LESSON ON GOD’S LOVE

Bible:  Romans 8:38-39

Bottom Line: NOTHING can separate us from the love of
God.  
SUPPLIES
Printed lyrics of love songs
Printed copies of Romans 8:38-39 (one for each student)
Heart cut outs
Tape
Black Sharpies
OPENING GAME – LOVE, DON’T LAUGH
Have students stand in a circle and then sit down.
Choose one person to be ‘it’ and give them the lyrics to a love
song. They will go around the circle and choose someone to
speak the words of the song to and they cannot smile or
laugh. “It” continues until someone ‘breaks’ and then they are
‘it’.  Have a few current love songs lyrics ready to give to the
students to use. 
TEACH – GOD’S LOVE
It’s a word that is used a lot these days.
I love that food….I love that new song….I love that team…I
love that purse…. (add any current examples that might be
relevant).
But, sometimes the way that we talk about love, we are really
talking about emotions very different from ‘love’.
I’m not sure if any of you have experienced a ‘first love’, but it
can be brutal.
Share a story of your first love and try to make it a light-
hearted one! If you don’t have one there are plenty of great
stories on line. Especially, if you look for most embarrassing
first dates! 
Love.
What words come to your mind when I say the word “Love.”
There is a great deal of study that has gone into the
importance of love.
Let me ask it this way: What do you think are the things that
are key to helping us to live? What are our basic needs?
Write down their answer on the board as they share such
things as shelter, food, clean water, etc. 
There was this guy named Maslow who created this great
tool showing us the importance of love.
Draw a simplified version of this diagram:

