The Beatitudes Huddle 5 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 (NLT) SETTING THE ATMOSPHERE As children arrive, collect the In slips from parents and see which grade they are in for their huddle teams. Remember to check all slips to make sure children are to be in Up & Out this hour. Team Time Each team leader (student leader) should spend time getting a conversation started within the team to find out more about each child. Spend time today discussing the following questions up front... Huddle Teams 1st & 2nd grade girls 1st & 2nd grade boys 3rd & 4th grade girls 3rd & 4th grade boys Is there anything new happening in your life? Can you think of anything that makes you feel that you are blessed? Can you name something this week that you are thankful for? Were you really sad about anything or anyone this week? Were you comforted by someone or did you comfort someone in need? Did you work on being humble and putting others first? Opening Prayer Leader prays for the group. LESSON HUDDLE (to have a shorter version of the huddle, use only the highlighted portion) (This leaves out any past weeks review and the entire Beatitudes scripture.) Let s all come over together and get started this morning. Good morning, Up & Out! Where we look up (pause for the group to respond) TO GOD and look out (Pause) TO OTHERS. This is our fifth week in the Beatitudes. We have learned some important things these past few weeks. Remember, the Beatitudes tell us what our Attitudes should Be. We have also learned that blessing means God s special favor in our lives, and that blessings aren t always what we expect. The first Beatitude taught us that that our worth comes from God, not our own abilities. The second Beatitude taught us that the kind of mourning Jesus meant for us to have is the kind that gives us such great sadness that makes our hearts and our stomachs hurt for our sins. The third Beatitude taught us that being humble or meek means being kind and gentle, standing up for what s right without taking revenge and having actions led by principles and following God. Let s read the whole
Beatitudes passage, to see if we can hear which one is the fourth Beatitude. Matthew 5:1-12 (NLT). (Read, or have a child or student leader read, Matthew 5:1-12.) One day as He saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around Him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. 7 God blesses those who are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. 9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. 10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 11 God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way. So did anyone notice which one is the fourth Beatitude? Who would like to read the fourth Beatitude from your bible, Matthew 5:6? (Allow a child to read.) 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. Let s play a quick game. Everybody stand up right where you are. Now, if you did NOT eat breakfast this morning, sit down. If you had cereal for breakfast, sit down. If you had eggs for breakfast, sit down. (Keep naming breakfast foods until only a couple of kids are left standing. When you get to that point, say) Now if you had a slice of cardboard for breakfast, sit down. (No one will sit.) If you drank water from your dog s water bowl, sit down. Why aren t you all sitting down? What did you have for breakfast? (Allow the standing students to answer, and then have them sit down.) So did anyone have cardboard or dog water for breakfast? No one? Why not? (Allow students to answer.) I ve never been hungry for cardboard or dog s water! When we eat breakfast, we want to eat things that are good for our bodies and fill us up. We know what it means to be hungry and to be thirsty when it comes to our bodies. Our tummies start to growl, our mouths get dry and we may get a little grumpy. Those are signs that we need to eat and drink something to take care of our bodies. But Jesus isn t talking about being physically hungry and thirsty. He s talking about being spiritually hungry and thirsty. When our hearts are hungry and thirsty, we need to fill them with the justice and righteousness of God. We have spent the past few weeks coming to the realization that we imperfect people, sinners, who need to learn
to be humble and gentle. Our spirits are hungry. When my body is hungry, I crave chicken and dumplings. When my heart and spirit is hungry, I crave justice and righteousness. Today s beatitude promises to fill us up with good things. Who wants to re-read today s beatitude? (Allow a child to read Matthew 5:6.) 6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. When you read this word, justice, in the bible, it means that something is just and right. The word justice, in the bible, means doing what is right according to God s laws, what He wants you to do. So when you let His word (all found in the bible) set the standard for your life, you are being just. When seeking to do what is pleasing to Him, you are being just, having justice. The problem is, I, just like everyone else on the planet, try to fill myself up with other things than justice. Let me demonstrate what it might look like when we try to fill ourselves up with things other than things that are just and right with God. Demonstration: Supplies Needed: Large empty bowl Pitcher of water Blue food coloring (add the blue food coloring to the pitcher of water, before class) 1 clear plastic cup with several holes cut out of the bottom 1 clear plastic cup (clear if you have it on hand) Directions: Place the bowl on the table, along with a pitcher of water. (Before class, color the water with food coloring to make it easier to see.) Hold up a clear plastic cup that has several holes cut out of the bottom. This cup represents what our lives look like when we try to live our lives without submitting to God, when we try to fill ourselves up with things other than God. Hold up the water pitcher. The water in the pitcher represents the blessings and good things God