Teaching tips from Maurice Sweetsur

Bible lessons and teaching tips - Contents.

2011-12-15T00:35:00.000-08:00

Bible lessons and teaching tips from Maurice Sweetsur ( mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz ).

NOTE. New Blog from Maurice Sweetsur - "Bible answers for kids" - http://bibleanswersforkids.blogspot.com/
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Who made God? Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? Why is my brother/sister nasty to me? When did God create the dinosaurs? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Where is heaven?
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These are just a few of the children’s questions that are answered in this Blog.
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To find out more about my ministry to children, go to my main 'Blog' -
http://www.unclemaurice.blogspot.com/

To view all my teaching resources, go to http://www.mauricesweetsur.blogspot.com/
To access Object lessons, go to http://www.objectlessons.blogspot.com/
To access Stories, skits and puppet plays go to http://www.christianstoriesandplays.blogspot.com/
To access "Bible answers for kids" go to
http://bibleanswersforkids.blogspot.com/

To access all my material on major teaching themes, check out the 'Special Blog' sites below :-

1. Creation. http://www.ms-creation.blogspot.com/
2. Christmas. http://www.ms-christmas.blogspot.com/
3. Easter. http://www.ms-easter.blogspot.com/
4. The Bible. http://www.ms-bible.blogspot.com/
5. Prayer. http://www.ms-prayer.blogspot.com/
6. Hearing from God. http://www.ms-hearing.blogspot.com/
7. The Ten Commandments. http://www.ms-tencommandments.blogspot.com/
8. John 3.16. http://www.ms-john316.blogspot.com/
9. Teaching Memory verses. http://www.ms-memoryverses.blogspot.com/
10. Gospel Illusions. http://www.ms-gospelillusions.blogspot.com/
11. Object Lessons (using natural laws). http://www.ms-objectlessons.blogspot.com/
12. Lessons involving balloons. http://www.ms-balloons.blogspot.com/
13. Lessons involving fire. http://www.ms-firelessons.blogspot.com/

To access my site for children go to http://www.funatkidzone.blogspot.com/

Maurice Sweetsur
mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz

Contents.
Title.

54. Playing for God's team.
53. Discipleship.
52. Getting to know your children.
51. The road of life.
50. The Church.
49. What children need to understand about God.
48. The twelve days of Christmas.
47. Big bang or big mess?
46. The day of rest.
45. Dead to the world.
44. Using Christian songs to teach Biblical truths (Part 2).
44. Using Christian songs to teach Biblical truths.
43. Our amazing earth.
42. Commitment to Christ - Two analogies.
41. Symbols of Christmas.
40. Made in the image of God.
39. Why Christians praise God.
38. The progressive revelation of God.
37. Children are special.
36. Steps to forgiving others.
35. Presenting puppet skits and plays.
34. Religion or Christianity.
33. Our lives are on loan from God.
32. Peer pressure.
31. Teaching children to P.R.A.Y.
30.Teaching Bible stories as real history.
29. Memory verses on cardboard discs.
28. Assurance of salvation.
27. New Life in Christ.
26. Head belief or heart belief?
25. The Ten Commandments.
24. Knowing Jesus or knowing about Jesus?
23. The Good Samaritan.Teaching John 3.16.Overcoming discipline problems - by making your lessons fun and exciting.1. Getting children to pray in public.2. How we should pray (A lesson from blind Bartimaeus).3. Ideas for teaching the David and Goliath story.4. Ideas on teaching about Creation.5. Developing good habits.A. Teaching children how to make right choices.B. Teaching children to be generous givers.6. Use of Balloon modelling in Children's ministry.7. Use of Ventriloquism to teach class rules.8. Leading children to Christ.9. Noah's ark and the flood.10. Use of storytelling.11. What is love?12. The Lord's prayer.13, Teaching Memory verses.14. What's in a name?15. Telling the C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S. story.16. How God speaks to us.What do children believe?17. Ideas for teaching about Zacchaeus.18. Jesus Understands (Easter).19. Teaching Bible stories in context.Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what we believe?20. Creation and Evolution.21. The lost sheep.22. The lost son.

T.T. 54 - Playing for God's team.

2011-12-15T00:21:00.000-08:00

New Zealand recently hosted the Rugby world cup when the twenty best teams in the world came to compete for the Webb Ellis trophy.

Rugby is, of course, a team game. And the object of team games is that all the individual members work together for the benefit of the team. This is because people working together can achieve much more than a group of individuals. If each team member plays their part, the team usually does well. If, however, one player doesn't play the part he was chosen for, or is missing (perhaps having been sent off for foul play), or simply plays badly, then the whole team will suffer.

The idea of teams comes from God. Actually, God Himself is a team. There is one God, comprising three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And, of course, all Three are essential.

Without the Father, there would be nothing. He is the Designer and Creator, so without Him, none of us would exist.

Without the Son (Jesus), we would all still be God's enemies, awaiting His righteous judgement for the sins we have committed. However, the good news is that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. So now we can be forgiven, receive God's gift of eternal life, and spend eternity in heaven.

Without the Holy Spirit, nobody would have believed that Jesus is the Son of God, The Holy Spirit, although He is a real Person, is also the power of God. God does whatever He wants to do through the power of the Holy Spirit. Without this, Jesus couldn't have healed the sick, raised the dead, or performed any miracles. Jesus could still have died for us but, without the Holy Spirit, He would never have been raised back to life again.

When Jesus came to earth, He didn't try and do all that He had come to do by Himself. No, He chose a team to help him. Firstly, He chose twelve men (Disciples) whom He trained up on how to share God's love with this world. And then He sent them out to do it. Later, Jesus trained up seventy more disciples, before sending them out. In turn these disciples trained more people to share God's love, and so on and so on. This "training and sending out" still continues about 2000 years later. The members of "Team Jesus" now number in the billions and are found throughout the earth. They are usually simply called "The Church".

A good example of "Team Jesus" in action is in the "Feeding of the 5,000". A young boy gave up his lunch of two fish and fives loaves of bread, Jesus multiplied it, and the Disciples distributed it to the crowd. Without the boy, there would have been no food to multiply. Without Jesus, it would have remained just two fish and five loaves. Without the Disciples, it would have been impossible to distribute the food to all those thousands of people.

With every team, sporting or otherwise, you will notice that all the members have different jobs, skills and abilities. Rugby is an excellent example. If you have seen a Rugby team lining up before a game, you will note that the players are all different. Some are tall, some are short, some are muscular, and some are slim - and yet all still members of the same team! This is because they have different tasks to perform within the team. Some players (the locks) need to be able to jump high to catch the ball, some (e.g. the hooker) need to be able to get down low to scrummage for the ball, some (wingers) need to be able to run fast, some (the props) need to be very strong, some (half backs) need to be able to catch and handle the ball well.

It is, of course, important that each player plays in the right position. Imagine a team where the short half backs played as locks, the big burly props played on the wings and a tall lock played as hooker. Such a team would easily be beaten.

Conclusion.

As with Rugby teams, it is exactly the same with God's team, the Church. God has given us all different gifts and abilities. Some may find they are good at teaching, some at giving, some at helping those in need, some at comforting those who are sad, some at making friends, some at leading groups in singing, some at praying, etc, etc. So it is important to find out what you are good at, and then concentrate on doing that for the benefit and the building up of the Church as a whole.

Teaching tip 53 - Discipleship.

2009-08-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

T.T. 53 - Discipleship.

Jesus' final command to us was to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28.19), and this obviously includes children. Although there is much teaching available on how to lead children to Christ, I haven't come across much on how to disciple them. The following are some ideas that you could use in discipling young Christians. I am not suggesting that you share all the teaching ideas given here. You will have to be selective, but remember that the three important points that children need to understand are Certainty, Confession and Continuance.

What is a Christian?

Many children have false ideas of what a Christian really is. They will often talk about someone "Being good", or "Going to church", etc. They need to understand that a Christian is someone who has repented of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ.

I use the following illustration :- I write on the board

Christ - in - person = Christian,

explaining as I do so that that is what a Christian is - a person in whom Jesus Christ is living, because He has been invited to do so.

I then teach on the three main aspects of discipleship - Certainty, Confession and Continuance.

Certainty.

I show and explain John 1.12 "To all who received him, He gave the right to become children of God.", stressing the need to receive God's gift of Jesus if we are to become part of His family. I emphasize that, if they have received Him, they are now part of God's family, not because of how they may feel, but because God says so " To all who receive Him - - - - - ."

I encourage the children to make a note of the date (their second birthday) that they became part of God's family, Then (or the next time I see the child) I will do something dramatic that the child will remember so as to help assure them of their salvation. I say "Watch carefully what I do next." I then stand up, walk around, return to my chair and kick it over. I say "I kicked over that chair. That is a fact. On the (date) at (place) I (Mr Sweetsur) kicked over a chair, and nothing can ever change that fact. In years to come, I might forget that I did it. But if I did forget, does that mean that it never happened? No, of course not. It happened. Or someone may come to me and say "Oh Mr Sweetsur, you're not the sort of person that goes around kicking over chairs." And I might agree with them and deny that it happened. But if I did, does that mean it didn't happen? No, of course not. Even if I denied it, it still happened. That is a fact that can never change.

In the same way if you have received Jesus into your life, that is a fact. It happened and, even if you forgot it or denied it (which of course I hope you don't), nothing can ever change that. You are a child of God - because God says so! - God promised that if you received Jesus , you would become His child. As God cannot break His promise, and you received Jesus, you are now His child."

Some children who have received Christ may wonder if they are still Christians if they have subsequently done something wrong. A good verse to teach them is 1 John 1.9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." No matter what we may do, God is always willing to forgive us, and clean us up - if we are genuinely sorry.

Illustration 1.

I have a son and, because he is my son, he will always be part of my family. He is just as much my son when he has been bad as when he has been good. I don't like it when he is bad, but he is still my son and I still love him. It is just the same with God's sons and daughters. If you have received Jesus into your life, you are part of His family, no matter whether you have been good or bad. Of course God doesn't like it when we do wrong things, and we may have to ask Him to forgive us and help us do better in the future. But we are still family!

Illustration 2 - "The true picture of your life".

A Christian once had a dream in which he died and went to heaven. There to greet him was St. Peter, who gave him a quick tour of his beautiful new home. Then St. Peter said "Do you like videos?" Rather puzzled, the man replied that he did. "Good" said St. Peter "I am now going to show you a video of your whole life." St. Peter led the man into a sumptuous room, made sure he was comfortable, and left him to watch the video.

The video really was of the man's life, beginning from soon after he had been born. At first the man enjoyed watching it because it showed him interacting with all his old friends, most of whom he hadn't seen for many years. The video showed all the acts of kindness the man had shown, beginning from when he was only a young boy - sharing his toys, including others in his games, helping out at home and at school, comforting people when they were sad, giving money towards good causes, spending quality time with his children etc. etc. As the video progressed, however, the man began to feel rather uneasy.

The video concluded, and St. Peter returned. "Did you enjoy the video of your life?" he asked. The man replied "But that wasn't a true picture of my life. It showed all the good things I did, but it omitted all the bad ones. It's an edited video. It isn't a complete picture of my life." "Oh yes it is", replied St. Peter "When you did do bad things, the moment you said 'sorry' to God, they ceased to exist. And you can't make a video of something that doesn't exist!" What you just saw really is the true picture of your life.

Confession.

Jesus said "If you tell others that you belong to me, I will tell my Father in heaven that you are my followers. But if you reject me, I will tell my Father in heaven that you don't belong to me." Matthew 10. 32,33. (See also Romans 10.9). Confessing our faith in Christ to others is so important. By doing so it seals in our hearts the commitment we have made to Christ.

I instruct children to tell at least one other person that they have received Jesus into their lives. I encourage them to choose as the first person they tell another Christian, or at least someone who is likely to by sympathetic to the decision they have made. This is because I have known children who have confessed their new found faith, and got a cold or even hostile response - which seriously undermined their new fledgling relationship with Christ.

Continuance.

Children need to be taught that their new relationship with Christ is for eternity. The following object lesson is ideal for teaching that newly-born 'baby' Christians need to grow.

Object Lesson - Growing to be like Christ (Fruit in bottle).

This takes a long time to prepare, but is well worth the effort.
While a fruit ( a lemon or orange is ideal ) is still very small and attached to its tree, place a narrow-necked bottle over it and tie to branch. Leave in place until the fruit has fully grown inside the bottle. Remove bottle containing the fruit and show to your class.
Ask "How did I get this fruit inside the bottle?" A few children may work it out, but most won't. Explain how you did it, stating that the tiny fruit had all the potential to grow into a large fruit, but that it needed food to grow. This food (sap) was all provided by the tree. Use this as an analogy for the newly born-again (or baby) Christian who has all that is needed to become the person God wants them to be, but needs to grow. Our food is God's Word (plus prayer and fellowship etc.).
Ask "What would have happened to the baby fruit if I had cut the twig attaching it to the branch while it was still small?" Answer. It would not have grown. In fact it would have withered away and died. Again use the analogy of the baby Christian who does not feed on God's Word.
The way to grow.
1. Prayer.
Teaching tip - Teaching children to P.R.A.Y.

Here is a simple prayer pattern that you can teach children so as to help encourage them to get into regular prayer habits.

Preparation. Get a piece of cardboard, and write out the four words as shown below, ensuring that the first letter of each word is larger than the others.

Praise
Regrets
Ask
Yourself

Cut and fold the cardboard in such a way that you can show the word 'PRAY' on its own, and then in turn unfold the remainder of each word as you talk about it.

Teaching. Prayer is talking to God, and I can't think of anything that God likes better than when we do this. We can talk to God anywhere, anytime, and about anything. The most important thing about prayer, however, is that it should be regular. Set aside a few minutes every day to talk to God. Most people find that the best time of the day to do this is either first thing in the morning, or last thing at night, before they go to bed. These are times which you can easily remember, and you are less likely to be interrupted.

There are basically four different types of prayer, and if you remember the word 'P.R.A.Y.' it will remind you of them. You can use this as your prayer pattern as you talk to God.

P stands for 'Praise'. (Unfold the card to reveal the first word). Praise is talking (or singing) to God about God. You could pray something like "God you're good, loving, wonderful, awesome etc." Praise also includes thanksgiving. I am sure you can all think of a lot to thank God for - Your lives, His gift of Jesus, your families, friends, school, etc.

R stands for 'Regrets'. Think back to the last time you prayed, and ask yourself if there is anything you regret - anything that you have done, said, or even thought that you are sorry about. If there is, ask God to forgive you, and He well. Then ask Him to help you do better next time.

A stands for 'Ask'. We can ask God to help others. We can pray for our family, friends, anybody at all and ask God to be with them and meet their needs. The Bible particularly says that we should pray for those in authority over us, e.g. parents, teachers, those in government. If you don't know their particular needs, you could ask God to help them make good choices.

Y stands for 'Yourself'. God encourages us to come to Him and ask for our needs. In fact, Jesus promised that He would give us all our needs. What are some of the things we need? That's right, food, water, clothes, homes, families to look after us, peace (if we are troubled), joy (if we are sad), love (if someone is annoying us), patience (if we are waiting for something). However, God did not promise to give us everything we want - our wants are different from our needs. God likes to bless us, and there is nothing wrong in asking Him for whatever you want. But He knows what is best for you, and will never give you something that would be bad for you. Therefore, His answer to your request might be Yes, wait, or no. (You could do the well known traffic light illustration here).

Conclusion. Let's all say aloud together the four different types of prayer.

P stands for - - - - - Praise.
R stands for - - - - - Regrets.
A stands for - - - - - Ask.
Y stands for - - - - - Yourself.

Application. Following on from this teaching, I often get the children to write out a prayer along the lines I have described. I emphasise that if they do not wish to write a particular type of prayer (e.g. Regrets) that is alright. Finally, I encourage them to conclude by actually praying their prayer.

2. Bible reading.

Encourage the children to become regular Bible readers, explaining that it is God's love letter to us. For new converts, I encourage them to start their reading with the Gospels.

The Bible is important to us for four main reasons:-

1. It is a book about God.

The Bible is a book that God has written about Himself. So if you want to know what God is really like - Go to the Bible, because nobody knows God better than God knows God!

2. It is a book about ourselves.

The Bible is a book that God has written about us. It is often likened to a mirror. If you want to know what you are like on the outside, you look in a mirror. But if you want to know what you are really like on the inside (what the Bible calls your heart or spirit) - Go to the Bible, because God created you and knows you better than anyone else.

3. It is an instruction book for life.

God knows what's good for you, and He knows what is bad. If you keep going to the Bible, and doing what it says, you won't go far wrong in life. But if you never look at the Bible, or ignore what is says, you are bound to make mistakes and go off in wrong directions through life.

4. It tells you how to become God's friend.

God created us to be His friends - so that He can enjoy us, and we can enjoy Him, both now and forever. And the Bible tells us how through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, we can all become God's friends.

3. Church attendance.

Encourage the children to go regularly to a Bible-believing, Christ-centred church, if at all possible.

Why go to church?

1. God tells us to (See Hebrews10.25).

It is a question of obedience. If Jesus is Lord of your life, that means that you are obedient to him. You can hardly say "Jesus, you are my Lord, but I am not going to do what you tell me!" Of course not. You would be contradicting yourself. If that was your attitude, then Jesus wouldn't really be Lord of your life.

"I enjoy going to church regularly, but even if I didn't, I would still go - because Jesus is my Lord, and I have to be obedient to him. Most of you children probably come to church or Sunday school because your parents bring you, or send you along. But when you are older, you will have to decide for yourselves. But if you are serious about living for Jesus, then regular church attendance should be a priority."

2. To meet together as a family / team.

Everyone who has put their trust in Jesus is now part of God's special family. And families meet together, and do things together. It would be a very strange family indeed if the members hardly ever saw each other, or never did things together, like sharing a meal!

Another way of looking at this is to realise that now we are all part of God's team to help bring about His Kingdom on earth.

"Suppose I were to tell you that I was a soccer player. You might reply, "You are, which team do you play for? Manchester United? Real Madrid?" If I replied "I don't actually play for a team", you would say "Oh, come on teacher, you can't be a soccer player and not play for a team." And you would be quite right. In the same way, you can't really be a true Christian and not be part of a local team, or church."

Imagine many coals burning brightly together. Suddenly one of the individual coals falls away from the fire. What will happen to it? Answer. It will burn less and less brightly until eventually it goes out and becomes cold. That is a typical 'picture' of the individual Christian who comes away from the Church and tries to live for Jesus on his own. He will grow cold, and probably give up his faith altogether. We all need the help, support and encouragement of other church members. In the Bible, there is no such thing as an "Individual Christian".

3. To help find God's plan for your life.

God has a special plan for each one of you which is far more wonderful than any plans you may have for yourselves. By going to church, you will meet people who will help you discover what God wants you to do with your life.

4. To help you on your way to heaven.

God wants us all to live with him in heaven. However, our journey to heaven can be a long and dangerous one. We have enemies who don't want us to get to heaven, but by going regularly to church, we can find out how to beat them.

What does the church do?

1. Worship God.

The word 'Worship' is derived from the word 'Worth'. God is indeed worthy of all we can give him. Without God, we would have nothing. In fact we wouldn't even be alive. Everything we have comes from Him. Christians realise this and meet together to give back to God a little of what He has already given us. This might include thanks, praise, love, money, etc.

2. To continue the work of Jesus.

A. Telling others about Jesus.

Jesus wants EVERYONE to know about Him, and what He did for us all on the cross. And He has chosen His church (every believer) to spread this GOOD NEWS throughout the whole earth. It is exciting to be part of this because Jesus promised that when every group of people have heard this GOOD NEWS, then He will return to earth and set up His Kingdom.

B. Demonstrating God's love.

It is no good telling people that God loves them if, at the same time, we don't demonstrate His love by helping others in whatever ways we can.

Jesus loves everyone, but when He was here on earth, He was particularly concerned for the poor, the sick, the weak, the oppressed and the elderly. As part of His church, we should likewise be especially concerned for these groups.

Although the church is not perfect, and has made mistakes, generally, over the last 2,000 years, it has been effective in demonstrating God's love to the world. Much of what is good in society today has been started by the church. Examples include many early schools, universities, hospitals, and organizations such as the scouts, guides, boys and girls' brigades.

It has also been the church that were first to speak out against evils in society such as slavery, child labour and racism.

The church is not only concerned with what is happening in it's own neighbourhood or even country. It also has a good record of sending resources (including people and money) to help the needy in "poor" countries. You may have heard of agencies such as World Vision and Tear Fund which are involved in this.

As someone once said "The church is the only organization which exists for the benefit of it's non members."

Note. You may wish to conclude by giving a few examples of what your church is doing to reach others for Jesus and help meet their needs.

4. Copy Jesus.

God wants us to make right choices. Here is a simple way of remembering how we can do this:- Write out the word S.T.O.P.

S. Stands for "Stop" before you decide.
T. Stands for "Think." What would Jesus do, if he was me? Jesus is our supreme example of how to live our lives. I still find the once-popular W.W.J.D. (What would Jesus do?) bracelets useful in teaching children to follow (copy) Christ. Usually the answer to W.W.J.D. is obvious!
O. Stands for "Obey" the Bible. If what you are thinking of doing is contrary to what the Bible teaches, it is always a wrong choice.
P. Stands for "Pray" and ask Jesus for help. If you have gone through the first three steps (S.T.O.) and are still unsure as to the right choice, ask Jesus to guide you. After praying, if you feel at peace about a certain direction, go ahead and take it. On the other hand, if you feel anxious or worried, then this is probably the wrong direction.

Conclusion.

I would want young converts to Christ to really understand the following five truths:-

1. God is always there. Wherever we go, God is always right there with us.

2. God always answers prayers. His answer may be "Yes", "No", or "Wait", but He will always answer us.

3. God always understands. No matter what is happening in our lives, no matter how we feel, God always understands about us.

4. God always forgives. No matter what we may have done, God will always forgive us if we are really sorry.

5. God always loves. We can never stop God loving us, because "He is love."

Teaching tip 52.

2009-07-09T02:22:00.000-07:00

T.T. 52 - Getting to know your children.

I always count it a great privilege to be able to share the Christian faith with precious children. I am mindful, however, that a long time after they have forgotten most of what I have said, they will remember me. They will remember what I was like. Did I care for them? Was our time together a 'fun' time? Was I interested in their lives? Did I really get to know them? Was I their friend, confidant and advisor? Or, was I "just another teacher"?

I am sure that we all agree that it is important to try and form relationships with the children that we teach. If you teach Sunday school or Kids church, it may be possible to spend time with your children after or before your lessons, and thus get to know them better. It may even be possible to meet with some of your children outside of a 'church' setting.

In New Zealand and Australia some primary schools are still open for Christian teachers to go in once a week to teach Biblical truths. This is very rewarding, as the majority of the children we teach children would not otherwise have any opportunity to hear about the Christian faith. In some of these schools it is possible to spend a short time with the children before or after the half-hour lesson. In most cases it is not. Thus, we are confined to getting to know the children during our allocated teaching slot. This is not always easy but it is worth the effort because, if you know "where the children are at", you will be able to adapt your lessons to be more in line with their needs and Biblical understanding.

I will share some ways that I have used in these settings to at least get to know what the children believe, and what their concerns, hopes and interests are.

1. Get the children to ask questions.

We spend a lot of time teaching children what we think they should know. But do we spend any time teaching them what they really want to know? The only way to find this out is to encourage them to ask questions. I find, however, that many children are reluctant to ask questions in front of their classmates. Therefore, on occasion, I will give all the class a blank sheet of paper each and ask them to write down any questions they have, explaining that I will answer them all the following week. This gives me time to consider my answers and, if necessary, check them out with the Bible. It is very rare for a child not to ask a question, and very often they ask multiple questions.

It may sound "impossible" to be able to answer all the questions in 30 minutes the following week. But I have found that many of the questions are the same or very similar (e.g. Who made God?). And for children, a short, uncomplicated, answer usually satisfies. I have shared some of the questions that I have been asked in Newsletters 9, 76 and 77.

Sometimes children want to know about you, and ask questions like "Why do you believe in God?", "Why are you our Bible teacher?" and "How long have you known the Lord?" These give you an ideal opportunity to share your testimony if you consider it appropriate to do so.

2. Use of a Christian survey.

If you wish to know what your children believe regarding God, Jesus, the Bible, etc., the best way is to ask them! And a simple (anonymous) survey is ideal for this.

About 15 years ago I started to teach "Bible" to children in state primary schools, with the vast majority of them coming from non-Christian homes. I wondered what influence we "Bible in school" teachers were having on the children. Were their beliefs falling in line with the Bible, or were the children still being largely influenced by their parents and guardians ?

Between 1998 and 2000, I chose six classes from four different schools in South Auckland for my survey. Thus a total of about 180 children participated. They were all in the age range 10 to 13, and all had previously attended weekly Bible classes for at least two years.

Results of my survey are shown below. I consider it to be a fair indication of children's beliefs in this area of Auckland, although there is always the possibility that some of the answers were made to "please teacher" rather than expressing what they really believed. For comparison, results of a survey - asking exactly the same questions - conducted among about 400 adults in the same area as two of the schools, and therefore probably including some of the children's parents, are shown. For further comparison, results of a similar survey of over 2,000 adults made between 1985 and 1990 in Ayrshire, Scotland are also included.

Results.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmChildren --Adults N.Z. -Adults Scotland

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(%) ............(%) ................(%)

1. What would encourage more
people to go to church?

Closer friendships ...........................................................26 ..............14 ...................3
Livelier services /
More relevant preaching ..............23 ..............15 .................30
More participation ..........................................................19 ................5 ...................7
More social activity .........................................................12 ..............18 ................10
Other Ans. ........................................................................12 ..............13 ...................1
Don't know .........................................................................8 ...............35 ................49

2. Do you believe in God ?

Yes .....................................................................................79 ..............82 .................82
Not sure ............................................................................21 ...............11 .................11
No ........................................................................................0 ................7 ....................7

3. Who is Jesus, according to
your belief ?

Son of God ........................................................................70 ...............58 .................58
A good man ........................................................................9 ................22 .................20
Other Ans. ..........................................................................8 .................7 ....................7
Don't know ........................................................................13 ...............13 .................15

4. Why did Jesus come to earth ?

To die for our sins ----------------------------------74 ---------42 ----------42
To teach us ------------------------------------------9 ---------15 ----------15
To save the world -----------------------------------9----------13 ----------13
Other Ans. ------------------------------------------8 ---------30 ----------30

5. In your opinion, how does a person
become a Christian?
Believe in Christ as personal Saviour ----------------40 --------43 -----------19
Believe in God --------------------------------------36 --------20 -----------23
Lead a good life --------------------------------------2 ---------12 -----------24
Other Ans. ------------------------------------------22 --------25 -----------34

6. What do you believe will happen
to you when you die?
Heaven ---------------------------------------------70 --------49 -----------40
Reincarnation ---------------------------------------11 ---------6 -------------5
Afterlife (unspecified) --------------------------------8 --------13 ------------18
Cease to exist ----------------------------------------2 ---------5 ------------14
Other Ans. -------------------------------------------1 ---------0 -------------2
Don't know -------------------------------------------8 --------27 ------------21

7. What qualifies you for heaven ?

Faith in Jesus ---------------------------------------53 --------14 ------------14
Living a good life ------------------------------------16 --------67 ------------67
Church membership ---------------------------------9 ---------0 --------------1
Other Ans. -------------------------------------------6 ---------6 --------------5
Don't know ------------------------------------------16 --------13 ------------13

8. If you could know God personally,

would you be interested?
Already know God personally------------------------ 20 -------35 ------------10
Yes --------------------------------------------------58 -------42 ------------74
No ----------------------------------------------------4 --------2 -------------13
Not sure ---------------------------------------------18 -------21-------------- 5

Conclusions.

1. The answers of the two adult groups were remarkably similar (especially for some of the questions). This probably reflects the fact that the average regular church attendance in New Zealand and Scotland is similar (between 5 and 10 percent). The majority of people still think that "living a good life" is what qualifies you for heaven.

2. For most questions, the answers given by the children were more "Biblical" than those given by their parents and neighbours, the most notable exception being on how a person becomes a Christian.

3. We cannot assume that just because we teach Biblical truths, the children will necessarily come to share our beliefs. Parental and peer pressure are obviously still strong influences.

4. Although the school "Bible" classes are having a positive influence on the beliefs of the children, we could perhaps still do better in explaining what a Christian is, and how we can have a personal relationship with Christ.

Note. Although I have not done so myself, it may be a good idea to conduct a survey when you first start teaching your children, and then do the same survey again a year later, or whenever you finish teaching them. This will be a real test to see how effective you have been in imparting Biblical truths!

3. Throwing their worries on Jesus.

1 Peter 5 v. 7 says "Throw all your worries on him, because he cares for you." I often teach this verse to children alongside the story of David and Goliath (see Newsletter 17).

I then explain that that there are many "giants" or worries that people have in their lives, e.g. another person who is giving them a hard time, a bad habit, or a fear (e.g. of the dark, nightmares, flying, dying, snakes, spiders, dogs etc.). I get the children to write out the names of their giant(s) on a piece of paper. Then, as I lead them in prayer, at the appropriate time, I get them to crumple up their papers (giants) and throw them on Jesus - imagining Him to be standing at the front of the class. I conclude by emphasising that because Jesus now has their giants, they have them no more.

I usually look at the children's (ex) giants afterwards. These are always illuminating. Very few children write a bad habit (or sin) down as their giant. Even if they have had Bible teaching to the contrary, most still consider such things as lying, selfishness, greed, envy, disobedience, etc. as 'normal' behaviour. The most common bad habit that is written down is actually "swearing".

Often children will write down the name of another person as their "giant". Usually this is a sibling, or a class bully. But sometimes it is a parent, or even their class teacher!

However, by far the greatest number of "giants" are fears. Many children list multiple fears, with dogs, snakes, spiders, the dark and nightmares being the most common. Interestingly. many children in a particular class cite the same fears as each other. In one school that I teach at, I know that "fear of dying" will always be a very common "giant". In all other schools, this particular fear hardly ever gets a mention!

4. Writing about themselves.

If you use Bible "Activity sheets" then a good question / activity to include is to get the children to write something special about themselves. I think that their answers often reflect their parental upbringing. Some obviously have a very low self esteem and may write "There is nothing special about me". In contrast others give a long list of their interests and achievements, many stating that "mum" or "dad" say they are "Beautiful" or "Very smart".

Some years ago, one little nine year old girl chose to answer this question with a drawing. Her picture was of a girl, a woman and a man. However the man appeared to be holding what looked like a gun. I asked the girl about this, and our conversation then proceeded along the following lines.

