Being Fruitful
A healthy tree grows fruit!
Today we’re looking at the next verse Jeremiah 17! We are looking at what it means for us to have good roots and producing good fruit!
The service starts at 9:30am on stwderby.online.church
But this button will go live about 11am on Sunday 25th April for you to watch the service again if you missed it live! You won’t want to miss out!
Hope you enjoyed our Werb’s Kids Service this morning!!
We love how everyone is getting involved so don’t miss out! Just email Amy (amy.farrar@stwderby.org) so that we can keep making it better and better and involving more and more people!
Today we’re looking at what it means to have good roots and be fruitful.
The verse we’re looking at today is the next one on from the special bible verse all about trusting God which we looked at last week!
Amy helped us learn it, but do you still remember it?
Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
The verse for today links straight on from this one and says:
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
The ones who we were talking about last week who trust in God are the same people who are like trees planted by water. And if we trust in God then we are like trees planted by water. It’s a picture about being close to God and putting out rooted deep in him.
Worshipping God is one way to make sure we put deep roots into our relationship with God.
As we’ve said before In the bible there are a few times when the picture of a plant is used to help explain our relationship with God.
So we are going to think about what it means to have our roots in God having a strong relationship with him and putting our faith in him.
But we’re also going to think about what it means to grow fruit.
When we are in relationship with God there are things that show that we belong to him and have a good relationship with him. We are going to use this picture of plant growing fruit to help us understand this better!
Jesus uses this imagery in John 5v1-9.
“I am the true vine; my Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch of mine that
does not produce fruit.
And he trims and cleans every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit.
You are already clean because of the words I have spoken to you.
Remain in me, and I will remain in you.
No branch can produce fruit alone.
It must remain in the vine.
It is the same with you.
You cannot produce fruit alone.
You must remain in me.
I am the vine, and you are the branches.
If a person remains in me and I remain in him, then he produces much fruit.
But without me he can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, then he is like a branch that is thrown away. That branch dies. People pick up dead branches, throw them into the fire, and burn them.
Remain in me and follow my teachings.
If you do this, then you can ask for anything you want, and it will be given to you.
You should produce much fruit and show that you are my followers.
This brings glory to my Father.
I loved you as the Father loved me.
Now remain in my love.”
In this passage Jesus tells us he’s the vine and we are the branches.
You might not know what a vine looks like but it’s a big plant that grows grapes. Jesus is saying that when we choose to follow him, we become part of him - just like branches are joined to a plant or tree. Jesus also says that Father God is like a gardener who takes care of this plant.
If we let God take care of us and do the things he says, then we will have good stuff growing in our lives - just like how looking after a vine grows lots of tasty grapes!
But only if you take good care of the vine, will it grow more and more grapes.
What happens if the branches fall off a vine? Will they have any fruit grow on them? No they won’t!
But some plants need to have some branches removed in order for it to grow well. If a part of the plant isn’t growing fruit then it’s best to cut this off so that the plant can use its energy for the healthy bits. What Jesus is saying is that if we stay attached to him and stay connected to him, we will have good things growing in our lives. But what sort of things does Jesus grow in us?
Do you have any ideas?
Well, in the bible it talks about the fruit of the spirit, this is what God’s Spirit - the Holy Spirit- does, it grows good things in us.
Galatians 5v22-23 says the Spirit gives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
So if we stay connected to Jesus, if we stay close to him and keep talking to him and building our relationship with him we should grow his fruit - the fruits of the spirit which are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control.
We can see what these look like in our lives by how we love God and others, how kind and good we are? Are we joyful sometimes? Are we good at being patient and waiting? Are we good at being peaceful at times or having self control?
Do you see any of these fruits in your life?
These fruits show that you belong to God.
If you have these it’s obvious you are his and you have a good relationship with him!
But it’s not always easy to be patient or kind or loving to everyone.
Maybe there is one of those fruits that you don’t see in your life or that you find really hard. Sometimes it can be really hard to be patient and wait for things. Sometimes to have self control to stop yourself from doing something you know you shouldn’t is hard.
Go deeper and think about which you should ask God to help you work on.
GO DEEPER!
SPARKS (Preschool)
What is your favourite fruit?
Do you have just one that you like the most or are there others you think are yummy too?
Why don’t you have a little picnic now of some of your favourites fruits and the ones you have in your fridge at home!?
