Unit 10 / Lesson 4
The Last Judgment
Slides for the Lesson
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Teacher's Prep
Games
Human Tic Tac Toe
See this video to get familiar with the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hwDNL0pQ8o&ab_channel=YouthMinistryGreatGames
You will need a screen to play the video during the lesson
Set up 9 chairs in the middle of the room when it’s time to play the game. Sturdy but soft chairs work the best.
Biathlon
Two nerf guns and plenty of nerf bullets (Thirty to fifty nerf bullets would be good. If you have less, you may just need to pause the game to collect the bullets before resuming)
If you don’t have nerf guns, you can throw balls at targets instead.
Set up a space for students to run, and an area to stand behind a line and shoot a target. See the diagram below for a suggested setup:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wp_v01IPL_FcF1OkFd1gl_i8nfusmwH0/view?usp=sharing
Water Jenga
See this YouTube for how this game works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjqqQRBbwv4&ab_channel=Mr.T%27sChemistry
Prepare two clear plastic cups per 4-6 students
Have water available to put into the cups
Have a towel or paper towels on hand to clean up spilled water
If you don't want to play Water Jenga, you may play regular Jenga, or any game that has a definite end or time limit to it.
For Main Activity: The "Colors-of-Christ" Cross
Please see this webpage for instructions and for the explanation of the meanings of each color:
Materials needed for each student:
6 Beads (Black, red, white, blue, green, gold or yellow)
A thin cord or rawhide lace that will fit through the beads
Clear glue.
Teacher: make the craft before the class, to show as a sample
Intro
SLIDE 1
Gathering
How was your week?
Intro Activity: Human Tic Tac Toe
Instructions
We'll start this point with a game called Human Tic Tac Toe.
For this game, we'll need a bunch of chairs in the middle of the room, so everyone please go to the side. I'll set up some chairs while you watch the video on how to play.
SLIDE 2
SLIDE 3
Instructions for Teacher:
Follow the instructions in the video
Set up nine chairs in the middle of the room.
Have all the children find a partner that is about as fast as them.
One partner joins team X, and the other partner joins team O
Teams number off so that when you call a number, one person runs to the chairs.
Before each round, those not on a chair have to be touching a wall.
In the original instructions, only one player gets to sit down per round. For a less competitive game, both players can sit down per round.
The optimal (but boring) strategy is for a team to sit only in the column of chairs closest to their wall. If teams start scoring in the column closest to their wall, you can say that having three people in that column doesn’t count.
If you don't have at least 8 people to play the game with, you can just play regular tic tac toe on a whiteboard, or another puzzle type game, or even a jigsaw puzzle
Debrief
Thanks, everyone, for playing! I hope you had some fun. I want to point out something about the game: it only works when we follow the rules.
Can you imagine if people just sat on the chairs whenever they felt like it, or if they started stealing chairs and taking them away? That would be terrible!
Relevance
Unfortunately, real life can be like that. A lot of people do things that are very unfair. Sometimes it feels like the most selfish people win, even though they do the most terrible things, and sometimes it feels like the kindest and most loving people have to go through the most trouble.
Big Question
SLIDE 4
That brings us to our big question today:
When will the world be fair?
That's what our lesson is about.
Apostles' Creed
We are working through a very special list called the Apostles' Creed. It's a list of things that almost all Christians believe, no matter where we go.
SLIDE 5
Let's read the parts that we've already covered in the last few weeks:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
SLIDE 6
This lesson will be about the next part of the Apostles' Creed. It says:
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
Our lesson today will be about the time when Jesus will come back to judge the world.
Big Idea
SLIDE 7
Our big idea today is: the world will be fair when Jesus comes back.
Bible Reference
SLIDE 7
Now let's read what Jesus said about what will happen when He comes back to judge the world.
John 5:24-29 (ICB)
24 “I tell you the truth. Whoever hears what I say and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged guilty. He has already left death and has entered into life.
