How to Knowthe Truth

Lesson 3: The Truth About Eternal Life

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Disciple TargeTs

Lesson 3—The Truth About Eternal Life

Unit SummaryThis DiscipleTown unit introduces kids to basic questions and answers related to understand-ing and defending the Christian faith—the study of apologetics. While apologetics is often used as a witnessing tool, its proper place is to strengthen the faith of believers. Nonbelievers will rarely be argued into coming to Christ. Everyone must come to Christ by faith. However, apologetics can be used to show that Christianity is reasonable and that trusting Christ does not require abandoning reason and logic. Our faith makes sense; there are answers to the tough questions nonbelievers ask and that come up naturally even to Christians as we think about what we believe. While most children don’t consciously worry about these issues, it is important to help prepare them for these questions and to teach them that having questions is okay. Children need the confidence that when they think logically and search God’s Word, He will provide His answers!

Lesson SummaryEternity is, on one hand, difficult to get our minds around, and, on the other hand, rather simple; it is simply forever. The concept of forever is both beautiful and tragic when you realize that everyone has been created to live forever, but that not everyone will enjoy the eternal existence God desires because of the consequences of sin. Children need to understand that everyone will live forever in one place or another, and that God offers a free way to find for-giveness for sin and a way to enjoy an eternity with Him on a new earth with a new heaven. Our world is but a testing time to see who will use this gift of free will to turn to the Creator and respond to His offer of eternal life and fellowship with Him.

Paul’s Power Principle: Every person will live forever—including you!

How to Know the Truth

Know• God desires everyone to spend eternity with

Him

Feel• Overjoyed that Jesus offers forgiveness and

the way to heaven

Do• Respond to Christ’s invitation to receive eter-

nal life

In this lesson, your children will...

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SPARK INTERESTChoose from the following activities and ideas to engage kids and grab their attention.

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org Welcome!—Life Path

Supplies: several paper towel or toilet paper tubes, cut into two-inch segments, string

This will be a fun one! Clamp (don’t tie) the beginning of the string at the entrance of the room. Unwind it, leading all over the room! Make it go over, under, and around objects, up and down the rows, and if you have the facilities for it, down some hallways and even into nearby rooms before leading back to the entrance of the room! As children arrive, give them a cardboard tube, unclamp the end of the string, and put the tube on the string. The child is to walk the tube all the way to the end of the string! It’s a lot of fun! When children get back to the beginning they can take the tube off and you’ll have a tube to reuse with another child. Obviously, the tubes cannot pass each other, so you’ll want to space the kids out by 5 to 10 feet. The crazier path the string follows, the better, but be sure not to make it impossible or too high for younger kids. Assist any children who have difficulty. The lesson opening will talk about the string being like eternity and our lives being like the tube traveling along the path of life.

Let’s Meet-n-Greet!Have everyone turn and greet someone they have never talked to before. Encourage children to even leave their row if they need to, and to ask someone, “What was the longest day of your life?” Leaders, be sure to stop whatever you are doing to move through the audience and greet the children, especially those you do not recognize. Announce any birthdays for the week. (See the How to Use DiscipleTown guide for quick and easy ways to acknowledge visitors and birthdays.)

PowerPoint PresentationAs you plan your lesson, select PowerPoint slides that correspond to the lesson elements you choose. In the “Slide Sorter” View, you can rear-range and/or delete the slides as necessary. For descriptions of the included slides and tips on their use, see the notes accompanying each slide.

General Supplies Bibles, puppets, video projection (optional) Pencils, pens, paper

Spark Interest WELCOME!: cardboard tubes, string LET’S PLAY!: various supplies (see activity) CONNECT WITH YOUR KIDS: none

Explore Scripture KEYVERSE: none

Inspire Action DRAMATIZE THE POINT: exercise outfits

Welcome to DiscipleTown

It s Time for DiscipleTown

sUpplies

Let s Meet-n-Greet

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gLet’s Worship!God’s love is amazing! Because God is eternal, He is able to love us so amazingly.

Recommended song: Love Like This from Snazzy by Go Fish, available at Kidology.org

Puppet IntroLeader & puppet introduce today’s lesson. You will find a scripted version of this intro at the end of the lesson. Supplies: puppet, black marker (attached to puppet’s hand), newspaper with several articles blacked out

(In the puppet intros for this unit, you’ll want to emphasize that it is okay to have and ask questions about your faith. This week, Puppet is back with more questions about Christianity for the teacher.)

