Opening

Find out from the children whether they have been in trouble. Receive the answers they give. Today’s story is about a man who got into trouble. We are going to see what he did.

Bible Story

● Last week we learnt there are eight beatitudes as taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. We learnt what beatitudes are and that
we should obey the word of God in order to be blessed. We learnt that Jesus loved teaching people about different things so
that they would know about the kingdom of God.
● Today we are going to look at beatitude number one. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. No one likes to
be poor, but we see Jesus teaching that a poor man is blessed. Jesus was not referring to material poverty but rather spiritual poverty.

● Happy is the person who realizes that they need a Savior because they cannot save themselves, for the kingdom of heaven is their
home. Poor in this verse takes on the meaning of having no way or other option of getting close to God. It may be easier to also explain that
the opposite of ‘poor in spirit’ would be, “I can handle life all on my own, I don’t need God.” What this verse is indicating is that once we
realize that we need God and given Him every single part of our lives instead of trying to handle it all on our own, we are taken care of, and will be honored with a home in the kingdom of heaven for surrendering that control to Him.
● Hope should be placed not in things that can change with circumstance, but in our unchanging Lord.
● To understand this, we are going to see a man in the Bible that was spiritually poor. He is referred to as a centurion; a centurion can be compared to a commander of an army. He was an important person in the community.
● The Centurion knew that Jesus would help him out of trouble. He understood that he could not do it on his own and therefore went to Jesus for help. In the story we read that the centurion sent some elders to Jesus to ask him to come to his house and heal his servant ,
● “So Jesus went with them, he was not far from the house when the centurion sent his friends to say to Him ’I do not deserve to have you come under my roof, that is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to you but say a word and my servant will be healed”
● “And when Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and turning to the crowd following him he said “I tell you, I have not found such great
faith even in Israel” You know during that time the Pharisees thought they were superior, that they were closer to God than others because they were the teachers of the law.

Questions

1. What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit? Galatians 5: 22, let the children mention them randomly.
2. Why should we bear these fruits of the Holy Spirit? To show we love Jesus and help others become friends with Jesus.
3. What are the different fruits you as a person think you have? Let the children mention them.
4. Why do you think we should submit to Jesus in order for us to bear these fruits? Align this with John 15: 5, it is only through the help of the Hoy Spirit.
5. What are you going to do as a person to bear fruits? Let the children answer randomly.