Matt. 6-7 (Feb. 25- Mar. 3)

He taught them as One Having Authority

The object of this lesson continues to expand on the topics spoken during the Sermon on the Mount. Reiterate to the children the parts of a prayer. How important it is to build their faith on a firm foundation. Seeking eternal treasures rather than Earthly ones.

Invite Sharing:

Ask the children to show an experience of when they were an example of light this past week.

Write some examples of actual beatitudes as well as fake ones and have the kids come up one at a time and cross out the fake ones:

Examples: Pure in Heart, Young at heart, Meek, Thirst for a Milkshake, Merciful, Inquisitive, Mournful, Livid, Timid, Peacemaker, Hunger for a Burrito, Dream Catcher. 

Teach the Doctrine:

Brian and I are at an advantage this year that we are teaching children 7-8 year olds which means that we can really pick and choose activities from both the "younger children" and the "older children" sections.

Beforehand, gather together:

 1. Write the actual and fake beatitudes on the board. As well as write out the Lords prayer.
2. (For our family study) We will trace our hands and color them.
3. Paper to list out ways their family shows love to them and ways they show love to their family.
4. Plastic cups (4): rocks, sand, 2 water cups.
5. Wiseman/Foolish Man song downloaded and ready to go.
6. "Treasure Box" with examples of eternal and earthly treasures.
7. Chocolate or plastic coins.

Some Activities We Plan to Do:

1. After we have completed the invite sharing activity, we will (for our personal lesson at home- not with our older kids) trace our hands and color them in. We will ask Rylan what we should be doing with our hands when are praying. Then we'll ask her about her eyes, mouth, ears etc.

2. Pray with Real Intent/ Pray in Secret. 
Before class begins, we will write out the Lord's Prayer on the board. We will try to section it out so that way it is easy to block out the different parts of a proper prayer. We will explain that the Savior told this prayer as a way to teach the people how to pray properly as many people either didn't know how to pray or were using vain repetitions- "vain repetitions" doesn't only mean to say the same thing again and again.. it can also mean saying a prayer just to say one- your heart needs to be in the prayer. (This means praying when you can really focus- not just as you drift off to sleep!) We will go through the prayer and label what each section is:

1. Address our Heavenly Father reverently:

Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed by thy name. They Kingdom come, Thy will be done. 

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

2. Thank him for all of our wonderful blessings.

3. Ask him for things we need:

Give us this day, our daily bread.

...

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

4. Ask forgiveness/ Repent:

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. 

5. Close in our Saviors Name:

For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

If we pray to the Lord with a sincere heart, we will receive an answer. Even if it seems the answer is no answer at all for now. We need to remember that the Lord answers our prayers and gives us what we need on his time- not ours. Give an example of that in our life. 

3. Do Unto Others as You Would Have Others Do Unto You.
We will give the children paper to think of ways their family shows love for them. Read Matt. 7:12 Then the opposite side of the paper will ask them to list ways they show love for their families. 

4. Object Lesson: Build our faith on a strong foundation.
We will play the song, "Wise Man and the Foolish Man" while we participate in the following activity: My daughter has a bunch of kinetic sand, so I plan on just taking a small handful of that and putting it into a bowl or plastic cup. Then I will get some rocks from my yard (if I can reach some with all this snow!) and putting those in a separate bowl or cup. I will then have 2 children (when mentioned in the song) pour water on top of the sand & rocks. Afterwards, we will ask them which foundation seems to be stronger? How can we strengthen our own foundations of faith?

5. Object Lesson: Eternal vs. Earthly Treasures.
I will find some type of box that looks similar to a treasure box and fill it will strips of paper that have examples of earthly and eternal treasures. We will read together Matt. 6:19-21 and then each child will have the opportunity to reach into the box and determine whether their strip of paper is an example of an eternal treasure or an earthly treasure.

6. Other Lessons: Forgiving Others, Giving Alms, Fasting, Serving two masters.
If we have time, we will go into some of the other lessons Christ taught during the Sermon on the Mount.

Forgiving Others:

There will come a time, when someone hurts your feelings or does something to you that hurts you. This person may recognize what they have done and come to you to ask for forgiveness. When they happens, you should forgive them quickly. Harder than that, sometimes people hurt you and they will never ask you for your forgiveness- either because they don't know or because they don't care that they hurt you. We should forgive even them. One of the hardest things we will be required to do in this life is to forgive someone who isn't even sorry. But in the end, if we don't forgive them- the only person we are hurting is ourselves. Teach how Christ refers the poison of not forgiving someone to a snake bite.

Giving Alms:

We are told that when we give to "the least of our brethren" (those who don't have much) it will be like giving to Jesus Christ himself.

Fasting:

We have talked about this before but just recap it.

Serving two Masters:

Christ teaches us that we cannot follow both Satan and Heavenly Father. We have to choose a side. You cannot love Satan and wish to do righteous things.. Just as you cannot love Heavenly Father and wish to do bad things. Your heart has to be in one place or the other.

Ask the children to share with the class what lesson the Savior taught during the Sermon on the Mount is their favorite. Encourage them to share their favorite lesson with their families after church today.

Prize- we are trying to be better about giving our children a prize rather than a treat on Fast Sundays. We don't want to present a temptation for them- especially as our class is prepping for their upcoming baptisms this year. So, I think for our prize, I will get some plastic gold coins to let them keep to remind them to prize eternal treasures over earthly ones.

I hope this has been helpful to you. See you next week!