Tag Archives: spiritual growth

Spoon Fed Christians

We often use the term “spoon fed” to refer to babies. It is also used for people who have been given so much by others that they never learn how to think for themselves or take care of themselves. Scripture uses a similar term to describe some Christians. Like a spoon fed baby, some Christians have never grown up in their faith.

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Games using Spoons

  • Cotton Ball Spooner – Each youth is blindfolded, given a metal spoon, and placed in front of a large bowl of cotton balls. They must also hold a bowl or cup on top of their head. In the time given they youth compete by using the spoon to scoop the cotton balls into the cups on their heads while everyone else watches. Many times, they will deliver empty spoons to their heads and many times they will miss the cup. When time is up, the youth with the most cotton balls in the cup wins.
  • Fastest Spoon – Get two volunteer victims from each team. Both youths will need to put on a big garbage bag with arm / head holes so they don’t get messy! The first youth sits on a chair. The second person is given a bowl of chocolate pudding with a spoon and stands behind them whilst blindfolded. The idea is that the person who is blindfolded has to feed the other person by following their verbal instructions. Alternatively you could get other members of the team to hold to bowl or give instructions. First team to finish wins.
  • Hang it on your beak – The first youth to hang a spoon on his or her nose for mmore than 30 seconds wins. Variation: how many spoons can they hang from their face? Variation: See who can get the spoon off the nose and into his or her mouth using only his or her tongue. BTW, there is a world record for the most spoons hanging on a person’s face. It is 31 and was achieved by Dalibor Jablanovic (Serbia), in Stubica, Serbia, on 28 September 2013. Can you break it?
  • Musical Spoons – While the music is playing, a spoon is passed from person to person. When the music stops, the person holding the spoon must eat something gross like babyfood and is eliminated from the game play.
  • Potato Fencing – Players hold a spoon with a potato on it in one hand. In the other hand the players hold an empty spoon. Then they try to knock the opponents potato off the spoon without losing their own potato.
  • Pudding Slurp – A new pair of stockings per contestant, a small bowl of pudding, some newspaper to play on and some damp towels for cleaning up. Contestants pull the stocking over their face and must race to eat all their pudding through the stocking.
  • Spoon clumps – Clang two metal spoons together. If they clang 5 times then the youth must clump together in groups of 5 persons. If anyone is not in a group of five they are eliminated from play. Continue with different numbers of clangs until there is one small group of winners.
  • Spoon Delivery – Choose a collection of objects of increasing size to be passed from the front of the line to the back of the line for each team. To avoid chipping teeth it might be best to use plastic or wooden spoons. First team to pass all the objects to the end of the line wins. Here are some ideas for objects: Cotton Balls, Ping Pong Balls, an egg (raw or hard boiled), marbles, lemon, apple, inflated balloon, ice cube.
  • Spoon Feeding – Divide into pairs. For each pair, tape a spoon to the end of a broomstick and place a bowl of food on the table. One person stands on one side of the table and attempts to feed his or her partner the food using the spoon. The pair that eats the most food in a minute wins. Chocolate pudding works great for this.
  • Spoon frog – Teams must launch teaspoons into plastic cups, using another spoon as a catapult. When the timer starts, the person must place a spoon in front of the cup with the spoon end facing him/her. Place the second spoon, facing the same way, so that the rounded end of the spoon is resting on the end of the first spoon. Then give the rounded end of the first spoon a good whack to send the second spoom flying. Keep sending spoons into the air and try to get one to land in a the cups. First to get one in, or the person who gets the most in the cup in one minute wins.
  • Spoon fulls – Using spoons in the mouth for each team member, each individual team member will scoop up dried beans or popcorn kernels from a bowl and then drop them into a 1 liter soda bottle. At the end of one minute, the team with the highest filled bottle wins.
  • Spoon Launch – One team member uses a spoon to launch food to the other. The youth that catches the most launched peanuts, M&Ms, or kernels of popcorn in their mouth wins.
  • Spoon Tunes – Place ten tall drinking glasses that are filled with different amounts of water in order so that, when you tap them in a row with a spoon, they play a simple but familiar tune like Mary Had a Little Lamb. There should be one set for each team. Set them up and then scramble them so they have to figure out the order. Get the song right in under a minute to win the game.
  • Spoons – Depending on the number of players, you need at least one deck of cards, and one spoon less than the number of players. Players sit in a circle with the spoons in the middle of the circle with their ends touching. To begin, each player is dealt 4 cards. The first player picks up a card from the top of the pile, and can choose to keep it, or pass it to the person on his or her left. Players can only hold a maximum of four cards. When someone gets four of a kind, he grabs a spoon. Once one person grabs a spoon, everyone else also grabs one until all the spoons are gone and 1 person is left without a spoon. Play resumes with one less player and one less spoon. Play continues until there is only one player left, the winner.
  • Thread the Spoon – Cut some yarn into long segments, allowing about 4 feet of yarn per team member. If in doubt, always make your yarn longer than necessary. Tie one end of one piece of yarn to the end of one metal spoon to create a needle and thread for each team. Put the spoons (with the yarn attached) in the FREEZER to chill for at least an hour. If you want to make it even more fun, feed the string through an ice-cube tray so that when the ice is removed it forms cubes spaced along the string. In teams, the first youth must put the spoon down their shirt, through pants legs (or skirts) and out by their feet and repeat it down the line until everyone on the team is connected. First to finish wins.
  • Wooden Spoons – Blindfolded, a youth must guess someone’s identity by feeling them with wooden spoons. Each person in the youth group in turn is guessed. Of course, any outburst of laughter when the spoons are going over a face would disclose the identity, so participants must keep perfect silence. When anyone’s identity is guessed, he/she has to be blindfolded and must take the spoons. Be careful when using the spoons to touch another person with them quite lightly, so as not to hurt anyone.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Some of these games required us to feed others with a spoon. We often use the term spoon fed to refer to babies. It is also used for people who have been given so much by others that they never learn how to think for themselves or take care of themselves. Scripture uses a similar term to describe some Christians. Like a spoon fed baby, they have never grown up in their faith. What is normal for a baby is NOT normal behaviour for an adult.

