Children & youth ministry

Devotion

Scripture: Hebrews 3:12-13

“The whole point of the games was to teach us teamwork and to get us to encourage each other – to be each other’s cheerleaders. Every time Christians get together it should be like a little pep rally in our spirits cause we are building each other up in Christ, in our daily living. Hebrews 3 tells us that our hearts can easily become hardened to what God wants us to do. But the very next verse helps us out. It says to encourage each other every day “as long as it is called ‘Today’” This means that is we keep doing the things that God doesn’t want us to do we will become deaf to want He wants to tells us and before long we won’t even feel the conviction the Holy Spirit gives us when we sin. So that means we will keep on sinning and fall away from Jesus, even when He has given all to save us. We all need each other’s help and Cheerleading, if you will, to keep on pleasing Jesus. So next time you see any of these people around you having a hard time or a bad day, I want you to encourage them to look to Jesus and I want you to pray with them if they want to. Be your brother and sister’s biggest fa

Matt Norris

Icebreakers
Icebreaker #1: Banana Relay (Peel and Go)

This game is both fun to watch and to play. The items needed are as follows: Enough Bananas to cover every two people in the group, and a chair. The objective of this game is very simple. First, split into as many teams as you need and make sure that there is an even and equal number of people per team. Set a chair approximately 10-15 feet from the team and have them line up in pairs. When the “referee” says “go” the first two people must peel the banana, stick opposite ends in their mouths and then run around the chair and back to their team together without breaking the banana. Once they get back, the next pair does the same thing. This continues until every pair on the team has gone. The first team to have all its pairs back to the starting point gets 5 points. Three points is awarded for every successful first attempt. For those pairs that break the banana, a one-point deduction will be assessed for every break. In the end, the team who scores the most points wins (Group Publishing, 17).

Icebreaker #2: Lemon Squirt

Those who participate in the following icebreaker must have an acquired taste for sour things. Match pairs up by first names (Adam with Adrian, Bart with Bailey, etc.). This will give interaction among the preteens to find people they don’t already know. After the pairs are made, give one squeezable bottle of lemon juice to each pairing. One person will be in charge of drinking the lemon juice and the other in charge of squirting the juice. The squirter puts the lemon juice bottle in his or her mouth and will attempt to squeeze the juice into his partner’s mouth. You can either do this until the bottle is completely empty or put it on a time limit where the group that rids the bottle of the most juice wins (Group Publishing, 36).

Icebreaker #3: Peel Out

This icebreaker may not be for everyone, but it is still a fun one to try. Form couple pairs (boy-girl pairs) and give each an orange. The object is to peel the orange without using hands or feet. The suggested method is to have one hold the orange in his or her mouth, and the partner bite the peel off. You can pass the orange back and forth (without using hands or feet) as much as you need to. Once the orange is peeled, the couples must eat the orange. The first couple to devour their orange is the winner (Group Publishing, 38).

Icebreaker #4: Stolen Pumpkin Relay

The items you will need for this are a bed sheet and a pumpkin. Split into teams, and then divide each team in half. Have half the team on one end of the relay and the other half on the other end of the relay. On the signal “go,” the first player on each team must cover himself in the sheet and attempt to carry the pumpkin to the other end—have walkers follow each person so that they do not trip or run into a wall. When on the other end, the first person in line must switch with the current “runner” and take the pumpkin back. The game ends when a team has all its players “steal the pumpkin” (Group Publishing, 44).

Icebreaker #5: Orange You Forgetting?

Break up into groups of ten. Give each team one peeled orange. Have the each team member say his or her name one time before you start the game. Each member on the team must try to remember the other team members’ names. The first person goes around the group and says each person’s name. For every name he or she forgets, he must eat one wedge of the orange. If he does not get the name correct, they just move on to the next person. This continues until all the member of the group have gone, or until all the wedges of the orange are eaten. The objective of this icebreaker is to have a fun way of learning each other’s names (Original Idea).

Games

Game #1: Banana Bible Quiz

Create two teams of five people and have them stand in front of the room. Have a list of twenty questions (10 for each team) and ask each team member two of the questions. For every question that is inaccurately answered the team is charged a banana. Once all of the questions have been asked, each team is given the number of bananas that they were charged. Have the Audience count to three aloud and then say, “Squish”. When this is done, each team must feed their bananas to each other (you cannot feed yourself). The first team done with all of their bananas wins. The objective of this game is to mix fun, food, and biblical knowledge and have the teams work together (Original Idea).

