Memorizing Scripture Week 2

Opening Act: Soaking Up Jesus

Each table has two sponges, a plate and a cup of water.  Talk about the qualities of a hard, dry sponge. Have various volunteers read verses on being hard-hearted. (Matt 13:14-15, Eph 4:18 and Gen 6:5) Put the sponge scrubber side up and poor a little bit of water on it…most of the time it runs off.

How can we soften our hearts? (Scripture, Service, Prayer…)

Turn the sponge over to the soft side and poor water on – now what? Keep pouring water and what eventually happens? (It spreads out onto the plate because the sponge is so full.)  Now put the dry sponge on top of the wet sponge and what happens? How can we be like the wet sponge? DRIP JESUS on people!!

Memorizing Discussion: - Some more why’s

Each table has a card with a verse to look up and share as a group.

Ps 119:11, Josh 1:8, Deut 11:18, Col 3:16, Prov 6:21-22, Ps 37:30-31, Luke 8:15 and Ps 119:105

Have people share at their tables what scriptures they worked on memorizing.

Ask anyone to share a different technique they used.

Memory Stations

Have Memorizy Stations set up around the room for people to go to.

Scripture Hopscotch – toss bean bag and jump to square, saying the words from a Bible verse as you jump.

Pie Tins and clothes pins - each clothes pin is numbered and goes with a word. Roll dice to see which word to take off and recite the verse with that verse covered up.

Have a pile of legos and labels. Pick first verse to work on as family and put a word each lego.

Notecards –write first letter of each word from a verse and decorate for mirrors.

Pray It – Adults take their verse and write it into a prayer.

Memorizing Scripture Week 1

Opening Act: Swords!

Take out the sword and show everyone. Does anyone know what this is? It is a sword! Do you know what swords are used for? Fighting! In Ephesians 6:11 we are told to put on God’s armor and most of the armor listed is for our protection. But there is only one piece of armor that is used for fighting back. Do you know what is? The Sword of the Spirit!  (Swords purchased at Oriental Trading.)

Swords are sharp and they are used for cutting and the Bible says in Hebrews 4:12 that God’s Word is sharper than the sharpest knife! That means that it is powerful!  In our game today we are going to CUT THROUGH the lies and see the Truth.

Invite the kids to come up with the swords that you are handing out. They need to pick a cereal box and read the sticky note aloud. They are to decide if it’s the TRUTH or a LIE and then knock the box over. Under the box will be a card with a scripture to take back to their table to discover the scriptural truth of their TRUTH or LIE.  For example – It’s ok to get even when someone hurts you. Romans 12:21

Group Discussion: Why Memorize Scripture?

Brainstorm together why memorizing is important:

                Help you see God in your daily life – protect or inspire

                Empower you when you don’t have access to a Bible

From Tramp for The Lord – convo between Corrie and a fellow victim of the war,

“Once I was a concert pianist and many of my pupils are now outstanding musicians. I had a beautiful home in Dresden that was destroyed by the bombs. I had to flee and was not able to take one thing with me.” Oh, no, you are wrong,” I said. “You took with you your most prized possession.” “And what is that?” she asked shocked. “Your music. For that which is in your heart can never be taken from you.” Then I told her of what I had learned in Ravensbruck…and that God's love still stands when all else has fallen. “In the concentration camp they took all we had, even made us stand naked for hours at a time without rest, but they could not take Jesus from my heart. Ask Jesus to come into your life. He will give you riches no man can take away from you.”

                Comfort for others

                Keep perspective on world tragedies and injustices

   

Group Activities: How to Memorize

Hand out scripture cards.

Watch Dawn Davis Helping Preschoolers Memorize Bible Verses training clip (if few families with preschoolers only watch 1:34-2:40 for the Chant Method. (Have coloring sheets for kids during this along with note sheets for adults.) Practice Chant and action as a group.  Have each table pick a verse and come up with actions – share!

Break-Out Activity – Families colored verse cards/Adults Pronounce it

Tables with Children: break apart a verse by putting one or two words on a different color of the rainbow. Families work on memorizing verse by taking away one color/word at a time.

