God is more important than anything else
Suspendisse feugiat mi sed lectus aoreet nec interdum By Trenz Pruca
Year 2 Quarter 4 Lesson 3 1
n o s s e L w e i v r Ove
Power Point: God is more important than anything else Direction: You have to fight to keep your focus on Him Memory Verse: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” - Matthew 22:37-38 (NLT)
Idolatry is the opposite of Chris1anity. The culture of this world is centered on making idols and gods of your own -‐ celebri1es, money, and power. These idols steal our focus, and even our worship, away from God. Growing up with the added influence of peer-‐pressure makes it hard for our kids to keep their focus on God. They are not cool or worthy of respect if they don’t have the nicest clothes or latest computer games console. No wonder they struggle to make God the most important thing in their life. Through this lesson, they need to realize that they are in a war, and they must fight to keep their focus on God as He truly is more important than anything else. Bible Lesson: Martha is distracted (Luke 10:38-‐42) When Jesus came to visit Mary and Martha in their home, Martha was drawn away from spending 1me with Jesus because she was distracted by all the prepara1ons that had to be made. Instead of being like Martha, we must be like Mary; we must choose what is beJer and fight to keep our focus on God. Object Lesson 1: God is more important than focusing on people Using a podium we will show that God needs to be in first place in our lives; He has to be the most important thing. Unfortunately, if we do not fight to keep our focus on him, it is very easy to take God away from first place. We cannot allow people to influence us and become more important to us than God – people should not be in first place, only God. Object Lesson 2: God is more important than focusing on things There are so many things in this world that the kids put before God. Using flash paper we will show how none of these things last. Only God is eternal and everlas1ng and that is why He is more important than focusing on things. Object Lesson 3: God is more important than focusing on yourself Our biggest problem and toughest baJle is figh1ng to focus on God instead of being lead astray by our own selfish desires. We will use a mirror to show different instances where kids focus on themselves and put themselves before God. Teacher's Responsibility This lesson is as relevant to you as it is to the children you are teaching. Search your life and ask God to reveal any area where He is not in first place. If there is anything that you are making more important than God, you are commiPng idolatry. As we said earlier, idolatry is the opposite of Chris1anity. Before you teach this lesson, make sure you repent of any idolatry you may have commiJed and put God back in His righSul place on the throne of your life. God is more important than: Sub 1: Focusing on people Sub 2: Focusing on things Sub 3: Focusing on yourself
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Lesson Intro Props
Actors Music PreparaLon
3 army ouSits (pants, shirts, hats and helmets), camouflage nePng, 2x4 plank, 3 crates, big plas1c rock, whiteboard with paper on it, thick black marker, 2 rifles, black, green and brown face makeup, 2 green/black backpack, briefcase, stop watch Drill Sergeant, 2 soldiers Something intense Place the whiteboard towards the back of the stage on the right side, place plas1c rocks to the front on the right side of the stage, place 2x4 across two crates covered with the blankets and nePng to the lea side of the stage on an angle, place a crate down the middle aisle, place briefcase against the big plas1c rocks (visible to the audience)
PresentaLon: (Drill sergeant and soldiers enter the stage as if they’re talking together – both soldiers sit looking at the
Drill Sergeant as she stands by the whiteboard)
Drill Sergeant: Soldiers, as a part of your training, I have set up an obstacle course for you to go through. (Drill Sergeant begins to draw on the paper the obstacle course she wants them to do) Drill Sergeant: You need to cross the beam, run down the stairs, jump over the obstacles and run to the back. Then you must do the same thing on the way back. The most important thing, and your number one goal, is to retrieve the briefcase. (She points it) Nothing else is as important as that, am I making myself clear? Soldiers: Ma’am yes ma’am! Drill Sergeant: You must fight to stay focused on this task. Don’t let anything keep you from your goal. I am giving you 1 minute to complete this mission. (She picks up the stop watch) StarLng now! (Play the intense music. Soldiers begin with the obstacle course. Soldier 1 stops at the top of the stairs and takes out his comb and begins brushing his hair) Soldier 1: Wait a minute, wait a minute! I know this is really important and everything, but I forgot to do my hair this morning. Now, let me just focus on geZng my hair done (He brushes his hair a few Ames). Soldier 2: What are you doing? That’s not important right now! Come on, we have to go; we’re running out of Lme! (Soldiers carry on down the middle aisle – Soldier 1 stops again) Soldier 1: Wait a minute, wait a minute! Look at my boots! They’re all dirty and scuffed up. I need to clean them up right now before we go on. (Bends down and begins to clean his shoe). Soldier 2: That’s not important either! Listen, the Drill Sergeant said to keep focused. The most important thing is to get the briefcase and complete the mission. Stay focused! Teacher: Freeze! Right here this soldier here has lost focus of what the most important thing is. It’s not doing his hair or shinning his boots or anything like that. All of those things seem important to him right now, but they’re not the most important thing, are they? No, the Drill Sergeant said that the most important thing for them was to get the briefcase and complete the mission. That’s what he should have been focused on.