"I am the girl, the woman is my mother and the man is my dad."
"Is your dad holding a gun?"
"Yes, he got out a gun and said that he was going to shoot me and my mum."
"What happened?"
"My mum's boyfriend fought with my dad and took the gun off him."
"What happened after that?"
"My dad was sent to prison, but when he got out we all (including her mum's boyfriend) had to move house so my dad couldn't find us."
"What do you think of your dad now?"
"I hate him and fear him. I will never forgive him for what he did."
"Jesus said that we should forgive each other."
"Yes, I know. But what my dad did was so bad I will never be able to forgive him!"

There may be some children in your classes that have gone through traumatic experiences. You may not be aware of who they are, but at least you can share God's love with them. You can tell them that there is a God in heaven who knows and cares about them. And no matter what situation they may be in, He will never stop loving them and is well able to bring them through to victory.

Teaching tip 51.

2009-04-11T03:24:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 51 - The road of life.

Preparation.

Take a piece of cardboard and draw the "road of life" on it (Unfortunately I was not able to upload this image from my computer. Email me if you would like a copy - mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz ). Show it to your class.

Presentation.

"I call this my "Road of life". Everyone is on a journey through life and, as you can see, this road has three lanes.

The left hand lane (marked Good) is travelled by the good people. Those who try hard to be good and kind to others. They try to avoid doing anything wrong and would never deliberately hurt anyone. They probably believe in God, and may well go to church every week.

The centre lane (marked Middle) is travelled by most people. They do a few good deeds, but usually only towards their family and friends. They don't do anything really bad, but will sometimes act selfishly, tell a few lies and cheat others if they think it will benefit themselves.

The right hand lane (marked Bad) is travelled by criminals, those who set out to hurt or rob others.

But do you notice? All three groups of travellers are heading in the same direction - towards Death and Destruction! Because of the selfish nature we are all born with, we are all heading for an eternity without God. But God doesn't want us to go that way. He wants us all to spend eternity with Him in heaven. And, as you can see, He has provided a way for us to get there through His Son, Jesus. Jesus says "I am the way." You will also note that God has provided signs along the way to help us find our way to Jesus, and then to heaven. Some of God's signs may include His wonderful creative acts that are all around us, an unexpected act of kindness by someone towards us, or a word of direction or encouragement from a Christian parent or friend.

Do you notice something interesting about this road of life? The exit to heaven is on the right. Next to the "Bad " lane! Many people think that those travelling on the "Good" lane are the most likely to get to heaven. That is not true. It is just as easy for a "Bad lane" traveller to come to Jesus as it is for a "Good lane" traveller. In fact, some times it is easier for those on the "Bad" lane. This is because those on the "Good" lane are sometimes too proud to come to Jesus. They think that God will accept them because of their good deeds. But they are mistaken. Nobody can be good enough. Conversely, those on the "Bad" lane are often aware of their sins and realise that they nees Jesus to forgive them.

So, no matter which lane you are travelling along, remember that the only way to heaven is through Jesus."

Teaching tip 50.

2009-04-11T03:22:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 50 - The Church.

It never ceases to surprise me that, even among children that regularly attend church, there is a general lack of knowledge as to what the church actually is. Many have little idea of why they go to church (other than their parents take them), how the church started, or what it's function in society is. But don't take my word for it! If you teach Sunday school, ask your children 1. Why they come to church? and 2. What does the church do? I think you may be surprised by their answers (or lack of them!).

When teaching on the function of the church, I always begin with it's origin and early development as described in "Acts". I then ensure that the children realise that the church is not a building. Rather it is made up of PEOPLE - who have all put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I then ask the two questions mentioned above. Here is how I answer them.

Why go to church?

1. God tells us to (See Hebrews10.25).

It is a question of obedience. If Jesus is Lord of your life, that means that you are obedient to him. You can hardly say "Jesus, you are my Lord, but I am not going to do what you tell me!" Of course not. You would be contradicting yourself. If that was your attitude, then Jesus wouldn't really be Lord of your life.

"I enjoy going to church regularly, but even if I didn't, I would still go - because Jesus is my Lord, and I have to be obedient to him. Most of you children probably come to church or Sunday school because your parents bring you, or send you along. But when you are older, you will have to decide for yourselves. But if you are serious about living for Jesus, then regular church attendance should be a priority."

2. To meet together as a family / team.

Everyone who has put their trust in Jesus is now part of God's special family. And families meet together, and do things together. It would be a very strange family indeed if the members hardly ever saw each other, or never did things together, like sharing a meal!

Another way of looking at this is to realise that now we are all part of God's team to help bring about His Kingdom on earth.

"Suppose I were to tell you that I was a soccer player. You might reply, "You are, which team do you play for? Manchester United? Real Madrid?" If I replied "I don't actually play for a team", you would say "Oh, come on teacher, you can't be a soccer player and not play for a team." And you would be quite right. In the same way, you can't really be a true Christian and not be part of a local team, or church."

Imagine many coals burning brightly together. Suddenly one of the individual coals falls away from the fire. What will happen to it? Answer. It will burn less and less brightly until eventually it goes out and becomes cold. That is a typical 'picture' of the individual Christian who comes away from the Church and tries to live for Jesus on his own. He will grow cold, and probably give up his faith altogether. We all need the help, support and encouragement of other church members. In the Bible, there is no such thing as an "Individual Christian".

3. To help find God's plan for your life.

God has a special plan for each one of you which is far more wonderful than any plans you may have for yourselves. By going to church, you will meet people who will help you discover what God wants you to do with your life.

4. To help you on your way to heaven.

God wants us all to live with him in heaven. However, our journey to heaven can be a long and dangerous one. We have enemies who don't want us to get to heaven, but by going regularly to church, we can find out how to beat them.

What does the church do?

1. Worship God.

The word 'Worship' is derived from the word 'Worth'. God is indeed worthy of all we can give him. Without God, we would have nothing. In fact we wouldn't even be alive. Everything we have comes from Him. Christians realise this and meet together to give back to God a little of what He has already given us. This might include thanks, praise, love, money, etc.

2. To continue the work of Jesus.

A. Telling others about Jesus.

Jesus wants EVERYONE to know about Him, and what He did for us all on the cross. And He has chosen His church (every believer) to spread this GOOD NEWS throughout the whole earth. It is exciting to be part of this because Jesus promised that when every group of people have heard this GOOD NEWS, then He will return to earth and set up His Kingdom.

B. Demonstrating God's love.

It is no good telling people that God loves them if, at the same time, we don't demonstrate His love by helping others in whatever ways we can.

Jesus loves everyone, but when He was here on earth, He was particularly concerned for the poor, the sick, the weak, the oppressed and the elderly. As part of His church, we should likewise be especially concerned for these groups.

Although the church is not perfect, and has made mistakes, generally, over the last 2,000 years, it has been effective in demonstrating God's love to the world. Much of what is good in society today has been started by the church. Examples include many early schools, universities, hospitals, and organizations such as the scouts, guides, boys and girls' brigades.

It has also been the church that were first to speak out against evils in society such as slavery, child labour and racism.

The church is not only concerned with what is happening in it's own neighbourhood or even country. It also has a good record of sending resources (including people and money) to help the needy in "poor" countries. You may have heard of agencies such as World Vision and Tear Fund which are involved in this.

As someone once said "The church is the only organization which exists for the benefit of it's non members."

Note. You may wish to conclude by giving a few examples of what your church is doing to reach others for Jesus and help meet their needs.

T.T. 49 - What children need to understand about God.

2009-01-16T00:13:00.000-08:00

T.T. 49 - What children need to understand about God.

Before starting to teach a new class of children, it is a good idea to ask yourself "At the end of the year, what do I want these children to really understand about God?"

If we each wrote down a list of what we thought was really important for our children to understand about God, it would obviously depend upon the age of the children, their backgrounds and their previous 'Bible' teaching. However, our list of what we wanted them to learn would probably include such things as teaching them to recite John 3.16, the Lord's prayer, the Ten Commandments, and even the Books of the Bible. We would probably also want our children to be thoroughly familiar with some of the best known Bible stories, such as Easter, Christmas, David and Goliath, Daniel in the Lion's den, etc. And this is all good - as long as it is not an end in itself!

Unfortunately 'Knowing' something is not the same as understanding it. I have known children who, for example, could recite the Lord's prayer perfectly, but still having little understanding of what the prayer actually means! Rather, our aim should be to ensure that each child comes to an understanding of what God is really like. And this means explaining to the children what a particular Scripture or Bible story really teaches us about God. The Bible verses and stories are really tools which we can use to bring our children to a deeper understanding of the nature of God.

Here is a list of what I believe children really need to understand about God. You may wish to add to it, but keep it in mind during your teaching sessions.

1. God is always there. Wherever we go, God is always right there with us.

2. God always answers prayers. His answer may be "Yes", "No", or "Wait", but He will always answer us.

3. God always understands. No matter what is happening in our lives, no matter how we feel, God always understands about us.

4. God always forgives. No matter what we may have done, God will always forgive us if we are really sorry.

5. God always loves. We can never stop God loving us, because "He is love."

Teaching tip 48 - The twelve days of Christmas.

2008-11-18T22:30:00.000-08:00

The Twelve Days of Christmas.

The popular song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is usually seen as simply a nonsense song for children. However, some have suggested that it is a song of Christian instruction dating to the 16th century religious wars in England, with hidden references to the basic teachings of the Faith. They contend that it was a mnemonic device to teach the catechism to youngsters. The "true love" mentioned in the song is not an earthly suitor, but refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person who is part of the Christian Faith. Each of the "days" represents some aspect of the Christian Faith that was important for children to learn.

Note. The "Twelve days" refer to the days between Christmas day and Epiphany (Three Kings day) on January 6th.

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
A Partridge in a Pear Tree.
The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate on December 25, the first day of Christmas. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge that feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, recalling the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered you under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but you would not have it so . . . ." (Luke 13:34)

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Two Turtle Doves.
The Old and New Testaments, which together bear witness to God's self-revelation in history and the creation of a people to tell the Story of God to the world.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Three French Hens.
The Three Theological Virtues: 1) Faith, 2) Hope, and 3) Love (1 Corinthians 13:13)

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Four Calling Birds.
The Four Gospels: 1) Matthew, 2) Mark, 3) Luke, and 4) John, which proclaim the Good News of God's reconciliation of the world to Himself in Jesus Christ.

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Five Gold Rings.
The first Five Books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch: 1) Genesis, 2) Exodus, 3) Leviticus, 4) Numbers, and 5) Deuteronomy, which gives the history of humanity's sinful failure and God's response of grace in the creation of a people to be a light to the world.

On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Six Geese A-laying.
The six days of creation that confesses God as Creator and Sustainer of the world (Genesis 1).

On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Seven Swans A-swimming.
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: 1) prophecy, 2) ministry, 3) teaching, 4) exhortation, 5) giving, 6) leading, and 7) compassion (Romans 12:6-8; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11)

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Eight Maids A-milking.
The eight Beatitudes: 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, 2) those who mourn, 3) the meek, 4) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) the merciful, 6) the pure in heart, 7) the peacemakers, 8) those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. (Matthew 5:3-10)

On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Nine Ladies Dancing/
The nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) patience, 5) kindness,6) generosity, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, and 9) self-control. (Galatians 5:22)

On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Ten Lords A-leaping/
The ten commandments: 1) You shall have no other gods before me; 2) Do not make an idol; 3) Do not take God's name in vain; 4) Remember the Sabbath Day; 5) Honor your father and mother; 6) Do not murder; 7) Do not commit adultery; 8) Do not steal; 9) Do not bear false witness; 10) Do not covet. (Exodus 20:1-17)

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Eleven Pipers Piping/
The eleven Faithful Apostles: 1) Simon Peter, 2) Andrew, 3) James, 4) John, 5) Philip, 6) Bartholomew, 7) Matthew, 8) Thomas, 9) James bar Alphaeus, 10) Simon the Zealot, 11) Judas bar James. (Luke 6:14-16). The list does not include the twelfth disciple, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders and the Romans.

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Twelve Drummers Drumming/
The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed: 1) I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 2) I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 3) He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 4) He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell [the grave]. 5) On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 6) He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 7) I believe in the Holy Spirit, 8) the holy catholic Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life everlasting.

Teaching tip 47 - Big bang or big mess?

2008-04-24T03:19:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 47 - Big bang or big mess?

People who deny the existence of God have therefore to believe that the Universe created itself out of nothing. (To believe that actually requires a lot more faith than I have got!). So how then do atheists explain how the Universe formed? Most use the idea of a 'big bang', even though none of them were there to see what actually happened.

They say that first of all there was absolutely nothing. But then, they claim, all the energy and matter contained in the billions of stars in the universe was somehow there, separated into a single point, which suddenly 'exploded'. This somehow formed lots of hydrogen gas, which spread out and filled the universe. Then the clouds of hydrogen gas started to pull themselves together by gravity. These clouds got hotter and hotter until they each formed a star. Then these stars exploded and formed all the other elements like carbon and oxygen, that made up all the stuff in the universe, including you and me.

But where did the first energy come from? How could it all have been contained in a single point? What made this point explode? And who ever heard of an explosion making order and design? What happens when fireworks explode? You certainly get a bang, but all you have left is a big mess!

There are lots of sound scientific reasons why the big bang idea is wrong, could not work, and simply did not happen.

It is far easier, in fact, to believe that Almighty God made the sun, the moon, the stars and everything in the universe the way He says He did in the Bible.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands." (Psalm 19.1).

Teaching tip 46. The day of rest.

2008-03-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

Teaching Tip 46 - The day of rest.

God created the Universe in six days, and rested on the seventh. This does not mean that God was tired after all His work, and so took a rest, because He does not slumber or sleep (Psalm121.4). The Hebrew word that is usually translated as 'rest' also means 'cease'. So God ceased or rested from His creative work after six days.

God certainly did not need six days to make everything. He could have done it all in an instant on the very first day. So why did He take six days?

The answer is given in Exodus 20. 10 - 11, and is the basis of the Fourth Commandment. God did it this way to show us how we should organise our lives - work for six days, and have a rest or break on the seventh. That is why a week is seven days long, not six or eight. Jesus reminded us that this does not mean that we must never do any work on the seventh day (Sabbath). For example no matter what day of the week it is, it is always a good day to do good to others. Rather, it means that we should make this our general routine, and in so doing we are more likely to stay healthy in both mind and body.

People have sometimes tried other week lengths. For example, in 1793 France decreed three 10-day 'weeks' each month. This didn't work and was abolished by Napoleon in 1806. The former Soviet Union introduced a five-day week in 1929, and then changed it to a six-day week in 1931. Neither of these worked, so the normal seven-day week was restored in 1940.

This is another example of how 'God knows best'. If we follow our Maker's instructions, we won't go far wrong in life.

Teavhing tip 45. Dead to the world.

2008-03-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

Teaching Tip 45 - Dead to the world.

A young Christian was once puzzled by the expression "dead to the world", so he asked his pastor what the expression actually meant. In response the pastor told the young man to go to the local cemetery, find a gravestone, and heap praise on the person buried there. He was then to find a second gravestone and heap verbal abuse on that buried person.

The young Christian was obviously surprised at his pastor's instructions, but nevertheless he carried them out. On reporting back the pastor asked "Did you do what I told you?" "Yes" replied the young man. "And what was the response you got to all that praise and verbal abuse?" asked the pastor. "Absolutely nothing at all" replied the young man, still looking very puzzled. "Exactly." said the pastor. "The dead do not respond. Now you know what it is like to be dead to this world!" The young man had learned his lesson.

None of us are completely immune to praise, criticism or abuse, but as Christians that should be our goal. Anyone who is truly "dead to the world" will not be affected by these things, but rather be only concerned with the advancement of God's kingdom.

Teaching tip 44a. Using Christian songs to teach Biblical truths (Part 2).

2008-03-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 44a - Using Christian songs to teach Biblical truths (Part 2).

Last month I shared on how the hymn "There is a green hill far away" could be used to teach fundamental Christian truths. This month, I am sharing on how I use the popular children's chorus "Jesus loves the little children." to teach about God's love for them.

I do this through ventriloquism, and with the aid of my puppet friend George. Children love ventriloquism, and I have discovered that it is much easier than it appears. You don't need to be a professional. Children don't mind if they see your mouth moving a little - they are far more concerned with what your dummy or puppet is actually saying. Thus, if you have good material, you only need to be able to speak in one 'different' voice to be a big hit.

The dialogue I use is expanded from a skit in the booklet "Ventriloquism for little children" by William Andersen.

V. (Ventriloquist). I hope that you are going to behave today, George.

G. (George). I always behave.

V. I am not so sure about that. But I know that you can be good. In fact, I heard that last week you went to Sunday school. Is that true?

G. Yes.

V. Good. Did you enjoy Sunday school?

G. Yes, I did.

V. What did you like best about Sunday school?

G. The songs they sang.

V. What sort of songs did you sing in Sunday school?

G. Sunday school songs, silly!

V. I shouldn't have asked. What was your favourite Sunday school song?

G. Jesus loves the little kids.

V. You mean Jesus loves the little children?

G. That's what I said.

V. Well, that's a good song. Can you sing it?

G. O.K. - - - - - -

V. Well?

G. Well what?

V. Can you sing it for us then?

G. O.K. - - - - - -

V. Well?

G. Well what?

V. Can you sing it for us now?

G. Oh, alright. Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red, brown, yellow , black and green, they're the dumbest kids I've seen.

V. George!. These children aren't dumb.

G. Sure they are. And they're ugly too.

V. These children aren't ugly, they're beautiful.

G. They're ugly.

V. They're beautiful.

G. They're ugly. Just look at them.

V. I am looking at them.

G. Yes, aren't they ugly!

V. No, they're beautiful. Let me explain something to you. God made all these beautiful children.

G. He did!

V. Yes, He did.

G. There is something I don't understand.

V. What don't you understand?

G. If God made all these beautiful children

V. Yes, He did.

G. Who made the ugly ones?

V. Look George, there are no ugly children. Well, not in this class anyway. In fact, when I look at these children - it is like looking at a beautiful garden of flowers.

G. Yes, look at all the weeds!

V. George, you got the song wrong anyway.

G. I did?

V. Yes. It goes "Red, brown, yellow, black and white." Not "Red, brown, yellow, black and green."

G. Can I sing it again?

V. Alright, have another go.

G. Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red, brown, yellow , black and white. Put them together, and watch them fight!"

V. George, these children don't fight!

G. Sure they do.

V. Look, you still got the song wrong. It goes "They are precious in His sight."

G. What does that mean?

V. Precious means that they are all very special to God. It doesn't matter to God what colour their skin is, whether they are red, brown, yellow, black or white, He loves them all the same.

G. What about the green ones?

V. I don't think there are any green children. But if there were, God would love them just as much.

G. How much does He love them?

V. Well, that's what I come along here each week to teach you. The Bible puts it this way. "God so loved the world"

G. That's everyone.

V. That's right. "That He gave His only Son"

G. Who's that?

V. Can someone please tell George who God's only Son is? - - - - - That's right, it's Jesus, George.

G. Oh, now I remember.

V. "That whoever believes in him"

G. That's so simple.

V. So it is. "Shall not die, but have eternal life."

G. Wow. God loves them heaps.

V. He certainly does. You know George, I think you're getting the picture.

G. Can I sing it again?

V. Alright, but please get it right this time.

G. Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.

V. Well done. Say goodbye to the children, George.

G. Goodbye to the children George!

T.T. 44 - Using Christian songs to teach Biblical truths.

2008-02-12T22:24:00.000-08:00

Teaching tip 44 - Using Christian songs to teach Biblical truths.

Many favourite hymns and popular choruses are rich in Biblical truths. When leading children in singing, it is always good practice to pick out one or two of these truths and explain them to the children - that way the song will be more relevant to them and they should then really know what they are singing about.

This month I am taking a well known hymn and looking at some of the Christian truths it expresses. Next month, I will look at a popular children's chorus.

When I was a young Christian, I remember being struck by the sublime Biblical truths in the well-known hymn "There is a green hill far away" by Cecil Alexander. In particular the third verse illustrates beautifully and succinctly the three reasons why Jesus died.

"He died that we might be forgiven
He died to make us good
That we might go at last to heaven
Saved by His precious blood."

"He died that we might be forgiven." - We have all sinned against God by breaking His Laws and Commandments. Therefore we all need to be forgiven. But on the cross Jesus died in our place. He took the punishment we deserve on Himself so that now we can be forgiven.

"He died to make us good." - Wonderful as it is to be forgiven, that is still not enough. If Jesus died only that we might be forgiven then, because of the selfish nature we are all born with, we would still carry on doing wrong. But God has a much better plan for us than that. He wants to change us on the inside "to make us good." Because Jesus died and rose again, He is able to come into our lives if we ask Him and give us a new God-centred nature. The Bible calls this being "Born again."

"That we might go at last to heaven." - God wants us all to eventually live with Him in heaven. And if you have been forgiven and "born again" then a place has already been reserved for you in heaven.

"Saved by His precious blood." The last line of this verse reminds us of what it cost Jesus to purchase our salvation - The shedding of His own precious blood.

T.T. 43 - Our amazing earth.

2007-10-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

T.T. 43 - Our amazing earth.

God created the earth as it is for the benefit of His 'Special Creation' - us! We are to enjoy it and look after it (including everything that God has created on it, such as the animals) on His behalf.

God made the earth just right for us to live on. Even very small changes in the earth's conditions would make life, as we know it, impossible.

Consider the following ten facts - - - -

1. The earth is about 150 million kilometres from the sun. This is exactly the right distance to hold the temperature between 0 degrees C. and 40 degrees C. on most of the earth. This is the temperature needed to sustain most life. But if the earth were just 5% closer to the sun, not only would it be too hot for us, but the oceans would boil and the water would all evaporate. It has been calculated that even a 2 degree C. rise in the average surface temperature of the earth would be enough to melt the polar ice caps and cause devastating flooding). If the earth were only 5% further away from the sun, the oceans would freeze, making life in them and transport on them impossible.

2. The earth's orbit around the sun is nearly a perfect circle. If, as in the case of most other planets, the orbit were oval shaped (like an egg), the earth would be blazing hot as it approached the sun, and deathly cold as it moved away from it.

3. The earth rotates once on its axis every 24 hours. If it didn't rotate, one side would be day all the time and be very hot, and the other would be night all the time and be very cold. If the earth's speed of rotation were much slower than it is, our days would still be very hot, and our nights very cold. If the rotation were much faster, the wind would blow so strongly that we wouldn't be able to stand up in the open. The length of each day and night is also just right for the amount of sleep we need.

4. The earth is tilted on its axis by about 23 degrees. If it wasn't tilted this way, we would have no seasons. Countries near the equator would be very hot. Those far from the equator would be too cold to grow food - resulting in a world-wide food shortage.

6. The diameter of the earth is about 13,000 Kilometres. If it were only about 10% less than this then, because of the consequent reduction in gravity, most of the oxygen which we need to breathe would escape into outer space. If the diameter of the earth were 10% greater than at present, the increased gravity, and hence air pressure, would cause the polar ice caps to melt - resulting in devastating flooding.

7. Our atmosphere contains about 21% oxygen, which is just right for life on earth. A much higher level would make the planet highly inflammable, but at a much lower level, fire would not burn at all. And we would find it very hard to breathe!

Another type of oxygen is ozone. This forms a layer in our atmosphere which absorbs the very harmful ultraviolet light from the sun and prevents it reaching us on the earth. The problem with ozone is that it is poisonous. So where to we find this ozone layer? About 15 kilometres above the earth's surface, where it can do us no harm.

8. The pull of gravity on the earth by the moon and the sun causes the tides. Tides cleanse the ocean's shores, help put oxygen (that fish breathe) into the water, and help keep the ocean currents moving, preventing the sea from becoming stagnant. If the moon were a little smaller or a little further away than at present, there would be very little tidal action, resulting in even the oceans becoming stagnant and the death of all aquatic creatures. If the moon were a little larger or a little nearer than at present, the tidal action would be too severe, with low lying areas being flooded twice a day!

9. Unlike the earth, the moon doesn't rotate about its axis. This means that the same side of the moon always faces the earth. This side is made up of mostly dark dust, and so it only reflects about 7% of its sunlight to the earth. The other side of the moon is extremely rocky, and therefore very reflective. If this side faced the earth, our nights would be almost as bright as our days, thus making sleeping very difficult.

10. Although we don't know the purpose of all the planets in the solar system, we do know that the two largest, Jupiter (318 times the size of the earth) and Saturn (95 times the size of the earth), with their strong gravities, are in just the right positions to pull many comets and meteors away and prevent them crashing into the earth and killing us all.

T.T. 42 - Commitment to Christ - Two analogies.

2007-10-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

T.T. 42. Commitment to Christ - Two Analogies.

1. The Wedding ceremony.

Jesus wants us to commit our lives to Him. To help children understand what this actually means, we can use the wedding ceremony as an analogy.

Before you marry someone, you first have to meet them, then there will be a time of getting to know them, and finally you decide that you are ready to commit yourself to that person. It is the same in our relationship with Jesus. You hear about Him, you get to know Him, and finally you commit yourself to Him.

In the wedding ceremony you firstly promise to "forsake all others". It is the same in our relationship with Jesus. We promise to forsake all others and give Him first place in our hearts and lives.

Secondly, your marriage relationship is entered into by an act of your will. It depends upon your commitment to your partner, not your feelings. Likewise our relationship with Jesus is dependent upon our commitment to Him, not our feelings.

Thirdly, your wedding ceremony is only the start of your new relationship. This then needs to be worked at and lived out from then onwards. Likewise, our commitment to Jesus is only the first step of our eternal relationship with Him. And this needs to be worked at and lived out every day.

2. Crucifixion.

Paul explained our new relationship to Christ in a slightly different way. He said "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2 v. 20).

What does it mean to be "Crucified with Christ"?

When Jesus was on the cross, firstly He had to face one direction. He could not look back. Secondly, He had chosen this path and had reached the point where there was no going back. Thirdly, His future was entirely in the hands of His Father. He had no plans of His own.

In the same way being crucified with Christ means 1. No looking back. 2. No going back and 3. Having no plans of your own.

T.T. 41 - Symbols of Christmas.

2007-10-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

T.T. 41 - Symbols of Christmas.

At Christmas time we come across many symbols that remind us of the true message of the season. Here are some of them.

1. The Christmas tree.

This reminds us of our sin. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, and Jesus died on a tree to take away our sins by redeeming us from the curse of the law.

Evergreen. The Christmas tree is evergreen, which reminds us of the everlasting life Christ offers all who come to him.

The point. This points heavenwards, reminding us that Jesus came from heaven to be our Saviour.

The Angel. Reminds us that it was an Angel that brought the first Christmas message to some Shepherds, "Fear not, for I bring good tidings of great joy, for unto you is born a Saviour, Christ the Lord." (Luke 2.10,11).

The star. Reminds us that God sent a special star to guide the wise men to the baby Jesus.

The lights. Jesus came to give light to those in darkness, and guide us on our way to heaven.

The decorations. Remind us of the beauty of everlasting life obtained through faith in Jesus.

Depository for gifts. (Usually underneath the tree). Reminds us of the first and best Christmas gift - Jesus Christ, God's gift to the world. We are also reminded that for any gift to benefit us, we need to receive it. If we don't personally receive Jesus into our lives then, as far as we are concerned, He might as well never have come to earth.

2. Bells.

Bells are traditionally rung to announce good news. And there is no better news than God sending His Son to earth on that first Christmas day. They are also rung to announce new beginnings, This reminds us of our beginning a new life in Christ.

3. Holly.

The points of the holly leaf remind us that our salvation was obtained through pain, and the red berries remind us of Christ's blood shed for us.

4. Santa Claus.

This reminds us of God's generosity to us. St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) was a third century Bishop who lived in Turkey. He was a generous man who gave gifts to people anonymously - hence his habit of dropping presents down people's chimneys!

5. The wreath.

The Christmas wreath's never ending ring is a reminder of God's eternal love for us. A wreath on a door is a sign of welcome, inviting all to enter in. This reminds us of Christ's invitation for all to come to Him. The middle of the wreath is a bare and empty space - a reminder of what life would be without Christ's love and grace.

6. Christmas candy.

The red and white striped Christmas candy is a reminder of the stripes Jesus took for us. The red is a symbol for His blood, and the white for the spotless New Life He gives us.

Teaching tip 40 - Made in the Image of God.

2007-07-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 40 - Made in the Image of God.

We are all made in the image of God (Genesis 1.26). This means that we are God-type creatures. When God looks on us, He sees someone like Himself! Thus, we are like God in many ways, and unlike the animals in many ways.

1. 'God is spirit' (John 4.24), so, unlike the animals, we have an eternal (everlasting), immortal (indestructible) spirit. We can be filled with God's Holy Spirit, and pray to God directly.

2. 'God is love' (1 John 4.8), so we can love and worship God, love other people, and know His love. Animals cannot do this.

3. 'God is good' (Psalm 34.8). God is holy and perfect - He never does anything that is wrong - and He commands us to be holy and perfect too (Matthew 5.48). Unlike animals, God has given every person a 'little voice' inside them called a conscience. And this tells us what is right and wrong, warning us when we are about to do something wrong, and making us feel bad if we actually go ahead and do it.

We are different from the animals in many other ways, too.

1. We can talk with other people (as well as with God). Animals signal warnings, aggression or friendship to each other by the sounds they make, by the way they stand or move, by facial expressions, and by odour. However, animals can't speak (or write!) a true language.

2. We can choose what we want to do as a result of thinking about situations and making rational decisions. Animals do things by instinct (Jude v. 10).

3. We cam comfort others in their sorrows and laugh with others in their joys. One animal may help another, but they do not run first-aid clinics or hospitals!

4. We can cook our meals using fire (or electricity). Animals are scared of fire.

5. We can cultivate the fields, planting and reaping crops.

6. We can invent complex things like computer games, musical instruments, paintings, mathematics and aircraft, and use clocks to measure time. Animals can make nests and burrows, but this is the limit of their creativity.

T.T. 39 - Why Christians praise God.

2007-04-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 39 - Why Christians praise God.

Praise is simply talking (or singing) to God about God, and is an essential part of the Christian lifestyle. It is easy to praise God when things are going well, but much more difficult when they are not. But King David said "I will praise the Lord." He didn't say He would praise God when things were going well, but not when they weren't. No, he simply said "I will praise the Lord", because he understood that no matter what our circumstances, or how we are feeling at the time, God is always worthy of our praise.

Here are eight reasons why we should praise God.

1. Because God commands us to - actually 980 times throughout the Bible! Psalm 47 v.1 and Psalm 150 tells us how we should praise God - basically with everything we have.
2. For who He is. No matter what our circumstances, God is still God.
3. For what He has done for us - I am sure we can all write a very long list here.
4. Because He is Lord - God is always in control and He has promised that "All things work together for good, for those who love God." (Romans 8 v. 28).
5. Praise is a powerful weapon against Satan. - When God's people praise him, the devil runs away.
6. Praise is a witness to others - it tells people that we love God.
7. Praise unites believers - When people come together to praise God, their focus is on Him and His goodness, rather than any doctrinal differences different groups may have.
8. Praise brings the presence of God - for example, when Paul and Silas were in jail (Acts 16), their praise brought God's presence, and their deliverance.

