Program: What's In Your Tea Cup?

 Set up church hall in a tea party style. Divide church into groups or bands and have them decorate their table for a tea party.

You will need:

Tables

Tablecloths

Teacup sets 

Teabags

Sugar

Hot water

Kettle 

Table decorations

Materials for the object lesson

Objective: to encourage members to think and say positive things about themselves and others and also to place greater emphasis on community outreach.

Prelims

Opening Prayer & Song Service: 

Welcome: 

Aim/Motto/Pledge & Ay Song: 

Activity/Quiz: 

Program: AYs

Closing song & closing prayer: 

 

 

 

  Introduction

What’s in your teacup?

There’s an old English saying which goes like this “all you need is a good cup of tea”. We certainly know that a cup of tea can’t solve all problems, but we can definitely learn a few life lessons from the tea making process.

Everyone perhaps has his own process of making a cup of tea, but no matter the process, or the ingredients used, the end product is the same – “a cup of tea”.

This evening we will share a simple tea-making process used by many, to glean valuable lessons for us as we continue to focus on evangelism throughout the year. We will examine the tea cup, the ingredients used to make the tea and the end product, the tea, each of which will be used to teach spiritual life lessons to strengthen our walk with God as we embark on the AYs’ objective for this quarter which will focus on greater community outreach.

The Teacup Story-1

There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful cup. They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the cup spoke. "You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, 'leave me alone,' but he only smiled, 'Not yet.'

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the cup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy! I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.'

"Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat!" the teacup said. "I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, 'Not yet.'

"Finally, the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. 'There, that's better,' I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.'

"Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening, nodding his head saying, 'Not yet.'

"Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf.

One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at yourself.' And I did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.'

"'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up.

I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.

I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.

I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life.

And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have held.

Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.'"

~ Author Unknown

Lesson from the Teacup Story: (allow a member to read)

This teacup story illustrates what Jeremiah wrote by the inspiration of God:

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I shall announce My words to you." Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel." Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NASB)

Moral of the Teacup Story: (member)

God knows what He's doing (for all of us).

He is the Potter, and we are His clay.

He will mould us and make us,

so that we may be made into a flawless piece of work

to fulfil His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

May the teacup story become our story as we willingly yield to our Potter's hand.

 

 

 

 

Song: Potter’s House

 

 

Lessons to learn from a teabag-2 -

Did you know how the tea bag was born?

The story goes that Thomas Sullivan, a tea merchant in New York created the tea bag -- almost by accident. He put some samples of his tea into exquisite silk bags and sent them to friends.

One friend didn't bother to pull out the tea from the bag and just dunked it into hot water. He loved the tea. And an idea was born!

It's probably true of a lot of great ideas around us. They were created by accident, not design.

They came to life because someone dared to do something different.

As you sip your next cup of tea, here are some lessons to take away from the humble tea bag. Here are four lessons to help make your life the perfect brew!

Activity: Choose teabag

You will notice that some tea bags have very nice-looking labels, while others have very ordinary looking ones.

Some have delicate silk tassels while others have ordinary strings. But here's the thing to remember: The quality of the beverage is determined by the tea inside the bag -- not by the label or the string.

What's true for tea bags is true for all of us too. The titles, the clothes we wear and the cars we drive are like the label and the string. They may make you look nice. But what really matters is the kind of person you are, deep down within.

Your beliefs and your attitude -- that's what defines the person you are. The tea masters know that to make a great drink, they need to focus on the tea. Not on the label and the string.

Focus on being a good human being. Fix your attitude. Get your values right. And don't fret about the small stuff.

Imagine you have the best tea leaves in the world. And you put it into a bag that's impermeable. It won't work. You just won't be able to make a cup of tea.

For the tea bag to work, it needs to be porous. You need the tea leaves and the water to come in contact. In our lives too, we cannot survive and thrive in isolation.

Be careful not to build a wall around yourself that prevents people from reaching out to you. You need to be able to touch other people too.