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Lesson Intro As a soldier in the Army of God you have to be focused on one very important thing too. The most important thing for you is to love God and to put Him first before anything else in your life. That’s what God commands and expects from the soldiers in His army. Look at what today’s memory verse says in MaJhew 22:37-‐38: “You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” God is more important than anything else. You might have a lot of things that are important to you, and that’s ok, but they should never be more important to you than God. For instance, I know girls who will miss coming to Sunday School because they think it’s more important to get their hair or nails done than it is to learn about God. I know boys who will stay at home and watch cartoons because they think it’s more important than learning God’s Word here at Sunday School. But that’s just wrong. As important as those things are to you, they should never be more important to you than God. But that’s where the fight comes in because it’s a fight to keep your focus on Him when all these other things seem so important to you. God is more important than anything else. He is more important than… 1. Focusing on people 2. Focusing on things 3. Focusing on yourself
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Bible Lesson Martha gets distracted Props Actors PreparaLon
Martha ouSit, Mary ouSit, Jesus robe, 2 disciple robes, table, several plates, several goblet-‐looking cups, duct tape, a few big pillows/cushions, apron, wooden spoon Martha, Mary, Jesus, 2 disciples Place the table on one side of the stage with the plates stacked on it as well as the cups (duct tape the cups to the table), on the opposite side of the stage place the pillows/cushions on the floor to give the appearance of a living room.
PresentaLon: Can you imagine hearing a knock at your door and when you go to answer it Jesus is standing there, wan1ng to come in? That would be amazing. I don’t know about you, but I would drop everything just to spend 1me with Him. In fact, a situa1on like that actually happened to a woman named Martha. One day Jesus and His disciples stopped by Martha’s house for a visit. (Jesus enters stage with 2 disciples and meets Martha and Mary) Jesus: Martha! Mary! It’s so good to see you again. Martha: Lord, it is good to see you, too! Please come in and make yourself comfortable. Teacher: (Everyone walks over and sits to one side of the stage – Jesus looks as if He’s talking to them) It wasn’t an everyday thing that Jesus would stop by their house for dinner, that was a special occasion. I can’t imagine anything more important than that. The Bible says that Mary sat at Jesus’ feet taking in every word that He said. But what about Martha? Where was she while everyone was spending 1me with Jesus? The Bible says that she was distracted by all the prepara1ons that had to be made. (Martha looks around concerned, gets up and crosses to the other side of the stage to the kitchen area) That literally means that she was drawn away from spending that 1me with Jesus because of all the things that needed to be done. The cooking and cleaning were more important to her than taking that 1me out to spend with Jesus. How can that be? Maybe you’re thinking those things aren’t that important and they really aren’t more important than Jesus, but let me ask you -‐ how easy is it for you to get distracted and drawn away by things that aren’t really that important either? Things like your TV, football prac1ce, karate lessons -‐ they become more important to you than God. It’s more important for you to go to football prac1ce than to Sunday School, it’s more important for you to play video games than to spend 1me praying, it’s more important for you to play outside than it is to read your Bible. Now those things can be important to you, but they can’t be more important than God. Nothing is more important than God. As you can see, it’s very easy to get distracted by all kinds of things, just like Martha did. And it actually upset Martha that Mary wasn’t helping her with any of the work, so she went to Jesus and complained. (Martha looks stressed-‐out and worried – she walks over to Jesus with a pot and spoon in hand) Martha: Lord, don’t you care that my sister has lec me to do all this work by myself? Tell her to help me! Jesus: (Stands) Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things (points to kitchen), but only one thing is needed. (Jesus points to Mary) Mary has chosen what is beder, and it will not be taken away from her. Teacher: Jesus is saying the same thing to you – choose what is beJer. It is beJer to be in the house of God than out on the street hanging out with your friends. It is beJer to talk to God than on the phone with your friends. God is more important than anything else. Don’t be like Martha and get distracted, be like Mary – fight to keep your focus on Him.
Object Lesson 1 God is more important than focusing on people Props
1st, 2nd, and 3rd signs for crates, 3 crates, duct tape, large table, 2 thick poster signs (folded in half so they can stand on their own) – GOD, PEOPLE
PreparaLon
Put the table on the stage and create a podium on it using the crates and the signs.
