YOUTH GROUP GAME ON GOD’S LOVE
*CLICK HERE FOR YOUTH GROUP LESSON ON GOD'S LOVE*
Bible: Ephesians 3:16-17
Bottom Line: As you are rooted in your faith, you will experience the fullness of God’s love.
SUPPLIES
- 2 Packs of 10-inch flour tortillas
- 2 Bags of whole carrots
- 2 Large plates
- Painter’s tape
GAME PREP
Divide students into two teams of equal size and have them form single file lines.
Use painter’s tape to create a line for each team to line up behind. This will be the “start line."
Then, use the painter’s tape to make a line about 5 feet in front of the line you already created. This will be the “goal line.”
Give each team a pack of tortillas, a bag of carrots, and a large plate.
HOW TO PLAY THE GAME
Say: How many of you enjoy a good ol’ carrot burrito every once in a while?
Okay, I know it’s not really a thing, but it is for the game we’re about to play.
Each of your teams have been given a bag of tortillas, a bag of carrots, and a large plate.
Go ahead and place your team’s plate on the start line in front of your team.
The goal of this game is to create five “carrot burritos.”
Here’s how you will do that:
The first person in line will toss a tortilla, like a frisbee, past the goal line.
If you don’t make it that far, then you will fetch it and bring it back to the next teammate who will try to throw it past the goal line.
Once your team has landed a tortilla over the goal line, the next person will grab a carrot and either toss, roll, or toss it and hope it rolls on top of your team’s tortilla.
If you are successful in landing your team’s carrot somewhere onto your team’s tortilla, you will run down, create a carrot burrito, and place it on your team’s plate.
You will take turns in line tossing tortillas and carrots.
The first team to successfully create 5 carrot burritos wins!
TEACH
Say: I don’t know about you, but I really love a good burrito.
Ask: Does anyone have a favorite kind of burrito or Mexican food that you really love?
Allow a few responses from students.
The “World’s Largest Burrito” was created in 2010 and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.
It was made of one single tortilla and was filled with fish, onions, chile peppers, and refried beans.
And it took over 3,000 volunteers to make it.
Ask: Does anyone want to guess how much it weighed?
Allow a few guesses from students.
Believe it or not, it weighed 12,785 pounds!
When I hear interesting things that people have achieved, I always think, why would anyone take the time to do that?
Why would someone set out to create the world’s largest burrito?
Maybe it comes down to how much they really love whatever that thing is and are willing to go to great lengths to show the world.
That’s what we’re talking about today—love.
Specifically, God’s love.
Throughout time, people have written songs, poems, books, and stories proclaiming God’s love for us and trying to express their own love for God.
As humans, it’s difficult to understand the great and unending love that God has for us, which He has gone to great lengths to show.
But, let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about experiencing this love.
Read Ephesians 3:16-17.
I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
These verses tell us that, as we are rooted in our faith, we will experience the fullness of God’s love.
So, let’s break these verses down a little bit.
At the beginning of verse 16, we read that God has unlimited resources that can provide us with His strength and power.
He’s never going to run out or get tired of giving us His strength.
Next, the apostle Paul, author of Ephesians, writes that “Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in Him.”
Ask: What does that mean that “Christ will make His home” in our hearts?
Allow a few responses from students.
Well, think about this: what makes being at home so much different than being any other place?
At home, we are comfortable, we feel welcomed and like people want us there, and we can be ourselves, with people who understand us and love us.
Christ can only make Himself at home in a heart that truly wants Him there.
Ask: How do we demonstrate that we want Christ to dwell in our hearts?
Allow a few responses from students.
We invite Him in and welcome Him in the form of asking Him to be the center of what we say and do.
If we don’t ask Him in, He won’t be there.
Then, we talk to Him, include Him in everything, and ask Him to help us live the way He desires us to live.
The verse says He will make His home in our hearts as we “trust in Him.”
Ask: How do we learn to trust in Jesus?
Allow a few responses from students. Share how you have come to trust God in your own life.
Have you ever told your parents you would do something and then you either forget or just choose not do to it?
Like your homework or cleaning your room?
God never does that. Ever.
When we read God’s promises in the Bible, we can know that He will do exactly what He said He will do.
So, as we live our lives for God and see His faithfulness to us, we can trust Him more because He will never let us down.
When God answers prayer, gives us strength, or comforts us during tough times, we know He’s with us.
Next, the verse says, “Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
Ask: How can you become rooted in God’s love?
Allow a few responses from students.
We become rooted in God’s love by talking with and praying to God, reading the Bible, and asking God to lead you so you do what He wants and not just what you want to do.
Then, we can fully experience God’s love.
Have you ever tried to love someone who won’t love you back?
Or maybe someone tried to show love to you, but you rejected them?
People experience genuine love in neither of those situations because it must come from both people.
God loves us no matter what. He loves everyone, even when we don’t love Him.
But when we welcome God’s love into our lives because He dwells in our heart and we are living according to His will and not our own, then we can experience the fullness of His love.
I want to encourage you to take a look at your heart and see if you are welcoming God’s love in your life.
God’s love is always there.
Accept it and welcome Him into your life today.