Puppet comes out with a newspaper that has obviously been all marked up with a black marker. Puppet looks sad. Leader asks, “What’s the matter, Puppet?” Puppet says, “I was just looking in the newspaper, and there is just so much bad news! I was trying to block it out. I was wondering why God allows evil and suffering. If God is good, why does He let bad stuff happen? I thought He was all-powerful. Can’t He stop it all? Or is He not really all-powerful?” Leader answers, “That is something that really bothers a lot of people. Some even decide God must either be not all-powerful, or not all good, since there is evil and suffering in the world. They say that if He were good and powerful, He would get rid of suffering. It makes sense, except that it misses one important fact; suffering is not God’s fault, but ours.” Puppet looks confused. “What does that mean? How is all suffering people’s fault?” Leader continues, “Well, God created a good world with no pain or evil. But then He gave people the freedom to obey or to disobey Him. Because Adam and Eve sinned, suffering and death entered the world. Everything on earth has been tarnished by that sin. Sin always has painful consequences. The suffering we see is because of our sin—sometimes directly, but often indirectly.” Puppet says, “So God just lets it happen?” Leader says, “It looks that way sometimes. But the truth is, God is still helping make things better than they could be. He is answering prayers, helping people find Him through their problems, and drawing people to Him so they can find forgiveness and be a part of the new heaven and new earth someday.” Puppet says, “So He is using all this bad stuff to get people to turn to Him?” Leader says, “Wow, you are one sharp puppet! Yes! Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, God promises to bring His children to heaven—where evil, suffering, and death don’t exist! God hates evil and suffering so much that He sent Jesus, His Son, to overcome them. Jesus suffered and died on a cross, then was raised to new life. Everyone who comes to Jesus finds escape from the final punishment that will come to this world.”

Let s Worship

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gLet’s Play! —Truth or Oops: The Game Show Where the Truth Sets You Free!

Supplies: masking tape, paper, or carpet squares; a prize; fifty true/false questions

Set Up: Choose two contestants from the audience to be “prisoners.” Have them stand on one end of the stage. On the floor in front of them are ten squares leading across the stage to “freedom” and a prize they can see! The squares can be pieces of paper, carpet squares, or squares made with tape on the floor. The object of the game is to answer questions correctly in order to move from square to square until contestants are “free” from captivity.

Game Play: Flip a coin to see who goes first. Ask the first contestant a question. The player answers “True” or “False.” If the contestant answers correctly, say, “Your answer is true! You move one square toward freedom!” If the answer is incorrect, say, “Oops! That was incorrect; you stay where you are. Would you like to stay or try another question? Remember, if you try another question, you may have to move back.” The player has the option of answering another question and regaining his or her turn or saying, “I’ll stay,” and ending his or her turn. If the player chooses to have another question and answers incorrectly again, he or she will move back one square! (Note: This option cannot be given when a player is located on the first square.) Each time contestants answer correctly, they move ahead a square and get another question. Players may only advance three squares per turn. Once a contestant answers incor-rectly twice, stays, or answers correctly three times, play passes to the other contestant. The first player to the tenth square wins the prize and “freedom”!

Questions for Week Three: Because the topic is eternity, or time, make the questions related to time in the Bible (for example, the number of days Noah was on the ark, how long people lived, and any questions you can think of from the Bible that are related to the topic of time). You will need around fifty questions to make sure you have enough. Make most of the questions rela-tively easy, but create a few tricky ones that can throw off contestants so that game play alter-nates.

Connect with Your KidsWhen you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? What did you think the world would be like? What ideas did you have about the future? How different were your ideas about the future and what life is now like? Have some fun with describing the differences between what you thought the future would be like and what it is now. Ask the kids what they think the future will be like. Then point out that they are only talking about a few decades. Ask them to imagine 100 years in the future, 1,000 years, 1,000,000 years. Imagine what it was like 100 years ago, 1,000 years ago. Talk about what you think you would have been like if you had been born in the Old West! What kind of job do you think you’d have had? What dreams do you have now for the future? Talk to the kids about how you don’t know what the future holds, but you know who holds the future—not just in the near future or ten years from now or when you are much older, but one hundred years, one thousand years, even one million years from now! And you will still be alive because you know Jesus! Let them see your excitement and enthusi-asm over that thought. Eternity is something very real! It is something that should motivate us every day in the way we live and the decisions we make. Let them see how that motivates and impacts you; it will then impact them.

