Sometimes a very visual demonstration drives home the reality of scripture so much better than just talking about it.
Scriptures:
Proverbs 24:16 - When You're Under Pressure
Proverbs 22:3 - Bursting the Balloon
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - Changed
Revelation 2 :23 - What's Inside
Proverbs 24:16 - When You're Under Pressure
Proverbs 22:3 - Bursting the Balloon
1 Corinthians 15:51-52 - Changed
Revelation 2 :23 - What's Inside
**When You're Under Pressure
for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. Proverbs 24:16
Materials: test tube, 2-liter clear soda bottle, water
Here’s a very cool site which explains what’s going on and how to set up the experiment: https://www.superchargedscience.com/opt/cartesian-driver-pc2-con2/?inf_contact_key=6efa472fbc74e68c91528aae54c8795bb7af0999dac2af6212784c39e05d2aef
Have you ever wondered how a submarine works? It can’t be that they get rid of all their oxygen because then the sailors wouldn’t be able to breathe. No, rather, the submarine takes water into storage tanks, compressing what air is in the submarine into a smaller space. This makes the density of the submarine greater than the density of the water around it. Consequently, the submarine sinks.
This is basically what is done with a test tube and soda bottle. Fill the bottle with water. Fill the test tube about 4/5 full of water, place your thumb over the end and invert into the soda bottle. The top of the test tube should be just a little above the soda bottle. (It might take a few times to get it just right.) Make sure the soda bottle is completely full of water and secure the top. Then when you squeeze the bottle, the air in the test tube is compressed and forced into a smaller space in the top of the test tube. This allows more water to fill the test tube, making it heavier and the test tube moves to the bottom of the bottle. When you release pressure on the bottle, the air is allowed to decompress, the test tube gets less dense, and it shoots back up to the top of the bottle. Pretty cool.
What happens when you’re under pressure? You lose a tooth and on the way to show your mom, you drop it, and now you can’t find it. Your cat gets lost. Your grandparent is very sick. The family car is in the shop and you can’t go on the field trip you were looking forward to. There are lots of things that go wrong in our world. It’s part of living in this world. Your reaction to the stressful things says a lot about who you are.
If you belong to God and know Him, or rather, you are known by God (as Paul told the Galatians), then you have hope. You have the support and encouragement of God. You rely on the promises of the Creator of the Universe. And you can get up again, every time life knocks you down.
But, if you don’t know God and are not interested in following Him, obeying Him, and having a relationship with Him, you’re still going to experience getting knocked down. But then you have to depend on yourself to pick yourself back up again. And sometimes that just doesn’t work.
If the test tube didn’t have any air in it, it would sink to the bottom of the bottle and there’d be nothing it could do to get to the top again. The test tube having air in it gives it the ability to absorb the pressure and then pop back up to the top again. It’s a cool reminder that if you love, obey, and seek God, He can help you to endure. If you don’t love, obey and seek God, you’re sunk.
**Bursting the Balloon
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. Proverbs 22:3
Materials: balloons (Blow up a balloon until it bursts to start the lesson with a bang!)
When blowing up balloons around younger children, it’s obvious who has seen the balloon blown up too far - so that it bursts! The child will cringe or put his hands over his ears. He knows what is coming. He has become prudent when it comes to blowing up balloons.
There are many times in life when the prudent see danger coming and they take steps to avoid it. Perhaps it’s a fire on the verge of burning out of control. Perhaps it’s a car driving erratically on the highway. Perhaps it’s a slow leak on a tire. Perhaps it’s a snake or skunk or wasp nest. The prudent see the danger and do something to avoid this danger. The simple don’t - and they suffer for it.
Know anyone who has sprayed lighter fluid on a burning fire? Know anyone who has gotten too close to a skunk or a wasp nest or poison ivy? Know anyone who wasn’t paying attention to the gas gauge and ran out of gas?
So how do you become prudent? Sometimes we become prudent (aka gain wisdom) by our experiences. The young child who experienced a bursting balloon covers his ears. The person who meets a skunk and is sprayed subsequently keeps their distance from skunks. But experience can be a hard, painful teacher. So where else can you gain wisdom?
Your parents have had a few more experiences than you have. It’s a good idea to listen to them. Proverbs 4:1 says, “Children, listen to the instruction of a father, and be attentive in order to know insight.”
People who are experts have had a lot more experience in that particular area. They are a good resource. Proverbs 11:14 (WEB) says, “Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.”
God is a great source of wisdom. In fact, the Bible tells us in James 1:5 (ESV), “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” The Bible with the leading of the Holy Spirit is often how God gives us wisdom for our daily lives.
We don’t any of us (usually) intentionally choose courses of action which we know will cause us to suffer. But do you make it a priority to get wisdom so that you can be prudent?
**Changed!
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15:51b-52a
Materials: a jar of pickles and a cucumber; applesauce and an apple; a tomato and a packet of catsup
There’s a saying: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Although there’s some hyperbole in the statement, there is also the truth that things rarely stay the same for long. You can clean your room and the very next day, you have dust on your dresser, your bed needs to be made, there are toys to put away. You have to clean your room again! You can take a bath before going to bed one night and the next night you have to do it again. You didn’t stay clean! Sometimes we’d like things to stay the same!! But that’s not reality in this life.
