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# 49th week of our Journey – HARVEST

This week’s destination: HARVEST THE FRUIT
This week so we are going to learn about harvest, leading up to the Moringa harvest.

MATERIALS:
Coconut and Watermelon. Photocopy the Bible Verse Card, Fruit of the Spirit review cards, crayons. Work clothes; gloves, hat, shirt, and boots. Moringa seed or plant, Mango, Banana.

AS KIDS ARRIVE PRIOR TO THE LESSON:
Get the children to colour the Bible Verse Card and Fruit of the Spirit review cards prior to the lesson.

1. GAMES: (10 minutes)
Treasure in a Haystack
Fill cardboard boxes with hay or straw. Bury a few treasures in each “haystack.” Coins, wrapped candy, bananas, peanuts etc get the children to try and find the treasures buried in the haystacks.

2. TEAM GAMES: (10 minutes)
Jump Rope Relay
Divide the children into two teams put children into a line size order smallest children first and fill in the bigger children behind them to make the teams even.

Give first child from each team a jump rope. children jump rope to turning point and back. When they return to start they hand jump rope to their teammate and sit at the back of the line. First team with all members sitting wins.

3. ACTIVE PRAISE CHORUS (10 minutes)
It’s time to Harvest Moringa
(Sing to the tune of Hickory Dickory Dock use Music video )

1. Oh what is the wea - ther today?
Oh what is the weather today?
It’s warm and dry, it’s warm and dry,
That is the wea - ther today!

2. It’ time to har - vest Moringa
It’ time to harvest Moringa
Cut the leaves, and wash them well.
It’ time to har- vest Moringa

3. It’s time to dry the green lea- ves
It’s time to dry the green leaves
Ready to make, a wonder- ful tea
It’s time to dry the green leaves

4. It’s time to pound the dry lea- ves
It’s time to pound the dry leaves
Ready to make, a wonder- ful tea
It’s tasty just you wait and see!

4. INTIMATE WORSHIP (5 minutes)
Lord of the Harvest
(Use Music video, Music Song Sheets and lyrics found in Visual Aid Manual)

Prayer: Heavenly Father , the Lord of the Harvest, thank you for the promise of harvest contained within a seed. Thank you for the oak tree within an acorn, the bread within a wheat grain, the apples within a pip, the mystery of nature, gift wrapped for us to sow, we thank praise and worship you. You said the harvest is ripe, so send labourers into the Harvest fields to reap the souls of men and let us be one of them. Amen

5. TEACHING:
a. “Back Track” (5 minutes)
Last week we learn about Zacchaeus, he was a wicked man but when he met Jesus, his life was changed. Can someone come up and tell the story?

What sort of job did he do? (Tax collector)
What sort of tree did he climb up? (Sycamore tree)

b. Sword Play
Ready…Swords up… Luke 10:2.… CHARGE!
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Luke 10:2)

c. Teach the Lesson (15 minutes)
[Dress up in work clothes; gloves, hat, shirt, and boots.] In our Bible reading today, Jesus sent out people to bring in the harvest. Do any of you know what a harvest is? Harvest is the time when plants, fruits, vegetables and grains are ready to be picked and brought in, when your Moringa tree gets around 7 feet you can harvest it and cut it down to just around 1 foot off the ground. Remember we learnt about pruning, the more your pinch back the branches, the bushier and better they become.

The harvest Jesus was talking about here in the Bible was not Moringa, Mangos or Bananas. (Hold up objects) He was sending out workers to bring people into the Kingdom of God. He said that there were many souls who were ready to be harvested, but there were not enough workers. One reason it was hard to find workers was that it was very difficult work. Jesus warned that the workers in His Kingdom would often be treated very unkindly.

Jesus said that there are many people out there who need to be helped, who need to be cared for, who need to be taught about God’s love.

We don’t need these things (gardening props) to care for the harvest Jesus talks about, but sometimes we do need to get our hands dirty to really serve and care for others.

Jesus is still looking for people who will work for him and bring people into his kingdom. That is what the church is supposed to do. It won't always be easy. In fact, it will be hard.

A farmer usually doesn’t buy a field with a ready grown harvest. Our Moringa harvest began when we planted the Moringa seed in the water bottles many months ago. But our work didn’t stop there. NO.

We had to:
• Water it.
• Cultivate it.
• Weed it.
• Plant it.
• Prune it
• Guard it against bugs, goats etc
• We had to give it a lot of attention to make it produce so we can go out & gather in the harvest!

How do I nurture the Jesus seed that has been planted in my heart?
• By cultivating your relationship with Jesus Christ.
• By praying
• By reading and memorizing His Word the Bible
• By worshipping Him
• By fellowshipping with other believers

In between the seed-planting & the harvesting a divine process had been going on.

GOD HAD BEEN GROWING THE SEED!

The important thing to notice about farmers is that they have to be willing to wait for the seed to come into full growth!

That is how you make it through the growing season …

REFUSE TO GIVE UP UNTIL YOU RECEIVE YOUR HARVEST!

They had to have faith in what they had planted & believe it would produce the harvest.

Harvesting and Processing Moringa:

Step 1: Cut the branches of the Moringa down as low as 1 foot off the ground, or a few inches from the main stem, bundle the stems together and bring them home or to the production shed.

Step 2: Your natural inclination will be to wash the Moringa branches, before stripping off the leaves. DON'T DO IT. If you wash the branches first, and then strip the leaves from the branches, the leaves will stick to your fingers, instead pull the leaves off the branches first, in a stripping motion, and then simply rinse them in clean water. Wash a second time in a slightly salty water to remove microbes and then finally wash in clean drinkable water. The green leaves can be added to salads or added to your cooked food as a garnish.
(The branches and stems can be cut up into 6 inch strips and fed to the animals eg sheep, goats, cows and pigs)

Step 3: Strain the leaves to remove most of the water.

Step 4: Place the clean Moringa leaves in a shaded enclosed area preferable on a mesh to enable air to circulate around the leaves. Shift their position around three times a day within three to four days the leaves are dry. Dried leaves can be added to soups, stews or cooked rice to increase the nutritional benefits of the meal.

Step5: Pound the dried Moringa leaves in a Mortar and Pestle or use a grinding machine if available. The dried leaf powder is now available for tea. Store the leaf powder in a sealed container in a cool place.

6. APPLICATION / ENCOUNTERING GOD: Refer to our Encountering God Handbook for ideas for this important section of the session. Experience the Holy Spirit Learning Centers creating a Spiritual atmosphere.

Let the children come and quietly ask God how He can use them to be labourers to reap the harvest in their schools, homes and playground.

CLOSING PRAYER:
Lord of the Harvest, we know that Your harvest field is ripe for the picking. We long to see Your Kingdom come on this earth and to do everything we can to obey Your commission to go into all the world. We know that the workers are few so we ask you Lord to release workers to go into the Mission field. We thank you God that you created fruit trees for our health and healing You created light to enable trees to grow. You created us in your image to reflect Your love and glory. You are awesome and we worship you. Amen.

TAKE HOME PAGE:
Give one copy of the ‘Take Home Truth’ to each child at the end of the class.
Optional: ‘Take Home Quiz Books’ are available for the children found in your Visual Aid Manual

NEXT WEEK: Next week is our last session so we are going to summaries all we have learnt this year.

CLICK for a Summary