Let s Play

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gDiscipleTown VisitorSeminary Professor Dr. Stramselbib,* Professor of Apologetics at the Institute for Advanced Biblical Studies (Note: “Stramselbib” is “Bible Smarts” spelled backward if you want to have some fun with it.) The professor should be dressed in as obnoxious a suit coat as you can find—with a clashing tie! He carries an overstuffed briefcase filled with books and papers, has slightly messy hair, and (of course) a thick Bible. He loves talking about the Bible and God and the things he has learned from years of studying and teaching future pastors. The professor is back, and this week the leader asks him to talk about something kind of difficult. “Since we are learning about eternity, there is something we would like to know about. We know that God created us to live forever, but people aren’t the only creatures that will live forever. Can you tell us a little about angels and demons?”

(Note: This is not a script, but information to help the actor prepare. Find an optional script of this section at the end of this lesson.)

Angels and demons are spiritual creatures made by God that live in the spiritual dimension. That means that we can’t normally see them, but they are still very real.

Did you know that angels can appear as a burning bush (Acts 7:30), as wind or flames of fire (Hebrews 1:7), as horses and chariots of fire (2 Kings 2:11; 6:17), and as humans (Genesis 18-19, Joshua 5:13–15; Hebrews 13:2)?

They can be invisible (Numbers 22:21–35). The Bible mentions angels more than 300 times.

Angels are heavenly spirits whom God created. There are two groups of angels mentioned in the Bible: heavenly angels who carry out God’s commands (Psalm 103:20) and fallen angels (like Satan and demons) who oppose God.

Some people have suggested that children have a “guardian angel” to protect them. This idea comes from Matthew 18:10. In the context of this verse, “little ones” could either apply to those who believe in God or to the little children. There is no doubt that good angels help protect (Daniel 6:20–23; 2 Kings 6:13–17), reveal information (Acts 7:52–53; Luke 1:11–20), guide (Matthew 1:20–21; Acts 8:26), provide for (Genesis 21:17–20; 1 Kings 19:5–7), and minister to believers in general (Hebrews 1:14). But does this mean we have an angel assigned to us? Some early church fathers believed that each person had not only a good angel assigned to him or her, but a demon as well. You’ve probably seen this in cartoons with a little angel on one shoulder and a little devil on other shoulder whispering in a person’s ears to get a character to do something good or bad. The belief in guardian angels has been around for a long time, but there is no real scriptural basis for it. The word “their” in Matthew 18:10 refers to the fact that Christians are served by angels in general. When we study the Bible, proper interpretation teaches us not to base an entire idea on one verse, and in this case we would be basing an idea on only one little word. If it were important, there would certainly be other verses about it in Scripture. Nevertheless, we do know that God uses angels to take care of us.

The Bible also says, in Hebrews 13:2, that angels can appear as humans.

So there are certainly angels all around us. You may have seen them walking down the street and not known it!

*CHARACTERS: These are suggested characters and names. Please feel free to change or adjust according to the actors and props you have available.

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Paul’s Power Principle: Every person will live forever—including you!

Suggested Bible NarrativeJesus Explains that Before Abraham was, He Was!—John 8:31–59

Tell the Bible Story through dramatic reading, acting, first person drama, a video clip, story pictures, or some other creative method. Relate it to the lesson using the suggestion below.

Jesus appeared as a man, but when He said that He was there before Abraham, He was saying that He had existed long before He was born to His earthly parents, Mary and Joseph. He was trying to help His listeners understand that He is eternal. It’s hard to understand, but so amazing!

Let’s Learn!—The Truth About Eternal LifeI’m Thinking of a Number—Supplies: giant candy bar or bag of candy—Show the kids a candy bar and tell them that whoever can guess the number you are thinking of gets the candy bar. Let the kids guess numbers. Do not give a range, just keep saying higher no matter what the kids say. Finally (not too soon) offer a hint: “It’s a 1 with 100 zeros after it.” The answer you are after is one googol. The number is represented in base-ten as 1.0x10100. According to Webster’s Dictionary, the name was coined in 1938 by Milton Sirotta, the nine-year-old nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. That’s a pretty big number! If a child guesses correctly, you can award the giant candy bar or bag of candy. If no one does, pass out the candy to everyone who guesses. You can mention that the popular Internet search engine, Google, was named after that number because of how many pages are on the Internet. Talk about how you could keep adding zeroes to a number and it would keep getting bigger—forever. That is a little like what eternity is—forever getting bigger and farther away, without end.

