Lesson 16: The Three Great Blessings
Aim
* to learn the words blessing, fruitful, multiply, dominion
* to know what the three blessings mean
Materials
* Bible passage about the three blessings. Genesis 1:28
* Large letters of the key words
* Worksheets
* Happy Families card game
Lesson Outline
1. Read from the Bible
2. Explain the Four words
3. Explain what the 3 blessings mean and that the family is the place to fulfill them
4. Talk about the Four Kinds of Love in the family
5. Complete worksheets
6. Play Happy Families to emphasize the importance of families
7. Conclusion
8. End with a Prayer
1) Read from the Bible
After God created Adam and Eve he wanted them to be happy, so he gave them three
blessings.
“And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living
thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28
What are the three blessings? To be Fruitful, Multiply and Have Dominion. What does each word mean?
2) Explain the Four Words
BLESSING – means God’s gift to make us happy
FRUITFUL – means to bear fruit as on an apple tree
MULTIPLY – means to increase in number
DOMINION – means to control things
3) Explain God’s Three Blessings
1st BLESSING – BE FRUITFUL
Fruitful means to grow fully. When a tree bears fruit it is fully grown and mature. God wants us wants us grow to be good fruit. We don’t want to eat fruit that is not ripe. In the same way
God doesn’t want us to stay as little children, but to grow up. He also doesn’t want us to be bad inside like rotten apples. God wants us to unite our minds and bodies together and make
God the center of our lives. We learn this in our family.
2nd BLESSING – MULTIPLY
Multiply means to build families filled with God’s love. God should be at the center of our families.
3rd BLESSING – HAVE DOMINION
Dominion means to take care of the world with God’s love and build an ideal world. God should be at the center of our world. We learn this in our family by taking care of our home and being
thankful for all things God has given us.
We can fulfill all 3 blessings in the family, because it the school of love, the place where God wants to be.
4) Four Kinds of Love
What kind of people are in a family? Who is in your family? mother, father, children, brothers, sisters, husband, wife. We learn to love in our family in 4 ways and in 4 stages.
1. Children love parents. How? By obeying, respecting, trusting. Doing the things that make your parents happy.
2. Brothers and sisters love each other. How? By helping each other, being fair and sharing things. Older takes care of younger. Younger learns from older.
3. Husbands and wives love each other. How? by staying together forever, by uniting in heart, by complementing each other.
4. Parents love children. How? by loving children their whole life, without expecting anything back, by teaching them to be good and by sacrificing themselves to make their
children happy.
5) Complete the worksheets
1. The Three Blessings. Write the words Be Fruitful, Multiply, Have Dominion
2. True Parents Family & My Family. Draw a picture of your family
6) Play Happy Families
This is a game for 2 or more players. It can be played to emphasize the importance of the family
To Play: The cards are shuffled and dealt to each player until the pack is finished. Players look at their cards and decide which cards are needed to make complete families. There are four members
of each family.
The player to the left of the dealer begins. They can ask any other player for any card they need to make up a family. If the player asked possesses the wanted card they must pass it over. If, however, they do not have the card they must reply “Not at home”. The turn then passes to the player who said “Not at home”. If a player is successful in getting the card he asked for, he continues asking for other cards until he receives the reply “Not at home”. A player must not ask for any character unless he holds at least one member of that family in his hand.
The game proceeds in this manner until all the families are completed. The player who holds the greatest number of families wins the game.
4) Conclusion
Ask each child what they could learn from today’s lesson. Refer to the lesson aims:
* to learn the words blessing, be fruitful, multiply, have dominion
* to know what the three blessings mean
5) End with a Prayer
