Summer Series

Love God & Love Others! Lesson 6 ~ Serving Others with our Gifts

Objectives... By the end of the lesson, the children will be able to...

Review Jesus’ Greatest Commands: LOVE GOD & LOVE OTHERS Identify spiritual gifts and explain their purpose – to bless others Identify possible spiritual gifts; consider ways they can use their skills, passions, & interests as tools for the

Kingdom – particularly to SERVE others

Supplies...

Page with the list of Spiritual Gifts found in the Bible / numbers in a hat or basket Poster of Scripture Passages Worksheets: Hidden pictures / Spiritual gift “Inventory”

Introduction... Play a “Hot Potato” kind of game. To play – simply gather together as a family in a circle with an object as the “potato” (a gift box would actually be great – but any object will work). Then play some music and pass the “Hot Potato”. However, the TWIST is this: the person who just passed the object to the person holding it when the music stops is “out” (not the person left holding the object...which is the rule for typical “Hot Potato”). After playing – talk about this TWIST...how did the children feel about handing off the object? How did it feel when someone was left holding the object but was NOT out? Discuss.

Lesson... Giving & Receiving

Take time to REVIEW – o Talk about the key verses we have been looking at all summer: Love the Lord your God with all your

HEART and with all your SOUL and with all your MIND; and love your neighbor as yourself. If you have not done so – make up some motions to go with this verse (found in Luke 10:27). And repeat this several times.

o Review all of the lessons done so far that fit under these ideas (LOVE GOD / LOVE OTHERS): WORSHIP / FORGIVE / PRAY HUMBLY / LOVE ENEMIES / GIVE ... talk about how these topics fit under the headings LOVE GOD (worship, pray, give) and LOVE OTHERS (forgive, love).

Review how last week we saw that God gives us GIFTS all the time. He LOVES to give us good gifts, doesn’t he? Talk about those gifts again (home, food, skills we have...etc.). Because he is so generous, he loves it when we are generous and give BACK our gifts to him (by giving money to the church or to those in need...and give other things as well, like our TIME and TALENTS).

Take time to REVIEW the “HOT POTATO” game played as an intro – o Talk about how the game is typically played (the person who ends up holding the “potato” is

typically “out”). We played it differently: the person who GAVE the gift last was the one to be out...not the one to RECEIVE it.

o Today we are going to look at the GIFTS we have that are meant to HELP OTHERS – and see how it can sometimes feel like we are “OUT” when we serve......because we don’t get the glory or the prize (at least not here and now).

o We are going to think about how we GIVE our GIFTS to OTHERS – seeing the real JOY it is to give of ourselves to bless others because we are a part of the BODY OF CHRIST.

Receiving & Giving Who is the Holy Spirit? Take time to discuss...then, read the following verses:

o Romans 5:5 ~ ...God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the HOLY SPIRIT, who has been given to us. o John 14:15 ~ ...I will ask the Father, and he will give you another HELPER, to be with you forever, even the SPIRIT of truth. o Luke 11:13 ~ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father

give the HOLY SPIRIT to those who ask him? o Romans 8:16 ~ The SPIRIT himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. o Romans 14:17 ~ The kingdom of God is...righteousness, peace, and joy in the HOLY SPIRIT.

So, we receive the Holy Spirit when we love Jesus – making him King of our lives by saying “NO” to idols and sins and saying “YES” to God’s Grace. What do we receive when we have the Spirit? Peace, comfort, guidance, assurance, understanding, power, “fruit” (our lives will change and we will be joyful, loving, self-controlled people)...and GIFTS!

When we RECEIVE the Spirit, we RECEIVE gifts that we then can GIVE AWAY! What are those? Pass around the basket full of numbers. Have each person (parent and child) take a number. Keep passing the basket around until all of the numbers are taken. Then, use the SPIRITUAL GIFTS page to have each person read the gift that is by his/her number.

Receiving, Giving, Building Ask the children why they think we are given these different gifts. We all have different gifts because

we are meant to help and serve one another. It is a lot like our BODY – how each part helps the others. What do I mean? Do these simply activities to help your children see how important each part of the body is...

o Tape your children’s thumbs to the rest of their hand and have them do simple activities like trying to take something out of their pocket, writing their name, buttoning a shirt... etc.

o Tell your children to put their arms behind their back and try to keep a balloon up off the ground or pick up clothes on the floor and place them on a table, etc.

o Play a game together where one person is blindfolded, one person can’t use his/her arms, and one person can’t talk...then the moderator gives a direction, like Stand in a line according to the order of your birthdays...or according to height...etc. Have your children to work together to accomplish the tasks.