As you can see from this diagram, we all have a basic need
for things like food, water, warmth, rest, etc. Those are all
basic needs we share.
As you move up the diagram, there are other needs we need
once our basic ones are met. The next set of needs is security
& safety, then a sense of “belonging and love”.
We ALL need love.
Notice it’s a real need…right after food, water, shelter, safety
and security (which are all very basic).
Just think of all the books, songs, poems, and movie written
about love.
Have students list some that come to mind.   
Think about all the fights and wars that have been fought in
the name of love.
Love is a powerful powerful thing.
Why do you think that love is so powerful and important?
Here’s the thing about love, though.
As humans, we didn’t create it and we certainly haven’t
perfected it, right?
What are some of the things that get in the way of love? Have
youth name some of the issues humans face regarding love. 
But, there is one who has mastered love.
Give each youth a printed copy of Romans 8:38-39 and say:
We are going to read this amazing scripture together.
Each person will read one sentence of phrase and then
another person can read the next and so on.
You don’t’ HAVE to read, but it will be very cool for us to read
all of this together.
I will begin our reading.
Read Romans 8:38-39 as a group.
Take some time silently now to read this scripture again.
Underline the words that stick out to you.
And as you read this, let the words really soak in: Nothing can
separate you from God’s love.
Nothing will ever make Him stop loving you.
Give the youth 5 minutes to read the scripture silently. 
Which of these words stuck out to you?
Were you surprised by any parts of the verse?
Give the group a chance to share.  
Up front are hearts and Sharpies and tape.
Choose one of the words that stuck out to you or even just
write a thought to God about the love that He has for you.
Then, come and get a heart and write your thoughts on the
heart and tape it to the wall around us.
Play soft music as the youth come to write on their hearts and
be available for prayer. 
When everyone has had a chance to write on their heart and
tape it around the room say:
You are surrounded by love in this room.
Maybe you have never really experienced the love of God.
Maybe you still worry that you aren’t worthy of His love.
But, please listen to these words: God loves you.
And NOTHING can separate you from His love.
Spend some time just trying to wrap your brain and heart
around that because it is huge.
God thinks that you are pretty amazing!  He loves you.
As you leave, walk around the room and read the hearts and
take the scripture we read with you. Whether or not you feel
the love of God….His love is real and it is yours.
He loves you. So much.
And nothing, not even your doubt, can separate you from his
love.
Close in prayer.
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Which part of the scripture stuck out to you the most and why?
If you want to share, what did you write on your heart?
Why do you think it is hard for some to believe that God loves
them?
Has there ever been a time when you worried that God might
not love you?  If so, why?
How does it make you feel to know that nothing can separate
you from God’s love?
Close in prayer.
Growing Your Relationship with God
Bible:  Luke 10:38-42
Bottom Line: Use this youth group lesson to help students
make time to develop their relationship with God.
This lesson is a great tool to help teach youth about
discipleship.
OPENING GAME: What’s Your Schedule?
Divide students into groups of 3-5.
Give each small group a large sheet of butcher paper.
Ask leaders to write the days of the week (Sunday-Saturday)
along the top of the butcher paper.
Instruct the small groups to talk about their weekly “schedule.”
Have students write their daily chores and activities on the
schedule under the particular day.
Encourage them to think of things like school, sports,
homework, chores, family time, getting ready, etc.
The point of the activity is to get a visual representation of the
extremely busy schedules we all have.
After the activities have been listed on the butcher paper,
allow groups to share some of the activities with the entire
youth group.
After the activity, say: 
We all have some really busy schedules.
From the time we wake up to the time we go to bed, we have
to go-go-go to get it all done.
Do you ever feel like you’re going to forget to do something
you’re supposed to do or be somewhere that you’re supposed
to be? Do you ever get tired?
All of these things are good things.
We have to do chores around the house, go to school, eat,
and shower (hopefully)….right?
And it’s a great thing to be able to play sports, play an
instrument, spend time with friends, and all those things, right?
These are all good things, but sometimes we get so busy with
good things that we miss out on some great things.
Let’s read the story of 2 sisters, Mary and Martha.
Read Luke 10:38-40
While Jesus and his followers were traveling, Jesus went into
a town. A woman named Martha let Jesus stay at her
house. Martha had a sister named Mary, who was sitting at
Jesus’ feet and listening to him teach. But Martha was busy
with all the work to be done. She went in and said, “Lord, don’t
you care that my sister has left me alone to do all the work?
Tell her to help me.”
Say: Jesus was very close to Mary, Martha, and their brother
Lazarus. Jesus loved them enough to decide to come to their
home and spend time with them.
Can you imagine if Jesus was coming over to your house?  Do
you think your parents would make you clean up if Jesus were
coming over?
Probably so, and this is exactly what Martha was doing. She
wanted everything to be just right for such a special guest.
Martha was very busy playing hostess. She had to cook. She
had to clean. She had to make sure everyone had a place to
sit down and relax.
She had to make sure that there was water and towels to
wash everyone’s feet. The list went on and on.
There was just so much to do!
Meanwhile, her sister Mary is not doing anything to help her!
She’s just sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to Him talk and
teach.
You can imagine how this made Martha feel. She was MAD!
In fact, she’s so made that she goes to Jesus and tattles on
Marry.
She says, “Make her help me!” Now, listen to how Jesus
responds to Martha.
Read Luke 10:41-42
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried
and upset about many things. Only one thing is important.
Mary has chosen the better thing, and it will never be taken
away from her.”
Say: Jesus understood why Martha was so upset. He
understood why she was working so hard to make everything
right.
But Jesus wanted Martha to see that there was something
more important. She was doing good things, but she had
missed our on the most important thing.
The most important thing is spending time with Jesus. Just like
Martha, we can get so busy with other things that we miss out
on the most important thing, spending time with Jesus.
In our busy lives, we need to focus on spending some time
with Jesus.
You still need to do those other things, especially the things
you’re asked to do by parents or teachers.
However, we need to be sure that we make time in our
schedule to meet with God.
He loves us and wants to speak to us, so we need to take the
time to listen.
Jesus told Martha that Mary had “chosen what was better.”
Mary has chosen to spend time with Jesus so that she could
learn and grow closer to Him.
Jesus wants us to choose time with Him over anything else.
This is the most important thing.
We can get busy doing lots of important things, but we need to
make sure that we remember the main thing.
The main thing is spending time with Him and growing in our
relationship with Him.
Spending time with God is a choice.
Just like we put all our other activities on the calendar, we
need to set a time to meet with God.
Whether it is in the morning or evening, in the car or in our
room, with our parents or by ourselves, find time to spend with
God and grow in your relationship with Him.
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Was the work Martha was doing a “bad thing”? How did Jesus
respond to her work and her complaining?
What was the “one thing” that Mary did? How did Jesus
respond to Mary?
How does spending time with someone (God) show your love
for them?
Which personality are you more like: the to-do list Martha or
the laid-back Mary?
If Jesus spent a day at your house, what would be some
things He might say are distracting you from spending time
with God?
What are some ways or activities you can do to spend time
with God?
OPTIONAL ACTIVITY –  Make Time for God
Take another look at the schedule created in the opening
activity.
Give students time to think about the places in their schedule
that they would make time for God.
Encourage them to think hard about a consistent time that
they could spend with Him.
It may mean they wake up 10 minutes earlier or spend less
time on fun things, but encourage them to make time for God.
At the end of the discussion, give each student a piece of
paper and have them write down their chosen time.
Ask them to place the paper in a visible place to remind them
of their commitment to spending time with God this week.
If students have a smartphone (who doesn’t these days), lead
them to set a calendar reminder on their phones.
This is a great way to help them remember the main thing!