  • What are some things that babies do, that adults normally do not do?
  • What are some immature, childlike habits and actions that might be ok for children, but are not acceptable for adults?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

Read Hebrews 5:12-14 and 1 Corinthians 3:1-3.

  • What were some of the characteristics of the Christians referred to in the scriptures?
  • What are some of the signs of Christian immaturity?
  • What is it that spiritual babies need to know and do in order to mature?
  • What are some characteristics of spiritual maturity? What attitudes and actions would you expect to find in a mature Christian?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • How would you describe your current level of spiritual maturity? Why?
  • In what ways have you grown as a Christian?
  • What do you need to do to continue to grow and mature as a Christian?

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE VERSES

  • 1 Peter 2:2-3 “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
  • 2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
  • Ephesians 4:11-15 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
  • 2 Thessalonians 1:3 “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters,[a] and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.”
  • Philippians 3:12-14 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

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The Exchanged Life in Christ

There is a great exchange that takes place when we put our faith in Christ. Our old way of living, thinking, speaking, and acting is replaced – not all at once, but over time. When God looks at us, he sees us through the blood of Christ so our position before God changes immediately, but our thinking and our habits, change over time. As we grow more and more in purity and become more Christlike, we make room for the fruits of the spirits in our lives to develop and provode more opportunities for God to work through us to minister to others.

An Object Lesson

What you need

  • a clear glass pitcher filled with distilled water
  • a fish bowl that holds the same amount of water as the pitcher
  • a pile of smooth, egg-sized stones.
  • a permanent marker
  • a pair of ice tongs
  • 9 goldfish

What to do

1. Ask the youth to name some of the things we know hinder our spiritual growth and write their answers on each of the stones, with a permanent marker.

