The Fruit of the Spirit

Joy

Galatians 5:22 & 23

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy , peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against this there is no law".

"When a person accepts Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to live in their heart. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit produces Christian virtues in the believer's life. These virtues are the fruit of the Spirit and we become more Christ-like. We will exhibit the fruit whether we are aware of it or not, it happens completely through the work of the Holy Spirit. We can't produce fruit by our own effort, it comes from God's presence and interaction in our lives."

Offner, Hazel. Fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, Ill: Intervarsity Press, 1987

Objective: The objective of  The Zoo Children's Ministry is to reach kids with the Gospel message and to teach them about God's love and how to live as Christians in today's world.

The purpose of this particular series is to present salvation and explain that when they make a decision for Christ the Holy Spirit will live in their hearts. They can have the fruit of the Spirit begin to show in their lives.

Themes: We have chosen to divide the fruit of the Spirit into sets of three. With each set there will be a different theme. All props and stories will teach the lesson but incorporate the theme.

Jungle Theme

Preparation: The theme is "Jungle Days". In order to create this atmosphere props and costumes can be used. The volunteers or teachers are encouraged to wear safari outfits. All of the puppets used are jungle animals or safari characters. The puppet stage can be decorated with vines and palm trees. Use your imagination!

Lesson Two JOY
Nehemiah 8:10

Happiness comes and goes as the events in our lives change but the joy of the Lord is constant. Jesus can fill those lonely empty places with joy.

Goals

• to teach the children about the joy in knowing and following Jesus.
• to share our own joy with them.
• to help them realize that joy can be experienced all the time, no matter what situation.

Opening

In each lesson we try to do interesting opening segments to attract the attention of the children. This week a puppet song about joy was used. We usually have children's music but we also find that other styles are fun to work with. Use appropriate clothing and choreography. Puppets are an extremely effective tool to use when dealing with kids!

Prayer

Each week the ministry needs to be "bathed" in prayer, after all it is God's work, not ours.

Rules

The children need to be reminded weekly. Establish the limits before starting your program.

Music

Don't use brand new songs each week. Try to introduce them slowly so that the kids become familiar with them.

Games

You will notice that we only include two games but feel free to make up more if you have time.

The Conservationist Game

The children are conservationists. They are trying to help preserve the animals in the jungle. This week it is their mission to save the eggs of an almost extinct species of crocodile.

Put an egg on a spoon and run through the obstacle course and back to the beginning where the spoon is handed to a team mate and the egg is placed safely in a nest (bucket). This game will require two teams with four players on each team.

*Note: It might be wise to use plastic eggs. It isn't as messy if you are in doors! Also remember children may have food allergies and contact with an egg or egg products could be a problem. ( We try not to use any food in our games for this reason).

Jungle Fruit Toss

There are four pieces of plastic fruit and each member of the team must try to throw all four back into the bushes. The child will line up behind a line and throw the fruit into a bucket covered with branches. Choose four children/team.

Memory Verse

"The joy of the Lord will make you strong." Nehemiah 8:10

The verse is written on a piece of bristol board. The puppet interacts with a leader and kids to help them learn the verse. The puppet is an elephant named Einstein who thinks he remembers everything but has trouble remembering anything. Use a skit format. It is best when it is ad-libbed between the players.

Einstein: Hi, everybody! I'm back. I'm Einstein the Elephant who never forgets anything. Last week I had a little trouble with the verse but I came back this week to prove to you that elephants are by far the smartest animals in the entire Zoo. We are actually brilliant.

Leader: Well, Einstein we are glad you could make it. OK, kids let's read the verse..... all right Einstein, your turn.

Einstein: No problem. I know it already. This one is easy, easy, easy. Just sit back and listen while I prove it to you.... "The boy in the Lord smells strong". Nehemiah 8:10

Leader: Was that right kids? .... OK lets tell Einstein again... Go for it Einstein! I'll give you a hint the word smells is not in the verse.

Einstein: All right then, I can do it. No smells! Well I got it this time. "The boy in the Ford will make you strong." Nehemiah 8:10.

Leader: No, Einstein, that's not quite right, is it kids? All right, lets see if we can tell Einstein without looking at the poster.

Einstein: I got it. I know... "The joy of a Ford will make you strong". Pretty Good.

Leader: Well, Einstein... not a Ford .... that's a car. Its the Lord. "The joy of the Lord will make you strong".

Einstein: Oh, "The joy of the Lord will make you strong". Nehemiah 8:10. See, I am very smart and I do remember.

Object Lesson

Story - "Professor Bug"

This story is told by a person and she is the protagonist. As the story is told there are pictures to illustrate the events. (Add pictures where you see fit).

Good afternoon, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Professor Anne Insect. I study bugs at the University nearby. Last year, I took a year off and went into the heart of the jungle to do some work. I took a team of field researchers. Let me tell you about it.

It was late one night when I was sitting in my tent looking at my precious bugs under the microscope. It was really exciting. All of a sudden it began to rain on the tent. At first it was a few drops. Then it began to rain harder and harder. Then lightning started and it thundered. The tent blew and it moved. I began to get nervous. I thought the tent was going to collapse on my head. As the storm got stronger I was really really scared. The thunder cracked above my head and I ran and hid under the table. I began to cry.

Suddenly, a huge tree fell on the front of the tent. I screamed and a lantern fell onto the bed and it caught on fire. I was so scared I couldn't move. The rain continued to pour and thank goodness it quickly put the fire out.

Safari Jim came crawling in through the back of the tent. "Anne", he screamed, "where are you?". I told him I was ok and I was safe under the table. He was happy that he found me and he crawled under the table with me to wait out the storm. I was still frightened but Jim wasn't. He was smiling through everything and he just kept praying. I asked him how he could be so calm and he explained. * "As Christians, we sometimes have scary experiences. If we trust God in the scary times he'll bring us through and the joy of the Lord will make us strong. (You know Jesus went through a storm that was much worse than this. He was beaten and nailed to across to die. Jesus didn't enjoy that but he did it so people could be forgiven for their sins. He suffered for us so that we could have the joy of the Lord.) You see God made joy come out of a bad situation".

Just then the storm ended and we were able to repair the tent. We had been through a difficult time but God had been there with us. I learned that joy comes when the Holy Spirit helps us to triumph over tough times.

Copyright 1996, Bread of Life Ministries * Although the story is original, some of the biblical application is taken from another source. Power Tool Box Charisma Life Publishers, 1992.