This includes: 1. Leader Preparation 2. Lesson Guide

1. LEADER PREPARATION

LESSON OVERVIEWWouldn’t it be nice to go an entire week—or maybe an entire day—without the temptation to lie? Our words can be used to share tremendous truth—or to destructively deceive. In this lesson, your students will examine the truth about lying and the trap that it can set in their lives. Deception and lying are tools that the devil uses to trip us up—the Bible even refers to him as the father of lies!

LESSON OBJECTIVES 1. WHAT: Lying is easy and seems harmless, but it causes us to weaken good relationships with God and others, and damages our soul.2. WHY: When we lie, we’re no longer free to fully follow God—we become a damaged, weakened version of ourselves.3. HOW: Students will be encouraged to become greater truth-tellers and to follow God’s direction of confession—it’s a hard practice, but it can build their reputation and character.

PRIMARY SCRIPTUREActs 5:1-10

SECONDARY SCRIPTURESProverbs 11:3; 28:13; and John 8:44

TEACHING PREP

Many people think it’s no big deal to mislead others with our words—especially if we don’t get caught. Lying could happen in the form of a “little white lie” that stretches the truth a little, or it could be an obvious act of deceit. People might lie to make someone

four things Week 1:Lying

The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to

convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you’ll definitely want to refer to it as you

lead your lesson.

feel better (“That haircut looks great on you”) or to avoid something (“Sorry, I can’t hang out with you; I’m doing homework”). We may be motivated to lie because we fear the consequences of telling the truth.

Read Acts 5:1-10.

This is a powerful story about how God feels about lying. This passage comes right after a series of verses talking about the early Christians’ commitment to unity and meeting the needs of people around them. One of the ways these Christ-followers funded their ministry to the needy was to sell land or houses and give the proceeds to the apostles. Acts 4:36-37 gives us the example of one specific man, an apostle named Joseph, who was nicknamed Barnabas.

Ananias and Sapphira’s donation didn’t displease God because they withheld some of the proceeds; it was displeasing because they lied about how much they were giving. Peter’s words in verse 4 make this clear.

Obviously, we don’t encourage you to make your students feel condemned about any patterns of dishonesty—don’t use this story as an opportunity to overwhelm them with guilt. The key idea from this passage is how much God hates lying. Ananias and Sapphira paid a price we probably won’t pay—but our lying can kill friendships and can damage our awareness of God’s presence and work in our lives. Those are consequences worth avoiding.

Help your students grow in their understanding of what lying is and how it damages their relationships, including their friendship with God. Students may grasp this fact pretty easily and may express a desire to get “better” at telling the truth. Taking the step of confessing lies and seeking forgiveness might be a bigger challenge for some teenagers.

THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional]

Text Message Questions

We’ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior

to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the

curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry.

•Thinkaboutthelasttimeyouliedorbentthetruth.Whydidyoudoit?Hope to see you tonight—you won’t have to share your lie with anyone!

•Howhaveotherpeople’slieshurtyou?Joinusforsmallgrouptonightto discover more about the painful results of our lies.

Parent Email

We’ve provided you with an email below that you can send to your parents following the lesson.

Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and

customize the email to fit your ministry needs.

Dear parents,

Our small groups have launched a new, four-week series tackling four topics that can be struggles for junior high students. In this first lesson, we examined the dangers of lying by discussing a story found in Acts 5:1-10.

Ananias and Sapphira brought a donation to the early church leaders, claiming that it was the full amount of money they earned from the sale of some property. But it was a lie—and God struck them dead for their deception. Obviously, God doesn’t kill all of us when we lie, but we do pay the price for our lies through damaged friendships and a wounded relationship with God.

We encouraged our students to recognize how much God loves honesty but hates lies, how our lies can affect our lives, and the value of confession and forgiveness.

Here are some questions you might want to use as you talk with your teenager about this week’s lesson:

•Whydopeoplelie? •Whataresomewaysyourliescanhurtotherpeople?yourself?your friendship with God? •Whataresomepossiblebenefitsofconfessingalietosomeoneandasking for their forgiveness?

I pray that this is a blessed week for you and your family!

2. LEsson guide

GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional]

Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and then ASK:

In your opinion, why do people lie? What motivates them to not tell the • full truth?

What kinds of things do people lie about?•Do you think teenagers struggle with lying more or less than adults? Why?•Do you think lying is just “something everybody does,” or is it something we •

should avoid doing? Explain.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Unfortunately, lying seems like a pretty common fact of life. Anyone who says they never lie is probably, well, lying! Research shows that the average person of any age lies twice a day. Any human interaction lasting 10 minutes or longer has a 20 percent chance of involving deception. And over the course of a week, the average person will deceive one out of every three people they interact with one on one. Wow—pretty crazy stuff, right? So let’s talk about lying, and see what God says about it.