T.T. 38 - The progressive revelation of God.

2007-03-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

T.T.38 - The progressive revelation of God.

Many children (and some adults) find it hard to reconcile the "God of the Old Testament" who often appears rather harsh and judgemental, with the "God of love" as revealed in the New Testament.

It may help to remember that, in contrast to other religions, Christianity is a revelation religion. We can only know God's nature through what He chooses to reveal to us about Himself. And God reveals Himself to His people in a progressive way. Consider your own experience. At some point in your life, God must have revealed enough of Himself to you for you to see your need of Jesus as Saviour. But thereafter, your understanding of God's nature would continue to increase. If God revealed all of Himself to us in one go, I am sure it would have been too much for our minds and spirits to handle!

In much the same way God's revelation of Himself to his "special people", the Israelites, as recorded in the Bible, is progressive. Here is an outline of the way in which, over about 2,000 years, God revealed Himself to the Israelites (and ultimately to all mankind). Hence their understanding of His nature gradually increased:-

1900 B.C. Abraham - God is a tribal God (each tribe had their own 'god').
1400 B.C. Moses - God is a Covenant (or Agreement) keeping God (He desires to enter into covenants with His people).
860 B.C. Elijah - There is only one God.
760 B.C. Amos - God is Righteous. (He does not have favourites).
740 B.C. Hosea - God is righteous, yet Merciful.
740 B.C. Isaiah - God is Holy, worthy of worship, and Concerned for all mankind.
620 B.C. Jeremiah - God is a Personal God, desiring to have a personal relationship with us.
30 A.D. Jesus - The Supreme revelation to mankind - "God is love."

T.T. 37 - Children are special.

2006-12-31T13:34:00.000-08:00

T.T. 37 - Children are special.

Some people seem to live their lives as though the only things that matter are "What shall I eat?" "What shall I wear?' "What programmes are coming on Television?" etc. They don't really live, they only exist, just doing the same things day after day. Life is meant to be much more than this. Life should be a great exciting adventure! Life should be all about getting to know God, finding out His plans for your life, and then carrying them out. This is the secret of a really satisfying, purposeful life.

Here are seven reasons why life is meant to be an exciting adventure.

1. We are made in God's image. What is an image? If you look in a mirror, you see your image. You see someone just like yourself. In the same way, Genesis 1 v. 26 tells us that God made us like Himself. We are God-type creatures. When God looks on us, He doesn't say "You are like a monkey - - - or a dog - - - or a cat!" No. He says "You are like Me. I made you in my image." And what is God like? We only have to look at Jesus to see what God is like - totally good, loving, caring, forgiving etc. etc. That is how created us to be.

2. We are Unique. God has created everyone different. There is only one like you! There is not now, there never has been, or there never will be another person exactly like you. Everyone is unique. Even identical twins - although they may look the same on the outside - are different on the inside, in the ways they feel and think.

3. We are Eternal. God is eternal, and because He made us like Himself, we are also eternal. I am not talking about our bodies. They are like houses which we live in for a while. No. I am talking about the "real you", your personality - what the Bible calls your soul and spirit. This is eternal. And that means it will live forever and ever.

4. God made us to be His Friends. Many people wonder what life is all about. Where they came from, what they are doing here on planet earth, and where they are going? The answer is very simple. God created each one of us to be His friends, so that we can enjoy Him, and He can enjoy us , both now and forever. And the Bible tells us that through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, every one of us can become God's friend.

5. We are very Valuable to God. How much do you think you are worth? $1 thousand? $1 million? $1 billion? No, much more than that. In fact you can't put a price on just one human soul, because you are priceless, invaluable. If fact you are so valuable to God that He sent His Son to die for you. You are probably thinking "Oh, I know all about that." But, just think for a moment. If you were the only person who ever lived, God would still have sent Jesus to die for you! That's how valuable each one of you is to God.

6. God has a wonderful plan for your life. As I said earlier, life should be all about finding out God's plan for your life, and then carrying it out. And God's plans are far more wonderful than any you could think of for yourselves. Only doing what God wants you to do will bring real purpose and satisfaction to your life. And nothing is impossible. You can be or do ANYTHING that God wants you to be or do.

7. God wants you to be Victorious. Everyone has difficulties, hardships and troubles from time to time. But God doesn't want you to be defeated by them. No. He wants you to be victorious and rise above them. The Christian life is not one of defeat, but rather one of victory.

Note. There are three object lessons that can be used along with this teaching. These are :-

Point 1. We are made in God's image. Object Lesson 11 (Newsletters 4 and 45). "We are special." - Using 3 ropes. (Email me if you would like the diagram that goes with this).

Point 5. Object Lesson 60. We are very valuable to God.

Get an attractive round gift box, and fit a circular mirror of the same size into the bottom. At the appropriate time say "This is my treasure box. If you were to look in here, you would see something very, very, valuable. In fact, you will never see anything more valuable in your life." Then invite the children, one by one, to come and look into your treasure box. "That is right , you see yourself, and there is nothing more valuable than that!"

Point 7. God want's you to be victorious. Object Lesson 6 (Newsletters 3 and 45) "Defeating Giants." - Using 2 curved cards. (Email me if you would like the diagram that goes with this).

T.T. 36 - Steps to Forgiving others.

2006-10-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

T.T. 36 - Steps to Forgiving others.

Jesus said "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6. 14,15).

Here is a simple three step reminder of how we can forgive others from our hearts.

1. Make a decision. You need to choose to forgive someone that may have hurt or harmed you. Don't wait until you feel forgiving or good thoughts towards that person - because you would probably wait for ever! No. By an act of your will you choose to forgive that person. By doing this you are not saying that what that person did is not important or doesn't matter. No, what you are basically doing is handing that person over to God to deal with in whatever way He chooses. As for you, you have chosen to forgive them.

2. Pray. Tell God about your decision. You could pray a prayer like this. "---------------- hurt me, but I choose to forgive them. From now onwards I will think and act as though that person never hurt me. I know this may be hard at times, but I know you will help me, because your Word says that 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'."

3. Guard your thoughts. Just because you have chosen to forgive a person, and told God about it, doesn't mean that you will never feel unkind thoughts towards that person - perhaps when you see them again, or even think about them. This is when you need to guard your thoughts. Refuse to dwell on those unkind thoughts. Reject them and remind yourself that you have forgiven that person, and then pray that God will bless them. If you continue to do this, you will eventually find that you really have forgiven that person from your heart.

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Ephesians 4.32).

T.T. 35 - Presenting puppet skits and plays.

2006-10-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

T.T. 35 - Presenting puppet skits and plays.

This depends on why you want a group to present a play or skit. If your intention is to present it to a larger grouping, the best way is obviously to get your chosen performers to learn their lines. However, to do this well, usually requires lots of time and rehearsal. If, however, you simply wish to have a play or skit as an alternative way of telling a story, or to complement it - remembering that children are likely to remember more if they participate rather than just hear or see something - then there are a number of alternative ways you could consider.

Puppet skits. I usually record the skit beforehand, and then simply play it back as the children operate the puppets. I use 'different' voices for the different puppet characters. However, if you are not too confident in doing this by yourself, you could use someone else to provide a few of the voices.

I used to hide behind the puppeteers and read the script as they performed. However I soon discovered that with some classes it is not a good idea for "teacher" to remain out of sight for too long! However, I have used older children to read the script in this way, and even had the puppeteers read it themselves

Plays. There are two ways in which I do this. In both cases, I act as Narrator and intermingle with the children as they act out their play. 1. I hold the script in my hand, and simply hold it in front of the characters to read their part at the appropriate times. 2. I whisper the needed words to the actors at the appropriate times. This works especially well for younger children whose reading skills may not be too high.

At face value, both of the above methods seem rather 'clumsy', but you must bear in mind that the purpose of the exercise is not a perfect production, but to involve the children as much as possible. In fact I usually find that children are very keen to act out stories in this way - especially if there is plenty of action.

Check out http://christianstoriesandplays.blogspot.com for all my plays and puppet skits.

Teaching tip 34 - Religion or Christianity.

2006-09-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 34 - Religion or Christianity.

If I were to ask people to name some of the things God loves, I would probably get answers such as :- People, Righteousness, Truth, Obedience and Faith. If I were to ask them some of the things God hates, I would probably get answers such as Sin, Sickness, Death and the Occult. However, one answer that I probably would not get - yet I believe it rightly belongs to the list of things God hates - is Religion!

Some of you may be thinking "Oh come on Teacher, you must be kidding. Aren't you here to teach us Religion?" No. I go to groups to teach them Christianity, not religion. And there is a vast difference between the two. In fact, they are actually opposites. Basically, religion is about people trying to reach up to God, or please Him, by following a set of rules - which they will invariably not be able to keep. On the other hand, Christianity is about having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is all about God reaching down to us through His Son, Jesus. A true Christian then is someone who realises he is a sinner, that he is incapable of doing anything about it on his own, but accepts God's free gift of forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus.

I really think that religious people (no matter what particular religion they may be following) must be the most miserable people on earth. Why? Because they find they are unable to follow their particular set of rules, and thus feel guilty when they break them. Thus, unlike the pagan, they can't even enjoy their sin! The true Christian, on the other hand, doesn't deliberately sin, but knows that if he does there is always instant forgiveness available. No matter what happens, God will always love him, and his eternal destiny is secure.

But why does God hate religion? For two reasons. Firstly, it keeps people from coming to Christ. Religion desensitises people to their need of Jesus, and leads to a false sense of security. They are "doing their best", so what more do they need? I have personally met many 'good' people who because they are trying to follow a set of rules, cannot see their need of Jesus. It is far easier to witness Christ to an 'out and out' sinner who realises what he or she is, than to a 'religious' person.

Secondly, religion is, and always has been, the cause of most of the world's conflicts. Religious groups of every persuasion tend to be intolerant of others. They think 'their set of rules' is the right one and try to force others to follow them. Thus religious groups are often in conflict with each other, and also often in conflict with other factions of their own 'religion'. As well as the obvious suffering and misery that this causes, it proves a real barrier to evangelism. The most common objection that people give for not considering the Christian message is "Religion is the cause of all the wars in the world." And it is hard to argue with that!

God doesn't call us to 'beat' others into submission so that they will follow Christ. Rather His way is the way of love. We are called to both tell and demonstrate His wonderful love for all mankind.

Teaching tip 33 - Our lives are on loan from God.

2006-09-03T19:59:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 33 - Our lives are on loan from God.

In New Delhi, India there was (and perhaps still is) a toy library where children, who couldn't afford their own, could go to borrow toys. If a child's borrowed toy was carefully looked after, their membership card was stamped with a rose. And if they got eight roses, they were allowed to keep a toy. If, however, a toy was returned damaged, the card was stamped with a cross. If a child got two crosses, their library membership was suspended for one month.

Book libraries work along the same principals. If we borrow a book, we are expected to look after it, and return it in good condition.

What else are we loaned on similar terms? The answer is our lives. God has given us our lives, and He want's us to use them the right way, according to His will. Paul, writing to an early church, put it this way: "Surely you know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God. You are no longer your own. God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honour God." ! Corinthians 6. 19,20.

Teaching tip 32 - Peer pressure

2006-08-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 32 - Peer pressure.

Note. This lesson is suitable for children approaching or going through adolescence.

I want to talk about a time in your lives called Adolescence. This is the time when we change from children into adults. The approximate age range that people go through this process is 11 to 15, with girls usually being about two years younger than boys when this happens - although everyone is different.

During adolescence a lot of obvious physical changes will take place in your body. But as well as this, a lot of changes also take place on your "inside" - such as the way you feel and think about things. It is as though a whole new world opens up to you with new friends, new interests, new opportunities etc. For this reason, adolescence can be a very exciting time. But for many young people it can also be a very tough time.

Adolescence can be a tough time for two main reasons :-

1. Pressure to conform.

This pressure is on us all our lives, but it is particularly strong during our adolescent years. Thus there is a pressure to look the same, dress the same, do the same as your friends. In other words, the pressure is not to be different.

An American Professor once confirmed this peer pressure. He had a group of ten students in their adolescent years. Nine students were "in on his secret" whereas the tenth was not. He was the 'guinea pig'. The Professor drew three straight lines on the blackboard, with one slightly (though obviously) shorter than the others. He told his class that this was an eyesight test and pointed to one of the longer lines, asking how many of the group thought that this was the shortest line. The nine adolescents who had been told beforehand what to do put their hands up. But the tenth student also put up his hand! By doing this he showed that he would rather be wrong than different! The Professor repeated his test with many other groups and found that over 80% of adolescent students would vote for the obviously wrong line rather than appear to be different from their classmates. Thus less than 20% of the students had the courage to vote for the right line and thus appear 'different' from their peers.

Did God make us all the same? No, of course He didn't. You only have to look at each other to see that you are all different. God wants us to be individuals, think for ourselves, and not copy others simply because it is the "fashion" at the time.

2. Low self value.

Surveys have shown that approximately 90% of adolescents have a low self value, or esteem, mainly because they don't like the way they look.

The Bible talks about 'the world'. That refers to people who don't acknowledge God. They may well believe in Him, but they live as though He doesn't exist. The world has a different set of values from true Christians. They believe that the really important things about a person are the way they look, their intelligence, their wealth and (in some countries) their sporting abilities.

1. Your looks.

Most adolescents don't like the way they look. They may think "I'm too short, too tall, too fat, too thin, my nose is too long, my nose is too short, My mouth, eyes, ears are to big or small etc. etc. If any of you are tempted to think like that, I want you to remember two things. a. Nobody is perfect. The only perfect looking people that ever lived were Adam and Eve. Since sin entered this world, everything has been spoiled, including the way we look. b. If you don't like one of your features, e.g. you think your nose is too long, remember nearly everyone else in your age group is thinking something similar about themselves, e.g. they might think their nose is too short!

2. Intelligence.

If you do well at school, pass your exams, go to University, etc., people will admire you. But if you don't do too well at school, most people will not seek your advice or opinion. But because a person has a high I.Q., does that mean that he is a better person than someone wiuth a low I.Q.? No, of course not. What God is most concerned about is not how clever you are, but what you are really like on the inside - Do you love and honour Him? Do you treat others with love and respect?

3. Wealth.

If you have a lot of money, people will want to know you. But is a wealthy person's opinion of more value than a poor person's? No, I don't think so. What matters is how you use whatever you have, not how much you have.

4. Sport.

In some countries, if you are good at sport, you will become a national hero. People will look up to you and make you their role model. But should we attempt to copy a person just because he/she is good at sport? No. It is far better to copy someone who is leading a good life, irrespective of their sporting achievements.

Conclusion.

What do you think is God's opinion of these four 'worldly' values? His opinion is neutral. It doesn't matter to God if you are beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, good at sport or not. What matters to God is what sort of person you really are. Are you using what He has blessed you with (whether big or small) in the right ways?

Teaching tip 31 - Teaching children to P.R.A.Y.

2006-06-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 31 - Teaching children to P.R.A.Y.

Here is a simple prayer pattern that you can teach children so as to help encourage them to get into regular prayer habits.

Preparation. Get a piece of cardboard, and write out the four words as shown below, ensuring that the first letter of each word is larger than the others.

Praise
Regrets
Ask
Yourself

Cut and fold the cardboard in such a way that you can show the word 'PRAY' on its own, and then in turn unfold the remainder of each word as you talk about it.

Teaching. Prayer is talking to God, and I can't think of anything that God likes better than when we do this. We can talk to God anywhere, anytime, and about anything. The most important thing about prayer, however, is that it should be regular. Set aside a few minutes every day to talk to God. Most people find that the best time of the day to do this is either first thing in the morning, or last thing at night, before they go to bed. These are times which you can easily remember, and you are less likely to be interrupted.

There are basically four different types of prayer, and if you remember the word 'P.R.A.Y.' it will remind you of them. You can use this as your prayer pattern as you talk to God.

P stands for 'Praise'. (Unfold the card to reveal the first word). Praise is talking (or singing) to God about God. You could pray something like "God you're good, loving, wonderful, awesome etc." Praise also includes thanksgiving. I am sure you can all think of a lot to thank God for - Your lives, His gift of Jesus, your families, friends, school, etc.

R stands for 'Regrets'. Think back to the last time you prayed, and ask yourself if there is anything you regret - anything that you have done, said, or even thought that you are sorry about. If there is, ask God to forgive you, and He well. Then ask Him to help you do better next time.

A stands for 'Ask'. We can ask God to help others. We can pray for our family, friends, anybody at all and ask God to be with them and meet their needs. The Bible particularly says that we should pray for those in authority over us, e.g. parents, teachers, those in government. If you don't know their particular needs, you could ask God to help them make good choices.

Y stands for 'Yourself'. God encourages us to come to Him and ask for our needs. In fact, Jesus promised that He would give us all our needs. What are some of the things we need? That's right, food, water, clothes, homes, families to look after us, peace (if we are troubled), joy (if we are sad), love (if someone is annoying us), patience (if we are waiting for something). However, God did not promise to give us everything we want - our wants are different from our needs. God likes to bless us, and there is nothing wrong in asking Him for whatever you want. But He knows what is best for you, and will never give you something that would be bad for you. Therefore, His answer to your request might be Yes, wait, or no. (You could do the well known traffic light illustration here).

Conclusion. Let's all say aloud together the four different types of prayer.

P stands for - - - - - Praise.
R stands for - - - - - Regrets.
A stands for - - - - - Ask.
Y stands for - - - - - Yourself.

Application. Following on from this teaching, I often get the children to write out a prayer along the lines I have described. I emphasise that if they do not wish to write a particular type of prayer (e.g. Regrets) that is alright. Finally, I encourage them to conclude by actually praying their prayer.

I will share a few of the children's prayers that have been written in my classes recently. They never cease to bless and/or amuse me.

Children's prayers.

Praise.

"God, you are really caring about other people, especially me."

"God, you are wonderful and fun. You are the best Dad."

"God, you are an angel for helping other people."

Regrets.

"I am sorry for doing everything bad, but I will try to get good, and make my family go to church."

"I am sorry that I don't like my brother a lot."

"I am sorry for strangling my brothers and stealing my mum's money."

"Sorry for swearing sometimes. I didn't know what I was doing. Do you forgive me?"

"Forgive me for asking for something that I never got."

Ask.

"Please help the people who live on the street."

'God, I ask you to help my _________. They seem very dim. So please help them."

"God, can you please look after my poor dog 'Racer' in heaven."

"Can you please help my brother to behave better, because he is naughty all the time."

Yourself.

"Please God, can you be with me wherever I am, even when I am in a different country."

"God, I really like to sing. When I am older I want to sing out loud on stage, and live in a big fancy house."

"God, help me make good choices in life, and can I have an air-rifle."

"God, make sure that I will be a professional soccer player."

"Dear Lord, I have nothing to ask for. I have everything I need. Amen."

"God, if you wrote the Bible, why does it not say "Written and illustrated by God" on the cover of my Bible?"

Teaching tip 30 -Teaching Bible stories as real history

2006-04-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 30 -Teaching Bible stories as real history

In a survey, children were asked who they believed, their Sunday school teacher, or their primary school teacher. Eighty percent chose their primary school teacher. Why? They said that their primary school teacher taught them facts, whereas their Sunday school teacher only told them stories. The children think this because that is how the Bible is taught in many churches; as ethereal stories, disconnected from the real world. Nice stories perhaps, with a moral message - but not describing things that really happened in space and time.

A youth minister at an Australian church is quoted as saying :-

"I used to beat my head against a wall wondering why we lost all our young people at about age 16. In the last few years I've realised that age 16 is when they teach evolution in depth in science. Chatting with some of the students I have also discovered that some of the teachers actually identify the Christian students and make a special point of explaining the differences and difficulties in reconciling Genesis and the "facts" of evolution. It's no wonder we lost them. I come near to tears just thinking about it."

Is it any coincidence that church attendance in the western world has declined dramatically since the teaching of evolution in the schools became widespread, increasingly so since the 1960's?

When teaching a Bible story, I always emphasize to the children that, as it comes from the Bible, it is a true story - it really happened! And for older children, I give them an idea of when and where it happened. I put it in context, showing how it fits into God's overall plan of redemption. Some teachers say "Evolution is not an issue. The children believe my stories." It may be true that evolution is not an issue for most primary aged children, but it will become one when they are older. As Bible teachers we need to prepare them for this future conflict. At the very least, they need to go away from our classes knowing that "teacher" believed that the Bible story he/she told really happened.

When we consider "the beginnings", what it all eventually comes down to is this : "Who are we going to believe?" God - who was there in the beginning, knows everything, is never wrong and cannot lie - or people - who weren't there in the beginning, only know a tiny fraction of all there is to be known, are often wrong, and sometimes lie?

"Scripture answers three basic questions to which the evolutionary theory has no answer whatsoever. These questions concern the origin of matter, the origin of life and the origin of man as a religious being." R.B. Kuiper.

Teaching tip 29 - Memory verses on cardboard discs.

2006-04-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 29 - Memory verses on cardboard discs.
In Newsletter 25, I shared a number of ways in which I teach memory verses (Teaching tip 13). Here is another simple, but popular, method.
Cut out a number of cardboard discs - about 20 cm. in diameter is ideal. Write your memory verse on the discs - one or two words per circle.
Without prior warning, get out your discs, and quickly "skim' them towards the children. State "This is our memory verse. Everyone who has caught a disc, come out to the front and arrange the verse in the right order as quickly as you can. I will time you to see how long it takes you to get it in the right order."
After you have explained the verse, and got the children to repeat it, you can get the children holding the discs to turn them over - one or two at a time - while the class keep reciting the verse until they can do it with no words visible.

Teaching tip 28 - Assurance of salvation.

2005-12-07T22:13:00.000-08:00

Teaching tip 28 - Assurance of salvation.

Three cats were walking along the top of a wall. The first cat's name was FACTS. The second cat's name was FAITH. The third cat's name was FEELINGS. As long as FAITH kept his eyes on FACTS, he progressed well. But as soon as he turned round to see how FEELINGS was getting on, he fell off the wall!

An amusing story, but it reminds us of an important spiritual truth - our salvation depends on our acceptance of the FACT of Jesus' death and resurrection, and not on whether we 'feel' we are saved. In recent years there has been an increasing emphasis on experiencing the presence of God (and there is nothing wrong with that), but we must always remember, especially when relating to children or young Christians, assurance of salvation is based on what Jesus has done for us, rather than how we feel.

I was reminded of this truth a few weeks ago whilst counselling a young girl who had recently made a commitment to Christ. She asked "Why can't I feel God moving in me?" We owe it to our children to adequately explain what salvation is and then, if they do respond to Christ, to assure them of their salvation by explaining clearly that God accepts us on the basis of what He has done rather than on our feelings, which are always changing anyway.

I was once involved in a large after-school Kids club. Most weeks, at the conclusion, an invitation was made for salvation, and usually more than half the children responded. It soon became apparent, however, that largely the same children were responding week after week after week. Why was that? I can only think of two possible answers. Either they kept backsliding each week between meetings or, more likely, they lacked assurance because they didn't really understand what salvation is.

This is how I usually invite children to receive Christ. {Taken from "Teaching tip 8 - Leading a child to Christ (Newsletter 21)}.

I show and explain John 1.12 "To all who received him, He gave the right to become children of God.", stressing the need to receive God's gift of Jesus if we are to become part of His family. I then teach them four simple steps they can take to do this A, B, C, D. I use a folded card which I gradually unfold to show one word at a time as shown below.

Admit
Believe
Consider
Do

Thus, A stands for Admit. We need to Admit we have done bad things, and be willing to turn away from everything we know is wrong in our lives.
B stands for Believe. We need to Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and died on the cross in our place, so that we could be forgiven.
C Stands for Consider. Something to think about. Jesus not only wants to be our Saviour and Friend, He also wants to be Lord of our lives. That means He wants us to put Him first, and live to please Him rather than ourselves. Some people aren't willing to do that, but if you are, you are ready to move onto the final step.
D Stands for Do. We have to invite Him to come into our lives to be our Saviour, Friend and Lord. If we do (and really mean it) we can be certain that He will come in.

Before leading the children in prayer, I will often say at this point :-
"There are probably four groups of people here -
1. Those of you who have already received Jesus. Wonderful, there is no need for you to pray, as once you receive Him, He stays with you forever.
2. Those who haven't received Jesus, but have now considered it, and would like to. You can pray my prayer after me.
3. Those who are still unsure. That's alright. There is no need for you to pray.
4. Those who once received Jesus, but you know you haven't really been putting Him first, and would like to come back to Jesus again. Or perhaps you are not sure if you have ever received Jesus or not. You can all join in my prayer as well, and then you will be sure."

I then lead the children in a simple prayer along the A B C D lines.

Afterwards, I stress that they are now part of God's family, not because of how they may feel, but because God says so " To all who receive Him - - - - - ."

Assurance.

I encourage the children to do two things. Make a note of the date (their second birthday) that they became part of God's family, and tell at least one other person that they have received Jesus into their lives. Then (or the next time I see the child) I will do something dramatic that the child will remember so as to help assure them of their salvation. I say "Watch carefully what I do next." I then stand up, walk around, return to my chair and kick it over. I say "I kicked over that chair. That is a fact. On the (date) at (place) I (Mr Sweetsur) kicked over a chair, and nothing can ever change that fact. In years to come, I might forget that I did it. But if I did forget, does that mean that it never happened? No, of course not. It happened. Or someone may come to me and say "Oh Mr Sweetsur, you're not the sort of person that goes around kicking over chairs." And I might agree with them and deny that it happened. But if I did, does that mean it didn't happen? No, of course not. Even if I denied it, it still happened. That is a fact that can never change.

In the same way if you have received Jesus into your life, that is a fact. It happened and, even if you forgot it or denied it (which of course I hope you don't), nothing can ever change that. You are a child of God - because God says so! - God promised that if you received Jesus , you would become His child. As God cannot break His promise, and you received Jesus, you are now His child."

Teaching tip 27 - New Life in Christ.

2005-12-07T22:10:00.000-08:00

Teaching tip 27 - New life in Christ.

I was once asked if God really preferred the not so good Christian to the good man who is not a Christian?

God's original and chief quarrel with man was, and still is, about the wrong use of his will rather than his method of living. It doesn't matter how 'good' or 'bad' a person is because we have all fallen short of God's standard ((Romans 3.23). The vital question is , are we willing to receive the New Life that God offers us through Jesus Christ?

A Christian (a person in whom Jesus Christ is living) is not different in degree from the non-Christian, but he is different in kind, just as for example, a diamond is different from a cabbage. The one is polished and beautiful while the other is rough and crude, but the one is dead while the other is alive. The one has what the other does not possess to any degree whatsoever - LIFE. This is the difference that God sees between the Christian and the non-Christian.

How can we receive this New Life in Christ? By being 'born again' into God's family following repentance of sin and faith in Jesus. The concept of being 'born again' is sometimes difficult for some children to grasp. I sometimes explain it like this :-

"Suppose I met you out walking your dog. You may say to me "Oh Mr Sweetsur, meet my dog Fido, he is very clever. He is always obedient and can do lots of tricks." That's great, I reply "Is your dog your brother, is he part of your family? Is his full name Fido Smith?" You may well reply "Of course not. He is not really part of my family. We bought him when he was a puppy." I reply "Exactly. To become a real part of your family, someone would have to be born into it, no matter how good or clever they were. In the same way the only way to become part of God's family is to be born into it."

Teaching tip 26 - Head belief or heart belief?

2005-10-24T02:19:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 26 - Head belief or heart belief?

Many children (and adults) say something like "I have always believed in Jesus Christ." We need to teach them the difference between 'head belief' (which many have) and 'heart belief' which is what the Bible means when it talks about "believing in Jesus." Head belief doesn't cost very much and is worth very little. It may satisfy someone's conscience, but it will not satisfy a holy God.

WHAT IS HEART BELIEF?

HEART BELIEF is the kind of belief in Christ that we will have if we are true Christians.

HEART BELIEF is in three parts.

1. We hear a truth.
2. We believe the truth.
3. We commit ourselves to that truth.

For example:

1. We hear a parachute will save us.
2. We believe a parachute will save us.
3.We are not actually being saved by the parachute until we have jumped from the doomed aircraft and committed ourselves to that parachute.

The same principles of belief can be applied to faith in Jesus Christ.

1. We hear that Jesus through his death and resurrection can save us.
2. We believe that Jesus can save us.
3. We are not actually being saved by Jesus until we have jumped from our trust in ourselves or anything that we can do and committed ourselves to Jesus Christ alone.

It is only then that Christ enters our lives to take up His rightful place as our Lord and begins to transform us into the people He intends us to be.

Story - Blondin.

In 1860 the famous French tight-rope walker Blondin walked across the top of Niagara gorge. The huge crowd that had gathered to watch the feat applauded loudly. But them Blondin challenged them "How many of you believe that I can walk back across the rope carrying a man on my back?" Everyone put a hand up. They all believed that Blondin could do this. "Right" said Blondin "Which one of you is going to be that man?" Everyone's hand went down!

Although everybody in the crowd really believed in their heads that Blondin could carry a man across that rope, not one of them believed it in their hearts and were prepared to be that man and commit themselves to the tight-rope walker.

This story is a good illustration of the difference between head and heart belief. Likewise, many people believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died for their sins, but they are not prepared to commit their lives totally to Him. They believe with their heads, but not with their hearts. The Bible makes it clear, however, that head belief will not get us into heaven. Heart belief - a total commitment to and trust in Jesus alone - is what is needed.

Teaching tip 25 - The Ten Commandments.

2005-10-04T02:01:00.000-07:00

The Ten Commandments.

1. "You shall have no other gods before Me" (God should be Number One)

2. "You shall not make yourself any graven image"(Don't bow down to anything but God)

3. "You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain"(Don't use your lips to dishonor God)

4. "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy" (Don't neglect the things of God)

5. "Honor your Father and your Mother"

6. "You shall not kill"

7. "You shall not commit adultery" (Adultery leaves a heart broken)

8. "You shall not steal"

9. "You shall not lie" (a "lying" nine)

10. "You shall not covet" (want what others have)

The Ten Commandments.

When teaching the Ten Commandments, I vary my approach depending on the age and maturity of my class. The following is how I would teach an older group of children.

We all have many rules in our lives - rules at home (things we can or cannot do), rules at school, rules given by the Government, such as the Road rules, and rules given by God, the best known ones being called the Ten Commandments.

Would it be good if we didn't have any rules? For example, suppose you could go to bed at whatever time you liked. Or if the school bell rang, you didn't have to come in from the playground if you didn't want to. Or if you liked the look of someone else's lunch, you could eat it because there was no rule to say that you couldn't. Or if you didn't like the look of someone, you could give them a punch in the stomach!