One of the aspects of Trumpets that we are all very excited about is the change which is coming! 1 Corinthians 15 says that we are all going to be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
In the earlier examples, the changes I talked about were negative changes - neat rooms becoming messy, clean children getting dirty. The reality is that everything changes. But not all changes are bad. As you work hard in school, your ability to read and to do math changes; you read more fluently, you comprehend more easily, you figure out complex math problems more quickly. You are learning and expanding your brain’s ability to think. For awhile your bodies are growing and getting stronger. You’re more able to do things.
In a similar way, the return of Jesus means a very good change. At that time, we who belong to God will be changed from a physical being to a spiritual being. We will no longer be subject to the aches and pains of our physical bodies. We won’t grow old. We will have passed from death into life - life eternal with our God forever.
There is a great change coming - a great day coming. And we get to be part of a dress rehearsal on this day, Trumpets, as we look forward to the return of Jesus Christ as Lord and King.
**What’s Inside
And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, . . . Revelation 2:23
Materials: embroidery project
Have you ever watched someone embroider a tea towel or pillowcase? It’s actually pretty interesting to see the even stitches and intricacies they weave with just the embroidery floss!! But have you ever looked at the back of the project? It’s a mess! There are knots and threads going in all directions. It doesn’t look at all impressive from underneath.
Sometimes we forget that the people around us are much like that embroidery. People can look like they have it all together, are super intelligent, or are just intimidating to be around because they are so impressive - but the reality is that each person is a human being with faults and foibles and fears. Of course, we don’t see that - or actually we see only as much as that person allows us to see.
But there is One who sees the whole package. God sees the outside and He sees the heart. This verse in Revelation 2:23 says that God (Jesus Christ, the Son) not only sees the heart and what’s inside, He searches both the mind and the heart. He looks deeper to see what you’re thinking and why. He looks at your motives and your fears. He digs deeper to know you completely.
There’s a couple of results of knowing that God sees us, outside and in. First, there’s no sense in pretending with God. He sees right through to the truth. So if you’re angry with someone, you might as well tell God that you’re angry. He already knows. If you did something wrong, you might as well tell Him about it; He already knows. Secondly, since God knows where you are in your thinking, who you truly are, and what you are capable of, He can be trusted to take care of everything in your life. He will protect and guide you. He will intervene for your good (even if we don’t understand how it could possibly end up good). And thirdly, God sees all of you, inside and out, and He loves you enough to redeem you from sin and death with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He loves you that much! All of these facts should lead us to one conclusion: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. Proverbs 24:16
Materials: test tube, 2-liter clear soda bottle, water
Here’s a very cool site which explains what’s going on and how to set up the experiment: https://www.superchargedscience.com/opt/cartesian-driver-pc2-con2/?inf_contact_key=6efa472fbc74e68c91528aae54c8795bb7af0999dac2af6212784c39e05d2aef
Have you ever wondered how a submarine works? It can’t be that they get rid of all their oxygen because then the sailors wouldn’t be able to breathe. No, rather, the submarine takes water into storage tanks, compressing what air is in the submarine into a smaller space. This makes the density of the submarine greater than the density of the water around it. Consequently, the submarine sinks.
This is basically what is done with a test tube and soda bottle. Fill the bottle with water. Fill the test tube about 4/5 full of water, place your thumb over the end and invert into the soda bottle. The top of the test tube should be just a little above the soda bottle. (It might take a few times to get it just right.) Make sure the soda bottle is completely full of water and secure the top. Then when you squeeze the bottle, the air in the test tube is compressed and forced into a smaller space in the top of the test tube. This allows more water to fill the test tube, making it heavier and the test tube moves to the bottom of the bottle. When you release pressure on the bottle, the air is allowed to decompress, the test tube gets less dense, and it shoots back up to the top of the bottle. Pretty cool.
What happens when you’re under pressure? You lose a tooth and on the way to show your mom, you drop it, and now you can’t find it. Your cat gets lost. Your grandparent is very sick. The family car is in the shop and you can’t go on the field trip you were looking forward to. There are lots of things that go wrong in our world. It’s part of living in this world. Your reaction to the stressful things says a lot about who you are.
If you belong to God and know Him, or rather, you are known by God (as Paul told the Galatians), then you have hope. You have the support and encouragement of God. You rely on the promises of the Creator of the Universe. And you can get up again, every time life knocks you down.
But, if you don’t know God and are not interested in following Him, obeying Him, and having a relationship with Him, you’re still going to experience getting knocked down. But then you have to depend on yourself to pick yourself back up again. And sometimes that just doesn’t work.
If the test tube didn’t have any air in it, it would sink to the bottom of the bottle and there’d be nothing it could do to get to the top again. The test tube having air in it gives it the ability to absorb the pressure and then pop back up to the top again. It’s a cool reminder that if you love, obey, and seek God, He can help you to endure. If you don’t love, obey and seek God, you’re sunk.
