Down on Your Luck
A man named Joe finds himself deep in debt. His business is broke and he’s in serious financial trouble. He is so desperate that he decides to ask God for help.
He kneels to pray, “God, please help me. I’ve lost my business and if I don’t get some money, I’m going to lose my house as well. Please let me win the lotto.”
Lotto night comes he doesn’t win.
Joe prays again, “God, please let me win the lotto! I’ve lost my business, my house and I’m going to lose my car as well”.
Lotto night comes and once again Joe still doesn’t win.
Again, Joe prays, “God, why have you abandoned me?? I’ve lost my business, my house, and my car. My wife and children are starving. I don’t usually ask you for help and I have always been a good servant to you. PLEASE just let me win the lotto this one time so I can get my life back in order.”
Suddenly there was a flash of light and Joe hears the voice of God, “Joe, meet Me halfway on this. Buy a ticket!”
The Fall of Faith
A man named John was walking beside a steep cliff one day, when he accidentally stepped too close to the edge and began to fall. As he fell he reached out and grabbed a branch, which stopped his fall for a few moments. He glanced down and was shocked to see that the canyon went straight down for over a thousand feet.
He knew he wouldn’t be able to hang on to the branch for very long, and there wasn’t a way for him to climb up the face of the cliff. So, Jack started to yell for help, hoping that maybe someone above would hear him and toss a rope or get help.
“HELP! HELP!” he called, “Is anyone up there? HELP!”
He yelled for a while, but no one responded. He was just about to give up when he heard a voice call, “Jack, Jack. Can you hear me?”
Jack quickly replied, “Yes, yes! I can hear you. I’m down here!”
The voice said, “I can see you, Jack. Are you all right?”
“Yes, but who are you, and where are you?” asked Jack anxiously.
“I am the Lord, Jack. I am everywhere.”
“The Lord? You mean, GOD?”
“That’s Me.”
“God, please help me! I promise that if you’ll get me down from here, I’ll stop sinning. I’ll be a really good person. I’ll serve You for the rest of my life.”
“Easy on the promises, Jack. Let’s get you off from there; then we can talk.”
“Now, here’s what I want you to do. Listen carefully.”
“I’ll do anything, Lord. Just tell me what to do.”
“Okay. Let go of the branch.”
“What?”
“I said, let go of the branch. Just trust Me. Let go.”
Then there was a long silence as Jack pondered this.
Finally Jack yelled, “HELP! HELP! IS ANYONE ELSE UP THERE?”
Bad Company Corrupts Good Character
Key Verse
1 Corinthians 15:33
Additional Verses
Proverbs 13:20; Proverbs 14:7; Psalms 1:1-4; 2 Corinthians 6:14
Materials Needed
- Basket of good apples
- One rotten apple
Preparation
Bury the rotten apple in the basket of fresh apples.
Object Lesson
Does anyone here like apples? Apples are such a delicious fruit. You can use them to make juice, pies, or just eat them plain! Did you know that the apple is part of the rose family? One of the great things about apples is that they will stay fresh for a month or more if you keep them cool!
I have a nice basket of fresh apples here, but did you know that these apples won’t stay fresh for very long? In fact, I guarantee that they will be rotten in just a few days! How do I know this? (Start taking out apples until you get to the rotten one and hold it up.)
There is a rotten apple in here! Would anyone like to take a bite out of this one? Did you know that if a rotten apple is touching another apple the fresh apple will start to rot too? And then it spreads quickly from apple to apple. Before you know it then entire basket of apples will be rotten! Just because I left one rotten apple in here.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:33 that “bad company corrupts good character.” That means when you hang around people who are a bad influence if will begin to rub off on you. You might not even notice it at first, but you will start picking up their bad habits and acting like them. Before you know if you will be a bad influence too!
So be very careful when you are around people who are a bad influence. People that have a rotten heart. Don’t hang out with them! Because they will begin to pull you down and before you know if you may be acting just like them!
