Week 2:

integrity: standing firm in tough times Integrity Under Fire

This includes:
1. Leader Preparation
2. Lesson Guide

1. LEADER PREPARATION
LESSON OVERVIEW
It can be tough to do what is right. Daniel discovered that people wanted to attack him
because of his integrity. This lesson focuses on how Daniel didn’t waver in his devotion
to God, even when he was put to the ultimate test. He trusted God, even though things
looked bad for him.

LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. WHAT: Doing what’s right isn’t always easy, but we can find strength and integrity
through our commitment and devotion to spending time regularly with God in prayer
and reading the Bible.
2. WHY: All Christians face diversions and hindrances that can distract us from
spending time with God if our priorities aren’t solidly in place.
3. HOW: Students will be encouraged to make and keep time with God a top priority in
life and remain committed to doing the right thing.

PRIMARY SCRIPTURE
Daniel 6:6-17

SECONDARY SCRIPTURES
Daniel 1:8-16 and John 12:32

TEACHING PREP
The short overview below is designed to help you prepare for your lesson. While you may not want to
convey this information word-for-word with your teenagers, you’ll definitely want to refer to it as you
lead your small group lesson.

Read Daniel 6:6-17.

Daniel’s relationship with God was widely known among his co-workers; they knew
he would not compromise his faith. They decided that the only way to find something
against Daniel was to have King Darius pass a law making it illegal for people to pray
to anyone but the king. In verse 7, we see that they lied to Darius, claiming that “all”
the leaders agreed on the need for this law—Daniel, of course, wasn’t asked for his
opinion. And they were right—Daniel ignored the new law and spent time with God
as he always had done. Not only did he continue to pray, he did it in front of an open
window where he could be seen.

We discover in verse 14 that the king was troubled when he heard that Daniel was
praying. Darius realized that he had been tricked into passing a law that targeted
Daniel. The king wanted to do the right thing and get Daniel out of this situation, but
he couldn’t because of the kingdom’s laws.

In verse 16, Daniel was arrested for praying to God and was taken to the lions’ den.
We notice here that Daniel’s life had made such an impact on King Darius that the
king told Daniel that he hoped his God would rescue him.

THE BEFORE & AFTER [optional]

Text Message Questions

We’ve provided a couple of different text message questions to send out to your students prior
to your meeting. Feel free to use one or both of the questions below. As with the rest of the
curriculum, edit these questions to fit the needs of your ministry.

• Could a court convict you of living a life that honors God? Let’s talk about it
tonight at small group.

• Do you struggle to spend time with God? Come to small group tonight; you
aren’t the only one.

Parent Email
We’ve provided you with an email below that you can send to your parents following the lesson.
Our hope is to encourage parents to continue the conversation at home. Feel free to edit and
customize the email to fit your ministry needs.

Dear parents,

This week in small groups, we continued our look at personal integrity. We focused
on how Daniel had to choose: Maintain his devotion to God or compromise his faith.
We talked about how it is tough at times to stand firm in what we believe, but God
honors us when we make the right choice. Our teenagers discussed how we can
get distracted by all that we do, and how we sometimes decide to put God on the
back burner.

Spending time with God is vital to spiritual growth. We might start the day with good
intentions of spending time with God, but we let our schedules and lifestyles dictate
our time. We sometimes sacrifice our time with God. It can seem hard to juggle all of
life’s responsibilities and time with God. Usually when we fail to spend time with God,
it’s because we have failed to plan. As Christians, we have the opportunity to plan
time to be with God daily and keep it a priority in our lives.

During the week, talk with your teenager about the importance of making God our top
priority in life. Here are some questions and topics that could help your conversation:
• I’ve heard this saying before: “If you got arrested for being a Christian,
would there be enough evidence to convict you?” How would you answer
that question?
• Daniel was going to pray to God, no matter what. How might your life be
different if you grew to have this level of commitment to God? How can you
reach that place in your spiritual life?
• What things tend to distract you from spending time with God?

Pray with your teenager, and ask God for help in developing healthy habits and
patterns that will contribute to spiritual growth. Have a great week!
 Week 2:
integrity: standing firm in tough times Integrity Under Fire

2. LEsson guide
GETTING THINGS STARTED [optional]
Welcome your students and invite them into your meeting area. Open in prayer, and jump right
into teaching the lesson.

If you came up with an opening activity, movie clip, or game that worked well with your group,
and you’d like to share it with other youth workers, please email us at
[email protected].

TEACHING GUIDE
The goal of the Teaching Points is to help students capture the essence of each lesson with
more discussion and less lecture-style teaching. The main points we have chosen here are
(1) Devotion is known, (2) Devotion is planned, (3) Devotion is unwavering, and (4) Devotion
is impacting.

Remember: All throughout these lessons, it’s up to you to choose (1) how many questions you
use, and (2) the wording of the main points—keep ours, or change the wording to make it
clearer for your audience.

Read Daniel 6:6-17 together as a group. Consider allowing one or more of the teenagers to read
the text.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Let’s spend some time looking at some of the
characteristics of godly integrity.