PresentaLon: There are so many things in your life that seem important and they’re always fighLng for first place. You have your friends, your family, and school…but if I ask you what the most important thing to you is, you would probably say God. “God is definitely the most important thing in my life” (place “God” sign on top of 1st place). If I was able to take a look into your life and see who was really in first place, I would probably find that God isn’t in first place, but people are (place “People” sign over the “God” sign). A lot of you have put people in first place because you care more about what people say and think about you than God. A lot of you spend more 1me on instant messenger or on MySpace reading the messages that people have sent you than you do reading the Bible. You let them distract you. A lot of you won’t dare puPng songs that worship God on your iPod because you don’t want people to make fun of you. You let people take first place, but the Bible says that you are to love God first – so people have to be in second place (put “People” sign on the second place spot). I know that it can be hard – you want to spend 1me with your friends, but you know you should take some 1me to read your Bible. The Bible says when you come near to God, he will come near to you (James 4:8). He wants to be close to you, He wants to take care of you, but in order to do that He has to be in first place. So no maJer what you go through, no maJer how hard you have to fight -‐ keep your focus on God because God is more important than focusing on people.
Object Lesson 2 God is more important than focusing on things Props PreparaLon
3 pieces of flash paper, black marker, lighter Drawn on the flash paper – a television, a sneaker, a car
PresentaLon: There are so many people in this world who live to get as much money and as many things as they can. Some of you have seen people with really expensive cars (hold up flash paper with a car drawn on it). They spend so much 1me making sure their car looks perfect and they feel so important because they have lots of expensive things. But the Bible says that one day all those things will fade away, rot, get stolen, or wear out. (Burn flash paper) There is no point placing so much importance on these things because they won’t last. Only God is everlas1ng. He is the true and living God and nothing should ever be more important than Him. Some of you think that having a nice pair of sneakers is really important (hold up flash paper with a sneaker drawn on it), but God says don’t love the world or the things of this world because those things pass away; (burn flash paper) they disappear. Some of you like to watch a lot of television (hold up flash paper with a television drawn on it). There are so many people who spend way more 1me watching television than they do reading their Bible or praying to God. Television is something that can easily become more important than God if you focus on it too much. Just like the sneakers, television will eventually go away along with all of the things on it (burn flash paper). There is nothing wrong with having nice things, but they cannot become more important to you than God. When all the things of this world get lost or end up being destroyed, God is the only one who will s1ll be around – He is the only one that really maJers in the end. God is more important than anything else, so you need to fight to keep your focus on Him.
Object Lesson 3 God is more important than focusing on yourself Props
Large mirror, dry erase markers, white board eraser
PresentaLon: We’ve already talked about how God is more important than people and things, but there is someone else that we all focus on more than God. Every day it is a fight to keep our focus on God more than this person. That person is you (bring out mirror). When you’re with your friends and they start cursing and talking badly, a lot of you join in even though you love God and know that it is wrong. In that moment, you are focusing on yourself – you are making your reputa1on more important than God (write ‘reputaAon’ on mirror). Some of you really want to spend 1me with God but in the morning you don’t get up. You are too 1red. You know you should but you cannot be bothered. You focus on yourself instead of God (write ‘lazy’ on mirror). Some1mes people give you compliments about your great singing voice or your great basketball skills. Instead of focusing on God, you take all the glory for yourself. That is pride – it means you are focusing on yourself (write ‘pride’ on mirror). You make everything about you. Instead you should give credit to God for the gias that He gave you. If you are living for God, you cannot be like this. God is more important than focusing on yourself. The Bible says that where selfish ambi1on exists, there is disorder and every evil thing (James 3:16). If you are selfish, you focus on yourself, you make yourself the most important thing. But that will bring disorder and evil into your life. You need to take your focus off of yourself (erase the words on the mirror) and instead, you need to put your focus back on God (write GOD on the mirror). I know it is hard; it is a constant baJle that you have to fight – but God is more important than anything else and you have to fight to keep your focus on Him.