wants to give us. Hold the cup over the bowl and slowly pour the water into the cup. It should very quickly drain out of the bottom, like a colander. Like this cup can t do its job with holes in it, we can t do our job without God in us. We may try, but we will soon find that we are empty, hungry, and thirsty. (Leader: Keep these things close to you. You ll continue to use them through the bottom of this page.) When our hearts are hungry and thirsty, God is the only one who can truly fill us up! Being just and right with God means to live the way He wants us to. Do you see how we can t do these things on our own? Have you seen how much better your life is with God in it, in your heart? Something so amazing happens when we start to hunger and thirst for being right and just with God, when we start to crave justice and righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT) says, 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
When we belong to Jesus and choose to follow Him, he gets rid of the old, sinful, broken things in our lives, (hold up the cup with holes in the bottom and make a show of throwing it into the trash) and He makes us brand new! (Hold up a new clear cup.) When we hunger and thirst for justice, God fills us up. (Fill this cup up until it overflows into the bowl beneath it.) God fills us up so much that all the blessimgs and good things he gives us overflow! Have you ever heard the saying the grass is always greener on the other side? It means that no matter what we have, what other people have will always seem better. That is because we hunger and thirst for something this world can never fill. We hunger and thirst for God s justice, for heaven, which we get when we follow Jesus, who takes away our sins! End by adding the hunger and thirst bee to the satisfied part of the hive on the BEE ATTITUDES poster. As we close in prayer, and as you go about your week, when you are having hunger pangs or you are thirsty, think about filling your heart, as well, with all the things that are just and right with God. Pray and thank God for filling your heart. Ask Him to help us to be just and right, like Him, because we can t do it all on our own. ACTIVITY Game: Honey Pot Toss Supplies Needed: Tennis balls or bean bags (bees) Buckets or jugs with tops cut off (honey pots) You can decorate the buckets to look like honey pots and the tennis balls or bean bags to look like bees or just ask the children to use their imaginations. You can also use a corn hole game board and bags in their place. Place the buckets at one end of the room. Have the kids toss the tennis balls into the buckets from various distances. The object game is to teach them that the farther away they are from God (the buckets) then the harder it is to get their hearts (the buckets) filled. If the bucket is not against a wall and falls over when trying to toss the ball inside, just put something heavy in the bottom of the bucket to hold it up more firmly. ACTIVITY (These are two separate activities for your class but done together or back to back.) Game: I m so Full AND Craft: I BEE Hungry
#1 I m So Full Supplies: A closed jar with honeycomb cereal. Make sure to count each piece as you fill the jar. Write the number somewhere for the leaders. Piece of paper for each child (to write their guesses on) Pens or pencils to write with Pass around a jar that is filled with Honeycomb cereal. Ask the children to guess how many honeycombs it took to fill this jar. Pass around small pieces of paper for the kids to write their name and their guess of how many honeycombs are in the jar. While they are working on their second activity, go through the pieces of paper to see who came the closest to the actual number. *The jar should be filled and counted before class then keep the number in a safe place like your pocket. Whoever comes closest to the number, gets to take the jar home to share their snack and their lesson. #2 I BEE Hungry Supplies: Clothespins (1 per child) Snack-size Ziplock bags (1 per child) Googly eyes (tiny size) (2 per child) Pipe cleaners for antennae (black) (6 piece per child) Glue (liquid or sticks is fine for adhering paper and googly eyes to clothespins) Mini magnets to fit on clothespin (1 per child) *Hot glue gun and glue sticks for leaders to put magnets on clothespins (or put magnets on before class) *Strips of yellow construction paper or cardstock cut to fit clothespins (if you want to save time during the craft, black lines can be printed on the yellow cardstock ahead of time before being cut into strips the same size as the clothespins. The children will just glue the strip to the clothespin.) (1 strip per child) Black Sharpie or black markers for black lines to be drawn on paper, draw a nose and mouth if they choose to. Honeycomb cereal (enough to fill each snack-size bag) Directions: 1) Give each child one clothespin. 2) Have them glue on one yellow strip of paper to one side of the clothespin. 3) Give two Googly eyes to each child and have them glue them on the yellow paper on the side of the clothespin that is closed/gripping side/clipping side. 4) Let it dry. 5) Put the Honeycomb cereal into the snack-size Ziploc bag until it is a little over half full. Seal the bag and clip it with the clothespin. 6) Next, give each child a six-inch length pipe cleaner. Have them fold down/curl the tips of the pipe cleaner. Then have them bend the entire piece in half and clip the pipe cleaner in the clothespin. 8) If it doesn t already have black lines, have the children draw black lines on the yellow paper after gluing it to the clothes
pin. They can draw eyes and a mouth if they want to. 9) Leaders hot glue tiny magnets to the back of the clothespin (if not already done for you ahead of time). 10) Let it all dry. When they take it home, they can eat their snack when they are hungry. Hopefully, this will make them think of their lesson. Then they can put their clip on their refrigerator for the next time they need to clip a snack like a chip clip.