Unrolling Race!—Supplies: at least 4 (up to 10) rolls of toilet paper—The number of rolls you use will depend on the size of your group. Start the rolls (so they aren’t stuck shut) and have pairs of kids come to the front of the audience. Place one partner at the front of the room and one at the rear of the room. The goal is to have audience members race to unroll the paper all the way to the partner standing at the back and then return it to the front partner without breaking the paper. Audience members will pass the rolls to the back and then to the front. You can have as many rolls going as you can fit, so the entire audience can be involved. If the paper breaks, they have to toss the roll back to the front and start over! To win, a team must successfully pass the roll all the way to the rear of the room and back to the front without the paper breaking and be able to hold up and show an unbroken piece of toilet paper!

The Eternal String— Supplies: kite string (or any yarn or spool of strong white string), several differently colored strings or pieces of yarn that you can tie to the white line

Show the string, then have some volunteers unspool some of the string and hold it across the longest section of the room and even out a door if you can. Talk about how the string repre-sents time. Mention how time moves across a time line just like this string is a line. Point to different parts of this string and mention different events in history and where they might be,

EXPLORE SCRIPTURESeize on the children’s interest and direct them into God’s Word.

Let s Learn

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gwith creation being the beginning of the string leading all the way to the spool that still has “time” to be unwound. Then talk about how God existed before creation, and the string really goes back before creation (they can imagine the string continuing, even though it’s invisible to us). While kids are holding the string, take other colored strings and tie them onto the white string to show where our lives joined this time line when we were born; but since our lives will continue along this white timeline forever, unravel the colored strings all the way to the end of the white one. Tie several of the other colors starting at different points and unravel until you get to the end and hand the spool to the person at the end. Talk about how God created us to live forever. The question is just where will we spend eternity.

This can be a powerful visual for kids to see that while God has always existed, every person He has created will always exist going forward. Kids need to think about where they will exist.

OPTIONAL: You can tie off short colored strings overlapping in different places to show how everyone lives at different times along the timeline, but God is eternal.

Show the PowerPoint slide of an angel. People aren’t the only things that God created to live forever. You have heard of angels and demons and might be wondering, “Are angels and demons real?”

The Bible tells us that God created angels (Colossians 1:16) and gave them freedom to obey or disobey Him. Some angels disobeyed God and became evil (the devil and his demons). Good angels serve God and His people. Yes, angels and demons are real and powerful, but Jesus has much more power and authority!

What about heaven and hell? Are they real places?

Hell—The Bible says a great deal about both heaven and hell. One passage describes hell as separation from God, His people, and heaven forever (2 Thessalonians 1:8–9). God wants everyone to be saved from hell (2 Peter 3:9) and has provided a way for people to go to heaven through Christ (1 John 2:1-2). Yes, hell is real, but Jesus died on the cross so we can live forever with Him in heaven.

Heaven—The Bible tells us many things about heaven. It is a place where everything is new (Revelation 21:5). It is a big, beautiful, safe place that is being prepared for those who are saved by Christ (John 14:1–4). It is a place where we will be given new, glorious bodies (Philippians 3:20-21). It is a place without sin, crying, pain, or death (Revela-tion 21:4). It is a place where everyone is invited to come (Revelation 22:17). It is a place where people will live with God forever (Revelation 21:3). It is a place where we will see God’s face (Revelation 22:4). Heaven is a place prepared for prepared people. It is a perfect place for people made perfect through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Egg Drop!—Supplies: 3 raw eggs, 3 clear plastic bags, toilet paper, ladder, permanent marker

Choose three volunteers. Give each an egg, a bag, and toilet paper. Have them protect the egg in any manner they want inside the bag. Explain that they are going to have to drop it from the top of the ladder onto the ground and see whose egg survives. They can wrap it or wad up the paper. Any strategy may be employed as long as the bag can be zipped shut. After they are finished, have them put their names on their bags, climb up the ladder, and drop the bags off the other side. After all the bags have been dropped, open them and see if any eggs survived. Whether the eggs break or not doesn’t matter for the object lesson.