Game #2: Guess the Fruit

Blindfold three members of each team. One of the members of each team will be given a fruit to hold. They can feel for texture and size, etc. The second person in each group will have the fruit placed in front of his nose and will be allowed to smell the fruit only. The third member of each team will be given a very small piece of each fruit to lick. Once the fruit has gone to each team member, they are allowed to discuss and try to figure out what type of fruit they were given. They submit their answer and then three new members from each team will do the same with a different piece of fruit. This will continue with as many different fruits that you want to use. Once all guesses are submitted, the number of right answers will be tallied. The team who guesses the most fruits correctly is the winner. This will allow kids who don’t know each other very well to try to problem solve together. This builds teamwork and helps people get to know each other (Original Idea).

Game #3: Pig Out Relay

Put a basket of fruit on the other end of the auditorium and have each team line up. The first player runs to the fruit basket, picks up a piece of fruit, chews it, swallows it, and runs back to tag the next team member. This cycle continues until all the fruit in the basket is gone. The first team to eat all of the fruit is the winner (Charisma, 37).

Game #4: Rainbow

Split the Group into two teams. Give each team ten red apples, ten oranges, ten lemons, ten limes, a basket of blueberries, and a cluster of purple grapes. On the “go” command, each team must work together and peel the apples, oranges, lemons, and limes. Once all the fruits are peeled, they must form a rainbow by making a semi circle out of the red apples peels, followed by the orange peels, then the lemon peels, then the lime peels, then the blueberries, and the grapes. The first team to use all of the peelings and fruit to create a rainbow wins the game (Original Idea).

Game #5: Double Dip Carmel Apple Bobbing

Have each team choose five members to participate in this game. The rest of the members will become a cheering section. Have two buckets for each team. Fill the first bucket with water and dump seven to ten apples in it. Fill the second bucket with either flour or powdered sugar and then add caramel squares to it. When the “go” command is given, the first team member must bob for an apple. Once the get the apple, they must immediately “bob” for a piece of caramel. This continues until each group member has successfully gotten and apple, caramel, and a face full of flour or sugar. The first team to have all five members finish wins. The end result is quite messy, but quite enjoyable to both do and to watch (Original Idea).

Game #6: The Incredible, Edible, Gigantic, Banana Split Eating Contest

The object of this game is to build teamwork, unity, and to have fun eating one of America’s favorite desserts—the Banana Split. Divide each team in half. The one half of the team will be given two gallons of Vanilla ice cream, two gallons of Chocolate ice cream, and two gallons of Strawberry ice cream, as well as twenty bananas, marshmallow cream, chocolate syrup and strawberry syrup. On the go command, the team must use all of the food to create a giant banana split. Once the creation is complete, the other half of the team must eat all of it too its completion. The winner is the team that devours the giant banana split first (Original Idea).

Illustrated Message

Tonight we played games that had one common theme. What do you think that theme was? That’s right, fruit. Most fruit grows on trees or vines and gives nourishment to our bodies. Fruits are essential for a healthy diet.

The questions I want to ask you tonight are these: “How healthy is your spiritual life, and are you eating enough spiritual fruits?” In the book of Galatians, the apostle Paul writes about Spiritual fruits. He says it this way in Galatians 6:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” How do you know an apple tree is an apple tree? It’s because it produces apples. In the same way, that’s how people are going to know you are a Christian. They are going to see your fruit. Before you got saved, some of you had bad fruit in your life. Things such as lying, cheating, stealing, cursing, and other such things can be considered bad fruit. So what kind of fruit do you want in your life? Do you want good fruit, or do you want bad fruit? When people look at you, do they see love, kindness, joy, and peace—or do they see a liar and an untrustworthy person?

I just want to let you know that Jesus is the great apple picker. He can pick the bad fruit and throw it all away and help you produce good fruit. When you read his word, and you pray to him, he fertilizes your soil and helps you to produce good fruit. Tonight, if you’re here and you know you have some bad fruits in your life, but you want to get rid of them and start producing good fruits, just lift up your hands so I can pray for you. (Have them lift their hands). Okay, now if you really want good fruit in your life, I want you to repeat this prayer after me:

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for loving me. Thank you for picking the bad fruit out of my life and helping me to produce good fruit. I pray that you help to show love and joy in my life. You know the bad fruits, and you know the good fruits, and I just ask that you pick at the tree of my heart tonight and help me to produce good fruit for now on. I know with you in my heart, people will see good fruit and want to come eat from the same tree—and that tree is you. I love you Jesus. Amen.

Well, I thank you for coming to the game night, and I hope you all have a great week. Let your good fruits show and we’ll see you next week.
Works Cited

Power Pak of Games. Lake Mary, Florida: Charisma Life/Strang Communications,

1994.

Quick Crowdbreakers and Games for Youth Groups. Loveland, Colorado: Group

Publishing, Inc., 1994.

Maria Perez

“Shoes”