Materials
You’ll need a Bible and enough canned goods for each person to have two cans. You can also use barbells, bricks, stones or other heavy objects. 1 liter water bottles willed with water are also effective.

Activity
Give every person two cans, and have them hold the cans with their arms straight out from their bodies. Challenge the youth to hold their arms this way for one minute. At the end of a minute, note how many students still have their arms out.

Debrief
· Was that easier or more difficult than you thought it would be? Why?
· What would make the task easier-aside from setting the cans down?
· In what ways does God give us strength?
· How does this apply to us when issues or circumstances weigh us down or overwhelm us?

Continue
Have students form pairs, and have one partner hold his or her arms out again, holding the cans This time, ask the other partner to help by holding up his or her partner’s arms under the biceps. How much longer can they last now?

Application
We may not have the strength to do things on our own, but with God’s strength we can do anything. Sometimes God’s way of giving strength to us is through members of the body of Christ supporting and giving help to each other.

Variation
Use a stopwatch and hold a competition to see which class representatives can hold an object out to the side the longest.

This test of strength reminds us that our strength is limited, but God and other Christians can give us the strength to do the things we cannot do ourselves.

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
Make a list of actions. These actions will include:
1. Things that will bring us or others closer to God / each other.
2. Things that will create barriers or move us away from God or away from others.

Examples

• Move one step closer if you’ve ever prayed for a friend.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever prayed for a parent.
• Move one step back if you’ve ever broken one of the Ten Commandments.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever told someone about God’s love.
• Move one step back if you’ve ever made fun of a classmate at school.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever fed or helped a stranger.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever believed in someone when nobody else would.
• Move one step back if you’ve ever pretended not to see someone in need.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever been honest when it would have been easier to tell a lie.

Activity
Stand in the center of a circle of participants, with the youth all positioned an equal distance from you. As you call out the items on the list, if a child/youth has ever done that he must either take one step forward or one step backward depending on if it was a good thing or a bad thing. The objective is to be the first person to reach you. Ask kids to be honest.

Variation
Have some volunteers stand as obstacles… Their objective is to stand in the way of participants trying to move forward. Anything that is an obstacle between us and God needs to be removed.

Discussion
Have kids form pairs and discuss the following questions:

• How did you feel as you moved closer to the center of the circle?
• What did you notice about the group as the activity went on?

Have a volunteer pick up the Bible from the center of the circle and Read James 4:7-8a. Ask:

• How do your actions affect your relationship with God?
• What do you think it means to submit to God?

Application
Reconciliation is removing the distance between people and God similar to the way you moved in this game to get closer to the teacher. Some things we do like lying, hurting others move people away from God. Other actions like encouraging others and helping them do their chores make people closer. When we forgive, confess our sins, read our Bible, tell others about Jesus, etc we help them move closer to God. That’s what reconciliation is all about.

This game / creative teaching idea reminds youth and children that our actions serve to either draw us nearer to God or take us farther away from him.

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…

Materials
None

Activity
In this game for youth, children or adults, you will call out a number and one of the following body parts (knees, hands, eyes, or body) The participants must then get into clumps (groups) of the number you called with the touching his/her body part you named. For example: if I called 3 knees, then everyone must form groups of three persons all touching their knees. (For body you might have them stand in a specific pose or have them turn their body in a circle – repent means to turn around and go in the opposite direction) Because of odd numbers, some of the kids may be unable to form a group of three. The objective is to not be left out of a group. Repeat calling out a different number and different body part.

Variation 1
Once kids have gotten used to the activity make it a little more complicated by having them touch the body parts together in their group. (i.e. 5 – hands – must form groups of five with everyone touching everyone else’s hands.)

Variation 2
Once kids have mastered this, call out two body parts along with a number. (i.e. 3 hands-knees – the group must form groups of three touching boths hands TO knees) Knees to eyes is quite difficult – grins

Application
When a body part was called out, your entire body must move to accomplish the task. Scripture describes us as part of the body of Christ -the church and Christ is the head. Our goals is the goal of Christ – to bring reconciliation and peace with God to the world. 1 Corinthians 12

This game / creative teaching activity illustrates the connection between all believers with one another and with Christ.

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…

Objective
To help students learn to differentiate between the wisdom of the Bible and the wisdom of men.

Activity
Listed below are common sayings. Many are from the Bible. Others are not. There are several possible activities that can be done with these saying. One option is to split each saying in half and put each part on a separate card. Make several sets for more than one team. You could also split them in half and put the entire list (scrambled) on a piece of paper for youth to match.

Have a competition to see who can correctly match the different halves of the sayings together first. After they have matched all the sayings have them identify which ones are from scripture and which are from the saying of men. You might be surprised yourself that some of our common expressions come from the Bible.