**Bursting the Balloon
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. Proverbs 22:3
Materials: balloons (Blow up a balloon until it bursts to start the lesson with a bang!)
When blowing up balloons around younger children, it’s obvious who has seen the balloon blown up too far - so that it bursts! The child will cringe or put his hands over his ears. He knows what is coming. He has become prudent when it comes to blowing up balloons.
There are many times in life when the prudent see danger coming and they take steps to avoid it. Perhaps it’s a fire on the verge of burning out of control. Perhaps it’s a car driving erratically on the highway. Perhaps it’s a slow leak on a tire. Perhaps it’s a snake or skunk or wasp nest. The prudent see the danger and do something to avoid this danger. The simple don’t - and they suffer for it.
Know anyone who has sprayed lighter fluid on a burning fire? Know anyone who has gotten too close to a skunk or a wasp nest or poison ivy? Know anyone who wasn’t paying attention to the gas gauge and ran out of gas?
So how do you become prudent? Sometimes we become prudent (aka gain wisdom) by our experiences. The young child who experienced a bursting balloon covers his ears. The person who meets a skunk and is sprayed subsequently keeps their distance from skunks. But experience can be a hard, painful teacher. So where else can you gain wisdom?
Your parents have had a few more experiences than you have. It’s a good idea to listen to them. Proverbs 4:1 says, “Children, listen to the instruction of a father, and be attentive in order to know insight.”
People who are experts have had a lot more experience in that particular area. They are a good resource. Proverbs 11:14 (WEB) says, “Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls, but in the multitude of counselors there is victory.”
God is a great source of wisdom. In fact, the Bible tells us in James 1:5 (ESV), “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” The Bible with the leading of the Holy Spirit is often how God gives us wisdom for our daily lives.
We don’t any of us (usually) intentionally choose courses of action which we know will cause us to suffer. But do you make it a priority to get wisdom so that you can be prudent?
**Changed!
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians 15:51b-52a
Materials: a jar of pickles and a cucumber; applesauce and an apple; a tomato and a packet of catsup
There’s a saying: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Although there’s some hyperbole in the statement, there is also the truth that things rarely stay the same for long. You can clean your room and the very next day, you have dust on your dresser, your bed needs to be made, there are toys to put away. You have to clean your room again! You can take a bath before going to bed one night and the next night you have to do it again. You didn’t stay clean! Sometimes we’d like things to stay the same!! But that’s not reality in this life.
One of the aspects of Trumpets that we are all very excited about is the change which is coming! 1 Corinthians 15 says that we are all going to be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
In the earlier examples, the changes I talked about were negative changes - neat rooms becoming messy, clean children getting dirty. The reality is that everything changes. But not all changes are bad. As you work hard in school, your ability to read and to do math changes; you read more fluently, you comprehend more easily, you figure out complex math problems more quickly. You are learning and expanding your brain’s ability to think. For awhile your bodies are growing and getting stronger. You’re more able to do things.
In a similar way, the return of Jesus means a very good change. At that time, we who belong to God will be changed from a physical being to a spiritual being. We will no longer be subject to the aches and pains of our physical bodies. We won’t grow old. We will have passed from death into life - life eternal with our God forever.
There is a great change coming - a great day coming. And we get to be part of a dress rehearsal on this day, Trumpets, as we look forward to the return of Jesus Christ as Lord and King.
**What’s Inside
And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, . . . Revelation 2:23
Materials: embroidery project
Have you ever watched someone embroider a tea towel or pillowcase? It’s actually pretty interesting to see the even stitches and intricacies they weave with just the embroidery floss!! But have you ever looked at the back of the project? It’s a mess! There are knots and threads going in all directions. It doesn’t look at all impressive from underneath.
Sometimes we forget that the people around us are much like that embroidery. People can look like they have it all together, are super intelligent, or are just intimidating to be around because they are so impressive - but the reality is that each person is a human being with faults and foibles and fears. Of course, we don’t see that - or actually we see only as much as that person allows us to see.
But there is One who sees the whole package. God sees the outside and He sees the heart. This verse in Revelation 2:23 says that God (Jesus Christ, the Son) not only sees the heart and what’s inside, He searches both the mind and the heart. He looks deeper to see what you’re thinking and why. He looks at your motives and your fears. He digs deeper to know you completely.
There’s a couple of results of knowing that God sees us, outside and in. First, there’s no sense in pretending with God. He sees right through to the truth. So if you’re angry with someone, you might as well tell God that you’re angry. He already knows. If you did something wrong, you might as well tell Him about it; He already knows. Secondly, since God knows where you are in your thinking, who you truly are, and what you are capable of, He can be trusted to take care of everything in your life. He will protect and guide you. He will intervene for your good (even if we don’t understand how it could possibly end up good). And thirdly, God sees all of you, inside and out, and He loves you enough to redeem you from sin and death with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He loves you that much! All of these facts should lead us to one conclusion: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
