This Sunday School lesson was designed for parents to use with their children at home on the week of May 17, 2020. It’s based on John 14:15-21 where Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to comfort his disciples. Everything is included in the PDF download below (teaching notes, coloring pages, craft directions, game ideas, and worksheets). Use what is most helpful for your kids and ignore the rest. Families can also watch our children’s message, suggested music, and craft demonstration in the video playlist below.
“Jesus gives us Comfort”
Home Sunday School Lesson on John 14:15-21 The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit can seem a bit daunting or challenging to teach young children about. After all, it isn’t something we can see or touch. Then again, neither is the wind, but we can see its effects all around us. In fact, teaching kids about this comforting helper is often easier than we might initially suppose. Even young students can grasp the idea of something that helps them feel loved or cared for. We can focus on getting them “filled up” with the Spirit and communicate to them how important it is to share the love of Christ.
Lesson focus: We cannot see Jesus, but He promised to always be with us. He has given us a special helper to take care of our hearts. Through analogies and object illustration, this lesson will help children understand the who and what of the Holy Spirit, God’s special comforter.
Bible Passage: John 14:15-21
Target Audience: Kindergarten-6th grade (or whoever you might have at home!)
Materials Needed: Wrapping paper, boxes, pillows, chocolate milk, felt or foam, string, glue, scissors, Bible (all optional, depending which activities you choose to use—except for the Bible, you need that for sure).
More teaching ideas about the Holy Spirit
- See our video playlist with teaching ideas about the Holy Spirit
- Browse all the Holy Spirit related resources on our website
- See the Holy Spirit Pinwheel craft project for kids
- See our four lesson series for Sunday School “Who is the Holy Spirit?”
- Holy Spirit Worksheet (included in lesson plan)
- Holy Spirit Crafts (included in lesson plan)
- Book of Acts Coloring page (included in lesson plan)
Game Idea & Lesson Introduction
Lesson Opening: A comforter, helper, and “filler”! Consider some extra thoughts and activities to relate to the idea of the Holy Spirit. These ideas can be used before or after the Scripture reading, or sprinkled between verses, depending on how you choose to explain and elaborate on things.
- Who are helpers? Discuss people who serve to help us and keep us safe. You might have pictures to display, as well. This might include police officers, security guards, or firefighters. They are helpers set in place to take care of our earthly lives. Jesus gave us a special helper, too!
- Build a fort and fill it with comforting blankets and pillows!
- Enjoy a special snack: find some cream puffs or jelly-filled donuts, and describe how they are filled with something special, just like the Holy Spirit fills us. Pair with a nice glass of hand-stirred chocolate milk. If you just let the chocolate syrup sit in the bottom of the glass, it doesn’t do much. But if you STIR it up (like being stirred with God’s love), you get delicious chocolatey goodness in every sip!
- Take a fan or a kite outside. You might even be able to make your own! Demonstrate how you can’t see the wind visibly, but you see its impact when the kite blows into the air, or when a fan spins or trees bend. We can’t see the Holy Spirit, but we can see what it does and feel its power.
- Wrap up a box like a present, and ask kids what they think would be the best gift that could be inside it. It has potential….but let them open the box to find it empty. There might not be a gift we can see inside, but we cannot see the Spirit either. Yet it is a wonderful gift!
Explain that Jesus gave us a special helper to allow us to connect to God. This is called the Holy Spirit, and it helps us in our Christian lives. How do we know if we are filled with this Spirit? Jesus gives us a special clue to look for!
Ask: If you could have a super power, what would it be? Did you know that Jesus gave us a special helper to enable us to do amazing things?
Bible Lesson (John 14:15-21) Jesus Sends the Comfort of the Holy Spirit
As always, how you choose to experience the story will vary according to the ages and abilities of your children (and how many are participating). This passage is rather a short one, and is not exactly related to a story, but might need extra explanations. You can discuss what the passages mean and, for older students, perhaps reference other related verses.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. -John 14:15-17
Ask: If you could ask God for something, what would you want? What is Jesus talking about here?
Explain that Jesus is promising to send something remarkable that will help us do amazing things. The “Spirit of truth” came from God and it can live in all of us.
Also note that Jesus says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” We know that our salvation does not come from what we do…however, it’s important to do what God asks because that demonstrates we do truly love Him and desire to do what He asks.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” -John 14:18-19
This is not the first or the last time in the Gospels that Jesus promises to stay with us. He admits that the world won’t see His physical body after a little while, but “you will see me”. What might this mean? When we have Jesus in our hearts, we know that He is present, even without seeing Him. And how do we live in Him? Well, we can read His Word, talk to Him, and worship in and out of church. Doing things like that is not a duty or obligation, but a joyful way in which we can stay connected to God.
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” -John 14:20-21
Jesus is giving a word of hopeful assurance here. He promises that when He sends the Spirit, we will know that Jesus is God, and the Spirit is God also (Even though He’d been trying to describe and explain these things already!).
And we hear Jesus again emphasizing that all who love Him should keep His commandments. That also means we should love each other. If we have the Spirit, we will naturally want to share it with others. It might be a loose analogy, but think of sports or school spirit. If we are excited to represent a team or mascot, we will enthusiastically wave and cheer. We should be that excited and “amped up” about our relationship with the Lord. Our joy should overflow so that others want it, as well!
*Ask: How can we demonstrate love to others? What is something you can do TODAY that will serve someone else?
Emphasize to kids again what a beautiful promise this is. God loves us enough to give us His son, Jesus. He has also given us the Holy Spirit to remind us of His love. We can pray through the help of the Holy Spirit, and it can bring us back to a recognition of God’s presence. This Spirit can comfort our souls in times of trouble. Something comforting brings peace, hope, and joy. We are comforted by our great God’s love. Let us pass that on to one another! In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Sunday School Crafts: “Comfort Reminder”, “Comfort Box”
Sunday School Worksheet “Learn about the Holy Spirit”