That may sound good to some of you, but if you didn't have to keep any rules, neither would anybody else. Suppose somebody ate your lunch because they liked the look of it, or gave you a punch in the stomach because they didn't like the way you looked? No, that wouldn't be so good would it? All rules, whether given by parents, teachers, the Government or God are for our benefit. They are not given to us to spoil our fun, but rather to prevent us hurting ourselves or others. (You could give an example here about the possible consequences of disobeying (say) the road rules).

I have a list here of God's rules - The Ten Commandments. The first four concern our relationship with God, and the last six concern how we should treat other people. I will talk about each one in turn, and you can decide whether or not you have kept that particular Commandment. Remember, even if you have broken a Commandment only once, you are still a lawbreaker. You only have to tell one lie to become a liar, or steal one thing to become a thief. (You could give each child a piece of paper, and get them to put a tick or x against each Commandment depending on whether they have kept it or not. Remember to assure them that this is just between them and God, and that you won't be collecting the papers in afterwards).

1. You shall have no other gods before me. God must have first place in our lives. If you love someone or something more than God, you have broken this Commandment.

2. Do not make any image of God. Not many people today make a picture or sculpting of God and worship that. But many people do break this Commandment by making God in their own image. If your idea of God is, or has been, different from the God of the Bible, you have broken this Commandment. For example, some people think that God won't mind a little bit of wrongdoing -as long as it is not too bad, or that if you lead a good life you will go to heaven, or that Jesus is just one of many ways of coming to God.

3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. God and His name cannot be separated. We must always use the name of God and Jesus in the right way - with respect. If you have ever used His name as a swear word, you have broken this Commandment.

4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. God created the Universe and all that is in it in six days and rested on the seventh, as an example of how we should organise our lives. We should take a rest or break from our normal routine one day in every seven. This is also a good day to get to know God better by talking to him, reading the Bible and meeting with other believers.

5. Honour your father and your mother. This means that we should obey them (unless they tell us to do something that breaks God's laws), respect them, treat them well and never talk nastily to them or about them.

6. You shall not murder. Before you all rush to put a tick against this one, wait a moment. Jesus explained what this Commandment really meant. He said that if we hate someone, we have already murdered them in our hearts. So if you hate (or have hated someone) you have broken this Commandment, even if you have not gone on and actually killed them!
7. You shall not commit adultery. This is really a Commandment for grown ups. Husbands and wives should be faithful to each other, stick together and not go off with someone else. Jesus explained, however, that if you thought about doing this - even if you didn't actually do it - you had already broken the Commandment in your heart.

8. You shall not steal. Stealing is stealing! If you steal someone's pencil, it is just as much stealing as if you robbed a Bank of a million dollars! If you find some money in the playground and keep it for yourself - that is stealing. If you borrow a book off someone and don't return it - that is stealing.

9. You shall not lie. There is no such thing as a little lie, a white lie, or a fib. Lying is lying.

10. You shall not desire something that belongs to another. This is sometimes called coveting or envy. It is not wrong to desire nice things, but it is if those things belong to someone else. If your friend has a new bike, computer, or even some chocolates, and you think "I wish I had that instead of them", you have broken this Commandment.

Hands up everyone who has kept all ten Commandments all the time. Oh dear. I am afraid that I have to accuse all of you with your hands up (and there usually are a few) of breaking Commandment number 9 - You shall not lie! The Bible tells us that everyone has broken God's Commandments (Romans 3.23). Some people have led very good lives and broken only a few Commandments. Some people have led very bad lives and broken most or all of the Commandments. Most of us have led lives between these two extremes. But no-one has kept all the Commandments all the time.

At this point I will illustrate the seriousness of sin by conducting Object lesson 34b (Everyone has fallen short of God's standard) and 34a (all sins are equal). These are reproduced below.

Thus we are all lawbreakers, and the penalty is death i.e. separation from a holy God (Romans 6.23). You are now probably thinking "Those Commandments are pretty tough. Does God really expect us to keep them all?" No. God knows that because of the selfish nature we are all born with, we are incapable of keeping His Commandments all the time. "Why then does God give us Commandments if He knows that we are unable to keep them?" The answer is so that they will be like a schoolteacher to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3.24). In other words, if there was no Commandment saying "You shall not steal" we wouldn't know we were doing wrong when we stole. If there was no Commandment saying "You shall not lie" we wouldn't know we were doing wrong when we lied etc. etc. It is only because we have the Commandments that, as we break them, we realise we are lawbreakers in need of forgiveness and help in keeping God's rules.

That is the bad news. Now for the good news. Someone did keep all the Commandments. Someone never sinned. Someone did pass the test. His name is Jesus - and He did it all for us. Jesus is God. He didn't have to keep His own rules. But because He loves us, He became a man, and passed the test on our behalf. And after keeping all the Commandments, Jesus died on the cross in our place so we can be forgiven.

(Note. The Bible teaches that death is the result of sin. We are only going to die because of sin. But because Jesus never sinned, He is the only person who never needed to die. He chose to die in our place, however, so we could live forever with God).

Conclusion. If you have only ever broken one Commandment once, you are still a lawbreaker and need to ask Jesus to come into your life to forgive you. And if you put your trust in Jesus, He will help you to do better in keeping the Commandments. No-one will ever become perfect, but as you keep living for Jesus there will be an ongoing improvement in your being able to keep the Ten Commandments.

Object Lesson 34. The seriousness of sin.

Many children tend to categorise sin into big sins (e.g. murder) and little sins (e.g. a lie). Here are two illustrations you could use to help them understand that in God's sight all sin is serious.

a. Hold in one hand a crumpled piece of paper, and in the other a small but heavy object (e.g. a battery). Tell the children that the paper represents what many people think of as "little" sins like lying and swearing, and that the heavy object represents what many think of as "big" sins like murder and robbery. State that you are going to drop both objects to the floor at the same time. Ask the children which object they think will reach the floor first? Most should say the heavy object.

Drop both objects. They will reach the floor at the same time. (You may wish to repeat the exercise). State that sin is like that to God. The lighter or smaller sins are just as serious to Him as the weightier ones, for all wrongdoing is sin (1 John 5 v. 17).

b. Ask the children to imagine that both they and you are going to take a maths test where the pass mark is 100%. State that they - being really clever - get a mark of 98%, but that you - being not too good at maths - only manage 2%.

Ask the children how you have done - passed or failed? You have failed.
Ask the children how they have done - passed or failed? They also have failed.

Explain that although the children did much better than you in this imaginary test, they still failed. State that in life some people have led really led really bad lives and, rather like getting a mark of two out of a hundred, fall far short of God's standard, which is perfection. State that other people (give a few examples) have led wonderful lives, but no matter how good they have been they still come short of God's standard. Most people come somewhere between these two extremes, but the good news of the Gospel is that one man, Jesus, did lead a perfect life and reach God's standard. The even better news is that Jesus did it for us, and then died on the cross in our place, so that we could be forgiven - no matter how short of God's standard we have come.

Teaching tip 24. Knowing Jesus or knowing about Jesus?

2005-08-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Knowing Jesus or knowing about Jesus?

Many children don't understand the difference between knowing someone and knowing about someone. It is essential. of course, that we teach them how they can know Jesus personally as opposed to simply knowing about him.

Being British, I use the illustration of the Queen. I say "I know a lot about the Queen. I know what she looks like, I know who she's married to, I know where she lives, I know the names of all her children. But I have never met her. Although I know about her, I don't actually know her. If she were to walk into this classroom today, I might say 'Hello Your Majesty', and she may well reply 'Who are you? I don't know you.' And, of course, she would be right because we had never met before.

It is the same with knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Jesus. Many people know lots about Jesus. They may have read the Bible many times and know all about the wonderful things He said and did. But many of them have never actually met him. They don't know him personally, they only know about him. And the only way anyone can get to know him for themselves is by accepting him as their Lord and Saviour.

Teaching tips

2005-06-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

Teaching tip 23 - The Good Samaritan.

Play - The Good Samaritan.

After telling the parable of the Good Samaritan, I get some of the children to act out the following play, which I have set in the present day.

Characters.

A schoolboy.
Three or four robbers (I use girls, as boys sometimes get too rough!).
A Sunday school teacher.
A Politician.
A gang member (from a well known gang).
The gang member's motorbike (Boy walking on hands and feet).
A hospital receptionist.
Narrator (I usually do this myself as I prompt the children to act out the story).

Narrator. One day a boy was walking down _________ (name of local street). He was returning to school to do some extra work in the library. Suddenly three or four really tough, mean looking robbers jumped out from behind a bus shelter and attacked him. They beat him up, stole all his pocket money and ran off leaving him lying injured on the road.

Shortly afterwards a Sunday school teacher came walking down the road. Surely she will stop to help the injured boy. She came right up to him, looked at him for sometime and then said - - -

Sunday school teacher. "Poor little chap. I would really like to help him, but if I do I will be late for my Sunday school class, and I am teaching them about loving each other - and that is so important!"

Narrator. So the Sunday school teacher crossed over to the other side of the road and carried on her way to her class, leaving the injured boy still lying on the road. Shortly afterwards a Politician (Member of Parliament / Senator) came down the road. Surely he would do the right thing and help the injured boy. He also came up to the boy, looked at him, but then said - - -

Politician. "This boy is badly injured. Someone will have to take him to a hospital, but I have an important meeting with the Prime Minister (or President). We are to discuss better care for hospital patients. I just can't spare any time for this boy."

Narrator. So the Politician crossed over to the other side of the road and continued his journey. Shortly afterwards a member of the __________ gang came riding down the road on his motorbike. This man would certainly not help the injured boy. If he stopped at all it would be to see if the boy had anything left worth stealing. The injured boy watched in horror as the gang member stopped his motorbike and came over to have a look at him. Then, to the boy's amazement, the gang member lifted him up, produced a bandage and bound up his wounds. He then lifted the boy onto his motorbike, placed his crash helmet on him, and drove him off to ____________ (nearest) hospital. The gang member said to the hospital receptionist - - -

Gang member. "Look after this injured boy. Give him the very best medical care. Here are a thousand dollars to pay for his treatment. If you spend any more than that, just send me the bill.

Narrator. And so the gang member went on his way, leaving the injured boy to be cared for in the hospital.

CONCLUSION.

"Which of those three travellers really 'loved his neighbour as himself'? That's right - the one you would least expect, the gang member. Everybody loves themselves. Do you hit yourself? Do you lie to yourself? Do you steal from yourself? No, of course not. If you are thirsty, do you say "Oh I can't be bothered to get you a drink right now. You will have to wait"? No, you just go and get a drink. In the same way that you are good to yourselves, Jesus wants you to be just as good to others.

Story - Jesus for tea.

The following story has been around for many years in various forms. The following is the version I use.

A lady once had a dream. In that dream, her telephone rang, and the voice at the other end said "this is Jesus. I am coming for tea with you this afternoon at 4 p.m."

The lady was highly excited at the thought of Jesus coming for tea with her. But then she thought "What can I give Jesus to eat? I know, I will bake him my favourite chocolate cake. Everybody likes that." And then she remembered that her house needed a tidy up. So she set to work making the cake and cleaning up the house.

At 3.30 p.m. the doorbell rang. "Oh no" the lady thought, "Jesus has come early and I still haven't finished vacuuming the carpet - and my cake is still in the oven." On opening the door, the lady discovered that it wasn't Jesus calling, but rather a man and his wife. Politely, the wife asked "I wonder if you could help us out? My husband lost his job a few months ago, and as we hadn't got enough money to pay the rent on our home we were evicted this morning. We have nowhere to stay, no money for food, and it is bitterly cold out here. Could you possibly give us a few dollars so that we could go and get a warm cup of coffee from McDonalds? The lady replied "I would like to help you, I really would, but I just can't spare you the time. I have Jesus coming for tea at 4 p.m. and I am not ready for him yet. Why don't you go and ask some of my neighbours? I am sure one of them will be able to help you. The lady closed the door and finished off her cleaning.

At 3.45 p.m. the doorbell rang again. "Oh no" the lady thought "Jesus is early. I have finished my cleaning, but my cake is still in the oven." This time the caller wasn't Jesus, but a young girl shivering in the cold in her thin, threadbare clothes. She said "It is bitterly cold out here and my clothes are so thin. I wonder if you have any old clothes you could let me have that would be a little warmer than these?" The lady thought for a moment, then said "I do have some warm clothes in my attic that I think would fit you really well. But I don't have time to look for them right now because I have Jesus coming for tea shortly, and the cake I am making him isn't finished yet. If you come back tomorrow though, I will have plenty of time to look out the clothes for you." The lady closed the door and finished making the cake. Now she was ready for Jesus.

At 4 p.m. the doorbell rang for the third time. "Just as I thought" said the lady to herself, "Jesus is right on time." This time, however, a young boy stood on her doorstep. "Please can you help me" he said, "I have had nothing to eat all day, and I am very hungry. I wondered if you would give me a little food?" The lady replied, "I have just taken a chocolate cake out of the oven. I am sure you would enjoy it - - - - but, I'm sorry I can't let you have a slice right now. Jesus is coming to have tea with me very soon. I have made this cake for him, and I couldn't possibly offer it to him with a slice already missing. If you come back tomorrow though, you can have all the cake that is still left." The lady shut the door and began to wait for Jesus' arrival.

At 4.30 Jesus still hadn't arrived. At 5 p.m. the lady was still waiting. At 5.30 she began to think that Jesus wasn't going to come. At 6 p.m. her telephone rang. The voice at the other end said "This is Jesus." "Oh Jesus" replied the lady "Where have you been? You were supposed to come for tea with me this afternoon. Why didn't you come?" Jesus replied "But I did come. In fact I came three times - and each time you sent me away with nothing!"

CONCLUSION.

If Jesus were to come into this classroom while you were all eating your lunch and say "I am hungry", I am sure that you would all jump up and say to him something like "Jesus, please share some of my lunch. I will be delighted to give you some." If, however, a stranger were to come into the classroom and say "I am hungry", would you all still be so willing to share your lunch with him? Probably not. You may say "Why should I share with you?", or "Why don't you go and get your own lunch?"

Jesus taught us that if we give to others, we are actually giving to him. But if we refuse to give to others who are in need, we are refusing him (Matthew 25. 34-36). I have news for you. Jesus is not going to visit you in person. But as you go through life you will meet many people in need that you could help. Remember therefore, if you do give to them, you are actually giving to Jesus, but if you refuse to help them you are really refusing Jesus.

Teaching tips.

2005-02-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

Teaching tips from Maurice Sweetsur ( mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz ).

Title.

Teaching John 3.16.
Overcoming discipline problems - by making your lessons fun and exciting.
1. Getting children to pray in public.
2. How we should pray (A lesson from blind Bartimaeus).
3. Ideas for teaching the David and Goliath story.
4. Ideas on teaching about Creation.
5. Developing good habits.
A. Teaching children how to make right choices.
B. Teaching children to be generous givers.
6. Use of Balloon modelling in Children's ministry.
7. Use of Ventriloquism to teach class rules.
8. Leading children to Christ.
9. Noah's ark and the flood.
10. Use of storytelling.
11. What is love?
12. The Lord's prayer.
13, Teaching Memory verses.
14. What's in a name?
15. Telling the C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S. story.
16. How God speaks to us.
What do children believe?
17. Ideas for teaching about Zacchaeus.
18. Jesus Understands (Easter).
19. Teaching Bible stories in context.
Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what we believe?
20. Creation and Evolution.
21. The lost sheep.
22. The lost son.

Teaching John 3.16.

Story - A soldier gives up his life for his friends.

This story is taken from the film "Bridge over the river Quay." I cannot vouch for the details being 100% accurate, but you will get the overall picture.

During World war ll, some British soldiers were taken captive by the Japanese, and made to work very hard building a railway track through the jungle in Burma.

One day, the Japanese guards discovered that an axe was missing from the storeroom. Naturally, they thought that one of the British soldiers must have stolen it. The camp Commander lined all the British soldiers up, and asked for the man who had stolen the axe to step forward, because they were going to take him away and shoot him. Nobody moved.

"Very well" the Commander said. "I will give you one last chance. If the soldier who stole the axe doesn't step forward right now, I will choose one soldier at random and shoot him instead. Then, if the guilty soldier still doesn't own up, I will keep on shooting other men until he does so. Will the soldier who stole the axe step forward now." A soldier took one step forward. He was taken away and shot.

Sometime later, the guards checked on the storeroom again. To their surprise they found that all the axes were present! They had made a mistake the first time they had counted. Nobody had stolen an axe.

That British soldier had not stolen an axe. In fact, he had done nothing wrong. What he did do was give up his life so that his friends might live. What do you think the other British soldiers thought of their friend when they found out he had given his life that they might live? If, in someway, they could have communicated with him, what do you think they would have said? I think they would have said something like this. "Words cannot express how grateful I am to you. You gave your life for me. Now I am going to give my life over to you. Wherever you want me to go, I will go. Whatever you want me to do, I will do." I think that would have been the natural response.

What a wonderful act it was for that soldier to give up his life for his friends. But do you know that Jesus gave up his life for you BEFORE you were His friends (Romans 5.8). What is your response to Jesus? Do you say "so what" or " who cares." I know what my response was. As soon as I realised that Jesus had died for me, I said to him " Words cannot express how grateful I am to you. You gave your life for me. Now I am going to give my life over to you. Wherever you want me to go, I will go. Whatever you want me to do, I will do."

John 3.16.
I often introduce this scripture by showing the word GOSPEL down the left of a card, explaining what it means - Good news about Jesus Christ, and then uncovering the rest of the card to show the verse in full, as shown below.
God so loved the world that he gave his
One and only
Son that whoever believes in him shall not
Perish, but have
Eternal
Life. John 3.16.

Having got the children to repeat the verse a few times, I then get them to make it more personal by replacing "the world" and "whoever" with their own names, and then repeating a few more times.

Another way of teaching this verse is to explain each part as you read it - as per the illustration below.

God (the greatest Person) so loved (the greatest extent) the world (the greatest company) that He gave (the greatest act) His one and only Son (the greatest gift) that whoever (the greatest opportunity) believes (the greatest simplicity) in Him shall not perish (the greatest promise) but have (the greatest certainty) eternal life (the greatest possession).

Another way of teaching this verse is to explain each part as you read it - as per the illustration above. I then often conclude by getting the children to do the illustrated word search (see above).

Overcoming discipline problems - by making your lessons fun and exciting.

There has been much written about how best to discipline 'problem' classes. I certainly don't profess to be an expert on the subject, but I would like to share my own experience in the hope that it will be a help to you.

When I first started teaching Bible classes, I had my share of discipline problems, especially from the older boys. I soon realised, however, that many children were causing trouble simply because they were bored with my lessons!

I therefore determined to make my lessons more fun and exciting. I believe that this is something we must all do, otherwise many of the children - even if they don't actually misbehave - will simply "turn off." Fortunately, there are many ways we can do this. Here are a few suggestions.

Tell familiar stories from unusual angles, to keep the children guessing. e.g. The Good Samaritan from the point of view of the donkey, Daniel, from a lion's viewpoint, Jonah, as seen by the large fish, David and Goliath from the Giant's perspective. (Don't mention the Giant's name till the end - to keep your class wondering!). etc etc.

If your class is well behaved, use skits involving the children - most Bible stories can be adapted to be told in this way. If your class cannot be trusted to do this properly, use puppet skits. I record the skit beforehand, and get children to operate the puppets. Check out http://www.puppetresources.com/ for an extensive array of skits.

Use ventriloquism.You don't need a special dummy. A hand puppet will do. And you don't have to be expert. If you use good material, the children will love it, and won't mind if they see your mouth moving a little.

Teach memory verses in lots of different ways. The number is only limited by your own imagination.

Review your teaching with quizzes. Noughts and crosses (tic tac toe) is a popular way to do this.

Dress up as a Bible character, and tell his/her story with a monologue. Nebuchadnezzar, telling about the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace, and the cripple who was brought to Jesus by his four friends, have worked well for me.

Use lots of object lessons to illustrate your teaching points. Better still, use illusions, which are essentially object lessons with "special effects." Many illusions are very easy to do, but will still baffle your class. Two excellent sources of illusions are http://www.childrensministry.org/ and http://www.onewaystreet.com/ (which also has an excellent range of ventriloquism skits). Also, many illusions, especially those involving paper cutting or ropes, cost nothing to do.

Result ? I can now say that I rarely have any discipline problems. I don't think this is because my present classes have generally better behaved children in them, but rather because I am now better able to keep their attention.

I am not saying that we should abandon our programs so as to keep the children entertained, but if they are not happy, they won't learn much anyway and will be put off the church in later years. We can still teach our programs, but we should all be continually searching for more interesting and exciting ways to do it. We owe this both to our children and to the Lord.

1.Getting children to pray in public.

I teach children mainly from non-Christian homes, and in the approximate age range 6 to 11. I have found that it is relatively easy to get the younger children to pray out loud in class, but those aged about 8 and above are more self-conscious, and so less inclined to do so. The following is a technique that I have found to be very effective in encouraging older children to pray in public.

With each new class, I start off the same way, by getting the children to go through a simple routine. I say "God is good." The children have to reply "All the time." I then say "All the time," and the children say "God is good."
When the children are used to this (just one or two weeks), I get different children to do the leading instead of myself. Then after one or two more weeks, I get the children who want to lead to think up their own words to describe God, i.e. "God is wonderful, awesome, powerful, marvellous" etc. etc.

When the children are used to this routine, I say "Today, instead of starting by talking about God, I want you to start by talking to God, by saying God, you're good, wonderful, awesome etc. We won't do the 'All the time' part, but as many of you as want to can participate." Usually there is no shortage of volunteers, and the children have actually started to pray in public.

A few weeks later, I invite the children, if they wish, to make their prayers a little longer, by thanking God for something. So they may pray "God, you're wonderful, and I thank you for sending Jesus." "God you're awesome, and thank you for my mum." etc. To encourage the children, I often compliment them on their prayers. "What a great prayer." "That was a wonderful thing to pray for." etc.

Using this procedure, I find that most children are eager to participate in our opening prayer to God. I have had one or two classes where only a few children would volunteer to pray, but this was easily overcome by offering an incentive. I say, "I have a piece of paper in my pocket, with a number on it. If the number is 1, the first person who prays will get a little prize (e.g. a bookmark), if the number is 10, the tenth person to pray will get the prize, etc." I have never needed an incentive for the following week. Once children "take the plunge" and pray out loud for the first time, they are eager to keep doing it. I usually find that after a few weeks, whenever I enter a class, the hands of about half the children shoot up, indicating that they want to participate in the opening prayer!

2. How we should pray.

I find the story of Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10, Luke 18) ideal for teaching children about how we should pray.

After telling the story, I write out the first four letters of the Beggar's name ( B.A.R.T.) on a card, and talk about each one in turn.

B. Stands for Bold and Persistent. Bartimaeus refused to listen to the crowd who tried to put him off, but just kept on calling out until Jesus heard and answered him. If we want something badly from God, we should come boldly before Him, knowing that He loves us and wants to bless us. We should keep on asking until we get an answer, and refuse to listen to those who may try to discourage us.

A. Stands for Ask and be exact. Bartimaeus knew exactly what he wanted Jesus to do for him. He simply said "I want to see." And that is exactly what he got. Don't pray 'General' prayers like "God bless my family," but rather make up your mind exactly what you want God to do for you, and ask for that.

R. Stands for Remember to Believe. Believing is the only way we can receive from God. Even while he was still blind, Bartimaeus really believed he would be healed, and proved it by throwing off his coat. (This would have almost certainly have been a special Beggars coat - given to him by the Authorities, thus showing he was legally allowed to beg.) If Bartimaeus had remained blind, it is extremely unlikely he would have found his coat again. However, he was so convinced Jesus would heal him, he basically threw away his only source of income! Jesus saw Bartimaeus' faith and said, "Then see, your faith has healed you."

T. Stands for Thanksgiving. After the miracle, Bartimaeus followed after Jesus praising God. We already have many things we can thank God for. Perhaps you can think of some of them right now, and thank Him for them?

3. David and Goliath.

The following is not meant to be a lesson plan, but rather a number of ideas that you may wish to incorporate into any lesson about David and Goliath.

Story. Using my imagination, I usually tell this story from how the Giant (I don't mention his name till near the end) might have seen things - e.g. a huge, strong, man loved fighting, so he joined his country's army and soon became their "Champion." His country went to war with their deadliest enemies, but the giant had a good idea - that he should challenge the enemy's champion to do battle in single combat, with the losing side having to surrender to the victors. With the approval of his King, this he did. - - - - - - - - Eventually someone came out to challenge the giant, but his joy at the prospect of a fight soon turned to disgust when he saw that it was only a boy that was confronting him.

Skit. I then perform a fun skit, playing both parts myself by running from left to right as the two combatants confront each other. When I am the giant, I put on a crown hat marked "Champion", pick up a cardboard sword, and use a deep booming voice. For the boy, I put on a cap, and use a little squeaky voice. Here is some suggested dialogue, but the important thing is to really "throw" yourself into the two characters. Children love it when you overact.

Giant. "Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks. Are you going to beat me with your sticks? Why, I am going to chop your head off, and feed your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field."

Boy. "You come against me with a sword and a spear, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and - - - and - - - and - - - and I'm going to chop your head off, and feed your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field - so there!"

Giant. " Why you cheeky young rascal, I'm going to whip you.
Boy. "No you're not. I'm going to whip you."

Giant. "I'm going to thrash you."

Boy. "No. I'm going to thrash you."

Giant. "Oh yes. You and whose army?"

Boy. "Just me and the Lord God of Israel. We are going to thrash you together."

Giant. "Your God won't be able to help you against me. Don't you realise who I am? I am the biggest. I am the greatest. I am the strongest. No one can beat me."

Boy. " Well, me and my God are going to beat you."

Giant. "That's enough of your cheek (lifting up his sword), prepare to die right now."

The giant took a stride forwards, but the boy reached down, picked up a stone, put it in his sling. The sling went round and round, the stone flew out and hit Goliath (because that was the Giant's name of course) on the forehead. Goliath crashed to the ground, David (the boy's name of course) picked up Goliath's sword and slew him.

And that day, David and the Israelites won a great victory over Goliath and the Philistines.

Question. How was it that David could defeat the giant? Was he bigger than Goliath? No. Was he stronger than Goliath? No. Had he got better weapons than Goliath? No. The answer is that he defeated the giant because he remembered that God was on his side, Interestingly, God was also on the side of the other Israelite soldiers - they were part of God's Special people -, but it didn't do them any good because they forgot that! When they looked at Goliath, all they saw was a giant - a big problem. When David came along, he saw that Goliath was big, but he also remembered that his God was far, far, bigger!

Defeating Giants. At this point I use my Object lesson No. 6, Defeating giants, using the two curved cards to help the children understand that with God on their side, they can also defeat any giants in their lives.

Throwing your giants on Jesus. I usually teach 1 Peter 5 v. 7 - "Throw all your worries on him, because he cares for you." in connection with this story. I explain that there are many "giants" or worries that people have in their lives, e.g. another person who is giving them a hard time, a bad habit, or a fear (e.g. of the dark, nightmares, flying, dying, snakes, spiders, dogs etc.). I get the children to write out the names of their giant(s) on a piece of paper. Then, as I lead them in prayer, at the appropriate time, I get them to crumple up their papers (giants) and throw them on Jesus - imagining Him to be standing at the front of the class. Conclude by emphasising that because Jesus now has their giants, they have them no more.

Object Lesson 39. - Wrestling match. I invite one of the bigger boys to come out for a wrestling match. I explain that it is a "handicap" match - all of him against my little thumb! My volunteer can use both hands, and all he has to do is wrestle my little thumb to the ground! After he has failed to do that, ask "Why wasn't that big boy able to defeat my little thumb?" Answer. Because my thumb, small as it is, is attached to something far bigger - it is attached to me! Remind the children that if they are trusting in Jesus, they are actually attached to God, and no matter how big their "giant" may appear, they will be able to overcome it because God is far, far bigger.

Object Lesson 40. - Samson pad. These are pieces of white plastic, but they look and feel like cardboard. They can be obtained from http://www.onewaystreet.com/ . Take one plastic sheet and one ordinary cardboard sheet (which comes in the same pack), and write on each "GIANT". The two sheets should look identical. Give the cardboard sheet to a small girl, and the plastic sheet to a big boy. Explain that we are going to imagine that both the volunteers have giants to overcome. God is on the side of both of them, but one - and you are not saying which - is like David, and has remembered that. The other is like the other Israelite soldiers who forgot that, and so were afraid of the giant.

Ask the volunteers to defeat their "giants" by ripping up the 'cardboard' into small pieces. It will soon be obvious which one is like David.

Puppet Script. A "fun" play "David and Goliath" can be found on http://www.puppetresources.com/ . It is well worth a look. As with all scripts, you don't have to use it exactly as written, but you can adapt it to suit your particular class of children.

4. Creation.

I can think of no other Bible topic that lends itself to so many fun activities for children than creation. Here are a few examples that you could incorporate into your lessons on this subject.

1. (Object Lesson 41 - The earth, sun and moon). After teaching how God created the earth, sun and moon, get three children to act out their motions.
a. The sun stays still, but always shines (smiles).
b. The earth travels round the sun, rotating as it does so (365+ spins per one circuit round the sun!).
c. The moon travels round the earth, remembering to always keep its same side facing the earth.

I have always found this to be great fun for children of all ages. Usually the 'moon' finds it hard to keep up with the earth, causing great hilarity among the spectators.

You could explain that God has made the conditions on earth just right for life. Even small changes would make life, as we know it, impossible. Ask "What would it be like on earth if - - - ?

1. The earth was nearer to the sun -------- Too hot. (It has been calculated that even a 2 degree C. rise in the average surface temperature of the earth would be enough to melt the polar ice caps and cause devastating flooding).
2. The earth was further away from the sun ------ Too cold.
3. The earth didn't rotate once on its axis every 24 hours ------ One side would be day all the time and be very hot. The other would be night all the time and be very cold.
4. The earth rotated faster than now ------ Very short days and nights, and constant hurricane force winds.
5. The earth wasn't tilted on its axis ------ No seasons. Countries near the equator would be very hot. Those far from the equator would be too cold to grow food - resulting in a world-wide food shortage.
6. The diameter of the earth was (say 10%) less than its present 13,000 Kilometres ------- Because of the consequent reduction in gravity, most of the oxygen which we need to breathe would escape into outer space.
7. The diameter of the earth was 10% greater than at present ------ The increased gravity, and hence air pressure would cause the polar ice caps to melt - resulting in devastating flooding.
8. The moon was a little smaller or a little further away than at present ------ Very little tidal action, resulting in even the oceans becoming stagnant and the death of all aquatic creatures.
9. The moon was a little larger or a little nearer than at present ------ Too severe tidal action, with low lying areas being flooded twice a day!