Tables without Children can work through the Pronounce It worksheet.

Studying the Bible: How

Opening Activity

     Follow this link to download your own copy of Old Testament and New Testament Matching Game. 

Studying the Bible Discussion and Exercise 

     What are some of the best ways to read the bible?

For example – new believers don’t start reading the book of Genesis and read forward. Start at the New Testament.

     What has worked for you?

The Basics of Bible Study 

     There are several ways to study the Bible, but could we agree on five basics we should always do?

(Give tables a few minutes to discuss and come up with five at their table – make a list up front)

     Ask the right questions

     Write down your observations

     Don’t just interpret it, apply it

     Study it systematically (have a plan)

     Read it more than once

*Joshua 1:8 ( who can find first, read it…”meditate” means rumination…that’s what a cow does when it chews its cud. Chewing it over and over to digest it. Scripture meditation is reading a passage over and over again, then thinking about it and concentrating on it in different ways until you have digested its meaning)

Trying it out 

      Have each table then work through James Worksheet at their table.  After some time go over the sheet as large group.

Take it Home: Scripture books

Let children assemble their own SOAP Scripture Books to take home to help them take time each day to read the Bible with their parents.

Faith Books Week 3: Path of Life

Opening Activity:
     Encourage everyone to make their best parachute for their bendy person as they come into the class.  After parachutes are made, have everyone stand on their chairs to see whose parachute works the best.  Ask one volunteer to stand on their chair again with their parachute while another volunteer stands on their chair with a bendy person with no parachute.  Discuss what happens when they drop their person at the same time.
     Have a volunteer to read Psalm 1:6 "For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction."
     The Lord watches over us like our parachutes hovered over our bendy people.  The Lord helps us from falling when our path becomes troubled.  What are some ways the Lord is a parachute for us?

Scripture Tie-In:
    Pass out cards with four different scriptures to read and discuss as a group:  Luke 2:21-24, Matthew 3:13-17, Matthew 4:1-11, and Philipines 2:5-11

Scrapbook Page Intro:
    Our scrapbook pages today will help us illustrate our Path of Life in Christ.  We start with a pine cone on our path.  Jesus' parents took him to the temple to be dedicated.  In this square we will describe what our parents did to help up on our path of faith.
     Our second and third squares are a watering can and a sun for us to fill in with things that helped us grow or things that showed how we were stepping out in faith.  We saw Jesus be baptized by John as a symbol of the start of His ministry.
     Our fourth square has a hoe beside it because sometimes God allows our path to be hoed up as we are tempted by Satan.  Jesus was an example how to deal with temptation as He continually responded to Satan with Words from Scripture.
     Our fifth square has a full grown tree to show us that as we grow into mature Christians we not only flourish but also can help create new pine cones for God's family.

Studying the Bible: Caution!

Opening Discussion (5 mins)

                 Stunt Man video

What are some problems we face when we go to read the Bible?

When we read the Bible, we need to read it for all it’s worth. Some people think that reading a verse or two is enough. It may be better than nothing, but it’s not the best way to study. Let’s test that theory.

Open your Bibles to Matthew 18:20. Whoever gets there first, wins a pair of our special Bible Explorer glasses!.

                What does that verse mean?

                How do you know it means that?

Most people quote that text as meaning that if Christians are together, then God is there with them. While that’s true, that’s not what the verse is talking about.

Instead, this text is talking about confronting people who sin. The essence of what Jesus is saying is, if a few of you gather to confront someone, and you are doing it in the way He's told you. You are doing it with His authority too. He says essentially: I’m there with you.

So…you see, taking one verse and picking it out of the ones around it can distort the meaning of the text. This is called taking a verse out of context. Another way of putting that is by saying we need to be able to understand where the author is coming from to get the full meaning of each verse. 

Let's do a visual example. I want one artist at each table to draw HALF a leaf. Now let's have all the artists come up front and see if anyone else's leaf will match up to yours? What are some of the problems we have? What are some of the different portrayals of leaves up here?

Break out (30 mins)

Tables with adults only can go through “How to Avoid Falling for Lies” sheet.

