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Zipatso Zazikulu - Gawo #8

(To be translated into Chichewa)

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FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT - FAITHFULNESS This week we’re going to learn about "Faithfulness” God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor 1:9)

God took the first step in your Salvation, He called you into fellowship with his Son. He is not going to abandon what He started. He will bring it across the finish line because God is faithful. Even if we are unfaithful or faithless, He remains faithful. (2 Tim 2:13) Because He is faithful, He keeps up His side of the relationship even when I don’t! Because He is faithful, I can depend on Him, count on Him and look for Him to come through for me in every circumstance. God is faithful to His promises, we should be faithful to ours.

MATERIALS:
Before class print the Bible Verse Card X 6. “Faithfulness” Unfaithfulness” fliers. Fruit Review Cards X3. Football cards and flier. Crayons. Print enough I WILL BE FAITHFUL button for each child, markers, pins. Paper pins, small pieces of paper, pencils. Football poster, scarf or picture of a footballer. Glass. Water. Banana and Super Fruit handout one for each family.

AS KIDS ARRIVE PRIOR TO THE LESSON
Get all children to colour the Bible Verse Cards, 2 posters Fruit Review cards & Football badges prior to the lesson.

1. GAMES: (10 minutes)
“I WILL BE FAITHFUL” BUTTON ACTIVITY:
Give each child a round circle made out of coloured paper. Tell them to write the words ‘I WILL BE FAITHFUL’ on the button and pin on their shirt or dress. Coloured markers and stickers could be used to make the button more exciting to wear!

2. TEAM GAMES: (10 minutes)
Split the group into smaller groups of equal size and age. Let’s have a relay race. The first child runs across the finish line and shouts “MY GOD IS FAITHFUL.” and runs back to the team, who shout “OUR GOD IS FAITHFUL.” This is repeated until every child has run to the finish line and back.

5. TEACHING

a. Review

Last week we learnt that "Goodness is doing the right thing for the right reason." Kindness is more about our attitude and goodness is more about the things we do for others. Can someone testify any ‘good things that you did this week at home.

Use the Fruit Review Cards to test how well the children remember the Memory Verses. Make it into a game. Have some little rewards for the children. Optional: Download ‘Fruit Review Card' Visual Aid Part 1 Optional: Download ‘Fruit Review Card' Visual Aid Part 2

b. Learn a Bible Verse

c. Teach the Lesson (15 minutes)

DOWNLOAD Super Fruits Lesson #8 Visual Aids

DO: Set out all of the Football posters etc before your students arrive plus the Fruit Review cards. ASK: How many of you have a favourite football team? How do you support your team? (Cheer them on) What happens when our team loses? (We are sad) Do we start cheering for the other side? (NO) Why not? (We are faithful to our team.) Optional: Download Brithish ‘Football posters' Visual Aid

SAY: No matter what, we will always support our team. We are loyal to them. We believe in them. We cheer for them when they win and when they lose! We are faithful in our support of them.
ASK: Can you find a Fruit of the Spirit listed on the Fruit Review Card that describes our loyalty to our team? (Point it out if they do not make the connection.) Can anyone describe faithfulness?
SAY: Faithfulness is a lot like loyalty…but goes much deeper. If the Bible tells us we are to be faithful, we should search to discover what that means! How can we discover more about faithfulness? By looking in God’s Word! Let’s go to His Word now and see what He will reveal to us about faithfulness.

King David says in Psalm 86:15, “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

God abounds with faithfulness! This means it overflows from Him. (Demonstration by pouring water into a glass and allowing it to overflow.)

In the Bible, there is a story about a very old man who had faithfully served God all of his life. His name was Simeon and he was looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Christ, the promised Messiah. Some time after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple to dedicate him to God. Simeon was in the temple. As soon as Simeon saw the baby, he knew that Jesus was the Christ and that God had kept his promise that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. God is faithful to his promises, 100%!

The Bible tells us in many verses to be faithful to our God. One of the main ways the Fruit of Faithfulness is displayed in our lives as believers is by our faithfulness to Him. So how do we show faithfulness to God? (Worshipping Him, obeying His Word, knowing His Word, praying to Him, etc.)

When you make a new friend, you have to spend time and energy making the friendship grow. You have to cultivate a friendship, like you had to cultivate your Moringa plant. You had to water and protect the Moringa plant just like your friendship.

We are to cultivate faithfulness within ourselves. This means intentionally being faithful to our family, friends, and to God. This also means praying for faithfulness to overflow in your heart, studying faithfulness in Scripture, and get to know our faithful God who is our only perfect example!

Imagine a young girl stops talking to her best friend. She stops spending time with her. At school, she talks badly and lies about her friend whom she used to love. She ignores her, betrays her, and is completely unfaithful to her. What would you do if this were your friend? (Allow time for discussion.)

Read Romans 3: 3-4 - What is God’s response to us when we are unfaithful? (He is still faithful!) No matter what we do, our God will always be faithful to us as His people, just as we would never stop supporting our home team. He will always keep His Word; His promises will never be broken. If we are to follow God’s example of faithfulness, how should we respond to an unfaithful friend? (Continue to be loyal, kind and faithful to them.)

Object Lesson:
Tape a large sign that say “Faithfulness” and one that says “Unfaithfulness” to the wall; get the children to come up and describe a faithful person and an unfaithful person writing them out on a piece of paper (for example: keeps their word or breaks a promise, worships God daily or never)

6. APPLICATION / ENCOUNTERING GOD
I want everyone to close their eyes and think about the words we just read. Which column describes you? Are you faithful to your family, your friends? Or are you unfaithful? (Be silent for 20 seconds or more.) Okay. Open your eyes. Even if your life is now showing you to be an unfaithful person, you have great hope! Christ died so that we may know God. As we know God more and more, we are able to become more like Him. We begin to display the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Keep spending time with our faithful God! He will change you and form you into a person of great faithfulness to Him and faithfulness to others! And no matter how unfaithful we are to God, His faithfulness towards you will never ever change. Everything He says, He will do. Every promise He makes, He will keep.

CLOSING PRAYER

TAKE HOME ACTIVITIES:

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