What Can Wash Away My Sins?
Key Verse
John 3:16
Additional Verses
Romans 3:23; Hebrews 9:22; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:8; Luke 13:3; John 3:36
Materials Needed
- Mirror, piece of glass or polished metal (could even be a TV or anything with a glass surface, but if you use a TV you will need to put a signal through it to make the marker visible)
- Red dry erase marker
- Black sharpie permanent marker
- Spray bottle with water in it
- Cloth or paper towel
Preparation
Make sure you try this before you do it live.
Object Lesson
(Hold up the mirror and let the kids look into it.)
What do you see? (Wait for responses.) You can see yourself in it so this mirror is going to represent you. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that, “all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard.” How many of you have ever done anything wrong? The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned, so let’s say you cheated at school.
(Put a mark on the glass or even write the name of the sin in small letters with the black permanent marker).
This permanent marker is going to represent the sins in our lives. Then later on you tell your parents a lie. (Put another mark on the glass).
Perhaps your parents ask you to take out the garbage, but you are very disrespectful and you disobey. (Put another mark on the glass.)
Maybe you start picking on your sister, and calling her names and hurt her feelings. (Put another mark on the glass).
Now this glass doesn’t look very clean anymore. Maybe you feel really bad about the things that you have done, so you try to do something nice to make up for it, maybe you offer to set the table. (Spray some water on the screen and try to rub the marker off).
You still feel bad though, because there is nothing that we can do to take away the sins in our lives. (Add a few more marks).
They keep adding up the more wrong things that we do. There is a way to remove the sin in our life though. It is by receiving the free gift of forgiveness that Jesus offers to all of us. Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood so that we can be forgiven. It says in Hebrews 9:22 that without the shedding of blood there can’t be forgiveness of sin. (Start drawing with the red dry erase marker all over the black ink, make sure to cover it all completely or you the permanent marker won’t come off.)
What was once impossible for us to do, Jesus can do with His blood. (Take the rag and wipe off all the ink.)
If you feel like your life is filled with all kinds of bad things like this mirror was, you need Jesus to clean you with His blood. You need to receive His free gift of eternal life, because only Jesus can remove the sin in our life.
Green with Envy
Key Verse
Proverbs 14:30
Additional Verses
James 4:2-3; James 3:14; 1 Corinthians 3:3; Proverbs 27:4; Psalm 37:1
Materials Needed
- Weeds
- Weed killer
Object Lesson
Has anybody ever seen a beautiful flower garden before? Perhaps your parents have one? Did you know that even the most beautiful flower garden in the world has a very big problem.
(Hold up the weeds.)
Weeds always try to grow in flower gardens, and weeds grow faster and healthier than most flowers do. But does anyone want to look at a bunch of weeds? No! They want to look at flowers!
God wants our lives to be very beautiful just like a flower garden, but our hearts get weeds too, weeds of envy. Sometimes people try to get the weeds out of their gardens by grabbing them and pulling them out, but usually you pull off the stem but don’t actually pull out the root, people use gardens for decoration and to grow healthy food and supplements from healthyusa.co, since many like to eat healthy to keep their health, even when they suffer from different diseases that people sometimes get, and that’s why is important to try to detect diseases as oral cancer in early state so it can be preventable because some think this is a rare cancer, still mouth cancers will be newly diagnosed in about 132 new individuals each day in the US alone, and a person dies from oral cancer every hour of every day so is better to be informed about this, and then people coulds use services as the Inspire online support groups are made to support people and connect patients with the right professionals to get help, but not only with cancer but many diseases and health conditions like alzheimer which affects your mental health and provides many difficult and painful times for the family. For any of these diseases its needed a caregiver that can provide help around the clock, but its so hard it depends on their personality and how they can handle it without burning out, check here for additional help https://homecareassistance.com/blog/companies-care-caregiver-burnout.