OPTIONAL: Drawing a face on the egg first will add a little fun to it!

Teachable Point: We all live in a fallen world, and the Bible says in Romans 3:23 that we all fall short of God’s glory. We are all broken by the consequences of sin. If the eggs break, that is the effect of sin on us. (Most eggs do. If not, then God protected the egg!)

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gEverything broken we see in this world is a result of sin. Lamentations 3:33 tells us that God does not want to bring suffering on humans. Instead, in Jeremiah 29:11, God tells us that He has future plans to prosper us, give us hope, and give us a future.

God hated suffering and evil so much that He did the following important things:

1) He entered our world as a man (Jesus) and experienced suffering. Because of this, we can be sure that God knows exactly what we are going through and what it feels like to suffer (Philippians 2:6–8, Isaiah 53:2–5, Hebrews 4:15).

2) He sent His Son, Jesus, to conquer evil and death (Hebrews 2:14–15).

3) Through the sacrifice of Jesus, He provided a way to heaven, where there will be no more suffering, sin, evil, or death (Revelation 7:13–17; 21:1–5).

4) He sent Jesus to teach us to avoid evil and to always help those who are suffering (Matthew 25:34–40).

Let’s Search!—Bible DashSupplies: Bibles

Ask all kids with Bibles to participate, or invite a few volunteers to come to the front. As children hold Bibles closed with hands on covers, ask the question that goes with a Bible reference (see below). State the Bible reference twice; then on the command “Search,” have the students race to locate the verse. Once they have found the verse, they must have an answer to the question before they stand and call out, “Found it!” Have the first child read the verse aloud and give the answer to the question.

• Hebrews 1:14 What does God send angels to do? • Hebrews 13:2; Matthew 18:10 Do we always know when angels are near? • Revelation 12:7–9 What will happen to the devil and his demons? • Luke 16:19–31 What did Jesus say about hell? • John 14:1–3; Revelation 21:1–5 What did Jesus say about heaven? • Daniel 12:2–3 How long will people exist in heaven or hell? • Revelation 21:3–5 When will God put an end to the suffering of His people? • 2 Corinthians 1:8–9 Can suffering help us grow closer to God? • Hebrews 11:13–16 Did God ever plan this fallen world to be our final home?

Let s Search-Hebrews 1:14

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gDee’s Disciple Tip: Forever is a long, long time; choose wisely!

The choices we make today will impact all of eternity. And eternity is, well, a very very very very very very (say very many times until many the kids start to laugh or get a little annoyed, in order to make your point) very long time. So, think about the choices you make, and make them wisely. Because, after all, forever is a very very very (act like you are going to do it again, but just when they start to roll their eyes and groan, you can stop). Why should we choose wisely? Because eternity is a very long time, and the choices we make today will make a difference for eternity.

KeyVerseTopic: The Truth Frees UsReference: John 8:31-32

This week, focus on “knowing the truth.” What does that mean? It means being able to tell truth from falsehood. The world tries to fool us and trick us. We need to be careful that we are comparing what the world says to the Word of God.

KeyVerse-reference

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Dramatize the Point—Truth’s GymThis drama is set in “Truth’s Gym.” Each week a personal trainer comes to lead a group of people in some Faith Strengthening Exercises. They are dressed up like they are there to work out, doing warm-ups, etc. (Involve all of your kids in this routine.)

Trainer: Okay, it’s going to be a great class today! Are you ready?

Kids: [Cheer]

Trainer: Today we are going to have a contest; we are going to see who can stand on one foot the longest. Are you ready? On your mark, get set, go!

[As kids are standing on one foot, the trainer continues.]

Trainer: You know, when we think about eternity, we realize that it is a really long time. Put your hand up—carefully, so you don’t lose your balance—if you think you could stand on one foot for eternity.

Trainer: God lives outside of time. As children of God, we live only part of our existence on this fallen earth; all the rest of eternity we will live with God in heaven—forever and ever! Heaven is our prize. It is the greatest gift to us because we get to meet God face-to-face; we get to see Him and be with Him!