SLIDE 9
25 I tell you the truth. The time is coming and is already here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. And those who hear will have life.
SLIDE 10
26 Life comes from the Father himself. So the Father has allowed the Son to give life.
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27 And the Father has given the Son the approval to judge because he is the Son of Man.
SLIDE 12
28 Don’t be surprised at this. A time is coming when all who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice.
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29 Then they will come out of their graves. Those who did good will rise and have life forever. But those who did evil will rise to be judged guilty.
Point 1
Our first point is, when Jesus comes back, He will reward people who do good.
SLIDE 14
Game: Biathlon
Instructions
We'll start our lesson with a game!
In the Olympic Games, they have an event called the biathlon. In this event, people go skiing, stopping every once in a while to shoot a gun at some targets. They get points for how fast they are, and also for how many targets they hit.
Today we will be running instead of skiing, and we will be shooting nerf guns.
Here are the rules. We will have a relay race with two teams. When it’s your turn to race, you need to stand behind the line and shoot the target.
Before you shoot at a target, you need to run to the far wall and back. Then you have one chance to shoot at the target.
Teacher: give the children a reasonably large target like a whiteboard, and demonstrate how to shoot the target from behind the line, and where to run between shots.
If you miss, you have to run to the far wall and back before you try again. You're done after you shoot the target twice OR you try five times. After five times, you're automatically done and it's the next person's turn on your team. When everyone has had their turn, your team is done.
Teacher: you may want to play this game more than once depending on time and interest.
Debrief
Like I said earlier, the biathlon is actually a sport where people compete for the world to see. When an athlete prepares to compete, they practice a lot. They exercise a lot, eat right, and they do their best and work really hard. Nobody sees how hard they work before they perform. However, they work hard anyway so that they will be ready when the TV cameras are on, the world is watching, and it's time to win the gold medal.
That's what it's like for Christians.
SLIDE 15
Everyone who believes in Jesus will do things the right way, because we know someday Jesus will judge us. So even if nobody notices our work now, someday all of our work will matter.
Bible Reference
Let’s read what Jesus said again:
SLIDE 16
John 5:24 (ICB)
24 “I tell you the truth. Whoever hears what I say and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged guilty. He has already left death and has entered into life.
Skip to verse 28:
SLIDE 17
John 5:28-29 (ICB)
28 Don’t be surprised at this. A time is coming when all who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice. 29 Then they will come out of their graves. Those who did good will rise and have life forever. But those who did evil will rise to be judged guilty.
Explanation
Here's a tricky question: in these verses, who receives eternal life?
In verse 24 we see our answer: whoever hears what Jesus says and believes in God who sent Him has eternal life. However, in verse 29 we have a surprise. It says those who did good will rise and have life forever.
So, whoever believes Jesus has eternal life, and whoever does good has eternal life. These are actually the same people.
It's just like how everyone will practice if they want to play sports for the whole world to see: in the same way, everyone who trusts Jesus will do good.
Application
The Bible tells us it is always a good idea to do what is right. Jesus will always reward those who do. But, before He comes back, it can be tough to follow Him. Maybe we will have to do more work because God wants us to care about other people, or maybe we will lose some games because we are honest. Or, maybe people will laugh at us because doing the right thing is sometimes not very cool. In the end though, it will be worth it.
SLIDE 18
Jesus will come back to judge us, and He will give us back everything that we lost for Him.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 19
Let's pause for a discussion question.
Can you think of a time when you did the right thing, and you felt like you were punished for it?
Suggested comment from Teacher:
Sometimes we do the right thing, and all kinds of bad things happen to us. When Jesus comes back He promises He will make everything right again.
Point 2
Our second point is, when Jesus comes back, He will punish people who do evil.
SLIDE 20
Game: Water Jenga
Instructions
Let's start with a game of Water Jenga!
Let's watch a bit of this video to see how it works.
