Leader Guide

Video Leader Guide

WELCOME  (1 min)

Hello, everyone! It is so good to see you. Today we will learn about something else that’s good: a gift. Who here likes gifts? Raise your hand and looks for hands in the audience. The gift we’re talking about today came straight from God. Or, I should say, it comes from God because He still gives it to people who believe in Him and ask for it. Are you curious about what it is? Great!

BIBLE STORY

Let’s pay attention to Chris and Joy’s Superbook adventure and see if we can guess what that good gift is.

PLAY VIDEO: Pentecost: Bible Story (5 mins)

Pentecost: Bible Story

Discussion and Explanation

Discussion & Explanation (10 mins)

Did you see what God’s great gift was? Take some answers. It was the Holy Spirit! Some of us may be a little disappointed that it wasn’t a remote-control helicopter or a new video game system. But trust me—God’s Holy Spirit is infinitely better.

You see, the Holy Spirit is God! Remember? God is Father, Son—that’s Jesus—and Holy Spirit. All at the same time. Three persons, but still just one being.  That’s a little hard to picture, isn’t it? Just understand this: God gives us His Holy Spirit to comfort us and help us. Think about how great that is!

Let’s imagine something together. Close your eyes for a moment and pretend that your best friend is the president (or king, prime minister, etc. as appropriate) . All you have to do is call him, and he always answers—always helps out. Now imagine that you’re scared, and you decide to call him. And he says, “Don’t worry, I’m looking out for you. In fact, I’ll send some of my official guards to help you and keep you safe.”

How great would that feel! Now open your eyes and look at me. I want you to know that God is the (president, king, prime minister, etc.) of the Universe, and He will always take your call. If you trust Him and ask Him for it, He will give you the gift of His Holy Spirit inside you. He will always be with you to say, “Don’t worry, I’m looking out for you,” and to help you. Except, instead of Him sending someone else to do it, He Himself is there with you as the Holy Spirit.

Let’s learn a little more about the Holy Spirit from this video.

PLAY VIDEO: Pentecost: Bible Background (3:44)

Pentecost: Bible Background

Superverse

Superverse

Let’s read our Superverse together.

Pentecost: SuperVerse

The graphic loops 2.5 minutes without audio; turn off or freeze video after children repeat the verse. 

Drawing the Unseen Activity

Drawing the Unseen

In this activity, a person explains how to draw some unseen item without telling what the item is. Therefore, it can be done with as few as two people—one as the Explainer, and one as the Artist. With some creativity, you can use it for a number of different purposes:

1. Demonstration—A pair of volunteers is brought in front of the group.

1. One is the Explainer, the other is the Artist.
2. Use a screen to keep the Artist from seeing the object being explained while not obscuring it from the audience.
3. Use a whiteboard, chalkboard, flipchart, or something similar for the Artist to draw on and have the audience see it.

2. Whole Group Activity—One person (this could be the leader) is the Explainer to the group.

1. Each group member is the Artist.
2. Requires paper and a drawing implement for each person in the entire group.

3. Small-Group Activity—Multiple groups do this activity concurrently in one or both of the following ways.

1. Pairs: Students form pairs consisting of an Explainer and an Artist sitting back-to-back.
2. Single Explainer: Done as the Whole Group Activity described above, with one Explainer and the entire small group as Artists.

NOTES:

• The fun in this activity is in comparing the picture drawn to an item that was explained but not named.
• You can simplify the activity (especially for younger groups) by describing groups of shapes without naming them. (Ex: “Draw a shape with three straight sides, pointing up. Now, touching that top point, draw a shape with four straight sides, all the same length…”)
• Plan to do more than one iteration of this activity. It stays fun!
• Participants learn that effectively explaining the item is just as difficult (or more so) as drawing it.

Wrap-Up:

Be sure to sign those drawings! You’ll want to keep those for a long time, I’m sure. Raise your hand if you thought it was easy being the Artist and drawing what you were told. Look for hands. Raise your hand if you thought it was hard. Look for hands. Did I see some hands raised for both of those? The leader may also repeat the same questions about being Explainer and describing an unseen object.

Wrap up and Prayer

Today, we have learned about God’s Holy Spirit, who Jesus gives his followers to help and comfort them. The Holy Spirit fills us with joy, peace, patience and other “fruit” (see Galatians 5:22-23). The Spirit also helps us understand things that we can’t see. Spiritual things, or even things that have not happened yet. I’m not saying the Holy Spirit will tell you the future, but maybe instead help you prepare for something that you don’t know is coming. Isn’t that amazing?

If you believe in Jesus and have decided to follow him, remember to thank God for his Holy Spirit. If you are not sure what you believe, we would love to talk with you and help you figure that out.

WRAP UP PRAYER(3 mins)

Jesus kept His promise to give His followers the Holy Spirit, and He still gives His followers the Holy Spirit today. If you truly believe that Jesus is Lord and that He died on the cross because that is the only way to make you right with God, you have the Holy Spirit living in you.

What a gift it is to have God’s Spirit living in your heart! Let’s pray.

Father in Heaven, help us to understand the amazing gift You give us when we believe who You are by seeing who Jesus is. I ask that Your Holy Spirit would make that picture clear in the minds of everyone here. Thank You for loving us and calling us by name. Amen.

WORSHIP MUSIC

Now let’s get on our feet and praise God with some music!

PLAY VIDEO: You Are the One(3 mins)