The Fruit of the Spirit Is Joy - The Lost Coin by Linda Sue Pochodzay Edwards

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Fruit of the Spirit

Joy
The Lost Coin
Text Version
by Linda Sue Pochodzay Edwards

José walked to the mailbox near the street to check the mail for his mother. On his way back to the house, he looked through the letters and was surprised to discover that there was one with his name on it. Excitedly, he ran through the door shouting, "Hey, Mom! There is one for me! There is a letter with my name on it!"

José's mother looked at the envelope and handed it back to José saying, "It is from your Aunt Marie. You may open it."

José quickly tore open the envelope, revealing a cute birthday card. When he opened the card to read it, he was overjoyed to find a crisp, new ten dollar bill folded inside. How happy and excited he was! "Now I can buy that new bell for my bike, like the one Peter has!" he exclaimed.

José took the card and the money to his room, then went outside to play with his good friend Peter. He told Peter about his good fortune and invited Peter to go shopping with him to buy the bell.

Several days later, José's mother was ready to take the boys to the store. José went to his room to get the crisp, new ten dollar bill, but it had disappeared. It was no longer on the dresser where he had left it. He was so upset, he began to cry loudly.

Startled by the crying, his mother came rushing into the room. "Whatever is the matter with you?" she questioned.

"It...It's gone! The money...is GONE!" he tried to explain between sobs. "Where can it be? What am I going to do? I know I left it right here," he cried.

At that moment, he looked up to see that his friend Peter was also standing by the door of his room. "I'll help you look for it," Peter said, trying to comfort his friend.

The two boys searched the whole room. They opened the dresser drawers. They looked inside José's special box. They looked in the toy bin. It seemed that they had looked everywhere but still had not found the money. They were almost ready to give up when José's mother came to the room with a flashlight.

"Here, take this light and look under the bed one more time," she suggested. The boys had already looked under the bed, so they didn't think it would do any good, but to please José's mother, they got on the floor and looked again.

At first, they didn't see anything under the bed except a few small toys and a sock, but then Peter exclaimed, "Hey! Shine that light over here again. I think a see a piece of paper." José got down on the floor on his belly and shone the flashlight in the direction Peter had told him. He saw it, too, but thought it was just an old scrap of paper. But Peter persisted and stretched as far as he could. Finally, he was able to reach the paper and pull it out from under the bed.

How excited the boys were when they could see that it was the birthday card from José's Aunt Marie! José opened the card, and sure enough, the crisp, new ten dollar bill was still inside. There was so much joy in that room that day, it could hardly be contained. The boys were giggling and jumping, so happy that they had found the lost money.

José's mother was glad to see her son happy again. "Come on boys!" José's mother exclaimed. "Let's go buy that new bicycle bell!" José carefully folded the crisp, new ten dollar bill and put it way down deep into his pocket. He certainly did not want to lose it again!

There is a story in the Bible that is very similar to the story of José and his lost ten dollar bill. This is the story Jesus told a very long time ago:

There was a woman who had ten silver coins. She was probably a poor woman, and those ten silver coins were very important and precious to her. One day, she decided to take those coins out of their special place. She just wanted to look at them and enjoy them for a moment; then she was going to put them back. She picked up each coin, one by one, looked at it, then turned it over to look at the other side. The coins were so pretty and shiny! She really enjoyed looking at her coins, and she was feeling so fortunate to have them, but she knew she needed to put them back in their special place and get back to her work for the day.

The woman counted her coins one last time, as she was putting them away.

Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine ...

"Oh, no! There are only nine! Maybe I have counted them wrong," she thought to herself. So she put them all in her hand and counted them again:

Six ... Seven ... Eight ... Nine ....

"Oh, NO!!!! There really are only nine. There are supposed to be TEN!" she exclaimed loudly. "Now what am I going to do?"

Frantically, the woman searched her whole house. She looked on the floor, under the table where she had been counting the coins, but it was not there. She looked in her pockets just in case it might have fallen off the table and into her pocket, but she could not find the coin. She got her broom and started sweeping every nook and cranny, but still did not find the lost coin.

Finally the woman lit a candle so she would have more light. She got down on her knees on the floor and searched every inch of her small house and was ready to give up in despair. But... wait! What was that? The light from the candle caused her to notice a slight gleam near the table leg. She hurried to the spot and put the candle down low so she could see better. There, glistening in the light, was the shiny silver coin.

The woman was so excited and full of joy about finding her lost coin, she went out to get her friends and invited them to her house for a big party. All her friends were just as happy as she was about finding the missing coin. They had a long, joyous celebration.

After telling the story of the woman rejoicing because she found her lost coin, Jesus turned to the people and said, "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." That means that the angels in heaven sing and shout for joy, and have a great celebration when one person chooses to stop doing things he or she knows to be wrong, and instead chooses to follow God's way, by doing what is right.

THINK!

How many coins did the woman have?

How many coins did the woman lose?

How did the woman feel when she found her lost coin?

What did Jesus say about the angels?

Which fruit of the Spirit did you learn about in this story?

REMEMBER:

The angels are joyful when one person stops doing wrong.

A VERSE TO LEARN

"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).

grapes

ALTERNATE VERSE TO LEARN

"...joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth..." (Luke15:7b KJV).

LET'S PRAY

Dog and boy praying

****************************************************
Dear Jesus, thank You for the story You told about joy.
Please forgive me for the bad things I have done and
help me not to do them anymore. Help me to have joy.
In your Name I pray. Amen.
****************************************************

CAN YOU FIND THIS STORY IN THE BIBLE?

