FEBRUARY: SHOWING GOD’S LOVE

Lesson 1 Mica Regine Peña

Topic: Show God’s Love to Our Fellow Believers
Texts: Acts 4:32-37

Objective: That the learners will be able to

1. Describe how Barnabas and his fellow believers showed love for each other.
2. Suggest ways they can show love for people in their church.
3. Pick one of the suggestions and apply it this week.

In advance:
1. Pray and master the lesson.
2. Prepare the needed materials and visuals.

Entrance:
 Opening Prayer
 Opening Song: Love One Another (www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2qKC7KJGfQ)
 Ask:
1. Were you able to pray for our nation last week? Allow them to share what they
prayed about.
 Say: Since we are on the month of February, we will also discover how to show love to
others especially our fellow believers

Transition sentence: Today our story is about a group of people who loved each other and
showed their love in an amazing way.

Substance:
 Story
After Jesus rose again and before He ascended to heaven, He commanded His
disciples to tell others about Him and make them His disciples, too. He promised to send
the Holy Spirit to help them obey His command.

Pentecost (Shavuot) – originally celebrating the “Feast of Weeks”. This is to commemorate the
time when the Lord gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus. On this day, Jews from
everywhere are required pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. This is also the first wheat
harvest of the year (around May or June in the Gregorian Calendar)

The Holy Spirit gave the disciples courage and power. The disciples told many,
many people about Jesus and did miracles in His name. Because of this many people
came to believe in Jesus. 3000 people were baptized on that day. The group of believers
was called the church.

Dilemma: There were so many people who decided to stay in Jerusalem. They only packed little
since they did not expect that they would stay after the feast.
 The believers were united in heart and mind. They did not keep their possessions
to themselves but shared everything they had with each other. The apostles, the original
disciples of Jesus, continued to tell others that Jesus rose from the dead. And God
blessed the believers with great love for each other. There was no one among them who
lacked what he needed. From time to time, those who owned land or houses would sell
them and bring the money to the apostles. Then the apostles would give the money to
any believer who needed it.

There was one believer who served as a good example and a great
encouragement to the church. He sold a field that he owned and gave the money to the
apostles. His name is Barnabas

Who is Barnabas?

o His real name was Joseph “The Lord will Add” una nating narinig sa Bible nung
pinanganak si Joseph the dreamer. Sabi ng nanay nyang si Rachel “The Lord will
add me another son”

o But the apostles called him “Barnabas” which means “One who encourages” or
“Son of Encouragement”

o He came from a Jewish family but in a Greek City (Cyprus) – Hellenisitic Jews

o He is the cousin of Mark the Evangelist – the one who wrote the gospel of Mark
o He is one of Paul’s closest friend.

o When Paul first became a Christian (when he met Jesus on the way to
Damascus), many people hated him. He was not accepted by the believers in
Damascus and people plot to kill him, so he escaped. When he cam to Jerusalem
many still did not believe that Paul changed, except for Barnabas who accepted
him, introduced him to the apostles and encouraged him. However, Barnabas
advised Paul to go back to Tarsus because the Jews in Jerusalem did not like him.
Eventually, Barnabas and Paul belonged to the same church and went on
missionary journeys together. Barnabas kept on encouraging new believers and
Christ and Paul also whenever he is discouraged.

o And according to our story, he is a very generous person who sold his land to
help other believers who are in need.

TULARAN SI BARNABAS!
Discussion:
1. What was the group of believers in Jesus called? (Church)
2. Who gave the believers great love for each other and courage to tell others about
Jesus? (Barnabas/Joseph)
3. Why did the apostle call Joseph “Barnabas”? (“Son of Encouragement”)
4. How did Barnabas and his fellow believers show their love for each other? (They sold
their possessions and gave it to the apostles to help the needy)
5. What was the result of this generosity? (Everyone has food to eat, a house to stay,
and clothes to stay warm) (They lacked nothing)

Significance:
 Ask the kids to draw our church.
 Ask: How many of you drew our church building?
Say: We often use the word church to refer to building where we gather as believers to
worship Jesus and listen to teaching from His word, the Bible. But did you know that
“church” really means the people who believe in Jesus?
 Before the covid 19 pandemic, we used to go to church every Sunday. We put on our
nice clothes, walked or rode to our church building and met our friends in church. But
when the pandemic happened we were placed under quarantine to stop the virus from
spreading. We could no longer go to church. But we are still the church people who
believe in Jesus and have decided to follow Him. The Bible says that God gives everyone
who believe in Jesus the right to become His children. This means that the church is
made up of people who belong to God’s family.
 Ask the kids to add people in their drawing.
 Ask: Today, how can we show our love for the people in our church especially during
this crisis?
Below are some suggestions to help:
1. Pray for church mate who are sick. Send them encouraging message.
2. Ask your parents to cook extra lunch and give the food to a needy family.
Pick one item and do it this week.

General Truth: Love one another as Jesus loved us.

Memory verse: “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to
those who belong to the family of believers.” Galatians 6: 10

Performance:
 Craft: Heart Garland
 Say:
Our garland is made of hearts connected to each other. Heart shapes
are a symbol of love. May we learn to love others just like the believers
in the early church.
 Closing prayer.