Remember
Breath Prayer: From Zechariah 4:6
Breathe in: Not by might or power
Breath out: But by God's Spirit
Song:
Remember what we learned and put into practice last week?
Is anyone celebrating something that happened this week? Let’s share so we can all thank God together.
Is anyone struggling, feeling sad, lonely or scared? How can we pray for one another?
Practice the Following Jesus Liturgy (With our youngest kids only focus on the portion that we’re currently learning)
Leader: Because of the Gospel we receive the Gift. What is the Gift?
Kids respond:
We are forgiven
We are freed
Reflect
Explore Key Concepts - Consider passing around these phrases for kids to read them aloud before listening to the story.
"The way we fight and overcome our flesh isn’t through willpower but through the Spirit’s power." John Mark Comer
"God's power is going to come into you. God's Holy Spirit is coming."
In their hearts they felt a strange heat, almost as if their cold hearts were melting. God was giving them brand new hearts, hearts that work properly."
Now God was closer than He'd ever been, inside their hearts!
Heaven was coming into their hearts! - "Make your home in me as I make my home in you", says Jesus.
Nothing in all the world will be able to stop God's plan.
Read: "God Sends Help"
Discover through curious questions:
Ask the children what stood out to them. What did they like about the story? Was anything new or different than how they’d heard the story in the past? Allow the conversation to be led by their questions, insights, and wonderments.
Discuss: Filled with the Holy Spirit
Have you ever had a moment where you wanted to do the right things but it just felt really hard? Maybe you knew what you should do (apologize, share, be generous, forgive someone for hurting you), but you just didn't want to do it. You wanted to stay mad, hurt, angry or selfish. Has that every happened to you? It happens to all of us, even grown-ups!
The Holy Spirit has been given to us as God's Spirit (His thoughts, power, and emotions). Because we have His Spirit we can do things with His help! Without His help it can be really hard to act like Jesus. But with His Spirit He empowers us to overcome our desire to do wrong, and teaches us to love like He loves.
It's not because of our strength, it's because of His! The Holy Spirit is our Helper.
Respond
Experience: Role Play
Act out ways that you can be filled with His Spirit in your everyday life. First act out a scenario of what life looks like without God's power and love. Then act out the same scenario with His love. Examples:
A group of friends is playing together and someone else wants to join in. What happens when we role play this in selfishness and insecurity vs love and inclusion?
You're at the playground and a smaller child is having trouble getting up the stairs to reach the slide. You think about helping but you really want to be the first one to reach the top.
You are at lunch and the person next to you seems quiet and lonely. You're enjoying your pack of cookies and don't really want to reach out, but you know it could make their day better.
Make up your own examples!
Encounter: PRAY
God does not expect us to be perfect. But He does tell us to be filled with His Spirit! He does this because He knows life is so much better when we have His power and love within us.
Wait on the Lord quietly. Open a time of prayer by asking the Lord to soften our hearts. Pray for one another to be filled with God's Spirit so that we can know Him and love the way that He has loved us. Allow space for the kids to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to fill them again and again.
If you have time and capacity allow the kids to draw a prayerful picture of what life looks like when we're filled with God's Spirit. What does it feel like and what do we do? Imagine and draw. Then share with one another.
Listen
When God sent His Holy Spirit the disciples were filled with boldness. They began to gather together, preach and teach the Word of God. They moved in great generosity towards those in need and spent time in worship and prayer.