Some possible answers might be: addictions, anger, arrogance, backbiting, being unmerciful, bitterness, boasting, cheating, complaining, complacency, a critical spirit, cruel words, deceit, depression, discontent, dishonesty, disobedience, divisiveness, doubt, drunkenness, envy, fear, foolish talk, fornication, gluttony, gossip, greed, harmful habits, hatred, impatience, ingratitude, jealousy, laziness, lies, materialism, pornography, pride, profanity, quarreling, self-righteousness, selfish ambition, sexual lust, strife, theft, unholy thoughts, worry

2. Now place the stones in the fishbowl, filling it to the top. Pour as much of the water as you can into the fish bowl. It probably doesn’t take much. The old habits, the old thoughts, the old way we speak, limit God’s ability to use your life to share the living water with others.

3. One by one remove each of the stones with the ice tongs. After removing each stone, pour in a little more water. By the time every stone has been removed, much of the water can fit in the container.

4. Take out the nine goldfish and name them. The first one is “Love.” Put it in the fishbowl. The next one is “Joy.” The third one is “Peace.” See them swim happily in their new home? You know the rest of the names…Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.

5. Conclude: As you remove the dead stones, the blockages, you make room for God to bring the fruits of the spirit into your life. Where once you were filled with dead stones, you are now filled with life.

Take it to the Next Level

Make it spiritual

“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 6:19-23

Make it Practical

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24

Our old way of living, thinking, speaking, and acting is replaced which each decision that we make.  It is a process of becoming more and more like God / Christ.  What are some of the characteristics, actions, thoughts, attitudes, and speech that are Christlike?

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” – Colossians 3:1-4

When God looks at us, he sees us through the blood of Christ so our position before God changes immediately, but our thinking and our habits, change over time.

Make it Personal

  • What are some actions, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, and things you say that need to be exchanged for something more Christlike?
  • What can you work on this week?

 

 

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

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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Like the Baobab Tree

baobab-treeWe don’t always get what we want in life. We sometimes wish we were taller, smarter, more beautiful, healthier, richer, or thinner. Things might not go the way we planned – we could be cut down in our jobs, blown over by situations, our lives turned upside-down.

Like the Baobab tree…

One of the most amazing and stunning trees that grow on earth is the Baobab tree. Native to mainland Africa, the island of Madagascar, and Australia, these striking trees can have a trunk diameter of between 7 and 11 meters and grow 5 to 30 meters in height. Some people call the Baobab the ‘upside-down tree’ as the branches of some Baobabs resemble roots.

Legends describe the Baobab as among the first trees to appear on the land. When it saw the height of the palm tree, it cried out to the gods to be taller; when it saw the red flowers of the flame tree, it was envious for flower blossoms; when it saw the fig tree with its delicious fruit, it too prayed for fruit as well. The gods became angry with the tree, pulled it up by its roots, then replanted it upside down to keep it quiet.

The Baobab looks like this for a reason. In the wet months water is stored in its thick, fire-resistant trunk – up to 120,000 litres – for the nine dry months ahead. Some trees are believed to be thousands of years old.

Besides being traditionally tapped for its water; every other part is used. The bark is used for cloth, rope, dye, used to treat fever and protect against malaria. The leaves are used in soup and medicines. The fruit is nutritious to eat and high in vitamin C and calcium and eaten to protect against illness. Sometimes people even live inside of the huge trunks.

Many references mention the exceptional resilience of this tree, noting that even after the entire tree is cut down or blown over in storms, it simply resprouts from the root and continues to grow.

Take It to the Next Level

James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

We often wonder why we have to face trials. If God was really good, why not spare us the pain and agony of having to go through difficult and sometimes traumatic experiences? We are often misguided to think that the victorious Christian life will be hassle-free and once we accept Christ as our Lord and live according to his ways, nothing bad will happen to us.

What we don’t realize is that abundant life God promises comes through maturity. If we never grow to full maturity, how can we expect to enjoy God’s plan and purposes for us? And how do we become mature? Through trials.

It is in trials that we develop our trust and faith in God. The strength to persevere. It is because God is good that he, like a loving parent, nurtures us. We learn to walk by stumbling, falling over, getting up and trying again. If God came by to pick us up every time we fell, we’d never learn to walk!

