If You’ve Got God . . . You’ve Got Self-control
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Topic: Got God
Verse: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you James 4:7
Props:
2 unmarked identical plastic bottles-one filled with sprite (or a sweet, clear pop) and one filled with soda water (you should have the bottles secretly marked so you can tell them apart)
cups
glass of water
book of matches
pocketknife
bucket filled with water
bucket filled with rocks
picture of a mouth
funny picture of the devil
Instructions:
Discussion:
Introduction:
a. Hold up the 2 bottles. Does anyone know what is in these bottles?
b. Each bottle contains a different drink-how can we tell them apart?
c. We could taste them. One taste good and one tastes strange. They both look exactly the same.
d. This reminds me of a trick the devil plays on us.
e. What does the devil look like?
f. Hold up a picture of what a lot of people say the devil like.
g. This is not really what the devil looks like. The devil is sneaky.
h. The Bible says the devil disguise himself as an angel. The evil devil disguises himself as someone good. Why? –To trick us.
I. These bottles could be compared to what the devil does. Both bottles look tasty.
j. One bottle only pretends to be good, like the devil, the other really is good like Jesus.
k. Perform a taste test. Have a couple volunteers come up and taste from each bottle. Discuss.
L. When we decide to follow Jesus, We can ask Jesus to show us what is truly good and pleasing to him. We need to follow that.
m. We must stay away from the things the devil tries to tempt us with. They may look good, but can be very harmful and bad for us.
n. Staying away from bad things can be called self-control.(Have kids say the word, and talk about it for a minute)
2. We need to show self-control in the words we speak.
a. The Bible says that words are very powerful.
b. We can help people with our words, or we can harm people with our words.
c. I have some things that can help and harm people. When I hold them up I am going to ask for a volunteer to tell me how these things can be used to help someone and harm someone.
d. Hold up your hands.
e. Hold up one of your feet.
f. Glass of water
g. Book of matches
h. A pocketknife
i. A mouth
j. The Bible says reckless words hurt like a sword (a knife), but wise words bring healing
k. If we are going to follow Jesus we need to choose wise, and kind words.
l. We need to use self-control when the devil tries to get us to use reckless or mean words.
3. We need to show self-control in our thoughts.
a. This bucket represents our minds (should be filled to the brim with water).
b. The water represents all the good thoughts we have because we have just read our Bible or gotten out of Kidz Club.
c. What could some of those thoughts be?
d. In Philippians the Bible tells us to think about what is true, right, pure, admirable, lovely, or excellent
e. Now these rocks represent bad thoughts.
f. What are some bad thoughts? (As you discuss a bad thought drop in a rock-For example “I want to hit my brother”, “I want to be cool and smoke”, “I really want that candy so I am going to steal it”)
g. As you drop the rocks in the water spills out. Continue this process and then discuss the following:
a. What happened to the good thoughts? (They spilled out to make room for the bad thoughts)
b. How is this activity like our minds? (Bad thoughts push out good thoughts)
c. How can we get rid of bad thought? (Use self-control. We can decide to stop thinking bad thoughts. If we put more good thoughts in our mind it will help push out bad thoughts.)
4. We need to show self-control with our actions.
a. One time Jesus was tempted by the devil. He decided to show self-control and he did not do what the devil wanted him to do.
b. Jesus went into the desert.
c. He fasted and prayed for 40 days and nights.
d. Then the devil came to him and asked him to do 3 things. Jesus acted in self-control by refusing to do all three things.
1.The devil told Jesus to turn some rocks in to bread.
a. This was a temptation to Jesus because Jesus would have been hungry. He hadn’t eaten in days or 40 nights.
b. Jesus refused to do what the devil asked Him to do.
2.The devil took Jesus to the highest point of the temple and said “Throw yourself down, you know God will protect you”
a. Jesus had the opportunity to show off God’s power.
b. Jesus said no the Bible tells us not to test God.
3.The devil took Jesus to the highest mountain and said “Jesus I will give you all the world if you will bow down and worship me.”
a. Jesus said, “No I will only worship God.”
5.Conclusion:
a. As long as we are alive, the devil will tempt us.
b. Sometimes the devil will disguise himself to try and confuse us. (Like the drinks)
c. The devil will tempt us to say the wrong things.
d. The devil will tempt us to think the wrong things.
e. The devil will tempt us to act the wrong way.
f. When Jesus is living in us and we are serving Jesus we have power over the devil.
g. We have the power to show self-control.
h. We have the power to choose what is right in God’s eyes.
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