Else, all that's inside of you will remain wasted -- untouched by all the good around you, and unable to impact all that's around you.

The tea was meant to mingle with the water. Just as all of us were designed to work with other people, with teams, with society at large.

Be careful not to build a wall around yourself that prevents people from reaching out to you

 Song: Can the World see Jesus in you

 

 

                                                Hot water-3 (object lesson)

Activity- placing teabag in hot & cold water

When we take a tea bag, place it in a teacup, and fill the cup with hot water, the water activates the tea in the bag, unleashing its taste into the water around it.

If you take the same teabag and put it in cold water, it floats and does not change the water. With hot water, what happens is that due to stronger density, the water moves into the teabag and is changed. You cannot change any situation when you are not within it, but you have to immerse yourself in a situation to be of any influence and make decisions that are embraced.

As the teabag sits in the hot water, the flavour of the tea seeps into the water. The longer the bag sits in the water, the more of the flavour that will be drawn out and exposed into the water. If you taste the Tea and you don’t like the flavour, you don’t change the type of water. If you want a different flavoured tea, then you must use a different teabag. The hot water is merely the catalyst for drawing out the flavour of the teabag. The contents of the teabag determine the flavour of the tea.

This depicts what happens in the human heart. The pressures around us (the unfavourable circumstances, the temptations, and the commands of God to love Him and our neighbour) merely draw out of our heart what is already in it. We cannot shift the blame for any bitterness, anger, despair, deception, cruelty, and so forth that we display when we are under pressure. The pressures merely expose how unlike Christ we really are. God exposes un-Christ-like thinking. His expectation is that we will learn from these situations and be transformed into a Christ-like humble servant. But how often do we miss the point? Don’t you see a parallel? God puts us in ‘hot water’ circumstances to expose our need for change. God draws out the contents of our heart as we are placed in these ‘hot water’ circumstances to show us that change is needed in order for us to be useful to Him. The purpose of this change is to make us suitable for God’s uses in His work. God uses circumstances in our lives to humble us. He wants us to be Christ-like Humble Servants. Then he can use us to join him in His work. God is merciful in that He forces us to change at a pace that is not overly-burdensome to us. As we are faithful in the small things, He prepares us for larger things.  As we saw, if you take a cup of lukewarm water and put a tea bag in it -- you won't know how strong the tea is. To get the best flavour, you need to put the tea bag in hot water. And then the real strength will show!

(member) The true character of a person actually shines through in adversity. How does a person behave under pressure when he is in 'hot water'?

The hot water test is a good one -- to judge the quality of the tea. And the true character of human beings. So, the next time you see a challenge, a tough situation, think like the teabag and dive headlong into it. It may be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for to show what you are capable of.

Some of us are so scared of the hot water that we stay away from it. We are afraid of failure. Don’t let that happen to you. Give yourself a chance to show the world what God can do through you!

 As we continue to grow, God begins to show us areas in our life that need to be addressed. God loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you in order that you may live, but now he wants you to become the living sacrifice. He wants you to allow him to transform your mind. He wants you to adopt His will and seek His kingdom. Are you up for the task? Will you surrender your all to Him? Will you allow God to use this congregation to touch our world?

WORDS LIKE HONEY-4-

“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones,” Proverbs 16:24 allow congregation to find text and read together

We’ve all heard the phrase “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” In my mind, that statement couldn’t be further from the truth.

Words are powerful. We’ve all, no doubt, been wounded at some point by careless, unkind or mean statements. Their effect on our lives, even years later, is undeniable. No matter how much we deny it, it still makes us cringe to remember the taunts of the  bully on the high school playground and makes us want to crawl under a rock to think of that rumor spreading through the high school hallways.