A gentle answer / turns away wrath (prov 15:1)
Too close / for comfort (not in Bible)
Pride goes / before destruction (prov16:18)
Too big / for your britches (not in Bible)
A good name / is more desirable than great riches (pr. 22:1)
Sticks and stones / may break my bones, but words will never hurt me (not in Bible)
As iron sharpens iron / so one man sharpens another (prov 27:17)
If you play with fire / you will get burnt (not in Bible)
Saved by the skin / of your teeth (job 19:20)
Better safe / than sorry (not in Bible)
Do to others / as you would have them do to you (Mt 7:12)
Innocent / until proven guilty (not in Bible)
It is not good / that man should be alone (Gen 2:18)
A land flowing / with milk and honey (ex 3:8)
Man does not live / by bread alone (Deut. 8:3)
A still small / voice (I Kings19:12)
Two heads / are better than one (ecclesastes 4:9)
You are / what you eat (not in Bible)
As he think in his heart, / so is he (Prov 23:7)
Whoever digs a hole / will fall into it (Eccl 10:8)
They have sown the wind and / will reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7)
Where your treasure is, / there you heart will be also (Mt 6:21)
No man can serve / two masters (Mat 6:24)
A wolf / in sheep’s clothing (mat 7:15)
A pearl / of great price (13:46)
The blind / leading the Blind (Matt 15:14)
You can lead a horse to water / but you can’t make him drink. (not in Bible)
A rolling stone / gathers no moss (not in Bible)
Oil and water / don’t mix (not in Bible)
A stitch in time / saves nine. (not in Bible)
A watched pot / never boils (not in Bible)
If at first you don’t succeed, / try, try, again. (not in Bible)
The squeeky wheel / gets the oil.(not in Bible)
Seek / and you will find (Mt 7:7)
He who hesitates / is lost. (not in Bible)
Beauty / is only skin deep (not in Bible)
A city set on a hill / cannot be hidden. (Mt 5:14)
Necessity /is the mother of invention. (not in Bible)
A friend in need / is a friend in deed. (not in Bible)
A bird in hand / is worth two in the bush. (not in Bible)
Silence / is golden. (not in Bible)
Children / should be seen and not heard. (not in Bible)
Don’t cast your pearls / before swine. (Mt 7:6)
What is good for the goose / is good for the gander. (not in Bible)
You can’t judge a book / by its cover. (not in Bible)
Don’t count your chicens / before they hatch. (not in Bible)
Cleanliness / is next to godliness. (not in Bible)
Where there’s smoke / there’s fire. (not in Bible)
Don’t cry over / spilt milk. (not in Bible)
People who live in glass houses / shouldn’t throw stones. (not in Bible)
The early bird / gets the worm. (not in Bible)
An apple a day / keeps the doctor away. (not in Bible)
All’s fair / in love and war. (not in Bible)
Look / before you leap. (not in Bible)
All work and no play / makes Jack a dull boy. (not in Bible)

Application
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon collected the sayings of the world and then compared them with the Word of God. It is important in our life to be able to distinguish what is from the world and what is from God. The Word of God is our guide for living our life.

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…

Materials
A compass

Activity
1. As a small game stand in the center of the room as the target. Students must arrange themselves in lines next to you to form a cross “+”.
2. Designate each direction of the cross as according to the directions of the compass (North, South, East, West).
3. Using the compass, let youth rotate themselves so that the correct line is facing north. Ask them to freeze and take note of their orientation in the room.
4. As the target you must now move to another place in the room.
5. On your signal participants are to reform the compass at the new location, aligning themselves in the correct directions.
6. First line of the cross to get in the correct position wins, making sure they are all facing their respective directions of the compass.
7. To make it more difficult, stand in a doorway, next to a wall, squat under a table, etc.

Debrief
After the game, ask youth/ children to point to north at a given signal. Check their alignment with the compass. Then try to confuse the youth / children by turning round, going to a corner or standing on a chair and asking where north is from those positions.
1. Whatever position we are in, a compass will direct us accurately to north.
2. What are some things that people use to find direction in life?
3. How accurate are these guides?
4. What directions are you aligning your life to?
5. How does a sense of direction help us in the twists and turns of life?

Application
The Holy Spirit is our inner ‘guide’. (John 16:13-14) The Holy Spirit keeps us on the right path in life by always pointing us to Jesus.

Finding Direction in life helps us to navigate its twists and turns.

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…

Materials
Obtain a ball of string or yarn and a cross of image of Jesus.

Activity
Sit the group on the floor in a circle. Holding firmly to the string, toss it to a person in the circle. The person then, holding firmly onto the string, tosses the ball on to another person. The string should be held above the ground. Continue until everyone has received the string at least once. You will have a spiderweb of string representing how we are all connected to each other. Then attach the end of the string to a cross or to a picture of Jesus.

Application
Scripture tells us that like this string, Jesus connects us all together. He is the head of the body and we are all connected though him. Colossians 1:15-20

This activity illustrates the connection between all believers with one another and with Christ.

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…