Mighty Mite Attitude
It's Your Move
Work Zone and High Way
Collect "Talent" fundraiser stuff and give 5 Caravan Bucks to nearly everyone as they go through common meal. Set up a table with big candy bars, pop and stuff with big prices for all to see and another sign that says they might be able to earn more bucks throughout the lesson.
$7 C-van $8 C-van $9 C-van $10 C-van
Bucks Bucks Bucks Bucks
"You might be able to earn more by the end of the evening"
Welcome, & introductions Make announcements
Wrapping Paper Sales, Cookie Pick-up, The rest of the holidays
Which Way Are We Moving
Work Zone & High Way
Begin with a large group&ldots;
Say: If you have tickets, just store them away until later. We're going to divide you into two groups. Line up by height, tallest to shortest.
Then have the shortest end of the line bend around until they are right in front of the tallest person. Find the center of this double line and break into groups.
Capture the Wardrobe
(Capture the flag)
Say: Each team has a table filled with clothing and accessories. Your goal as a team is to protect the items on your own table while also stealing the most valuable items off the other team's table. Each team is allowed only one table guard and that guard may not be in the "free throw area at any time. You must get any one of several items off of the table and return to home base (Next to your jail) without being tagged. If you are tagged, you are escorted to the designated jail in enemy territory and can only be freed if someone makes it to the jail without being tagged-the entire jail is freed.
The game is timed by music. When you hear the music start, you may go, when the music stops, all play is over and no more items can be added to your vault. The team with the HIGHEST VALUE OF ITEMS COLLECTED wins.
Background music for this game is "Gone Going" by the Black Eyed Peas.
Make a master list of values for each team. Make them hard to judge and not the same value for the other team. Try these: T-shirts, sweatshirts, purses, sunglasses, watches, ball caps, jeans, shorts, etc.
Gather everyone into a corner then&ldots;
Say: have a seat and we'll add up the team totals. A couple of quick questions I want to throw at you-
(have someone tallying points while you throw out these questions)
What made you want to grab this pair pants?
How much do you think these sunglasses should be worth?
When you see people wearing brand name clothes, what do you think about them?
What brand do you prefer to wear?
What's most important in a good pair of shoes?
Announce the winning team. Break into Journey Groups by having everyone go into one of the large ball closets. Then let them out one at a time and ask if they will give all their bucks back "So that a few others can use theirs to get some candy." Write the names down on a high school and a middle school list if they give the money back.
Moving In
Work Zone & High Way
Work Zone break into smaller groups
Needed: Gone Going lyrics, pens
Say: Maybe you noticed the song we played while you were playing Capture the Wardrobe. It's called "Gone Going" by the Black Eyed Peas. They put out some interesting music and we're not suggesting you go buy their albums, but we wanted to take a closer look at this one song.
(Pass out lyrics and pens to students.)
Please underline phrases that jump out at you. Maybe you disagree or agree with something being said. At the bottom of your page write what you think is the song's main point.
BLACK EYED PEAS LYRICS
"Gone Going"
Johnny wanna be a big star
Get on stage and play the guitar
Make a little money, buy a fancy car
Big old house and an alligator
Just to match with them alligator shoes
He's a rich man so he's no longer singing the blues
He's singing songs about material things
And platinum rings and watches that go bling
But, diamonds don't bling in the dark
He a star now, but he ain't singing from the heart
Sooner or later he's just gonna fall apart
Coz his fans can't relate to his new found art
He ain't doing what he did from the start
And that's putting in some feeling and thought
He decided to live his life shallow
Passion is love for material
[Chorus]
And its gone... gone... going...
Gone... everything gone... give a damn...
Gone be the birds when they don't want to sing...
Gone people... up awkward with their things... gone.
You see yourself in the mirror
And you feel safe coz it looks familiar
But you afraid to open up your soul
Coz you don't really know, don't really know
Who he is, the person that's deep within
Coz you are content with just being the name-brand man
And you fail to see that its trivial
Insignificant, you addicted to material
I've seen your kind before
You're the type that thinks souls is sold in a store
Packaged up with incense sticks
With them vegetarian meals
To you that's righteous
You're fiction like books
You need to go out to life and look
Coz... what happens when they take your material
You already sold your soul and its...
[Chorus]
You say that time is money and money is time
So you got mind in your money and your money on your mind
But what about... that crime that you did to get paid
And what about... that bid, you can't take it to your brain
What about those shoes you'll wear today
They'll do no good on the bridges you walked along the way
All that money that you got gonna be gone
That gear that you rock gonna be gone
The house up on the hill gonna be gone
The gold purse on your grill gonna be gone
The ice on your wrist gonna be gone
That nice little Miss gonna be gone
That whip that you roll gonna be gone
And what's worst is your soul's already gone
[Chorus]
Ask:
According to the song&ldots; what happens to material things?
What is the main point of this song? What makes you think that? Do you agree or disagree with that point? Why?
What do you suppose God thinks about this song?
