Associating with a Skunk

Friday:	Associating with a Skunk
Bible Passages:	1st Corinthians 15:33-34, 1st John 2:15-26
Objective:	We should be careful about the corrupting influence of the world.

Introduction: Excursions

Zeke likes to go for walks. He likes to go for walks in the woods, and across the fields, around the neighborhood, and through the parks. He's willing to go any time of day or night.

Story: Playing with Skunks

Sometimes Zeke gets to go for a walk in places where there are other animals. He loves to chase bunny rabbits, butterflies, squirrels, and geese. But there are some kinds of animals Zeke shouldn't get too close to.

One time, Zeke got very close to a skunk. That was bad. Do you know why it's bad to get very close to a skunk? The skunk sprayed its stink all over Zeke's face, and he came back smelling like skunk spray. It smelled very bad. Zeke had to have two baths, with special soap, and then he still smelled bad for a month. Yuck! Zeke shouldn't play with skunks.

Application: Bad Friends

Just like Zeke should be careful about getting close to some kinds of animals, there are some people we need to be careful about being around too much, because they don't love God, and they act in very bad ways. Sometimes those people talk us into doing the wrong kinds of things. We start to behave the way they do. We might start talking like they do, or disobeying our parents like they do, or other yucky things. When that happens, God thinks we stink. He still loves us, but he doesn't like the stink.

So we should be careful who our best friends are, to pick people who don't make us stink to God.

Invitation: Picking Good Friends

Invite any children who want to pick good friends to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Unconditional Love

Thursday:	Unconditional Love
Bible Passages:	Romans 5:6-11, Romans 8:29-39, Romans 9:10-16
Objective:	God loves us unconditionally.

Introduction: Mrs. Eady Wants a Dog

Mrs. Eady wanted a dog for a long time. She prayed for a dog to come into the home. One day, when she least expected it, she came home, and there was Zeke! Zeke jumped into Mrs. Eady's arms and licked her, and she was very happy, because she had a doggy. She loved him right away. She even loved him before he came into the family.

Explanation: We Love Our Dogs

Sometimes Zeke isn't as well behaved as Mrs. Eady could want. He tears up Klenex, sneaks food off the counter and stove, and accidentally scratches people when he's playing. Mrs. Eady loves him anyway. She loves Zeke because he's her doggy. She tries to teach him to do better, because she wants him to be a good dog. But even when he misbehaves, she still loves him. She would never get rid of him.

Mr. Eady loves Zeke too. He didn't know that he wanted a dog. He said he didn't. But he shares his food with Zeke, and lets him sleep on his lap, and sometimes he takes him for a walk. Mr. Eady loves Zeke, even when Zeke is bad.

Application: God Loves Us

Did you know that God loves us? He loves us even more than Mrs. Eady loves Zeke. Now, he doesn't always like everything we do, just like Mrs. Eady doesn't like everything Zeke does. But even when we do things he doesn't like, he still loves us.

The Bible says that God loved us before we were born. Just like Mrs. Eady loved Zeke before he even came to her house, God always loved you.

Invitation: Subtitle

Invite any children who want to love God the way he loves us to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Doggies Don't Like Baffs

Wednesday:	Doggies Don't Like Baffs
Bible Passages:	[Needed]
Objective:	Even though we don't always like the changes God wants us to make in our lives, we still need to do it.

Introduction: Stinky Dog

Zeke is a nice doggy, but sometimes he gets dirty and smelly. Like the time that he ran away on his walk and got sprayed by a skunk, or the time that he rolled in nasty yucky stuff and came home smelling like a swamp. Sometimes he needs a bath.

Explanation: Baths

Now, Zeke doesn't like baths. He doesn't think he needs them.

He doesn't want to get into the bathtub, and when you manage to get him in, he tries to escape. It takes two people to keep Zeke in the tub long enough to wash him and rinse him, to get him clean.

But Zeke needs to obey and stay in the bath until he's clean and rinsed, so he won't stink, and so he can stay in the house (because he can't stay in the house smelling like a skunk), and so he won't have itchy soap all over him when he dries. Zeke doesn't always understand why he needs to stay in the bath. But he still needs to obey and do it.

