Super Christian

Narrator: In a small town near you lives a boy who is born again and has abilities far greater than those found in the average Christian.  He can memorize and quote hundreds of Bible verses and sing every song in the book without missing a note.  Who is this superhero?  What is his name? 

(enter Super Christian)

People (off stage):  It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Super Christian!

Narrator: (SC mimes actions while Narrator speaks).  Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen.  Every Sunday morning a transformation takes place.  Super Christian appears at the church, carrying his 40 pound Bible in the palm of one hand.  His super-smile shines and shows off his pearly-whites.  He greets everyone with a firm handshake.  He never misses a beat when the songs are sung.  And after every closing prayer he adds a loud “amen.” 

            But alas, what is this sudden transformation taking place?  It appears that Super Christian is headed for the nearest phone booth.  He’s…he’s…becoming a normal citizen?  He’s headed off to school; let’s see what will happen there.

Person: Hey!  It’s Super Christian!

Narrator: Super Christian, it seems that you’re being called. 

Person: Perfect!  I could really use some prayer right now.  You see…my family’s having a hard time and…

Super Christian: I think you have me mistaken for someone else.

Person: But you’re Super Christian.  I saw you at church. 

Super Christian: Really, I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Person: But…

Super Christian: I gotta go.  (Moves to other side of stage).

Person 2:  Hey!  Aren’t you the one who knows all the Bible verses? 

Super Christian:  What?

Person 2:  Yeah, I saw you quoting verses at church yesterday.  Great!  I could really use some encouragement right now.

Super Christian: Could you keep it down, please?  There are other people listening.  I really don’t have time to quote verses right now. 

Person 2: But I thought…

Super Christian: Sorry, gotta run.  (exits)

(Person 2 exits, shrugging shoulders).

Stuey Sticky Fingers (skit)

Props: duct tape, signs reading “bad reputation,” “guilt,” “sin,” “criminal record”

“You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15 (NIV)

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Ephesians 4:28 (NIV)

            Have a helper come out as Stuey Sticky Fingers, a character covered in inside-out duct tape.  (At least cover both hands past the wrist and place a couple of strips of tape around the chest/back).  As he enters the room, he passes by children and “steals” their things by picking them up with his “sticky” hands.  Interrupt him and ask him to introduce himself, which he proudly does.  When you confront him about stealing things, he insists he isn’t stealing anything; rather, things just “stick” to him.  Inform him that there are other “things” sticking to him as well.  He gets all excited, like he has more stuff.  Take out signs that say BAD REPUTATION, GUILT, SIN, CRIMINAL RECORD.  Place each one on Stuey and discuss how these things will stick to him as well.  He looks more upset with each one and begins to protest and whine/cry, asking you to remove them.  Tell him the only way to get rid of them is to return the items, ask the people for forgiveness and ask God for forgiveness (which he does).  End the skit by removing Stuey’s duct tape.

The Cross

Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23; John 19

 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to his own way;
       and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all.

For he bore the sin of many,
       and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:5, 6, 12b (NIV)

 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24 (NIV)

 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

 Throughout the lesson, a cross will be positioned in the front of the room.  For each lesson segment, small pieces of paper—labeled with specific sins, sicknesses and problems—will be nailed to the cross, representing Jesus taking those things upon himself for us. 

 Salvation

            Jesus was born without sin.  He lived His whole life and never sinned—not even once.  But like the verses we just read tell us, God’s plan was to put our sin on Him and have Him take the punishment that you and I deserve. 

            No one (except Jesus) has ever been completely honest 100% of the time.  That means all of us have lied.  (Hold up “dishonesty” paper and nail it to the cross).  But when Jesus died on the cross, He took the punishment for our dishonesty.  If we ask God, He will forgive us for being dishonest because Jesus already took the punishment. 

            How many of you have ever been disobedient?  (Allow for response).  Jesus always obeyed His parents and those in authority over Him.  But He took the punishment for your disobedience. (Nail the “disobedience” paper to the cross).  That is why you can be forgiven when you disobey.       

            Continue along the same lines with 3 or 4 more specific sins, such as jealousy, unforgiveness and pride. 

            When Jesus was crucified, the soldiers drove nails into His hands and feet, and blood flowed out.  They drove a spear into His side, and blood and water flowed out.  It is by Jesus’ blood—the life that He gave—that we receive forgiveness. 

            Jesus already paid the price for your forgiveness.  If you know that you have sin in your life and have not been forgiven, you only need to ask God.  He is ready and willing to forgive you. 

 Healing

Jesus paid a huge price for our salvation, for the forgiveness of our sins.  But before He was crucified, He took a beating on His back.  The soldiers took a whip with pieces of leather and chips of bone in it, and used it to beat Jesus’ back.  They beat His back with the whip 39 times.  Each time, pieces of flesh were torn off of Him. 