Trainer: Now don’t you put that other leg down; even if you are getting tired, even it if hurts, don’t you quit! We need to endure; we need to hold on for the prize. The same is true of our faith; we can’t quit when it gets hard. Hey! Get that leg back up there! Ha ha, don’t you quit!

[Go as long as time permits; if the kids are still holding up, declare them all winners and congratulate them.]

Trainer: Just as in our contest today, in order to win you can’t quit; and in our faith, in order to win we can’t quit. We must hold on to God’s truth and know that our prize is coming. Our prize is Jesus; our prize is heaven; our prize is an amazing life with God! Don’t ever, ever quit! Class dismissed!

Object Talks—The Toy and the Moral Argument for GodSupplies: video projection

In this video segment, Karl Bastian, the Kidologist, is seen as “Professor of Objects” aka, “Professor O,” explaining to the children one of four classic arguments for the existence of God.

Featured verse: Romans 2:15

INSPIRE ACTIONEncourage kids to apply the Bible truth to their lives.

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gLet’s Talk!—Small Group DiscussionSupplies: slips of paper, each with one word from the list below, hat or basket, 2 buckets, one labeled “I can see it” and one labeled “I can’t see it”

List:Dog Church Music InstrumentsMoney Sports Friends FamilyVideo games Love Gentleness SharingKindness Patience Trust PeaceHoly Spirit Faith My spirit My human body

Scramble the strips of paper in a hat or basket. Instruct the kids to reach in and grab one of the pieces of paper and read it aloud. Then they need to decide if that item should go in the “I can see it” bucket or the “I can’t see it” bucket. (Note: Be sure the kids understand you are asking them to determine if they can the see the item with their eyes, versus the results of the item. You may be able to see the results of love, but you can’t see love.)

Once the basket/hat is empty, have someone look up and read 2 Corinthians 4:18.

Teachable Point: The things we can’t see, things such as love, peace, trust, faith, patience—these things last forever, just like God’s Kingdom. They show us what God’s eternal Kingdom is like. We can trust what the Bible says about eternity, and we can know that the truly important things in life will be there in God’s Kingdom.

Discussion Questions:1) What does 2 Corinthians 4:18 mean?2) Why does Scripture suggest that the unseen things are more important?3) What are some ways we can focus on eternal, unseen things more?4) What part of us is eternal? 5) Will our spirit last forever?6) Which is more important, my outside actions or what is in my heart toward God?

DiscipleTown Super CitizenToday’s Super Citizen is the child who arrived first today, since he or she was in class the longest!

Let’s Pray!Dear Jesus, thank You that You have planted the hope of eternity in our hearts! Thank You that we can look forward to the day that we see You face-to-face. We invite You, Jesus, to change our hearts. Help us to make the unseen things such as love and kindness more important in our lives than money or stuff. Forgive us when we become selfish and when we make the things we can see more important than the things we can’t see. Thank You for loving us and guiding us into all truth. In Your holy name, amen.

Cy’s Challenge: Ask an older relative what he or she has learned about God over the years.

Let s Talk

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gLet’s Review!If you have extra time, use these review questions to keep the kids focused on the lesson until time to dismiss. A handful of candy will help you keep their attention. After each question, take a minute to reiterate the lesson point related to the question.

1) What evidence do we have about eternity?2) How do things such as love and peace and patience show us God’s eternal Kingdom?3) What situations might tempt us to quit and give up in our journey of faith?4) What can we do to stay strong and not quit?5) Read Ecclesiastes 3:11. What does this mean?6) What part of us is eternal?7) Which statement is true: We are humans on a spiritual journey, or we are spirits on a human journey?8) How can we keep an eternal perspective? How can we keep our focus on God’s Kingdom instead of the world?

For the HomeDiscipleTown Table Talker: Give each child a copy of this week’s DiscipleTown Table Talker. Be sure to show the kids how to put it together and encourage them to ask their parents to lead family devotions three times this week.

Parent Email: Copy and send the email below to help your parents connect with their kids during the week. Send them early in the week, but not on Sunday. As a courtesy, be sure parents have opted to receive these emails. Review and edit as necessary to reflect the lesson elements you have used. You can also find this email as a Microsoft Word document in your download bundle.

Dear Mom and Dad,

This week we explored truths about eternity! We explored the idea that we are spiritual beings, living a human experience in preparation for eternal life. We explored what could be seen (the temporary things) such as money and “stuff,” and the things that can’t be seen (the eternal things) such as love and faith. We discovered that often it is easy to forget that the important things in our lives are things we can’t see. We realized that the important part of us, our spirit, is also something we can’t see!

