Remix: Student Devotionals

Fruit of the Spirit Pt. 2 - Week 5

Icebreaker:
The Group sits on chairs around in a circle with the odd man outstanding in the middle trying to catch someone out to swap for a seat in the circle.

You need to explain the actions for the animals you will use in your game before the game starts. These need to be performed by three people sitting together in the circle - the middle seated person and their two neighbours.

The person standing in the centre of the circle will point to a person and name one of the animals then (slowly) begin to count to FIVE (5) out loud.

The seated person being pointed to must perform the action associated with the chosen animal, whilst their two neighbours, one on either side, perform the animal's complementary actions.

The whole animal charade must be performed to the satisfaction of the group within the centre person's count of five.

Failure of any one of the actions causes the person who miffed their required action to swap places with the centre person and catch out another seated person in the circle.

The actions my groups have used are:

Elephant - middle person hold nose with one hand and threads other arm through the hole this forms and waves the "TRUNK". The neighbour on the right places their right hand on their own head and flaps the elephants right elbow "EAR" while the left neighbour performs the left elbow "EAR" waving with their left hand on the head.

Rabbit - middle person forms two paws in front of them cleaning their imaginary "whiskers" occasionally while the neighbour will put their nearest arm straight up in the air as the rabbit's respective left and right "EAR". The unused arm can grasp the upright arms elbow over the head.

Monkey - middle person makes the "ook ook ook" noises while the neighbours scratch their outside armpits.

Make up as many animal actions as you can imagine.

The more options the tricker it is to remember what u have to do when the centre person is pointing to you or one of your neighbours. Because ALL three of you have to be alert and know what action you are requested to perform.

A good trick is once an animal action is successfully performed. The next person you pick is the neighbour of the first person you picked and they have to immediately rearrange their animal actions accordingly. Middle or outer actions.

Questions:

  • Have you ever gotten really excited about something but it got hard or you lost motivation and you couldn’t stay committed to it so you ended up quitting?
  • Have you ever seen someone do that with their faith? They were so excited about their relationship with Jesus and living as a Christian but when it got hard they just wanted to give up and go back to their old life?
  • On the other hand can you tell a story of a time where you or a friend of yours stayed committed to following God even though it was really hard?
  • Another word for that kind of commitment is faithfulness and it is part of the fruit of the Spirit. What does it mean to be faithful as a Christian?

Have someone read or quote 2 Timothy 4:7.

  • Paul was faithful to follow Jesus and because of that he was able to look at his life and confidently say “I have fought the good fight.”

Read Genesis 6:5-9

  • What made Noah stand out compared to the rest of the people on Earth?
  • Noah was faithful to walk with the Lord even though he was surrounded by wicked people who had no interest in following God. When you walk into your school what are you surrounded by? People who love the Lord and want to follow Him or people who have no interest in/don’t know the Lord?
  • Is it hard for you to remain faithful when surrounded by people who are living like that?
  • How can we learn to be more like Noah and separate ourselves from all the evil going on around us?
  • We also learned that Noah continued to remain faithful when it was hard and he didn’t necessarily understand what God was doing?
  • Has God ever asked you to do something that you just didn’t understand? Are there any things we’re supposed to be doing as Christians that feel too hard to do?
  • How can we follow Noah’s example and remain faithful even when it feels impossible?

Read Genesis 9:12-16.

  • What does this passage show us about God’s promises?
  • How does knowing that God keeps his promises help us remain faithful to follow Him?
  • Challenge your group to look up the promises God makes to His followers in scripture and memorize one this week. Next week give them an opportunity to share the promises they learned.