Do you know what will happen if you don’t pull out the root? The weeds ,will grow back, and that is exactly what envy will do if you do not take out the root.
There is a very simple way to get rid of weeds in a flower garden. (Show the weed killer.) This is weed killer, all you have to do is spray some of this on, and it will kill all the weeds and it won’t hurt the flowers. When we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins and we really turn away from our sins and if we are reading God’s Word it is like spraying weed killer on the weed, envy, in our heart.
Let Your Light Shine
Key Verse
Matthew 5:14-16
Additional Verses
Luke 8:16; Mark 4:21; Luke 11:33
Materials Needed
- Tea light candle or small jar candle
- Large basket or a bowl
- Matches or lighter
Object Lesson
Do you guys like it when the power goes out? It can be a lot of fun, right? What is the first thing you do when the power goes out? (Allow for answers: get candles, flashlights, generator, etc).
Yeah, when I was a kid, my mother always took out a few candles and lit them and my dad would start the generator so that we could keep the refrigerator going (Insert your own power outage story here).
Now, after you’ve stumbled around to light a candle or to find a flashlight in the pitch black of a power outage do you ever put a basket over it? (Take the basket and cover up the candle) No! Of course not. That would be just plain silly. Everyone in your house would be in the dark again. They might trip and fall and someone might even get hurt!
Well, just like a candle can light your way in the dark, Jesus says that Christians are the light of the world. He says in Matthew 5:14-16, “don’t hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all.” (Now uncover the candle.)
Jesus doesn’t want us to keep our Christianity a secret. He wants us to tell others about Him! And do you know what the best way is to tell others about Him? It’s to do good to others. What are some ways we can do good? (Allow for answers: love others, help people, smile, be kind, etc).
You are like this bright candle when you are not afraid to let your good deeds shine out so that all can see that you know Jesus. If you live with your light shining, you will be able to help lead people out of darkness and sin and help them to become the light of the world too.
Get Taller by Worrying
Key Verse
Luke 12:25
Additional Verses
Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:7; Matthew 6:25-34; John 14:27
Materials Needed
- Tape measure
Object Lesson
Have you ever measured yourself to see how tall you were? How tall are you? (Wait for a few responses.) I need a volunteer to come up here so that I can measure them.
(Bring up a volunteer and measure them and then tell them how tall they are.)
Do you know what worry is? It is when we are really concerned about something until we cannot think about anything else and we are afraid that something bad will happen. I want you to worry really hard about not being tall enough. I think that will make you grow even taller and we will show everyone how well worry works.
To help you worry I will beat you with wet noodles if you don’t grow taller! If you can’t grow taller I will smear ice cream all over your face! I’m going to make you eat pickles and ice cream if you can’t make yourself grow taller!
How is it going? Do you feel like you are any taller than before? (Wait for response.) Let’s check.
(Measure them again.)
Oh no! It didn’t work! You did a great job at worrying but you weren’t able to make yourself grow any taller! This reminds me of what the Bible says in Luke 12:25.
And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
Jesus was trying to get us to stop worrying. Did you know that when we worry it is because we really aren’t having faith in God and trusting him. Philippians 4:6 tells us to not worry about anything but to pray about everything instead. This is what we do when we are trusting God.
Worry doesn’t change anything, you can’t even grow taller by worrying. Prayer does change things, so let us put our faith in God!
Five Finger Prayer
Key Verse
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Additional Verses
John 15:7; Philippians 4:6; Mark 11:24; Luke 11:9; Matthew 6:6
Materials Needed
- Your hand
Object Lesson
Have you ever started praying and then maybe you run out of things to say? Today I will teach you the 5 Finger Prayer which will help you to remember who to pray for. This way whenever you are going to pray you can just look at your hand and it will help you to remember things to pray for.
Thumb
Everyone hold up your hand. The first finger we will talk about is your thumb. Did you know that your thumb is the strongest finger! It may be short but it is very strong. This finger we will use to remind us of our strong relationships like our family and friends. So the first thing we will pray for is our close friends and our family.
