Goodness lesson 4 Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is... GOODNESS Goodness Choosing to make yourself useful in a way that brings glory to God. Episode 4 Your First Love Revelation 2:1 7 MEMORY VERSE The time has come, he [Jesus] said. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! Mark 1:15 KEY POINT We can t be good without Jesus. Lesson 4 page 29
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 Heart doily Construction paper Cross sticker SUPPLIES to share Crayons Glue Embellishments PREP it : : : instructions Before you begin the craft, talk about things that they love for a few minutes. Ask about foods, cartoons, songs, the teacher they love most, a friend, a cousin, the place they love to go to play or on vacation. Then steer the conversation to Jesus by asking, What is the number ONE thing you LOVE most in the entire world. If their answer is not Jesus, this craft will help remind them that He should be our first love. Then begin the craft project. ASSEMBLE it : : : instructions 1 Have the children glue their heart doilies onto the sheet of construction paper. 2 Place the cross sticker in the center of the heart. 3 They may decorate around it as they wish. 4 Write the memory verse on the paper (or place a sticker with the verse printed on it). lesson 4 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 30
CONNECT it : : : SAY We love things that are most precious to us. They make us feel happy and warm inside and we what to share those things with people we love. When Jesus is our first most important love, we want to share Him with others also. Let s watch Virtuality and learn more about Jesus our first love. CONNECTit WATCH it : : : Go to large group to see the Virtuality DVD, Fruit of the Spirit Series DVD (VOLUME 6, EPISODE 4) lesson 4 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 31
Let s Talk Bible BIBLE STORY : : : Your First Love Revelation 2:1 7 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 Revelation is the last book in the Bible. It is a prophetic book mostly about things that are yet to take place. We can trust that the future events prophesied about in this book will occur because every single prophesy in the past has happened exactly as God said it would. We can trust God s truth and we can trust His word. Jesus return and end-times events are written about in Revelation. This book brings hope to all believers in Jesus. It was written by the apostle John toward the end of his life. He was exiled on the Island of Patmos, where he died. John is the only apostle who didn t die a martyr, although he was a prisoner for sharing his faith in Jesus. John wrote about the visions of the future that Jesus gave to him. The beginning of the book is made up of letters addressed to the seven churches in Asia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Jesus praises them for the things they are doing right and He is pleased with, then rebukes them for those things they are doing that are not right. And finally He gives them instructions on what action they ought to take to make things right. Although these messages were to those seven churches, the advice Jesus gives applies to all churches everywhere. Today we re going to read the letter written to the church in Ephesus. Let s go to the Bible and learn from what they had done wrong. Then we can take some time and think about whether we can be accused of the same thing, so that we also can correct what we are doing wrong. lesson 4 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 32
PREP it : : : props and characters 1. Jesus is speaking in this entire section of Scripture. There are no characters or props. Just have children repeat certain sections as indicated for emphasis. READ SCRIPTURE READ Bible Story : : : REVELATION 2:1 7 Write this to the angel of the church in Ephesus: The One who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands says this to you. (Repeat after me. Say, That s Jesus. ) I know what you do. (Repeat after me. Say, Jesus sees everything. ) You work hard, and you never give up. (Repeat after me. Say, I try my best. ) I know that you do not accept evil people. You have tested those who say that they are apostles but really are not. You found that they are liars. (Repeat after me. Say, I don t like evil people. ) You continue to serve me. You have suffered troubles for my name, and you have not given up. (Repeat after me. Say, I ll never give up serving Jesus. ) But I have this against you: You have left the love you had in the beginning. (Repeat after me. Say, My fi rst love, Jesus. ) So remember where you were before you fell. Change your hearts and do what you did at first. If you do not change, I will come to you. I will take away your lampstand from its place. (Repeat after me. Say, I m sorry if I walked away. ) But there is something you do that is right: You hate what the Nicolaitans do, as much as I. (Repeat after me. Say, I hate what is evil. ) Every person who has ears should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. (Repeat after me. Say, I have ears to listen. ) To him who wins the victory I will give the right to eat the fruit from the tree of life. This tree is in the garden of God. (Repeat after me. Say, Thank you for the tree of life, Jesus. ) lesson 4 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 33
CONNECTIT KEYPOINT MEMORYVERSE CONNECT it : : : SAY Today s key point says that... We can t be good without Jesus Remember the memory verse from lesson 1? It said, Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above (James 1:17 NLT). So if we want to be and do good, then we need God, right? But sometimes we begin to turn our backs on God by forgetting to pray or worship or read the Bible or go to church. Then we begin to get far from God. When that happens, it is really hard to do good things. Someone who is completely evil is so far from God that no goodness can be found in him. But if we go in the other direction and get closer to God (by praising Jesus in worship, praying every day, reading the Bible and going to church), then it becomes easier to do good things. We can t be good without Jesus. When we first believed in Jesus and invited Him into our hearts, we were filled with the Holy Spirit. We were incredibly excited and wanted to share that joy with others. If that excitement has worn off a little, then it s time to return to your first love. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! Mark 1:15 Ask for forgiveness and just go back to God. Then get excited about sharing the Good News! Tell everybody! PRAYER LET S PRAY : : : SAY Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for the Good News, that Jesus died for our sins, and that when we repent and accept Him, our names will be written in the Book of Life. We want to return to You, our first love. Fill us afresh with the Holy Spirit and give us the desire to share this Good News with everyone we meet. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. lesson 4 Kindergarten 1 st grade page 34
Let s Review This Month s Verse GOODNESS THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS... GOODNESS Choosing to make yourself useful in a way that brings glory to God. TODAY S LESSON Bible Story Your First Love Location Revelation 2:1 7 Memory Verse The time has come, he [Jesus] said. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! Mark 1:15 Key Point We can t be good without Jesus. 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 4 page 35