Isaiah 53:5 says, “…by his wounds we are healed.”  Jesus suffered in His body so that we wouldn’t have to. 

Everyone knows what it feels like to be sick.  (Hold up papers with the names of sicknesses and nail them to the cross as you speak).  Jesus took a beating on His body so that you wouldn’t have to suffer with colds, allergies, headaches, cancer, heart disease or pain of any kind.  I don’t understand everything about healing—some people are healed right away and others aren’t—but I do know that Jesus paid the price for our healing.

If you are sick in your body, ask God to heal you, because Jesus already paid the price. 

That’s part of His work on the cross. 

 Wholeness

            Jesus purchased our salvation on the cross, He paid for the healing of our bodies, but He also made it possible for us to be made whole. 

            Everyone goes through problems in life.  Sometimes you may feel like the problems you have break your heart. (Hold up papers that name various problems, such as hurt feelings, feeling stupid or broken family.  Nail them to the cross as you speak).   Maybe someone called you a bad name and it hurt your feelings.  Or it could be that you aren’t doing well in school and you feel stupid.  Some of you know what it’s like to have your family break up.  The Bible says that Jesus took “the punishment that brought us peace” (Isaiah 53:5).  That means that when He was beaten and bruised, when His body was broken, He paid the price for us to have peace in our heart.  Even when everything else and everyone else around you is a mess, you can have perfect peace.  If you feel like life is falling apart, it won’t matter, because Jesus will hold you together.  He paid the price on the cross. 

            If you need peace in your heart, come to God today.  He will fill your life with His peace—Jesus paid the price.

The Miracle of Restoration

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  Ephesians 2:1, 2

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:13, 14

Props: “the bridge” illustrations (boy separated from God, sin between boy and God) and a cross cut out to fit over the word “sin” and “bridge” the two cliffs

Today we’re talking about one of the most amazing miracles: Jesus’ resurrection.  He was dead and God raised Him by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He lived again, and still lives.  How amazing!

The Bible says that before we know God, we are dead in our sins.  But that doesn’t mean that we’re not breathing or don’t have a heartbeat.  So why would God call us dead when we have sin in our lives and don’t know Him?

If you think about it, death is more than a physical body that stops working.  Death is separation.  When someone dies, you and I who are still alive become separated from that person.  We can’t talk to him or see him like we used to.  When we are in sin, it’s like we are dead because we are separated from God.  His life-giving power is not at work in our lives. 

(Show 1^st picture–boy separated from God). 

   Everyone since Adam has been separated from God by sin.  The thing is, there’s no way we can ever get to God on our own.  People have tried for thousands of years to reach God with their own strength, their own good works or their own beliefs.  But it has never worked.  Sin created too great a separation to be crossed on our own. 

(Show 2^nd picture –sin between boy and God). 

 

That’s where the miracle happened.  Jesus came to the earth and was born without sin.  He lived a perfect life and never sinned or did anything wrong.  When He died, He took the punishment for our sins and made a way for us to be close to God again.  Our own goodness was never enough to get us close to God, but Jesus is perfect and His death was enough. 

(Place cut-out cross over the word “sin,” creating a “bridge” between the two cliffs). 

            When you accept what Jesus did for you and ask God to forgive your sins, you cross over from death to new life.  You are no longer separated from God, but are once again close to Him.  You are given new life just like Jesus rose from the dead. 

            We’re alive because Jesus is alive.  Jesus rose from the dead and, by God’s power, we can be free from sin and made alive in Christ.

What a Mess!

Blessed are the pure in heart,
      for they will see God. Matthew 5:8 (NIV)

 …you may be sure that your sin will find you out. Numbers 32:23 (NIV)

 Props: newspaper, bottle of chocolate milk

Tape a copy of the following news story into the inside of the paper.  Read the article as if reading from the paper.  While reading the story, make sure the kids understand the events and emphasize that the whole ordeal was traced back to a locker that needed to be cleaned out. 

 Spoiled Milk Sparks School Evacuation

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

(10-25) 13:26 PDT Swartz Creek, Mich. (AP) –

A plastic bottle with foul-smelling contents that was found in a men’s bathroom at Swartz Creek High School two weeks ago prompted an evacuation and a visit by the bomb squad. But lab results show that the bottle contained spoiled milk.

The bottle had been sitting in a student’s locker and was left on the ledge in the bathroom, The Flint Journal reported Tuesday. It was found Oct. 9 and officials initially said they believed it contained a mix of household chemicals.

“It looks like it was chocolate milk, old, spoiled and under pressure,” Superintendent Jeff Pratt said.

