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Fruit of the Spirit: Goodness

Kids at home 11th October

The Bible talks about fruit but it’s a different kind of fruit to apples and bananas! It's called the Fruit of the Spirit.

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control and the Holy Spirit wants to give each of them to us and grow them in our lives to help us become more like Jesus. When we look at the life of Jesus, we can see that He shows all of these characteristics perfectly!

Today we are going to look at goodness and how God is so good! By drawing close to Him and being filled with His spirit we become more like Him, which helps us to show goodness to others and make good choices in our lives!

Let’s start with some worship! Feel free to sing and dance or just watch and listen, Jesus doesn’t mind HOW we worship, he just loves it when we spend time with him and sing his praises!

Fruit of the Spirit – Starskills

O Taste and See – Bethel Kids

Good Good Father – Chapelhill Kids

You are Good – Bethel Kids

Story time

Zacchaeus! – Saddleback Kids

Note to families:

Luke 19 (or page 264 if you have the Jesus Storybook Bible) if you prefer to read this to your little ones!

Some things to talk to your family about…

  • Why do you think Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus? 

  • Why do you think Jesus wanted to see him? 
  • How do you think Zacchaeus felt when Jesus stopped to talk to him and even called him by name?
  • Why do you think Zacchaeus decided to give back all of the money he had taken? 

  • What do you think goodness is? What is it like?
  • Do you think God is good? In what ways is He good?
  • Have you (or someone you know) started to show more goodness because you love Jesus? Can you share any examples with your family?
  • What could you do when it’s still difficult to show goodness to others?

Some important points to remember…

  • Zacchaeus didn’t really have any friends. He wasn’t really liked by many people because he didn’t do very nice things. He took a lot of money from people when he shouldn’t have and this made them unhappy with him.
  • Even though Jesus was really popular in that town and Zacchaeus really wasn’t, Jesus still chose to hang out with him and Jesus made it clear to Zacchaeus that he was his friend! He even wanted to come to his house!
  • It was because Zacchaeus realised that he was loved by Jesus and saw His goodness that he was able to start loving other people and being kind to them. So he promised Jesus that he would give back all of the money he took from everyone…and even give them extra! He chose to show goodness to others and do the right thing by being very generous!
  • When we spend time with Jesus and we understand how much He’s done for us, we grow in goodness in our hearts. When we face a choice to act well (like Jesus would) or act badly, we choose to act well and make a good or kind choice.
  • Today we can spend time with Jesus through reading about him in the Bible, learning about him, being filled with His Spirit and talking to Him when we pray. 

Memory Verse

Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone. Galatians 6:10

God is so good, He loves us so much and He helps us to make good choices. He asks us to try to do what is good for others, to be kind and to do the right thing. We can show goodness by living in the way that He asks us to, and this is the very best way for us to live!

Why don’t you, or you and your family, try and come up with some actions to help you remember this memory verse? We’d love to see what you come up with, you could send in a video to lauren@christchurchlondon.org or show us in our weekly kids zoom! 

Prayer time

Jesus showed love and goodness to Zacchaeus and as a result, Zacchaeus changed the way that he lived and decided to show goodness to others and make good choices. Why don’t we thank Jesus for His love for us? Let’s ask to be filled with His spirit and to grow in showing goodness to others, even when it’s difficult!

Dear Jesus, 

Thank you for your amazing love and goodness! We love you so much and we want to live like you. Fill us with your spirit and help us to grow in goodness. Help us to make good choices and live the way that you want us to, help us to show goodness and be kind to others even when it feels difficult. 

Amen

Craft time

Fruit of the Spirit!

Can you remember the Fruit of the Spirit that we’ve looked at so far? Why don’t you have a go at making a tree (like this picture) and drawing the Fruit of the Spirit that we’ve learnt about so far on the tree? You could leave some space for the Fruit that we haven’t got to yet or you could add them all to your tree if you’d like! 

Again, we’d really love to see your creations so please do send them in to lauren@christchurchlondon.org if you’d like!

Materials needed:

  • Paper/card
  • Colouring pencils/pens
  • Scissors

 

Note to families:

The Bible App for kids is another good resource to use at home with your children if you’d like. You’ll find animated bible stories, as well as different activities related to each story that the children may be able to complete or themselves or that you can complete all together as a family. https://bibleappforkids.com/