This document provides a summary of the Parable of the Talents from the Bible and discusses its meaning. It begins by explaining the parable, in which a man gives his servants different amounts of talents (money) to manage while he is away. When he returns, the servants who invested their talents and earned more are rewarded, while the servant who buried his talent out of fear is punished. The summary then explains that talents in this parable can also represent our gifts and abilities given to us by God. It encourages using our talents, as God will reward our faithfulness and give us more responsibilities. If we fail to use our talents, God will take them away. The overall message is that God wants us to

1. MARCH 2016
Parable of the Talents
Matthew 25:14-30
This story is called the Parable of the Talents. A parable is a type of story Jesus would tell so we
would learn something fromit.
Jesus' stories had more than one meaning. For example, this story is about talents which was a
super large amount of money in Bible times. Today a talent might be worth a million dollars!
A talent in this story can also mean our gifts orabilities. Something special and amazing God gives
just to you, almost like a super power.
The parable starts like this: A man decided to go on a long trip, so he called his servants and asked
them to take care of his house, his stuff and his money.
Keep in mind that the man in this story is like God and the man's servants are God's people (you
and me!) The man in this story trusted his servants and believed that they would take care of his
special and valuable things.
The man decided to give one servant five talents of money (lets say that it's about five million
dollars), to another he gave two talents (or two million) and to the last servant he gave one
talent. He gave each servant a large amount he thought they could handle or according to their
ability.
Our abilities are our special gifts that God gave to each of us. He made some of us smarter about
some things than others. Some of us are good at memorizing, some of us are better at certain
sports, and some of us are better at knowing how to help others. Some cansolve problems better
and some are more generous. Our ability is something special we have that's different than
anyone else.
Back to the story, the man left on his trip and the servants each did something with the money
that they received.
The man with the five talents went right away and used his money and got five more! The man
with the two talents also used his money wisely and gained two more talents.
But the man with one talent took his talent and buried it in the ground to keep the money
safe. He didn't even try to do something with it.
He reminds me a bit like a dog that buries a bone. He had lots of time to do something with his
money. He could've bought some seeds and planted a garden and made some money but he
didn't do anything!

2. After a nice long trip the master came back and wanted to know what his servants did with his
money. The first man with the five talents said, "You trusted me with five talents and I made five
more!"
His master smiled and replied, "Great job, good and faithful servant!" You are trustworthy with a
few things so I will put you in charge of lots of things. Come celebrate with me!
I think it's interesting that the master says he trusted him with a FEW things. He gave him five
million dollars! That's ALOT of things. But to this master it was small compared to what he would
give and trust him with now.
Then the man with the two talents came and said, "You trusted me with two talents and I made
two more!"
His master smiled and replied, "Great job, good and faithful servant!" You are trustworthy with a
few things so I will put you in charge of lots of things. Come celebrate with me!
Then the man who received the one talent came and told his master, "I know you work hard for
your money, so I was afraid to lose any of it. I decided to bury it and keep it safe. Here is your
one talent back."
The master was not impressed and said, Youlazy servant! At the very least you could've taken the
money to the bank and you would've at least collected some interest from it."
He immediately took the talent away from the man and gave it to the first man who used his
money to make more.
The point Jesus was trying to make is that if you use your special gifts and abilities God will give
you more to keep doing these things you are good at. He will trust you with so much more.
If you have a chance to do something for God that he gave you special abilities forand you don't
do it you will lose your special gift.
God considers you very valuable and trusts you to do something for him using your gifts and
abilities. If you have a chance to do something and don't because you want to watchtv, play
video games or because you just don't want to do anything; God will take that valuable gift and
give it someone who is doing something with their gifts.
Maybe you're not sure what your special abilities are yet. Ask your parents or teachers what they
think you're gifts are.
Listen and watch when others compliment you or notice something good about what you're
doing, to you it might be something small but to God it's a special and very valuable gift that only
you can give. If you keep using it God will continue to make it bigger and better.

