Firm In The Faith

• Paper and pen or pencil
• Bowl
• Water
• Cornstarch

1. Play theme song
2. Pray
3. Review last lesson
4. Lesson and discussion

• Words that are written in bold are when the leader is speaking. Feel free to use your own words.

Invite a volunteer to read 1 Corinthians 15:33. Hanging around people who make good choices can influence us to make good choices.  Hanging around people who make bad choices can influence us to make bad choices.  Invite a volunteer to read Hebrews 10:24-25.  We need to have close friends who love Jesus and will help us follow God. 

Invite a volunteer to read Romans 12:2.  It’s not just people.  Things we do and places we go can lead us to make good or bad choices.  Another way to understand the verse, “do not be conformed to the pattern of this world” would be to say…just because everyone else does it doesn’t mean it is good or right.   Being like everyone else isn’t the guideline for making decisions.  Doing what God teaches is the guideline for making decisions.

DISCUSSION: Can you think of a time when someone influenced you to make a good choice and another time when someone influenced you to make a bad choice?  Listen to answers. What TV show or movie might friends watch that we aren’t going to watch?  Listen to answers. What places might others go, where we wouldn’t go?  Listen to answers. Talk about the differences between something being wrong and something being a preference.

Wrong:  Going with friends to steal candy from a store.  Preference:  One family at church may not watch a particular movie or read a certain book while another family will.

ACTIVITY: Invite a volunteer to read 1 Corinthians 15:58.

Part 1:  On your paper, make a list of friends, activities and other things that can help us stand firm for Jesus.  Make a second list of things that can make us weak spiritually and lead us away from living a Godly life.  Example:

Stand Firm                                                     Weak

Friend’s name                                                  Classmate’s name

Going to church                                              Skipping church to play video games

Praying                                                            Gossip

Telling the truth-even when it’s hard.               Lying

Part 2:  On the fingertips of one hand, write the initials of five family members or Christian friends who help you make good choices and follow God.  On the fingertips of your other hand, draw symbols of the faith like the Bible, dove-representing the Holy Spirit, church, and cross.

Part 3:   Fill the bowl with approximately ¼ cup of water and ¾ cup of cornstarch (a 1:3 ratio).  Mix. The mixture should be fairly thick.  (Brownie batter consistency.)  Each person takes a turn grabbing a glob of the mixture and holding it over the bowl.  Roll the glob around in your hand to make a ball.  Point out how the glob holds the form of a ball as long as you move it around.  Now stop rolling the glob and let it sit in the palm of your hand.  It will flatten and drip through your fingers back into the bowl.  1 Corinthians 15:58 encourages us to stand firm.  The glob of cornstarch represents us.  With the help of our friends, Jesus, and the church – represented by the symbols on our finger tips, we can stand firm and make good choices.  But without the help of our Christian friends, the Bible, and the church…we can become soft and fall apart!  Our friends and faith keep us standing firm.  

Memorize:

Wrong friends can make me weak,

I become strong when God I seek.

Close in Prayer