10
"Does God Care Who My Friends Are?”
Big Idea
God knows bad buds can turn a good kid bad.
Materials Needed:
1. Perfume 2. Vinegar 3. Napkin 4. Cup 5. Bottle of juice
Setup:
None.
Lesson
1. Review the big idea from last meeting's lesson: "The Bible is God's message to everybody about himself." Ask the question, "What is the Bible?" and have the children repeat the big idea a few times, doing the motions below as you say each word.
2. Explain the following:
God must be pretty busy. I mean, he's taking care of the entire universe at once. There's a whole lot for him to take care of. Since he has so many things to do, do you think he really has time to think about really small things, things like who I'm friends with? (Write "Does God really care who my friends are?").
Do you think that God cares if the people you hang out with like to do bad things? Well, we're going to do a few experiments to see what happens when you mix bad things with good.
3. Ask for a child to come forward. Show him/her the perfume and ask, "What is this and what would someone use it for?" Have him/her smell the perfume and describe its smell. Explain the following:
People use perfume because they want to smell nice. It's a good thing. How will it stand if we add a little bit of something bad?
Have your volunteer spray a pit of perfume on your forearm. Have him/her smell your forearm and confirm that it smells like the perfume.
Now show the child a bottle of vinegar and ask, "What is this and what would someone use it for?" Open the bottle of vinegar and have him/her describe it's smell. Explain the following:
People use vinegar sometimes as they cook, but I think it smells pretty bad.
Have your volunteer pour a tiny bit of vinegar on a napkin. Have him/her dab this napkin on your forearm, directly on the spot where the perfume was sprayed. Have him/her smell your forearm again and describe what he/she smells the most. Explain the following:
The bad smell, the vinegar, has totally overtaken the good smell of the perfume. Although the good is there somewhere, all we can smell is the bad.
Have your volunteer join the rest of the children.
4. Ask for another child to come forward. Show him/her the bottle of juice and ask, "What's this and what would someone use it for?" Pour some juice into the cup and have him/her take a sip and describe its taste. Explain the following:
People drink juice because it tastes good and is good for you. But how will it stand up if we add just a little bit of something bad to it.
Hold up the cup of juice, say, "Excuse me, please," to the child, and then give 3-4 good coughs directly into the cup. Ask your volunteer, "What's been added to the juice now? Does it look any different? Do you think it tastes any different? Would you want to taste it?" Explain the following:
Even though this cup is filled with good juice, it's now no good for anybody because I've covered it with my bad germs. No one would want to drink it!
Have your volunteer join the rest of the children.
5. Explain the following:
God, in his Word, the Bible, teaches us about spending too much time with bad friends. He says, "Don't let anyone fool you. "Bad companions make a good person bad." (1 Cor. 15:33 NIrV).
Just like a little bit of the bad vinegar smell took away the good perfume smell, and a little bit of my germs ruined a good glass of juice, so bad friends can ruin a good person. That's because we usually start to act like the people we hang out with. We want them to think we're cool so we do the same things they do.
So, does God care who your friends are? Of course he does! He wants you to be a person who obeys him, who does what the Bible says. He doesn't want you to spend all your time around people who disobey him. He wants you to find friends that want to follow Jesus.
So, does that mean you can't be friends with the kid in school who is always getting into trouble? Of course not!
God wants us to be kind to everyone and show them God's love. God wants us to be an example to others of how to follow God's commands. But we must not spend all our time hanging around those who do bad things because, like we learned from the Bible, bad buds can turn a good kid bad.
6. Explain that the big idea from today's lesson is: "God knows bad buds can turn good kids bad." Ask the question, "Does God care who my friends are?" and have the children repeat the big idea a few times, doing the motions below as you say each word.