Adapt this youth group lesson on temptation for your students. Veteran preteen minister Nick Diliberto offers an engaging, Bible-based look at resisting sin.
Over the last few years, I have started to eat healthy for the first time. As a result, I’ve lost about 10-15 pounds of fat and have a lot more energy. Overall, I feel great.
My approach to resisting unhealthy food is the same approach many students in your preteen ministry take when resisting temptation. However, that approach doesn’t work.
I created a five-minute video unpacking this idea. Discover what that approach is and why it isn’t effective. Then learn what approach works and why.
After you watch the video, scroll down. Check out the free youth group lesson on temptation. It includes a fun opening game and great discussion questions. Enjoy!
Nick Diliberto, Creator of PreteenMinistry.net
Preteen Youth Group Lesson on Temptation
Bible: 1 Corinthians 10:13; Psalm 119:11; Galatians 5:19-21
Bottom Line: Temptation is a part of life, but God is faithful and will always help us to overcome it.
YOUTH GROUP LESSON ON TEMPTATION: OPENING GAME
Maze of Choices
Supplies & Preparation
• Using blue painters tape, create a maze on the floor.
• On blank sheets of paper, write down temptations preteens might encounter. One temptation per sheet. (ex: lying, cheating, being mean to your brother, etc.).
• Place the sheets of paper throughout the maze.
Give students a few minutes to go through the maze (stay between the lines). The goal is to exit the maze within the time allowed.
Afterward say:
Life can be like a maze. It can be confusing, and sometimes we can feel lost. Today we’ll talk about how to overcome temptation.
You might have noticed many temptations throughout the maze. We’ll get to those in a bit.
YOUTH GROUP LESSON ON TEMPTATION: TEACH
Note: This youth group lesson on temptation references the movie “The Maze Runner.” It’s based on the best-selling novel by James Dashner. The movie is rated PG-13, so use discretion. You can use this lesson without referring to the movie.
In this adventure film, a teen wakes up in an elevator (called the Box) with no memory of his name or his past. As he exits to an outside field, he see a confined community. Other teen boys are in a compound, prisoners inside a gigantic maze.
The boy slowly starts remembering things. During a fight one evening, he recalls his name, Thomas. Through recurring nightmares and strange events, Thomas discovers things about this weird place of confinement that are beyond his imagination.
The other boys have been trying for three years to escape. But the Grievers, venomous monsters, eat them alive.
There is only one way out of this compound. It’s through the maze, which has twists and turns that shift and change every night. So escape is impossible. Any boy who has tried to has run into the Grievers. But Thomas is determined to find a way out.