3. Also try to encourage and compliment others if you notice something special in them. Your
friends, teachers and parents might forget that God put something special in them and you might
see it. Tell them that they're good at it and remind them that it's a special ability given to them by
God.
Memory Verse: "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance:
but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." Matthew 25:29
I'm So Smart! poetry Craft
by Leanne Guenther
Kaitlyn (my youngest daughter) did this project when she was 5 (almost 6) and was very proud of
her first poem -- it's definitely something I'll be keeping in the treasure box.
This is a great project for building self esteem in a number of different themes:
 learning about poetry
 All About Me
 Joseph's Coat of Many Colors Sunday School theme
Materials:
If doing this with a group, try making some cardboard Templates for the children to trace onto
construction paper and cut out on their own -- this is what we did in the photo. The shapes are
large and easy to trace and cut.
 printer and paper
 OPTIONAL: thin cardboard formaking Templates (old cereal boxes or the backs of paper
pads work well)
 OPTIONAL: construction paper (if making cardboard Templates)
 pencil and eraser
 scissors,
 glue
 wool or construction paper in hair colors
Directions -Writingthe Poem:
 Kaitlyn's Poem (what you might expect from a 6 year old):
I'm so smart I can type on the computer.
I'm so smart I can run so fast.

4. I'm so smart I can ride my scooter.
I'm so smart I can play soccer.
 for young children (Kindergarten and Grade 1) I have provided a template (part of template
2) with the words "I am so smart I can" with a blank beside. This is repeated 4 times so the
children canfill in their four favorite talents.
 for older children (Grade 2 and up) you can simply provide a blank square of paper of the
appropriate size and let them write out the entire poem on their own if you prefer.
o You can add in some computer use practice by allowing them to type their poem into
the computer. You canuse this project to show them how to chose a font type, font
size and font colorand to show them how to use a spell checker.
 Make sure the children use pencil so they can edit their work if needed.
Optional Alternative Poem:
 Instead of doing the "I'm so Smart" poetry project,
younger children can do a "Me!" poem:
I can make an M
And I can make an e
They spell a word
And that word is Me!
Directions -MakingCardboardTemplates:
 This is optional
 Print out the B&W version of the Templates
 Glue the Templates onto thin cardboard making sure it's glued well enough that everything
will stay in place while you are cutting. If you use a glue stick or a thin layer of glue you
don't need to wait foranything to dry. If you use too much glue, let it dry a bit first before
the next step.
 Cut out the template pieces (right through the cardboard) so you end up with cardboard
template pieces
 Allow the children to trace the Templates on construction paper in their choice of colors.
Directions -MakingtheCraft:
 Cut out the template pieces.
 Assemble the child:

5. o Cut along the line in the largest piece to make the legs.
o Glue the circle (head) onto the largest piece (body and legs).
o Glue the small rectangles (arms) onto the body.
o Glue the small half ovals (hands) onto the ends of the arms.
o Glue the larger half circles (feel) onto the bottom of the legs.
 Cut some strips of paper or wool to make hair for the child. Provide colors to match all the
children's hair colors (if you cannot find brown construction paper, use brown paper bags).
 Have the children draw their face on the head
 Glue the I'mSo Smart! poem onto the tummy.
 Sunday SchoolVersion: Tie in with a message similar to "This week we learned about
Joseph and his coat of many colors from Genesis 37. We learned that we all have special
talents and that its important not to want other's talents; but to be happy with what God
gave especially to us."
o When designing the craft, you can have the children colorthe body different colors
(to make each on an individual coat of many colors). OR
o have the children glue multi coloredpieces of construction paper, ribbon, fabric or
felt to the body.
Parable of the Talents Crossword Puzzle
by Leanne Guenther
Print out the template and solve the clues to fill in the crossword.
InformationonAges/Skillsforthedifferentcrossworddifficulties:
1. Word Clues (Regular) Crossword with word list:
o intended for grade 1 through grade 4 children
o children use the written clues and the word list to figure out where the words go in
the crossword
o children print the words fromthe word list into the crossword puzzle
2. Word Clues (Regular) Crossword (no word list):
o intended forgrade 3 and up
o children use the written clues to figure out the crossword
o children print the words into the crossword.
Templates:
 Close the template window afterprinting to return to this screen.
 Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE
SETUP or FILE,PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