Moving on
Work Zone & High Way
Needed: Scripture handout - Matthew 6
Matthew 6:19-30 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. [20] "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; [21] for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. [22] "The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. [23] "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! [24] "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. [25] "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26] "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? [27] "And which of you by being anxious can add a single moment to your life's span? [28] "And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not worry nor do they work, [29] yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. [30] "But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith?
Say: The last time we met we talked about the Parable of the Talents. This week we're also going to look at another parable commonly called "The Widows Mite." But first, lets talk more about the message in the music.
Ask:
What was one of the favorite songs that you've listened to in the last week? I'll start. (Leader shares a song they listened to)
Share something you wanted for Christmas last year &ldots; and got it as a present.
Do you still use/enjoy that present now? Will you still be enjoying it in 5 years? 10? 20?
Say: Here's a copy of a passage from the Bible that talks about the same things that the Black Eyed Peas song talked about. Underline words and phrases that stand out to you. Look for the writer's main point.
Ask:
Who is talking in these verses? (Jesus)
Who is listening? (Everyday people)
What is the instruction being given in verses 19 and 20?
What treasures might these people have been storing up?
What kind of treasures do people store up today?
What kind of treasures do you store up today?
Verses 22 and 23 talk about pure and evil eyes. What does a person who has "pure eyes" act like? What about a person with evil eyes?
We asked you to sum up the main point of this passage. What do you think it is? (Store up treasure which God honors, not earthly treasures.)
What did the people in the Black Eyed Peas song treasure? What was the result?
Have you ever felt like you treasured the wrong things? Anyone willing to share an example?
Picture yourself at school. What kinds of treasures are around you? (Peers, lonely people, teachers, opportunities to serve, etc&ldots;)
Picture yourself in your home. What kinds of treasures are around you which God values?
How might you treasure these things?
Moving up
Work Zone & High Way
Say: If you gave up all of your money earlier I have a gift for you now.
(Use the list of names to award big ol' candy bars to the charitable. After the awards continue)
Say: Sometimes we treasure stuff because it's right in front of us-like the table of goodies you saw earlier. God asks us to treasure the things that HE treasures. Sometimes we don't know what those things are, just like you didn't know what the tickets would be good for. The thing is, when you live the life God asks us to live, you build your treasure in heaven. God's love for us is the greatest treasure. If we can understand that intense love and then let it live inside of us, it will overflow and we will naturally love and treasure other people.
Jesus closely connects storing up treasures with worry. After telling people not to store up things on earth, but rather store up treasures that God values; He goes on to say, "Don't worry about your clothes, or your food. If God takes the time to give the birds shelter and food, don't you think He'll take care of your needs?" Jesus says that the people have such little faith because they get caught up in their daily needs instead trusting God. We start to stress about all the things we think we need. Everything else in life is "Gone-Going" but God's love for you remains. God's love for you reaches through all those worries: "Am I cool enough? Am I hanging with the right people? Will people laugh at my shoes? Do my clothes look good enough? Will I have enough money to survive?" When we let God's love reach through all those worries we can lay down the stuff we treasure on earth and allow Him to show us what He treasures.
Ask:
How does attitude differ from behavior or conduct?
How does attitude affect behavior or conduct?
What two main factors affect your overall attitude most of the time?
Do you agree or disagree with the statement, "Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it"? Why?
When we choose a bad attitude, we usually gravitate in one of two directions - sometimes both - BLAME or SELF-PITY. Which one can you relate to and how so?
What are the consequences of either?
Moving out
Work Zone & High Way
Say: God has a lot to say about attitudes. Let's look at another parable examining a little different attitude.
Luk 21:1-4 He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. And he said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had."
Say: Witnessing the donations made by the rich men, Jesus highlights how a poor widow donates only two mites, the least valuable coins available at the time, but that this was everything she had to her name, while the other people give only a small portion of their own wealth. This tale is held by most modern Christians to mean that a gift should be judged not by its absolute value, but by how it compares relatively; that it is not the impressiveness or purchasing power which matters, but what it means.
Ask:
What attitude are we to have according to this verse? (Generous)
Is giving your all an important attitude?
How does giving your all relate to stored treasures? (There shouldn't be stored treasure for yourself - only for the benefit of others)
How can you apply these verses to your life right now? (Be nice now, serve, give time and money, etc. NOW!)
Come back together in the FLC
Closing
Work Zone & High Way
The Leader Closes: Gather in a circle.
Sum up the lesson
Say: As you gather your mite/might to face the coming week, think about the things you've been treasuring, you may feel convicted to leave a few of those behind. Chose one specific thing that you treasure but you don't think God treasures and decide tonight to leave that thing or action behind. Also, think about the treasures at your school and in your home. Now choose one thing that you probably should treasure that you haven't really treasured. Decide right now to take action this week to treasure something real.
Close In Prayer
Dear Lord, we've come together as a group again this week and continue to do your work. Thank you for You're Love that can fill us to overflowing. Help us to realize the things that we treasure might not be pleasing to You, and forgive us for overlooking Your real treasure. Help us to have an attitude that is pleasing, patient, generous and kind. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Sing Sanctuary
UMYF Benediction
