Peace lesson 1. Fruit of the Spirit. Philip and the Ethiopian. Episode 1. Acts 8:26 40 MEMORY VERSE

Transcription

1 Peace lesson 1 Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is... peace Peace Staying calm and cool knowing that God is in control. Episode 1 Philip and the Ethiopian Acts 8:26 40 MEMORY VERSE For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 KEY POINT Without Jesus it is impossible to have peace. Lesson 1 page 5

2 Let s Talk EARLY ARRIVAL (before service) Have some upbeat music playing and welcome children warmly. Teachers should take this time to engage the children in conversation. Ask them about their week, school, and home. Begin to establish relationships. BEGIN CLASS (service time) Introduce yourself and your assistants. Before the discussion questions, PRAY that the Lord will bless your time together. RELATE it : : : ask and discuss the following questions Have you even seen a Miss America Pageant? Typically the judges will ask, What would you do if you won the title? And part of the contestants usual answer is promote world peace. But they never ask how they would do that. 1 What 2 Why jobs or positions do you think have a lot of influence (or power) in our country and around the world? Let s name a few (e.g., a president or a movie star). Write the answers on the board. do you think these types of positions have so much power? 3 Write 4 Do 5 Have 6 If the name(s) of specific people in these positions who have really affected many lives (either in a good way or a bad way). How have they changed things or what have they done to change anything? (For example, President Lincoln helped end slavery; Brittney Spears makes girls want to dress like her.) you think any of these people or jobs really have the power to bring peace to the world? you seen the bumper sticker that says, No Jesus No Peace, Know Jesus Know Peace? Explain what that means. the only way to have real peace is by knowing Jesus, who do you think has the most important job in the entire world? lesson 1 2 nd 5 th grade page 6

3 CONNECTit CONNECT it : : : SAY The answer to that question is you and me and anyone who knows Jesus and shares Him with others. It doesn t matter if we talk to thousands of people at once or to just one person. This month we are going to talk about PEACE, and what better way to begin that topic than with Jesus. In today s Bible lesson we are going to learn about one man who shared Jesus with thousands of people and then God told him to go and share with just one particular man traveling on a desert road. Let s watch Virtuality now and learn who these two men were and why it s so important to talk about Jesus. WATCH it : : : Go to large group to see the Virtuality DVD, Fruit of the Spirit Series DVD (VOLUME 3, EPISODE 1) lesson 1 2 nd 5 th grade page 7

4 Let s Talk Bible BIBLE STORY : : : Philip and the Ethiopian Acts 8:26 40 BE PREPARED Read the Bible story and study the background information at home. Before you begin reading today s Bible story tell children the background information in your own words. GAME RULES Divide your class into two teams (boys vs. girls or one half of the room against the other). Have the children take out their Bibles (NIV preferred) to follow along as you read the Scriptures, and so that you can help them find the answers. They may share Bibles, if necessary. Assign a captain for each team whose job will be to give the team s final answer. Award 10 points to the first team whose captain raises his or her hand and has the correct answer. Award 50 points for the bonus questions. If needed, give the verse reference locations. BACKGROUND information : : : SAY IT in your own words Ethiopia is a country on the continent of Africa. The man that we are going to read about today was an important officer for the queen of that country. He was also a eunuch (a male castrated as a child to serve in the royal court). Most eunuchs were typically slaves, but were also considered very trustworthy and loyal, which is probably the reason he was allowed to travel. Although the Bible mentions him only briefly (we don t even know his name), he was very influential and important for the future of Ethiopia. It is believed that the God of the Jews (our God) was introduced to Ethiopia many years earlier during the reign of King Solomon. The Queen of Sheba (the queen of Ethiopia at that time) visited Solomon in Jerusalem and was very impressed by his wisdom. She told him Everything I heard in my country about your achievements and wisdom is true! I didn t believe it until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. Truly I had not heard the half of it! Your wisdom and prosperity are far greater than what I was told. How happy these people must be! What a privilege for your officials to stand here day after day, listening to your wisdom! The LORD your God is great indeed! (1 Kings 10:6 9 NLT). She undoubtedly bought Judaism back to Ethiopia with her and the nation began to believe in the one true God. lesson 1 2 nd 5 th grade page 8

5 There s no doubt that the Ethiopian in our story already believed in God, but he didn t know about Jesus. There was something in his spirit that was searching for more. He had many questions and no peace, so he traveled to Jerusalem (where the Queen of Sheba first heard of God) in search of answers. The Ethiopian was searching for peace and he was about to meet Jesus the giver of peace. (Isaiah 9:6) Back in Israel, Philip (one of the Apostles) was having great success spreading the Good News of Jesus in Samaria. Acts 8:6 8 says that when the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said... [And] so there was great joy in that city. Philip may have wondered why the Lord would tell him to leave this huge city where thousands of people were listening and believing in Jesus to travel a lonely desert road to tell one man about Jesus. But that s exactly what happened, and Philip obeyed. We know that everyone is important to God, but it still may not have made much sense to Philip at the time. He probably never knew the impact this one man would have; yet history reveals a different story. Let s meet Philip and the Ethiopian on this desert road and listen to their conversation. Afterward I ll tell you the rest of the story, what Philip himself never knew. READ SCRIPTURE READ IT : : : read from NIV Bible Open your Bibles and follow along as I read Acts 8:26 31 out loud. ASK it : : : award 10 points for correct answer 1 Who told Philip to travel on the desert road that leads to Gaza? Answer: The angel of the Lord v What was the Ethiopian eunuch in charge of? Answer: All the queen s treasury v Why did the Ethiopian go to Jerusalem? Answer: To worship v Which book of the Bible was the man reading as he headed back home? Answer: Isaiah v. 28 lesson 1 2 nd 5 th grade page 9