Today we talked about the fruits of the spirit. Different things that make us stand out as friends of Jesus.
How good are you at loving other people?
How good are you at being kind?
How good are you at being gentle with others?
NAME SOME OF THE FRUITS AND WHAT THEY COULD DO TO BE BETTER
You can end by saying this prayer together:
“Dear God,
Thank you for the story of Noah and that he trusted
in you.
Thank you that you keep your promises and help us to remember this every time we see a rainbow!
Help us to be like Noah and trust you like he did.
Amen.”
FLAMES (KS1)
Why not see now if you can remember all 9 fruits and then act them out or give them an action to help you remember them.
Did you manage to remember them all?
Are there any that you missed out or kept forgetting?
Great job. Now we’re going to have a little think about what it means to be a Christian or a follower of Jesus. If you think about the people you are friends with often if you spend enough time with them you begin to act like them don’t you!
This should happen to Christians too. The more time they spend with God the more they become like him.
So how do you know someone is a Christian? Write a list of things that a Christian may say/do/think/have.
What should Christians be like inside? Maybe ‘loving, kind, reliable, trustworthy' ?
Now think about an apple tree. How do you know if it is healthy and growing well?
It produces apples doesn’t it! If the tree is healthy you can tell by it’s fruit.
The Bible tells us of some ‘fruit' that we should have if we followers of Jesus and have the Holy Spirit in us.
THESE ARE THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT!
Take a minute to think of when they have shown one of the ‘fruits'. For example, peace, when I got my brothers to stop arguing and make friends.
Can you think of a time when you’ve shown all the fruit mentioned? Is there one maybe that you don’t do as well?
What ‘fruit' would you like more of in your life and why.
For example if you get angry waiting for things you should ask God to help you be more patient.
Or if you struggle to be kind to everyone maybe ask God to help.
Or maybe you always worry and scared and you need more of God’s peace in your life.
Pick one fruit you want God to help you grow.
Draw a picture of what it is an how you think you could grow it.
BLAZE (KS2)
The fruits of the spirit is quite a famous passage and as mentioned before they are things that we should grow when we’re connected to Jesus.
Today we looked at Galatians 5v22-23 and we named the fruit that as followers of God should grow in our lives.
Can you name them all? Can you think of a fun way to remember them all!?
Now have a look at these other passages.
These verses in the bible tell us about more different characteristics that we would say is ‘Godly character’, or things that make it obvious you’re a follower of Jesus.
Make a poster that has written on it all the different characteristics and traits that we should have as Christians.
These are just really REALLY good things to have and to be. But most importantly they help us and the people around us know that we belong to God.
Wherever we are, with our families, our friends, in the classroom or in the playground if we act in this way we will make it a better place to be.
Can you think of a time when you’ve shown one of the fruits of the spirit?
Have you ever been peaceful or patient or kind or gentle? Is there one maybe that you don’t do as well one that you think you aren’t good at.
Out of all the fruits:
love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Which of these would you like more of in your life and why?
For example if you get angry waiting for things you should ask God to help you be more patient.
Or if you struggle to be kind to everyone maybe ask God to help.
Or maybe you always worry and scared and you need more of God’s peace in your life.
Pick one fruit you want God to help you grow.
Draw a picture of what it is an how you think you could grow it.
FUN ACTIVITIES + CRAFTS!
For those who LOVE colouring and activity sheets check these out:
Make your own fruit picture of some grapes and see if you can remember the story of the true vine. Here are 2 different ways you can do this! ONE and TWO
Fun ways to remember the fruits of the spirit.
Make THIS fun hat for you to wear!
Or make THIS cool necklace!
Once you’ve made it one or both of these I challenge you to see if you can name all 9 fruits of the spirit!Why not pop to the shops and buy some seeds and try growing something!
It’s an amazing way to be able to think about how God helps us grow things in us.
WORSHIP + PRAYER
Listen to our worship playlist and then spend some time talking to God.
Think about each of the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control.
Which one do you like the most?
Which one sounds the hardest to do?
Which one are you best at?
We’ve talked about how we want to see these fruit in our own lives. But how do you think you could help others grow these fruit too?
How could you help your friends at school or those around you be more loving, more patience, be kinder or more gentle?
Spend some time talking to God about these qualities asking him to give you opportunities to help others follow your example and grow these fruits in other people’s lives too.
Created by Amy Farrar using several different sources including energize.net