The Bible speaks extensively about the power of words – especially positive ones – and warns about the dangers of careless ones. “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger,” says Proverbs 15:1. “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones,” Proverbs 16:24 adds. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” And Matthew 12:36-37 says: “But I say to you that for every idle word man may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

 Have you ever received a compliment that made your whole day? Have you received a harsh criticism that stuck with you for way too long? Then you know what kind of power words can have.

A verse that illustrates the positive power words can have is Proverbs 16:24. It says:

 “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.” When we think of a honeycomb, and the honey itself that comes from it, we think of comfort and soothing. Like the effect honey has on a sore throat. Pleasant (agreeable, polite, pleasing) words are like honey to our souls.

Words have the power to soothe and heal!

But, looking at the opposite effects words can have, we find Proverbs 12:18. This verse begins by saying:

 “There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword”. If someone was pierced with an actual sword, it would hurt! It causes a physical injury! Words can do the same things to our hearts.

Words have the power to hurt and injure!

There’s one more thing I want to point out about the power of words. Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” The Bible tells us here that what we say can give life or bring death to whatever we’re speaking into. Further, we will be the ones to “eat its fruit” or reap the consequences of the things we say.

(member) Words have the power to give life or bring death!

So, how does God want us to use this power? What does he expect from us and the way we speak to people and into different situations? Ephesians 4:29 tells us “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” God wants us to speak so that whoever hears our words will be uplifted and given grace. He wants us to harness the power of words to bring life, to soothe and heal, and to create.

Why is all of this important? Jesus says in Matthew 15:11 that “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” It’s important to watch our mouths because what comes out can defile us. Also, as pointed out above, there will be consequences for the things we say. Do we want to endure positive or negative consequences? We also need to pay attention to what we say because, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” If we watch what we’re saying, even what we’re mumbling under our breath, writing in a journal, or whatever, we are given insight into what’s in our heart.

If we find that we are speaking more death than life, that’s because there’s death in our heart. If we find we are speaking destruction rather than creation, we have destruction in our hearts. At that point we need to take it to the Lord and get help. Only God can do the work inside of us to root out the negative things in our heart. He has to change our heart. We need to cry out to Him and say “Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Remember! A kind, positive or encouraging word at the right time can truly be life-changing. Your words hold the power to breathe an attitude of death or life into others – which will you choose?

 Let us strive to remember the power of our words and their impact on those who hear them. Think twice before making a negative statement, and instead find a way to pass along an encouraging word today and be the sweetener in someone’s life.

 

Song: If any little word (629 old hymnal)

 

 

Life is Like a Cup of Tea-last-5

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests tea, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot beverage and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to some tea.

When all the students had a cup of tea in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the drink that’s inside. In most cases it is just more expensive and, in some cases, even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was something warm to drink, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups… And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the tea inside the cup; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy its contents. Savour the beverage, not the cups! The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly, and share your tea with the world instead of hiding behind your cup.   Song: Fill my cup Lord (#493)- 1 verse

As we run with the gospel for this year through our outreach activities, what teas can we share with our communities? (write on paper the 8 words and sentences below and place in cups or mugs for members to read)

1. Unity- Our unity as believers is a message to the world declaring the goodness of God and the power of His spirit.

2. Hospitality-An open heart, open hand and open home will change the world through God’s design.

3. Integrity-Our integrity can have a far reaching impact on our family, friends and those searching for God.

4. Honesty-reflecting the truth in your actions is part of being a good witness

5. Morality- Morality is important because it helps you to be law abiding as well as it helps you to treat others with respect and dignity.

6. Purity- Purity helps us to be examples of Jesus in this world.

7. Charity- Another word for charity is love. As Christians we must demonstrate God’s love for all mankind.

8. Spirituality-A life that is led by the Spirit of God will reach others more than religion.

Activity: Every member makes their tea

Let us take a generous portion of these teas daily so that we can have an abundance to share with the members in our church community and even with those we meet daily. (sip on your tea)

 

Closing Song: Fill my cup (verses 2 & 3)

Closing prayer.