer” to the list.

Discussion
Read out the list of common situations, struggles, temptations, etc one by one. Youth must choose which piece of spiritual armor they believe would be most useful in the given situation. You can also ask them to explain their answers.

Variation
Ask youth to make a list of difficult situations, temptations, doubts, tests of the faith, and fears they have had during the last week. Then ask them to identify the piece of spiritual armor which would help most with each item on the list.


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…

Parents Ministry, Youth Ministry

Christian home or religious home?

Leave a comment

There is a difference between a Christian home and a religious home. A religious home focuses upon the requirements of being a Christian, whereas a Christian home focuses on the relationship with God. Here are some of the characteristics of a Christian home:

  1. A Christian home is not legalistic but instead there is genuine intimacy and communication of God’s love and his desires for us.
  2. Family devotionals need to be a part of the family, but flexible, invigorating, full of variety and life. What a shame it is when we bore or burden our teens with religion rather then sharing the joy and love of serving God and growing in intimacy with Him!
  3. As parents we need to live by example – More is Caught than Taught. Principles mean little to a teen… example means everything! Those who are the best examples are not the ones supposedly living perfect Christian lives, but those who allow teenagers to look in and see what life is really like.. the struggles, the triumphs, the desire to grow. Expose youth to good models in other adults as well among your church members and friends.
  4. A teen’s view of God as the Father is often affected by earthly fathers. As father’s are we seeking to live in the example of the Heavenly Father?
  5. Perception is reality to teens… Don’t say the perception is false and ignore it… deal with the perceptions. Don’t see questions and doubts as threats but as opportunities to understand. Struggles are part of our spiritual journey.
  6. Don’t pretend to be perfect in your Christianity… be honest about your own faith and they will know that you are real… youth see hypocrisy quicker than anyone.
  7. Put a voice to your personal values and convictions and back them up by seeking to live by them.
  8. Remember that faith is a relationship with God, not a complete understanding. You don’t have to understand everything for your faith to make a difference. We use so much technology today that we don’t fully understand… the real issue is not how does it work, but instead how does it work for me. How does it make a difference in my life.
  9. Remember you cannot expect others to do your parenting work for you when you as a parent are the greatest influence on a child’s life. If you were to examine your life you will find things being transfered to your children… but very often it is our bad habits rather than our faith. Inspire your child. Spirituality is not demanded or forced but inspired and encouraged and nurtured.
  10. “Today’s church dropouts are not the kids; but their the parents. You can’t teach what you don’t know any more than you can come from where you have never been.” -Adrian Rogers If you want to see your child grow in their faith, you need to be GROWING in yours.
  11. You cannot do anything to be absolutely sure your teens will accept Christ because God gave each of us free will. But we can pray and live it ourselves daily!!
  12. Dt. 6:6-9 Talk about your faith at any time of the day (Note there is a difference between talking with someone and preaching!) Have a willingness to share plus a mental readiness to share when the time is right. If we want our children to desire the faith we have we must show its attractiveness… is the Christian life truly the abundant life for you or a burden.
  13. Make your home a place where other Christian teens are invited and welcome. Teens choose peers with needs similar to their own and as such can provide a clue to your teens needs and desires.
  14. Instead of getting defensive, as parents we must admit we are depending on Christ in our own weaknesses. Scripture teaches us to be vulnerable: “Not that we are competent to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.” II Cor 3:5 Be real. You don’t have to be a superhero to be a positive spiritual influence in the life of a youth!

Actually, while these truths are critical principles for parents, they are true for anyone who wants to make a positive difference in the lives of youths. That includes youth leaders, teachers, mentors, and anyone that has regular contact with teens.


Get "Creative Sermon Ideas" eBook

Get Help on Your Youth Sermons

Creative Sermon Ideas
This 100 Page e-Book Includes All The Help You Need To Prepare Powerful, Life-Changing Youth Sermons That Will Turn Your Preaching Around And Make Your Youth Sit Up And Listen! Includes 7 Complete Sermons.
–> I want More Youth Sermon Ideas…

Teaching Illustrations

Stained Glass Windows

Leave a comment

(c) Copyright 2007 by Ken Sapp

Broken, incomplete,
shattered, rough edges,
cutting, scattered.

Different shapes,
reflecting different colors.

But the Master takes them,
fits them together according to His pattern and vision,
and from the broken pieces,
creates a masterpiece of color and light.