Tables with kids will work on two steps.

First the children at the table will each receive a Half a Monster sheet. They are to finish the drawing of the monster while the adults talk.

While the children draw, the adults will do the top section on the above "How to Avoid Falling for Lies" sheet.  Once they are done with that, they should invite the children to join them. First the children can share their monsters and talk about why they drew what they did. Discuss how they each drew something different because they all have different things/colors they like and want in a monster. Some are scary! while others are friendly.

Select an adult to lead the children through looking at Phil 4:13 by itself – I can do all thing through Him who strengthens me. Discuss what they think this means? How can they use it in their lives?  Then ask the children to open up their Bibles and read the section this verse was taken from. Ask: Who is speaking?  What is he speaking about? What does the verse really mean?

 If there is time, parents can lead their children thru the Exodus 14:10-18 exercise  on "How to Avoid Falling for Lies" on a level their children understand, or they can do this at home also.

Take Home: -  Summer Scripture Color By Number

Hall of Faith Lessons #7: Joshua

Lesson for Life: Following God or Men?  Joshua 24:15b – But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Faith Lesson:  Faith is following God into the impossible.  Hebrews 11:30 – By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.”

Intro Activity – Gravity Goo

How would you define a miracle?  What are some miracles you have read about in the bible?

Are we capable of defying the laws of nature on our own? Gravity Goo experiment (purchase via Amazon or Ebay)

Do experiment – does liquid normally do this? No because of gravity. When we see something like this that defies gravity, we are amazed because gravity is one of those things that we are powerless over. I’d love to fly like Superman – think I can?! No! Gravity keeps my feet on the ground. I’d like to keep this water from spilling (tip over a cup) but I can’t because I am not in charge of gravity. But someone in can and that’s God. He gave the creators of this Gravity Goo the recipe to defy gravity, and in our bible story today we will learn how he gave Joshua a surprising recipe to defy gravity today too.

Whole Group Activity: 

Flashback to before Joshua was a leader: the Israelites decide to follow men rather than God

Numbers 13:25-14:11

What were the miracles the people had seen so far as Moses helped them escape Egypt…? Remember last week

The result of the people’s lack of trusting God was God punishing all those present and said that only Joshua and Caleb would see the Promised Land

Fast forward 40 years later when Joshua is now leading the Israelites:  Who are the Israelites going to follow now?

God had just led this new group of Israelites through a flooded river so that they could experience an earth-defying miracle like their grandparents who passed through the Red Sea.

            Joshua 5:13-6:5

            Well what do you think? Are they going to listen to Joshua THIS time? Let’s break into groups and finish the story…

Following God’s Plan for our lives – Table Game Time

Each table has game materials and Instruction Sheet

Game cards will be copied on colored sheets:

Blue - Young Children Front and Young Children Back

Yellow - Adult and Older Front and Adult and Older Front

Green - All Ages Front

(for game board there are tons of free gameboards available online. Here is one.

The families with children are welcome to take a game home.

Bulletin Insert

Hall of Faith Lesson #6: Moses

Lesson for Life:  Building a foundation of faith.  Matthew 7:24-25  “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.”

Faith Verse:  Hebrews 11:23 “It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.”

Moses Brainstorm:

Each table will have a Moses sheet of some kind.  As a group they are to fill the shape with as many thoughts about Moses as they can.  Discuss how many different stories we have learned about Moses.

Baby Moses Picture

Moses Splitting Water Picture

Moses with Commandments

Intro by sharing Life and Faith verse: Today we are going to see how important it is to be rooted in Christ is

Results of Building a Foundation of Faith : Breakout Time

 Do the  Tree of Faith Activity as a table. Here is a picture of a tree to use or they can draw their own.

End as a Whole Group

Share the different fruits the tables drew in step #5. Hang up the trees and close in prayer.

Bulletin Insert

Hall of Faith Lesson #5: Jacob

Lesson for Life:  Shake off your sins and change your ways to the rest of your life for God.  2 Corinthians 5:17 “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

Faith Verse:  Hebrews 11:21 “It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.”

