Children of God - Sunday July 25, 2021
Sunday July 25, 2021 (Vol 12, Unit 35, Session 4)
Hi there, and thanks for joining us this week. We hope this blog will be useful as a tool for you to review the previous Sunday’s Children’s church lesson and help your kids grow in their faith. Please feel free to use as much of it as you choose. You know your kids and are the best possible teacher for them. God has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to do more than you think possible (Eph 3:20). So, let’s have some fun and teach our kids from the scriptures.
Parent Devotional – Children of God
1 John 2-3
The apostle John had been one of Jesus’ closest friends. Along with Peter and James, John was part of the innermost core of Jesus’ disciples. John even referred to himself in his Gospel as “the one whom Jesus loved.” John left Jerusalem and went to Ephesus around A.D. 70. He stayed there as a church leader until nearly A.D. 100.
It is not surprising that 50 years after Jesus returned to heaven, John wrote a letter to help believers understand who Jesus is: The Son of God. At the center of John’s message was one key theme: love. Obeying God’s command to love one another is a mark of believers, whom John describes as brothers and sisters—children of God.
John wrote that God is love, and if believers truly love God—if they truly are His children—they will love one another. Our love, which we draw from the power of the Spirit, should be so deep that we are willing to lay down our lives for one another just as Jesus did for us. It is this deep, genuine love that will cause the world to understand the reality of the gospel.
Love is misunderstood and distorted in our culture today, and the kids you teach have been impacted by this in some way. Many of your kids may see love as just a feeling, as something temporary, or as something that must be earned. This session provides you with the perfect opportunity to expose the world’s myths about love and remind kids of the truth about God’s love.
Also help kids begin to grasp the idea that followers of Jesus are children of God. This is an identity shared by all believers. As Christians, we can know that Jesus loves us by what He did for us: dying to save us from our sins. We, in turn, can show our love for Jesus by what we do to serve others.
Parent Guidance and Instructions
As we begin to explore this week’s lesson, take a moment to pray and remember the verse from Deuteronomy about teaching your children the scriptures. Deuteronomy 6:7 says: “You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Maybe you do not have time to sit and have an hour of Bible time all at once, or perhaps your children are too young to sit for that long. Consider the key points of the lesson and ask God to give you opportunities to speak them into the hearts of your children throughout the week. Let the Bible become a part of your day-to-day. Be blessed this week, my friends!
Each week we include songs, activity pages, the bible lesson video, memory verses, and possibly a craft or 2. We pray this will help you find ways to engage your kids spiritually. It is written in script form from the K-2nd grade lesson, so you can read directly from it or change it to suit your children. Take some time to look at and print the activity pages and the additional activities and information (found in the links at the bottom of the page) to review the lesson so you can adjust as needed. I have included the Bible and Discussion questions along with a breakdown of the Gospel in the Older Kids Activities pages and loads of activities and crafts on the Preschool Extra Activity Pages. Once you are ready, go ahead and start with these songs if you would like, or pick some of your favorite worship songs and then jump right in! Have fun! And remember, this does not need to be done in one sitting! Feel free to break it up over the week. Please contact us if you have any questions or suggestions. We would love to hear from you!
Opening
“Blessings and Bummers”
Let’s get started. Tell me, what have you seen the Lord doing in your lives this week? What have your greatest blessings been? How about your biggest challenges?
Parents share your blessings and bummers, encourage the kids to do the same.
Prayer
Let’s go to the Lord in prayer: Father God, Thank you. Thank you for providing for our needs. You are so good to us even though we do not deserve it! Thank you for continuing to bless us, Lord. Thank you for being patient with us. Thank you to our friends as well as our families. Most importantly, we thank you always for sending Jesus to live a perfect life and die to pay for our sins. Thank you for raising Him from the dead and promising us life with you forever if we believe in Him. Please help us be thankful for all you do for us and look to you in all that we do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
(Please add to or customize prayer time to fit your family)
Praise the Lord for hearing our prayers!
Let’s chat!
Prompt kids to discuss several ways that we show love to other people.
Say • John was one of Jesus’ disciples and closest friends. He had seen how Jesus loved others by serving them. John wrote a letter to believers to help them understand how to love and serve others the same way Jesus loved and served others. John said that we must love others through our words and actions. Can you think of times when others have shown love to you? Did they love you through their words or actions?
Optional Session Starter Activity
Pick one of two options or do both; this is your party. (You can find these on page 2 of the optional activity pages attached at the bottom of the post.)
Big Picture Question
The New Testament is filled with commands to love our neighbors. Jesus taught that we should even love our enemies, but that kind of love can be difficult. It helps to focus on our future hope: eternal life with Christ. What will happen for all Christian in the future? One day all Christians will see Jesus in His glory and live with Him forever.