And when the Son shines through,
the colors reflect on the faces,
of those inside.

Bound together,
the brokenness is forgotten
as each contributes to the whole.

Together they reveal the stories of God’s love
and give us a beautiful image of our Redeemer who lives among us.

Vivid reds, yellows, oranges,
combine with muted browns and grays,
each in its place,
even the smallest sliver
a sparkle in the Savior’s eye.

Stained glassed windows,
a simple reminder of who we were
and a promise of what we can become
in the church of the loving Redeemer.


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…

Food for Thought

True Courage

Leave a comment

“Courage is the power to do well when the air is turbulent and the going gets tough. It is having the character to do well when things are tempting, when things are painful.

It is easy to be a mother when a baby is cooing and gurgling over breakfast; it takes courage to be a mother when the child suffers from a terrible and incurable handicap.

Courage is the power to do well in the face of a threat–to your life, to your security, to your future, to the things you hold dear.”

Lewis Smedes “Practical Christianity” (Tyndale House Publishers)

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Devotional, Parents Ministry

A Parent’s Prayer

Leave a comment

Dear Heavenly Father, Make me a better parent. Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say and to answer all their questions kindly.

Keep me from interrupting them, talking back to them and contradicting them. Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.

Give me the courage to confess my sins against my children and to ask them forgiveness when I know that I have done them wrong.

Grant that I may never vainly hurt the feelings of my children. Forbid that I should laugh at their mistakes or resort to shame and ridicule as punishment.

Let me not tempt my child to lie or steal. So guide me hour by hour that I might demonstrate by all I say and do that honestly produces happiness.

Reduce, I pray, the meanness in me. May I cease to nag, and when I am out of sorts, help me O Lord, to hold my tongue. Blind me to the little errors of my children, and help me to see the good things they do.

Give me a ready word to honest praise. Help me to grow up with my children, to treat them as those of their own age, but let me not expect of them the judgments and conventions of adults.

Allow me not to rob them of the opportunity to learn for themselves, to think, to choose and to make decisions. Forbid that I should ever punish them for my selfish satisfaction.

May I grant them all their wishes that are reasonable,
And may I have the courage always to withhold a privilege which I know will do them harm.

Make me fair and just, and considerate and companionable to my children that they will have a genuine esteem for me. Make me fit to be loved and imitated by my children.

Amen.

Author: Garry C. Myers, as quoted by Abigail Van Buren in “Dear Abbey.”


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…

Game Ideas

Persecuted Church

Leave a comment

Introduction
Freedom of worship is not available in many nations. In fact, like the early church there are many places where the church is persecuted and Christians are not allowed to meet together publicly. Sometimes called “Communist church”, I prefer to call it persecuted church because communist countries are not the only places where the church is persecuted!

Game Description
Youth try to find the church without getting caught!

Game Materials
Flashlight and large church or educational compound. This game works best in a school or church with numerous rooms and with limited access in and out of the building. Camps work great too! It is best at night and with the lights off. There is a great little video you can use as an introduction at http://www.vimeo.com/219359

Game Preparation

  1. Shut the doors to all the rooms in the building.
  2. Lock selected doors and those in which youth should not enter for safety or other reasons. Unlocked doors are free to be entered by the youth.
  3. Switch on a flashlight and place it in one of the open rooms, shining, but not in an obvious way. Most importantly it should not be visible from outside the room or so bright than if the door was opened it would be obvious it was there. It is best to put it in a cardboard box, shine it into a can, or cover it with a cloth so that the light is muted. The light should only be discoverable if you are really looking hard for it… i.e. it should be VERY DIFFICULT to find!

Game Play

  1. The flashlight represents the church. The objective for the youth is to find the light.
  2. When a youth finds the light, they are not allowed to touch it or move it, but must hide in the same room so that no one knows they are there. If someone new enters the room they must remain hidden and not reveal themselves in any way.
  3. The game ends when 10 people find the light and are in the same room.
  4. Leaders must patrol the building hallways, but are not allowed to enter the rooms. Their role is to catch the youth or tag them while they are in the hallways.
  5. If a youth is tagged by a leader, they must go quietly and be escorted out of the building and locked out. One door to the building will be unlocked at all times but that door will change frequently. Regularly lock and unlock doors to the building. Youth must find their way back into the building.

Discussion
Great for a discussion on religious persecution!

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!