Bad Habits Are Sins
Posted by: Buffalo Dream Center
Topic: Love God -Hate Sin
Verse: For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is Eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 6:23
Props:
Instructions:
Discussion:
-Who remembers what sin is?
-Sometimes there are things we do that are sin but we don't realize they are because we give them a different name.
-They are called habits. What is a habit?
-There are good habits and bad habits.
-Who can name some good habits? (Brushing your teeth, doing your homework, making your bed)
-Who can name some bad habits? (Cussing, never going to bed on time, disrespecting leaders)
-Hold up a thin long stick
-Choose a volunteer to come up a break a little off the end
-The good news about habits is that "Habits you just start can easily be broken."
-Explain that every time you say this you want the person to break a little piece off the stick.
-Repeat the above phrase several times (make it funny, do it fast . . .)
-(As you are saying the next part pull out the thick log) The bad news is habits you have been doing for a long time are hard to break. (Have a volunteer come up and try to break the stick.)
-A few minutes ago we were talking about good habits and bad habits. What do you think a bad habit is? SIN
-If we are going to live for Jesus we must break our bad habits immediately.
-We must say "no" to sin.
Bible Story: Joseph
Introduction:
The Bible tells us about three opportunities Joseph had to sin. Joseph chose to stay away from sin. One of the times He even ran away from sin. We need to be like Joseph and run from sin.
Story:
Joseph had ten older brothers. Joseph was his dad's favorite son. This caused all kinds of problems for Joseph because he got things his brothers didn't. One day his dad made him a special coat with lots of colors on it.
One day Joseph's brothers got really mad and jealous of Joseph. They did some terrible things to Joseph. They were mad about Joseph's coat. Then Joseph had these dreams about his family bowing down to him. This made his brothers so made. They grabbed him, took off is coat and threw him in a well or a big pit. Then they sold him to some people passing by so that he would become a slave. This was opportunity #1 for Joseph to fall into sin. He could have become very bitter and angry to his brothers. He chose not to later in his life he even helps his brothers.
Joseph became a slave to a very important man name Potiphar. Potiphar worked for the king. Potiphar saw what good work habits Joseph had, and he promoted Joseph. Joseph was now in charge of Potiphar's entire household. Here comes opportunity number 2 for Joseph to sin. Potiphar had a very beautiful and wicked wife. She was jealous of Joseph's position. She tried to get Joseph to sin. She pretended she like Joseph. She would flirt with Joseph. It upset Joseph because he knew that God wanted her to be faithful to her husband. Joseph was not going to get involved with someone who was married. This is where Joseph ran away from sin. He ran right out the front door. It gets worse. Potipahar's wife was mad her plan didn't work. When Potiphar got home, she told lies about Joseph. Joseph was sent to jail. Joseph could have sinned with Potiphar's wife and he could have gotten angry about what had been done to him. He chose not to sin.
Joseph had one other opportunity to sin. While Joseph was in jail the king sent two of his workers to jail because they were not doing a good job. Joseph took care of them and watched out for them. When one of them was released, he promised Joseph that he would try to get him out of jail. The worker totally forgot about Joseph. Joseph was stuck in jail.
Conclusion:
The great thing about Joseph's life is the end of the story. Since Joseph chose not to sin even when he was in difficult situations God provided a way for him to get out of jail and God trusted him with a very important job. There was going to be a famine in the land and it was Joseph's job to save up enough food to feed the entire nation during that seven-year famine. It was also Joseph's job to oversee the distribution of the food.
Sometimes it seems a lot harder to chose not to sin, however when we chose to live for Jesus and not to sin, God is able to use us for important things. Sin even though first sometimes it seems easier it will destroy our life. Living for Jesus even though it seems harder will enable us to do great things for God.
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