[This week we will primarily teach the doctrine of the Holy
Spirit from this passage. The questions are about knowing God and so we’ll
focus on the HS role in helping us to do that.]
3-5s
Theme: Jesus sent His
Holy Spirit so that we can know God, the Father.
Intro:
Has anyone ever given you a really good present? What was
it?
[Have a present out] This is a present from Jesus. Shall we
find out what it is?
[Open – inside is a piece of paper saying ‘the Holy Spirit’]
Was that what you expected? Wanted? It might not seem like much but it’s the
most wonderful present Jesus could have given.
[Could play pass the parcel with questions inside – in the
middle is ‘the Holy Spirit’]
Teaching:
Do you remember, Jesus says that He is going away and all
His friends are really sad? He is going to die on the cross the next day, then
He’ll rise from the dead and go to back to His Father God.
What are they going to do without their best friend?
But Jesus promises that He will send the Holy Spirit to be
with them after He has gone. And because the Holy Spirit is God as well, it
means Jesus will be with them always.
[Have a body outline – stick the piece of paper saying Holy
Spirit on the person] The Holy Spirit comes to live in us when we trust Jesus.
Read 14:15-17. He will never leave you. That means God is always with you,
wherever you go.
This is amazing: for everyone who trusts in Jesus the Holy
Spirit, God Himself, will come and live in them. [Show What’s in the Bible
video clip about the Holy Spirit.]
And Jesus is telling His friends here about the Holy Spirit.
Because they are worried that they will be left all on their own because Jesus
is going away, Jesus is going to give them an extra special present, His
Spirit. Read v18. And the Holy Spirit will help us to live for Jesus too. Read
v21.
The Holy Spirit comes to help us. He helps us to get to know
Jesus and to love Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit we could never know Jesus or
be His friends, we would be all confused and muddled about who He is. [Stick
‘Jesus’ in the head of the outline]
The Holy Spirit gives us the Bible as well. He helped Jesus’
friends remember everything that Jesus had said and done so that they could
write it down. Read v25-26. [Put a picture of a Bible in their hand]
Philip asked Jesus a question: How do we get to know God the
Father? Jesus tells them that if you know and love Jesus, God the Son, then you
know God the Father and God the Spirit comes and lives in you. Did you know
boys and girls, that we have One God in 3 Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
[Put Father and Son below Spirit on the body.]
Activities:
- ‘The Holy Spirit helps me know Jesus’ headbands
- Holy Spirit presents
Songs:
- The Spirit Song – from Get Ready
- I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (from A Very, very Big God)
5-11s
Theme: Jesus sent His
Holy Spirit so that we can know God, the Father.
Intros:
Pass the Parcel – questions from previous weeks between the
layers
Teaching:
Can we remember where Jesus is? – in an upper room, the
night before He dies.
He’s just told His friends that He’s going away – he will
die, rise again and then go back to God the Father. They are really upset. How
will they cope without their master, their best friend? [Have a child up as one
of Jesus’ friends, dress them up]
Well, there’s good news: Jesus is going to give them the
most fantastic present!
The Holy Spirit! [write label saying ‘the Holy Spirit’]
But why is this such a fantastic present? Read v15-17. The
Holy Spirit helps us and lives in us [stick label on child]. He is our helper
who is always with us. He is the Spirit of Jesus and God Himself. So it’s a
wonderful present: God Himself living in us, helping us to say no to sin and to
love Jesus more.
This is amazing and new. In the OT only a few people had the
HS. [Show What’s in the Bible: Holy Spirit clip]
And did you notice it’s the Holy Spirit who helps us to know
who Jesus is? Without the Holy Spirit we’d be really muddled about who Jesus is
and what He came to do. [put headband with ‘know Jesus’ on child]
[Could play Guess Who! – blindfold a child and they need to
‘know’ another child by feeling their face. ] The Holy Spirit takes the
blindfold off our eyes so that we can ‘see’ Jesus.
The Holy Spirit also gives us the Bible. Read v25-26. He
helped the disciples remember everything that Jesus said and did and to write
it down. [Put a Bible in child’s hand]
[Could play ‘Remember’ – they need to tell you eg what they
had for dinner last week, what you were wearing last week, etc.] Holy Spirit
helped Jesus’ followers remember even the little details.
The amazing thing is that God is three in one. He is one God
in three persons. Does anyone know who the three persons are? Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. And Jesus says when we trust in Him we receive the Holy Spirit and
therefore the Father and the Son, too. Read v18-21. [Stick Father and Son under
Spirit]
So we have a lot to say thank you to Jesus for the Holy
Spirit! What an amazing gift He is to us!
Let’s pray.
Table time:
Younger ones – stick stickers on outline of figure
Older ones – funsheet
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