Tag Archives: reflect

October 17, 2011 · 4:18 am

Reflecting God’s Glory (OBJ LESSON)


Time

10-15 minutes
Description

This object lesson teaches that we have no light of our own but that we are called to reflect God’s light to the world.  It uses the story of Moses’ glowing face when he came down from Mount Sinai after meeting with God to make the point that the more time we spend with God, the more we will reflect His glory.

 

Audience

  • Children, Youth, Adults

 

Scriptures

  • Exodus 34:29-35
  • Matthew 5:14-16
  • John 8:12
  • 2 Corinthians 3:18

 

Materials

  • Small mirrors or other reflective surfaces (at least 5-6, but you may want more if you want the entire audience to participate)
  • A bright light source and power to make it work (a large flashlight or lamp would work)
  • A barrier behind which you will hide the light source (It should hide the light source from the audience.)
  • Something (or someone) that can hold the light source steady and point it toward the front of the room.
  • Anything you need to darken the room (You will need to block light coming from windows, doors and artificial light sources.)
  • Bible

 

Preparation

  • Set up the barrier near the front of the room but off to the side.  It should allow the light source to show toward the front of the room but be concealed to all other parts of the room.
  • Set up the light source and angle the light so that it points toward the front of the room.  Turn the light on before you begin your lesson.
  • Block light coming from any other light source (but leave the lights on until the appropriate time to turn them off in your lesson).
  • Ask someone to turn off the lights for you when you give the signal.
  • Set the mirrors or reflective surfaces near the front of the room where you can access them easily.
  • Practice the script.

 

Procedure

Use the following script and instructions (or modify to suit your needs):

  • “One of the most important things we can do as Christians is to give glory to God.”
  • “In the book of Exodus (2nd book of the Bible in the OT), it tells the story of Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets that had the ‘Ten Commandments’ on them.”  (Have someone read Exodus 34:29-35.)
  • “Because Moses had been spending so much time with God up on the mountain, when he came down, his face glowed with the glory of the Lord!”
  • “It was so bright that the Israelites were afraid of Moses at first, and he had to put a veil over his face when he talked to them.”
  • “Paul talks about this story in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (have someone read the Scripture), but he says we should act differently than Moses.”
  • “We shouldn’t put a veil over God’s glory; we should let it reflect off of us as brightly as possible.”
  • “In fact, he says that as we are being transformed to look more and more like Jesus, we will reflect more and more of God’s glory.”
  • “It’s important to remember, though, that this glory isn’t from us.”
  • “We don’t have any light of our own.”
  • “All our light is reflected light from God.”
  • “We should be like this mirror.”  (Hold up a mirror to show the audience.)
  • “How much light does the mirror emit by itself?”  (Acknowledge responses, and lead them to the correct answer if they get it wrong.)
  • “The truth is that the mirror cannot create light; it can only reflect light.”
  • “Let me show you what I mean.”  (Have your volunteer turn off the lights.  Be careful not to angle your mirror toward your hidden light source.  You don’t want it to reflect any light yet.)
  • “What happened?”  (Acknowledge responses.)
  • “When the lights went out, you couldn’t really see the mirror anymore.”
  • “Why is that?”  (Acknowledge responses, and guide them toward the right answer – it doesn’t emit any light of its own.)
  • “The mirror only reflects – it doesn’t create light.”
  • “But who has noticed that there is a light source somewhere in the room?”  (Acknowledge responses.)
  • “Right!  There is a light coming from over there!”
  • “Now, none of you can actually see the light source, but you can see the evidence of the light source.”
  • “What I mean is that you don’t know what is actually making the light, but you can see what it does – it makes things brighter and better.”
  • “God is like that for most of the people in the world.”
  • “We can’t see Him, but we can see what He does – He makes things brighter and better.”
  • “He pushes back darkness and shines His glory in the world.”
  • “Most people don’t know what the Light Source of the world is, but Christians do!”
  • “If you are a Christian, you know where the light in the world comes from; it comes from Jesus.”
  • “In John 8:12, Jesus tells us, ‘I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
  • “That’s pretty cool – we’ll have the light of life and won’t walk in darkness.”  (Angle your mirror so that it catches the light, but point the light away from the audience.)
  • “But we aren’t supposed to just keep the light for ourselves.”
  • “Jesus was the light in the world while He was here on earth, but now He has gone back to heaven, and no one can see Him.”
  • “That’s why he tells His followers in Matthew 5:14, ‘You are the light of the world.’” (Have someone read Matthew 5:14-16.)
  • “He tells them, ‘Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.’”
  • “We can’t keep this light to ourselves – we have to let it shine!”  (Angle your mirror so that the light falls on someone in the audience.)
  • “Here’s what’s great!  When you let the light of Jesus shine on someone, there’s a good chance that they will want see that light for themselves.”  (Invite the person you shined the light on to come to the front of the room.  Give him or her a mirror, and show him or her how to catch the light and angle it toward someone else in the audience.)
  • “If they do, then they will start to reflect the light of Jesus in the world, and the person they shine it on might want to see the Light Source for himself/herself.”  (Invite the person your volunteer shined the light on to come get a mirror and repeat the process.  You can do this as many times as you would like to multiply the number of people shining the light of Jesus.)
  • “How cool is this!”
  • “By shining the light of Jesus out into the world, we help people recognize how much God loves them.”
  • “When people know how much God loves them, they usually will want to see the Light Source for themselves.”
  • “But we can’t keep the light to ourselves.”  (Have all the mirror-holders angle their mirrors away from the audience.)
  • “That would be selfish and disobedient to what God has asked us to do, and no one would know how much God loves them.”  (Have them angle their mirrors back toward the audience and move them around so that the light dances around the room.)
  • “Jesus tells us how we can reflect His light.”
  • “He says in Matthew 14-16 that when we do good deeds because of our love of God, His light will reflect off of us, and people will praise God.”
  • “So we’ve got to find ways to do good things for people who don’t know God.”
  • “Right now, I want you to quickly think of one good thing you could do for someone (especially someone who doesn’t know God).”
  • “Tell the person next to you what you thought of.”  (Allow a few moments for them to share their idea.)
  • “Who will actually go and do what you thought of?”  (Acknowledge responses.)
  • “Excellent!  That is how we can reflect God’s glory in the world!!”  (Thank your volunteers, and let them return to their seats as you have your volunteer turn the lights back on.)