When Zeke is out for a walk, he doesn't always understand why he needs to wait. He has to be on a leash, because otherwise he might run out into the street. Zeke doesn't understand that the street is dangerous, because he doesn't understand that that's where the cars go. But when the people take Zeke for a walk, they keep him on the leash and make him obey, to protect him.

Application: Obedience

Sometimes your mom or dad, or your teacher, will tell you to do something, or you might even find something in the Bible that God wants you to do. It's not always something you think you want to do. You might not even know why you need to do it. But you still need to do it. You still need to obey.

Invitation: Obedience

Invite any children who want to learn to obey to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

The Misbehaving Doggy

Tuesday:	The Misbehaving Doggy
Bible Passages:	[Needed]
Objective:	Our sin alienates us from God.

Introduction: Nice Doggy

Zeke is a nice doggy. He's cute, and cuddly, and lovable. He has nice doggy ears, and a cute doggy nose, and he does nice doggy things. He eats his dog food, and he likes to go on walks, and he doesn't bite, and he always goes potty outside. He's a good doggy.

Explanation: Misbehavior

But sometimes Zekiel (Zeke) doesn't do what he's supposed to do. Sometimes he does wrong things that he knows he's not supposed to do.

Sometimes early in the morning, when nobody's watching, he sneaks into the bathroom, grabs some toilet paper, shreds it into little pieces, and scatters them all down the hallway. Zeke knows that he's not supposed to do that, and when he gets caught he hangs his head or runs away. He knows that he'll be in trouble. But he does it again the next day anyway.

Zeke also likes to get yucky things out of the trash and drag them around the house, like old butter wrappers and dirty napkins. He knows he's not supposed to. He knows he'll get in trouble. He hides when he does it, so that the people won't find out. But he still does it.

Application: Sin

Zekiel is just a dog. When Zeke misbehaves, that's bad doggy behavior. But dogs aren't the only ones who ever misbehave, are they? Sometimes people misbehave too.

When people misbehave, we call it sin. Sin is the wrong things that we do, and it makes God very sad. Because we're people, and because we can know God, we're supposed to be able to do better than the animals. God made us to be like him. We're not supposed to sin. When we do sin, it keeps us from being with God. We're in big trouble.

When you do something that you know is wrong, even though you know you're not supposed to, you're choosing to sin, to disobey God. Even though most of the time you do the right thing... most of the time you don't hit your brother... most of the time you don't lie to your parents... but when you do, that's sin, and it's bad, and it keeps you from being with God.

In other words, it's because of our sin that we're at the pound, and God had to pay to get us out. Our sin is a big problem, and we need to ask for God's forgiveness.

Invitation: Repentance

Invite any children who want to turn away from their sin to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.

Redeeming a Dog

Monday:	Redeeming a Dog
Bible Passages:	[Needed]
Objective:	God has paid to adopt us and bring us into his family.

Introduction: The Dog Pound

When dogs don't have a home, they get taken to the dog pound and locked up. The Humane Society keeps the dogs at the pound for a little while, hoping that someone will come and take them home. They feed them a little bit, but they don't play with them, and they don't hug them, and they don't give them treats, and they don't have time to be friends with every doggy that's there. They don't love them. It's not a very nice place for a doggy to live.

When Zeke was little, he ended up at the dog pound. He was sad, and he was afraid, and just a little bit hungry. He didn't like it at the pound. But somebody came and wanted to take Zeke home.

Story: Redemption

Did you know that to bring a dog home from the pound, you have to pay money? It costs a lot of money, more than fifty dollars. But somebody came and loved Zeke enough to pay the price. They willingly paid the money, so that Zeke could go home with them.

But Zeke had to choose to go. He had to let them put the leash on him, and he had to go with them. He was scared, but he didn't want to stay at the pound either.

Application: God has redeemed us.

Just like somebody paid to redeem Zeke from the dog pound, somebody paid to redeem us, too. Jesus paid the price so that we could some day go home with him. Just like Zeke had to choose to go on the leash and leave the pound, we have to choose to follow Jesus so that we can go with him.

Invitation: Salvation

Invite any children who want to be adopted by God to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.