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Fun Stories

A Skunk for My Birthday

I want a skunk for my birthday,

In a bright, red box.

I don’t want brand new underwear.

I don’t brand new socks.

I don’t want fuzzy pajamas,

I don’t want bunny slippers,

I don’t want hats and mittens,

Or a jacket with lots of zippers.

“I want a skunk!”

I did yell.

“With a big, white stripe,

Down his tail.”

“Where would you keep him?”

My mom said,

“Surely not in the kitchen.

Surely not in your bed.”

“I’ll keep him in your bedroom.”

I said very proudly.

“What about the smell?”

She responded rather loudly.

Her question made me think,

Then I thought that I might quit.

But still I responded strongly,

“The skunk will get used to it.”

What Belongs

There’s a reason none of your friends have pet skunks. They don’t belong. There are other things that don’t belong in your life too. Sin doesn’t belong in your life. God didn’t create you to do bad things. He made you to know Him and to love Him and to walk with Him all the days of your life. The Bible says in Micah 6:8, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. What does the Lord require of you but to act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Family Devotions, Family Fun

A House of Cards

You Will Need: 

GET STARTED

Make a tower or house out of dominoes. Then make a tower or house of cards. Trying blowing them down. 

ASK—Which one fell easier? Why?

SAY—A house of cards falls easily. The smallest touch and down it comes. This is like a Christian who doesn’t keep his eyes on Jesus. He starts looking at the things of the world or tough situations or what other people say and before long, just like Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14:22-33, he starts to sink.

SAY—The tower of dominoes, though, didn’t fall so easy. This is like a believer who trusts God and keeps his heart fixed on Him. Someone who trusts Jesus and walks with Him regardless of what happens or what people say or how bad things may seem, will have a rock-solid faith that will help them do anything God wants them to do (like Peter walking on the water).

Read Matthew 7:24-27 from your Bible.

ASK—Which one is more like the house of cards: The man who built his house on sand or on the rock?

ASK—Which one is more like the tower of dominoes: The man who built his house on sand or on the rock?

KEY—The person who obeys God and trusts Him will have a rock-solid faith that is the foundation on which God wants you to build your life.

PRAY—Thank God for giving you a faith that can’t be shaken by the things of this world. Give thanks that with God all things are possible.

BREAKFAST BITES

ASK—What do you think a person feels like when they take their eyes off Jesus? (Empty. Lonely. In trouble, etc.)

ASK—Do you know anyone going through a hard time? 

ASK—If you do, or when you do, what can you do to help them fix their eyes on Christ?

Read Galatians 6:1

Read the Bible

D.I.V.E. Devotions 

Dig In
Dig in and enjoy God’s Word. What should I read in the Bible today?

• DAY 1 – Luke 6:12-16 – The Twelve Disciples

• DAY 2 – Luke 6:17-19 – The seeking crowds

• DAY 3 – Luke 6:20-38 – Jesus teaching

• DAY 4 – Luke 6:39-49 – Jesus teaching

• DAY 5 – Luke 7:1-10 – The Centurion’s slave

Answer these questions each day…

Insight
What did you see? What did you hear?

Value
What did you learn? What should you do?

Examine
Examine yourself as you pray. What will you pray?

For Leaders

God’s Love in Fellowship

Read 

In the late 1800s D. L. Moody began a Sunday school on Illinois Street in Chicago. One child who attended would walk each week from halfway across the city, which was a large city even in those days. He would pass church after church until he reached the Illinois Street Sunday School. 

One day a superintendent of one of the Sunday Schools he passed asked him, “Why do you go all the way out there? Why don’t you come here? It is right next door to you.” 

Looking up at the superintendent, the lad said, “I go where they love a fellow.”1 

Reflect 

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35) 

Respond 

God created us for fellowship and at the heart of true fellowship is the expression of God’s type of love. This is also a need in the lives of each of your students. How can you express God’s type of love to the children in your ministry this week? To their parents? To others with whom you minister? 

Your thoughts?

Remember 

“Real fellowship happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives.”2 

1Hyman Appelman, “Paralyzed People,” [July 1946], Hudson, Curtis, ed. Great Preaching on Soul Winning. (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1989), p. 121. 

2Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishers, 2002), p. 140. 

Fun Stories

The Kid with a Beard

Let me tell you a story,

Of a kid with a beard,

Who everyone thought,

Was very weird.

To stop the growth,

He did his best,

Though by lunch it hung,

To his chest.

He’d shave in the morning,

With the rise of the sun,

But would grow a foot of hair,

Before the day was done.

Other kids didn’t like him.

They thought he was a freak,

And they’d call him names,

Like a dork and a geek.

They teased him,

Every hour of the day,

Until in tears,

He’d want to run away.

Tears were his friends,

Cause no one else would care.

To eat with him or play with him,

Or talk to him there.

He’d cry every night,

He’d cry every day,

“I have no friends,”

He would say.

I know this story,

Is very, very sad.

