Faithfulness lesson 3 Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is... FAITHFULNESS Faithfulness Showing others they can put their trust in you. Episode 3 Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5:1 11 MEMORY VERSE If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 KEY POINT A true friend is faithful to others. Lesson 3 page 23
Let s Create EARLY ARRIVAL (before service) Have some upbeat music playing. Welcome children warmly. Have some simple toys available to make the environment welcoming. Teachers should take this time to engage in conversation with children as they sit to play with them. 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. Have a set of supplies for yourself to demonstrate as you explain. SUPPLIES per child Construction paper Shape stickers (optional) Glue stick SUPPLIES to share add PREP it : : : instructions 1 Before class cut some construction paper into different size rectangles. But leave enough full sheets for every child. ASSEMBLE it : : : instructions 1 Have the rectangular shapes and stickers available. Children will take one rectangle and add windows and doors with the shape stickers to turn the rectangles into houses and buildings. (note: you can simply have children draw doors and windows if you don t have shape stickers) 2 When 3 Some they have finished one building they can take another rectangle and make another one. Allow time for children to make several buildings. children will take longer and have fewer buildings others will work quickly and have more. You can begin this activity as soon as children begin to arrive and that way the children that had more time will also have more. lesson 3 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 24
4 When 5 Everyone 6 When a reasonable time has passed point out to everyone that some have a lot and others have very few. Ask if it would be ok to put all the buildings into one pile and then you would pass them out equally. who agrees to this can bring their building to you and then you may divide them up equally among them. Note that they will probably not get the ones they created back. you are done dividing the buildings pass out the full sheet of construction paper and they may glue their building onto it then draw clouds and grass, etc. to finish the picture. CONNECTit CONNECT it : : : SAY This was an interesting project. Everyone made something but then you ended up with something different but every got the same number of building for their pictures. Who liked this idea? Why? Who didn t like this idea? Why not? Today s Bible story we re going to learn about a church long ago who decided to do something very similar to what you guys did today. Everyone took all their stuff, everything they owned put it in one pile (just like you) then divided it up so that everyone had what they needed. It sounded like a good idea at the time but it didn t work out so. One couple kept some of their stuff and lied about it to the church and to God. Let s watch Virtuality now and learn what happened to this couple and what we can learn today from their mistake. WATCH it : : : Go to large group to see the Virtuality DVD, Fruit of the Spirit Series DVD (VOLUME 7, EPISODE 3) lesson 3 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 25
Let s Talk Bible BIBLE STORY : : : Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5:1 11 BE PREPARED Read the Bible story and study the background information at home. The background information is provided to add insight to your lesson, so some of it might not be appropriate for all age groups. Before you begin the lesson, in your own words, tell the appropriate background information for your class age group. BACKGROUND information : : : SAY IT in your own words The story we are going to read today seems very strange unless you know what happened right before it. The apostles Peter and John were spreading the Word of God about Jesus, His life, death, resurrection and love. People believed by the thousands, and in spite of opposition from the authorities, new churches were springing up everywhere they preached. The new church was filled with the Holy Spirit and the people were so excited that they had a very radical idea. ALL of them were in agreement. No person in the group said that the things he had were his own. Instead, they shared everything... Everyone that owned fields or houses sold them. They brought the money and gave it to the apostles. Then each person was given the things he needed (Acts 4:32 35). They all were very happy and excited about selling everything they owned and giving it to the church. Then everyone received equal shares. Notice that neither God nor Peter asked them to do this; it was their idea. There is nothing wrong with doing this if that s what you want to do. But something happened in the hearts of Ananias and his wife Sapphira. Let s go to the Bible and read exactly how it all went down. PREP it : : : props and characters 1. Select a few children to act out portions of the story as you read it. If you don t have enough children, they can play multiple roles in the different sections of the story. These are the characters.» Ananias» Sapphira» Land buyer» Peter» Couple of guys 2. If you are able, bring a few of these props from home to enhance the story.» Play money lesson 3 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 26