SLIDE 21
Teacher: play about 30 seconds of this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjqqQRBbwv4&ab_channel=Mr.T%27sChemistry
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We'll form groups of six, and each group will go to a table. Then we’ll split your group into two teams.
We’ll start the game with the cup filled almost to the top. Then, you’ll all take turns pouring a drop of water into the cup, bringing the amount of water in the cup higher and higher. If it spills over the side of the cup, the other team wins, and we can start again. Just be careful not to bump the table or else it will probably spill!
Teacher: fill a cup for each table until it is practically full. That will make the game faster.
Debrief
In this game we just played, we don't know when the water will spill over, and we don't know how it will spill over. We just know that as we add more and more water, the cup will eventually overflow.
In real life, that's how evil works.
SLIDE 23
Evil is like putting drops of water into a cup that is practically full. Sooner or later, it will lead to a disaster for the one who does evil.
Bible Reference
SLIDE 24
Let's read the last part of our Bible passage again.
28 Don’t be surprised at this. A time is coming when all who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice. 29 Then they will come out of their graves. Those who did good will rise and have life forever. But those who did evil will rise to be judged guilty.
Explanation
Remember in our last point, I said that everyone who trusts Jesus will do good?
In this point, we learn that those who don’t trust Jesus will do evil.
Sometimes people do evil because it helps them get what they want.
SLIDE 25
For example, some people are mean, and other people respect them and don't pick on them, because they're so mean and they’re afraid of that person being mean to them too.
SLIDE 26
Sometimes children lie to their parents so they don’t have to do the things they don’t want to do.
SLIDE 27
When people get older and start earning money, some people want to keep all their money to themselves and they don't use it to help other people. That is another kind of evil -- when we don’t do things that we know we should do.
People do evil because they don't know that Jesus will judge them someday and take back everything they have gotten the wrong way. People who do evil will end up with nothing, and they will be very sad in the end.
Application
You might have felt uncomfortable when I talked about evil because maybe you've done some things that were not right. Actually, everyone does evil.
SLIDE 28
All of us have done things that are wrong, and we all deserve to be punished. That is why Jesus was punished for us. He took all the punishment for every evil thing that we have ever done. Everyone who trusts Jesus is forgiven, but everyone who does not trust Jesus is not forgiven, and they need to be punished.
SLIDE 29
That is why the greatest thing we can do for a person is to help them to trust Jesus. Then they don't have to be afraid of being punished when Jesus comes back, and they can live forever.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 30
Let's pause for a discussion question.
Do you have any ideas for how to help someone trust Jesus?
Conclusion
SLIDE 31
Let’s wrap up our lesson by going over the big ideas again.
Our big question today was: When will the world be fair?
Our big idea was: the world will be fair when Jesus comes back.
When Jesus comes back, He will reward everyone who trusts Him and does good, and He will pay back everything we have given up for Him.
But He will also punish everyone who does evil, and He will take back everything that they got by doing evil.
That is why the greatest way we can help a person is by helping them to trust Jesus, so they can be forgiven and they can look forward to the day that Jesus comes back.
SLIDE 32
Main Activity: Gospel Colors Craft (Cross Necklace)
For our main activity today, we are going to make a necklace that helps explain the message of Jesus. It's everything that people need to know in order to start a relationship with Jesus.
Teacher: bring out your craft to show the students.
The craft has six different colors in it.
The black bead reminds us of the darkness of our sin that separates us from God.
The red bead reminds us of Jesus' blood when He died to take away our sin.
The white bead reminds us that Jesus made us clean from all of our sin because He forgave us.
The blue bead stands for baptism. When people decide that they want to trust Jesus with their life, they get baptized.
The green bead stands for growing. We don't just believe a bunch of things as Christians, but we grow to become more and more like Jesus.
The yellow bead stands for heaven, where we will live forever.
Now you're going to make your own cross necklace! We’ll follow the steps on the screen, and if we have time, we can practice telling each other what the different beads stand for.
Teacher: show the students the diagram of the steps on this webpage:
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