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Hello friends!!
How are you doing? I hope that you and your families are doing well. This is our last week in the fruit of the spirit series and this week is about self-control. But, before we jump in, lets sing some songs together. If you're like me you must be starting to get to know these songs really well!! SUNDAY SCHOOL SONGSMusic Video: Whole Lotta Change from DIG IN on Vimeo.
So this week we are going to be learning about self-control. Self-control is when we make a choice not to do something we know is wrong. Being friends with God helps us to have self-control and avoid doing wrong, even if it’s hard.
What are some things that distract you from what you’re supposed to be doing—like homework? Our video today is about a girl who got distracted by a lot of things. She wasn’t using self-control to limit her distractions. Let’s see how she turned things around. As you watch, think about which of her distractions happen to you, too.
Which distractions did she have that you have, too?
How could you have self-control and limit those distractions? The girl in the video said, “I feel like Jesus was right beside me, like he gave me the strength to turn this around.” How can you turn to Jesus for strength to have self-control? Like the girl in our video, we can turn to Jesus for help with self-control when we’re having a hard time with it. Games/ ACTIVITES
What are some of your favorite games to play?
It’s super fun to play games. But if someone doesn’t follow the rules, the game usually isn’t as much fun. Following the rules of a game takes self-control; we can’t just do whatever we want. Since we’re learning self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, let’s play a couple of games where we have to use self-control to follow the rules. Blind Duck, Duck, Goose 1. Have kids sit in a circle. 2. Choose a kid to be the first person to go around the circle. The "Ducker" 3. Have the kids in the circle close their eyes. Explain that if they open their eyes, the Ducker won’t choose them. 4. The Ducker walks around the outside of the circle as for a traditional game of Duck, Duck, Goose, except that the word duck is said silently. The Ducker taps kids gently on the head without saying anything until a child is chosen to be the “Goose.” 5. The word goose is said aloud when the chosen child is tapped on the head. The Goose opens his or her eyes and chases the Ducker, who will try to take the Goose’s seat, around the circle. 6. The Goose becomes the new Ducker, and the kids in the circle close their eyes again. 7. Continue playing as time allows. In our game, we had to use self-control to keep our eyes closed and wait for the Ducker to come to us. Following the rules takes self-control. Let's try another one... When we’re doing something fun, it’s hard to stop. To stop doing something we want to do takes self-control, in this one we have to practice self-control and stop running. Red Means Stop For this game you'll need a red and a green piece of construction paper (or something to hold up that is red and something that is green) 1. Have kids line up against one wall. 2. Stand near the opposite wall with a piece of construction paper in each hand. 3. When you hold up the green paper, kids can run toward you as fast as they can. When you hold up the red paper kids must freeze where they are. If any kids are still moving they must return to the starting wall. 4. The first child to reach the wall behind you becomes the new stoplight. Everyone else returns to the starting wall and begins again. 5. Continue playing as time allows. If you’d like, play music while kids play. When we’re running fast, it’s hard to stop. We had to control our bodies when we played the game; that’s self-control. And we use self-control when we stop before making a wrong choice or when we stop playing when Mom says to clean up. Jesus helps his friends have self-control and make good choices. BIBLE LESSON
Self-control is when we decide we won’t make a choice we know is wrong. When we’re friends with God, he helps us say “no” to wrong choices.
Can you guys think about someone you know who says “no” to wrong choices? Jesus is the very best at self-control and we're gonna learn more about that now... The Bible tells about a time Jesus showed self-control because of love. He did something he really didn’t want to do for us. Jesus died on the cross. He could’ve stopped it, but because he loves us so much, he used self-control to stay on the cross. Because Jesus used self-control to stay on the cross and died, we can be friends with God. Jesus loved people and told them about God. He said that he was God’s Son and some people thought Jesus was telling a lie, and because of that they wanted to hurt him. On this sad day, soldiers took Jesus to the place they would put him on the cross. Jesus has awesome power, and he could’ve gotten away from them, but Jesus used self-control to stay with the soldiers because he knew that dying on the cross would make it so we can be forever friends with him. Wow! When we make a choice to obey our parents or guardians we use self-control. We could just run away, but instead we use self-control and do what our parents or guardians ask because it’s what is best for us, and God will help us use self-control to obey. Are there things that you do to obey your parents or those people that are responsible for you? Saying “no” to wrong choices or "no" to making bad decisions is using self-control. Sometimes it can be really hard to do, but when we’re friends with God, we can ask him to help us. We can remember that even Jesus used self-control, and we can, too. Back in the Bible story it says the soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross. Again, Jesus had the power to leave anytime, but he used self-control because he loves us so much. Jesus knew if he would die on the cross, he would take the punishment for all the wrong things we’ve done. That’s why Jesus stayed on the cross. Next, the soldiers took Jesus’ clothes and played a game to see who would get to keep them. Has anyone ever taken your stuff? It’s really not fun when people steal our stuff. It might make us want to grab the things they took back and yell at them, but Jesus used self-control. He didn’t yell or grab his clothes back. How do you think it might be helpful to use self-control when someone takes our things? Let’s look back at the Bible to find out some more ways Jesus used self-control... Back in the bible it says that the soldiers put a sign over Jesus’ head. They made fun of Jesus and called him names. Others came by and shouted mean things at Jesus, too. Jesus didn’t shout mean things back, and he didn’t get off the cross—because he loves us. It hurts when people say mean things to us. But we can use self-control in times like that. Jesus didn’t yell back at the people. He used self-control, and we can, too. God will help us say no to wrong choices, like saying mean things back when someone is being unkind. We have a choice to do the right thing even when someone else isn’t. When we do that, we’re using self-control. Jesus shows us how, and God will help us! Jesus used self-control on the cross because he was taking the punishment for all the wrong things we’ve ever done. That makes it so we can be friends with God - Forever! Object Lesson (Parent/GUARDIAN PARTICIPATION REQUIRED)
Supplies: Candy such as skittles or M&Ms (2 per child)
Since we’ve been learning that self-control is a fruit of the Spirit, here is a fun way for us to practice self-control. (put one candy in front of each child). Say: "This is your candy, but you can’t eat it yet. You're going to practice some self-control to keep yourself from eating it until I say it’s time. If you wait until I say it’s time, you’ll get another piece of candy! But if you don’t use self-control and you eat it, you won’t get a second piece of candy." After about a minute tell the kids that while they're waiting they can go and do something to help them while they wait. Say: "It’s not easy to use self-control. But hang in there! If you wait, you’ll get two pieces of candy! Let’s do some things to help us to wait and use self-control." For the next minute and a half, guide kids to do any mix of the following; Turn their backs to their candy, walk away from the table and play with a toy, look at a book or get a drink of water.. When roughly two and a half minutes have passed since you placed the candies, call out that everyone can go back and eat their candies. Give a second piece of candy to all the kids who managed to wait to eat until you said so, congratulating them for using self-control. If any kids already ate their candies, avoid calling them out—just avoid giving them a second piece of candy. Talk About It What made it hard to wait to eat your candy? What helped you wait to eat your candy? It can be hard to have self-control, but like we did in our activity, we can help ourselves have self-control by doing something different. Instead of taking a toy from someone else, we can find a different toy to play with. Or when we feel upset or mad, we can walk away Craft / Activity
Stop and Go
Today we learned that we use self-control to "stop" (show the “stop” side) before we make a wrong choice. And we "go" (show the “go” side) when there are good choices ahead of us. We might even use the “stop” side (show the “stop” side) when we’re doing something good like playing with toys but it’s time to clean up. We use self-control to stop and do the right thing. When we’re his friends, Jesus helps us have self-control.
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