The Gold That Lies
Key Verse
Proverbs 12:22
Additional Verses
Proverbs 6:16-19; Colossians 3:9-10; Exodus 20:16; Proverbs 12:19; Leviticus 19:11
Materials Needed
- Fool’s gold
Object Lesson
(Hold up the piece of fool’s gold.) Does anyone know what this is? (Wait for a response but don’t tell them if they are correct or not.)
There is a story of a miner a long time ago that went to find gold. He spent long days digging and sifting for specks of the precious metal in the dirt. He hoped that he would be able to strike it rich, but he never found very much.
When he was about to give up he found this amazing beautiful chunk of gold. He was so happy and excited that he finally struck gold. He carefully wrapped his nugget of gold and took it in to town so that he could get it exchanged for money. When he took it in the man behind the desk took one look at it and laughed and told the miner that it was NOT gold at all, but it was fool’s gold. The man hung his head and walked away not even bothering to take his chunk of worthless fool’s gold with him.
(Hold up the fool’s gold.)
This chunk of fool’s gold looks really pretty but it isn’t worth very much at all. It is kinda of like a lie. When we tell a lie we try to make our self look better by not telling the truth. But God sees right through that and He tells us in Proverbs 12:22 that he hates lies.
Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever tried to make something look better than it was by not telling the truth. We need to obey God and tell the truth and not be like this piece of fool’s gold.
Sweeter Than Honey
Key Verse
Psalm 119:103
Additional Verses
Psalm 19:9-10; Psalm 119:127; Psalm 119:72; Proverbs 8:19
Materials Needed
- Jar of honey.
- Toothpicks or Popsicle sticks if you want to let people taste the honey
Object Lesson
(Hold up the jar of honey and have a taste of it)
I love the taste of honey! Does anyone else love honey? What are some of the ways you can eat honey? (Allow the kids to respond.) I like to have some honey in my tea and on biscuits or toast. You can also make a peanut butter and honey sandwich.
Why do you think that we like honey so much? (Wait for a response.) Because it is sweet!
In Psalm 119:103 it says that God’s Words are even sweeter than this honey. Would you like to try it and see how good it tastes? (Let the kids try a sample.)
Does that mean we can take the Bible and just eat it and it will taste good? No way! This verse means that the principles and guidelines that we learn are good for us and make us into better people. It is refreshing and enjoyable to read and study God’s Word and God promises to bless us when we do. Many people thing that God’s Word is sour, but that is because they haven’t really read it and memorized it very much.
Don’t Give Up
Key Verse
Galatians 6:9
Additional Verses
James 1:12; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Timothy 1:12
Materials Needed
- Cork from a bottle
Object Lesson
(Hold up the cork.)
Does anyone know what this is? (Wait for response.) That’s right, it is a cork.
I heard a story about a little cork that was floating in the middle of the ocean. How small do you think this cork would feel in the middle of the ocean? Pretty tiny.
A whale was swimming by and happened to see the little cork floating there so the whale flipped him tail at the cork and playfully pushed it deep into the water. Do you know what happened? The cork popped back up!
The whale was confused and swam back by and this time it jumped into the air and landed on the cork with all of its massive weight. A few moments later do you know what happened? The cork popped back up to the surface.
Soon other whales gathers around and each took turns trying to sink the cork, but each time it would slowly pop back up.
Finally the cork looked at the whales and said, “I’m not made of the stuff that sinks.”
Are you made of the stuff that sinks? When tough things come at us and try to sink us do you give up and let it keep you down or do you pop right back up? We should get right back up! God doesn’t want us to give up, he wants us to keep going strong no matter what comes at us in life.
Taste and See
Key Verse
Psalm 34:8
Additional Verses
Hebrews 6:4-5; Psalm 119:103; Zechariah 9:17
Materials Needed
- Orange (or other piece of fruit or candy)
Object Lesson
The bible says to taste and see that The Lord is good. Have you ever had an orange before (or whatever you have)? Imagine that I have never eaten one, and I want someone to explain to me how this orange tastes.