 

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Filed under God's Glory, Great Commission, Jesus, Light of the world, Moses, Object Lesson, Testimony, Transformation, Veil, Witness

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January 3, 2009 · 11:32 am

Light of the World


Time

10-15 minutes

Description

This object lesson teaches about our role as light of the world until Jesus returns. In it, you will be giving birthday candles to children and lighting them, so you may need to consider the age-appropriateness of this lesson for your group.

Materials

  • Birthday candles (enough for each child)
  • Larger candle with a candle holder (for you)
  • Lighter or matches to light your candle
  • Finger protectors made from paper or poster board

Preparation

· Cut out enough finger protectors for each child.

o 3” to 4” square should be about the right size.

o Cut an “X” or a star in the middle of each finger protector for the candle to slip through.

· Before class starts, light your candle, and put it in its candle holder somewhere out of the way. You can even conceal it behind something as long as it doesn’t present a fire hazard.

· Practice the script.

Procedure

Use the following script (or modify to suit your needs):

· “Matthew 5:14-16 says that we are the light of the world.” (Have volunteer read Scripture.)

· “What do you think it means to be the light of the world?” (Listen for responses, and make comments as appropriate.)

· “You know, Jesus is the Light of the world, but after He died on the cross, He went back up into heaven.”

· “We who believe in Him are now supposed to reflect His light to the world.”

· “That’s why God doesn’t take you straight to heaven when you become a Christian.”

· “Christians are important in the earth as reflectors of God’s light until He comes back again.”

· “So, according to the Scripture we just read, we are supposed to give light to everyone in the house (which means “the earth.”)”

· “Let’s read verse 16 again.” (Have volunteer read Matthew 5:16.)

· “What does it mean to let your light shine before men?” (Listen for responses, and make comments as appropriate. Some ideas you can include if they aren’t mentioned are: doing nice things for others, speaking kindly to others, showing love to others, giving to the church and to missions, helping the poor, avoiding the temptation to do bad things, being a friend to those who have no friends, taking good care of the things God blesses you with, telling others about God.)

· “So, let’s practice letting our light shine. I’m going to hand out some candles to each of you.”

· “They have a finger protector on them, so you should hold them underneath that piece of poster board/paper.”

· “Even though they have a finger protector, these candles can still be dangerous, so I need you to be extra careful with them once they are lit.”

· “Can everyone do that?” (Hand out candles with finger protectors.)

· “Now that everyone has a candle, we just need to turn out the lights and light them.” (Have a volunteer turn out the lights.)

· “Hmmm…. I don’t have a lighter. Does anyone have an idea how we could light these?” (Children should notice the light coming from the candle that you concealed before class. If they don’t, walk over to it in order to draw their attention there.)

