Object Lesson 4

OBJECT LESSON GOAL:

Show that how we present the Gospel is vital to how well it might be received.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE:

Mark 16:15 - “And Jesus said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Psalm 34:8 - “Taste and see that the LORD is good.”

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

A decorated cake, a knife, some plates, and a towel for cleaning one’s hand.

MESSAGE:

I’ve brought something wonderful to share with you today. I call it my Gospel Cake. (Show the cake) Would someone like to try it? (Pick someone to come up and stand by you then say to the helper) Does it look good to you? Would you like to have a piece of it? Well, my hand is kind of dirty, but here we go. (With your bare hand, grab into the cake and pull out a piece. The response from the helper and the rest of the audience should be that of disgust) What’s the matter? (You will undoubtedly get a number of responses from saying your hand wasn’t clean to it looks bad).

Do you mean to say that how we serve up something is important? (Wipe your hand clean with towel) Would this be better? (Take a knife and cut out a piece from another part of the cake) Does that look more tempting? You bet. But you know what...it is still the same cake, but people like things served both nicely and knowing that the person serving it is not unclean. The Bible teaches us in the book of Mark, Chapter 16, Verse 15, that Jesus told his listeners, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” That means we are to tell people about Jesus and salvation through him.

Now the reason I call this the “Gospel Cake” is that I wanted to use it to show that how we share the Gospel, which by the way means “Good News,” of Jesus, how we do it is very important. If you are a person who lies, steals, and is not respectful of their parents, even if you share about Jesus, no one is going to care because you are not clean, like I told you my hands were. Which by the way wasn’t true because I washed my hands before coming here today, but because you thought they were dirty, it made the one piece of cake even less desirable.

Likewise, how we serve up the Gospel message is important as well. If we present Jesus in a sloppy way, like not knowing where in the Bible it says things or you treat the person like they are not special, no one is going to want to listen to us.

So we need to be sure that we are living in a way that is pleasing to the Lord and others. We need to do our best to live in a way that when others see us, they know there is something special about us. They need to see we are helpful to others. That when we say we will do something, we do it. If we are mean to others and people think that we only care about ourselves, then we can’t do an effective job sharing the most important message in the whole world, that Jesus came and died for our sins and if we believe that, accept Jesus into our hearts, and turn from our selfish ways, we will have eternal life.

Let’s be sure that when we share Jesus, that we serve it up in an appealing way. That way, like it says in Psalm 34:8, they will want to “Taste and see that the LORD is good.”


		SERVING UP THE GOSPEL CAKE
	OBJECT LESSON GOAL: Show that how we present the Gospel is vital to how well it might be received. SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: Mark 16:15 - “And Jesus said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Psalm 34:8 - “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” WHAT YOU WILL NEED: A decorated cake, a knife, some plates, and a towel for cleaning one’s hand. MESSAGE: I’ve brought something wonderful to share with you today. I call it my Gospel Cake. (Show the cake) Would someone like to try it? (Pick someone to come up and stand by you then say to the helper) Does it look good to you? Would you like to have a piece of it? Well, my hand is kind of dirty, but here we go. (With your bare hand, grab into the cake and pull out a piece. The response from the helper and the rest of the audience should be that of disgust) What’s the matter? (You will undoubtedly get a number of responses from saying your hand wasn’t clean to it looks bad). Do you mean to say that how we serve up something is important? (Wipe your hand clean with towel) Would this be better? (Take a knife and cut out a piece from another part of the cake) Does that look more tempting? You bet. But you know what...it is still the same cake, but people like things served both nicely and knowing that the person serving it is not unclean. The Bible teaches us in the book of Mark, Chapter 16, Verse 15, that Jesus told his listeners, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” That means we are to tell people about Jesus and salvation through him. Now the reason I call this the “Gospel Cake” is that I wanted to use it to show that how we share the Gospel, which by the way means “Good News,” of Jesus, how we do it is very important. If you are a person who lies, steals, and is not respectful of their parents, even if you share about Jesus, no one is going to care because you are not clean, like I told you my hands were. Which by the way wasn’t true because I washed my hands before coming here today, but because you thought they were dirty, it made the one piece of cake even less desirable. Likewise, how we serve up the Gospel message is important as well. If we present Jesus in a sloppy way, like not knowing where in the Bible it says things or you treat the person like they are not special, no one is going to want to listen to us. So we need to be sure that we are living in a way that is pleasing to the Lord and others. We need to do our best to live in a way that when others see us, they know there is something special about us. They need to see we are helpful to others. That when we say we will do something, we do it. If we are mean to others and people think that we only care about ourselves, then we can’t do an effective job sharing the most important message in the whole world, that Jesus came and died for our sins and if we believe that, accept Jesus into our hearts, and turn from our selfish ways, we will have eternal life. Let’s be sure that when we share Jesus, that we serve it up in an appealing way. That way, like it says in Psalm 34:8, they will want to “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” MORE OBJECT LESSONS - RESOURCES - HOME