What a wonderful Creator we have, who not only made the earth just right for us to inhabit, but He also keeps it that way year, after year, after year.

2. (Object Lesson 42 - Gravity). Get a soft, hollow ball and pierce two holes in it close to each other. Thread a piece of string through the holes and tie together. You are now ready to demonstrate the importance of having the right strength of gravity as the earth circles the sun.

Hold the end of the string, and swing the ball round your head. Explain that your head represents the sun, and the ball represents the earth travelling round it year after year at a constant speed. Also, because gravity remains the same, the earth remains the same distance from the sun.

Ask, "What would happen to the earth if God increased gravity a little?" Demonstrate the effect by letting the ball crash into your head.

Ask "What would happen if God decreased gravity a little?" Demonstrate by letting go of the string. The ball will fly off to the other side of the room!

3. (Object Lesson 43 - Can nothing turn into something?). Bring an empty jar to your class, complete with lid. Ask the children to watch the jar for you for a few weeks, and tell you if anything begins to appear on the inside.

After a few weeks, ask the children if anything has begun to grow inside the jar? No. Ask, if you left the jar in the room for a year, with the lid closed, they think something will then have begun to grow - perhaps a little ant? No. How about 10 years? 100 years? A million years? Ever? The answer is still no. Explain that if nothing cannot become something in a few weeks, there is absolutely no reason to believe that it could ever do so. (You may wish to explain that there is actually air in your jar, but if even the air could not turn into something, there is certainly no way that 'nothing' could).

Some people do believe, however, that this did happen. They call it Evolution. They say that a long time ago, there was nothing. But them this nothing, all by itself, managed to become something, and that this something kept changing and changing into all the variety of things we see today, including us! The Bible tells us, however, that in the space of six days God, through His power, created the Universe and everything in it. God not only made everything complete and perfect, He made it all for our benefit - for us to enjoy and take care of.

4. (Object Lesson 44 - Dependence on oxygen). Talk about how God created the air ( or oxygen ), and then demonstrate how dependent we are on this by getting the children to see how long they can survive without it, i.e. how long they can hold their breath. If the oxygen level were a little less than its present 21%, breathing would be difficult. If it were a little higher, the fire danger would be greatly increased.

5. If you do balloon modelling, here is a good object lesson you could use. If not, it could be adapted for use with a toy animal, or even a cut out one. This was first published in Newsletter No. 8, as Object Lesson 20. I will reprint the version more suitable for younger children here. Check out my earlier Newsletter if you minister to older children e.g. nine or above.

Produce your balloon animal and ask. "How do you think this model was made? Do you think it could have been made by accident? Perhaps someone left an uninflated balloon in this room last night, and left the window open. Overnight, the wind blew through the window and into the balloon. The balloon then began twisting itself round and round until it formed the shape of this animal, which you see here now. Finally, the end of the balloon managed to tie itself in a knot to stop the air escaping. Do you think that really happened, or do you think that there is a balloon model maker somewhere who made this animal on purpose?" The children should see the absurdity of the model being able to make itself by accident, and respond. "There is a balloon model maker somewhere." Admit that you are the model maker, and then emphasise the point that everything the children see around them has to have a maker. Watches need watchmakers, shoes need shoemakers, chairs need chairmakers etc. Nothing can make itself.
You will then be able to apply the above argument to the creation of the Universe and everything in it. State "There are some people who believe that the Universe made itself by accident. But the Universe is far more wonderful and complex than a balloon animal, and if even that couldn't make itself, then how likely is it that the whole Universe made itself? No, the Bible teaches us that we have wonderful Creator who made the Universe and everything in it on purpose. And the good news is:- He made it all for our benefit.

6. Give each child a circular piece of plain cardboard (or paper). Ask them to imagine that they are the Creator, and that they are going to create a new world by drawing on their cardboard. Allow a few minutes for this, and give a few suggestions e.g. birds, flowers, animals, people.

When complete, ask the children to close their eyes and imagine the creatures in their perfect world coming alive - singing, laughing, playing etc. Everything is wonderful.

Now ask the children to imagine that something has gone wrong in their perfect world. People are arguing, fighting and killing each other. The animals are killing and eating each other. Weeds are growing among the flowers.

Explain that this is exactly what happened with God's perfect world. The question to the children is, "What should they do about their world that has gone bad?" Give them four options:-

1. Destroy their world. (You will probably find that most children will vote for this option!)
2. Send someone to teach the people how to be good.
3. Go yourself to show the people how to love each other.
4. Give the people the power to change and be good.

Conclude by explaining that God didn't choose to destroy His world, because He still loved it even after it had gone bad. Rather, He chose options 2, 3, and best of all No. 4.

7. My Object Lesson with Dandelions (No.28) on God's provision ( Newsletter No.11) is ideal for helping children to understand how much the Creator cares for all His creatures.
8. There is an excellent object lesson about "an amazing flying machine" on http://www.kidology.org/ Here is a summary.
Talk about all the money and brain power that have gone into making some marvellous flying machines, such as Concorde, the Space shuttle, Stealth bombers, etc. Then say that you are now going to talk about an amazing flying machine that is far more wonderful than all the others put together! This flying machine can take off and land sideways on a vertical wall! It has tremendous manoeuvrability, being able to instantly change direction. It can take off with amazing acceleration. It has the ability to sense danger, and can take off and be out of danger in a split second. If it develops a fault, it can often correct itself, and even has the ability to reproduce itself! "Would you children like to see a picture of this amazing flying machine? Here it is - a fly! (Produce a picture of an ordinary house fly. Note. You can download one from this web site. If you are not a member, I could send you one if you email me). God's creations are far more wonderful than people can make!"
9. Children are fascinated with dinosaurs. You may be able to purchase at reasonable cost a suitable fossil, e.g. a dinosaur tooth, or footprint and take this along to your class to talk about.
10. (Object Lesson 45 - "Made after its own kind."). God made the first of every living Biblical "kind", each with the ability to reproduce 'after it's own kind.' To explain this, take along an acorn. Explain that God created the first oak tree, with acorns (seeds) like this one contained in it. Some of those acorns would fall to the ground and grow into other oak trees, just like their parent tree, with each again containing their own acorns. Those, in turn. would fall to the ground and some would grow into more oak trees containing acorns, etc. etc. And that's how we get oak trees today. You may then wish to apply this argument to other living things, emphasising that cats always produce cats, dogs produce dogs, and people produce people etc.
11. Adam had to name all the different animals, and then he would have to have remembered their names - a remarkable memory feat. My object lesson 29 (Newsletter No.12) enables you to do your own memory feat in front of your class.
12. http://www.puppetresources.com/ have twenty puppet plays listed on the subject of Creation. I must admit I haven't checked them all out, but I found that "God made the world" by Puppet Productions was simple, fun and informative.
13. One question children sometimes ask is "Is there life somewhere else in outer space?" (In fact, if I ask a class how many of them believe there is life somewhere else, apart from earth, usually the majority will put their hands up!) I usually answer the question this way.
"The only Person who knows everything about everything is God. And God has written us a book called the Bible which tells us everything we really need to know about life. Therefore the first place we should go to find out if something is true or not is the Bible. Unfortunately, the Bible doesn't say if there is life somewhere other than on earth, so we cannot know for sure. However, if there is life somewhere else, we do know three things about it.
1. It is not important to us on earth. If it were important, the Bible would have mentioned it.
2. It is younger than life on earth, because God didn't create the sun, moon, stars, and consequently any planets that may be associated with them, until Day 5 of the Creation week.
3. It cannot be superior to us, because we humans were made in God's image - and you can't get better than the best!
The Bible makes it clear that the earth (physically insignificant as it is) is the most important place in our vast Universe. It was here that God created man, that man sinned and consequently brought the whole of creation into bondage to decay (Romans 8.21). It was here that God became a man and was crucified for our sins. And it will be to here that Jesus will return for those of us who are trusting in him."
14. People, especially children, find it difficult to comprehend the vastness of the Universe - and hence the Greatness of God who created it all. Instead of talking about trillions of stars, you could use the Voyager spaceship to help children understand how big our Universe really is.
The Voyager was launched in 1977 to explore the Universe. It travels at a speed of 1.5 million Kilometres a day. Travelling at that speed, it would take the Spaceship :-
30 minutes to travel once round the earth.
6 hours to reach the moon.
3 months to reach the sun.
26 years to reach the outer limits of the solar system (where it is now).
And a massive 40,000 years to reach our nearest star, Sirus! And, of course, there are trillions of stars in the entire Universe, all of which are much, much further away still.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19.1.

5. Developing good habits.

A. Teaching children how to make right choices.

As parents, or teachers, it is quite natural for us to want to warn children of the possible consequences of making wrong choices. In some cases "the wrong choice" is obvious. However, in others, e.g. Halloween activities or watching 'Harry Potter' films, Christians disagree on what "the wrong choice" is.

Rather than 'laying down the law' and often appearing to the children to be spoil sports, a far better approach is, I believe, to concentrate on teaching children to find out what God's will is for themselves. And of course, if they do that, they will make the right choice.

Here are four ways to guide children into making right choices. These apply to all choices they have to make, but we will use 'Halloween' as an example.

1. The popular W.W.J.D. (What Would Jesus Do) bracelet is a good place to start. Ask, would Jesus go to that Halloween party, or go knocking on strangers doors for 'trick or treat' ?

2. What does the Bible say ? This is our Instruction book for life. If the Bible approves or forbids something, that is the end of the argument. Halloween is not mentioned in the Bible of course, because it was written earlier. The Bible does say, however, that we should avoid all kinds of evil. The question then is "Are the Halloween activities, as we know them today, evil?"

3. Ask more mature Christians for their opinions, beginning with your Parents or Bible teacher. As we have seen, however, these may sometimes differ.

4. Go directly to God, and ask Him what He wants you to do. Colossians 3.15 says "Let the peace of Christ rule (be the Umpire) in your heart." If we are about to make a wrong choice, God will remove His peace from our hearts as a warning. Teach the child that God will make His will known to them if they ask him through the presence or absence of His peace. Having prayed first, they should then ask themselves "Do I feel good about going to that Halloween party, or do I feel uneasy about it?" "Is there a presence or absence of peace, when I think about it?" Emphasise to the child that they must approach God with an open mind. If they have already made up their mind to go to the party, and simply want God's approval, He is unlikely to speak to them. If, however, they genuinely desire God's will and have the attitude "Whatever you say Lord, that is what I will do," then He is well able to guide them into making the right choice.

A good way to summarise this teaching is to write out the word "S T O P" on a board or card. Explain that :-

S = Stop. Before you make a decision - Stop.
T = Think. Think "What Would Jesus Do" if He was me?
O = Obey. Obey what the Bible says.
P = Pray. Pray and ask God to make His will known to you.

Object Lesson 46 - Making right choices.

Ask for a volunteer to come out and be tied to a chair with a piece of rope. Ask for a second volunteer to come out and make an important choice.

Produce a glass of water and a sweet (or other suitable reward). Explain that their choice is " In return for this sweet, will you throw this glass of water in the first volunteer's face? He/she is powerless to stop you, because they are tied to the chair." If they refuse, begin to increase the 'reward' on offer - 2, 3, 4 sweets, 4 sweets and a chocolate bar!

If your volunteer refuses to throw the water, tell them they have made the right choice. No matter what 'reward' was on offer, it would always be wrong to throw water in someone's face. State that the Bible teaches us that if we make the right choices here on earth, we will be rewarded in heaven. Give them their reward of sweets and chocolate bar.

If your volunteer says they will throw the water, tell them they have made the wrong choice, and give the 'reward' to their intended victim instead.

Note. It is probably better to choose a girl as your second volunteer as, in my experience, most boys are willing to throw water in someone's face, even in return for one sweet!

Object Lesson 47 - Choosing the right friends.

It is important to teach older children especially about the importance of choosing the right sort of friends.

Preparation. Take two pieces of plain white paper, and smear one with a dark jam (e.g. blackcurrant).

Application. Explain that the 'clean' paper represents them (hopefully), and the 'dirty' paper a friend who does wrong things and gets into trouble.

Ask "What will happen when I rub the two pieces of paper together? The possibilities are :- 1. The clean paper will stay clean, and the dirty paper dirty. 2. The clean paper will make the dirty one clean. The dirty paper will make the clean one dirty."

Most children will realise that the third possibility is the correct one. Demonstrate this by rubbing the papers together.

Conclude by saying "This is usually what happens if you choose a friend that does wrong things - some of their 'dirt' is likely to rub off on you."

B. Teaching children to be generous givers.

I know that Christians differ in their attitude to, and practice of tithing, but I am sure we are all agreed that we should be generous givers. The question is, how can we teach our children to be generous in their giving, both to their church and to other good causes?

If children are asked to give more money to Sunday school (for example), they are most likely to just go and ask their parents for more so they can pass it on. But this has no long-term-value at all.

Our task is not to increase the Sunday school income, but to teach children to be consistent, generous givers. The best way is to teach them, not to ask their parents for more money, but rather set aside a proportion of their normal pocket money each week to give to God's work.

This approach may actually result in an initial reduction of Sunday school income (without mum and dad's contributions), but the long-term benefits, both for your Church and for the children will be immeasurable.

I came upon a very simple object lesson on giving on http://www.kidology.org/ (Four give away one equals 8).

Basically, you take a piece of paper, and say you are thinking of giving away one of the four corners. You are concerned that if you do so, you will have less corners for yourself, but decide to give a corner away anyway. Cut off a corner, and give it to someone. What has happened? You now have five corners, and the person you gave the one corner to has three! You could continue, giving away more corners, and the people you give them to, in turn, giving some away. This is God's way of working. The more you give, the more you have!

Teaching Tip 6. Use of Balloon modelling in Children's ministry.

Being able to make simple balloon models is, I believe, a very useful technique to have at your disposal for enhancing your lessons. Younger children, in particular, are always thrilled to see someone make a balloon model.

The main reasons why most teachers do not do balloon modelling is because they think it a hard (or expensive) thing to do, or because they don't know how they could use it in their classes. I will endeavour to answer both these points.

A. With just a little practice, most people find it easy to make basic balloon models - personally I find it a lot easier to make a balloon giraffe (for example) than to draw a picture of one! There are lots of booklets available on balloon modelling, but I think the best way to start is simply to get some balloons and try it yourself. Here are some tips :-

1. Probably the most used modelling balloons are Qualatex 260Q. If you buy in bulk, these are very inexpensive, and would probably cost (depending on what country you are in) about U.S. 10c. each - less than the price of the cheapest Bookmark, for example. You will almost certainly need a balloon pump (unless you have very strong lungs!), but again these are fairly cheap.

2. When you blow up a balloon, leave about 3 or 4cm. uninflated at the end - this is for the air to expand into as you begin your twisting. Then let a little air out before you tie the end of the balloon. This should ensure that the balloon doesn't burst as you are shaping it.

3. Basic balloon animals have the same shape. They differ only in their dimensions. Thus, for all of them, you twist a head, two ears, a neck, two front legs, a body, and two back legs - leaving a little over for the tail. Each animal will simply have a different 'long' section. For example, Rabbit - ears. Giraffe - neck. Dog - body (a 'sausage' dog). Cat - tail. Practice a little, and you will soon see how easy it is.

4. The Children's Ministry Today web site ( http://www.childrensministry.org/ ) has an extensive section on Balloon modelling tips - well worth a visit, especially if you are contemplating making more complex models.

B. Balloon models can be used in many different ways in your class. Here are a few suggestions :-

1. As an inexpensive prize. e.g. Best behaved child, or as a reward for remembering a Memory verse.

2. To illustrate any story (Biblical or otherwise) involving an animal.

3. As props for a play or skit. e.g. a sword or a crown (both very easy to make).

4. To have a 'fun' competition among the children. Choose two teams of three or four each. Give each member an inflated balloon, and keep one for yourself. Make a simple balloon animal, and get the children to try and copy you as you are doing so. On completion, get someone to give marks (e.g. out of 10) for each model. Total up the marks to see which team is the winner.

5. My Object Lesson 8 illustrates how we must receive God's gift of Jesus. You could use a balloon model to demonstrate this. In case you haven't seen this lesson, I will paste it on below.

O.L. 8. Receiving Jesus.
This is an illustration that I use following teaching on John 3.16. All you need is a small gift. I usually make a balloon animal (as the gift) while I am talking about it.
State that John 3.16 talks about a giver (God), a gift (Jesus) and a receiver (Us). No matter how wonderful any gift is, it will not do you any good unless you receive it. I have a gift here (produce or begin to make your gift), but unless you receive it, it is no good to you at all.
Some of you may say "I don't want your gift" Well, if you don't want it, you won't get it, because I will not force you to take it.
Some of you may say "I don't believe it. It's too good to be true. Teacher must be tricking us." Well, if you don't believe it, you can't receive it.
Some of you may say " I will think about it" There is nothing wrong in thinking about the gift, but all the time you are thinking about it, it is not yours and it is not doing you any good.
Some of you may say. " I will have to earn the gift. I will have to sit up straight, be really quiet and still, and then perhaps "teacher" will notice me and give me the gift because I deserve it." Well, I like you behaving that way, but that's not the way to get the gift because it can never be earned.
But one of you may simply say to himself / herself " Yes, I want that gift," and get up, walk out to the front, take hold of the gift, and it will be theirs.
It is exactly the same with God's gift of Jesus Christ to the world - and the Eternal Life He brings with him.
Some people say to God "I don't want your gift of Jesus. I want to live my own life, go my own way, do my own thing." Much as God still loves them (they are still part of the world) He won't force His gift of Jesus on anyone. We must choose to receive Him.
Some people say. "I don't believe in the gift. I don't believe in Jesus. I don't even believe in God." Well, if you don't believe, you can't receive.
Some people say. "I will think about the gift. Perhaps when I am older I might receive God's gift." There is nothing wrong with thinking about the gift, but the problem is many people never make up their minds, and so always miss out on what God wants to give them.
Some people ( in fact most people ) think they have to earn God's gift. They say. " I will have to be very good. I will not have to do anything bad. I will have to go to Church or Sunday school every week. I will have to say my prayers and read my Bible every day. Then, perhaps, God will be really pleased with me and give me His gift of Jesus." These are good things to do, but you can never earn God's gift.
But some people say "Yes, I want to receive Jesus into my life," and do so by faith - by simply asking God for His gift of Jesus, and believing that they receive Him.
At this point, you will probably still be holding your gift - unless there is someone very smart in your group who has taken you at your word and received it already! You will probably have to keep prompting until someone comes out and receives it. You could say:-
"Well, it is still here."
"I wonder who will be first to believe me. All you have to do is take it."
"You won't get it by thinking about it, or by sitting up straight, but someone could come out and receive it."
When someone receives your gift, state that they didn't deserve it or earn it, but they got it because they were the first to believe that all they had to do was take it.
Conclude by stating that unfortunately you only had one gift, but the good news is that there is enough of God's gift of Jesus for everyone. There is no need for anyone to miss out.
If appropriate, you could then lead your group in a prayer to receive Jesus.
6. Making balloon models in front of your class are excellent ways to teach about Creation. I will paste on my object lesson 20 as an example.

O.L. 20. Creation.

When introducing the topic of Creation, I usually start by emphasizing the point that there are two things that only God can do.

Firstly, although people are very clever, and can do such things like land a man on the moon, invent televisions or computers, they cannot make something out of nothing. Given starting materials, people can often change their properties - size, shape, colour, texture etc., but they cannot make something out of nothing - only God can do that.

Secondly, people cannot make something that is living out of something that is not living. Again, only God can do that.

I then proceed by stating that I am now going to re-create two of the creatures that God first created on the fifth and sixth days of the Creation week. I then make a balloon bird (or fish) and a balloon animal, continuing my talk as I do so. ( If you don't do balloon modelling, you can still get your point across by simply cutting out appropriate shapes from pieces of paper).

As you make the shapes, emphasize that you are starting with something that already exists e,g. your uninflated balloon and some air. Then state that for anybody to make anything ( whether it be a watchmaker, a car-maker, a shoe-maker, or a balloon animal maker) only two things are needed - Know-how ( or intelligence ) and Power ( or energy ). Without power, your idea will remain only in your head, and without know-how (or an intelligent plan), you will just make a big mess!

As your models near completion, ask "If I had more know-how, do you think I would make a better or worse model?" The children will respond "better." Then ask "The Bible tells us that God has all know-how (He knows everything and is super-intelligent), so how good do you think God could make things?" The children should respond "very good" or "perfect." Then state " That's exactly right. The Bible tells us that in the beginning, God created a perfect world."

Then ask "If I had more power, do you think I could make these models faster or slower than I can now?" The response will be "faster." Then ask "All the power in the Universe belongs to God, so how fast do you think He could make things?" The children should respond "in a split second" or "instantly." State "That's exactly right. The Bible tells us that God not only created a perfect world, but He also made everything in it instantly - just by speaking."

Alternatively (for a younger class) you could simply produce a balloon animal which has already been made, and ask "How do you think this model was made? Do you think it could have been made by accident? Perhaps someone left an uninflated balloon in this room last night, and left the window open. Overnight, the wind blew through the window and into the balloon. The balloon then began twisting itself round and round until it formed the shape of this animal which you see here now. Finally, the end of the balloon managed to tie itself in a knot to stop the air escaping. Do you think that really happened, or do you think that there is a balloon model maker somewhere who made this animal on purpose?" The children should see the absurdity of the model being able to make itself by accident, and respond "There is a balloon model maker somewhere." Emphasise the point that everything the children see around them has to have a maker. Watches need watchmakers, shoes need shoemakers, chairs need chairmakers etc. Nothing can make itself.

You will then be able to apply the above argument to the creation of the Universe and everything in it. State "There are some people who believe that the Universe made itself by accident. But the Universe is far more wonderful and complex than a balloon animal, and if even that couldn't make itself, then how likely is it that the whole Universe made itself? No, the Bible teaches us that we have wonderful Creator who made the Universe and everything in it on purpose. And the good news is :- He made it all for our benefit.

I hope that the above will encourage you to at least think about incorporating balloon modelling into your lessons.

Teaching tip 7. Use of Ventriloquism to teach class rules.

I have taught many different classes over the last ten years, and the general group behaviour has varied considerably. Fortunately, today, most of my classes are fairly well behaved. However, even for the well behaved classes, I think it advisable to have a few simple rules. That way the children will know and understand when their behaviour is unacceptable. Having class rules is also a good introduction to teaching on God’s rules (e.g. the Ten Commandments).
Note. Many teachers do not use Ventriloquism in their classes because they are not 'experts', and fear the children will notice their lips moving. Don't worry! If you have good material ( and One way street http://www.onewaystreet.com/ have some excellent scripts), the children won't mind if your lips are moving, and will love it anyway.
Paul Anglemyer has posted an interesting skit ‘The Rules’ on the Children’s Ministry Today ‘Vault’ (http://www.childrensministry.org/) for teaching class rules using a Ventriloquist’s doll. I have adapted and expanded on this skit for my own classes using my Ventriloquist’s doll ‘George’. I proceed as follows.
Write out your ‘Kool’ Rules and display them prominently.
Kool Rules.
1. Be quiet.
2. Don’t be a space invader.
3. Stay seated.

4. HAVE FUN.
Self. George, I want you to teach these children our four ‘Kool Rules’. Can you remember the first one?
George (Excited). Yes, I remember, I remember. The first rule is Everyone Shut up, Shut up, Shut up.
Self. George, it’s rude to say ‘Shut up.’ But we do want the children to be quiet while I or any other Leader is talking. That way, everyone will be able to hear what is being said. If anyone wants to say something, they need to put up their hand. Then I may, or may not, ask them to speak. But at all other times they need to be quiet.
George. That is what I said. Everyone Shut up, Shut up, Shut up.
Self. Alright, I think they understand the first rule. Now, do you remember the second Kool rule?
George (Excited). Yes, I remember. The second rule is:- No punching. No kicking. No fighting. No pinching. No spitting. No scratching. No biting. And No Kissing.
Self. I wouldn’t have put it quite like that, but we do want the children not to be space invaders. Everyone must respect other people’s space. So you need to keep your hands, feet and other parts of your body to yourselves. Now George, do you remember the third Kool rule?
George. Yes, the third rule is ‘Stay seated.’
Self. That’s exactly right.
George. I know how we can make them all stay seated.
Self. How?
George. Super glue. We stick them all to the floor or their chairs with Super glue. That way, they won’t be able to get up!
Self. That’s no good George. There may be times when we want them to get up to do something.
George. No Super glue?
Self. No Super glue. But I think they will remember that rule. Now George, I am sure you remember the last and most important Rule of all?
George. Mmmmm. I’ve forgotten.
Self. Come on George, try harder.
George. Mmmmm. Oh yes, now I remember. The last rule is No fun.
Self. No fun?
George. That’s right. No fun. Nobody is allowed to have fun.
Self. No George, it’s the opposite of that. The last rule is Have fun. Everybody has to have fun.
George. Everybody has to have fun?
Self. Yes, that’s the rule. Everybody has to have fun.
George. I don’t like the sound of that. What happens if somebody doesn’t have fun?
Self. But they have to have fun. That’s the rule.
George. But suppose somebody isn’t having fun. What happens to them?
Self. Tell me George, are you having fun?
George. No, I am not.
Self. Then this is what happens to someone who is not having fun. (George is quietly put away into his case)!
Poor old George. I don’t think he likes our last rule. But we aren’t given rules so that we will like them. We are given rules so that we will keep (or obey) them.
We get rules from many different sources. God has given us rules to live by, and these can be found in the Bible. The Government gives us rules, about things like paying our taxes or crossing the road. You have rules at school, and I am sure you have rules at home – things you can or cannot do. Some rules you probably like, and some you don’t. The most important thing to remember about rules – no matter where they come from – is that they are not given to us to spoil our fun. Rather they are given to us for our own benefit and protection. If we keep the rules, we are not likely to hurt ourselves or others.
Now, lets all say together our four Kool rules. But you have to shout the last one out, to make sure that George hears it!

Teaching tip 8. Leading children to Christ.

Leading a child to Christ is an awesome privilege and responsibility. Unfortunately, in their natural zeal to see children make a commitment to Christ some teachers may try to lead a child to the Lord before he/she is really ready. Conversely, other teachers may always "leave it to someone else" and so may miss God-given opportunities to help children into the Kingdom.

Obviously opportunities should be given for children to receive Christ, but I believe "appeals" should not be made too often, or the children may become hardened to them and not treat them seriously. I believe appeals should be reserved for "special occasions" when time can be taken to ensure that each child is made aware of what salvation really is, and of the importance of the decision they are being asked to make. Much prayer, wisdom and God's guidance is needed in knowing both the right time and method best suited for the child or children in question. ( I often use my Object Lesson No. 8 (Receiving Jesus) when teaching on Salvation. I will paste it on below for the benefit of the newer readers).

I have been in many children's meetings where the Leader has given an invitation for anyone to accept Christ by raising their hands or coming out to the front. There is absolutely nothing wrong with encouraging children to make a Public commitment, but usually in my experience what happens is either nobody responds or they all (or nearly all) do! This is because children are very much influenced by their peers. A child may wish to respond to Christ, but if none of their friends raise their hands, they will probably not do so either. Conversely, a child may not be ready to receive Christ, but if they see their friends going to the front, they don't want to be the odd one out, and are likely to follow them.

In a group situation, I believe the best way to make an appeal is by inviting the children - if they wish - to follow you in a prayer to receive Jesus. In this way no "pressure" is put on the children, and it will be their own decision, without being influenced by their friends.

This is how I usually invite children to receive Christ.

I show and explain John 1.12 "To all who received him, He gave the right to become children of God.", stressing the need to receive God's gift of Jesus if we are to become part of His family. I then teach them four simple steps they can take to do this A, B, C, D. I use a folded card which I gradually unfold to show one word at a time as shown below.

Admit
Believe
Consider
Do

Thus, A stands for Admit. We need to Admit we have done bad things, and be willing to turn away from everything we know is wrong in our lives.
B stands for Believe. We need to Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and died on the cross in our place, so that we could be forgiven.
C Stands for Consider. Something to think about. Jesus not only wants to be our Saviour and Friend, He also wants to be Lord of our lives. That means He wants us to put Him first, and live to please Him rather than ourselves. Some people aren't willing to do that, but if you are, you are ready to move onto the final step.
D Stands for Do. We have to invite Him to come into our lives to be our Saviour, Friend and Lord. If we do (and really mean it) we can be certain that He will come in.

Before leading the children in prayer, I will often say at this point :-
"There are probably four groups of people here -
1. Those of you who have already received Jesus. Wonderful, there is no need for you to pray, as once you receive Him, He stays with you forever.
2. Those who haven't received Jesus, but have now considered it, and would like to. You can pray my prayer after me.
3. Those who are still unsure. That's alright. There is no need for you to pray.
4. Those who once received Jesus, but you know you haven't really been putting Him first, and would like to come back to Jesus again. Or perhaps you are not sure if you have ever received Jesus or not. You can all join in my prayer as well, and then you will be sure."

I then lead the children in a simple prayer along the A B C D lines.

Afterwards, I stress that they are now part of God's family, not because of how they may feel, but because God says so " To all who receive Him - - - - - ."

I then ask the children to do two important things. :-
1. Tell at least one other person what they have done.
2. Come and ask me for a booklet (have one on show) that will help them to live for Jesus. There are plenty of suitable booklets about, but I use "Special to God" obtainable from http://www.kidsreach.org.nz/

Teaching tip 9. Noah's Ark and the flood.

One of the favourite Bible stories for many young children is undoubtedly Noah's ark. Older children, however, often question the authenticity of this remarkable event. Here are a few of the questions I have been asked, together with the answers I gave.

Question. The Bible says Noah took 120 years to build the ark. Wouldn't he have died of old age by then?

Answer. No. People did live a lot longer before the flood - about 900 years on average! It was only after the flood (about 2,300 years B.C.) when, probably as a result of the much harsher climatic conditions, the average life span of people began to decline until the time of King David (about 1000 B.C.), when it reached its present level of about 70 years.

Question. How did Noah manage to gather together all those animals and get them onto the ark?

Answer. He didn't. God caused the animals to come to Noah. All Noah would have to do was to open the door of the ark.

Question. Was the ark large enough to accommodate all the thousands of animals?

Answer. Yes. The Ark was enormous. It has been calculated that if the average size of the animals was that of a sheep (actually it would probably have been smaller), they would have only taken up one third of the available space. Thus plenty of room would be left for Noah, his family, and all the food. Also, I believe, God would have chosen young, and therefore smaller, animals for the ark. (All land animals are small when they are young - even Dinosaurs!).

Question. Wouldn't it have been too big a task for Noah to feed all the animals during the year or so they were on the ark?