· “Hey! There’s a candle over here already!”

· “How many of you noticed that the candle was over here before the lights went out?” (Look for a show of hands.)

· “Looks like most of us didn’t notice it when the lights were on.”

· “I think we can learn something from this.”

· “Let’s say that having the lights on is like when things are going well for people and that having the lights out is like when bad or difficult things happen to them.”

· “When the lights are on in someone’s life, they may not notice that you are a Christian who is reflecting God’s light.”

· “But when the lights go off in their life (like when a pet or someone they love dies, or they lose a friend, or they get into some trouble…), your light really shows up.”

· “Your light sometimes shines even brighter if the lights have gone out in your life, and you are going through a difficult time, too.”

· “When they see how you handle a difficult situation by trusting in God and giving your fear or worry or pain to Him, those who don’t have His light will be attracted to it.”

· “That’s when they will come and ask you about your light, and that will be your signal that God has opened their heart to hearing about Him.”

· “Do you know what you should do then?” (Listen for responses. You want to hear that you should share your light with them. When you get this response, use your candle to light one of the children’s candles. Then, ask that child to light someone else’s candle. Have the next child pass his/her light on to the next person and so on until all candles are lit.)

· “Amazing, huh? Look at all the light we have generated!”

· “And did you notice? We were all able to share our light with someone else without losing any of our own light.”

· “That’s God’s miracle when we can give something away without losing any of it!”

· “You know what else? The light pushes back the darkness.”

· “The darkness represents the evil that Satan wants to do in the world.”

· “It’s our job to reflect God’s light to push back Satan’s darkness.”

· “The more people we share God’s light with, the further back we push Satan’s darkness.”

· “I have a cheer for us that will help us to remember to keep pushing back Satan’s darkness.”

· “I’ll say it the first time, and then I want you to join me in saying it.”

· “We’ll start quietly – almost a whisper – and then we’ll get louder and louder until we are shouting it.”

· “Are you ready?”

· “Okay, it’s very simple. This is what we are going to do to the darkness…

Push it back! Push it back!

Waaaaaaaay back!”

· “Say it with me.” (Start with a whisper, and get progressively louder until the children are shouting it with you.)

· “Excellent! I feel like going out and sharing God’s light with someone right away. I hope you do, too!” (Have the lights turned back on, and have the kids extinguish the candles.)

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September 11, 2008 · 7:31 am

Pass It On


Time
15 minutes

Description
This object lesson helps children understand that God wants us to reflect His light to the world.

Materials
6-8 mirrors on stands (so that you can position them and prevent them from shaking)
A red laser (green lasers are more powerful but can damage eyes)
A smoke machine will help the laser beams to show up better, but it’s not necessary.

Preparation
Test the activity to make sure you are able to position the mirrors correctly. To begin the activity, position the mirrors around the room, but point them all away from where the laser will be shining.

Procedure

• Ask for enough volunteers to man each of the mirrors and one for the laser.
• Then use the following script, or modify to suit your purposes.
• “Jesus wants us to shine His light in the world.”
• “Let’s say Jesus is like this laser, and the mirrors around the room are like us.”
• “Jesus shines his light, and He’s looking for someone to catch it.” (Have volunteer with the laser shine the light around the room, avoiding shining in any eyes.)
• “Most of the people in the world aren’t even facing Jesus’ direction, but every once in awhile, someone turns toward Him.” (Have one of the volunteers with a mirror turn it toward the volunteer with the laser, and make sure the laser is captured by the mirror.)
• “When we turn toward Jesus, He reflects His light off us. We don’t have any light of our own, but God has designed us so that we can reflect His light if we turn toward Him.”
• “Jesus wants us to reflect His light to others. He shines His light through us to our friends and our family and to others He puts into our lives.” (Have the volunteer with the first mirror angle his mirror toward one of the other mirrors. Have that volunteer angle her mirror until she catches the laser beam.)
• “Once those people catch His light, they should then shine the light to others in their lives. You may not even know some of the people they know. So, your friend may know someone waaaaaayyyyyy over here (go to a mirror far across the room). Your friend can shine God’s light in places where you could never go.” (Have volunteers position their mirrors so that the laser beam connects. Then, position the rest of the mirrors, one-by-one so that the laser beam touches all the mirrors. Select one more volunteer from the group, and have the last mirror angel the laser beam to that volunteer’s heart.)
• “Jesus wants to work with us to shine His light throughout the entire world and into each person’s heart. In every tribe, every tongue and every nation.”

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