1. Devotion is known

ASK:
• Maybe you’ve heard this before: “If you got arrested for being a Christian,
would there be enough evidence to convict you?” How would you answer
that question?
 • What kinds of “evidence” might people see in Christians’ lives? What kinds
of “evidence” are the most powerful?
• How would the people in your life react if you started living more openly for
God in all areas of life? Explain.

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: When we choose to be people of integrity and live out
our faith consistently, others will notice. People around us will realize that there is
something different about the way we handle situations in life. Our faith in God will
be demonstrated through our actions, attitudes, and decisions. The opposite is also
true! When we are not devoted to God, it will be evident in our lives.

2. Devotion is planned

ASK:
• If an athlete is preparing for the Olympics, what kind of training is essential
for success?
• How might this process of preparation be similar to spiritual growth?
• Think ahead five years. What do you want your spiritual life to look like?
What will it take to reach that goal?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: We can’t accomplish many goals without commitment and
effort. This is especially true for our spiritual growth. Ultimately, God is the one who
changes and transforms us, but we play a part, too. It’s important to have a plan
about how we are going to spend time with God. We’ll face countless distractions and
challenges each day, but we can decide that spending time with God becomes and
remains a priority. This isn’t a guilt issue but a commitment issue.

3. Devotion is unwavering

Video Clip [optional]

Everyone likes a free deal, right? That question is put to the test in this scene from
“The Cable Guy” (rated PG-13). Steven asks the cable guy, Chip, if there is any way
to hook him up with all the movie channels for free. Chip says that would be illegal;
Steven might get fined or jailed. Steven backtracks until Chip laughs, saying he was
just messing with him.

Start the clip at 0:11:30, as Chip walks away. End the clip at 0:12:45, as Chip says,
“I’ll juice you up.”
ASK:
• How realistic is this scene, and why?
• What is the moral dilemma behind free cable or free movie channels?
• If you have a friend who works at a store or restaurant and offers you
something that other customers can’t get or offers a cheaper price on
something, what’s the best way to respond? Why?
• How do most of your friends decide what they’ll do in these situations?

After discussing the movie clip, transition into these questions.

ASK:
• Daniel could have simply stopped praying for 30 days or even prayed
away from his window so people wouldn’t see him, but he didn’t—despite
the tough penalty. When have you, or a friend or family member, made a
similar choice? What happened?
• Daniel was going to pray to God, no matter what. What’s something in
your life you’d never stop doing, no matter the consequences? What’s
driving your commitment?
• Life can provide many excuses for sacrificing our time with God. What are
some of the diversions or hindrances that distract you from spending time
with God? If this is an area where you’re doing well, how do you resist the
challenges to your commitment to God?

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: Devotion to God ought to be unwavering, just like we see in
Daniel’s life. Sure, there are many times when it’s tough to spend time with God and
to live out our faith. However, God’s ideal is that we would hold nothing back in our
devotion to him. We all fall short of this standard, but we can’t let that become an
excuse. Follow HARD after God—this kind of devotion provides the building blocks of
a life filled to the brim with integrity.

4. Devotion is impacting

SAY SOMETHING LIKE: When we live out our faith and faithfully serve God, it will
impact people around us. They will see that we are different, and it will draw people
to God (see John 12:32). We don’t have to be aggressive or obnoxious about sharing
our faith because our actions and lifestyle clearly declare our commitment to God.
Pair up with another person in the group for these questions.

ASK:
• What are examples of aggressive or obnoxious ways Christians attempt to
share their faith? Why do you see these efforts as aggressive or obnoxious?

• How have you impacted a friend’s life for Christ without being brash
or obnoxious?

Bring your students back together to share their answers to these questions.

additional discussion [optional]

ASK:
• The officials knew that Daniel would pray to God every day, so they used his
devotion to God as a way to trick the king. If you were the king, what would
you have been feeling?

• How did ignoring King Darius’ decree affect Daniel’s integrity?

• Read Daniel 1:8-16. What can you learn about Daniel’s character based on
this passage?

• It’s a safe bet for me to assume that you’ve never been thrown into a lions’
den, but you’ve been thrown into some tense situations in your life—what’s
going through your mind and heart when you’re “under the gun”? What can
you learn about faith from Daniel’s experience in the lions’ den?

application
ASK:
• Daniel’s co-workers knew that no matter what, his faith was the foundation
of who he was and shaped everything he did. When your non-Christian
friends look at your life, how important would they say your faith is to you?
Why would they answer that way?

• We see through this passage how non-Christians can be influenced by our

devotion to God. What are some ways you are right now influencing your
friends by your choices?
 • What can we do as a group to make and keep prayer a priority in our lives?
Let’s brainstorm some ideas. Which of these ideas will you commit to
putting into practice this next week?

SUMMARY
End your small group lesson here. Provide your teenagers with a quick summary or take-home
challenge based on (1) the content of this lesson, (2) the dialogue that took place during the
lesson, (3) your understanding of the issues and struggles your teenagers are facing, and (4) the
big picture of your youth ministry and what your leadership team wants accomplished with the
teaching and discussion time.

FOR KEEPS [MEMORY VERSE]

Encourage and/or challenge your teenagers to memorize the verse below.

He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God
(Daniel 6:10).