6. MARCH 2016

7. The Fruit of the Spirit
(Galatians 5:16-26)
Today we are going to talk about fruit. Do you like fruit? What is your favorite fruit? All fruit is
different. It tastes different, it looks different and it feels different in your mouth (sometimes fruit
is crunchy, sometimes soft, sometimes juicy, etc.)
The Bible talks about fruit but its a different kind of fruit, it's called the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit
of the Spirit is a little like real fruit because they are each special and different too.
It's really neat because when we ask Jesus to live in us his Spirit stays with us and He will give us
some of this special fruit. As we grow and learn more about Jesus, the Spirit will give us more and
more fruit and become more Christ-like.
I will tell you in a minute what this special fruit is but first I want to explain how God can be God,
Jesus (His son) and the Spirit all at the same time.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self control. All of these fruits are good to have and the Spirit wants to give them to us.
God wants us to try to be good and have the fruit of the spirit in us. We can try to have love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control but the Spirit will
give us the kind of gifts he wants us to have. It's hard to do it on our own, we need the Spirit to
help us with each of these things.
Just in case you don't know what each of the fruit of the spirit means I'm going to try to explain
them. I think the easiest fruit of the spirit to explain is love. Think of someone that loves you no
matter what. You can make mistakes and it doesn't matter what you look like, but they still love
you. God loves us too, no matter what, he even loves you more than your parents! He can help
us love others the way we should.
The next fruit is joy. Joy is like being very, very happy, it's being happy inside even when things
aren't going great. Again, we can try to be joyful but only God can give us the kind of happiness
that makes us joyful, we can't just be joyful on our own.
When we think of peace, we usually think of no more fighting or war. That is right, but the peace
of the spirit is a bit different. This is the peace we get when we get to know God really well (by
reading the Bible, praying, asking questions, etc). If we have this peace we will feel a calmness
inside and know that all our sins are confessed and that God forgives us.
Patience is the next one and I'm sure we know what this means. Have you ever been told to have
patience? The patience God is talking about is for those little things like waiting to open your

8. Christmas presents or being patient to go to the park. But it also means to be patient for answers
to prayer that might take years to be answered.
Next is kindness and it should be easy although sometimes it's not. Is it easy to be kind to
someone who has been mean to you or to a beggar on the street? When God gives us this gift, its
more than just being kind to others. He might help us be kind to someone who really needs it and
we're not even aware of it. For example, maybe you feel like you should write a letter or call a
grandparent. God might be urging you to do that because they are having a bad day and that's
exactly what they need to cheer them up. Sometimes your kind deed to someone else is all they
need to remember that someone special loves them.
Being good or goodness is the next fruit of the spirit. Having the gift of goodness means God can
depend on me to be honest, repent of my sins, and turn away from bad things. We also need to
try to act this way towards others through our actions so they can see the fruit in us. The only
true goodness we have is the goodness of God living in us.
Faithfulness is next and this one might be a little trickier to understand. Being faithful is keeping
your promises, being a loyal friend even when times get tough, being trustworthy and doing the
things you said you would do. When I think of faithfulness I think of my grandma who prayed for
me every single day of her life. She was faithful in praying for me, which also meant that she
prayed everyday.
When I think of gentleness I think of holding a brand new baby. For some reason we think they
might break if we don't hold them so carefully. The kind of gentleness God is talking about is
similar to this. No matter what situation comes up we are supposed to be gentle. That doesn't
mean we shouldn't stick up for ourselves, if someone is doing something you know is wrong you
should still tell an adult or tell them to stop. Just do it in a gentle way like Jesus would do it.
The last fruit is self control and is a very important one, it means to be in control of what we say
and do. Without self control we can't do the things we should. To be able to live the way God
wants we have to be in control of the things we do. Just like when a brother or sister bugs you so
much you just want to hit them, we know that we have to control ourselves and not hit them. We
know we just can't do whatever we feel like sometimes because its not right and we'd be
punished.
Just remember that with all these gifts we need help from God to be able to use the gifts
properly. We need to remember that God made us and he is perfect. If you want the fruit of the
spirit first you need to ask God to live in you, and then the more you get to know him the more
fruit or gifts he will help you have.

9. Memory Verse: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22,23
I'd like to give you a poem I wrote for Sunday School, where I am serving with the 2-5 year-
olds. We used this for "The Fruit of the Spirit." Galatians 5:22-23
(The children REALLY learned all the fruit of the Spirit!!)
Today I learned
Jesus is the Vine
With Him I grow
fruit very fine
Love and Joy and Peace
are three
of the fruits
Jesus wants from me
Patience, Kindness
Goodness too
These are the things
Jesus wants me to do
Faithfulness, Gentleness
Self-Control,
These are the fruits
Jesus wants me to grow
Fruit of the Spirit Anagram
(Word Scramble)
Print out the template and unscramble the ten Bible story words listed.
The regular template for the anagram does not include a list of words which makes it a challenge
for older children and adults.

10. Younger children will enjoy the easy template as it includes a list of the completed words which
they must slot into the blanks beside the corresponding anagram (scrambled letters).