Harvest is usually time for giving thanks to God for all the things he has done / given
us
This year I thought we could make it a bit more personal - use it as a time to look at
what is going on in our lives
I want you to imagine that we are the harvest.
That maybe sounds a bit odd, but if you were to harvest the things in our lives, would
you get?
Good stuff
Or would it be full of rotten fruit?
To know the answer to that question, we need to understand what God does / does not want
to see in our lives...
Bible bit
The book of Galatians, in the Bible, gives us a clue...
[Print out the following extracts from
Galatians 5:19-21 and stick these on the wall
under the title "bad stuff"]
Stuff we should not do (from NCV):
Worshipping other gods
Hating
Making trouble
Being jealous
Been angry
Being selfish
Making people angry with each other
Causing divisions among people
Feeling envy ( having a bad attitude towards somebody because they have it good )
Being drink
Having wild and wasteful parties
[Print out the following extracts from Galatians 5:22-23 and stick these on the wall
under the title "good stuff"]
Fruit of the spirit:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-control
Optional bit
Get into groups, choose one of the headings from the bad stuff / good stuff and put a
drama together about it...
[Perform drama]
Middle bit
Tonight we are not going to go into the details of what each of these "good"
and "bad" things mean [that's next week]
I just want us to think: is your life full of the "good stuff" or "bad
stuff"?
[go through the "good" and "bad" lists and score each item. For
example, ask "how many times a week do you get angry?", "how many times a
week have you done an act of kindness?". Remind them that God is looking for the
"good stuff". Let the "scores" speak for them selves]
End bit
[Pray that we may have more of the "good stuff" in our lives and rid
ourselves of the "bad stuff"]