Explain how each part of our physical body is so important in order for us to accomplish our daily tasks...think about how much MORE our spiritual body is! What is that SPIRITUAL BODY? Well, it is the BODY OF CHRIST! Use the poster of I Corinthians 12 to talk about this. **As you read, you can have your children point to their feet, eyes, hands – have them “talk” to the other parts...and so on.

Finally, explain that all those who follow Jesus are part of his Body (the BODY of CHRIST) ...and he is the HEAD of his body. Use the poster again to read Ephesians 4:15-16. That is amazing! Jesus is the head of the entire Body of Christ, the BIG FAMILY of GOD / the CHURCH (all, in the entire world, who believe in Jesus!). And what does he want us to do – BUILD each other UP! He wants us to love and serve one another... no matter what our gift is! But let’s see how we can know our gifts...

GIVE IF A TRY! Work with your children to complete the “Spiritual Gift Inventory”. Talk about how they can serve others by using their gifts – through the power of the Spirit and for the glory of God!

Conclusion... Let’s review!

Giving & Receiving... God loves giving... we only need to RECEIVE his gift of the Holy Spirit through Jesus! Receiving & Giving... Because we have received so much in Jesus, we can GIVE our GIFTS to others! Receiving, Giving, Building... The point of our gifts is to BUILD others in the Body of Christ UP!

Memory Verse... From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by

every supporting ligament, GROWS and BUILDS itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16

Spiritual Gifts...

1. SERVING (ROMANS 12:7) 2. TEACHING (ROMANS 12:7) 3. ENCOURAGING (ROMANS 12:8) 4. GIVING (ROMANS 12:8) 5. LEADING (ROMANS 12:8) 6. SHOWING MERCY (ROMANS 12:8) 7. SHEPHERDING/CARING (EPHESIANS 4:11) 8. HELPING (I CORINTHIANS 12:28) 9. HEALING (I CORINTHIANS 12:28) 10. GUIDING (I CORINTHIANS 12:28)

* There are plenty of others that you could explore – but these are ones that your children could easily identify and understand. These show how the point of the GIFTS is to bless OTHERS (not to be proud about the gift one has but to use it to benefit others – see Romans 12:3-5)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I Corinthians 12... Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed... There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them...Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good...Just as a , though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one

, so it is with Christ.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the ,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the . And if the

ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the ,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the . If the whole were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has placed the parts in the , every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the be? As it is, there are many parts, but one .

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ...there should be no division in the , but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Ephesians 4:15-16... Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole

, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, GROWS and BUILDS itself up in love, as each part does its work.

You can serve in so many ways! As you think about spiritual gifts and serving others – remember that God has given you all you need to do good works that will glorify him and help others. Sometimes you just need to take time to look for those gifts! Look for the hidden pictures in the picture of the frog working/serving below...

What Gifts might I have?

On the next page there is a child-friendly “spiritual gift inventory”. Before working with your child on this, be sure you understand the following... First... Spiritual gifts are gifts given to each follower of Jesus. Second... No “inventory” or “assessment” will reveal a person’s gifts–

that is for the Spirit to do. Third... However, this tool could help your child begin to see what

they already love to do in serving...and begin to pray to the Spirit for guidance in knowing how to use such a gift to help & bless others...all for God’s glory.

Directions for the “Inventory” on the next page... Read each statement and ask your child to identify the answers that he/she could say

“YES” to. (for instance – I am good at...speaking YES, working, saving money, comforting YES)

Have your child draw a smiley face in those boxes where he/she said “YES”. Then count the number of smiley faces in each column and write that number in the box

at the bottom next to the Spiritual Gift identified (for instance – Teaching = 2; Serving = 1; Giving = 3; Encouraging = 4...this would then give an indication that your child has a heart that loves to encourage others!)

** Besides the one question that asks the child to CHOOSE the one he/she would prefer to do; your child can draw a smiley face by any/all pictures that may resonate with your child (for instance – if your child feels he is good at speaking AND saving money, he can draw a smiley face in both). This will provide a little glimpse at how your child enjoys serving others...and can help you as a family begin to think about how you all can serve together in some way.

Spiritual Gift “Inventory”...

I AM GOOD AT... I ENJOY... IF I HAD TO CHOOSE, I WOULD SPEND TIME...

I AM...

speaking working

saving money

comforting

learning helping

completing a task

sharing

reading

Independent

being with others

Creating something for someone else

Generous Humble Positive

listening

Total up your smiley faces for each column. Write the numbers in the boxes below. Then see which one you have the greatest number by...this could show you a spiritual gift...

Teaching Serving Giving Encouraging