St Mary Church – Ottawa
Preparation
date
Lesson’s title
General
purpose
Specific
purpose
Verses of the
lesson
References
illustration
tool
Psalm of the
week
Introduction
SS Group’s name : …………St. Mary……….. –
Service date
The Personality of John the Baptist
( +) Love
(+ ) Faith
Grade : ……6-7 Girls…
January 22nd 2012
(+ ) Hope
To Know: How to be a man of God and glorify Him in my life
To Feel: the blessings of being a man of God
To Practice: Glorifying God every day
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
Mark 1:15
1) The Holy Bible.
2) The character of John the Baptist - Abouna Boules George (Arabic)
ppt
Memorization: Prime: The Holy Gospel according to St. John (John 1:1-17)
Bible Study for the week: Gospel of John Chapters 1 -5  Bring any questions you may have
How much do our parents love us?
Can each person tell me the last thing that his parents did that showed how big their love is for us….
How much more is God’s love?
How much has God done for us?!
Not just Sunday school answer… but in our PERSONAL life…
Do I feel His love? Do I feel His presence?!
What’s the best feeling that you’ve felt… can you give me an example?!
Lesson
When we love someone, don’t we want to be like them… to be associated with them?
Do we want to be like Christ, do we want to live like Him?
Do we want to live in a way that shows compassion and love to other people, and makes people think
of Him when they see us?
Some characteristics of John the Baptist:
+did not care about earthly things
+spoke the truth
did not care what people think of him, did they like him or not? did not care about being different
 as long as He pleased God and did what was right in God’s eyes… “for we ought to obey God rather
than men”
Blessings of obeying God and living in a way that pleases Him…
 God is the one that loves each one of us more than anyone else…. He loves us beyond what we
can imagine, this means that everything He tells us or wants us to do is for OUR OWN benefit!!
We have to know that and trust in that. Would our parents ever tell us to do something that
wasn’t for our own good?! No. Even if we don’t see it at the time. Imagine a very young child –
2 years old - who sees a fire from afar and asks his parents if he can go play in it! His parents
will obviously tell him no!! And to never ever go near fire! The boy, at the time, will not like this
and will get upset, because he might not understand… but does that change the fact that he
shouldn’t play in the fire.. that his parents love him and wanted what’s best for him…. No.
When he grows up, he will know that his parents are right.
 We can be filled with peace… it’s a great feeling to know that we are striving to please God,
that we are living in the way that He wants us to live. To feel that we are in His presence, that
we can do our best and trust Him with everything else, that we don’t have to worry about
anything… these feelings come when we love and obey God
+light in the midst of darkness
“You are the light of the world”
 How do we do this in our day to day life??! Get each person to give an example.
+Being patient with others
+Not getting angry
+Helping others
+Loving others->putting them first, sacrificing
+Forgiving others
+Being gentle
+Being compassionate towards others
+making excuses for others in our hearts, not blaming them
+refusing to gossip, not speaking about other people!!
+obeying God’s commandments
+being truthful
+ not judging others
+pure words
+words of hope/encouragement to others
+a simple smile
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven.”
 what does it mean to glorify God? How do you want to do this, this week? Get each person to write
their answer down, and then share if they want.
Glorifying God through our actions….. getting other people to see how beautiful it is to be with God,
how those who know God are filled with love for everyone because God IS Love; showing them how
beautiful God is…. We can do so many things to make others happy, to bring them joy, to reflect God’s
love for them.
Always being peaceful, not yelling, giving people even a simple smile can sometimes brighten their
whole day!
Telling others words of encouragement, hope, love!
These are all ways to show God’s beauty, His love, His way, what are His people like?
We’re Christians…. We represent Christ… by living with love for everyone, compassion, kindness, and
every other good thing… we bring honor to Christ, we make people want to be like Him.
When we are of the world, then we’re not painting the true picture of Christ... Imagine someone who
steals and cheats and lies, who’s mean.... And He’s Christian... People might see his actions... And then
not think highly of Christianity..or of God.... That’s painting a bad image!
It’s the same with the opposite... When a true Christian person acts in the way he’s supposed to... In a
loving, kind and compassionate way, then people see that, and think highly of God and honor God
(glorify God)
If a person doesn’t know we’re Christians... Will our actions show it?!
Conclusion
Lesson
application
Homework
 Speaking the truth and doing what’s right
 Not caring about what people think of us or about being different
 God’s blessings to us!
 Light in the midst of darkness- Glorifying God
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven
Write down 7 things you want to do this week to glorify God. Make sure you do at least one each day!
 This is how we should live every moment.
+
Grade 6 and 7 Girls – St. Mary’s Group
January 22nd,2012
Please describe 2 times when you felt God’s love and presence in your personal
life.
1._________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
“We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)
Please describe 2 times when you felt you had to choose between pleasing God
and pleasing people. Think about what you chose and why.
1._________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
What are some of the blessings of obeying God?
1._________________________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________________________
3._________________________________________________________________
4._________________________________________________________________
“Let your ____________ so shine before men, that they may see your ________
works and ______________ your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16)
a) Please explain what you understand from this verse.
b) Give 7 examples of ways in which you can glorify God in your life every day.
a)_________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b) 1.________________________________________
2.________________________________________
3.________________________________________
4.________________________________________
5.________________________________________
6.________________________________________
7.________________________________________
At Home... 
Bible Reading during this week:
The Gospel according to St. John, Chapters 1 to 5 (John 1-5)
To Memorize for February 5th: The Holy Gospel according to St. John in the Prime
Prayer
John 1:1-17
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and
without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was
the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend it.
John’s Witness: The True Light
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a
witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was
not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light
which gives light to every man coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not
know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who
believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God.
The Word Becomes Flesh
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He
who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”
And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was
given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.