"The Holy Spirit: Our Life, His Home" Sunday School Lesson

This is the second in a series of four Bible lessons for children teaching them about the Holy Spirit.  Click here to see the series index. They were first prepared for a Children’s Church setting, but would work well as a Sunday School lesson also.  Through an object lesson, a Bible study, small groups, and an art project, students will learn that the Holy Spirit makes His home in the lives of believers.
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Bible Story: “Our Life, His Home”
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Luke 10:27, and Ephesians 2:21-22
Target Age Group: 1st – 6th grade
Time: 45-60 Minutes
PowerPoint: This file was sent to use by a reader who used this lesson plan in her ministry. She wanted to share it with anyone else who might be teaching this material.
Optional Skit: This script (download as PDF) was also contributed by a reader. It’s written specifically to accompany this lesson plan.
Introduction: “Welcome or Not” (An Object Lesson)
Supplies Needed:  random clutter, trash, baseball hat, loud music and headphones, remote control, cleaning items
Clutter the room so that it looks disorganized and unkempt.  Have empty recyclables on the floor, crumpled up pieces of paper, a spill on a table.  For yourself, put a baseball hat on and loud music blaring through headphones.  When the students walk in, look flustered as if you were not anticipating them.
Well, good morning, everyone!  Is it really church today?  Well, I, oh my, how could I have forgotten?  I am so sorry!  Look at this place!  It needs cleaned!  And me?  Oh boy!  I need cleaned up too.
Pretend as though you are talking to yourself. Okay, first I better shut off this music.  I think God would be disappointed that I was listening to it. Shut off music. Now I’ve got to turn this show off.  Especially with you all here, I just know I shouldn’t be watching it.  Use remote control to shut off pretend show.  Scurry around picking things up.  Scrub here and there. I guess my life needs cleaned up.  There seems to be a lot of sin here.  Having you here makes me want to hide it!  Oh what should I do?
Learning Activity #1:  “His Home in Us” (A Bible Study)
Supplies Needed:  Bibles
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (or have it referenced somewhere as a visual.) “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
We learned last week that the Holy Spirit is a part of the Trinity of God.  There is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit who lives within us.  What did we compare the Trinity to?  (An egg with three parts and water in its three stages.)
We also learned that the Holy Spirit lives in you and will be with you.  In our verse today, it says that our body is His temple, or His home.  If we have asked Jesus to forgive us of our sins, and we turn from those sins to follow God, then we have the Holy Spirit living with us!  How does that make you feel?  (Terrified, good, confused, or like you want to eat M & M’s or something?)
If the Holy Spirit lives in us, what kind of home would He want to have?  Would He want a home full of trash, like you saw when you walked into class today?  Would He want a home full of sin? No!  In Ephesians 4:30, it actually says that we can grieve the Holy Spirit.  That means that we can make Him sad with our poor choices in life.
So, how should we take care of the home that the Holy Spirit lives in?  Let’s brainstorm today!
Learning Activity #2:  “The Homeowners Manual” (Small Groups)
Supplies:  paper, pencils, large paper or blackboard/whiteboard and marker
If you choose to live in a certain apartment, you choose to live by the rules of the landlord (the person who owns the building or room.)  Some of the rules might include:  paying your rent on time, cleaning up your house on a regular basis, leaving the toilet there when you decide to move (I once heard a story of someone taking the toilet with them!), and maybe no pet dogs or gorillas.
If the Holy Spirit were writing rules for your home, what rules would He have?  Here’s a clue.  In Luke 10:27, Jesus says, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”  If you were to do that… what would it look like?  How would you take care of your mind?  Your body?  Your heart?  Your neighbor?
Today, you’re going to write a Homeowner’s Manual for the Holy Spirit.  How would the Holy Spirit want you to take care of this home of His?  What would He want you to do?  What would He want you to stay away from?
Divide the students into small groups of three or four.  Distribute paper and pencils.  Have them write a Homeowner’s Manual for the Holy Spirit.  Have them fold their paper into quadrants so that there are four blocks to write in.  At the top of one block, have them write “MIND.”  In the second block, have them write “BODY.”  In the third, “HEART.”  And in the fourth, “OTHERS.”  Have them think of ways they can take care of each of these components of their life.  Here are some suggestions for reference:
MIND:
1. Protect your mind from sin.  Be careful what you watch on TV or the Internet.
2. Listen to music with good lyrics.  Read books that would honor Him.
3. Surround yourselves with good friends; people who will encourage you to do the right thing.
4. Study God’s Word.
BODY:
1.  Exercise.
2.  Eat a balanced diet of foods.
3.  Get your sleep.
4.  And a shower every once in a while!
HEART:
1.  Ask for forgiveness of your sins.
2.  Hide God’s word in your heart.
3.  Be completely humble and gentle.
4.  Be thankful.
OTHERS:
1.  Think first about God, then others.
2.  Love is patient, love is kind…
3.  Live peaceably with all.  (Don’t start fights!)
4.  Forgive people when they have wronged you.
Give students time to brainstorm.  After a few minutes, regroup and discuss their ideas, writing them on a big sheet of paper or blackboard/whiteboard.
Learning Activity #3: “Built Together” (An Art Project)
Supplies:  multi-colored people figures, various art supplies to decorate with, markers, mirrors (optional)
We’ve learned today that the Holy Spirit lives in each one of us, if we have Jesus as our Savior.  Our lives are His home.  Since God made each of us uniquely, all of our homes will look different.  His home for you will look like you!
Distribute patterns of multi-colored people figures, along with supplies to decorate, and mirrors.  Have students decorate a person to look like himself/herself.  Once completed, attach the people by their hands to make a garland or use them to decorate a bulletin board.  (Place the people to form the shape of a house.)  The caption could read, “Stronger Together” or “Our Lives, His Home.”
Once the self-representations are completed, display them together for the students to see.  Read Ephesians 2:21-22, “In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.”
This means that we are stronger together than we ever would be on our own!  This is what we would call the church:  not a building or place to go on Sunday mornings, but a group of believers who honor God together.  Let’s each welcome the Holy Spirit with our hearts and homes.  And together, let’s stick together to be the church.

Need More Ideas? Browse the full listing of our Sunday School lessons for children. We also have a growing collection of printable coloring pages for Sunday School.