So the next time you face a harsh environment, a bully, get ridiculed for what you believe in, if your family isn’t perfect (and whose is anyway), if When nothing seems to go our way, look up to the Baobab tree.

The life experiences we gain from struggling in the harsh environments we grow up in prepares us for spiritual maturity when the time is ripe. Not just for ourselves, but for the friends and loved ones that surround us.

While it’s not the prettiest on the outside, it’s magnificence comes from what it has on the inside. It is a life-giving tree, supporting people with the water it has stored, a source of nourishment and healing.

If your life is “upside-down,” it’s time to make it “tree-mendous”!

What Faith Can Do – Kutlass

Verse 1:
Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think its more than you can take
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

Chorus:
I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Verse 2:
It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

Bridge:
Overcome the odds
You don’t have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

Growing in Godliness – 2 Peter 1:1-11

matryoshka dollDescription

This Object Lesson for youth, uses a nested Russian doll to illustrate our growth as Christians.

Materials

A Matryoshka doll (ideally with at least 8 nested dolls)
A Russian Matryoshka doll is a set of hollow wooden dolls which split open into a top and bottom half to reveal additional dolls of decreasing size each placed one inside the other. The outer doll is traditionally a woman, as reflected in the name which means “little matron”. The inner dolls can be male or female. The innermost doll, made from a single piece of wood is typically a baby. While they are smooth rounded wooden carvings, the painting of each doll can be very intricate and often follows a theme.

Scriptural Background

  • Approximate Date: 63-68 A.D. – shortly after 1 Peter. Nero’s persecution began in 64 A.D., and Peter was martyred approximately 67 A.D.
  • Place of Writing: Babylon
  • Three-Fold Purpose: 1) Encourage growth, 2) To correct against false teaching, 3) Promote holy living.
  • Theme and Key Word: Knowledge.
  • Key verse: 3:18 – “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Chapter 1 has been labeled “The Bible’s Arithmetic Chapter”

  • Multiplication – “Grace and peace be multiplied to you … ” (1:2)
  • Addition – “Add to your faith … ” (1:5-7)
  • Subtraction – He has been cleansed from his past sins … ” (1:9)

Outline:

  • 2 Peter 1:2-3 God’s Provision – Describes God’s provision and the believer’s enablement
  • 2 Peter 1:5-7 Our Responsibility – Describes our human responsibility of seeing to it that the various Christian virtues are included in our lives.

“The divine nature works at its best efficiency when the believer cooperates with it in not only determining to live a life pleasing to God, but definitely stepping out in faith and living that life.” ~Kenneth Samuel Wuest

Key Lessons

1:5-7 – Peter begins with “for this very reason (because you are a partaker of the divine nature) make every effort (pareisphero)” – that is, “add or contribute on your own part” the necessary actions to confirm your profession of faith by godly living. The verb rendered “add” (epichoregeo – “to supply in copious measure”) is not simply to add one virtue to another. Rather, the meaning is to develop one virtue in the exercise of another, with each new grace springing out of and perfecting, or tempering the other.

  • In the exercise of faith, believers are to generously provide goodness.
  • In the exercise of goodness, believers are to copiously provide knowledge.
  • In the exercise of knowledge, believers are to lavishly provide selfcontrol.
  • In the exercise of self-control, believers are to plentifully provide perseverance.
  • In the exercise of perseverance, believers are to abundantly provide godliness.
  • In the exercise of godliness, believers are to bountifully provide brotherly kindness (philadelphia).
  • In the exercise of brotherly kindness, believers are to generously provide agape love.

1:8-9. Peter’s promise is that those who possess these virtues and build on them will grow spiritually and will not be idle in pressing toward a fuller knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who do not are “spiritually nearsighted”, having forgotten his initial salvation experience.

1:10-11. Verse 10 is the key to this section. The believer will “make his calling and election sure”, that is, he will satisfy himself that he is saved, or confirm his salvation by his godly living. There is some debate of the security of the believer, which some say is objective and cannot be disturbed, and the subjective experience of knowing and feeling you are saved because you are “doing your part” in allowing the Holy Spirit to produce the kind of virtues characteristic of a Christian.

