Week 3: October 20 – Laity Sunday
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Note to the Teacher

The key emphasis this week (for this lesson from 2 Timothy 3) is that God has given us the Bible to encounter God, to learn, to know, to be inspired by, and to live out. The Ice Breaker invites youth to see how quickly they can find a specific Bible verse. The Discussion encourages students to really think about the importance of Scripture in their lives. The Activity challenges youth to see how well and quickly they can memorize some well-known Bible verses.

Times are based on a 50-minute lesson period, but can be adjusted.

Time Description of Activity

10 min. 1. Ice Breaker – Find the Bible Verse!

Supplies Needed – Enough Bibles to break students up into groups of two and each group to have a Bible.

In preparation, as the leader pick out around five Bible verses ahead of time, from all different parts of the Bible.

Tell the students, there are 31,102 verses in the Bible, with 23,145 in the Old Testament and 7,957 in the New Testament. Today we are going to see how quickly you can find some different verses. Read out a Bible verse such as “Psalm 23:1” then the students will race to find the verse, when a group has found the verse they should raise their hand.

Tell the students that even if they aren’t first that you want each group to find each verse and you will give them time. IMPORTANT – if any group cannot find a verse make sure to give guidance to everyone, such as saying, “The Book of Psalms is found in the middle of the Old Testament, after Job and before Proverbs”.

Once everyone has found the verse, have the group who found it first read the verse aloud. Take a brief moment to explain differences in relevant parts of the Bible such as Old and New Testaments, Gospels, writings of Paul, etc.

Repeat for several more verses as time allows.

5 min. 2. Read Scripture

Our Scripture reading today will focus on 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5, Paul’s final charge to Timothy. Take a moment to remind the group who Paul and Timothy are before reading.

Read 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

15 min. 3. Discussion

• What do you think verse 16 means when it says “All Scripture is God-breathed”?
• How can we use the scripture according to verse 16?
• Verse 17 says scripture “equips” God’s servants. How does scripture equip you for your lives?
• In verse 4:2 it says to “Preach the Word.” Why is knowing scripture important for preaching the word?
• 4:3 says a time will come when “people will not put up with sound doctrine.” What does this mean?
• How can you know or test whether or not someone’s theology or doctrine is sound?
• What would it take for you to take the next step in getting to know the Bible better?

20 Min.4. Activity and Discussion – How Many Bible Verses Do You Know?

Take this lesson to the next level by helping students to learn and memorize some well-known Bible verses using this activity from the YouthWorker collective.

SUPPLIES – Sheets of paper to hand out to each group of students with around 15-20 short Bible verses all typed up listing the verse and location. You can pick some of your favorites, or do a quick internet search such as “Best short Bible Verses to Memorize.” Make sure to pick verses from a number of different places in the Bible.

Break students into groups of three and give every group a sheet of paper with all the Bible verses on it. Give the students 10 minutes to try to memorize the verses as best as they can. They should be able to recite the verse as well as recite the location of the verse in the Bible.

After 10 minutes have passed, make every group of students turn their sheets of verses over and put them down, or have them return the sheets to the leader if you don’t trust them to not peek.

Now tell the students you are either going to read an entire verse and see who can first remember what verse it is, or you are going to read a verse location (such as John 3:16) and see who first thinks they can correctly recite the verse. Read out as many as time allows, and make sure to pick different groups if the same group continues to raise their hands first.

Close with a couple questions:

• How many Bible verses do you think each of you just memorized?
• Why is it important that we learn some Bible verses by memory?
• What can you do on your own or with others to keep growing in your Biblical knowledge and understanding?

Close in the manner that is typical for you. Consider taking joys/concerns from the students, then asking for a volunteer to close in prayer.

50 min.

NEEDED RESOURCES:

• For the icebreaker - Enough Bibles to break students up into groups of two and each group to have a Bible
• For the activity - Sheets of paper to hand out to each group of students with around 15-20 short Bible verses all typed up listing the verse and location