transformation
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God’s Masterpiece
Key Verse:
[Eph 2:10 NLT] 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Additional Verses:
Ephesians 2:1-7
Materials Needed:
Small wooden cross (available at Dollar Tree or from a craft store)
Broken tiles or glass mosaic tiles purchased from a craft store
Craft glue
Caution: Broken tiles may have sharp edges. Use extreme caution if using this lesson with children, or purchase craft tiles with smooth edges.
Note: For this lesson I am showing you an easy way to make a small mosaic that gets the point across. You can make a larger version of this mosaic cross using a 1”x4” board, Mapei adhesive, broken tiles and grout (I found good instructions on Pinterest). I used this lesson at a Women’s Retreat. I had everyone participate by coming up and gluing on a couple of tiles and I asked them to contemplate which areas in their life God may be wanting to renew. I grouted it later and displayed it in our church lobby.
Preparation:
If using your own tiles, break them ahead of time. Wear safety goggles and gloves to protect yourself.
Complete a small section of the mosaic cross ahead of time to show during the lesson. At the conclusion of the lesson, invite people up to glue on some of the tiles.
Object Lesson:
The Bible says in [Eph 2:10 NLT] 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Why did He create us anew? Because we were broken. We were dead, because of our sins. We were all far from God because our sin kept us separate from God. It broke our relationship with Him. But God is so rich in mercy and He loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead.
The emphasis in Ephesians 2:10 is not on how beautiful we are, but on how creative God is. That He could take broken, sinful people and restore them back to a relationship with Himself.
We’re not a masterpiece because we’re so beautiful. We’re a masterpiece because God loved us so much that he put us back together.
He restored us so we could do the good things HE planned for us long ago. Notice, not the things that WE planned. You may be in a different place in your life than you expected, but God has a purpose for you right where you are.
There are other things besides our own sin that can break us too. We may come from broken families, homes, relationships. Broken dreams. You thought your life would go one way, but it turned out differently. You may have a broken heart. I have some broken tiles here. (Show the tiles) Look, they are just bits and pieces. They aren’t really good for anything. How can something broken be made into a beautiful masterpiece?
You may have seen a mosaic before. (Take out the cross and show it.) What’s a mosaic? It’s a piece of art, created by broken things. Broken pieces that have been put together to make something brand new. I started this earlier and it’s already starting to look pretty good. These tiles are going to be put together to make a beautiful piece of artwork.
God is such a creative artist that He took our sin, our brokenness, the smashed up bits, the garbage, our past and He restored us to Himself when Christ died for us. He can heal the hurt, the brokenness you face.
He wants to restore you, so you can bring glory and praise to Him.
He created us anew, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. Your past doesn’t disqualify you from serving God, it’s not your identity. It qualifies you. You can tell people, I was broken, but I’m not anymore. I was dead in my sin, but I’m not anymore.
You may have an area of brokenness in your life. Maybe it’s a sinful area of your life. Maybe someone else has hurt you. Maybe there’s an area in your life that needs transformation. Let’s yield ourselves over to God and allow Him to restore us and use us to do the good things He planned for us long ago. (Invite people to help finish the mosaic).
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Pickled
Key Verse:
[Psa 119:15 NIV] I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
Additional Verses:
Psalms 1:1-3; Joshua 1:8
Materials Needed:
- 1 Jar of pickle “chips” (or enough for each person to have one pickle plus a few for you to use)
- 1 Cucumber sliced into rounds (or enough for each person to have one slice plus a few for you to use.
- Condiment cups to fit one pickle and one slice of cucumber (one per person)
- A slotted spoon that will fit in the jar
- Paper towels (to clean any mess)
Preparation:
Before class, remove some of the pickles from the jar, leaving some pickles behind as well as the pickle juice. You will use this jar to dip the cucumbers in. Pre-slice your cucumbers into rounds and dip them for a second into the pickle juice and take them out. Create a sample for each person to taste by placing one pickle slice and one cucumber slice that has been dipped into condiment cups. Lean the slices away from each other in the cups if possible so the cucumber doesn’t take on too much pickle flavor.
Object Lesson:
Do you guys like pickles? Who can tell me what a pickle tastes like? (Allow for answers: salty, sour, tangy). Now did you know that a pickle is just a slice of cucumber? If it’s just a slice of cucumber, where does all of that flavor come from? (Allow for answers). That’s right! It comes from the pickle juice which has some vinegar, spices. How do all of those flavors get inside of that cucumber? Well the cucumber slices have been in this pickle juice for a long time, so long that they have absorbed all of the flavor of this pickle juice and they have been transformed into a tasty pickle. That’s called marinating. The cucumbers have been marinating in this pickle juice so much that they have taken on its flavor.
In the Bible, in Psalms 119:15, someone prayed this to God “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.” That word meditate is kind of like the word marinate. Meditating means that we think about something over and over and we focus on it and we try to absorb its meaning. Kind of how these pickles have marinated in the pickle juice and absorbed the flavor. What the Bible is teaching us here is that we should read and think about God’s Word a lot and meditate on it and figure out what it means and we should consider God’s ways so that we can truly become more like Jesus.
Sometimes as Christians, we don’t spend enough time meditating on God’s Word. We might go to church once in a while, but then we skip a few weeks or maybe we intend to read the Bible every day but we only get up early enough once a week to do it. Then we wonder why we aren’t getting stronger in our faith and not being transformed.
That’s like taking these cucumbers and dipping them in the pickle juice and then taking them right out (drop a few cucumbers in the liquid and take them right out with the slotted spoon). Do you think these cucumbers are going to taste like pickles? Let’s see. (Hand out the samples). Wait for me, we will eat them together. Let’s eat the pickle first. (Eat the pickle). Wow! that has so much flavor, it’s so good. Now let’s try the cucumber that was only in the pickle juice for a second. (Eat the cucumber slice). Does it taste as flavorful as the first one we ate? No! Why not? (Allow for answers). That’s right, because they haven’t spent enough time in the pickle juice to absorb its flavor, they haven’t had the time to transform into a pickle. See, we need to spend a lot of time in God’s Word, reading it over and over and thinking about it so we can absorb it and understand its meaning and allow it to transform our lives.
Time to be Changed
Key Verse
2 Corinthians 5:17
Additional Verses
Romans 12:2; Galatians 2:20; 1 John 1:9; Psalm 51:10-12
Materials Needed
- Baby doll with diaper
Object Lesson
(Hold the doll while you talk.)
Do you guys spend very much time with babies or little toddlers? Raise your hands if you have a baby brother or sister. Raise your hand if you have a baby cousin?
Well, I really love babies. They are so cute and fun to play with and they make a lot of goo-goo-ga-ga sounds. Let me hear your best baby sounds (allow for response).
Now, as fun as babies are and as much as we love them, they do something that I do not like very much. They poop! Yup, they make a mess in their diapers. Now when baby has a dirty diaper, their mom and dad still loves them right? They still accept that baby no matter how stinky it is, but do they leave their baby with a dirty diaper? No, of course not! What do they do? They change them into a clean diaper.
That reminds me of the verse in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 5:17 which says “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” You see God loves and accepts us no matter how we come to him, even if we have stinky sin in our lives. Even if we’ve lied, or cheated on a test or stole something, God still loves us and He wants us to come to him to be saved. However, through Christ, God want us to become a new person so that we are not the same anymore.
If you were lying, he wants you to stop lying. If you’ve been using bad language, he wants you to clean up your words. God is a good Father and he wants us to change for the better, so we can become more like Jesus. So the next time you are around a little baby and you start to smell something funny, I want you to remember that you are a new creation in Christ you are not the same anymore.
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D5 Creation