God’s Holy Spirit Changes us Dear Father, please use this study to help children know you better. Use it so that they will let your Holy Spirit change and guide them.” Select activities that fit the children’s needs and local customs. 1. Read or tell by memory the account of Stephen’s martyrdom, Acts 6:8–15 and 7:51–60. Notice how God’s Spirit made Stephen a brave witness for Christ, what Stephen said; and the Jewish leaders’ reaction to it. · Prepare an older child to tell the story. Then ask the children: ü What kind of man was Stephen? ü Why did some leaders secretly persuade people to tell lies about Stephen? ü What did Stephen’s face look like before He died? ü Whom did Stephen see before he died? ü Why were some people so angry with Stephen? ü What were Stephen’s last words? · Discuss the pain of false accusations. ü Ask the children to think of a time when somebody told lies about them, saying they did something that they did not do. ü Ask how the children felt when falsely accused, and what they did.
2. Dramatize how the Holy Spirit empowered Stephen to endure martyrdom, Acts seven. · Rehearse the story and present it to the adults during worship. · Older children play these parts: Saul Younger children play the part
of Accusers. Saul “I am the Apostle Paul. Let me tell you something I saw before I knew Christ, when I was called ‘Saul’.” (Read Acts 6:8-11) Stephen (Stand to one side) Accuser
#1
(Shout angrily, and point at
Stephen.) Saul (Read Acts 6:12-13.) Accuser
#2
(Shout angrily) Saul
(Read Acts 6:15 and 7:1.) Stephen “Hear me, brothers and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, 'Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you’.” Saul
“Stephen then summarized briefly the
history of Israel. Stephen
“You men who are stiff-necked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit;
you are doing just as your fathers did. Saul (Read Acts 7:54–55.) Stephen (Point up and shout.) “Look! I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Accusers
Silence him! Silence him! Saul
(Read Acts 7:57–58.) Accusers Pretend to throw stones at Stephen. Saul
“They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said,
3. Children ask the adults questions they have prepared about what the Holy Spirit enabled Stephen to do. They might use the questions under #1 above. 4. Poem. Coach three children to recite these three parts of Isaiah 61:1-2. They might also recite it for the adults. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, Because the Lord has anointed me To preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, To proclaim freedom for the captives And release from darkness for the prisoners. To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor And the day of vengeance of our God.
5. Illustrate the Holy Spirit’s work. · Let the children draw a broken chain or shackles, to illustrate what the Holy Spirit frees us from. · Let the children show their pictures to the adults and explain that the Holy Spirit fills us with God’s power and frees us from the chains of sin and evil, and the fear of death. Shackles to put on captives’ wrists or ankles. 6. Memory work. Younger children memorize John
20:22: Older children memorize
Ephesians 1:13, 14.
7. Explain the Fruit of the Spirit. · Read Galatians 5:19-25. ·
Explain the examples below of
the bad works of the flesh (sinful acts), Works of the Flesh and Fruit of the Spirit
A longer
drama, about God’s Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost to empower believers: |