Icebreaker Questions to Stimulate Discussion

  • What did you want to be when you grew up?
  • What are your current dreams for the future? What kind of person do you want to be? How do you want your life to be remembered by others?
  • What are some of the qualities you admire in others? Other youth? Parents? Adults? Leaders? Famous people?
  • If you had a magic lamp with a genie and he could grant you three personal qualities, what would you wish for?

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:1-11

In 2 Peter 1 Chapter 1, Peter talks about our growth as Christians. This growth begins with faith and culminates in love. Like the innermost Matryoshka doll we begin as babes in Christ. We are spiritually born again through saving faith in Christ. But to live life forever as a baby would be a tragedy. Peter says that if we fail to grow, it is akin to being nearsighted and blind and forgetting that our sins have been forgiven.

This list of qualities are things that are added to our godly character as we grow in Christ. Each new quality does not replace the one before it, but adds to it. These are not things that we possess then give up, as a child outgrows old clothes. These qualities are not marks on a growth chart, but things that we hold inside our hearts and that we carry forward with us as we continue to mature in Christ.

Here’s the list:

  1. faith
  2. goodness
  3. knowledge
  4. self-control
  5. perseverance
  6. godliness
  7. brotherly kindness
  8. love

NOTE: As you mention each quality, add a new shell to the inner doll so that it continues to grow in size. “As we add each one, we become more effective and productive. ”

Take it to the Next Level

Questions for discussion

  • How do you define each quality/ characteristic?
  • How does each character quality relate to the one before it?
  • Why is each quality important to living a godly life as a youth?
  • For each of these qualities, what would the effect be if a Christian youth was missing that quality in his or her life?
  • What are some of the possible ways that each quality would be expressed in the way a youth lives his or her life? Are these qualities something we possess or something that we do?
  • For each quality, what are some things youth can do or practice the make that quality part of who they personally are?
  • As we grow in Christ, there is always a combined effort with God, to live the Christian life. We have to make decisions and choose to act, but God empowers us, guides us, and provides for us. What are the things that God does for us according to this passage?
    1. Gave us faith through Christ (2 Peter 1:1)
    2. Grace, Peace and Knowledge of God and Christ (2 Peter 1:2)
    3. Everything we need for life and godliness (through his divine power) (2 Peter 1:3)
    4. Called us (2 Peter 1:3)
    5. Knowledge of God (2 Peter 1:3)
    6. An example – God’s Glory and Goodness (2 Peter 1:3)
    7. Precious Promises (2 Peter 1:4)
  • What are some of the promises of God that might help youth to grow in each of these qualities?
  • How do the actions of God listed in this passage apply to each of these qualities that we grow into as Christians? How do they help us to live life as a youth to reflect these character traits?
  • Why has God given us all these things?
    1. To participate in the divine nature (becoming Christlike) (2 Peter 1:4)
    2. To Escape the corruption of the world caused by evil desires (2 Peter 1:4)
    3. To be effective and productive in our walk (2 Peter 1:8)
    4. To reinforce our faith (2 Peter 1:10) so that we are secure in faith – know that have been saved.
    5. So that we will not fail (2 Peter 1:10)
    6. To be richly welcomed into heaven (2 Peter 1:11)

Application to Youth

  1. What are some ways you can practice these as a youth?
  2. When you look at this list of qualities, which ones do you possess and practice most? Which are most lacking in your life? Which do you find most difficult?
  3. What are some ways you can express these qualities this week as you encounter others at school, at home, or in church?
  4. How do these qualities prevent us from being in effective and unproductive?
  5. How can those in the youth group support each other and encourage one another toward growth in these areas?
  6. What can the youth ministry and parents do to help you to grow?
  7. If you were to have all these godly qualities in increasing measure, how would it effect your life, your testimony, your actions?
  8. What are the benefits of pursuing godliness?

Closing Prayer
Go through each of the qualties in prayer with God. Ask him to reveal the truth about these qualities in your own life. Ask him to make clear opportunities to express your faith to through these qualities as a living testimony to Christ.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
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…