(Let the person try to describe how the orange tastes. Keep trying to mess up their description. If they say it tastes like an orange just say you’ve never tasted it so that doesn’t count. If they say it is sweet ask if it tastes like chocolate. If they say it’s juicy ask if it tastes like steak.)
I’m sure that these are delicious, but there is only one way to really know if it is good or not. Do you know how?
(Start to peel the orange.)
The only way to know if it is good is to eat it. That is the only way to know.
(Start to eat the orange.)
Wow! This is delicious! It is so sweet and juicy just like you said, but the only way for me to understand the taste is to actually taste it.
The only way to really know the goodness of God is to experience it. It is not good enough to just hear people describe God and talk about him. We need to know him for our self.
Keeping Life in Balance
Key Verse
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Additional Verses
2 Peter 3:17; Ephesians 5:15; Colossians 3:17
Materials Needed
- Long pole
Object Lesson
Have you ever seen someone walk a tightrope before? It’s pretty amazing isn’t it. If they aren’t careful they can fall off on either side, and that wouldn’t be a very pretty thing to watch. What does it take to walk on a tightrope? (Wait for response.) That’s right, it takes balance.
(Hold up the pole.)
Many tightrope walkers will also use a very long pole like this that they hold on to while they are going across windy or dangerous areas. Does anyone know why? Because it helps them to stay balanced!
Often times people let their lives get out of balance. They spend to much time at work, school, video games, movies, or doing all kinds of things. Now those things are particularly bad, but Ecclesiastes 3:1 says that there is a time for everything. We need to keep those things in balance.
God has given us something to keep our lives balanced just like a tightrope walker carries this long pole. God has given us his Word, the Bible! When we read it, study it and memorize it we will grow stronger and be able to keep our life in balance.
It is important for us to read the Bible regularly and let God speak to us through it so that when the winds come they won’t blow us off balance.
The Speck and the Plank
Key Verse
Matthew 7:3-5
Additional Verses
John 8:7; Luke 6:41
Materials Needed
- Piece of sawdust or tiny pebble
- Log or board
Object Lesson
(Hold up the piece of sawdust.)
Jesus was teaching a large group of people and he asked them why they were so concerned with trying to remove a speck of sawdust out of another person’s eye and totally ignore the big plank that is in your own eye. (Hold up the board in front of your eyes.)
Wouldn’t that be pretty hard to do? Trying to help someone get a small speck out of their eye when you have this large board covering your eyes! You wouldn’t be able to see anything!
Jesus tells them that what they should do is to take the plank out of their own eye and then they will be able to see clearly enough to help the person take out the piece of sawdust.
Do you think Jesus was really talking about sawdust and boards in this verse? No, he wasn’t talking about that. What he was talking about is judging other people. Sometimes we look at other people and we see something wrong with their life, like the piece of sawdust, so we judge and criticize them. We think that they have a problem and then we try to fix it for them. But often times we have an even bigger problem in our own life, the board, and that gets in the way of us helping others.
What we should do it seek God and get the problem out of our life first. Then we can go and help the other person overcome what they face in their life.
You Reap What You Sow
Key Verse
Galatians 6:7-9
Additional Verses
Job 4:8; Matthew 7:12; Proverbs 22:8; Mark 4:24
Materials Needed
- Variety of seeds
Object Lesson
Have any of you ever planted a garden before? What did you plant? (Wait for responses.)
(Hold up the seeds.)
I have all kinds of seeds here. If I want to get some delicious apples can I plant these seeds? (Hold up the wrong kind of seed.) No, that would never work! Or how about if I wanted to grow a watermelon, could I plant these? (Hold up the wrong one again.)
Why wouldn’t that work? (Wait for responses.) That’s right, because I am planting the wrong seeds. If I want to grow tomatoes I need to plant tomato seeds, and if I want to grow watermelons I need to plant watermelon seeds.
Do you want good things to happen in your life or do you want bad things to happen? (Wait for a response.) Good things! But if we plant unkind words, rudeness, and hatred do you thing we will be able to reap good things? No!
