Jesus Gives Me Joy

Let’s get up and dance with your kids in praise! Play some worship music in your home, have fun with it! Raise your hands, jump, close your eyes – enjoy a time of worship as a family. To get you into a groove, here are some songs to choose from:

Trust In You https://youtu.be/vEpAeqqSURI
This Is What You Do - by Bethel Kids https://youtu.be/eXhMfGK00ZA

WE CAN trust god

Lesson: Kids will say, “Jesus gives me joy.”
Bible Passage: John 4:1-14, The Living Water

Today’s story comes to us from the Bible. (Hold up a Bible.) The Bible is God’s word to us, so we know that everything it says is true. (Open the Bible and set it down in front of you as you give the lesson.)

Today’s story comes to us from the Bible. (Hold up a Bible.) The Bible is God’s word to us, so we know that everything it says is true. (Open the Bible and set it down in front of you as you give the lesson.)

Sometimes in life, we have to do hard things or face scary things. It can be hard to have joy. But today we’ll learn that Jesus gives us joy that bubbles up inside us like a fountain.

We’ve already learned that Jesus is the Light of the World. But did you know that Jesus was also the Living Water. The living water that gives us joy.

One day, Jesus was sitting by a well. A Samaritan woman came out with her bucket to draw some water from the well. This woman was sad and lonely. She did not have any joy.

Jesus said to the woman, “you should ask me for some water.” The woman said, “How can you give me water? You don’t even have a bucket to draw from the well.” But Jesus told her, “I am the Living Water. If you drink this water, you will never be thirsty again. It will be a spring of water welling up to life everlasting.”

The woman put her trust in Jesus. He turned her sadness into joy. She was filled with the joy that Jesus brings, like a fountain inside her. A fountain of living water.

Jesus is the Living Water. He can give us that same joy that he gave the Samaritan woman. We can say with excitement, “Jesus gives me joy.”

Simple Prayer:
Dear God, You are our Light and our Living Water. Thank you for giving us joy. Amen

Discussion Questions:
Wiggle Tamer: Play a quick game of Follow The Leader.

Small Group Memory Verse: Have kids repeat the verse popcorn style. Point to kids randomly. Each time you point to a kid, he or she says the verse. (If a kid can’t repeat the verse, say a gentle “that’s okay” and move on to another kid.)

Questions: Who came out to the well to draw some water?
Who is the Living Water?
Jesus turned her sadness into ____.

Game: Tell kids that they are going to become water fountains. Sometimes fancy fountains include statues. (If you are able to, bring up on your phone a picture of one such fountain to show the kids what you have in mind.) On the count of three, kids will have to strike a fountain statue pose and keep it until you count to three again, at which time they have to strike a new pose. Do this several times.

Arts & Craft:
Items Needed: Glow sticks with connectors, transparent plastic cups (clear or colored)

Directions: Using the connector, have kids turn a glow stick into a bracelet. Have kids place the bracelet into the bottom of a plastic cup. Take a second cup and press it down onto the first cup as far as it will go.

Pour some water into the cups. Get the room as dark as possible, for the kids to experience their glow cups. If time permits, try various liquids – lemonade, orange juice, Kool-aid – to see how they react to being in the glow cups.

Remind kids that Jesus is our Living Water, filling us up with joy.