This week, use your DiscipleTown Table Talkers to create discussions around the table with your kids. Challenge them to think from an eternal perspective and to solve problems and challenges in light of eternity. Share stories from your own life when you have learned this important lesson.

We will be wrapping up our series next week with knowing the truth about Jesus. Watch for oppor-tunities to pray with your children and explore their own response to God’s amazing love.

Let us know how we can pray for you and your family as you continue this journey of faith!

Building young disciples,

[your name]

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Chip’s Snack Time!Blind Taste Test—Supplies: blindfolds (optional), 5 or 6 small brown paper bags, one type of snack inside each paper bag (can be anything, but needs to have a distinct taste; for example, chocolate, grapes, nuts, celery, crackers)

Have children put on blindfolds (or close their eyes if there is a large number of kids). Pass around the bags; have the kids taste what is in each bag and guess what it is.

Teachable Point: We can’t see what eternity looks like. We have to trust that because the Bible is right about everything else, it is also right about eternity. We go forward confident that God keeps His word.

Additional IdeasEternal Loop (One-Sided Piece of Paper)—Supplies: colored strips of paper (legal size or longer is ideal), scissors, tape or staplers, wide markersThis is a fun and simple craft that helps children get a small grasp of eternity.

Ask the children if they have ever seen a one-sided piece of paper. Of course, they will think that there is no such thing! But tell them that you are going to help them make a one-sided piece of paper that creates an eternal loop!

Take out pieces of large colored paper; legal size or larger is best, but you can do this with even regular 8.5 x 11 paper. Cut the paper into strips about two inches wide and give each child one strip.

First, have them form the strip of paper in a loop and just hold it that way. (Do not fasten it together with tape or staples yet!) While they are holding it this way, ask them how many sides of the paper there are. Of course, there are two—the inside and the outside of the loop. Now, instruct them to carefully flip just one end of the paper over one turn (180 degrees) and then hold the ends together. Helpers should then go around and assist the kids in taping or stapling the ends together. If you use staples, you will need to overlap the ends a little.

Now ask, How many sides to the paper are there? The kids may answer two again. Now, have the kids take a large marker and draw a symbol on their loop in one spot. It can be their first initial, a star, a large dot, smiley face, or anything they want, but it should be simple, about one inch by one inch, and on only one side of the loop.

Now they are to draw another object, something different on the other side of the loop, just opposite of the first thing they drew.

After they are finished, instruct them to put their finger on the object they drew first, and run their finger along the loop. They will discover that their finger will pass over the second object without ever changing sides and return to the first object! Indeed, their loop now has only one side and goes forever and ever!

It is an illusion, but their loop is a one-sided loop that goes forever!

BONUS MATERIALSUse these options to extend your time or as substitutes for the ideas above.

How to Know the Truth—Lesson 3 © 2011, DiscipleLand. Permission granted to reproduce for volunteers.

DIRECTOR’S NOTESThe words in italics are notes for you and your puppeteers; they are not to be read aloud.

Supplies: puppet, black marker (attached to puppet’s hand), newspaper with several articles blacked out

[Puppet comes out with a newspaper that has obviously been all marked up with a black marker. Puppet looks sad.]

Leader: What’s the matter, Puppet?

Puppet: I was just looking in the newspaper, and there is just so much bad news! I was trying to block it out. I was wondering why God allows evil and suffering. If God is good, why does He let bad stuff happen? I thought He was all-powerful. Can’t He stop it all? Or is He not really all-powerful?

Leader: That is something that really bothers a lot of peo-ple. Some even decide God must either be not all-pow-erful, or not all good, since there is evil and suffering in the world. They say that if He were good and powerful, He would get rid of suffering. It makes sense, except that it misses one important fact; suffering is not God’s fault, but ours.

Puppet: [confused] What does that mean? How is all suf-fering people’s fault?

Leader: Well, God created a good world with no pain or evil. But then He gave people the freedom to obey or to disobey Him. Because Adam and Eve sinned, suffering and death entered the world. Everything on earth has been tarnished by that sin. Sin always has painful consequences. The suffering we see is because of our sin—sometimes directly, but often indirectly.