Pointer Finger
The next finger is our pointer finger. What do we use this finger for? We use this finger to point things out to people. When we teach we will often use it to instruct people, so this finger will represent those people that lead and teach us. Maybe for your pastor, a school teacher, a music teacher, karate instructor and anyone who teaches and leads us. We should pray that they lead us and guide us in a way that pleases God.
Middle Finger
The next finger is the middle finger. This is the tallest finger that we have and so it will represent the government, police officers, firemen and anyone is public service. We can pray for safety and wisdom for the leaders of our land. We can pray that God will help them to make decisions that glorify God.
Ring Finger
The next finger on our hand is our ring finger. This happens to be our weakest finger. This finger will remind us to pray for people that are sick, weak, imprisoned or people that are having difficulties and struggles in their life. We can pray for healing and strength for these people.
Pinky
The pinky is the smallest finger that we have. This finger will represent yourself, because we are supposed to think of others as better than ourselves. You can pray for God’s direction in your life and that he will give you wisdom. You can also bring requests to him and ask for his blessings on his life.
Run the Race
Key Verse
Hebrews 12:1
Additional Verses
1 Corinthians 9:24; Romans 5:3-4; Isaiah 40:31; Matthew 24:13; James 1:12
Materials Needed
- Any kind of baggage. Bags, backpacks, anything, just make sure you are loaded down. I will list a few things in the object lesson that you could use or you can just adapt it to whatever you have.
- Sneakers. You can already have these on
Object Lesson
(Come out holding all your things and wearing your sneakers.)
Have any of you ever ran a race before? Did you win? I am getting ready to run a race today and I have everything I will need. I have a CD player because I have found out that if I listen to music I can run a lot faster. I also brought a cooler full of drinks and food just in case I get hungry or thirsty. You don’t want to run on an empty stomach!
I also have an umbrella if it starts to rain, that way I can stay dry. I am also going to bring a beach chair because I may need to take a break somewhere along the way. I have a first aid kit too because you never know when you will have to do emergency surgery on yourself!
I just know that I am going to win! How do you think I will do in this race? (Wait for responses.) You don’t think I will do very well? Why not? (Wait for responses.) You think I am carrying too much stuff? But I need all of these things don’t I?
This kind of reminds me of what the Bible says in Hebrews 12:1. It says that we should put off all the things that weigh us down and run the race that God has for us. I would probably run a lot faster if I laid all these things down!
We can run the path God has for us faster and better if we lay down the things that weight us down. Maybe we need to lay down a sin. Maybe we should lay down a bad habit. Maybe we will have to lay down a relationship that is not good. We need to lay down anything that is getting in the way of us moving closer to God.
Strength in Weakness
Key Verse
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Additional Verses
Philippians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Isaiah 41:10
Materials Needed
- Two fabric gloves
- Glue or paint
Preparation
The day before take one of the gloves and soak it in either paint or glue and let it dry so it will be nice and hard the next day.
Object Lesson
Do you want to be strong or weak? (Wait for a response.) The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.
(Hold up the hardened glove.)
Does this glove seem strong? (Show how it is stiff and can barely move.) This is a really strong glove. Do you think this glove would be very useful though? (Try to put your hand in the glove, but struggle.) Although this glove has a lot of strength on its own it isn’t very useful because I can barely move it. What kind of glove is better? A weaker glove.
(Bring out the other glove.)
This glove isn’t as strong as the other glove but it is flexible. (Put your hand in the glove.) I can do great things with this glove. Why? Because the glove is strong? No! Because the glove is weak and flexible and lets me do the work through it. The glove doesn’t actually do the work, but I do.
We should not be like this hard glove, but like this glove that is flexible and allows me to work through it. We should let God work through us. Sometimes we cover over our weaknesses because we think that makes us less useful. However, God says that when we are weak then He is able to work powerfully through us.
D5 Creation