Pentecost and the Early Church: St Peter
OBJECTIVE
Pentecost was the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples ten days after our Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven. This day marked the spread of Christianity when St. Peter with one speech converted 3000 people into Christianity. The power and works of the Holy Spirit began the spread of Christianity around the world.
INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 5 Minutes
- How many of you have been warned by your Mom or Dad to stay away from the stove or a lighter or matches?
- Why do you think they want you to stay away from fire or matches? (not to be accidentally burned by fire)
- Have you ever seen a fire that doesn't burn you?
- Today we will learn about a special fire that was the big helper to spread Christianity in the early church.
HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes
References: Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:19, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1&2
Memory Verse
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19)
CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 20 Minutes
- After our Lord Jesus Christ went up to heaven, He told them to stay in Jerusalem together until they receive the help from above. Jesus did not tell them how long they will wait nor told them what this help will look like. They stayed together and started praying. They continued together for ten days after Jesus Christ ascended to the heavens.
- Then on the 10th day, while they were all together, they suddenly heard a rushing wind coming towards them, and then they saw some tongues of fire coming down on each one of them. You know they were not afraid and the fire was not hurting them. This was the Holy Spirit and they were filled with Him and of course, the fire did not hurt them. The Holy Spirit gave all the disciples and apostles many abilities they did not have before. They were able to talk in many languages as Jerusalem was filled with many people coming from all over the world to celebrate a Jewish feast called Pentecost. Without knowing any of these languages, the Holy Spirit helped them to talk to all these people in their own language and immediately started to preach and talk to all the crowd about our Lord Jesus Christ, how He came on earth, died on the cross to save us and give us eternal life.
- It was St. Peter that stood up in a large crowd and started to talk to them starting with all the prophecies in the Old Testament, saying Christ is coming to earth and how He will suffer, be crucified, and rise on the third day and then go up to heaven. You remember St. Peter and what he did at the time our Lord Jesus Christ was arrested, how he denied Him when was asked by the servants. This same Peter is now talking to all these people without being afraid. Not only was his sermon very convincing, more than 3,000 people believed him and asked what they should do.
- St. Peter told the crowd to be baptized and to receive the Holy Spirit. Do you know how they received the Holy Spirit? The disciples who received the Holy Spirit like tongues of fire were given the authority to spread the Holy Spirit by laying their hands on the people who were baptized to become Christians.
- Once Christianity spread throughout many places outside of Jerusalem and outside Israel, it became very difficult for the disciples to lay their hands on all the Christians. They had to travel to far places to continue to lay their hands on the baptized people, and wouldn't have time to pray and preach as they wanted to.
- Do you know what they did to make it possible for people to receive the Holy Spirit? The apostles and the disciples prayed and asked for guidance from our Lord. They decided to use the Holy Oil and spices they had since Christ died and that was not being used for anything. They brought the oil and the spices and prayed on it. Then put it in bottles and sent them to the different churches to anoint the newly baptized to receive the Holy Spirit. This was the beginning of the Sacrament of Holy Myron (Anointing) in our church.
DISCUSSION (Challenge)- 5 Minutes
- What did our Lord Jesus Christ tell the disciples to do after He goes up to heaven?
- What did the disciples do after our Lord Jesus Christ ascended (went up) to heaven?
- When and how the disciples and the apostles received the Holy Spirit?
- How St. Peter was transformed from being scared at Christ's trial to a great disciple preaching and converting many people in one sermon? (the Holy Spirit he received on Pentecost day made this great change)
- Do you think we received the same Holy Spirit as the disciples did? Yes, the Holy Spirit is the same over the years.
- How come we are not speaking different languages now or performing miracles? Speaking different languages and performing miracles in early Christianity was essential to help the disciples and the apostles to spread Christianity across different countries and they were not much educated and did not know different languages. The Holy Spirit helped them with that. Also, performing miracles were part of spreading Christianity as our Lord Jesus Christ while being on earth performed many miracles and told the disciples they will do more when He is lifted up to heaven.
LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes
As the disciples and apostles received the Holy Spirit and preached Christianity everywhere, do you think we should do the same thing? But how can we do that? The most important thing everyone should do is to set a good example with our good actions. The more we listen to our parents and be nice to each other, the more we become preachers of Christianity just like the apostles and disciples in the early times. What you need to do this week and also remember to continue to do every day, is to be nice to your parents and siblings, and know it is the Holy Spirit inside you who helped you.
ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes
Work together on the attached Activity sheet or have the children color the Pentecost coloring page, making sure they color in the fire as red or orange.
PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK
This week we talked about the works of the Holy Spirit in the early church and asked the children to show the works of the Holy Spirit by being nice to their parents and declaring "they are being nice because the Holy Spirit inside them is telling them to be nice". Please help them by asking them why they are nice and if they didn't start to be nice to you, remind them of the lesson and what they promised the Sunday School servant to do.