Lesson Activity Instructions:  (15 mins)

Today we are going to study Jacob. Anyone know what his name means?  Deceiver

What does that mean?

Well it took Jacob a LONG time to stop his destructive path of deception.

There is a lot of scripture to cover today and most of it is familiar, so we are going to have some fun and portray them for each other in skits.  You will notice there are 3 (or 4 depending on number of people present) doors labeled with a scene and the number of people needed for that scene.  In the room you will find costumes and copies of skits.  You have 10 minutes to practice and get ready to share your scripture in play-form.

Skit Part 1

Skit Part 2

Skit Part 3

Skit Part 4

(all rights for skits belong to Tanis Harms – refer to www.church-skits.com)

Whole Group Visual Activity: (20 minutes)

Groups will come out and watch/perform skits in order.  After each skit make a list of Deceptions and Who did them on a poster board as a whole group.

Game:  Shaking Off Sin Game  (10mins)

            Ask for 12 people who are willing to get their nose dirty to win for their team.  Divide into two groups. At one end of the room are two tables with a bowl of Vaseline and a pile of 12 cotton balls.  At another spot in the room is an empty table with a sign – Faith in God.  One person from each team will hold their hands behind their back, stick their nose in the Vaseline, stick their nose into the cotton balls and run to the other table, SHAKE OFF the cotton ball and kneel down behind the table/sign.  At that point the next person may go. The first team to get all their cotton balls to the Faith table wins.

Bulletin Insert

Faith Books Week 2: Mountaintops and Valleys

Opening Act : Popcorn Toss – Getting Closer to God

                Break group up into groups of two and give each group a bowl of popcorn. They start several feet apart and have to toss a piece of popcorn to their partner. After each toss they may step one step closer to each other until they are within arm’s reach.

                Discuss – what made it easier to reach your target: your partner? (getting closer) In what ways is this like trying to lean on God? (If you aren’t close to Him, you can’t feel His presence as well.) So in what ways can we draw closer to God?

Video: 9/11 Clip – Trading Bitterness for Peace

                Watch movie clip (4:12)  Link to purchase movie clip. Also available on Right Now Media

                Discuss questions at each table 5 mins ( handout)

Scrapbook Pages 2 and 3 – Drawing Close to God (James 4:8 printout)

                God’s Presence in your life – write down times when you felt the realness of God’s love – Mountaintop experiences – and share them with the people at your table

                God’s Absence in your life – write down times when you felt distant from God – Valley experiences – and share them with the people at your table

Hall of Faith Lesson #4: Abraham

Lesson for Life:  Keep your eyes on God and worship Him alone.  Romans 12:1-2a “ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Faith Verse:  Hebrews 11:8 “ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”

Opening Game:  Going on to an unknown place 

Scripture: Genesis 12:1-3 (have a volunteer read)

God asked Abram to leave his home and to move. He didn’t tell Abram WHERE he was going. Let’s see how you do with a challenge like this. 

In the orange room there is a pile of things you could take on a vacation. Choose one person from your team to run into the room and select as many things as they can to take with your table. When you get back to your table, you have to dress up ONE of your team members to be ready to go on the trip we are going to send them on. You only have 10 seconds though to get your items and 1 minute to prepare your person– GO!

When everyone is back, have them pick up the number card in the middle of their table and look at a poster you now have visible – 1. Hawaii  2.  Alaska  3.  The Sahara desert  4.  The Amazon Rain Forest.  Have the room evaluate how prepared their traveler is.

Moving deeper into our Lesson: 

Remember last week we learned about Noah?  Why did God send the flood?  God had promised not to kill everyone again but He needed to bring His worshippers out to create a nation devoted to him.

Why do you think God asked Abram to do this? (There were too many distractions around him…even people in Abram’s FAMILY worshiped other gods so he would need to leave them too.)  Now even though Abram obeyed God, he did take someone outside his immediate family with him – Lot, his nephew.  Lot was a grown up…and God had NOT chosen him to leave because Lot had a weakness: he loved the things of the world sometimes more than God.

