Materials
Use a stalk of celery, freshly cut on one end. Place it in a glass half full of grape juice or red-dyed water. Note that the celery will soak up the color through it’s stem, thus changing the color of the celery. You can use several sticks of celery and place them in various colors of dyed water. If you use food coloring then the stick will still be edible for a snack but be in unusual colors. You can even make black or brown that could represent drawing from a bad source.

Discussion
What determines what the celery will be like?
The plant, the roots of the plant, water, sun, circumstances, and drawing from the source what it needs all determine what the celery will be like. In the same way, the source from which we fulfill our needs, the Living Water in our lives, the SON, and circumstances all affect what we are like. How consistently we draw from our Source (abide) also affects us. (See John 15)

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.
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Materials
Place a bowl of seedless grapes in the middle of the room. There should be enough grapes for everyone to have one. You may have additional grapes to be used as a snack.

Activity
Ask everyone to sit in a circle around the bowl. Have each person to look into the bowl and choose a grape, remove it from the bowl, and study it carefully.
* How did this grape grow?
* What is the purpose of this grape?
* What determines a bad grape from a good grape?
Have everyone return their grapes to a different bowl. (These might not be edible again after they touch them and possibly mangle them) Mix up the grapes and see if the youth can find their original grapes.
* Are you sure it is the same grape?
* How can you tell?
* What special marking or color does your grape have?
* Who has the best grape? Why?
* In what ways are we like these grapes?

Debrief
Like the grapes, no two of us are alike, but we all have the same purpose in life: To abide and reproduce. What determines a good or bad grape is what lies beneath the skin. The skin doesn’t matter. A grape may be nutritious, good, tasty, sweet, sour, rotten, worm eaten, hard or soft. People may have sour personalities, rotten, eaten inside by sin, hard hearts or soft hearts. Other people may be sweet, good, a delight to be around, and beneficial to others.

Application
The vine, the roots of the vine, water, sun, circumstances, and drawing from the vine what it needs all determine what the grape will be like. In the same way, the source from which we fulfill our needs, the Living Water in our lives, the SON, and circumstances all affect what we are like. How consistently we draw from our Source (abide) also affects us. Circumstances and sin may cause us to be bruised or if it becomes sin becomes the primary characteristic of who we are we become rotten or sour. (See John 15)

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…

Preparation
Select a location where there are several large trees growing. You might also need a ground sheet students can lie on. You’ll need several Bibles.

Activity
Take your group to the selected trees. Form groups of no more than five and have each group select a tree. Have kids lie under the trees, looking up at the branches. Have a volunteer in each group read John 15:5-10, then have kids answer questions about themselves and their trees in their groups.

Debrief
1. Imagine this tree is a picture of Christ and his followers.
* Which part of the tree would you label as Christ? Explain.
* Which part would be his followers? Why?
2. Have kids look for branches that are dead and need pruning.
* Why do branches die?
* How might someone become spiritually dead, like a dead branch?
3. Look for new growth.
* In what ways have you experienced new growth spiritually?
4. Look for evidence that the tree is reproducing, such as seeds or fruit.
* What areas of your Christian life are producing fruit?

Additional Activity
Have each person choose a branch that is most like him or her spiritually and explain why they’ve chosen this branch. For example, someone might say, “This branch is like me because it has lots of new growth, and I’ve been growing a lot in my faith recently.”

Application
Close by having groups each form a circle around their tree and pray that they’ll grow in Christ, the true vine.

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…