Review
Paul was able to encourage believers to stand strong in their faith because he did that every day in his own life. Paul was willing to do hard things to share the gospel. Paul met with people again and again to share the gospel. Paul trusted God to rescue him even in the middle of a shipwreck. He trusted God to keep His promise to rescue him from the storm. Last week, Paul encouraged Philemon to treat Onesimus as a brother in Christ. In today’s Bible story, John encourages believers to show love to one another with more than just our words. Our story is called “Children of God.”
John wrote the book of 1 John as a letter to believers. John was an apostle of Jesus and one of Jesus’ closest friends. John knew first-hand how much Jesus loved His followers. Fifty years after Jesus ascended into heaven, John wrote this letter to help believers know how much Jesus loved them. Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life for us. Jesus took our punishment for sins by dying on the cross in our place. When we confess our sins and believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection, we become children of God.
As children of God, we all have a command to obey: to love one another. This is how people in the world know that we are followers of Jesus. John urged believers to love one another the same way Jesus loved us. Jesus didn’t just say He loved us, He demonstrated His love with His actions. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can love each other well. We should love one another so much that we’re willing to help with any need, even lay down our own lives for someone else. Are you willing to do that? This is the kind of genuine love we should show our brothers and sisters in Christ. We can love and serve others because of how Jesus loved us first.
Love is more than a feeling. Love isn’t something we have to earn from someone else. Love is a choice to put another person’s needs in front of your own. Love is choosing to stand by someone even when they mess up. Jesus showed us the perfect example of love. He gave His life so we might live. That’s how we are to love one another. That’s how the world will know that we belong to Jesus.
We don’t love others to earn Jesus’ love. We love and serve others, as a way to show our love for Jesus and our thankfulness for what He did for us.
Christ Connection
John wrote a letter to teach believers in the church—the children of God—about the importance of showing love. Love is more than feelings or words; it is an action. Jesus showed God’s love for us when He died on the cross to rescue people from sin.
Bible Time!
Distribute a Bible to each kid. Help them find 1 John 3. Ask the kids if they know how many books in the Bible John wrote. (five—the Gospel of John; 1, 2, 3 John; and Revelation) Challenge the kids to count how many times the word love is used in 1 John 3. (Answer may vary depending on translation; nine in CSB.)
Ask the following questions. Lead the group to discuss:
· What do we become when we believe in Jesus? (children of God, 1 John 3:1-2)
· What command did John give to children of God? (to love one another, 1 John 3:11)
· How do we love one another? (in deed and in truth, 1 John 3:18)
· What does godly love look like? Guide kids to look at Jesus as the perfect example of love. Jesus served His disciples, taught them, and laid down His life for sinners. We can love one another by serving one another, helping one another study the Bible, and protecting one another from harm.
· How can we love one another well? Help the kids understand that, on our own, we do not have the power to love in Godly ways. Remind the kids that the Holy Spirit lives in believers to give us the power to love God and love one another.
· When is it hard to show godly love to others? Guide kids to think through situations they have faced in which they didn’t want to show love to someone. Help them understand that we must love even those who treat us badly. Be sure to remind kids that loving someone doesn’t mean letting them hurt you. If any kids disclose abuse or neglect, report it to law enforcement and your ministry leaders according to the laws where you live.
Say • Children of God love one another with their actions. Love is more than just how we feel about others. Love is an action to show others that we are children of God. It is by our love for others that the world will know we follow Jesus.
Key Memory Verse
Read the verse together.
This key passage tells us that God will absolutely keep us as His children until the day Jesus returns. When God calls us to salvation and we respond, we become children of God. God begins a good work in our hearts. God promises to complete that good work when we reach heaven.
Memory Verse Activity:
Before the session, use white crayon to write each word of the key passage on a separate sheet of white paper. For larger groups, make multiple sets so each kid has at least one word. Help the kids use washable watercolor paints to cover the sheets and cause the words to appear where the paint won’t absorb into the paper. Ten work together to arrange the sheets in order.
Say • It takes time for God to complete the good work He started in our hearts. But He is faithful and will make us like Jesus. Each day the Holy Spirit transforms us a little bit. Once we respond to God’s gift of salvation, we become children of God. He will keep us and work on our hearts until we reach heaven.
That is all I have for this week. Let’s pray together:
God, thank You for adopting us as Your children. Help us to love one another the way Jesus loved us. Help our love to be more than just feelings or words. Help us to show people our love through our actions. Amen.
Thanks for joining us! I hope to meet you here again next week!
Thank you to Lifeway for allowing us to publish this lesson using their Gospel Project materials.
Additional Activities and Information