Whole Group Visual Activity: Skit with Abraham and Lot

Table Activities  

            Tables with elementary children: What is Important

      Tables with teens or no children: Worship Jenga & Jenga Slips

Bulletin Insert To put in bulletins for families and other members of congregations to participate at home with.

Hall of Faith Lesson #3: Noah

Lesson for Life:  Being a witness for God.  Matthew 5:16 – “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Faith Verse:  Hebrews 11:7a – “By faith Noah, when warned about things not seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.”

Opening Act – Being a Witness:

Have someone run through the room wearing a costume screaming “I want a tomato! Not a potato! I want a tomato!” while holding a potato.  (The person does not stay in the room.)

Ask someone at each table to stand up and tell us what they just witnessed. (They stay standing.)

What is a witness?

It means when you see something happen, and you tell about it.

Ask the people who are standing to write down their answers on a piece of paper for some specific questions:

            What was the person wearing?   What color was his shirt?  What color was his hair?

            Was he carrying anything?  If so, what?  What color was it?

            What was he saying?  What emotion was he expressing?

Have the person come in again and go thru the questions. Who was the best witness? Was it easy being a witness?

Our character today, Noah, was a witness for God.  Our Faith Verse today is Hebrews 11:7a – “By faith Noah, when warned about things not seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” 

Most of us are familiar with Noah’s story, but let’s read a few verses about why he began to build the ark

Have two volunteers read Genesis 6:5-8 and 6:13-22.

Table Activity: What Are We Witnessing?

Noah had a decision to make: Was he going to listen to a God he couldn’t see and build the ark? Noah based his decision on what he was witnessing in his life: the things that gave him faith in God vs the world around him.

We have the same decision to make today when we decide to follow God’s calling or not.  On your table you have a chart to fill out. Complete it by discussing at your table the things you witness in each category today in our world.  Note how some of the things you list on your lists are things you hear about not see…just as Noah did.  We still believe in them though because we have faith in the newscasters, etc.

Movie Break

Now it was pretty easy for Noah to have faith in God’s love because the evil in the world was pretty evident to him.  However, God asked him to build this HUGE ark – there was no way he was going to be able to hide it from people.  Let’s watch a scene from Evan Almighty that gives a glimpse at what this would have been like for him.  (Scene 16 – People’s reaction, 3:41 mins)

Noah had three sons too…how do you think they felt about this ark building project?

At your tables share some of the big challenges God has asked you to do?

Table Activities

       Tables with children

We don’t need to build an ark in our backyard to be a witness to God.  What are some things you can make to let people know you believe in God? Sometimes we may keep these things for ourselves, but other times we give them to someone else. You can decide what you want to make and what you want to do with it. Go back to the craft table and gather supplies to make something for each person at your table.  (keychains/clip, bookmarks, suncatchers, windchimes, bumper stickers (with sharpies). 

**Have different levels of craft projects…those for young kids, elementary, teens, adults**

Tables without children option

Moses’ story of building the Ark is a “Big Story” of witness. The “big stories” have their time and place, but we need to be able to identify and use our “little stories” in order to be witnesses for Christ too.

“Little stories” are the moments of God that happen in the world everyday—an answered prayer, God’s presence in a time of trouble, the joy of the sunrise, new insights from the scriptures, a cup of cold water with someone in need, etc. Additionally, aren’t the scriptures a lot of “little stories” that make up God’s big story of redemption?

Because these “little stories” happen all the time, they give youth and adults plenty to talk about. We simply have to learn to talk about these things. Shrinking Timeline Worksheet.

Take Home: 

Noah Memory game to send home with elementary kids. Game

Bulletin Insert to use for families to do at home or for other church members to follow along with.

Hall of Faith Lesson #2: Enoch

Enoch Faith Lesson

Lesson for Life:  We need to live each day as if Jesus may return that day.  1 John 2:6 – “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

Faith Verse:   Hebrews 11:6 – “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Introduction to Enoch:

Let’s read the THREE verses in Genesis about our man of faith today: Enoch.  Genesis 5:21-24

Which one little word showed the shift that happened in Enoch’s life? 

