| Remember the fun game you played as a kid that | | | | following: |
| started out something like this…"I'm going to | | | | John 1:1 says this: "In the beginning was the Word, and |
| Grandma's house and inside my suitcase I'm going to | | | | the Word was with God, and the Word was God." |
| pack my teddy bear." The next child would have to | | | | Wow! The Word of God must be very important if it |
| continue this line of thinking by remembering what the | | | | was in the beginning of time just like God. In fact, this |
| last person packed and then add his own item into the | | | | Bible verse says that "the Word was God." If this is |
| suitcase. The list of items got longer and longer and it | | | | true, which of course it is, we should do our best at |
| became harder and harder to remember the list. | | | | knowing God's Word and studying it the rest of our |
| Therefore, the first person to forget what came next | | | | lives. One of the best tools that we can use to study |
| was out and the game started all over again. I loved | | | | the Bible is the concordance. A concordance gives |
| that game! But my memory was a lot better then | | | | us the most important words in the Bible in alphabetical |
| than it is now. However, your kids' memory is | | | | order just like a dictionary. So, if we wanted to look |
| probably sharp as tacks. So why not test their | | | | up the word "heaven" in the concordance, we would |
| memory skills in two great ways? One will use a | | | | find the "H" words. We would then search until we |
| concordance and the other will use the wonderful Bible | | | | found the word "heaven" and then we would see |
| verse of John 1:1 – "In the beginning was the Word, | | | | several Bible verses that contained the word "heaven" |
| and the Word was with God, and the Word was | | | | and where they are found in the Bible. |
| God." | | | | Let's play a fun game called "Inside My |
| Here's what you do: | | | | Concordance". I will give the first team a chance to |
| Make alphabet letter cards on index cards for all the | | | | come up and pick a letter out of my bag here. Let's |
| major beginning letters of words found in your | | | | say you pick the letter "L". You must then look for a |
| concordance. Place all these letters in a bucket or | | | | word in the concordance that begins with that letter. |
| bag out of which your kids will pick. After each letter | | | | Let's say you found the word "love". You would then |
| is picked, be sure you display the letters in the order | | | | say, "Inside my concordance, I found some love." The |
| they were pulled somewhere in the room. I always | | | | next student from the second team will come and pick |
| display mine on a pocket chart. You will also want to | | | | a new letter and go through the same process, but he |
| have a rendering of John 1:1 as written above. You | | | | will have to add onto the other words already |
| will want to take the time to recite this verse several | | | | mentioned. As the list gets longer, it will be harder to |
| times so that your kids can memorize it quickly. You | | | | remember. |
| also might want to write it on a board and erase some | | | | If you mess up, you can redeem yourself by reciting |
| of the words so that they have a few words to | | | | John 1:1 correctly. If you do, you will earn 100 points |
| prompt their memory of how it goes. You will need a | | | | for your team and the game continues with the same |
| scorekeeper for this game and you will need at least | | | | list. If you are not successful at reciting John 1:1, the |
| one concordance. | | | | other team gets the points and a new list of |
| Here's how to play: | | | | concordance words should be started. The team |
| Divide your class into 2 teams. Begin by saying the | | | | with the most points. |