Pressure from the spoiled milk apparently caused the bottle to expand, making it look more suspicious. Pratt said school officials erred on the side of caution, noting that possible threats can’t be taken for granted.

“Two police officers and three members of the bomb squad refused to go near it or touch it, and that was good enough for me,” Pratt said.

Students were evacuated to the football field and later dismissed. It turns out a student had cleaned out his girlfriend’s locker, found the bottle and accidentally left in the bathroom, the newspaper said.

Swartz Creek Police Chief Rick Clolinger said the milk was inside a clear, nearly 16-ounce water bottle.

“I know that after the fact it makes us look on the silly side, that we sent kids home because of spoiled milk on the shelf,” Clolinger said. “But all of the right decisions were made.”

___

Information from: The Flint Journal,

www.flintjournal.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/10/25/national/a132652D91.DTL

Teacher follow-up: An entire school was evacuated because a girl left chocolate milk in her locker for who knows how long!  Her boyfriend cleaned it out and left it in the bathroom.  The smell was so bad that it made it seem suspicious and not even the bomb squad would go near it! 

This story should be a good lesson to us that we need to keep a clean heart.  I’m sure that for awhile, the chocolate milk stayed in the girl’s locker and no one even noticed.  But after time, everyone could smell it.  Sin acts the same way.  Sometimes you can “hide” sin for a little bit.  Then time passes and it becomes obvious to everyone.  The Bible says, “…you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23).  In other words, as hard as you try to hide your sin, you can’t hide it forever.  And you can never hide it from God. 

So what’s the answer?  Keep a clean and pure heart!  Come to God every day and ask Him to clean and purify your heart, to forgive you for your sins.  Read God’s Word and obey it.  Don’t do what you know is wrong. 

If that girl had cleaned out her locker often, the whole school could have avoided being evacuated. 

If you keep a clean heart, you will save yourself lots of trouble and Jesus promised, “You will see God.”

I Never Heard His Name

“Go and preach the good news to everyone in the world.”  Mark 16:15 (CEV)

Props: table and chairs, snack food and drinks, plates, cups

Have 8 or 10 children sit around the table.  Bring out the snacks and drinks and serve one or two children the entire time you are talking.  Do not serve any snacks or drinks to the others. 

             Some people have heard the name of Jesus.  In fact, they have heard His name over and over again.  They have heard about His love and how He came to die for our sins.  Some of you have heard about Him and His love; you hear about it once, twice or even three times a week.  Maybe you hear about it every day.  But there are children and adults in this world who have never heard His name even once.

            Think about these kids who now have so many snacks.  They have more here than they could eat by themselves.  If they ate and drank all of this, they would explode!  But there are kids at this same table who don’t have even a little to eat or drink.  They have nothing.  That isn’t very fair.

            That’s the way it is around the world with the message of God’s love.  Some people have heard it so much when others have heard it so little.  It’s not fair!  It’s our job to spread the message of God’s love to others.

            Some of you may be thinking, “How can I spread the message of God’s love to someone in another country?”  The answer is, start where you are.  Start with the kids in your neighborhood and in your class at school.  Tell them about the love of God and Jesus. 

            Remember, Jesus said, “Go and preach the good news to everyone in the world.”  Let’s make sure everyone gets a chance to hear about His love!

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Whatever is true …think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Props:  You will need a trash can with a dome top/swing lid.  Draw a face on it (eyes and nose), using the front bottom opening of the swing lid as the mouth, and the back bottom opening of the swing lid as the head.  Tape a hat onto the top.  Prepare papers with “lies” written on them (“Watching bad shows won’t hurt me.” “I’m no good.” “God can’t help me with this problem.” “I can do whatever I want, as long as I don’t get caught.”)

            I have a little friend I’d like to introduce you to.  This is Greg…Greg the Garbage Head.  Greg’s head is just as good as anyone else’s.  The only problem is he fills his head with garbage.  He spends his time thinking about things that aren’t true.  For example, he thinks about all the shows on TV that he’d like to watch.  Of course, he knows that those shows aren’t good for him.  His church teacher has told him how dangerous it is to watch bad shows; his parents have told him he’s not allowed to watch them.  But Greg keeps telling himself, “Watching bad shows on TV won’t hurt me.”  (Hold up paper).  Instead of fighting off those thoughts with God’s truth, Greg keeps thinking that way.  (Crumple up paper and put it inside the back opening of the trash can).  Pretty soon, Greg is watching bad shows because he’s allowed himself to think about what is not true. 

            Then he starts to think, “I can do whatever I want, as long as I don’t get caught.”  (Hold up paper).  Is that true, boys and girls?  (Allow for response).  Can you really do what you want as long as you don’t get caught?  (Allow for response).  Of course not!  God always sees what you do and it does matter.  The more Greg thinks about being able to do anything, the more he believes it.  (Crumple up paper and put it inside trash can).  So he starts doing anything and everything—and hiding it all, of course.   