AFTER…after he became a father he walked with God

So our balloons today represent steps in Enoch’s life. (Point towards balloons sitting on a table.)

(Hold up the balloon with the words “Before a son”.) So what do you think Enoch’s life looked like before he had his first son?  Remember he was 60 years old by this time. 

Had to go to school, learn how to farm…his life was pretty much in a repetitive rut.

 Take a few minutes and at your table discuss the Before Knowing God questions Table Discussion Sheet

(Interrupt table talk as you POP! the first balloon with a pin. The balloon has a card in it. Ask someone from the table you are by read it.) “Congratulations! You are going to have a baby!!”

WHAT!? God had a surprise for Enoch. He didn’t like the way Enoch’s life was going without God so He decided to step in. 

God blessed Enoch and his wife with a pregnancy. We know babies are a gift from God, but in those days they saw babies as a sign of what God thought of them. At this point Enoch probably started spending a little more time going back to God. He probably shared with his wife some of the stories of faith he had learned in his youth from his own parents.

Go ahead and look at Sharing What You Know about God on your discussion sheet.

(Again interrupt discussion time with a POP!, but this time have the balloon filled with confetti and pop it  over someone’s head) NOW as if a baby wasn’t going to be a big enough change in Enoch’s life, God ALSO told him what to name the baby boy, and it was quite a shock. 

(Hold up a poster with the CAPS words on it) the baby was to be named METHUSELAH which means “WHEN HE DIES, JUDGMENT”.  WOW – if that doesn’t put a damper on the baby shower!  Since Enoch had named his son this and let people know that GOD told him to name the baby this, we can guess that as Enoch started to spend more time with God, God had started visiting with Enoch about things. Enoch knew that this name was no joke. God was going to judge his people for their sins. 

Table Time - Poster Project

Enoch didn’t know exactly WHEN his son was going to die, nor did he know HOW God was going to judge the people, but he had enough faith to walk the rest of his life, 300 years in fact, living a life pleasing to God.  We are kind of in the same position today. WE know Jesus is coming again someday to judge us, but like Enoch, we don’t know when the Judgment will happen.

We are going to do a poster project to share with our church family to show each other some of the things God wants us to do in order to live a life pleasing to him.  Each of your tables has a poster board …turn it over and you will see the verse that I would like you to read as a table. After you read the verse, discuss what it means and draw an illustration of it on the poster.

VERSES TO USE: John 13:12-15, John 14:15, Romans 8:5-8, 1 Cor. 13:1-3, Matt 24:43-44, Matt 16:24, Luke 15:3-7

(After 15 minutes, ask each table to share their verse and poster with the whole group.)

Back to Enoch and Discussion - God’s Judgment

Now…let’s get back to Enoch and his doomsday son Methuselah.  Do you think God kept His promise?

Who wants to come up and do some math for me? (Turn METHUSELAH poster around for them to write on)

Let’s go back to Genesis 5. (Hand out verse slips ahead of time with the below verses so volunteers can read.)

How old was Methuselah when he had his first son Lamech?  (187) – (look at math volunteer) ok let’s write that…

Next let’s read Genesis 5:28 How old was Lamech when he had a son?  (182)…(looking at math voluneteer) add that to your problem…WAIT what was Lamech’s son’s name??!  That deserves a balloon POP! haha!

Ok – we are getting closer…let’s skip to Genesis 7:6. How old was Noah when the flood came?  (600)…(have the volunteer do the math.)

Hey did anyone catch how old Methuselah was when he died?? Let’s look at Genesis 5:27.  How old was he?  (969 years old!)

What was the judgment God sent when Methuselah died?!  (The Great Flood!!)

Table Activity – Application

Take a few minutes now to work at your tables with the Basket Activity on your discussion sheets.  (Play the song “Walk by Faith” by Jeremy Camp while they work thru this activity.)

Here is the Bulletin Insert to use for families and other church members to go through at home.

Studying the Bible Week #1: Why?

Opening  Activity:  New Testament Cup Challenge

Each team receives 28 Styrofoam cups. Each cup has a book of the New Testament written on it along with one cup having “New Testament” written on it.  The cups should NOT be in order.