LESSON ON GIVING
Scripture: Luke 6:38
Use this game to help students understand the importance of
a giving heart.
SUPPLIES
 Different sized jars, cups, and bowls
Pennies
Colored Tape
How to Play Opening Game
Set up the jars, cups, and bowls on the floor. You can put
some close to each other and some spread out more.
Mark several lines with the tape in front of the jars. Make the
first line right in front of them, the next line a few feet back, the
next line further back, etc. Do this until the final line is all the
way across the room from the jars.
Give each student five pennies. Explain that the goal is to get
the pennies into the jars (and cups or whatever else you have
put out).
For each penny they land in a jar, they get two more pennies.
If they don’t make it in the jar, they get nothing.
Have the students line up behind the first line and let everyone
toss a penny. Give the students who make it into a jar two
more pennies. The ones who don’t are down one penny.
Once everyone has gone, have them move to the next line
and repeat this. Again, give the winners two more pennies.
Continue going through all the taped off lines. Once a student
runs out of pennies, they are out.
Once you get to the last line, have remaining students
compete until there is just one student left. The last student to
still have any pennies wins.
After the game, discuss the following questions:

 Was that game harder than you thought it was going to be?
 Do you think you would have had a better chance of winning if
you had stayed at the first line the whole time?
 Did it make it harder to win since the only way to get more
pennies was to give up the ones you already had?
After the game, say:
That was a pretty interesting game, right? To win, you had to
get more pennies than anyone else. But in order to get more,
you had to give up the ones you already had. That made it
difficult, right?
That’s kind of how it is in life, isn’t it? God gives us things—
money, talents, time—and we have the choice of what to do
with those things. We can have an attitude that says it’s all
about us, and we can choose to hold tightly to everything we
have, making sure we never give anything away.
Or, we can choose to have a giving heart.
Which one do you think will work out better for us in the end?
Read Luke 6:38:
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed
down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into
your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to
you.”
Does that remind you of anything? What do you do when a
bag is full, but you’re trying to fit more into it? You press it
down, right? You shove the stuff in, shake it around, and try to
make room for more.
That’s what this verse is saying. The measure in which it will
be given back to you will be so much that it’s been pressed
down, shaken together, and it’s still running over.
I don’t know about you, but that’s something I want to get in
on!
But first, we have to give. And that just doesn’t make sense,
does it? That we have to give in order to get?
In the game we played, you could have held onto all of your
pennies and never tried to make them into a cup or a jar. But if
you had done that, you never would have gotten any new
pennies, either.
This verse is not just talking about money; it’s talking about
everything. It can be hard to get rid of that “everything is all
about me!” kind of attitude, but that’s what God wants us to
do.
See, God has already blessed you. Think about it! Sure, some
of you probably have money, but that’s not all He’s blessed
you with. He’s given you time, talents, friendship, compassion,
and so many other things that you have to give.
You can choose to hold onto those things and keep them for
yourself. You can choose to not have a giving heart.
Or, you can choose to have a giving heart, and in turn, things
will be given back to you.
Discussion Questions:
Does it make sense to you that giving leads to getting more
than you had in the first place?
Would you describe your attitude right now as one that has a
giving heart, or one that is all about yourself?
What are some things that you have that you can give?
Has there ever been a time before where you’ve been blessed
because you chose to give?
Wrap-Up
Listen, I’m not saying that if you put five pesos in the offering
today, that ten pesos will show up in your cabinet tomorrow.
Of course, it might! But that’s not what this is about. It’s about
your heart.
Let’s say there’s someone at your school who doesn’t have
any friends and who’s kind of an outsider. God has given you
friendship, and you get to choose who to give it to. Imagine
that you befriend this person, giving of your friendship and
time. In turn, God blesses you with the best friend you’ve ever
had, because you were willing to give.
That’s the heart of God. He wants to give back to you, pressed
down, shaken together, and still overflowing. But He can only
do that if you have a giving heart.
Having a giving heart blesses others and it blesses you. I’d
say that’s a win-win situation, wouldn’t you?

