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Efik Sowing the Jesus Seed - Session #8

Download English Lesson #8 (To be translated into Efik)

This week’s destination: NURTURING THE JESUS SEED
For your Ewe Igbale plant to grow it needs protection from bugs, goats etc, you need to GUARD it.
• Guard your heart
• Set a guard over your mouth
• Guard your eyes and ears
• Guard your ways.

MATERIALS:
Photocopy the hearts one for each child. Photo copy Bible Verse Visual Aids, crayons. A plant that is being eaten by bugs. A beat and a bean. Heart shaped sponge from previous lesson Small paper hearts with the name of each child, tape to be able to stick it onto the back of each child. Photocopy Clean and Unclean hearts. Photocopy and give each child a ‘Take Home Bible Memory Verse’ and English 'Activity Booklet' if appropriate.

AS KIDS ARRIVE PRIOR TO THE LESSON:
Get 1 child to colour the Bible Cards prior to the lesson. How is your Ewe Igbale? Did you get it planted at home?

2. TEAM GAMES: (10 minutes)
Spit into two teams, have the children make two rows start by whispering in the first child’s ear “Above all else, guard your heart” get them to pass on the whisper until the last child then calls out what they heard.

Repeat 'Set a guard over my mouth' and lastly "Create in me a clean heart, O God"

Discuss how different the last one was from the first. This is how it is with gossip it gets changed and distorted as it is passed on until it becomes a lie.

Prayer: Dear God set a guard over our hearts and mouths that we will be careful what we look at and hear.

5. TEACHING:
a. “Back Track” Review
Remember last week we learnt God is like a gardener and we are like His garden. He wants us to grow Spiritually. For plants to grow we need to weed them just like you have been weeding your Moringa plant. So in order to grow spiritually we need to weed the sin out of our lives.

Review Questions:
1. What are weeds like? (Sin)
2. What is sin? (Sin is anything we think, say, do or don’t do that displeases God.)
3. What tool will remove sin? (Jesus.)

c. Teach the Lesson (15 minutes)

DOWNLOAD Lesson #8 Efik Visual Aids

Above all else, guard your heart
Your physical heart determines how and what your body can or cannot do how healthy and fit you are. Likewise your spiritual heart will determine what you will or can do Spiritually and eternally. The Heart (lift up the heart shape sponge) is the part of our being where we desire and decide. It has been described as the very 'centre' of a person. the place where your feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will are nurtured. That is why we have to guard it.

Object Lessons: What kind of plant are you?
Cactus … so prickly no one can get close to you!
Poison Ivy… causing problems wherever you go?
An Oak… deeply rooted strong and stable?
Artificial… looking pretty but more fake than real?
Aloe Vera…attracting people with your gentle care?
Wilted… so lifeless you are almost dead!
Fruitful… adding to the Kingdom continually
People see the branches before they see the vine.
What kind of plant are you?

(Have a plant that is being eaten by bugs. You can cut holes in some leaves and sprinkle on talcum powder to make it look like a sick plant being eaten by bugs) You need to guard and protect the plant from those kinds of bad bugs just like we need to protect our hearts from bad friends. You have to not only care for your garden but you also have to protect it.

We need to protect our hearts so we can grow Spiritually. We protect our hearts from sin by resisting peer pressure. It's kind of like building a fence around our hearts to keep bad things out like sin. You may want to ask someone to help you build a wooden fence around your Moninga plant to protect it when it is very young

(Use the beat and bean as a visual aid). We need to beet (lift up a beat) sin by being (lift up a bean) good, being (lift up a bean) careful, being (lift up a bean) bold against peer pressure, etc.

When we stand firm against these things we are guarding our hearts. We need to protect our hearts from sin. We need to stay away from people who will cause us to sin and stay away from places where we find it easy to give into sin.

We need to set a guard over your mouth
If you've got a problem with your tongue, it's much more serious than you think. You have a heart problem. A person with a harsh tongue has an angry heart. A person with a negative tongue has a fearful heart. A person with an overactive gossiping tongue has an unsettled heart. A person with a boasting tongue has an insecure heart.

A person with a filthy tongue has an impure heart. A person who is complaining tongue, critical all the time has a bitter heart. You've got to get a new heart,

Painting the outside of the pump doesn't make any difference if there is poison in the well. You can turn over a new leaf, but what you may really need is a new life. What you need is a fresh start. You need to let go of all the past and be born again and start over. You need to get a new heart. Guard what you say, see and hear, your mouth, eyes and ears are open doors to your heart. You are responsible for setting a guard over your mouth so as to guard your heart.

Discussion Questions
1. When I am harsh and abusive what is really in my heart? (Anger, hatred, un-forgiveness)
2. When I speak negatively what is really in my heart? (Fear, doubt, unbelief)

6. APPLICATION / ENCOUNTERING GOD:
Close with a time of worship. Open the alters for those children who want to ask God to give them the strength that they need to resist temptation and guard their heart and their mouths. Let them bring their little hearts with their names on them to place at the altar. Pray for strength to resist peer pressure and gossip.

CLOSING PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we know that you can see what is in our heart and there are some things there that shouldn't be there. Create a clean heart in us. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen

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A DROP OF HOPE

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