NOTE: The statements about the frequency of lying come from research reported at http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199705/the-truth-about-lying. Some of the cultural references are dated, but the research remains relevant.

TEACHING POINTS

four things Week 1:Lying

If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group,

and you’d like to share it with other youth workers, please email us at

ideas@simplyyouthministry.com.

The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with

more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are

(1) God loves your honesty, (2) Your lies have consequences, and (3) Battle the temptation to

lie by confessing your lies.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Many people don’t think lying is that big of a deal to lie—especially if it’s a little white lie, or stretching the truth, or making someone feel better about themselves. But no matter the reason, lying is still a sin. As we can see from this story about Ananias and Sapphira, God thinks it’s a pretty big deal.

1. God loves your honesty

ASK:Would you rather have a bunch of honest friends or a bunch of dishonest •

friends? Why?What emotions do you feel when you discover that someone has lie to you?•Why does God love honesty and hates lies?•In this story from Acts 5, were Ananias and Sapphira brave or weak? Why?•Why do you think Ananias and Sapphira chose to lie?•

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Lying is a common temptation—and often we feel like we can justify the reasons we lie. We don’t want to hurt a friend’s feeling, it was too difficult to explain the whole story, or we wanted to protect our reputations. But in God’s eyes, lying is wrong no matter what the reason. It’s important to know that Ananias and Sapphira’s donation didn’t displease God because they withheld some of the proceeds; it was displeasing because they lied about how much they were giving. Peter’s words in verse 4 make this clear.

2. Your lies have consequences

ASK:What are some ways your lies can hurt other people? yourself? your •

friendship with God?When you tell a lie, how much pressure do you feel to keep up the lie—or •

tell more lies? Are you able to be yourself? Explain.

Read Acts 5:1-10 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read

the text.

Remember: All throughout these lessons, it’s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you

use, and (2) the wording of the main points—keep ours, or change the wording to make it

clearer for your audience.

How do you and your friends respond to people who lie, and why?•When you lie, how close do you feel to God, on a scale of 1-10? (1 = feel •

like I can’t even talk to him, 10 = BFF.) Why?If you choose to be a truth-teller, what are some of the potential benefits to •

your relationships?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: When we lie, we hurt ourselves and those around us. People can’t trust us. We tell more lies to cover up the original lie. Most importantly, it hurts our relationship with God. We can’t always see the effects of lying on our life—it’s not like it changes the way we look. But there’s always an impact on our heart and our friendships when we lie.

3. Battle the temptation to lie by confessing your lies

ASK:Let’s play a “What If” game for a moment. Look at verse 8. What if Sapphira •

had answered differently? What if she had been honest or confessed that she and her husband had lied about their donation? What might have happened?

What are some reasons you might decide to not confess a lie to someone?•What are some possible benefits of confessing a lie to someone and asking •

for their forgiveness?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: We probably all agree that lying is bad, and we want to tell the truth. But having good intentions and wanting to act good isn’t enough to win this battle against the temptation to lie. If we are going to be truth-tellers, we must take an honest look at our lives, and then be willing to confess where we have lied and make it right. God will give you the courage and guidance you need to speak the truth. He wants to help you heal any broken relationships and prevent you from harming other friendships. Most of all, he wants your heart to grow closer to him.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION [optional]

ASK:Think of a recent situation when you felt like it was easier for you to lie than •

tell the truth. You don’t have to give us all the details, but what happened and what did you learn from this situation?

Read Proverbs 11:3. Why does lying hurt the liar? •

Read Proverbs 28:13. Why is it important for us to confess our sins AND • turn away from them? How is honesty essential in making this change?

Read John 8:44. These are words that Jesus spoke to people who refused • to believe that God had sent him and that he was the source of freedom and truth. If the devil is the father of lies, how does it make you feel about the times we choose to lie?

What are some of the consequences for developing a pattern of lying? • How might that habit negatively affect your life, your friendships, and your relationship with God?

APPLICATIONAsk each student to find a partner for these questions.

ASK:How easily do you fall into the trap of lying? Has this gotten better or worse •

over the past year?

What idea or truth from today’s lesson stood out most to you, and why? How • can this idea or truth affect the way you live?

Think of a lie that you’ve told recently. Are you willing to follow God’s • direction by offering a confession to the person you lied to and asking for forgiveness? How can I help you with this?

How can we encourage each other to be truth-tellers this coming week and • in the weeks ahead? What are some practical steps we can take?

SUMMARY

FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE]

People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy (Proverbs 28:13).

SAY SOMETHING LIKE:

End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home

challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the

lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the

big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the

teaching and discussion time.

Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below.