Sermon on the Mount: Entering the Kingdom

Passage

Familiarize yourself with the following passages:

Matthew 7:13-20; Luke 6:43-45

In this passage, Jesus continues his teachings from the Sermon on the Mount. Here, Jesus is instructing people on how to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says that we have two gates to choose from. One gate is very wide. It is easy to find and easy to get through, and so many people will enter into this gate. The other gate is very narrow. It is harder to find and therefore harder to get there. The wide is the way that leads to destruction. The narrow gate is the way that leads to life. Jesus says that only a few will find the narrow gate.
Next, Jesus teaches about fruit in people’s lives. He encourages the people to beware of false prophets. They are like wolfs disguised in sheep clothing. Jesus also says that you can tell what something is by the fruit that is bears. You will not pick grapes off of thorn bushes or figs from thistles. Instead, good trees give good fruit and bad trees bear bad fruit. If a tree is good, it cannot give bad fruit and vice versa. If a tree does not give good fruit, it is cut down and thrown into the fire. So, by a person’s fruit you will be able to recognize them.

Object Lesson:

Narrow vs. Wide

Supplies needed:
• Objects from around the room, such as chairs or tables, to become barriers.
• Red stamp
• Green stamp
Directions:
1. Before class, set up your story area. Block off the area with obstacles. Create two entrances. On entrance should only be big enough for one child to get through at a time. The other should be big enough for several children to get through at the same time.
2. As the children enter class, encourage them to sit down in the story area. If they enter through the narrow way, mark their hands with a green stamp. If they enter through the wide way, mark their hands with a red stamp.
3. As you share the story, relate the wide gate to the children who have the red stamp. Relate the narrow gate to the children who have the green stamp.

Memory Verse:

Matthew 7:14

Small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Jesus Connection:

Believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven (John 14:6). Only a few people choose to live in a way that reflects this truth. This is why Jesus says the way is narrow that leads to life. You can tell who these people are by the fruit that they produce. Jesus says you will know who believes and follows him when they produce fruit in accordance with His Word. And that fruit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control” (Galatians 5:22).

Songs

I Have Decided To Follow Jesus

I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back,
No turning back.

Games/Activities

Fruit Relay

Supplies Needed:
• Print outs of different kinds of fruit (4-5 copies of each fruit, per team)
• Full page pictures of fruit trees to correspond to the fruit printouts, one set per team(ie: if you print grapes, the you need a picture of a grape vine); for added challenge, print the tree without the fruit.
• One basket  per team.
Directions:
1. Place all the full page pictures of the trees on the floor at one end of the room. Place a basket of fruit near the trees. Arrange each set of trees with a basket to correspond to the number of teams you will divide your children into.
2. When the children arrive, divide them into teams. The teams will each send one child at a time down to the basket of fruit, where the child will have to select on piece of fruit and match it to the correct tree that produces that fruit.
3. The winning team is the first one to correctly place all the fruit on the trees.

Crafts

Wolf in Disguise 

Supplies needed:
• Wolf template
• Colors
• Scissors
• Glue
• Cotton balls
Directions:
1. Color and cut out the wolf template. Cut the solid lines, and fold the dotted lines.
2. Assemble the wolf by matching the letters together and sliding the strips through the slits.
3. Stretch out a few cotton balls and glue them to the wolf. The thinner the cotton is stretched, the better you can see the coloring underneath, giving a better illusion of a disguise.

Coloring Page