Answer. Noah was not on his own. He had his family, eight persons in all, to help him. Some animals have the ability to hibernate. We don't know for sure, but perhaps God caused all the animals to hibernate while they were on the ark. Then Noah's task would certainly have been a lot easier!

Question. Where did all the water come from to flood the earth?

Answer, Genesis chapter 1 indicates that from the second day of the creation week, God placed a huge canopy (or envelope) of water vapour above the earth, probably to protect life forms by absorbing harmful radiation from the sun. Many believe that something happened to cause this canopy to collapse and fall to the earth in the form of rain over 40 days and nights. It has been suggested that a collision with a large meteor triggered this collapse. But whatever the physical cause, the important thing to remember is that God was in complete control. He only allowed the rains to come on the day Noah and the animals were safely on the ark. At the same time much water that was originally trapped under the earth was forced to the surface and came out as "great fountains" to add to the floodwaters.

Question. Would there have really been enough floodwater to cover the highest mountains, e.g. Mt. Everest?

Answer. No. Before the flood there were probably no high mountains, so the floodwater, when it came, could have covered all the earth. The Bible indicates (Psalm 104) that, probably as a consequence of the great forces in operation at the time, the mountains were forced up and the valleys dropped down to compensate. The floodwaters then flowed down into these valleys to form our present oceans, seas and great lakes.

Answers in Genesis ( http://www.answersingenesis.org/ ) offer excellent cardboard scale models (about 12 ins. long) of Noah's ark. They are excellent for taking along to your class, or for giving out as prizes.

Noah Jokes.

I usually incorporate the following jokes into one or other of two ventriloquism skits that I have with Shaun - my sheep puppet.

1. Shaun. Were you on Noah's ark?
Self. Shaun, have you any idea how long ago Noah had his ark?
Shaun. How long?
Self. About 4,300 years!
Shaun. So?
Self. 4,300 years ago, and you are still asking me if I was on the ark?
Shaun. Yes.
Self. Shaun, exactly how old do you think I am? No. I most certainly was not on the ark.
Shaun. Well, if you weren't on the ark - - - - - - How did you survive the flood?

2. Shaun. I was one of the animals on Noah's ark.
Self. I find that hard to believe. If it's true, tell me, What was the name of Noah's wife?
Shaun. Joan.
Self. Joan?
Shaun. Yes, Joan of Ark!
Self. What did all the animals do to pass away the time while they were on the ark?
Shaun. They read.
Self. You mean animals can read?
Shaun. Yes.
Self. Well tell me then, What did the cows read while they were on the ark?
Shaun. The Moos paper!
Self. What else did the animals do on the ark?
Shaun. They played basketball.
Self. Basketball! What is it called then if a Duck scores at basketball?
Shaun. A Slam Duck!
Self. I bet with all that water about, you did lots of fishing while you were on the ark?
Shaun. No, we didn't fish.
Self. Why not?
Shaun. There were only two worms!
Self. People often play cards to pass the time. Did you play cards on the ark?
Shaun. No, we couldn't play cards because Noah sat on the deck!
Self. I imagine that the worst animals to have on the ark would have been the skunks - they smell aweful.
Tell me, How did you stop the skunks from smelling?
Shaun. Easy. We just held their noses!
Self. I heard you had a light while you were on the ark. As electricity hadn't been discovered, what sort of
light did you have during the flood?
Shaun. A Floodlight of course!

Object Lesson 49. R U E ?

When talking about His second coming, Jesus referred to the days of Noah, saying that when He returned, the conditions on the earth would be similar, i.e. great lawlessness. Jesus went on to explain that the actual date of His return was not important, what really matters is "Are you ready?"

Write out on a card the letters R U E ? (ensure that the "E" is in red). Ask the children "What does this say? That's right R U E. But what is the colour of the "E"? That's right - red. Now, read the card again, but this time say the colour of the letter "E". That's right R U red E. Now, keep on saying it, faster and faster _ _ _ _ _ _ _ You've got it. It says "ARE YOU READY?" The important question is "Are you ready for when Jesus returns? Are you really trusting in Him?"

Object Lesson 50 - Trust.

Here are two simple, but fun, object lessons on trust that you can use with your lesson on Noah, or indeed many other lessons where you want the children to understand what trust is.

A. - A mousetrap. Take along to your class a broken mousetrap, but one that appears to be in working order. Place it on a table, and very carefully place a large coin on top of the trap.

Explain to your children that you want them to understand what trust really is. Challenge the class along these lines. "I am looking for someone who will really trust me. If they do, they will be able to come out and, without hesitating, pick the coin from off the trap and take it away to keep - without any harm coming to them. If they don't really trust me, however, I am not responsible for anything that might happen to them." You should have no shortage of volunteers!

Explain that if the volunteer hesitates in any way, causes the trap to move at all, or drops the coin while attempting to pick it up, it doesn't count - even if the trap does not actually go off. In my experience, the first two or three volunteers will be hesitant, and thus be disqualified. Eventually, someone will pick up the coin without hesitating etc. You can then demonstrate that the trap is not actually working, but state that your volunteers did not know that, and the person who got the coin was indeed really trusting you.

Trust is taking someone at his word, and not doubting it for a moment.

B. - Falling backwards. This illustration has been used for many years, but it is still a very effective lesson for teaching on trust.

Ask for volunteers who really trust you (You could choose two teams). Explain that all they have to do is stand up straight with their backs to you, fall backwards, and you will catch them. However, if their feet move, or their knees bend, they don't get a point as that shows that they were not really trusting you.

After the exercise, you can conclude by saying : "Everyone who took part in that said they trusted me, and I am sure most of them really thought they trusted me. But when it came to the test, it was found that some were really trusting me, but some were not. It is not important whether you really trust me or not, but what is important is whether you are really trusting in Jesus. Many people say they are trusting in Jesus. But the vital question is are you really trusting in Him?"

Teaching Tip 10. Use of storytelling.

The telling of a good story remains the most effective way of imparting spiritual truths to children. Children will forget basic facts, but will remember a good story, especially if it is told in an interesting and exciting way.
Jesus is THE Great Storyteller of course, and remains our best example to follow. Read the Parables, and learn from the Master.

I have found that the best way to improve my storytelling is by listening to other storytellers. Over the years I have heard many excellent storytellers, and have learned something from all of them. I have sometimes been able to simply repeat the story in the same way that I heard it told. Other times, I have been able to adapt the story to suit my own class and personal storytelling preferences.

There are however certain tips that we can learn that will improve our storytelling, and I have listed some of them below.

1. Decide what is the point of your story? What truth do you want your class to learn? It is best to have only one point (or at most two) and plan your story around this.

2. Make your story exciting. Be dramatic. Move around the room as you are telling it. Change the tone and speed of your voice at appropriate times. If you are not excited about the story, then the children won't be either. Practice beforehand until you can tell it without having to pause to think "what comes next?"

3. Tell your stories in lots of different ways. Use plenty of props such as clothing, pictures and maps to make your stories more interesting. If appropriate, you could even incorporate a good object lesson or illusion into your story. If you are teaching a Biblical story, tell it "in context." I often take along a "Time Line", that lists all the major Biblical events in chronological order, to show the class where a particular story (especially if it is one from the Old Testament) fits into God's redemptive plan. Never lose sight of "the Big Picture."

4. If you are telling a story about a Bible character, consider 'becoming' that character. Dress up as the character, and tell it from his/her viewpoint.

5. Consider telling familiar stories from different angles - to keep the children guessing! e.g. Daniel and the Lion's den from the viewpoint of one of the lions, David and Goliath from the viewpoint of the Giant (don't mention Goliath's name till the conclusion), the Good Samaritan from the viewpoint of the Donkey etc. etc.

6. Involve the children as much as possible. There is much truth to the old Chinese proverb : -
"I hear, I forget."
"I see, I remember."
"I do, I understand."
Your class could be asked to copy specific actions that you do throughout your story, or to respond to phrases they hear by giving a certain response. You could ask for feedback from the children as your story is progressing. "How do you think Character A was feeling at this point?" " What do you think Character B was thinking here?" "What would you have done in this situation?" etc.

7. Consider telling your story by getting children to act out a play. Write out a simple script for them to read as they act it out. You don't have to stick strictly to the Biblical narrative, as long as you are getting your point across.

Think about telling Biblical stories in a modern setting. The Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan (e.g. the Priest, Levite, Samaritan, Donkey and Innkeeper become respectively a Politician, Sunday school teacher, Gang member, Motor Bike and Hospital Receptionist) have worked well for me.

Think about telling your story as a Puppet play. I usually record the story on cassette beforehand using different character voices, and then play it back as selected children operate the puppets.

8. Children love to hear personal stories about "Teacher", so tell a few, especially from when you were about their age. This is a good way of teaching children how they can learn from their mistakes, and about the Goodness of God.

Teaching Tip 11. What is Love?

It is easy for us as teachers to tell children that "God loves you" and assume they all understand exactly what we mean. However children have different concepts as to what love actually is, and you will probably find that you need to explain it to them.

I came across some amusing children's comments on this subject on the Internet recently. Children were asked "What is love?" Their replies were all humorous, but many contain an element of truth. I have subsequently been able to use these comments to teach some of my own classes on what love is (see below), and in particular the difference between human love and God's love.

Question. What is love?

Answers.

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne, and they go out and smell each other." Karl (age 5).

"Love is when you tell a boy you like his shirt, and then he wears it every day." Noelle (7).

"Love is when you go out and give someone most of your French fries, without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy (6).
There is a lot of truth in that because if you love someone, that means you want the very best for them. You want good things to happen to them, even more than you want good things to happen to yourself. So if you give someone most of your French fries, without asking for anything in return, that is an expression of your love.

"Love is when mummy gives daddy the best part of the chicken." Elaine (5).
Another expression of love. 'Mummy' is putting 'Daddy's' needs before her own. Jesus told us to love others as we love ourselves. Everyone loves themselves. Do you hit yourself, lie to yourself, or steal from yourself? No, of course not! You all treat yourselves well. If you are thirsty, do you say "Oh I can't be bothered giving you a drink right now" ? No, you just give yourself a drink. In the same way that we are good to ourselves, we should be just as good to others.

"Love is when mummy sees daddy all smelly and sweaty, and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt." Chris (7).

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and talk instead. My mummy and daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss." Emily (8).

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend you hate." Nikka (6).
A good answer. It is easy to be nice to people who are being nice to you, but very hard to be nice to those who are being nasty to you. But Jesus told us to "Love your enemies." Jesus wants us to be nice to everyone, even to those who are not nice back to us.

"There are two kinds of love, our love and God's love. But God made them both." Jenny (8).
This is probably the best answer. The difference between human love and God's love is that human love is often conditional on the other person loving us back, whereas God's love is unconditional. Suppose you like someone, so start being good to them. If they are nice to you in return, you will carry on being nice to them - wonderful. But if that person is nasty to you in return, do you carry on being nice to them? Probably not. You probably won't want anything to do with that person anymore, or you may even start being nasty to them yourself. God's love is not like that. God's love is unconditional. He loves us because "God is love." He loves us even if we are nasty to others, Ignore Him, or even reject Him. These things all make God sad, but there is nothing anyone could possibly do that would ever make Him stop loving them. He always desires the very best for us.

Teaching tip 12. The Lord's Prayer.

Many children, whether they go to church or not, know the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6. 9 - 13). In fact in Britain, many schoolchildren have to repeat this prayer every morning before the start of their lessons. I found, however, that although many children could recite the Lord's prayer for me, most of them didn't have much idea of what they were praying for! This, I believe, is because of two main reasons. Firstly, many children are still taught this prayer in old (King James) English using words that they are totally unfamiliar with such as art, hallowed, thy and trespasses. Secondly, although some children are taught the prayer, they are simply not taught what it actually means.

This is the way I teach the Lord's prayer to children. I write out the prayer on the board, or a piece of cardboard, using a modern translation e.g. Contemporary English Version. Then I go through the prayer, explaining each section as I do so as shown below.

Our Father in heaven,
What a great privilege it is for anyone to be able to call God 'Father'. God is the Creator of everyone, but He is only the Father of those who have become part of His family through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Many people, when they pray call God 'Father', but if they are not part of His family, they should really call Him by some other name, like 'my Creator'.

help us to honour your name.
God and His Name are inextricably linked together. That is why we should never use His Name, or the Name of Jesus, in a disrespectful way, such as swearing. If we do so, we are actually disrespecting God. No, we should always use the Name of God in the right way, with respect and honour. And if we really love Him, we should want others to Honour His Name as well.

Come and set up your Kingdom, so that everyone on earth will obey you, as you are obeyed in heaven.
This is the greatest prayer that anyone could ever make. God is, of course, obeyed in heaven, but not everyone obeys Him here on earth. Our greatest desire should be that everyone does obey Him on earth. We know that one day, after Jesus returns, everyone on earth will obey God. The exciting thing is, we can play a part in making this happen. The more we pray this prayer, the sooner Jesus will be able to return and bring in that glorious day.

Give us our food for today.
I think this is my favourite part of the prayer. After teaching us to pray the greatest prayer imaginable (Come and set up your Kingdom - - - - ) Jesus tells us to ask for "our food for today." (That is why many people 'give thanks' to God at mealtimes). This reminds us that God is interested in every little detail of our lives, even the food we eat. It also reminds us that everything we have, food, water, clothes, houses, families, etc., even the air we breathe, comes from God.

Notice also, that Jesus teaches us to ask for our needs for today. Many people worry about the future, "will I pass my exams, will I get a job, will I have enough money, will I get sick, etc., etc." No, Jesus tells us not to worry about the future, because He will take care of that. We are to concentrate on today. Today is the important time.

Forgive us for doing wrong,
There is nothing that you or I could possibly do that God won't forgive if we ask Him to, and we are truly sorry.

as we forgive others.
Much as God wishes to forgive us when we do wrong, He can only do so if we are prepared to forgive others that hurt or harm us. This can be a very hard thing to do, but nevertheless something that we must do, if we wish God to forgive us. The important thing to remember is that you need to choose to forgive others. Don't wait until you feel like forgiving them, because you may wait forever! And when you do forgive them, you are not saying "what they did didn't really matter". No, you are actually handing the situation over to God, for Him to deal with in however way He chooses. So always remember to tell God when you choose to forgive someone. (The Parable of the unmerciful servant - Matthew 18. 21-35 - is a good story to teach to reinforce our need to forgive others).

Keep us from being tempted,
Everyone is tempted to do wrong. And being tempted is not a sin. What is a sin, is when we give in to our temptations. But we can pray and ask God to "keep us from being tempted".

and protect us from evil.
There is a lot of evil in the world, but God is well able to protect us from it, if we ask him to.

Amen.
That means "so be it" or "I agree" (to what has just been prayed). So by saying "Amen", we are including ourselves in the prayer.

Now, let us all pray this prayer together, and really think of what the words mean as we are saying them.

Teaching tip 13. - Teaching Memory Verses.

If someone were to ask me what was my main purpose in teaching my children’s ‘Bible’ classes, I would probably say that it was to impart God’s Word into their lives.
The importance of memorising scripture is highlighted by the fact that almost every Christian has experienced times when the Holy Spirit calls to mind some scripture or truth at a moment when it is needed, for example in their own conversion experience or personal life, or in counselling or witnessing. Thus, if we can get relevant scripture verses into the minds, and then (by memorising) into the hearts of the children, the Holy Spirit will be able to recall truths and verses to them when they are most needed.
Most of the children I teach, I have for about 30 lessons, over a 1year period. During this time, I will attempt to teach them 5 or 6 relevant memory verses.
Here are some useful tips for effectively teaching memory verses.

Good planning. Many teachers plan a lesson, and then ask themselves “What is a good memory verse to go with this lesson?” I do things the other way round. I decide well beforehand which memory verses I want to teach my class, and then build the rest of my lessons around these. I allow plenty of time (e.g. 10 to 15 mins.) for teaching each verse.

Choose the right Bible translation. If possible, look up your verse in a number of modern Bible translations, and then decide which one is best to teach. Some teachers still prefer to use the Authorised Version (King James). However, if you do decide to use this, I would suggest that at least you change the ‘Old English’ words such as ‘thee’, ‘thou’, ‘thine’, etc. into their modern equivalents.

Explain the verse. Don’t assume that the children will understand exactly what the verse means. It may be plain enough to you, but you will need to explain it to your class.

Vary your teaching methods. There are numerous ‘fun’ ways for teaching memory verses, and I have listed a number of them below. To keep my teaching interesting, I never use the same method twice with any one group of children.

Repetition is the ‘key’ to success. Whichever methods you choose to use, always leave enough time for your class to repeat the verse about 7 or 8 times. By repeatedly saying the verse, it should really get down into their spirits. You can make this part more interesting by getting different ‘groups’ within the class to repeat the verse in turn, e.g. boys, girls, those with blue eyes, brown eyes, older sisters, younger brothers, coloured socks, etc. etc. (Some children are actually better at remembering a verse if you get them to repeat it as fast as they can. Give it a try, if only for the sake of variety!). I will then encourage the children to write the verse down while it is still fresh to them, and then offer incentives of small prizes to those who can repeat it to me the following week.

Ways of teaching Memory verses.
There are many ways to teach Scripture (Memory verses) to children, but I have found that the more "fun" you make it, the more likely they are to really take it in. 1. Diminishing words.
In my experience, the most effective method I have come across is to use "Diminishing words." This is very simple and easy to prepare, but children really enjoy it because they think that they are fooling "teacher." Write out your memory verse about 6 or 7 times on pieces of cardboard (or paper). However, each time you write, gradually make the words smaller. The words on your last card should be as small as you can possibly write them. Show your first card (Biggest words) to your group, and have them say the verse. Then simply work your way through to the last card - children repeating the words each time. As you get to the smaller words, start to compliment the group on their eyesight. Act amazed when they manage to "read" your last card. Then say "I think you are trying to fool me. I don't believe you can really read this last card. I think you have memorised the verse. I think you can repeat the verse without any card at all" - And they will!

2. ‘Repeater’.
If you have a ventriloquist’s dummy or a glove puppet, use that to help teach the memory verse. Have the verse written out for the children to see, and then explain to them that your puppet is going to say the verse – a few words at a time – and they have to repeat everything he says. You can have a lot of fun with this method by getting the puppet to ‘say’ totally irrelevant things, e.g. jokes, personal comments, etc. as he gradually works his way through the verse, always remembering to bring ‘him’ back to where he digressed. Then get the puppet to say the verse, but pausing in the wrong places. Finally, get the puppet to say the verse the right way, with the children still ‘repeating’ of course.

3. Guess the letter.
This is another popular method, but it does take a little longer than most other ways. Write out your verse by putting “blanks” for letters e.g.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Luke 19.10.
The idea is for the children to guess the correct letters that make up this verse. As they do so, fill in the blanks.
There are two ways of using this method.

Competing teams (e.g. boys v. girls). One person from each team guesses a letter in turn. If team 1, for example, guesses ‘n’, and there are three n’s, they get three points. If team 2 guesses ‘e’, and there are six e’s, they get six points etc. The team with the most points when the verse is complete is the winner.

The class compete against ‘teacher’. Explain that if they guess a letter and it is not in the verse, you get a tick. If you get (say) four ticks before the verse is completed, you win.

4.Elimination methods.
Show the verse in full, and then gradually eliminate the words until they have all gone. Test the children after each step to see if they can still say the verse. There are a number of different ways you could do this.
a. Write the words out on a number of different cards (e.g. 1 or 2 words per card), Get a line of children to hold them up for all to see, and then simply remove the cards 1, 2, or 3 at a time – depending on the length of the verse.
b. The same as above, but write the words out on inflated balloons. Get volunteers to gradually ‘pop’ the balloons with a pin. (This is a popular method!).
c. Write the complete verse out on a large piece of cardboard. Then get volunteers to gradually tear pieces off it, until it has nearly all gone. By the time this is complete, the children should have said the verse the targeted 7 or 8 times.

5. Invisible writing.
Write the verse with a white crayon on white cardboard or paper. Get volunteers to gradually paint over the cardboard with red food colouring. The words will then ‘magically’ appear as the food colouring adheres to the crayon. This is a good way to teach verses concerning the blood of Jesus.

6. Puzzle methods.
1. Balloon race. Take two pieces of paper, and write out your verse on each one. Cut each paper into small pieces, with two or three words on each. Put each set of papers into two uninflated balloons. Choose two teams. One member of each team has to race to the other end of the room, blow up their balloon, tie it, burst it, retrieve the pieces of paper, and get the other members of the team to help to arrange the verse in the correct way. For larger classes you could, of course, have more teams.
2. Flannelboard Jigsaw. Write your words on any interesting shape, back with winceyette, or other suitable adhering material, and cut into about 8 or 9 pieces. Place the pieces in random order on your board, and get two or three children to come out and rearrange the jigsaw correctly. Shapes you could use are a question mark, a Bible shape for any verse relating to the Bible, or a telephone for Jeremiah 33.3.
3. Rearrangement. Write out your verse on about ten pieces of cardboard. Have a line of children hold up the cards in random order. Other children will then try to rearrange the cards in the correct order, and in the shortest possible time. (n.b. you could then conclude by slowly removing the cards as in Elimination method a, shown above).
4. Picture puzzles. Draw a series of pictures, each representing a word. Get the children to try and guess – you may have to give some ‘hints’ – what each picture stands for, until the verse is complete.
5. Mirror image. Write the verse backwards, so that you could only read it properly by looking at it through a mirror. (Ensure that the individual letters are written 'the wrong way round'). Get the children to try and read the verse. In my experience, most children do not have any trouble doing this.
6. Code method. Write out the verse in code form, by either changing the letters to numbers (e.g. a=1, b=2 etc.) or, for older children, to symbols. Don’t forget to show the children the code. Alternatively, you could not show the code, but change only the vowels (e.g. a=1, e=2 etc.).
7. Extra letters. Write out the verse, but add (say) two extra letters between the words. Leave no gaps. Here is an example:-
ThegxsonkbofswmanqkcamerptoooseekzjandfrtouwsavexrthegglostaaLukejy19.hh10.
8. Jumbled letters. Jumble up the letters of each word. Example:-
het sno fo mna acme ot eeks dna ot aves het tlos. Lkeu 19.10.

Revising Memory verses.
I always consider it a good idea to revise your Memory verses a week later in order to see how effective your teaching has been. Here are four ways that I do this.
1. As I mentioned above, I offer small prizes for those children who can say the verse to me the following week. I get them to repeat the verse in front of all the class. This way all the children are hearing the verse again a few more times.
2. Mistakes. Read out the verse, and make a number of deliberate mistakes. See if the children can spot them all.
e.g. The brother of God arrived to find and shave the poor. Matthew Chapter ninty verse eleven. (Luke 19.10. - Mistakes underlined).
3. Puppet fun. I bring along my 'Dummy' George, who tells the children that he wants to learn the Memory verse. I get a child to repeat it to George, but then he gets it wrong. e.g. "Out towels dried for us while we were still swimmers." (Romans 5.8). A second child repeats the verse, but George still gets it wrong e.g. "McDonald's fried for us while we were still hamburgers." Finally, all the class repeat the verse to George. This time he gets it right!
4. Elimination. Get either individuals or groups to say the verse in turn (i.e. go round in a circle) - one word at a time. No hesitating is allowed. If a child (or group) cannot say the next word, they are eliminated. Once the verse is complete, get them to do it again, only faster!
"The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword."
Hebrews 4. 12.

Teaching tip 14. - What's in a name?

In Bible days a person's name was usually highly significant because it often described what they were, or what they did. Though obviously of less significance, the names of most children today still have meanings. (At least they do for those with a European background. I am not sure if this is still true for those from other cultures).

I find that some children do know what their name means, but the majority do not. There are many 'Babies name' books around that we can go to find name meanings, so I often tell the children in my classes what their names mean and, as you can imagine, they are usually very pleased to find out.

Fortunately, most names have positive or encouraging meanings - e.g. Michael means 'one who is like God' and Linda means 'pretty'. There are, however, a few names with not very positive meanings. In these cases I either leave the name out of my list, or try and find some positive aspect to the name meaning, For example, 'Emma' means 'Grandmother'. If I told a girl that her name meant 'Grandmother', she would probably get upset and think "Oh, my name means that I am like an old woman!" However, if I said "Your name means Grandmother, and when we think of a Grandmother, we think of someone who is kind and caring", that would be far more acceptable to her.

Telling a child the meaning of their name is a wonderful way to increase their self-esteem. For example, you could say :-
"Sarah. Do you know your name means Princess? I think it suits you really well."
"Roger. Your name means a Famous warrior, and I think you will become a famous warrior in God's Kingdom. I am certainly praying that you will."
"Richard. Your name means Strong, and I believe you will be both physically strong and strong in the service of God."
"Gemma. The first time I saw you, I wondered if your name might be Gemma. Gemma means Jewel, and I believe that you will shine like a sparkling jewel in the Kingdom of God."

At the beginning of the year many teachers will either make or get the children to make name badges. One idea would be to include the name meaning on the badge as well.

Many children have 'Biblical' names, and again they may or may not be aware of that. Sometimes, if a child has a Biblical name, I will take a few minutes telling the child (and their class) about their Bible namesake. Other times if I am telling a story about someone with a common name, for example Paul, David, Peter, Mary, etc. I will say "Do we have anyone with that name here today?" Thus, by being able to make a personal connection between the Bible character and themselves or someone they know, they will be more likely to pay attention to the story.

Teaching tip 15. Telling the C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S. story.

Write out on separate pieces of cardboard the nine letters that make up the word 'CHRISTMAS'. Take each letter in turn to illustrate the Christmas story. As you talk about each letter, get a volunteer to come and hold it up before the class - at the conclusion the complete word will thus be shown.

There are a number of variations that could be used, but here are some ideas.

C = Christ. God's gift to us.
H = Heaven. Jesus came down from Heaven to be born at Bethlehem.
R = Redeemer. You will probably have to explain this. To redeem something means to buy it back. God
created us, but then he had to buy us back with the blood of Jesus. The famous story about the boy who
made, lost and then had to buy back a toy boat is helpful in explaining this.*
I = Israel. Jesus was born in Israel. (An alternative could be Isaiah, who foretold of His coming).
S = Star. God sent a bright star to guide the wise men. (An alternative could be Stable).
T = The wise men. The Bible doesn't say how many there were, but they brought Three gifts.
M = Manger, in which Jesus was placed. (An alternative could be Mary).
A = Angels, who announced Jesus' birth.
S = Shepherds, the first to hear the 'Good News. (An alternative could be Saviour).

* A boy once made a toy boat. He was very proud of his boat because he hadn't bought it, he had made it himself. One day whilst sailing his boat on the lake, the wind suddenly strengthened and blew the toy boat out of sight towards the other side of the lake. The boy immediately ran around to the far side of the lake to look for his boat. He searched and searched, but couldn't find it anywhere, the boat was lost. The boy was bitterly disappointed because this wasn't any ordinary boat, this was his special boat that he had made with his own hands.

Sometime later the boy was walking past a shop. He happened to look in the window, and there up for sale was his boat. He knew it was his because he had made it himself and knew exactly what it looked like. Immediately the boy rushed into the shop and paid the asking price for his boat. On leaving the shop, the boy looked admiringly at his boat and said "Now you are mine twice over. I made you, and now I have bought you back again. I have redeemed you."

That is a picture of what God has done for us. He made us and therefore owns us, but because of our sin we became lost and separated from Him. But in His love, God sent Jesus to buy us back, to redeem us. And the price Jesus paid? - His own blood that He shed on the cross. So although at Christmas we remember the coming of Jesus to earth, we must also think of Easter and remember the purpose of His coming, to redeem us to God.

Teaching tip 16. How God speaks to us.

As teachers, I am sure we all teach our children about prayer and encourage them to develop good prayer habits for themselves. However, we should always remember that rather than just listening to our monologues, God desires to have a two-way conversation with us. Listed below are ten ways in which God can and does speak to us. Some of these ways may not be totally understandable to some children, so taking their age and Christian maturity into consideration, you will need to decide which ones are suitable for sharing. As you share these ways with your classes, it will always be good to illustrate them with examples, including your own personal experiences. I have done this (in italics) to give you a few sample ideas.

1. The Bible.
This is God's Word, so what the Bible says, God says. This is the main way in which God communicates with people today. Thus, if you neglect your Bible reading, you could well be preventing God from speaking to you.

Although all of the Bible is God's everlasting message to us all, He can take a part of it - perhaps even a single verse - and use it to speak into our lives, by making it 'come alive' to us, so to speak. Thus as we read this particular verse, we get excited and just 'know' that God is using it to speak to us.

For a number of years, I had been attempting to emigrate with my family to New Zealand. Unfortunately, I didn't meet the New Zealand Immigration requirements, as I didn't have enough 'points' to qualify. Although we still believed that it was in God's will for us to come to New Zealand, I was getting disheartened. Then in my Bible reading, I read Jeremiah 29. 11. "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to bless you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I had read this scripture many times before without it really exciting me, but now it just seemed to jump out of the page at me and witness with my spirit. I just 'knew' that God was in control, and that He would get us to New Zealand because it was part of His plan for us.

Within a few weeks, all the New Zealand Immigration rules changed, and I now easily qualified for entry! Did God arrange for those rules to be changed just for me? I don't know, but I tend to think so because that is the sort of Person God is. There is nothing that God is not willing to do for you, if it is part of His plan for your life.

God can of course bring to our mind at any time any scripture that we have memorised. Almost every Christian has experienced times when the Holy Spirit calls to mind some scripture or truth at a moment when it is needed, for example in their own conversion experience or personal life, or in counselling or witnessing. That is why scripture memorisation is so important for teachers and children alike.

I had been seeking the truth about God for two or three years. I wanted to believe in God, but as a scientist, and coming from an atheistic background, I had many doubts and unanswered questions. Really, I was trying to prove in a scientific way the reality (or otherwise) of God. I was frustrated because I realised my search had got me nowhere. Oh yes, I now knew a lot more about what Christians believed, but was no further forward in knowing whether it was really true or not. I wanted answers to my questions before I would consider making any form of commitment to Christ.

Sometimes I prayed - just in case God was real and could hear my prayers! One day while praying, two scripture verses came into my mind. The first was "Without faith it is impossible to please God." (Hebrews 11.6). Suddenly everything became clear. I realised that no-one could ever prove the existence of God in a scientific way, and that the only way to know Him was by faith. I had reached the point where I realised that Christianity was both reasonable and rational, but the final step to God had to be one of faith - not exactly a leap in the dark, but certainly a small step into the unknown as we put our trust in Him.

