Make a Balloon Sculpture

Good News

I wanted to present the "Wordless Book" story using balloons and finally came up with this set of figures.

You will need five 260 balloons in gold, black, red, white and green. Inflate the gold balloon all the way and release just a little air to soften it before tying. Bend it into a circle and push the knot into the nipple end and make an apple link. Reshape as necessary to make it nice and round This gold colored balloon reminds me of heaven, where the streets are paved with gold. And the circle reminds me that heaven goes on forever--it has no end. It kind of looks like the sun, but in Heaven there is no need for the sun, because God himself is the light there. Heaven is a perfect place and God wants us to be there with him for eternity.

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Inflate the black balloon completely and let it deflate. Now zig-zag the uninflated balloon between your fingers and re-inflate it, giving it a serpentine shape. This dark balloon is just the opposite of the gold one. Its twisty shape looks like a snake, like the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God. You and I, the descendants of Adam and Eve have also disobeyed God. The Bible says that "All have sinned." And just as Adam and Eve had to leave the garden of Eden when they sinned, our sin separates us from God. The Psalms says that the only ones who can approach God are those with a pure heart. Sin cannot enter into heaven, and that means that our sin keeps us from going to heaven.

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Inflate the red balloon leaving about one inch uninflated. Make three 5-inch bubbles and lock twist the last two together. Now make two more the same size and lock twist them together. Arrange in the shape of a cross

The Bible says "The wages of sin is death." Because we are sinners, we don't deserve eternal life in heaven. We deserve spiritual death, which is separation from God. But because of his love, God provided a way for us to have eternal life. He sent his Son Jesus to die in our place. Red is the color of blood, and the Bible says that "the blood of Jesus ... cleanses us from all sin." He died on the cross to take our place, so that we could have eternal life.

Inflate the White balloon leaving one inch uninflated. Tie the nozzle to the uninflated nipple at the opposite end making a loop. Make z-bends in the center to give it a heart shape. God has provided a way to cleanse us from our sins--to give us a pure heart so that we can be with him. It is a gift, but we must choose to receive it. We receive the gift of eternal life by faith. That means putting your complete trust in Jesus and choosing to follow him. When we receive him as our Savior and Lord by faith, he takes away our sin and gives us his righteousness. Then we can Spend eternity with God, as he wants us to. We can express our faith in prayer. This sample prayer illustrates what is needed to receive God's gift of salvation:
Dear Lord Jesus,
I know that I am a sinner and need Your forgiveness. I believe that You died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I now invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as Lord and Savior.
In Jesus' name. Amen.

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Inflate the green balloon completely and release a little air to soften it a bit. Make a pinch twist at the knot and make a large loop, leaving a 5-inch bubble at the nipple end. Find the middle of the loop and twist it into the joint at the other end, creating two equal loops. Find the middle of these loops and twist them together and arrange into a tree shape.

When you receive Jesus as your savior it is the beginning of a new life. Green is the color of growing things, like this tree. It reminds us that we need to grow spiritually. We can do this by getting to know God better, through reading the Bible, talking to him in prayer, and spending time with other Christians in church and in personal conversations.

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Gospel Lesson
by Greg Schuerman

Here's an easy-to-do object lesson with a good, strong Gospel message. Greg Schuerman showed it to me at a balloon jam at his church in Omaha. It requires only two 260 balloons and a few simple twists.

Inflate a white balloon all the way and release a bit of air to soften it a little before tying. Make a twist in the middle and spiral twist the bubbles around each other. Make a 1- or 2-inch bubble in each end and lock twist them together to hold the shape. This represents a cloud. Message: What do you think of when you think about God? Some people think of Him as someone who is a long way away, sitting on a cloud looking down at us, but not really involved in people's lives. They think He's there, but don't really give Him much thought.

Inflate a yellow the same as the white. Twist a 10-inch bubble, a pinch twist, another 10-inch, and finally another pinch twist. Arrange it in a Z shape and tuck the long end into the cloud, letting it stick out like a lightning bolt. Message: Other people think of God differently. They still see him up on a cloud, but it's more of a storm cloud. They think of him watching everything we do, just waiting for us to do something wrong. When he sees someone, he's ready to ZAP them, saying, "Alright, I've caught you now. You broke the rules, and now you're going to have to pay!"

Take the lightning bolt and push the three bubbles together. Squeeze all three in the middle and twist them all together. This will give you a 5-inch bubble, two 5-inch double bubbles with a pinch twist at the ends, and a long single bubble.

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Arrange the yellow balloon into a cross shape and insert the long end into the cloud. Message: But to get a right picture of God, we need to see what the Bible says about Him. God does see everything we do--both right and wrong. And it does make God unhappy when we go our own way and disobey Him. But God also loves us and does not delight in punishing us. In fact, He loves us so much that He allowed His Son, Jesus, to take our punishment for us. God offers His forgiveness to anyone who will receive Jesus as their Savior and follow Him as their Lord. (Conclude in a way suited to your audience. For a fuller explanation of the Gospel click here.)