            Now something starts happening inside Greg’s head.  It’s filling up with trash, because Greg isn’t fighting the lies with the truth of God’s Word.  Then the enemy starts telling Greg he’s no good.  And Greg believes it.  (Hold up paper).  Every day Greg tells himself, “I’m no good.  Nobody cares about me.  No one loves me.  I don’t have any friends.”  (Crumple up paper and put it inside trash can).  This is exactly where the devil wants to keep Greg.  Finally, Greg begins listening to the lie, “God can’t help me.”  (Hold up paper, crumple it and put it inside trash can).  

            Greg is in serious trouble.  His head is filled with lies.  And what do you think is going to come out of his mouth?  (Allow for response).  Lies, of course.  (Reach in to garbage can through the “mouth” and pull out papers as you speak).  When Greg talks, he’s going to tell people all of these things. 

            What do you think will help Greg?  (Allow for response).  Greg will get better when he fills his mind with God’s Word—the truth.  That’s the only cure for a garbage head. 

            Remember, don’t be a garbage head—fill your mind with God’s truth.

Faith Means Getting Involved

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  James 2:17

 

Skit: Siamese Twins

(Siamese Twins enter, walking together as though they are attached.  They are each wearing a T-shirt or nametag, one printed “Faith” and the other “Works.”)

Faith: Hi, I’m Faith.

Works: And I’m Works.  And we’re…

Faith and Works:  Siamese Twins.

Faith:  That means we’re joined together.

Works:  Yep, can’t be separated.

Faith:  Nope.  But it sure would make my life easier.

Works:  What do you mean, make your life easier?  You wouldn’t have a life if it weren’t for me.

Faith:  Don’t remind me.  If we could be separated, I could just rest and go on believing for the best.  All you do is work, work, work. 

Works:  All you do is believe, believe, believe.  You never do anything.

Faith:  Without me, you could never dream big things. You wouldn’t have anything to do. 

Works:  Well, without me, you’d never do all the things you dream about. 

Faith:  I guess neither one of us could survive without the other. 

Works:  You’re right.  What do you say we work together and do great things? 

Faith:  I couldn’t agree more.  Let’s go!  (Both exit.) 

Teacher follow-up:  (Have an office chair with wheels set up before the lesson.  Place beside it two planks of wood to use as oars.)

            As we’ve just seen in the skit, faith and works have to go together.  It’s not just enough to believe.  Faith means getting involved. 

            I’ve often seen people in rowboats, rowing peacefully down a river.  I thought I might try it, but it’s probably safer to try on land first.  If I can get the hang of it on land, it will be easier once I do try it in the water.  Okay, let’s see.  (Sit down in chair).  First things first:  I have to get in the boat.  (Pick up the “oars.”)  Now I have to pick up the oars and get ready to (sing) row, row, row my boat, gently down the stream.  Oh, nevermind.  Okay, here I go.  (Begin “rowing.”) 

            Wow, this is harder than I thought.  I think I’ll just give one of my arms a break.  (“Row” with just one “oar.”)  What’s wrong?  Why am I going in circles?  I guess I need to row with both oars.  Otherwise, I’m not going to get anywhere. 

            The Bible says that faith without good works is dead.  That means faith is just part of the process.  You have to get involved.  It’s not always enough to just believe.  You have to do something.  (Demonstrate moving forward with both “oars” and going in circles with just one “oar.”)  When you’re praying in faith for something, God will do His part.  But you also have to do your part.  If you don’t, you’re going to go in circles in your walk with the Lord. 

            You can’t row a boat with one oar; you’d go in circles.  And you can’t have faith without good works.  Today’s power point says:  Faith means getting involved.  Get involved by doing good works for the Lord!

Bring the Broken Pieces

“…a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:11 (CEV)

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

props: a broken heart wrapped in a gift box or bag

If you could give anything to Jesus for Christmas, what would it be? (Allow for response). One year, a children’s pastor asked the kids to write the answer to that question on a piece of paper and put it under the tree for Jesus. When she read the answers later, she was surprised that one girl wrote, “I would give Jesus my problems.” (Hold up gift box or bag). Some people may think that’s a silly answer, but the Bible says that Jesus wants your problems. He wants you to go to God in prayer and ask Him to help you with the things that hurt you and break your heart. (Begin unwrapping the present). When you pray to God, you show that you trust Him, you know that He is God and you know that He can do anything. (Put the pieces of the heart together). He wants you to talk to Him in prayer and tell Him what you need His help with so that He can fix it. If your heart has been broken, he wants to put it back together again.
This year, spend time with Jesus on His birthday. Bring your problems to Him and let Him take care of them.