![]() ![]() Let’s start by discussing what it means to be pure. So what is this week’s beatitude? (Allow a student to answer.) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’” His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.Ħ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,ġ0 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,ġ1 ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. (Read, or have a student read, Matthew 5:1-12.) Let’s read the whole Beatitudes passage is Matthew 5:1-12 before we learn about the sixth Beatitude. For a couple more weeks we will look at how God fills up the hunger we have in us for him. Last week we learned that God starts to fill up that emptiness by giving us mercy. They were all about being empty and humble and broken before the Lord. The first three Beatitudes didn’t really seem like blessings when we first started studying them. Whenever we see a bumblebee, we will remember what our attitude should be. That’s why we have been playing so many bee related games and making crafts about bees. Open in prayer, then say this is our seventh week studying the Beatitudes! We have learned so much in our time together! Remember, the Beatitudes tell us what our attitudes should be. Be sure to have the same number and type of objects in each bowl, so it is easy for you to know when they have removed everything and to tell the kids what they still have left to look for if they start to get frustrated. Or give the children each their own bowl and have them compete against everyone. The first team to remove all the objects except the cross wins. You can have the kids work in teams and run a relay, with children running to their team’s rice bowl, scooping up one object, and carrying it back on a spoon to their team. This represents that the way to have a pure heart is to have only Jesus as our focus. They must leave the rice and the cross in the original bowl. They must remove the objects using only the spoon or chopsticks and transfer them to another bowl. The children must sift through the rice using chopsticks or spoons in order to find all the objects, or “distractions” hidden within the rice. I personally would just use a small cross pendant and about ten marbles in each bowl of rice. Any object that is small enough to fit on a spoon or be picked up with chopsticks would work. You can also include jacks, marbles, small action figures, or beads. The basic idea is to have a bowl of dry rice or beans, with small objects mixed in. There are many versions of this game, based on the needs and abilities of your class. You may be doing good things for the kingdom of heaven, but is there any part of you that is serving God for selfish reasons? Or is your service, or any work you do, negatively affecting the quality and quantity of your relationship with your family? This week, do a heart check and ask God to purify you so you may see him clearly. If that’s the case, check your intentions. ![]() ![]() Or maybe you don’t have any “major sin” holding you back. Maybe you have some sin that you know is hindering you from living up to your fullest potential in Christ. It is to have one focus, one goal as you go about your life, and that goal is to please God. To be pure in heart is to be from contamination. Take time to meditate on this week’s Scripture and think about your own life.Gather: Bible dry erase markers or chart paper and markers BEEATTITUDES poster marbles rice small crosses bowls spoons unopened bottle of water a cup of sand a plastic spoon smocks chalkboard paint wooden hearts acrylic paint paintbrushes or small chalkboards, metallic Sharpies and washable markers.Read Scripture references and Jeremiah 17:10, Proverbs 15:11, James 4:8, Psalm 24, Psalm 51 and Luke 6:45.ONE - TWO - THREE - FOUR - FIVE - SIX - SEVEN - EIGHT - NINE.Use these links to find the whole series. Main idea: When we let Jesus purify our hearts, we can to come into God’s presence and spend all of forever with him. Beatitudes Lesson Seven: Blessed are the Pure in Heart ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |