41 - Obedience

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen

Lesson No. ( 41 )

John The Short

References 

Synixcarim. 

Notes for Servants 

No one knows the meaning of "real" obedience yet. You have to practice it to know its meaning and benefit. 

 Do you stand before Jesus asking Him to let you know about obedience? For he obeyed God the Father until death. 

Have you experienced the blessings of obedience in your life? 

Objectives 

General: Obedience 

Specific: 

The children will be able to... 

1. Learn that obeying God is the key of eternal life. 
2. Know that part of obeying God is obeying our parents, our teachers, our spiritual leaders, etc. 

Bible Verse 

“Children, obey your Parents in all things” 

Colossians 3:20 

Teaching Aids 

On white paper, draw a black stick (painted) and a man watering this stick. 

Introduction 

(1) Review last week's lesson. 

(2) Remind the children about the church occasions for the coming week. 

(3) Give the children an idea about the monks and their lives. 

(4) Teacher should prepare the appropriate questions to emphasize the objectives during the lesson.

Story Time 

A long time ago, there was a young man named John and he was short. When he reached the age of eighteen he wanted to be a monk, (monk is a man that loves God so much he lives in a special place called the monastery away from the city so he can pray all the time.) But, because John the Short was very young, they did not allow him to become a monk even though he tried many times. 

After many trials the eldest monk wanted to test him first to see if John could live the monastic life or not. The chief monk gave John a dry wooden stick and told him to plant it,John looked at him and said, "Yes, my father,"and obeyed him. He went and planted the stick and he used to water it twice a day and also used to go and tell the chief monk everything about the dry stick. 

The source of the water was far from the dry stick, but St. John the Short was obedient. He used to carry the jar of water (which was heavy) and walk long distances to water the stick. After sometime this dry stick became a nice tree and had very nice fruits. When the chief monk saw the beautiful fruits he called all the monks and told them, "My sons, this is the fruit of obedience." 

Discussion 

1 - Follow up the story by talking about it with the children. 

2 - Continue the discussion while they do the activity. 

Learning Activities 

Colouring Page.