READ SCRIPTURE READ Bible Story : : : ACTS 5:1 11 A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold some land. (Ananias take the money from the buyer of the land then say to your wife, That s a lot of money, let s keep some.) But he gave only part of the money to the apostles. (Sapphira say, Let s tell Peter we gave him everything, he s think we re so great! ) He secretly kept some of it for himself. His wife knew about this, and she agreed to it. (Ananias put some of the money in your pocket give Paul the rest) Peter said, Ananias, why did you let Satan rule your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit. Why did you keep part of the money you received for the land for yourself? Before you sold the land, it belonged to you. And even after you sold it, you could have used the money any way you wanted. Why did you think of doing this? You lied to God, not to men! (Peter say, You lied to God ) When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. (Everyone, scream.) Some young men came in, wrapped up his body, carried it out, and buried it. And everyone who heard about this was filled with fear. (Ananias falls to the fl oor and the guys drag him off ) About three hours later his wife came in. She did not know what had happened. (Sapphira enter happily skipping and say, What s happening ) Peter said to her, Tell me how much money you got for your field. Was it this much? (Peter shows her what Ananias gave him) Sapphira answered, (Sapphira say) Yes, that was the price. Peter said to her, Why did you and your husband agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The men who buried your husband are at the door! They will carry you out. At that moment Sapphira fell down by his feet and died. (Sapphira turn to see the men and say, oh oh then fall also) The young men came in and saw that she was dead. They carried her out and buried her beside her husband. (The guys drag her off next to Ananias) The whole church and all the others who heard about these things were filled with fear. (Everyone scream) lesson 3 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 27
CONNECTIT CONNECT it : : : SAY Ananias and his wife did a bad thing they lied to God and didn t care. It s important to understand that everything belongs to God everything. God never asked them to sell anything they did it because they wanted to. But they changed their minds and lied about it so that everyone would think there were so cool. But you can t lie to God, He knows everything. Ananias sin was hypocrisy (Pretending to be something that you are not) and lying. If they owned land they were probably wealthy they wanted others to see them as this very generous couple but the truth is that lied and kept a large amount for themselves. If they had come to Peter and said, We sold our field and we want to offer half to the church. That would have been great and honest. They would have been faithful. But when they lying they broke everyone s trust. KEYPOINT MEMORYVERSE A true friend is faithful to others. God doesn t expect perfection from us; He wants honesty, love and obedience. When we mess up, and we will mess up; go, confess the truth and repent. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive. Ananias and Sapphira are an example of two people who were unfaithful and unrepentant and paid dearly for it. I want to leave you with a positive example of someone who was faithful and was richly blessed by God for it. When Ruth s and Naomi s husbands died they had nothing left. Naomi, Ruth s mother-in-law, decided to return to her own land to try and find family that would help her and she told Ruth to return to her father s house so that he could take care of her. But listen to Ruth s decision, Don t ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. I will die where you die and will be buried there. May the LORD punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us! Ruth didn t return to her father s house she loved her mother-in-law and was faithful to stay by her side and help her no matter what they would face. God blessed them for her faithfulness. Ruth married a rich husband and had a baby named Obed. Obed turned out to be King David s grandfather. Who is in lesson 3 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 28
the lineage of Jesus! What a contrast between these two. Both made a great commitment, but one broke it, lied about keeping it and was punished for it. The other one kept he word and was blessed for it. PRAYER LET S PRAY : : : SAY Dear Lord, Thank you for your faithfulness. We pray that we would always keep our word. Help us confess our sins when we do mess up, so that we honor you and others will have faith in us. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. lesson 3 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 29
Let s Review This Month s Verse FAITHFULNESS THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS... FAITHFULNESS Showing others they can put their trust in you. TODAY S LESSON Bible Story Ananias and Sapphira Location Acts 5:1 11 Memory Verse If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 Key Point A true friend is faithful to others. 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 3 page 30