Lesson Continued...

This lesson emphasizes where true power comes from.  We might try to be confident in our own abilities, and often fall flat. We need God for anything and everything that we do. Sometimes we face challenges and feel weak, and that’s okay! The message here is that God is always present and wants to help us when we encounter difficulties. His power gives us strength, and that shines through brightest when we are struggling. We lean on God and know we can do great things through Him. His grace is all we need! 

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

12 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

This isn't the only thing Paul's 2nd letter to Corinth said! There were a few other parts that shared about God's grace & peace; God's comfort in times of trouble; Being strong in Christ; Forgiveness.

Some of these things can be hard for us! And that is ok. We don't have to do any of these things along if we are christians. We can let God work in our lives and rely on Him to help us with these things. 

-Do you think Paul is trying to tell the people that God can make them lift heavy things?

-What does Paul mean by God's power is made perfect in weakness?

-Are there any weaknesses you have in your life that God can help with?

-Can anyone remember other things that Paul wrote about in this 2nd letter to Corinth?

-What is grace & peace?

-What is comfort?

-How can God comfort us in our time of trouble?

-What is forgiveness?

-How can God help us forgive?

-SO, What will you go tell your families that you learned about today? (Paul wrote 2 letters to corinth, in them he talked about grace, peace, God's comfort in our troubles, being strong in Christ, and forgiveness.)

Directions

1. Give the kids foam paper (or paper plates if they want bigger weights) and have them cut cirlcles out.
2. Give the kids a stick for the handle. Cut a small hole for the stick to go through the center of the "weights" and poke the stick through as shown in the picture. 
3. Give each kid some modeling clay/playdough (or tape) to put on each end of the stick so that the weights stay on the stick. 
4. They can decorate the weights and write on the stick "Strength of God"

Directions

• Directions: Take turns having kids come up to the front and hold the weights out by their side like they are making the letter "T". The only rule is that they cannot bend their elbows or raise their arms higher than than shoulder-height. They must try to keep the "T" shape! This is actually harder than you think! Let them take turns with the different weights and see who can hold them up the longest. 

Directions

***Before the Lesson***

Write the books of the Bible (new testament) on Jenga blocks as shown in the picture. You need two sets to play but you can have as many as you need.

Version 1

1. Divide the kids into however many teams that you have a complete Jenga set for. Let them take turns removing one jenga block at a time. The first person will look and remove the first book of the Bible, if they succeed, then the second person will remove the second book of the Bible, etc... 

2. If the Jenga tower falls, the kids can rebuild the tower and play again!

Version 2

1. Divide the kids into two teams. 

2. Relay style, have one person from each team run down and find the jenga block that has the first book of the Bible on it and return it to their team. The next person then runs down and finds the block that has book number 2 on it and returns it to their team. As the jenga blocks are returned to their team, they will stack them on top of each other ordering the books of the Bible from the ground up.