SHARING YOUR FAITH

Bible: Matthew 28:16-20
Bottom Line: When we experience the hope and grace that
God has extended to us, it is only natural to have a desire to
share that gift with others. 
OPENING ACTIVITY: MY FAVORITE THINGS
SUPPLIES

 Bond paper (one sheet per student)

 Crayons/ markers

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS
Say: Today’s opening activity is going to center on the things
that we love! 
We’ll discuss some of our favorite things and maybe even try
to convince the rest of the group to like them, too.
Hand out a piece of poster board/construction paper and
crayons/markers to each student.
Each student will be making a poster that celebrates his or her
favorite things. 
Students can put as many “favorites” as they want on their
posters, and they can decorate the posters however they see
fit.
Tell the students that this is their chance to convince each
other of their “faves.”
On the whiteboard, write a list of potential topics (examples
below) so students can get some ideas if they’re having
trouble getting started. Examples might include

 TV show
 Movie
 Color
 Actor/Actress
 Teacher
 Subject
 Song
 Band
 Restaurant
 Fast food meal
 Soda flavor
Once students have completed their posters, spend some
time letting the students tell everyone about their favorites.
Challenge them on a few of their choices to liven up the
conversation and have them defend their opinions. 
This will set you up for today’s lesson on sharing their faith.
TEACH
Read Matthew 28:16-20:
16 The eleven followers went to Galilee to the mountain where
Jesus had told them to go. 17 On the mountain they saw
Jesus and worshiped him, but some of them did not believe it
was really Jesus. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All
power in heaven and on earth is given to me. 19 So go and
make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach
them to obey everything that I have taught you, and I will be
with you always, even until the end of this age.”
After Jesus was resurrected, he appeared to the disciples
telling them to go and share his message with everyone.
He’s telling us to do the same.
When you experience the deep love of God, and your life is
changed from the inside out, your natural response is to
WANT to share that with others.
Today’s bottom line is: When you experience the hope and
grace that God has extended to you, it is only natural to share
that gift with others. 
It becomes something you WANT to do rather than something
you HAVE to do. It is a natural response of experiencing the
deep love of God.
Ask yourself, when is the last time you recommended
something to a friend or family member?
Maybe you loved a certain menu item at your favorite
restaurant, or maybe you told your friends about a movie you
saw last week that they just had to see.
Or maybe you recommended a TV show on Netflix or a series
on Youtube.
No matter what, chances are you’ve made hundreds of
recommendations in your lifetime, and you probably didn’t
think twice about it.
Why?
Because, as human beings, we love for others to share in our
joy when we find something awesome!
We love to tell others about our favorite experiences, foods,
restaurants, and more because we want them to experience
what we have!
The same is true when it comes to our relationship with Jesus.
In our game today we shared with others our favorite things.
It’s easy and natural for us to share that with others…because
we feel strongly about our convictions.
Similarly, when we experience God’s deep love, grace and
forgiveness through Jesus….we want to share his message
with them.
Then, we simply look for opportunities to do share our faith.
We don’t have to memorize a script or follow any prescribed
steps.
End lesson.
All we have to do is listen to God’s voice. Pay attention to
what God is doing in the lives of others. Ask God for the words
to say at the right time.
Rely on God’s guidance. Trust that He’ll show us when and
how to share the message of Jesus with others.
Close in prayer.
Romans 8:38-39
“ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39
“ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
 nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39
“ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39
“ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39
“ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39
“ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”