6 5 What 6 What did the Spirit tell Philip to do when he saw the man? Answer: Just hang out with him v. 29 did the Ethiopian invite Philip to do after he asked if he understood what he was reading? Answer: He invited Philip to sit and explain it to him v. 31 READ SCRIPTURE BONUSQUESTION BONUSQUESTION BONUSQUESTION BONUSQUESTION READ it : : : read from Bible Sometimes, before we can help someone, it s important to just listen to him or her. Philip just walked along next to the chariot (chariots go much slower than cars) and listened to him read from Scripture. There is no one way to talk to someone about Jesus. There is no formula to follow, no ten steps to sharing your faith, but listening is very important. People are in different places in their journey and it s important to know where they are. By listening to the man, Philip learned that he was no stranger to the Scriptures; he knew he had come from Jerusalem (where the Temple was located), but the first question Philip asked him tells us that he must have sensed some unrest. Do you understand? The man was ready to hear and Philip got an open invitation to explain. Let s continue and read out loud the section of Isaiah they were reading together that day. It s in ACTS 8: BONUS QUESTIONS : : : award 50 points for correct answer 7 Was Isaiah talking about himself? Answer: No 8 Who was Isaiah talking about in this Scripture? Answer: Jesus 9 Isaiah lived hundreds of years before Jesus was even born, so how could he be talking about Him? Answer: Isaiah was a prophet of God; he was prophesying what would happen to Jesus someday. 10 The entire chapter 53 of Isaiah is speaking about Jesus. It is obvious to us now, but for hundreds of years before this prophecy was fulfi lled, it was a mystery. Explain how this section of Isaiah talks about Jesus? (50 points for each answer) He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth. lesson 1 2 nd 5 th grade page 10

7 Answers: Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29,36); Jesus remained silent before his accusers (Matthew 26:63, 27:12; Mark 14:61); Jesus was humble (Matthew 11:29) and unjustly accused (Luke 23:4, John 19:4-6); Jesus had no physical children born to him but all who believe in Him are the children of God (John 1:12-13). READ SCRIPTURE READ it : : : read from Bible Philip had a fantastic opportunity to share Jesus and he took it. Let s finish the story and find out if the Ethiopian believed and accepted Jesus and finally had peace, or of if he walked away unhappy and confused. Follow along as I finish reading Acts 8:35 40 out loud. ASK it : : : award 10 points for correct answer 11 Philip used the Old Testament to share the Good News of Jesus. What did the Ethiopian want to do after he heard everything? Answer: He wanted to be baptized v Why do you suppose the eunuch wanted to be baptized? Answer: Philip probably told him how Jesus was baptized and he wanted to do the same. It s likely that Philip also told him how the Pharisees rejected Jesus and refused to be baptized. (Luke 7:29 30) What happened to Philip immediately after he baptized the Ethiopian eunuch? Answer: He was miraculously taken somewhere else v. 39 Did Philip stop evangelizing because he thought this experience was just too weird? Answer: No way! He continued to preach the gospel everywhere he went. v. 40 Did the Ethiopian find peace and how do we know? Answer: Yes, he believed in Jesus and left rejoicing v. 39 CONNECTIT CONNECT it : : : SAY The New Testament had not yet been written, so although the Ethiopian already knew the Bible and God, he wouldn t have known about Jesus unless someone told him. lesson 1 2 nd 5 th grade page 11

8 It s so interesting that the Ethiopian was reading Isaiah when Philip met him on the road because it s in Isaiah that we have the clearest prophesy about Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures. KEYPOINT MEMORYVERSE Without Jesus it is impossible to have peace. And it is in Isaiah that we learn that Jesus is the Prince of Peace. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 It s in Isaiah that we learn that Jesus suffered so that we can have peace. But he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! (Isaiah 53:5 NLT) The Bible tells us that if we look for God with all of our heart we will find him (Deuteronomy 4:29). The Ethiopian went to Jerusalem to worship God but it was on his way back home that he found Jesus and finally had peace. The Queen of Sheba introduced God to the Ethiopians, but this eunuch completed the search for truth and peace by introducing Jesus to them. Historians tells us that this man began the Christian church in Ethiopia and today more people are Christians there than any other religion. The last census taken, in 2007, says that 62 percent of the nation are Christians. Philip dropped everything and obeyed God in order to meet this one man on the desert road, even if it didn t make sense. It s doesn t matter if Philip never knew why. God doesn t have to explain everything to us; we just need to obey Him. Philip s obedience bought the peace of Jesus to an entire nation for thousands of generations to come. PRAYER LET S PRAY : : : SAY Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving us so many ways to share Jesus with others. I pray that You will help us stop and listen, the same way Philip did, so that we too can share the peace of Jesus. We know that without Jesus there is no real peace. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. lesson 1 2 nd 5 th grade page 12

9 Let s Review This Month s Verse PEACE THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS... PEACE Staying calm and cool knowing that God is in control. TODAY S LESSON Bible Story Philip and the Ethiopian Location Acts 8:26 40 Memory Verse For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 Key Point Without Jesus it is impossible to have peace. TIME FILLERS Ask if anyone would like to play the teacher and review today s lesson with the class. Play games to help children memorize today s Bible memory verse. TAKE HOME SHEETS VIRTUE Quest is the take-home sheet designed for children to do with their parents. The sheet contains information about today s lesson. The goal is to partner with parents to continue and to reiterate the lesson. Be sure to hand all parents a sheet as they pick up their children. lesson 1 page 13