Life Lesson Sandro the seeing-eye dog Props Sound Effects
Brick Breaking glass, car skidding and crashing
Frame 1: On the outside Sandro looked like any normal dog, but he wasn’t. A normal dog would run around the park catching Frisbees, playing tug-‐o-‐war or chasing cats, but Sandro had a bigger responsibility. Frame 2: Sandro had always dreamt of being a seeing-‐eye dog and now he was training to become one. Every day at training they taught him how to protect his master, follow direc1ons, and not be distracted by other things. Above all they taught him that his master was more important than anything else. Frame 3: The day had finally come! Sandro was fully trained and adopted by a blind man named Mr. Jones. It was their first day together and Mr. Jones took him for his very first walk out on the streets as a guide dog. Sandro saw many other dogs playing and running around, but there was one group of dogs that really caught his aJen1on. This gang of dogs was known as the coolest and most respected gang in the city, their name was The Top Dogz. Frame 4: The leader of this cool gang was called Pub the Pit-‐bull. Pub struJed over to Sandro -‐ the new dog in town. “Whatup Dawg?” he said. Remembering all his training, Sandro ignored this distrac1on and kept walking. Pub called aaer him, “Yo, you think you too cool to roll with us?!” When Sandro heard this he mumbled back, “No, I just need to stay focused on my master!” “Ha! That sounds like fun...not!” Pub mocked, “You’re life must be so boring! Listen we like to do some crazy stuff; if you ever wanna have some fun, we will show you how it’s done!” It was hard to ignore what Pub was saying but Sandro shrugged off the comments and kept walking, fighLng to keep his focus on his master as he knew he should. Frame 5: Later that night Sandro and his master were fast asleep when all of a sudden Sandro heard a tapping at the window. He shot up to see Pub staring right at him. Sandro opened the window, “What are you doing here?! My master will hear you!” “Well, me and a few of the Dogz are going to go rob a meat joint. I thought you’d enjoy some steaks like the rest of us -‐ like real dog. Are you in or out?!” Pub replied. Sandro looked back to see if his master was s1ll asleep. Right there he had a choice – he knew that watching his master was more important than going with Pub, but instead he decided to sneak out of the house and go with the Top Dogz. Frame 6: They ran for a few blocks un1l they got to the meat joint, one of the dogs grabbed a brick from the sidewalk, liaed it up high and threw it through the window... SMASH! (Play sound of breaking glass) Sandro saw the biggest, juiciest pieces of steak he had ever seen in his whole life, how could he have missed out on all of these things? They started to grab as much meat as possible. In the middle of it all Pub looked over at Sandro and smirked, “ This is the life Sandro! This is the best stuff in the world!” Preaching point: God is more important than focusing on things. That’s exactly the problem. People live for things. If you’re living for shoes, clothes, and money, and you make those things more important to you than anything else – then you’re wrong. The most important thing in your whole life needs to be God. All those things will break, they’ll fade away, somebody might steal them -‐ they’re not going to be there. But God is there from the beginning to the end. He loves you. You can’t put things in the place of God. But that’s what Sandro was doing. Frame 7: The next day it was like nothing had ever happened; it was back to the same rou1ne for Sandro -‐ back to focusing on his master again. Mr. Jones took Sandro out for a walk to pick up the usual fresh bread and milk from the supermarket. They lea the supermarket and Sandro sat down at the crosswalk to wait for the light. All of a sudden he heard a familiar voice across the street. He looked up to see the Top Dogz gathered ahead, wai1ng behind a big meat truck.
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Life Lesson Sandro the seeing-eye dog Frame 8: Pub looked back and saw Sandro, “Yo man! Come raid this meat truck with us, once they open the door we are charging in!” Sandro looked up at his master and back to Pub, he was fighLng with what to put his focus on. “Come on,” Pub said, “I can see it in your eyes – you love the steak! You want the steak!” Pub was right. Sandro really wanted it. Preaching point: God is more important than anything else; fight to put your focus on Him. Right there Sandro was in the middle of a fight – what was he going to focus on? You will go through that fight all the 1me. Will you put your focus on things or will you put your focus on God? God is the more important than anything else so you need to fight to put your focus on Him. Frame 9: Sandro took one last look at his master and then back at the meat truck. He remembered the wonderful, juicy steak he had had last night. He had made a decision. With all his might he broke free of the leash and ran for the truck as fast as he could. He was so focused on gePng to the meat truck that he didn’t look both ways before crossing the street. Just before he was about to get to the other side of the street... (play car screeching and crashing) BANG! Sandro lay flat in the middle of the road. They rushed him to the nearest dog hospital. Frame 10: Sandro survived the crash, but he very nearly died. He woke up in the hospital started to panic. Everything around him was black. The impact of the crash was so severe that he had lost his sight in both eyes. It was a tragic day for Sandro as he realized that he could no longer be a seeing-‐eye dog like he’d always dreamed about. Sandro was now blind himself. Point of Decision If Sandro had kept his focus on the most important thing then that would have never happened. You have a chance today to put your focus back on what’s important. Maybe some of you know that there are things in your life that have become more important to you than God. Right now I want you to think of one thing that you know is more important than God. Maybe it’s the TV that you spend hours watching, maybe it’s a sport that you spend all of your 1me playing, maybe it’s a family member who you have made more important than God. On the count of three, I want you to name that thing – whatever it is for you. One, two, three. Closing Prayer Dear God, I’m sorry for puPng things in Your place. I’m sorry that things have been more important to me than You. Today that stops. I choose to fight to keep my focus on You every day. Help me, because it’s not easy, but I want to live for You. I want to love You with all of my heart. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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