Puppet: So God just lets it happen?

Leader: It looks that way sometimes. But the truth is, God is still helping make things better than they could be. He is answering prayers, helping people find Him through their problems, and drawing people to Him so they can find forgiveness and be a part of the new heaven and new earth someday.

Puppet: So He is using all this bad stuff to get people to turn to Him?

Leader: Wow, you are one sharp puppet! Yes! Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, God promises to bring His children to heaven—where evil, suffering, and death don’t exist! God hates evil and suffering so much that He sent Jesus, His Son, to overcome them. Jesus suffered and died on a cross, then was raised to new life. Everyone who comes to Jesus finds escape from the final punishment that will come to this world.

*PUPPET: Develop a puppet character to use regularly. The children will get to know the personality and enjoy these regular visits. Dee, Cy, and Paul puppets are available at DiscipleLand.com

Puppet Intro

DiscipleTown Visitor Script

How to Know the Truth—Lesson 3 © 2011, DiscipleLand. Permission granted to reproduce for volunteers.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES

The words in italics are notes for you and your volunteers; they are not to be read aloud.

[Dr. Stramselbib enters, dressed in as obnoxious a suit coat as you can find—with a clashing tie! He carries an overstuffed briefcase filled with books and papers, has slightly messy hair, and carries a thick Bible.]

Leader: I am so happy to welcome back Dr. Stramselbib, the Professor of Apologetics at the Institute for Advanced Biblical Studies. I have asked him to come and help us ex-plore this idea about eternity! [Turning to the professor] Dr. Stramselbib, how can we understand eternity?

Dr: Wow! You guys are full of great questions! Well done! Asking questions and hunting until we find the answers is very important in our faith. I have learned that I can al-ways find clues in Scripture to the answers I need. In fact, sometimes it is the things we can’t see that are the best evidence!

Leader: What? How can something we can’t see be evi-dence?

Dr: Well, have you ever seen what happens when a per-son is really kind to another person?

Leader: Amazing things happen when people are kind. Often you can find new friendships because of kindness!

Dr: Exactly. Can you see the love that resulted in kind ac-tions? That kind action changed things! The invisible thing affected the visible things.

Leader: Wow, I never thought of it like that before!

Dr: What about forgiveness? Can you see forgiveness?

Leader: Uh, no, I guess I can’t!

Dr: But what happens when you do something wrong and that person forgives you?

Leader: Oh, my heart is so relieved, I feel so much better!

Dr: Right! The world of the invisible is God’s world. The world of the unexplainable is God’s world!

Leader: Wow, that is so cool!

Dr: We talk a lot about praying. Who has seen God answer a prayer? Who has seen someone who was sick get prayed for and become well? That is the invisible, eternal world of God! That world existed before our world, and will exist after! In fact, there is an invisible part to each of us, too!

Leader: There is? Boys and girls, have you heard this? What is the professor talking about? [Allow kids to respond]

Dr: You are right. Our spirit, the real us that lives in this house which is our body, is eternal; it will never die. When we leave this house (our body), we go and live in heav-en with God until our bodies are changed at our resur-rection! Then we, in our transformed bodies, will live on a new earth that is no longer ruined by sin. There are so many unseen pieces of evidence that show us the exis-tence of God and His eternal nature, but we have to be on the watch for them. The Bible says that even now there are angels walking around the earth helping those who love God.

Leader: Wow... that really is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing, professor!

*CHARACTERS: These are suggested characters and names. Please feel free to change or adjust according to the actors and props you have available.

curriculum Map

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How to Grow Spiritual Fruit

How to Make Good Friends

How to Walk in the Spirit

How to Be Jesus’ Disciple

How to Build Character

How to Navigate the New Testament

How to Explain My Faith

How to Earn Eternal Rewards

How to Follow God’s Plan

How to Make Good Choices

How to Navigate the Old Testament

How to Study My Bible

How to Know the Truth

How to Discover Gifts and Talents

How to Walk Victoriously

How to Meet with God

How to Worship God

How to Use My Bible

How to Show Respect

How to Pray

How to Be Faithful Workers

How to Love God

How to Memorize God’s Word

How to Be Global Christians

(DiscipleTown Units in no particular order)

Each DiscipleTown Unit will teach your kids an essential “how to” skill to become victorious disciples of Jesus!