BEATITUDES-PERSECUTED

"Blessed Are The Persecuted”

Big Idea

Follow God, not the crowd.

Verse

Matthew 5:10 - "Blessed are those who suffer for doing what is right. The kingdom of heaven belongs to them." (NIrV)

Materials

1. Ice cubes (one per chid)   2. Paper towels (one per child)

Setup

1. Keep the ice cubes in a freezer until just before the verse activity.

Activity

1. Write the verse on the board and read through as a group once.

2. Explain the following:

    Our big idea today is "Follow God, not the crowd." We need to do what's right, even if the crowd of cool kids make fun of us. In this verse, Jesus tells us that to be truly happy, or blessed, we need to follow God's rules no matter what.

    To help us remember that following God is more important than being cool, we're going to try to melt ice cubes while we learn the verse. I'll hand you each an ice cube, and while we repeat the verse, you can do anything you want to your ice cube to try to help it melt, as long as you keep it in your hands.

    Hand each child an ice cube. On the floor in front of each child, place a piece of paper towel, to catch the dripping water from the ice cube. Inform the children to make sure they hold their ice cube over this paper towel as it melts.

3. Read through the verse as a group. Erase one word of the verse and repeat. Continue until all the words of the verse are erased and the children can say the verse by memory.

    Have the children hold out their ice cubes in their hands, observing how much each child melted their ice cube.