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Fruitful - Day Five Bible Lesson - Peace & Patience

Teen/Adult Bible Lesson

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God keeps His promises.

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I leave you peace. It is my own peace I give you. I give you peace in a different way than the world does. So don’t be troubled. Don’t be afraid.
John 14:27 (ERV)

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Tell us about a time when you received some really good news.

How does it make you feel when you get good news? Happy, joyful, excited…all kinds of good feelings!

When you get good news, do you want to share it with others, or keep it to yourself?

If you had good news that you wanted to share with your friends, how would you do it?

If you had good news that you needed to share with your whole town, how would you do it?

If you had good news that everyone in your country needed to hear, what could you do to share it with everyone?

What if you had good news that the whole world needed to hear?

Right before Jesus was arrested and crucified, He talked to his disciples about what would happen next. He told them that He would not be with them for much longer. He wasn’t just talking about being arrested and killed; He knew that He would return to the Father in Heaven after he rose again.

Do you think this sounded like good news or bad news to Jesus' friends?

It probably felt like good news and bad news. Do you think they were sad because they would miss Jesus after He went away? Do you think they might have been a little afraid because Jesus wouldn’t be with them anymore?

Jesus told them, “Don’t be afraid.” He promised that He would send them peace that was different than the peace the world gives:

I leave you peace. It is my own peace I give you. I give you peace in a different way than the world does. So don’t be troubled. Don’t be afraid.
John 14:27 (ERV)

He promised that they would not be alone. He said that He would ask the Father to send them a helper: the Holy Spirit.

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever. The Helper is the Spirit of truth. The people of the world cannot accept him, because they don’t see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you.
John 14:16-17 (ERV)

After Jesus rose from the dead, He spent many days talking to his friends and followers and showing them that He was alive. But He knew He had to return to His Father soon. He gave them clear instructions on what to do next:

The apostles saw Jesus many times during the 40 days after he was raised from death. He spoke to them about God’s kingdom. One time when Jesus was eating with them, he told them not to leave Jerusalem. He said, “Wait here until you receive what the Father promised to send. Remember, I told you about it before. John baptized people with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1: 3-5 (ERV)

Jesus told them ‘Wait here’ (in Jerusalem). They just needed to have patience and wait for God to do what He had promised.

We can read about the day the Holy Spirit came in Acts chapter 2. It was such an important day that it has a special name, like ‘Easter’ or ‘Christmas’. The day the Holy Spirit came is called ‘Pentecost’.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a noise came from heaven. It sounded like a strong wind blowing. This noise filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw something that looked like flames of fire. The flames were separated and stood over each person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak different languages. The Holy Spirit was giving them the power to do this.

There were some godly Jews in Jerusalem at this time. They were from every country in the world. A large crowd came together because they heard the noise. They were surprised because, as the apostles were speaking, everyone heard in their own language.
Acts 2:1-6 (ERV)

God keeps His promises! Jesus said that God would send the Holy Spirit, and God did! With the Holy Spirit in them they could take God’s power and wisdom with them no matter where they travelled to share the good news about Jesus.

The twelve men who followed Jesus were called ‘disciples’ before His death and resurrection, and they were called ‘apostles’ after Jesus rose from the dead. Did you ever wonder why people started calling them something different after Jesus rose from the dead? ‘Disciple’ means ‘student’. While they had Jesus with them, He was their teacher and they were His students. They followed Him everywhere He went, learning everything they could about God. ‘Apostle’ means ‘messenger’. Once Jesus' mission was complete, they weren’t just students anymore—their new job was to spread the good news everywhere.

The book of Acts in the Bible is called ‘Acts’ because it tells us about the many things that the apostles did to spread the good news around the world with the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that they would be able to do many more things than He had done to teach people about God. He was right! With the Holy Spirit, the apostles could take God’s truth everywhere. Instead of just one teacher, Jesus, teaching people about God’s love, there were many believers doing that with the help of the Spirit.

Some people started calling the believers ‘Christians’—a word that means ‘Little Christs’. They said it at first to make fun of them, but the believers loved the new name! It perfectly described what they wanted to be: more like Jesus every day.

The work of the Holy Spirit continues today! The Spirit that helped the apostles spread the good news is the same Spirit we can have today!

Do you remember how to tell when someone has the Holy Spirit in their life? By their fruit—when you see the things in their life that only the Spirit of God can give.

Do you remember the verse that tells us about the fruit of the Spirit?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23