100% Pure

David C Cook COVID-19 Response

High School

Lesson 9
Spring 2024
By: RLD Editorial Team
May 05, 2024

Lesson Focus:

Take a stand for purity. Echoes Focus: That your students establish the highest of moral standards for themselves.

Bible Basis:

Daniel 1:1-8, 5:12-14; 1 Peter 1:15-16

Materials Needed:

Step 1:

Internet access
Whiteboard and marker (or screenshared document)

Step 4:

If your class is meeting online, invite teens to bring supplies with them to class.

Ask for a volunteer to reread this week’s memory verse (1 Peter 1:15-16). Distribute supplies (or invite students to have those items ready at home).

God’s command in today’s memory verse seems like an awfully tall order. It seems impossible. Be holy? Like God? The point isn’t that we are perfectly pure, like God, but that we are striving for purity and holiness. Most importantly, the point is that when we fail, we humbly repent, and get back on the horse, and try to follow Jesus’ example of holiness and purity again. This isn’t some goal that can be accomplished in a week or a year. No, it’s a life-long pursuit that won’t be complete until we are in heaven with Jesus.

Next, ask your teens to brainstorm some things that cause them and people like them to stumble. As they come up with ideas, have them write as many things as they can think of on one side of their index cards with colored pencils; instruct them to leave the other side blank. Encourage them to get their card good and messy. Make sure that this side of their card is mostly covered with colored pencil. It can be ugly. That’s ok. It’s ok to cover some words with others and generally make a mess.

When each student’s card is full, have your teens get into pairs or small groups and share one thing they wrote that they struggle with and think God might be calling them to work on in their own lives. Ask them to pray for each other as they pursue holiness and purity in this specific way. (If your class is meeting online, you can use the breakout room feature of your video chat software.)

After teens have prayed and shared, get the attention of the group. Remind them that we can never be “good enough” on our own, but that Jesus’ holiness and purity pays the price for our sin and that through Him, God sees us as holy.

As you share this reminder, have your students flip their cards over to the blank side. Guide them to understand that while they face temptations in this world, God can make them pure and holy, untouched by the world. Encourage your teens to place their cards somewhere that they’ll see them every day as a reminder to keep striving for purity, even when they mess up.

End with a group prayer, asking for God’s blessing on each teen’s pursuit of purity. Also pray that God would give each of you the strength to try again, no matter how many times you mess up.

Summary & Links:

As they explore the purity God wants from us, students will watch a couple of videos that contrast God’s most beautiful creation with some of the most polluted places on earth.

Index cards (1 per student)
Colored pencils (Various colors to share; be sure each student has a dark color)

Memory Verse:

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do: for it is written: “Be holy because I am holy.”
—1 Peter 1:15-16

Step 1:

As they explore the purity God wants from us, students will watch a couple of videos that contrast God’s most beautiful creation with some of the most polluted places on earth.

Materials Needed:

Internet access
Whiteboard and marker (or screenshared document)

Welcome your students to class. While everyone is settling in, ask your students to share the most beautiful place they’ve ever seen. Encourage conversation about trips and vacations and beautiful natural landscapes that your students have seen.

If you could leave TODAY on a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go? Why? (Answers will vary.)

We’re going to look at a couple of videos about some possible vacation destinations—let’s watch and compare the two. Share both of these videos back-to-back and then discuss.

Share the information from the following two video clips with your students.

Play the following video clip for your students [0:28]:
Top 25 most polluted cities in the WORLD – 2023

Play the following video clip for your students [2:32; stop at 1:12]:
Top 5 Least Polluted Cities in the World (2022 Rankings)

If you could visit one of the locations from these videos, which would you pick? Why? (Answers will vary.)
What is so appealing about the places in the second video clip? (Answers will vary. Make sure students touch on the purity of the air.)
God made all of the places featured in both videos. What makes the place in the first video so unappealing? (Although the places in the first video may be beautiful to begin with, they’ve lost some of their beauty because of contamination through pollution. Now, they are hazardous to your health.)

God made our world incredibly beautiful. His artwork and creativity can’t be matched by anything human hands can make. God’s nature is pure and beautiful. He made us pure and beautiful too—the masterpiece of an unparalleled Artist. While nature’s purity is challenged by over-development or pollution, our own purity is challenged by sin and temptation. Today we will talk about a group of young men God called to maintain purity in very difficult circumstances. Let’s see how they do.

Looking for Steps 2 & 3?

You can find Steps 2 and 3 in your teacher’s guide. To purchase a teacher’s guide, please visit: Bible-in-Life or Echoes.

Step 4:

Materials Needed:

If your class is meeting online, invite teens to bring supplies with them to class.

Ask for a volunteer to reread this week’s memory verse (1 Peter 1:15-16). Distribute supplies (or invite students to have those items ready at home).

End with a group prayer, asking for God’s blessing on each teen’s pursuit of purity. Also pray that God would give each of you the strength to try again, no matter how many times you mess up.

Spread the word

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