Luke 15:8-10

STORIES IN THIS SERIES:

The Fruit of the Spirit
Love
Joy
Peace
Longsuffering
Gentleness
Goodness
Faith
Meekness
Temperance

fruit divider

coloring

Bible Verse Coloring Page for The Lost Coin
Lost Coin Coloring Page
Lost Coin Coloring Page
One Lost Coin, One Lost Sheep Coloring Page (pdf) (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Bible Color and Learn: 15 Parables of Jesus

pear

Fruit of the Spirit Coloring Pages
Fruit Basket
God Wants Us to Bear Good Fruit
Fruit of the Spirit Tree
Fruit
Fruit of the Spirit
My Story of Jesus Happy Day Coloring Book

Bible Story Coloring Pages V2 (Reproducible)
New Testament Bible Story Cards Coloring Book
My Bible Coloring Book (Shirley Dobson)
Children's Coloring Books
Smart Coloring Books

stories

God's Lost and Found
Bible For Children Presents: Prodigal Son, Lost Coin, Lost Sheep (pdf) (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Amazing 3D Bible Stories: Parables of Jesus
Following God: Fruitful Lives from the Bible
Stories Jesus Told: The Lost Coin
The Lost Coin Arch Book
A Child's Book of Parables
Lion Book of Five-Minute Parables

cherries

Bearing Fruit
Fruit of the Spirit (Arch Books)
The Fruit of the Spirit
Life Is an Adventure with Ernie
The Fruit of the Spirit Is Jesus in Me

365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories (Barbour Publishing)
Awesome Book of Bible Stories for Kids
Pilgrim's Progress for Kids
365 Activities For Kids:
A Bible Story And Activity For Each Day Of The Year
100 Bible Stories 100 Bible Songs w/2 CD
Baby's First Bible
Beginner's Bible
Bible In Pictures For Toddlers
Bible stories
Early Reader's Bible
Five Minute Devotions for Children (ages 4-8)
Little Hands Story Bible
The Children's Illustrated Bible
The Preschoolers Bible
Toddlers Bible
Pilgrim's Progress for Kids
Children's Books
Spanish Children's Books
The Picture Bible (my children's favorite!)

activities

Lost Coin Maze
Lost Coin/Lost Sheep Word Search
Jesus and the Children - PDF - Activities (pdf) (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Parable Puzzlers: Word Puzzles from Jesus Parables (Lost Coin)

peach

The Fruit of the Spirit (pdf) (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Fruit of the Spirit Online Game
Online Word Search
Fruit of the Spirit Online Jigsaw Puzzle
Online Word Search
Online Hangman
Crossword Puzzle
Word Search
Unscramble
Online Coded Bible Puzzle
Coded Bible Puzzle
Online Fruit Basket to Arrange
Online Animated Jigsaw Puzzle
Online Animated Slide Puzzle

Amazing Bible Mazes
Best Book of Bible Activities
Encyclopedia Of Bible Games For Childrens Ministry
The Humongous Book of Games for Children's Ministry
Memory Verse Games for Kids (Take Me Through the Bible Series)
Big Book Of Bible Puzzles (Reproducible)
Bible Puzzles: Word Search
Big Book Of Bible Story Activity Pages V1 (Gospel Light Big Books)
More Bible Time with Kids
Christian and educational toys
Children's Activity Books
Children's Puzzles
Crossword Books
Sticker Books

Jesus Loves Me
Lost Coin Song

Fruit of the Spirit (sheet music/MIDI)
I Want To Be Like Jesus (sheet music/MIDI)
Jesus and Others and You (lyrics/MIDI)
Fruit of the Spirit (mp3)
The Fruit of The Spirit Song/MIDI/CHORDS
Fruit of the Spirit Cadence

Action Bible Songs (Cedarmont Kids)
Bible Songs on CD
100 Singalong Songs For Kids (Cedarmont)
25 Favorite Sunday School Songs (Veggie Tales)
Children's Music

Fruit of the Spirit Animation
Auto B Good Fruits of the Spirit DVD
Sunday School Songs (Cedarmont Kids)
Music Machine
Adventures from the Book of Virtues

Amazing Bible Stories DVD Boxed Set
Bible Stories DVD
God's Story from Creation to Eternity (listen & watch online)
Read and See DVD Bible
Children's DVDs

Parable of the Lost Coin Craft, Song, and Activities
Create and Take Bible Crafts: Parables

apple

Fruit Printing
Fruit Basket (pdf) (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Fruit of the Spirit Crafts

Draw 50 People from the Bible
Bible Crafts & More (Ages 6-8)
Bible Crafts On A Shoestring Budget (Ages 5-10)
Big Book of Bible Crafts (Ages 3-12)
Encyclopedia Of Bible Crafts For Preschoolers
Praise God With...Craft Series
Praise God with a Paper Plate (PreK-Grade 2)
Really Big Book Of Cool Crafts For Kids w/CD-Ages 4-12 (Reproducible)
Children's Crafts & Hobbies

RESOURCES FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS

Lost Sheep, Coin, Son
Parable of the Lost Coin and the Lost Sheep (Lesson )
Legends of Faith Vol. 13: Parables of Jesus (Lost Coin)
Life Of Christ - Lost Sheep and Coin Lesson Plan (pdf) (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
Travel Guide to the Parables
On the Way 3-9s Curriculum Book 12
Sharable Parables: Creative Storytelling Ideas for Ages 3-12
KidsTime: Parable Quest curriculum

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fruit divider

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