Wednesday- Program Three- Plant Peace
Speaker 1: Good Morning (or afternoon)! We are sure glad to see you back that Son Harvest County Fair!
Speaker 2: That’s right, ______! We got some more growing to do today, so let’s get started!
Speaker 1: Today’s lesson is about planting peace. That’s right, I said planting peace.
Speaker 2: Remember on Monday how we planted those bean seeds? Have you been watering them and watching them grow? I have one right here. Look at how the bean has started sprouting roots.
Speaker 1: Wow! They sure do grow fast! But wait. I have a question for the boys and girls. Would you say this is a perfect specimen of this plant?
Speaker 2: Wow! That’s a tough question. It looks like it growing well and right! But I don’t know? Is it a perfect specimen of the plant?
Speaker 1: Let me show you some photos of what that plant might look like in the next few days and weeks. Tell me at which picture is the plant a perfect specimen? (Hold up the cards one by one slowly showing the group. Maybe you can call up some students to hold the pictures in order in the front.)
Speaker 2: Let’s see! (Look at each photo like you are studying it for the answer.) Then say, I think that this one (the last one) is a perfect specimen.
Speaker 1: Boys and girls, if it’s so perfect, I can expect to harvest fruit from it tomorrow, right? ( The kids will say no!)
Speaker 2: I think the boys and girls are right that that plant will not produce fruit tomorrow. It’s just not mature enough. It may be perfect in every way, but it isn’t mature enough to produce fruit.
Speaker 1: This seedling that each of you is growing is like many of us when we first become Christian. When we ask Jesus to come into our lives, and forgive us for the wrong things we have done, he does just that. He forgives us, wiping away the wrongs of our past. He treats us just as if we’d never sinned.
Speaker 2: Many new Christians get very discourage and lose their peace because they think that accepting Christ should take care of all their problems. They think they shouldn’t’ have a hard time controlling their temper or getting rid of a bad habit.
Speaker 1: Some think that they shouldn’t’ have a hard time stopping swearing or any number of other things that Satan puts in our lives.
Speaker 2: Let me show you this awesome verse in your Bibles that I hope you will remember as you are growing the fruits of the Spirit. Its in John 14:27- “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Speaker 1: Wow, that is an amazing verse. We have to remember that new Christians and young Christian like you and I are like these seedlings. It is perfect as it is, but as a lot of growing to do before it reaches maturity.
Speaker 2: That doesn’t mean that your life cannot bear fruit now. But don’t beat yourself up mentally if you find that your forward progress has some backward steps, too. (Move as you say this phrase.) Have Christ’s peace and don’t be troubled! Over time you will be able to see the changes God has helped you make.
Speaker 1: Right! And don’t expect the friend sitting next to you to make the same progress that you are making, either. Remember that fruit growing comes from having the spirit. And that happens for everyone in his or her own time. Growth is a slow process.
Speaker 2. Well, now that I know I don’t need to worry about how fast or slow I am growing fruit, is there anything else God wants me to have peace about. And how do I go about planting peace?
Speaker 1: There sure is! Let’s look at another cool verse in Matthew 6:25-34. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
Speaker 2: verse 26, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Speaker 1: verse 27, “Which of you by worrying can add on cubit to his stature?”
Speaker 2: Wow, that’s true! Worrying never made me taller!
Speaker 1: Me neither. Let’s read on, verse 28, “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;….
Speaker 2: “and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these!
Speaker 1: verse 30, “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Speaker 2: “Therefore do not worry, saying What shall we ea? Or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles see. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”
Speaker1: That sure is good news to know that our heavenly Father knows what we need! Kind of like this little sprouting bean doesn’t worry because it trust that you and I will know what it needs like water and sunshine and we will provide it!
Speaker 2: Yeap! And then in verse 33 he tells us how to plant that peace in us so we don’t worry about all that stuff. He says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you!
Speaker 1: That’s it, ______! That’s how get that peace planted in me! And in others! I seek Jesus and His kingdom. I get up in the morning and I spend time with the word so I can know and trust His love and care of me! I talk to Him through the day. And again at night, I spend some more time in the word! Then all that other stuff just gets added to me!
Speaker 2: That’s right! Did you hear that boys and girls? We seek Jesus and His righteousness! Listen to this last verse in verse 34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble!”
Speaker 1: It sounds like then that peace and joy have nothing to do with our physical circumstances. In fact, if you were to take a poll of most people in the world, you would not find that the riches and most powerful people were the most peaceful.
Speaker2: Peace comes from knowing, deep down in your heart, that you are loved, accepted, and saved. You can be at peace even if your parents are in the middle of a bitter divorce battle.
Speaker 1: You can be at peace when your grandpa is battling cancer.
Speaker 2: You can be at peace when your girlfriend dumps you for another.
Speaker 1: You can be at peace when school work is getting more and more difficult.
Speaker 2: You can be at peace when your best friend blabs your most intimate secret to the rest of the school.
Speaker 1: Peace in our mind and spirit does not mean freedom from pain. It doesn’t mean freedom from struggle.
Speaker 2: It means the faith inside you that God loves you is unshakeable!
Speaker 1: It is the faith inside you that knows that no matter what happens in your life, God is in control!
Speaker 2: So guys, keep growing! And let your peace grow with you and you know God better and better everyday.
Speaker 1: Let’s pray:
(Ask the kids to kneel with you.)
Dear Father,
Thank you that we don’t have to wait until we are fully mature Christians before we start bearing the fruits of the Spirit. Thank you that at every stage of our growth we are a perfect specimen. Helps us keep growing more and more everyday. And help us as we know and learn to trust your love, to have that peace that keeps us from worrying.
In Jesus name-Amen