But what was I to do next? The answer came straight away in the form of the second scripture "Ask, and you shall receive." (Luke 11.9). So I did. I prayed "Lord, if you are really there, if you really exist, reveal yourself to me." Immediately, it was as though I sensed God's presence. Waves of love and joy flowed through my whole being and I just 'knew' that God was real. These waves of love and joy were quickly followed by a devastating sense of shame because for the first time in my life, I realised I was a sinner. Now, I had been going along to an evangelical church for over two years, and I had thus been told that I was a sinner, and accepted the fact in my head. But knowing this in your head, and having a revelation of it in your heart are completely different things. The surprising thing was that I now realised that my sins were not so much the bad things I had done, but rather the fact that I had spent my whole life centred around myself, instead of around my Creator. There and then, I repented of this self-centredness, and put my trust in Christ. All my doubts disappeared and the unanswered questions I had didn't seem to matter any more. All that mattered was that God was real and that He loved and accepted me. And the rest, as they say, is history!

2. An audible voice.
The Bible records a number of occasions in which God spoke to people this way, perhaps the best known being the boy Samuel. This is not God's usual way of communicating with people today, but that is not to say that He cannot or will not speak to you in an audible voice.

I have never heard God's audible voice, but I know a number of people who have. In most cases, someone's life was in danger. It was as though God had to speak to someone urgently to avert the danger. However, I once taught my class about God speaking to Samuel. The following week a girl came up to me and said "God spoke to me a few days ago in an audible voice, just like He spoke to Samuel. He told me to go and tell my Gran. that He loved her." I asked her if she had done it, and she replied that she had. This reminds us that the important point is not how God speaks to us, but whether we are obedient to what He says.

3. An inaudible voice.
Although you may not hear God speaking to you with your ears, if you are trusting in Jesus, God's Spirit lives in you and He can speak to you through your spirit. For example, you may get a 'little voice in your head', a strong desire or impression to do / not to do something, speak to someone, go / not go somewhere etc. The closer you grow in your relationship with God, the more clearly will you be able to recognise this 'inner voice.'

The following story came out of China a few years ago.

A fairly new Christian worked for a mining company. It was part of his duties to ring a bell when it was time for the miners working underground to finish their shift and come to the surface. One day this man kept hearing a 'little voice' in his head say "Ring the bell, ring the bell." He tried to ignore the voice, reasoning that it wasn't time for the miners to come up. The voice persisted however, and the man finally gave in to it and rang the bell even though it was still too early. On hearing the bell, all the miners came up to the surface. At that moment there was an earthquake, and the whole mine collapsed. If those miners had still been underground, they would all have been trapped and almost certainly killed. However because one man heard the voice of God, and was obedient to it, many lives were saved.

My Pastor had been speaking about discovering our God-given spiritual gifts and ministries. I was a little concerned because although it was obvious to me what the giftings were for many other members of our congregation, e.g. evangelist, teacher, pastor, showing hospitality etc., I still hadn't discovered what mine was. Although I was involved in a lot of different church 'activities' I didn't seem to have any special gifting in any of them. Then one day while I was working in the garden and thinking about these things, a 'little voice' in my head suddenly said "You are an apologist." I really believe this was God speaking to me because I wasn't sure what an apologist was. I had to go and look the word up in the dictionary! An apologist is a person who defends their faith, or as Peter put it "Always be ready to give a reason for the hope you have within you." (1. Peter 3.15).

Immediately, I realised that this description fitted me perfectly. Whether I was evangelising 'door to door' , writing articles for Christian Newspapers, or teaching the Bible to children, I was never content to simply say for example "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God", or "Jesus died for your sins." No, I always wanted to go further and explain why I believed Jesus was the Son of God, and why He had to come and die for our sins. I have never questioned my "calling" since that time.

4. Your conscience.
This is one of the things that makes us different from animals. God has given to everyone who has ever been born a conscience. This is God's voice within us all that warns us - by making us feel uneasy or anxious - when we are about to do wrong. God will never take our free will away and prevent us from doing wrong, but He will always warn us when we are about to make a mistake.

We should always listen to our conscience, because if we keep ignoring this "little voice" and continue doing wrong, the voice will appear to get smaller and smaller until we can hear it no more.

5. Older Christians.
By this I mean people who have known Jesus longer than you have. They are often able to give us good advice and help guide us into what God wants us to do.

6. Circumstances.
God can use the everyday events of life to guide us. This can be likened to the opening and closing of doors. For example you may wish to get into the school Rugby team, but you are never chosen. Therefore you start playing Soccer instead - and find you have a greater ability for Soccer than you ever had for Rugby.

When certain events happen at the same time in our lives, it is very easy to just write them off as coincidences. Often it is only as we look back that we are able to see God's hand guiding us through these 'coincidences'.

In the early 1990's my plan was to resign from my job in Scotland, move to New Zealand, and get a new job there. I was rather apprehensive about this, however, because my Scottish job was so specialised that it was extremely unlikely that I could get a similar one elsewhere, and I didn't really like the idea of making a career change at my age. However, when I finally got the 'green light' to come to New Zealand, I unexpectedly was offered voluntary redundancy from my Scottish job. The timing couldn't have been better because this meant that we were able to move to New Zealand, and I wouldn't need to get a paid job there - my private Scottish company pension being sufficient to meet our financial needs.

On arrival in New Zealand in 1993, I had no idea of how I was going to spend all my newly acquired spare time. However, my first Sunday in this country happened to be 'Bible in School' Sunday - the one day in the year when the churches promote the practice of 'ordinary' Christians going into state schools to take weekly Bible lessons. I could hardly believe what I was hearing! Such a practice is unheard of in Britain. I 'signed up' straight away, and within a few months I was going into about ten different schools to take Bible lessons. Eleven years later, I am still taking regular Bible lessons in ten schools and thoroughly enjoying it.

Coincidences? I don't think so. I can now clearly see God at work through my circumstances.

7. The desires of your heart.
Psalm 37.4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Most people think this means that if you put God first, He will then give you whatever natural desires you happen to have. I interpret this verse in a slightly different way. I believe it means that if you concentrate on "delighting yourself in the Lord", He will then put His desires for you in your heart, so that they become your desires as well.

Probably the strongest motivation for doing something is that you desire to do it. So do you have a strong desire to be something, to do something, to go somewhere? It could be that God has given you these desires because that is His will for you.

When I was a young boy in England and I heard about someone leaving the country for a 'better life', it usually seemed to be that they were going to Australia, Canada, or South Africa. I never had any desire to go to these, or indeed any other countries. But I did have a desire to go to New Zealand. I knew nothing about this country, and if anyone has asked me why I wanted to go there, I would not have been able to answer them. I just had a 'strange' desire to go there.

When I was older, and contemplating career choices, one that I dismissed straight away was that of a Teacher - I knew from personal experience how 'difficult' children could make life for their teachers! However, when I became a Christian in 1980, I got a great desire to share what I knew about Jesus with others, and soon found myself teaching Children's groups.

Now, all these years later, here I am in New Zealand and teaching children. Did God place these two desires in me? Yes, I believe so. But remember, the key to making your desires become a reality is to "delight yourself in the Lord."

8. Through Prophets.
A Prophet is essentially a Messenger. That is someone who hears from God, and takes His message to someone else. There are many Prophets in the Bible. Indeed much of the Old Testament itself is a recording of these ancient messages from God.

There are still Prophets in the Church today, and God may use one of them to bring you a message, perhaps to tell you to do something or to go somewhere. But if someone 'brings a message from God' to you, how do you know that it really is from God? The main thing to remember is that God uses Prophets to confirm what He has already spoken to you about. For example, suppose someone comes to you and says "God wants you to go to China." If your reaction is something like "What me? What a surprise! I have never thought of going to China." Then forget it, this message is not from God. However, if your reaction is more like "Oh yes, I have always been interested in China, I love the Chinese people, I always thought I would go there one day," then this message is almost certainly from God. It is God confirming what he has already spoken into your life, and perhaps enabling and encouraging you to take the next step in your preparation.
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9. Through dreams and visions.
We all know what dreams are, and God can speak to us through them. Visions are often similar to the 'moving pictures' we get in dreams (or they could be just a still picture), but God gives them to you while you are awake. God spoke to many people in the Bible through dreams (e.g. Joseph and Daniel) or visions (e.g. Peter and Paul).

I have never had a Vision, but I know many people who have. In the early 1980's, I belonged to a church in Prestwick, Scotland and for a number of years God's Spirit moved in a mighty way. Consequently the congregation grew from around 20 to almost 300 in about two years. My wife used to get many visions in these church services. She would often be sitting behind people, and 'see' either a white spot or a black spot in the middle of their backs. This was confusing to her for a while. The obvious explanation for the white and black spots was that some people were 'sinners' and others were 'righteous'. The problem was that some of the 'righteous' people were thought to be unsaved, and some of the 'sinners' were professing Christians! As events turned out however, the original interpretation of the 'spots' proved to be correct! On other occasions my wife would 'see' dice or beer bottles in the middle of newcomer's backs. Again, events proved that these people had a gambling or drink problem. What should my wife have done when she had these visions? Possibly more than she did do. But she was new to such manifestations at the time. However, at least she was able to pray for the people involved.

A few years ago, I went to a Sunday school weekend camp. The theme of the camp was 'Hearing from God.' On the Sunday afternoon the Camp Leader gave each child a notebook and pen, and told them to go out and be completely on their own for 30 minutes. They were all told to ask God to speak to them, and write down in their notebook what they thought He said. On their return, all but one or two of the thirty children claimed that God had indeed spoken to them. Many of the children said that they had seen visions, including many of Jesus on the cross.

There was one new boy to the Sunday school at that camp, and no-one knew very much about him. He shared a cabin with three other boys. On returning from their 30 minutes of isolation, these three boys all independently said that they thought God had to them "I will never leave you, I will never let you down, I will be with you always." Their cabin companion then said that that message must be for him. He revealed that his parents were in the process of divorcing, and he felt let down and was worried about what was going to happen to him in the future! Isn't God good! He doesn't speak to us so we can just say "Wow, God spoke to me." No, He speaks to us for our benefit, or for the help and encouragement of others.

10. Through Ideas.
We all have ideas, and we tend to think "Oh, that idea is mine." But perhaps God placed the idea in your mind in the first place!

I once came across an eight year old girl in the school playground, crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she replied that none of the other girls ever played with her and that she had no friends. I told her that I would pray for her and ask God to give her a good friend. As I began to pray, I noticed another girl about 100 metres away begin to run towards us. She arrive just as I finished my prayer and had said 'Amen.' She looked at the girl I had been praying for and said "Will you come and play with me?" An instant answer to prayer! But why did that second girl suddenly run over to the first one and ask her to play? I don't really think that God shouted down into the playground with a loud voice "Hey Jessie, Go and ask Jodie to play with you." No, I think He just put the idea in the mind of Jessie (who interestingly was a Christian) "Why don't you play with Jodie. She's not really all that bad." Alternitively,Jessie could of course have heard God's inaudible 'inner voice' , though when I questioned her afterwards she didn't seem to be aware of it. In either case the important point was that she was obedient to what God said.

How can I know if it is really God speaking to me?

There are two tests that we can apply to any message we think may be from God.

1. Does it agree with the Bible?

God never contradicts Himself. Therefore, if your message doesn't agree with God's revealed Word in the Bible, then it is definitely not from Him. For example, if you think God is telling you to tell a little lie because it will get you out of trouble, forget it! That is not from God, because the Bible says "Do not lie."

2. Do you have 'Peace' about the message?

Colossians 3.15 says "Let the peace of Christ rule (be the umpire) in your hearts." An umpire is the one who decides. And God has given us His Peace as our umpire, so that we may know if something is from Him or not. Thus, if you feel at peace about a message, supposedly from God, then it probably really is from Him. On the other hand, if you feel uneasy or anxious about the message, that is God removing His Peace to warn you that this is not from Him.

How can we hear more clearly from God?

If you love God, your greatest desire will to know Him better and communicate more fully with Him. How can we hear more clearly from God then? Fortunately, the answer is very simple - stay close to Him!

If I was talking in my normal voice and you were sitting close to me, you would hear me very clearly. But suppose I was still talking in the same way and you were at the other end of the room, or even outside the room. Would you hear me so clearly then? No. You may not hear me at all, and if you did, you would probably hear me incorrectly and get the message wrong.

It is exactly the same when hearing from God. If we stay close to Him, we will hear Him clearly. But if we are a long way from God, we are unlikely to hear Him. How then, can we stay close to God? There is no short cut to this. We need to ensure that we spend adequate time in His presence by reading and meditating on His Word, talking to him (prayer) and doing what we know He has already told us to do. Then we will be in the right position to hear from Him when He speaks to us.

"The nearer we come to God, the more graciously will he reveal himself to us."
Charles H. Spurgeon.

What do children believe?

The short answer to that is anything and everything! One of the greatest benefits of teaching children is that they are generally very open and responsive to whatever you tell them. However, this is also one of the greatest difficulties. If children are open to you as their Bible teacher, they will also be open to other people. I am becoming increasingly aware that a child may gladly believe all they are taught about the Bible, but at the same time also believe in such things as evolution, reincarnation, horoscopes, talking to the dead, ghosts, aliens etc. To put it simply, they usually lack discernment. They don't seem to realise that you can't believe the Bible and all the strange ideas that they are exposed to. It is often said that we should always have an open mind. That is true, but an open mind, without discernment, is likely to have all kinds of rubbish thrown into it!

One story that I enjoy teaching children is about David and Goliath (See my Newsletter 17 for some teaching tips). In connection with this, I usually teach 1 Peter 5 v. 7 - "Throw all your worries on him, because he cares for you." I explain that there are many "giants" or worries that people have in their lives, e.g. another person who is giving them a hard time, a bad habit, or a fear (e.g. of the dark, nightmares, flying, dying, snakes, spiders, dogs etc.). I get the children to write out the names of their giant(s) on a piece of paper. Then, as I lead them in prayer, at the appropriate time, I get them to crumple up their papers (giants) and throw them on Jesus - imagining Him to be standing at the front of the class. I conclude by emphasising that because Jesus now has their giants, they have them no more.

When the lesson is over, I pick up the papers listing the ex giants to see what they were as this often gives me an idea of what the children believe in. As you can imagine, the list of giants for any one class is usually long and varied. However I discovered that the most common giant is a fear of dying - a somewhat surprising find, considering we are talking about young children. Some giants are unusual (e.g. fear of being abducted by aliens) or upsetting (fear of a hiding from my Father). However, the most disturbing one I came across just a few weeks ago. This was written by an eight year old child who had been receiving regular Bible teaching for at least two years. The child wrote "My friend can tell the future, and he says that I will die before I am 25 years old." I can hardly imagine what trauma the acceptance of that false belief must have had upon that child.

Most of my readers will have the privilege of teaching children mainly from Christian homes, where what you teach is re-enforced at home and vice-versa. However many of us in New Zealand and Australia in particular teach children in state primary schools. Our children come from a variety of backgrounds and are often exposed to many strange ideas that contradict God's Word. The question then is, how can we best counteract this?

The ultimate solution is to get them saved, for if they are truly born again they will receive the 'Spirit of truth' and should automatically be able to recognise false ideas when they hear them. (See 1. Corinthians 2.14). Unfortunately, we are not permitted to 'make appeals' in state schools. In these circumstances there are two other things we can do:-

1. Encourage the children to always use their minds and think for themselves. Teach the children not to accept any statement as true, simply because someone says it is - even if that person is their Bible teacher! Often, if we really examine a belief, the inconsistencies and falsehoods soon become apparent.

2. Emphasise the importance of the Bible. State that Christians believe the Bible is God's Word, and therefore what the Bible says, God says. If a particular belief or idea clearly contradicts what the Bible says, it should be rejected. Ultimately it comes down to who we choose to believe. Do we believe God who was there at the beginning of time, knows everything, is never wrong and cannot lie, or do we believe people who were not there at the beginning, only know a tiny fraction of all there is to know, are often wrong and sometimes lie? I choose to believe God!

Teaching tip 17. Ideas for teaching about Zacchaeus.

The well known story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19. 1-11). is useful for teaching a number of Biblical truths. Here are a few ideas.

1. Why was Zacchaeus a cheat? The Bible doesn't say, but it does give us a clue. He was very small (verse 3). You could speculate that Zacchaeus' stature caused him to have a tough time at school - e.g. name calling, bullying, not being allowed to join in games etc. This could well have caused Zacchaeus to become bitter, and have a desire to 'get even' when the chance arose through his tax collecting job. Relate this to problems some of your children may be having because they are 'different'.

2. Jesus knew Zacchaeus' name even though he had never met him before. Jesus probably knew everything about Zacchaeus - that he was a cheat, why he was a cheat, but most importantly what he could become if he allowed God to change him on the inside. This reminds us that our God knows everything. Here is a simple illustration you could use to teach that truth :-

Take four pieces (you could use more if you wish) of differently coloured cardboard - e.g. yellow, red, blue and green. On the back of the yellow card write "You will pick up the yellow card." Write on three small pieces of paper "You will pick up the red card ----------------- blue card. ------------------green card." Place these papers out of sight, but in easily accessible positions e.g. inside a plain envelope which is in full view of the class, inside the front cover of your Bible, etc.

Place the four coloured cards in full view of the class, and ask for a volunteer to come and pick up one of the cards - stating that you know beforehand which one they are going to choose. If the yellow card is chosen, ask your volunteer to pick it up and turn it over - showing the words "You will pick up the yellow card." They will probably think that the other three cards have a similar message written on the back. Show the class that this is not the case !

If your volunteer picks up one of the other cards, direct him/her to the appropriate piece of paper in the envelope, Bible etc.

Conclude by stating that what you did was a trick (without revealing how it was actually done), but that our God really does know everything - even the future !

There are four more alternative illustrations on this theme in Newsletter 10.

3. Zacchaeus truly repented, and proved it by promising to give half his money to the poor, and to pay back everyone he had cheated four times as much. When we do wrong, it is very easy to say 'sorry' , but what God is looking for is a 'Zacchaeus attitude'. If we are really sorry, we will not only say 'sorry' , but truly change our attitude, and do everything we can to put right the wrong. A fun object lesson on repentance, or changing direction (Which way?) can be found in Newsletter 4.

4. Here is a fun rap about Zacchaeus, written by Sue Bluett. I normally say the verses, and get the children to say the chorus between each verse.

Chorus.

Zac was short and robbed the poor
Because he was a tax collector.

Verses.

Once there was a man called Zacchaeus
Who went around taking money from us
He got so rich life became a bore
Wondered why he hadn't any friends no more.

Now counting out his money feeling down
He heard about a man who was coming to town
Jumped to his feet, hit the crowded street
Cause this was a man he wanted to meet.

Now being short he couldn't see
So he climbed up into a sycamore tree
And when Jesus came into that place
He looked right up into his face
And said "You!"
"Who me?"
"Yes you"Couldn't be"
Well Zac my man come out of your tree
Cause I'm coming to your house for tea
In a state of shock he shimmied down
Ignoring the angry stares and frowns.

Now the crowd were not pleased with Jesus choice
So they cried out in a very loud voice
"Anyone can tell that he's no winner
Doesn't Jesus know this man's a sinner."

But off they went and had a private chat
And he came back a brand new chap
Salvation came to his house that day
And his desire was to repay.

He said, "Here's your money don't be poor
Not once, not twice but four times more
For once I was short before my call
But now I'm over ten feet tall."

Zacchaeus changed and made a new start
And of God's family he became a part.

Teaching tip 18 - Jesus Understands.

The following lesson has been around for a number of years in slightly different forms. I have, however, always found it very effective in ministering God's love to children. Therefore, I will share it here for the benefit of those to whom it is new.

Every child will experience difficult or stressful situations at some time as they are growing up. However you can use the Easter story to show them that Jesus also had to go through many tough situations, especially at the end of his earthly life. In fact, because many of these were similar to those we may go through, He now understands how we feel at these difficult times. It is therefore a great comfort to know that when we share these hard situations with him in prayer, He understands exactly how we feel.

There are a number of circumstances Jesus faced that we could talk about, but I usually choose seven and write their titles out on cards. I then show the cards at the appropriate times as I tell the Easter story. Also, as you are telling the story, It is also a good idea to share a few personal examples of tough situations from your own childhood.

1. Being different.
As Jesus was growing up, he must have realised that that he was different from other children of his age - even though he may not have known exactly what his purpose on earth was while he was very young. But imagine how he felt when he found out that his purpose for being on this planet was to die for the sins of others!

"It is never easy being different. Perhaps some of you here today think you are different from other children. For example, you may feel bad because you think you are too tall, short, fat, thin - - - - , or wear glasses, teeth braces etc. Perhaps you feel different because you don't like most of the things the other children seem to enjoy? If you feel different, remember Jesus Understands, because he was also different."

2. Being let down.
Jesus was let down (or betrayed) by his friend Judas who sold him over to the religious leaders for thirty silver coins.

"I am sure some of you have been let down sometimes. Perhaps someone has promised to give you something, take you somewhere, or do something with you - but they didn't keep their promise. Or perhaps you have shared a secret with a friend - and then he/she has gone and told everyone in your class about it! It is never pleasant to be let down, but remember Jesus Understands, because he was let down in a big way by Judas - and by all his other friends who ran away when he was arrested."

3. Being unfairly blamed.
At his trial, Jesus was blamed for doing things that he was innocent of.

"Perhaps something has happened at school or home, and you have got the blame for it, even though you were not guilty. It makes us feel very bad if we get the blame for something we haven't done. If this has ever happened to you, please remember that Jesus Understands how you feel, because he also was blamed for things he didn't do."

4. Being teased.
Jesus was handed over to the Roman soldiers, and they beat him and mocked (or teased) him greatly.

"It is never nice to be teased. Maybe some of you have been teased, perhaps by being called nasty names - and that does really hurt people on the inside. There is an old saying 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.' That is not true! Calling someone a nasty name could hurt them far worse, and for far longer, than hitting them with a stick or stone. If you are hurting on the inside because someone has called you names, remember Jesus Understands because he was also teased horribly."

5. Being left out.
Pilate wanted to release Jesus, so he brought out a murderer called Barabbas. He gave the crowd a choice of freeing either Jesus or Barabbas. And the crowd chose _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Barabbas! Imagine that. A murderer was chosen, and Jesus was left out.

"It is never nice to be left out of something. Perhaps you wanted to join in someone's game, but they wouldn't let you. Or maybe you were hoping to be chosen for a team, but you weren't picked. Or maybe there was a special task to be done at home or at school. You were sure you would do a good job if asked, but someone else was picked instead. It makes us feel bad on the inside when these things happen, but remember Jesus Understands. The crowd chose a murderer instead of him."

6. Being lonely.
On the cross, Jesus was completely alone. His friends had deserted him, and even his Heavenly Father had abandoned him because He couldn't stand to look on sin.

"Perhaps some of you are lonely at times. It could be because you haven't any really good friends, or no brothers or sisters to play with? Being lonely makes you sad, but remember if you ever feel lonely, Jesus Understands. At the very time it seemed he needed his friends the most, he was completely on his own."

7. Being without a father.
The Bible records that Jesus' mother, Mary, was at the cross witnessing his horrible death, but it doesn't mention his 'earthly father' Joseph. It is thought that Joseph probably died while Jesus was still a child. Therefore, Jesus probably grew up without a father.

"Perhaps some of you don't have a father. Or maybe you don't have a mother. It could be that someone doesn't have a father or a mother. In these days many families break up, often leaving children with only one parent living at home. And this can often be a very tough situation. But remember, if you have only one parent at home, Jesus Understands what it is like for you, because he also probably grew up with only one parent."

Conclusion.

"If you have identified with any of these seven situations, why don't you take a few seconds right now to tell Jesus about it. Remember, He understands exactly how you feel because he has gone through similar situations himself. If you are feeling hurt or upset, ask Jesus to take it all away and replace it with his love, joy and peace."

Concluding Prayer. "Lord Jesus, I thank you that you know everything about each child here today. You know those who feel different from others, those who have been let down, those who have been unfairly blamed, teased or left out. You know about those who are lonely, and those who only have one parent. I thank you that because of what you had to endure at the end of your own earthly life, you know exactly how each child feels. So I ask you to take away every sorrow, hurt and pain, and replace them with your love, joy and peace. Amen."

Teaching tip 19 - Teaching Bible stories in context.

I find that many children know a lot of Bible stories, but they have little idea of when they actually happened, or how they fit into God's plan of redemption. Therefore, when teaching Bible stories, I always like to put them into context and so give the children an understanding about where each particular story (or event) fits into God's overall plan for this world. In fact, with each new class I take, I always like to start by giving them an overview of the Bible - God's plan of redemption. There are a number of ways this can be done, and six of them are shared below. I will fill in a few details for the first three, but just give the bare outlines for the others, leaving it to you to fill in as much of the detail as you think appropriate for your class.

1. God's Time Line.

Draw out a time line for the children to view as you talk about it. Begin at Creation, and continue to the present. (You can consult a Study Bible to find the dates of some of the more important events). Include as many events as you wish, but the time line shown below is one I have used. Later in the year when I am telling a Bible story (especially one from the Old Testament), I will refer back to my time line to show where it fits in. (I often intend to go through the year telling the Bible stories in chronological order, but Curriculum considerations - and the fact that in the New Zealand school year, Easter always comes before Christmas! - usually prevent it).

Idea. Get a book of Children's Bible stories that has pictures of all the major characters. Decide which of these you wish to include in your time line. Tape the pages together in such a way that when you now 'flick' through the book you will reveal only the desired characters, and in the right order. You can then use this as a visual aid as you go down the time line.

Introduction. The Bible is the most amazing, wonderful book in the world because it was written by God, Himself. In contrast, every other book has been written by ordinary human beings. The Bible is important to us for four main reasons.
1. It is a book about God. There have been thousands of books written about God, and many of them are very good. But no-one knows God like He knows Himself! So, if you want to know what God is really like, read the Bible.
2. It is a book about ourselves. No-one knows you better than God does, because He made you. So, if you want to know what you are really like, especially on the inside, read the Bible.
3. It is an instruction book for life. God knows what is best for you, what is right and what is wrong. If you let the Bible guide you as you journey through life, it will keep you going the right way and stop you getting into trouble.
4. It tells us how we can become God's forever friend, through faith in His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is more important than anything else in the whole world.

As well as all the above, the Bible is the most exciting, amazing book that has ever been written. It is all about God's plan for the world, and how He used ordinary men, women and children, who were simply prepared to be obedient to him, to do amazing things, perform miracles and overcome much stronger enemies and great obstacles. But what makes the Bible even more exciting is that all the stories in it are true. With most other books, the stories are fiction - they were made up from the imaginations of the authors. But the Bible stories really happened.

Over the year we will be looking some of these amazing stories in more detail, because God caused each one to be written down, so that we could learn something from them. (Some of the stories, I won't have time to tell you. But there is no reason why you cannot read them for yourselves). Firstly though, we are going to have a look at God's time line. The Bible is a record of the history of the world. The Bible records all the major events that have ever happened, or indeed will ever happen, and this time line will give you an idea of what order the events took place in, and how long ago they happened.

Time Line.

Creation. (The Bible indicates about 4,000 BC). God made a perfect world.
Adam and Eve. The first people disobeyed God, and brought sin into the world.
Noah. (2,400 BC). The earth had become so corrupt, that God destroyed it with a flood.
Babel. The origin of different peoples and languages.
Abraham. (1,900 BC). God had a two part plan to make things perfect again. Part 1 was to choose a special people (The Israelites) to be an example of how to live the right way towards God and to others, and also to prepare the way for the coming of His son. He began with Abraham. The rest of the Old Testament is a history of the Israelites. When they were obedient to God, He helped them, did some amazing things through them, and caused them to prosper. When they were disobedient, He allowed things to go wrong.
Joseph. Abraham's Grandson. God caused Joseph to become Prime minister of Egypt, so when there was a famine in Israel, he was able to invite his family (about seventy of them) down to live near him where there was plenty of food.
Moses. (1,400 BC). About four hundred years later the Israelites, now numbering about two million, were still in Egypt, but living as slaves. God used Moses to rescue them from the Egyptians and lead them back towards their own (promised) land. He also used Moses to give us the Ten Commandments. These are God's rules for life which, if we obey them, will prevent us from hurting ourselves or others.
Joshua. He actually led the Israelites back to the promised land. He is best known for his part in the battle of Jericho.
Gideon. Another great hero who God used to defeat a great army with just a few men.
Samson. The strong man who lost his strength when he was disobedient and had his hair cut off. But he was still able to defeat God's enemies when his hair began to grow longer again.
Samuel. Who God spoke to in an audible voice while he was still only a young boy.
David. (1,000 BC). Who God used to defeat the giant, Goliath.
Elijah. Who was able to call down fire from Heaven to burn up his sacrifice, and defeat the worshippers of false gods.
Jonah. His disobedience led to him being swallowed by a large fish.
Captivity. (700 BC). Because of their disobedience, God allowed many of the Israelites to be taken captive to Babylon. It seemed as though they were in great danger of becoming extinct, but God still had a plan for them.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were thrown into a fiery furnace because they refused to worship the king's golden idol. But God rescued them.
Daniel. He was thrown into a lion's den because he refused to stop praying to the one true God. But God rescued him.

The entire history of the Israelites was a whole series of ups and downs as they were in turn obedient, then disobedient to God. But God remained committed to them throughout the entire 1,900 year period. Eventually, the time was right for God to put Part 2 of his plan into operation.

Jesus. (Year 0). God came to earth Himself as a man, to defeat sin, death and evil. (You could mention some of the miracles that Jesus did).
Crucifixion. (30 AD). This means we can be forgiven and become God's forever friends.
Resurrection. This means God's power is now available to change us and to enable us to live lives of power and love that are pleasing to Him.
The Disciples. (30 AD to Present). Beginning with people like Peter and Paul, 'Believers' began to share the Good News about Jesus, and continue His work on earth. This continues today.
The return of Jesus. Sometime in the future, when He comes back to complete the job of making everything perfect again.

2. God's Plan for Man.

Get each child to cut out a circular piece of light coloured cardboard, about the size of a small dinner plate. Tell the children that they are to imagine that they are the Creator, and that they have to create their own world by drawing on their cardboard whatever they want to have in their world - eg. flowers, birds, animals, people etc.

Allow about 10 min. for this activity, then get all the children to sit down, holding their creations. Get the children to close their eyes, and to imagine their creations coming alive. Stress that each creation is wonderful, with birds singing, animals running and playing together, people laughing, playing and enjoying each other etc.

Next, the children are to imagine that something has gone horribly wrong with their perfect creations. " Oh no! The people have started arguing and hitting each other, weeds have started growing in their beautiful gardens, the animals have started hunting, killing and eating each other. Now, even the people are killing each other."

Explain that because of our deliberate rejection of our Creator, this is exactly what happened with His perfect creation, our world. The question is what could God do about it?

State that the children each have to decide what to do with their now spoiled creations. Give them four choices (it is a good idea to have these displayed in some way):-

1. Destroy their world.
2. Send someone to teach the people of their world how to be good.
3. Go yourself to show the people how to love each other.
4. Give them the power to change and become good.

