meditate
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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.
Recharge Your Batteries
Key Verse
Joshua 1:8
Additional Verses
Psalms 119:105; Matthew 4:4; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; Psalms 119:18
Materials Needed
- Cell phone with charger
- Bible
Object Lesson
(Hold up the cell phone.)
Have any of you ever used one of these before? What are cell phones used for? (Wait for responses.) I remember when cell phones were used only for making phone calls! Now they are used for so many more things! You can play games, listen to music, navigate, watch movies, and so much more. It is amazing how much you can do with a cell phone.
There is a problem that all cell phones have. Have you ever used a phone for a long period of time, maybe playing a game or listening to music, and then you glance up and see that the battery indicator shows the battery is almost dead?
What a horrible feeling that is! What do you do when that happens? Do you throw the phone into the garbage? Do you toss it on the ground and stomp all over it? Do you smash it with a huge hammer? No way! Of course not.
What you need is one of these!
(Hold up the phone charger.)
You have to plug the phone into the power and recharge it. The battery will start to charge up immediately and you will soon be at full power once again.
Did you know that your life is a lot like this cell phone. You may play games, watch movies and talk with your friends, but soon your spiritual battery begins to drain. You need to get recharged! You need to take time to read God’s Word on daily daily basis like it says to do in Joshua 1:8.
As you read God’s Word your faith and power will begin to increase and you will be able to do great things for the Kingdom of God. If you don’t take time to recharge your spirit will be weak and not able to do great things.
Just like you always remember to recharge the batteries in your cell phone make sure that you recharge your spiritual batteries each day also.
Incoming search terms:
- bible verses on recharge
- https://freebiblelessons net/object-lessons/recharge-your-batteries
Hearing God’s Voice
Key Verse
John 10:27
Additional Verses
John 8:47; Jeremiah 33:3; Romans 8:14; Luke 11:28; Hebrews 2:1; 1 Kings 19:12
Materials Needed
- Radio. Any kind of radio would work, but this works best with the older analog radio dials.
Object Lesson
Has God ever spoken to you before? A lot of people claim that God talks to them and tells them things, sometimes it is true and sometimes it might be something the just made up. God does speak to us though! He usually speaks to us through His Word, the Bible, and He speaks to us in a “still small voice.”
When God speaks to us usually the clouds don’t roll back and we hear this loud booming voice from the sky. It is a quiet voice that we hear inside of our soul, however it is not always easy to hear. We have to really tune in and listen to hear from God.
(Take out the radio.)
Have you ever used a radio before? Sometimes it is nice to listen to the radio because there are all kinds of music and shows on the radio, but what do you have to do to listen to it? You have to tune in!
(Turn the radio on and start to roll through the channels. You can make comments on it as you go. Once you have done this for a few moments, turn the radio off.)
As you see there are many different voices on the radio, some are good and some are not so good. You have to tune in to the good voices, the ones that you want to hear.
We all want to hear from God, but a lot of the times we are actually listening to the wrong voices. There is so much noise in our life, and so much static that it is really hard to hear what God is trying to say to us. What do we need to do? We need to tune our lives to God and be quiet so we can actually hear Him.
In John 10:27 it says that God’s sheep know His voice. That means we are tuned to hear it. Just like a sheep can know their shepherd’s voice we can learn God’s voice. If a stranger comes up and tries to lead the sheep somewhere bad do you think they will follow? No! Because they know their shepherd’s voice.
How do we tune in and start hearing God’s voice? We learn God’s voice by reading the Bible, memorizing and meditating on it. When God speaks to us it will usually be through His Word, and it will never go against what it says in the Bible. The more we learn about God’s Word the more we learn to hear His voice.
Incoming search terms:
- https://freebiblelessons net/object-lessons/hearing-gods-voice
- discerning the voice of god object lessons
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.
Incoming search terms:
- https://freebiblelessons net/object-lessons/bread-alone#:~:text=In Matthew 4:4 Jesus as often as they need )
- https://freebiblelessons net/object-lessons/bread-alone#:~:text=In Matthew 4:4 Jesus of bread on its own
- https://freebiblelessons net/object-lessons/bread-alone#:~:text=In Matthew 4:4 Jesus Are you ready?
D5 Creation