I have the privilege to be doing the devotional at our upcoming AWANA bible quiz. The commander wants me to talk about FAITH. One of the effects I want to perform is Die-Vision Block Penetration using Matthew 17:20 as my bible reference saying in part "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'move from here to there',and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Does anyone have other effects that you think may also be a good fit?

Thanks for any input in advance.

Mark

Here is a faith lesson I recently wrote, hope it is helpful.


Faith is like a Farmer planting his crops.

Needed: 3 or 4 sheets of newspaper. You are going to roll it up and make a cornstalk out of it.
A farmer takes his seed and plants it and believes (faith) if he takes care of it, it will grow and provide him with vegetables for his family and others. He looks at his fields. (take a sheet of newspaper and lay it on a table) and in one he will plant beans. (pretend to scatter seeds across the paper) In another field he will plant tomatoes. (put another sheet down on top of the first paper and pretend to plant tomatoes) And in another he will plant corn. (do the same thing with another sheet of paper. You want to end up with 3 or 4 sheets of paper stacked on top of each other)
As a farmer plants seeds, we plant the seeds of faith when we believe in Jesus and what he did for us. More seeds are planted when learn more about God and His character. (slowly begin to roll the top sheet of paper up into a tube and before you get to the end add the next sheet to it but overlap the first by 6 or 7 inches and continue until you have all the paper rolled up into a tube. Make sure it is not a tight roll.)
The farmer also knows he has to hoe and weed (pretend to hoe the ground with the tube) and provide water for his plants (pretend to the tube is a hose and you are watering the plants) so the plants will grow and be healthy and strong.
We have to water or faith with reading our bible and praying so we can grow and weed out the sin in our lives.
(now stand the tube up and tear one end three or four time down the tube for about six inches and put this at the top. You will gently pull on the top to make this plant grow.) The farmer now starts to see his hard work produce. He knew (had faith)if he worked hard, he would see the plants grow. (gently pull the center of the top of the paper and the plant will grow. Only pull out about four inches.) Farmers say if the corn is knee high by the fourth of July, they will have a successful crop. (put the paper which is now a corn stalk down next to your leg to show it knee high) And as he tends it (pull the center out farther, it will grow quite tall) his crop will grow healthy and strong. I remember when I was about eight years old my family visited a family friend that grew corn. I remember the farmer said if we were real quite we could hear the corn grow. That evening as we sat and roasted marshmallows by the fire, he took us back out into the field and told us to be real quiet. We did and then we heard it. We heard the corn grow. What we heard was the corn stalks jump upwards a little at a time. (pull the stalk up about an inch so they can see this) The corn stalks grow all the time but they leaves stick and in the evening, especially in the cool of the evening, they will cool and shrink a little tiny bit and release that pressure that build up during the day and you will hear little squeaks and sliding noises of the corn growing.
At the end of the season one thing left is to harvest the crops and reap what you have sowed. If the farmer didn’t go out and pick his crop it would rot in the field and be worthless.
Our faith needs to be put in action. Faith without action, faith without works is dead just like crops left in the field. As our faith grows we should make noise to. Tell others about Jesus, tell others about God. Our actions should show others we have faith in God and live that faith out.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You can use this verse along with the "Invisible Deck" routine. Talk about how it's easy to believe in something that you can SEE & TOUCH. But that it takes FAITH to believe in something that you know to be REAL, but you cannot see or touch it.
Walk them through the fact that they KNOW what a deck of cards is, and that they have SEEN that decks exists, that they have 52 cards, four different suites, etc...
Let's imagine that you are someone who has NEVER actually seen a deck of cards, but God wrote a special book that explains all about a deck of cards so that you can imagine a deck: What it looks like, number of cards, how big it is, etc...AND that if you follow His instructions on selecting a card, that When you actually see this deck of cards in the future; your selected card will be specially marked in the deck.

Then take them through the typical "Invisible Deck" routine of opening, shuffling, selecting, reversing and replacing the deck in the box...ALL BY FAITH in a deck that is yet unseen, but that they know to be real!

Then reveal the case and slowly go through to reveal their selection reversed. And to prove that their selection was specially "marked" within the deck, reverse it to show the back a different color. Then explain that Faith is NOT just a matter of "believing hard enough" that something is reality, because you can believe something sincerely and be "sincerely WRONG". FAITH is believing God's Word in the face of a world that continually scoffs that "it's not true!" and taking God at His Word by Faith. When Jesus comes again, in Glory to judge all humanity; then you will SEE and TOUCH and KNOW the substance of all things that you hoped for, and believed in when it was unseen.

After Jesus' resurrection, the disciples were discussing the fact. Look at John 20:24-28 - 24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”
So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

So you see, Thomas could only believe in what he could SEE and TOUCH. So Jesus was merciful to Thomas and allowed him to See and Touch His wounds to prove it so Thomas would believe. But look what Jesus said next in verse 29...

29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas,[a] because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

So, if you are saved today; and you can say to Jesus "My Lord and my God!"...you are BLESSED says the scripture! Because it says BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN AND YET HAVE BELIEVED...in otherwords, those who believe BY FAITH!!!