The Bible says in Galatians 6:7-9 that we will reap what we sow. So if we plant good things then that is what we will reap. But if we plant bad things then that is what we will reap. What things are you planting in your life? Those are the things that you will reap. I hope that you all reap many good things in your life because you choose to plant the right things.
It Will Come Back to You
Key Verse
Matthew 7:12
Additional Verses
Luke 6:31; Mark 12:31; 1 John 4:20; Leviticus 19:18; Galatians 6:7-8
Materials Needed
- Boomerang
Object Lesson
(Hold the boomerang up.)
Does anyone know what this is? (Wait for responses.) That’s right, it’s a boomerang. Do any of you know how to use one? What does a boomerang do? If you know how to throw it the proper way it will fly far away from you and then it will turn around and fly back at you, hover over your head and then fall down so you can catch it! That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?
Matthew 7:12 says that we should treat each other the way we want to be treated. We call that the Golden Rule. Our actions are a lot like this boomerang. If we throw out bad actions and treat people badly what do you think will return to us? (Wait for responses.) That’s right, bad things!
However, if we throw out good actions and treat people with love and respect what do you think will return to us? (Wait for a response.) That’s correct! We will get good things in return!
What kind of things do you want to come into your life? Good things or bad things? Since we all want good things then we need to make sure that the actions that we send out are good and uplifting as well.
By Bread Alone
Key Verse
Matthew 4:4
Additional Verses
Psalm 119:105; Joshua 1:8; Hebrews 4:12
Materials Needed
- Slice of white bread
- Cup of water
Object Lesson
(Hold up a slice of bread.)
Does anyone here think that you can eat this whole entire slice of bread? (Select a volunteer. Either a child or adult with work fine. You may want to test this out, but generally it is not possible for a person to eat a slice of bread in under a minute without drinking water with it.)
OK, all you have to do is eat this slice or bread. The only catch is that you only has 60 seconds to do it. Do you think you can eat this whole slice of bread in only 60 seconds? (Most people will feel very confident that they can eat it quickly.)
Are you read? Get set. Go!
(Being timing the person as they try to eat the bread. Most likely they will take a few bites and spend a long time trying to chew it. Once they get down to 10 seconds have everyone help count it down.)
That wasn’t as easy as it looked was it? In Matthew 4:4 Jesus said that man cannot live by bread alone but they need the Words of God, just like you couldn’t eat this slice of bread on its own. There is a trick though, would you like to try it again?
(Hand them a glass of water and tell them that they can drink it as often as they need.)
Are you ready? Get set. Go!
(They should be able to finish the bread quickly this time.)
See, you were not able to finish it when you were just eating the bread alone but when you added the water it became really easy. As a believer in God we need more than just food to sustain us also. We need to also ready, study and meditate on God’s Word as that brings us true life.
The Black Spot
Key Verse
Philippians 4:8
Additional Verses
Ephesians 5:20; Romans 8:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Materials Needed
- Sheet of paper with black dot in the center. You could make several of these and hand them out if you prefer.
Object Lesson
(Hold up the sheet of paper with the spot on it).
Can anyone see what I have here? (Wait for responses. The kids should say “a dot,” or “a black spot.)” Is that all you can see?
You missed what I really have! I actually have a perfectly good piece of paper here but the only thing that most of us could see was the little tiny black dot.
Often times when we look at our life the only thing we can see is the black dot. The bad things. The negative. And then we focus on them.
We don’t look at the good things that God has done. We don’t count our blessings. We just focus on the bad.
Tell me some things that are good in your life? Some things that you have to be thankful for. (Wait for responses and then write a bunch of the good things on the paper and hold it up.)
See! There is a lot more good than bad here. The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8 to think about the good and positive things in our lives, not the bad things.
Did you know that God can even make the things that seem bad work out for Good? He says so right in Romans 8:28! He says that he will work everything together for good for the that love Him. Do you love Him?
(Draw a cross over the top of the spot.)
See, even the things that were bad in our live God works out for good!
The next time you are tempted to complain, instead try to look at the good things that are going on. And you want to watch God work in an amazing way!
D5 Creation