Get the children to indicate which of the four options they would choose (In my experience the majority usually choose option 1!).

Explain that God still loved His creation despite what had happened, and therefore He rejected option 1, and did not destroy the world. What God did choose were options 2, 3, and 4. He sent people (they were called Prophets) to teach us to be good, but usually we wouldn't listen to them. Then God came Himself, in the form of a man - we knew him as Jesus. He showed us how much God loves us and how we should love each other, but people still killed him. Now we come to option 4. The wonderful news is that Jesus rose from the dead, and that because of his death and resurrection we can be forgiven our wrongdoing and receive God's power to change us and make us good.

3. God's Diary.

"This is my Diary. I am sure some of you keep diaries as well. They are very useful for writing in future appointments we have, or events we are looking forward to. And when they have passed, our diary is a permanent reminder to us about them.

Some events in our lives, like birthdays, are of course more important to us than others, and it is the same with God. I think that if God kept a diary, He would mark in it some events that are more important to him than all the others. In fact, I think God would mark in his diary the following six events as being the most important both to him and to us.

Idea. Make up a simple, but large, diary to show the children as you are talking about the 'six major events'. Staple three pieces of plain paper together, and write on the pages, Creation, God became a man, Jesus died for us, Jesus rose again, Jesus returned to heaven and Jesus returns to earth.

1. Creation. Once absolutely nothing existed, apart from God - no matter (solid things), no space, no time. Then God spoke and brought the Universe into existence by His power. God created a beautiful and perfect earth for us to live on and enjoy. He then created people, in His own likeness, to be his special friends. But the very first people disobeyed God, and that brought sin into the world and spoiled it all. But God still loved His creation, and had a plan to make it good again.

2. God became a man. Because of his great love for us, God became one of us. We called him Jesus. He limited Himself to a human body with a human nature. Thus, Jesus was just like us. For example, he could only be in one place at a time, and he got tired, hungry, thirsty, happy, sad, etc. - just like we do.

3. He died for us. Jesus didn't die of old age, a disease, or an accident. No, he was crucified by wicked men. But the amazing thing was, he allowed it to happen to himself. In fact he died in place of us, so we could be forgiven our sins and become God's forever friends.

4. He rose again. After three days, Jesus rose from the dead, proving that he had beaten sin, sickness, evil and death. Thus Jesus is not like the leaders of other religions. Followers of other religions could probably take you to a tomb somewhere and say "Our leader is in there. He lived, and we believe he was a good man, but then he died and his body is rotting away in that grave." Christians, on the other hand, could take you to a tomb in Jerusalem and say "Our leader died, and his body was placed in that grave over there. But He is not there now. The tomb is empty, because Jesus came alive again!" This means that Jesus is alive today, and he is able to give us all the power we need to change and become the people God wants us to be.

5. He returned to heaven. Six weeks after He rose from the grave, Jesus returned to heaven. But he hasn't gone there to live a life of comfort. No, through his death and resurrection, Jesus won the earth back for God, and He now rules over it through all his followers. The Bible tells us that Jesus is also preparing homes for us to inhabit in heaven one day.

6. Jesus will return to earth again. This, of course, is the only one of these six major events that has not yet happened. But it is something that is certain to happen. God is not like us. We may write a future event in our diaries, and then something may happen to cause it to get cancelled. But when God says something is going to happen, nothing can stop it taking place.

When Jesus returns, it will be to judge the earth. If you have put your trust in Jesus, your judgement is past - Jesus has paid the penalty for your sins, and you are forgiven. If, however, you refuse to let Jesus forgive you, you will have to pay the penalty for your own sins.

Conclusion. Just like our diaries have a final date in them (usually December 31st.), so has God's diary. One day, God will declare, "Time up." That is why it is so important to ensure that you put your trust in Jesus before that 'final date', and to tell as many people that you can about 'God's Diary'.

4. The Wordless book.

This is usually used by teachers in sharing about Easter. However, by simply adding a white page at the beginning, you can use it to describe the whole history of mankind.Thus :-

White. God made a perfect earth.
Black. Sin entered the world.
Red. Jesus shed his blood for us.
White. We are forgiven and cleansed.
Green. We need to grow to become more like Jesus.
Gold. The colour of heaven - our future home.

In place of a Wordless book, I use a Colour change bag (available from http://www.onewaystreet.com/ ) for a greater effect. It looks like an ordinary cloth bag, but as you keep turning it inside out it changes to all the colours of a wordless book. If you wish to start your story at 'Creation', begin with 'white', and then you will be able to reveal in turn the colours red, black, red, white, green and gold. For the extra 'red' (prior to the 'black'), I say something like "Sin entered the world and everything went wrong. Red is the colour for blood, and animals began to hunt, kill and eat each other. Even people began to kill each other. Things were so bad, it could only be described by the colour 'black' - - - - - ."

5. The Seven C's of History.

Answers in Genesis ( http://www.answersingenesis.com/ ) have produced a series of colourful children's worksheets called "The seven C's of History." Each sheet is full of information and activities, and could be used as the basis for a whole lesson. Alternatively, you could use the "Seven C's" as an overview of the history of the world. Thus :-

1. Creation.
2. Corruption (The Fall of man).
3. Catastrophe (Noah's flood).
4. Confusion (the Tower of Babel).
5. Christ.
6. Cross.
7. Consummation (the new heavens and new Earth).

6. Four words to describe the history of the world.

1. Creation.
2. Deception.
3. Substitution.
4. Restoration.

Creation or Evolution. Does it really matter what we believe?

Many Christians would answer "No" to that question, stating that all that really matters is whether we have put our trust in Christ and been 'born again'. Consequently they would argue that therefore it doesn't really matter what we teach our children about the origins of the Universe and life. In fact I have a Christian friend who refuses to teach on the subject of Creation, stating that it is too controversial.

I can sympathise with my friend's point of view because our children are being brought up in an 'evolutionised' society where it is usually accepted without question that higher life forms evolved from lower ones and that the earth is billions of years old. Therefore to teach children that God made the entire Universe, including all its different life forms, in the space of just six days only a few thousand years ago, is indeed likely to cause confusion in the minds of some.

I should make it clear that I am not talking about Godless evolution, which basically states that everything in the Universe made itself due to a series of chance random processes over billions of years. No, I am talking about theistic evolution, which is the belief that simple life forms did change and evolve into higher ones, but that God directed the process.

Many Christians do believe in theistic evolution, thinking that they have found a way to both keep their faith and accept the most popular 'scientific' views regarding our origins. They argue that God could have created us through a series of evolutionary processes. True, but the real question here is not how God created us, but rather how God said he created us. And a straightforward reading of the Bible tells us that God created each different 'kind' complete and perfect in the space of six days.

Some Christians regard the Biblical account of Creation and the subsequent fall of man as myths. But if the first part of the Bible never really happened, where then do the myths end and real history begin? If people put their own interpretations on the first part of the Bible, where do they stop? If Genesis cannot be trusted, and God didn't really make things as the Bible describes, how do we know for example that all the miracles the Bible talks about really happened? And what about the resurrection of Jesus? Perhaps his body didn't really rise from the dead? Maybe it was just a 'Spiritual' resurrection? Also, if the Bible is open to different interpretations, how do we know which one is the correct one? No. If we don't accept the entire Bible as God's infallible word, we are likely to end up doubting it all.

I believe it is important to teach our children about Biblical creation (See Teaching tip 20 below) and the subsequent "fall of man", because the Gospel doesn't make much sense without it. We need to teach the bad news before we can teach the good news. If there was no original sin and rebellion against God, why do we need a Saviour?

I believe that the general decline in moral standards today can largely be attributed to the widespread teaching and acceptance of various forms of evolution. If we are taught that we are just highly evolved animals, it is hardly surprising that many end up acting like them.

If your pet dog gets old and sick, the best thing to do is get him 'put down'. So if your granny gets old and sick, why not put her down as well?

If a kitten is born deformed, the most humane thing to do would probably be to drown it. So what should we do with a human 'animal' that is born deformed?

If we all descended from the trees, some races have been 'human' longer than others, so aren't we justified in enslaving these 'lesser humans', or even eliminating them if they pose a threat to us?

Why do we need to wear clothes? Animals don't wear clothes, so why should we bother? (The answer of course is in Genesis - to cover up our shame. But if we reinterpret Genesis - - - - - ).

Why is homosexuality and same-sex marriage wrong? We have no reason for condemning such behaviour, if we don't believe a literal interpretation of Genesis.

If there is no Absolute Authority, and the Ten Commandments, for example, are only rules made up by men, why shouldn't we all make up our own personal rules, and live by them instead?

Thus, a society that believes in evolution is likely to allow euthanasia, abortion, racism, pornography, same-sex marriage and become increasingly lawless. A society that accepts the entire Bible as the 'Word of God' will know that every person is made in 'the image of God' and will treat them with the respect, caring and dignity that God demands.

For many years the Church has fought against such things as euthanasia, abortion, homosexuality etc. But, I believe they are fighting merely the symptoms of a sin-sick society. What we should be concentrating our efforts on is upholding the inerrancy, accuracy and integrity of the Bible. The Statement of Faith for most Christian denominations includes something like "We believe that the Bible in its entirety is the inspired and infallible Word of God." But so often many Christians compromise God's Word, and from their conversations it is obvious that they don't really believe it to have been given to us by the Creator, Himself. And if the 'world' thinks that we don't really believe parts of the Bible ourselves, why should they listen to us? If we don't believe it ourselves, how can we expect them to? They think we are just sharing our own opinions. And why should our opinions be any more valid than theirs? Some of the humanistic arguments put forward by Christians in trying, for example, to persuade youngsters to abstain from sex before marriage or not to co-habit, don't sound very convincing to me. No, I believe we will only be able to make real progress in our spiritual battles when we come to the place where we can say "That behaviour is wrong - because God's Word says so!" Period.

I recently read a very challenging book "Revolution in World Missions" by K. P. Yohannan, founder of 'Gospel for Asia'. Dr. Yohannan puts the case for "Preaching the Word" rather than sharing mainly a 'Social Gospel'. Concentrating on sharing the love of God by meeting the social needs of people has very limited success. He cites Thailand as an example. Christian missionaries have been active here for over 150 years. They have played a major role in the modernisation of the country, being largely responsible for its widespread literacy, first printing press, first university, first hospital, first doctor and almost every other benefit of education and science. Yet Christians still only make up about 2% of the population. Ultimately, what has been the value of these modern benefits, if most of the people still die without Christ?

First and foremost we are called to 'Preach the Gospel'. Some of you are probably thinking " I'm a teacher, not a Preacher." But the word 'Preach' simply means 'to make known'. And we can all make Christ known to the children in our classes. So I encourage you, when you teach a Bible account, do not simply teach it as a good story that the children can learn something from, but teach it also for what it is - the Word of God 'that cannot be broken', teach it in context, and teach it as real history.

It is easy to criticise the religious leaders of Jesus' day for their opposition to him, but at least they accepted the Scriptures as God's authoritative Word. In his discourses with these leaders, Jesus would often silence them by quoting scripture - "The scriptures say this, or the scriptures say that." The religious leaders couldn't argue with that because they all accepted the Word of God as absolute truth.

I long for the day when Society as a whole will once again accept God's Word as the final Authority for what we believe, and how we act. But it needs to begin with those who already profess a personal relationship with God.

Teaching tip 20 - Creation and Evolution.

I don't usually mention the theory of evolution in my classes, concentrating instead on just teaching Creation from God's Word. Sometimes, however, an older child may raise the subject. Then I will proceed along the following lines. I explain the basics of special creation by God and evolution, and then state that there are two ways we can test which one is more likely to be true.

1. Ask "Is evolution happening today?" The answer is obviously "No." We never observe one kind of creature changing into a different kind. Thus, cats always give birth to cats, dogs give dogs, potatoes give potatoes and carrots give carrots etc. etc.

2. Is there any evidence to show that evolution ever happened in the past? Again the answer is "No." Fossils are a collection of 'dead things' - creatures and plants that lived and died in the past. But the fossil record shows clearly defined species, with no evidence of one type of creature changing into a different type. If evolution were true, we would expect to find billions of transitional forms. But they are just not there.

There have been a number of claims that 'intermediate' forms have been found (e.g. ape-men), but on further inspection they have proved to be false. So-called ape-men, for example, have subsequently been shown to be really either apes, men, or fraudulent hoaxes (e.g. Pilkdown man).

Science is concerned solely with what is happening in the present. It cannot tell us anything about what happened in the past. So when it comes to the origins of things, we move into the realm of speculation and personal faith. Ultimately, the question is "Who are we going to believe? Fallible men who weren't there in the beginning, or God who is the only one who was there?"

Note. See Teaching tip 4 (Newsletter 18) for ideas on teaching about creation, and object lessons 20 and 43 if you are also going to talk about evolution during your lesson.

Teaching tip 21 - The lost sheep.

Fun story - The lost sheep.

Jesus wanted people to understand how loving and caring Father God in heaven really is, so he told a story about a Good Shepherd and a lost sheep. With your help, I am going to tell a story based on the one Jesus told, but the important thing to remember is that the Good Shepherd in the story is like God (or Jesus), and the lost sheep is like us.

I want you all to listen out for five 'special' phrases. Whenever you hear them, you have to all respond in the following ways.

Whenever I say 'little sheep', you all have to say "aaaah." Let's try it out. Little sheep. (aaaah). I heard one of you say "baaah." Let's try again. Little sheep. (aaaah). That's better.

Whenever I say 'run away', you all have to say "Oh no!" Let's try it. Run away. (Oh no!). That's right.

Whenever I say 'Lion', you all have to raise your arms to the side of your faces and say "Roar." Let's do it. Lion. (Roar). Good.

Whenever I say 'Wolf', you all have to cup your hands to your mouths and go "oooow." Let's practice. Wolf. (oooow). Very good.

Lastly, whenever I say 'Thistle', which is a sharp, jaggy weed, you all have to jump up from your seats and say "Ouch!" Let's have a go. Thistle. (Ouch). Excellent.

So this is the story about a Good Shepherd who had one hundred little sheep (aaaah). (You may have to prompt the children the first few times). The Good Shepherd loved his little sheep (aaaah), and took really good care of them. He made sure they had enough to eat and drink, and he protected them from any lions (Roar) that might be prowling around looking for juicy lamb chops for their dinners, or any wolves (oooow) that might be looking for some nice mutton stew for their suppers.

One night the Good Shepherd came home and began to count his little sheep (aaaah). He went (pointing at the children) 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . . 5 . . .6 . . . 7 . . . 98 . . .99. Oh no, I must have made a mistake. I know, I will start again, beginning at the other side. 1 . . .2 . . .3 . . .4 . . .5 . . .6 . . .7 . . .98 . . .99 . . . Who can tell me , how many sheep should there have been? That's right - 100. How many sheep did the Good Shepherd count? That's right - 99. Now, Here is the hard question. How many sheep were missing? That's right - 1. So the Good Shepherd said 'On no, one of my little sheep (aaaah) must have run away (Oh no)."

Then the Good Shepherd left the 99 little sheep (aaaah) who were safe, and went to look for the little sheep (aaaah) who had run away (Oh no). As he went, the Good Shepherd heard the sound of a Lion (Roar). The Good Shepherd said "Oh no, I hope that that lion (Roar) hasn't caught my little sheep (aaaah) who has run away (Oh no) and eaten him up for his dinner."

Then the Good Shepherd went a little further and he heard the sound of a wolf (oooow). The Good Shepherd said "Oh no, I hope that that wolf (oooow) hasn't found my little sheep (aaaah) and gobbled him up for his supper.

The Good Shepherd went a little further and heard another sound . This was like Baaah. The Good Shepherd said "I know that voice. I know who that is. That's my little sheep (aaaah) who has run away (Oh no)." So the Good Shepherd went to where the 'Baaahing' was coming from, and there he found his little sheep (aaaah). He had been caught in a thistle (Ouch). So the Good Shepherd got hold of his little sheep (aaaah), pulled him out of the thistle (Ouch), put him over his shoulder and carried him home.

The Good Shepherd was so happy at finding his little sheep (aaaah) that he invited all his friends, relatives and neighbours over to have a great big celebration party.

Who did I say the Good Shepherd was like in that story? That's right God, or Jesus. And who did I say the lost sheep was like? That's right us. The Bible tells us that we have all been like that lost sheep. Because of the wrong things we do, we get separated and lost from God. But the reason Jesus came to earth was to look for us and rescue (or save) us - not from a lion, wolf or thistle - from something far worse, our sins. And when just one boy or one girl is rescued by Jesus and brought back into God's family, all the Angels in heaven get excited and have a big party.

Lost sheep skit.

With the aid of a sheep puppet, I perform this ventriloquism skit after telling the 'lost sheep' story.

Self. I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine. This is Shaun the sheep. Say 'Hello' Shaun.

Shaun. Baaah.

Self. Thank you Shaun. I have brought Shaun along to our class today because he tells me that he's the very sheep we were hearing about in the story - the sheep that ran away. Is that true Shaun?

Shaun. Baaah.

Self. Thank you Shaun, I thought it was. Now Shaun, will you tell these boys and girls your side of the story?

Shaun. Baaah.

Self. Thank you very much Shaun, I knew you would. Firstly Shaun, what made you run away?

Shaun. Baaah. I wanted to do what I wanted to do, and go where I wanted to go.

Self. That's like a lot of boys and girls today. They just want to go their own way, and don't listen to their parents, teachers, or even God. What happened after you ran away?

Shaun. It got darker.

Self. Well it does get dark at night Shaun, but what happened next?

Shaun. It got darker.

Self. Yes, and then?

Shaun. It got darker.

Self. I think we all understand that Shaun. It was very dark, but what happened next?

Shaun. It got colder.

Self. Oh I see. It was cold as well as dark that night. What happened next?

Shaun. It got colder.

Self. Yes, and then?

Shaun. It got colder.

Self. I am sure we all understand that Shaun. It was very dark and very cold, and you must have been very frightened by now. But what happened next?

Shaun. Then I heard a lion.

Self. Oh Shaun, that must have terrified you. What happened next?

Shaun. Then I heard a wolf.

Self. Oh Shaun! A wolf as well as a lion. What did you do?

Shaun. I ran and ran and ran.

Self. I'm not surprised. I think that if I were on my own on a cold, dark night and I heard a lion and a wolf, I would run and run and run. What happened next?

Shaun. I ran and ran and ran.

Self. Yes, and then?

Shaun. I ran and ran and ran and ran.

Self. Yes Shaun, but after you ran and ran and ran, and ran and ran and ran, and ran and ran and ran and ran, what happened next?

Shaun. I ran and ran and ran into a thistle.

Self. Oh Shaun, that must have been very painful for you. What happened next?

Shaun. All of a sudden, there was the Good Shepherd.

Self. That's right, he came out on that cold, dark night just to look for you. Did he give you a row for running away?

Shaun. No, he just picked me up and took me home.

Self. I expect that was when you got a row for running away?

Shaun. No, we just had a big celebration party.

Self. That's right. The Good Shepherd was so happy at finding you that he invited all his friends, relatives and neighbours to celebrate with him. What do you think of the Good Shepherd now?

Shaun. He's so good to me.

Self. Will you ever run away again?

Shaun. No, I will never leave the Good Shepherd again.

Self. Good, I think you have learned your lesson.

Shaun. I want to go back to the Good Shepherd now.

Self. We understand that Shaun. You don't want to be away from the Good Shepherd for too long. We will let you go back to him.

Shaun. Before I go, can you answer me a question.

Self. We will if we can Shaun. What is your question to us?

Shaun. Where does a sheep go to get a wool cut?

Self. I know where I go to get a hair cut, but where would a sheep go to get a wool cut? - - - - - - I think you will have to give us the answer Shaun.

Shaun. He goes to the Baa Baa's!

Self. Good bye Shaun.

Conclusion.

That sheep got into trouble because he was disobedient to the Good Shepherd. It is exactly the same with us. When boys and girls get into trouble it is usually because they have been disobedient to God, or the people - like parents and teachers - that God has chosen to look after them. So if you don't want to get into trouble, the answer is simple - listen to your parents, teachers , and what God says in the Bible. Be obedient to what they say, because they love you, they want to protect you, and they know what is best for you.

Note. My object lesson 9 (Which way?) or 38 (Obedience brings success) could be used to conclude this teaching on the lost sheep.

Teaching tip 22 - The lost son.

Play - The lost son.

Here is a play based on Jesus' famous parable of the lost son (sometimes called the prodigal or the wasteful son). I use it with my classes, having first retold the parable itself. The play is set in the present time and has four scenes, involving four actors - the father, the younger son, the older son and a home help. There is a narrative to introduce each scene. I select a good reader to do this, or sometimes do it myself with a slightly younger class.

This play is more suitable for 9 year olds and upwards. I usually do it as a radio play by recording the children as they read their parts, and conclude by playing it back to the whole class. Prior selection of the younger son and the servant will enable you to personalise the play by inserting their names into the script.

Note. For younger children this could be used as a puppet play.

Scene 1.

Narrator. This is a play about a patient father and his wasteful son. The first scene takes place in a house somewhere near ____________ (name of local street) in ___________ (name of local town or city).

(Younger) son. Hi Dad.
Father. Yes son.
Son. Is it true that when you die, I will get half your money?
Father. Yes son. Your brother and you will share my savings in the __________ bank.
Son. Well I can't wait until you die. I want my share now.
Father. Why is that son?
Son. I am tired of school and living around here. I want to go to downtown _____________ (name of nearest large city) and really party - in the Night clubs, casino and all-night bars.
Father. If that is what you really want, here is your share of the money.
Son. Gee. Thanks Dad. You are really quite a cool dude after all.

Scene 2.

Narrator. True to his word, the wasteful son went to the bright lights of downtown ____________ and really partied - drinking, gambling and party-going. He made many friends who helped him spend his money. However, after a few months, all his money had gone - and now his so-called friends didn't want to know him.
Unemployment was high in ____________, and the wasteful son had no money, no job, nowhere to live and very little food to eat. Eventually, he managed to gat a job selling hot dogs from a wheelbarrow.

Son. Hot dogs. Hot dogs. Get your hot dogs here.
Woe is me. Business is bad. Woe is me. Woe is me. WOE IS ME.
I am a fool. I have nowhere to live, no money, no friends, my clothes are dirty and torn, and I only have hot dogs to eat. Even my father's home help is better off than I am. I should never have left home. I know! I will return to my father. I am no longer worthy to be called his son, but perhaps he will give me a job in his lolly shop.

Scene 3.

Narrator. So the wasteful son returned home, wondering what type of reception he would get from his father. He thought that his father would probably be very angry and tell him to clear off. But as he neared home, he saw his father running towards him.

Footsteps.

Son. Father, I have sinned against you and against God. I am not worthy to be called your son.
Father. My son. My son. You have come home. Oh what joy you have given me. You were dead to me and now you are alive. You were lost and now you are found.
Son. But father, I am not worthy to be called your son.
Father. The only thing that matters is that you have come home. We must have a celebration party to welcome you home. Miss _______. Miss _______ .
Home help. Yes sir.
Father. My beloved son has returned home. Make sure he has everything he needs. Give him the best coat, put a ring on his finger, shoes on his feet, and invite all my friends round for a celebration homecoming party.
Home help. Whatever you say sir. Come with me Master _______ . I will get your old room ready for you.

Scene 4.

Narrator. The older son, however, was not as forgiving as his father. As he returned home from working in his father's lolly shop, he heard the sound of joyful music.

Older son. Miss _________ . What on earth is going on?
Home help. Your brother has returned home and your father is jumping for joy. He has given him a bicycle, a computer, a play station, and a big bag of his favourite lollies. He is now having a big celebration party, and he wants you to join them.
Older son. No way! It sounds as though Dad has really gone crazy. Send him out to me please.
Home help. Whatever you say.

Footsteps.

Father. Yes son. What do you want?
Older son. Dad, have you gone completely crazy? That rotten brother of mine has dared to come home, and instead of sending him away, you have welcomed him back as though he had never done any wrong, It is just not fair.
Father. Son, you are with me always, and whatever is mine is yours also. But your brother was dead to me and now he is alive again, he was lost and now he is found. It is only right that we should celebrate his return.

Conclusion.

Narrator. Just like the forgiving father in this play, our heavenly Father waits patiently for his lost children to return home. And when we do, he welcomes us gladly. All our sins are forgiven and forgotten and there is much rejoicing in heaven.

Four gifts from the Father.

In this parable, the father welcomed his son home by giving him four gifts. These gifts each had special significance in 'Bible' days, and they also have their spiritual equivalents for us today as children of our heavenly Father.

1. The best robe (coat). The son had just come from the pigsty. He must have looked and smelled awful. However the father didn't ask his son to clean himself up first. Rather he put the best robe over his dirty clothes. This reminds us that our Father doesn't ask us to clean ourselves up before we come to Him. No, He accepts us just as we are. The Bible in fact talks about a 'Robe of righteousness' which we are given to cover our sins, just as that robe covered the dirty clothes of the son.

2. The ring. This would almost certainly have been the father's 'signet' ring, which would have then enabled his son to conduct business on his behalf. In much the same way, we are given the 'Name of Jesus' to enable us to receive blessings from heaven. That is why we pray "in the Name of Jesus". When we do this, it is just as though Jesus were praying on our behalf.

Imagine your dad giving you his credit card, enabling you to go to the shops and buy whatever you wanted, crediting it all to your dad's account! What a wonderful blessing it is to have 'The Name of Jesus'.

3. Sandals. In 'Bible' days only slaves or servants did not wear sandals or shoes. That father did not want anyone to mistake his son for a servant. No, he wanted everyone to know that this boy was part of his family, he was his beloved son. In the same way, when we put our trust in Jesus and come to the Father, He doesn't make us His servants. No, he makes us his sons and daughters, of whom he is very proud.

4. The prize (fatted) calf. Meals were very important in 'Bible' days. If someone invited you to share a special meal with them, they were in fact inviting you to enter into a covenant relationship with them. By so doing they were in effect stating that all they had was now equally yours. By sharing the prize calf with his son, the father was restoring all his previous rights and privileges of sonship. Everything the father had now also equally belonged to the son. In the same way, God has entered into a covenant relationship with us through Jesus. All the riches of heaven are now rightfully ours, as His children.

Story - A modern Prodigal.

I sometimes use the following true story to complement my teaching on the lost son. I came across it on the Internet sometime ago. Unfortunately I cannot recall the source so, as I will have to retell it here from memory, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of some of the details.

A girl from Glasgow (I will call her Agnes - a good Scottish name!) was unhappy living at home under the rules of her parents. One day she informed her parents that she was leaving home and going to make her own way in the world. Her parents loved their daughter dearly and were very disappointed to hear of her decision. However they saw that Agnes was determined to leave, so didn't try to stop her.

Thus Agnes left her parental home to 'lead her own life', and severed all connections with her parents. She never went back to visit them, never wrote, never phoned and never even sent them a Christmas card. Agnes' parents had no idea where their daughter was or how well she was doing with her new found 'freedom', but they continued to love her and long for her return. The years passed, and the father died. The mother, however, continued to long for the return of her daughter.

Meantime, Agnes has made a series of bad choices. She had chosen the wrong friends, and soon found herself living a lifestyle of alcohol, drugs and gambling. After a number of years Agnes found herself completely destitute, with no job, home or money. Each evening she would go along to a 'soup kitchen' run by a Glasgow church for homeless people.

One evening Agnes happened to glance at the church notice board and saw a photograph of a little elderly lady. She thought "That lady looks rather like my old mother", so she went to have a closer look. To her amazement, it was a photograph of her mother, with a simple message underneath which read. "Agnes, please come home, I still love you." Agnes could hardly believe what she was reading "My mother still loves me and wants me to come home, despite how I have treated her" she thought. Suddenly, just like the lost son in the Bible story, Agnes realised what a fool she had been leaving home, cutting off all communications with her parents and making all those bad lifestyle choices. She determined that she had to go home and see her mum immediately.

It was late in the evening and the buses had stopped running, and of course Agnes couldn't afford a taxi. Thus Agnes walked quite a number of mile all the way back to her old home, arriving in the early hours of the morning. Her first instinct was to knock on the door, but then she thought "No, that might frighten my mum if she hears knocking on the door at this time of the night" Agnes then instinctively reached for the doorknob and turned it. To her amazement, the door swung open.

Agnes began to worry. "Why was the door unlocked at this time of the night? Perhaps burglars have got in? Perhaps something has happened to my mum?" Making her way quickly to the bedroom, Agnes found her mother asleep in her bed. Waking her up, Agnes announced "Mum, it's me, Agnes. I saw your note. I have come home."

Mother and daughter embraced, then Agnes asked "Mum, I thought something bad had happened to you. Why did you leave the front door unlocked?" Her mother replied "Agnes, I have never locked the front door since the day you left - just in case one night you decided to come home!"

Conclusion. No matter how far our wrong choices take us away from Father God, his door is always open to us.

Game 1 - The Forgiveness game.

Here is a good game to use with your 'lost son' story, or indeed any teaching concerning God's desire to forgive our sins.

This is based on the popular game 'Simon says' (You give out instructions to the children prefaced by "Simon says". For example, Simon says - - - stand up - - - jump - - - - stop jumping - - - - put your hands on your head - - - - etc. etc. However, if you give out an instruction without prefacing it with "Simon says" and the child carries it out, he/she is eliminated).

When I play this game, I use 'Jesus says' rather than 'Simon says'. I explain to the children that if they do something wrong and are thus eliminated, I will put a X on the back of their hands. They then have to remember what it was that they did wrong. Begin the game. After a few children have been eliminated, suspend the game and ask the 'eliminated' ones what they did wrong. If they remember and confess their 'wrongdoing', rub off their X and allow them to rejoin the game. (Those that don't confess their 'wrongdoing' remain out of the game). Explain that in much the same way, if we confess our wrongdoing to God, he will always forgive us, wipe out our sin, and give us a fresh start. Continue the game in the same way for as long as you wish.

Game 2 - Forgiving others.

The father in the lost son story was eager to forgive, but the older brother was not. Explain that if we want God to forgive us when we do wrong, we must forgive others that have done wrong to us (Matthew 6. v. 14, 15). (For more on this, see Teaching tip 12 - The Lord's prayer, Newsletter 24). Forgiving others usually seems an easy thing to do - if we actually have nobody we need to forgive! However, if we do have somebody we need to forgive, we usually find it is a hard thing to do.

In much the same way the following game sounds very easy to do, but when they actually try it out, most children find it hard.

Give each volunteer two round inflated balloons. All they have to do is keep the balloons up in the air for 30 seconds. (They are not allowed to hold on to the balloons or let them rest on their hands, but must keep them bouncing). If one of the balloons hits the floor - or any other object - within the 30 seconds, they have failed. You will probably find that most children are unable to do this 'simple' task.