Each team will send one person at a time to a table to create a pyramid out of the cups. The bottom row should start with “New Testament” on one end, “Matthew” next to it, and so forth until a pyramid is made with “Revelation” on top.

The first team to complete their pyramid wins chocolate!

Discussion: Reading the Bible

                Why do you read the Bible?

                When do you turn to the Bible the most?

                What are some of the reasons God gave us the Bible?

God gave us the Bible to:

                Teach us about Him and help us grow closer to Him

                Teach us about His Son Jesus Christ and to glorify Him

                Teach us about ourselves and the world we live in

                Teach us how to live Godly lives and how to live out His mission…Holy Spirit

Game Time: Bible Tic-Tac-Toe

                Have each table divide themselves into two teams.

Each table will receive a Tic-Tac-Toe board, game pieces (10 pieces for each team), a cup with slips of paper with Bible verses on it, and an index card with the 4 reasons from above.

The team with the oldest table member starts first. They will draw a slip from the cup and find the verse in their Bible. Next they will read the verse to the table and decide which of the 4 Reasons the verses matches. If the table agrees with them, they get to place one of their team game markers on a square on the Tic-Tac-Toe board.

Play will continue until a team earns a Tic-Tac-Toe.  There are enough slips to play the game multiple times.

Navigating the Bible Week #2

Navigating the Bible Wk 2

    Putting the Books in Order Game

                                Each table has the Old Testament books of the Bible on cards

                                One person divides the cards up evenly between everyone

                                Whoever has Genesis calls out "Genesis!" and lays their card in the middle

                                Whoever has the next book of the Bible, Exodus, does the same, and the game                                           continues until all cards are laid out in the correct order.

                                Whichever table gets their cards in order first wins!

Breaking the Code 

                 What are the different parts of a Bible reference?

a.       Book – Chapter – Verse

b.      Put together Bible Reference puzzle

c.   Get in groups of twos at table and have a race to see who can look up each of the verses from               the puzzle first
d.  Verses to use for puzzle sheets:
     1.  Numbers 6:25-26, Psalms 46:10 and Job 19:25
     2.  Job 36:11, Psalms 32:8 and Lamentations 3:22-23
     3.  Proverbs 6:16-19, Joshua 1:9 and Isaiah 40:31
     4. Deuteronomy 7:9, Proverbs 16:3 and 1 Samuel 16:7
     5. Malachi 3:10, Isaiah 53:6 and Psalms 119:11
     6.  1 Chronicles 16:27, Psalms 55:22 and Isaiah 9:6
     7.  2 Samuel 22:33, Proverbs 3:5-6 and Isaiah 41:10
     8.  Jeremiah 29:11, Psalms 27:11 and Zephaniah 3:17

New Testament Bookshelf
4 Gospels (red)

    a.       Who knows what the 4 Gospels are?

    b.      What does Gospel mean?

1 History  (green)

    a.      How many books of History were their in the OT?  12

    b.   What is the one book of History in the NT?  Acts

    c.      Written by? Luke

13 Letters from Paul (yellow)

     a.       Romans

     b.      Ians

                                                               i.      1 & 2 Corinthians

                                                             ii.      Galatians

                                                            iii.      Ephesians

                                                           iv.      Phillipians

                                                             v.      Colossians

                                                           vi.      1 & 2 Thessalonians

     c.       1 & 2 Timothy

     d.      Titus

     e.      Philemon

8 Letters from Others  (orange)

   a.       Who can name the other authors of letters in the NT? 

   b.   Hebrews (unknown author)

   c.      James

   d.       1 & 2 Peter

   e.      1, 2 & 3 John

   f.      Jude

 1 Book of Prophecy (purple)

   a.       What were the 5 books of Prophecy in the OT?  What did they prophecy? (Coming of the Messiah) 

   b.   Revelation – written by? John

   c.      What does Revelation prophecy?  (2nd Coming of the Messiah)

Take Home

              Kids – NT Popsicle sticks

             PRACTICE!! Next week NT challenge