And I hope it makes you,

Just a little mad.

And though your friends,

Probably don’t have a beard,

You may know some kids,

You might think are weird.

How do you treat them,

Is my question to you.

Do you laugh at them,

And call them names too.

Then perhaps you should step,

In their shoes for a day.

Feel their hurt and you’ll see,

What you’re doing is not okay.

Treating Others Right

Listen to what the Bible says about how we should treat others. Colossians 3:12 says, “Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance.”

Family Devotions, Family Fun

Clean Pennies, Clean Hearts

You Will Need: 

  • A few dirty pennies
  • Some hot sauce
  • A Bible turned to 1 John 1:9

If you don’t have these items: You can do the following activity to make the same point: Make a mess and clean it up. There are number of fun ways to do this—Play in the mud outside, have a shaving cream fight, have a paper-wad fight, fix a meal together or cookies (it always makes a mess in my kitchen!) or just jump in when someone accidentally spills their milk. Then begin at the DISCUSSION section below.

STEP 1 

Set out several dirty pennies on a plate. 

STEP 2

Pour hot sauce on the tops of all but one of them. 

STEP 3

Wait about four minutes and then wipe and wash them off.

STEP 4

Compare the pennies to the one you didn’t put hot sauce on. Do you see the difference?

DISCUSSION

SAY—A person who has given his or her life to Jesus has been cleaned from their sins. Their sins are gone just like the dirtiness that we just cleaned up. But this doesn’t mean that they will be perfect. When a Christian does something wrong, even though he is already saved, he still needs to ask for forgiveness. Why? Not to go to heaven. Someone who is saved is going to heaven and nothing can change that, but to have a good relationship with God. 

SAY—Think of it this way: Let’s say one day you punch your brother (or sister) in the nose. 

ASK—Are you still part of the same family? Of course. When you give your life to Jesus, you become a part of God’s family and nothing can change that.

ASK—So if you do something wrong, are you still a part of God’s family? Of course—just like you would still be brother and sister and part of the same family, even though you did something wrong. 

ASK—But if you punched your brother (or sister) in the nose, would you be right with them? No You punched him in the nose! 

ASK—So what would you have to do to get right with each other? Say you’re sorry. When you do wrong things in life, even though you’re still going to heaven, you still need to ask for forgiveness (say you’re sorry) to clean up your relationship with God. 

Read 1 John 1:9 from the Bible.

This verse tells us what to do when we do something wrong.

PRAY—And thank God for providing a way through Jesus to take your sins away—a way for you to be forgiven.

Read the Bible

D.I.V.E. Devotions 

Dig In
Dig in and enjoy God’s Word. What should I read in the Bible today?

• DAY 1 – Luke 5:1-11 – The catch of fish 

• DAY 2 – Luke 5:12-16 – A leper is healed

• DAY 3 – Luke 5:17-26 – Healing, forgiveness, and controversy

• DAY 4 – Luke 5:27-39 – The calling of Levi

• DAY 5 – Luke 6:1-11 – Jesus, healing, and the Sabbath

Answer these questions each day…

Insight
What did you see? What did you hear?

Value
What did you learn? What should you do?

Examine
Examine yourself as you pray. What will you pray?

For Leaders

Evangelism

Read 

When Gypsy Smith was converted as a boy, he became interested in his Uncle Rodney’s salvation and began to pray for him. In those days it was not considered proper for a child to speak to his elders unless he was spoken to, especially about spiritual matters. So the boy prayed and waited for his opportunity. 

One day the uncle asked, “Laddie, why are your trousers almost worn out at the knees?” 

The boy answered, “Uncle Rodney, they have been worn out through praying for you. I want so much for God to make you a Christian.” 

The uncle put his arms around the boy, and a few minutes later fell upon his knees and cried out to God for salvation.1 

Reflect 

“And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord God. (Ezekiel 22:30-31) 

Respond 

Gypsy Smith was burdened for the salvation of his uncle. For whose salvation are you burdened? For whom do you find yourself praying, longing that God will move in their life? A student in your class? A friend or a neighbor? A work associate? Or does this burden and passion for lost souls seem to be absent from your life? Many believers lack a passion for the salvation of lost people because they live too much in this world—they are not eternally-minded, storing up treasure in heaven and living in the reality that everyone they meet will either spend eternity in heaven with Jesus or in hell, separated from God forever to pay the price for their own sins. 

Your thoughts? 

Remember 

“I still, from my armchair, preach in great revivals. I still vision hundreds walking the aisles to accept Christ. I still feel hot tears for the lost . . . . I want no Christmas without a burden for lost souls, a message for sinners, a heart to bring in the lost. May food be tasteless, music a discord, Christmas a farce if I forget the dying millions; if this fire in my bones does not still flame. Not till I die or not till Jesus comes will I ever be eased from this burden, these tears, this toil to save souls.” 

John R. Rice, age 85

(Part of a 1980 Christmas letter dictated a few days before his death) 2