[I have mentioned in a previous post that I intend to leave my lesson plans as I prepared them. That will explain, I pray, the manner in which this is written, since I usually use my notes to remind myself of thins but there are times when I read what I've written verbatim.]
This evening I’m going to do something a little different…rather than exposit the text we will be looking at tonight…I want to leap straight into the application.
Another thing is that my lesson tonight is especially for all of you who have already professed faith in Christ…so please bear with me this evening as I go this new route!
This evening our text will come from 1 Samuel, so please turn to that book, the 8th chapter.
Read 1 Samuel 8:1-7
You may be tempted to think that Israel’s request was sound because of verse 3…that perhaps they had reason for wanting a king over them since the sons of Samuel were not godly men. But one thing you must understand is that judges did not become judges because their fathers were judges…it was not a hereditary position…judges were raised up by God Himself. That the sons here were already judges may point to the fact that already Israel was assuming they should decide who would judge Israel...but judges if you look at the book that bears that name, were raised up to rule Israel especially during times of trial. So in fact, Israel was not ruled by judges but directly by God.
Second thing you must understand is that the key verse in this passage is verse 7 (read again)
The people rejected God! That the sons of Samuel were not godly men was an excuse for wanting a king!
Ask) And for what purpose do they want a king?
They wanted to be “like all the nations.”
Did you notice that? They did not want to be different than those around them! They wanted to fit in!
My little brothers and sisters…when we examine our own lives…are we any different than Israel? Have we too rejected God as our king?
Little brothers and sisters…our God and King wants us to be different just as he wanted Israel to be different…Israel was a nation of light in a planet of darkness…but they wanted to be just like the world around them!
Look with me at Romans 12:1-2
We too, little ones, are called to stand out! We are not called into a relationship with Christ so that we can look just like the world around us!
Little sisters…the world tells young ladies that the less of themselves they cover up…the better they will be…do you listen, or will you listen to the world?
Little brothers…the world tells young men that being disrespectful and using foul language is simply a thing young people will do…will you listen to the world?
Little brothers and sisters…the world says that watching movies with profanity, sex, and violence is cool…do you watch the same things your unsaved friends do?
How then, are you different? How then have you been “transformed by the renewing of your mind…”?
Brothers and sisters, the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that having believed and placed our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives we have become a new creation, therefore if we lead lives that are no different than the lives of the unsaved…then according to 2 Corinthians 13:5 it is so very important that we examine ourselves closely to see if we are truly of the faith lest we find ourselves deceived and be among those to whom the Lord says “I never knew you, depart from Me…”! Matthew 7:23
Listen closely…when we say that we are Christians and we fail to live victorious lives…then we say to God that we do not want Him for our king…
When we behave no different than those who don’t love Christ…then we say to God that we do not want Him for our King.
But beware of one thing…by leading victorious lives I do not mean lives of ease…I do not mean that if you are a faithful Christian things will always be wonderful for you…that you will never suffer hardship…far from it!!
There are Christians in Asia and the Middle East who die for their faith…who are wounded for their faith…who suffer poverty for their faith…and far be it for us to say they are not faithful…for it is to our shame that we are not granted the privilege granted to them.
No…when I say living a life victoriously I mean a life that praises God during the good and during the bad [reference Job 1 here]…a life where we live as if we really believe that God is our King…
Brothers and sisters…let it never be said of anyone of you that you wanted a king other than God!!!
1 Samuel 8:22
“So the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.””
Be careful what you ask for…do not trade the glorious light of God for the darkness of the world!
Listen carefully to me: Whether we acknowledge it or not…God is King. God is Lord. God is in control. Read Psalm 1:1-6
It remains for us to live in light of this truth…but our failure to live it when we profess Christ only means at best that we are backsliding and at worst that we do not truly belong to Him.
So my final word to you this evening my brothers and sisters is to be satisfied with the only real King there is…and if we truly believe it and if we truly live it…tell others about Him!!
Close in prayer
Showing posts with label AWANA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AWANA. Show all posts
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
AWANA Lesson on 03.01.06
As many of you know, AWANA is a program dedicated to providing children a safe place in which they can interact with each other through fun and games while at the same time providing them with the foundation of Scripture which we always pray will lead to their salvation and growth in their Christian life.
AWANA stands for Approved Workers Are Not Ashamed and comes from 2 Timothy 2:15 which says: "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
At any rate, I was privileged to be asked to teach during the council time for AWANA's at our church (council time is when they receive their Bible instrucion...in our church it comes right after they've spent time reciting the verses they've memorized throughout the week). The following is a summary of the lesson I brought to the young people.
Jesus completes His work!
On November 30th of 2005 I had the privilege of presentation a lesson that I titled “The birth of Christ in Scripture.” We looked at passages from Genesis to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Romans. We saw how Christ was promised, from the very beginning…a carefully planned gift from God the Father to a fallen humanity.
On February 1st of 2006 the lesson I brought to you was titled “Nicodemus and the new birth.” For this lesson we focused on John 3, and we looked at what it means to be born again…to experience the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Today, my lesson is titled “Jesus completes His work.” I hope and pray that it will serve to bring us to a complete understanding of the importance that Jesus the Christ (Messiah) should have in our lives…of the love, respect, devotion, and honor with which we should live our lives BECAUSE of our Lord.
Read John 19:1-11; 28-30
This last section is, and should be, a difficult passage for the people of God to read. What I want us to do this evening is focus on those beautiful words of Jesus, “It is finished!”
What did Jesus our Lord mean when He said those words?
Remember what we read in Genesis 3:15
Sin came into the world through the disobedience of Man…and because God loved us so much…there was a gift already in place for us…Jesus!
So when we read these words of Jesus, “It is finished” we must realize that He is referring to that whole will of God that had its roots partially in the prophecy of Genesis 3:15.
That whole will being:
1. That Jesus Christ should become incarnate (born as man, yet being God) Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 9:6
2. That He must be exposed to shame for our sake Psalm 22:6-8
3. That He must suffer physically Psalm 22:16-18
4. That He must die Psalm 22:14
This was the will of God for Jesus. This sounds horrible doesn’t it? Yet the Father wanted this because of His love for us…
And Jesus did it because of His love for us.
Read Luke 22:39-44
Jesus willingly went through shame, pain, and death…first: because He loved the Father so much that He wanted to do all that the Father wanted Him to do…secondly: because He loved you and I so much and knew that without His death we could never be saved from our sins! Only His death could wipe away the sin of every man, woman, and child!
So, then, through His death, Jesus accomplished the following: He fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law, His perfect and holy nature submitted to the penalty that sin demands, he obtained mercy and atonement for anyone who calls upon His name! See Romans 10:9-10
I want to tell you a story:
There was a young man who lost his parents when very young…he never knew his mother and barely knew his father before they died.
This young man’s brothers were gang members…drugs and violence were a normal part of his life. When he was a teenager, he himself became involved in gang activity. He stole, robbed, and fought constantly. Even though he was not a very good fighter…his misplaced pride demanded that he never walk away from a fight.
This young man knew that God existed…but He hated God…he blamed God for the deaths of his parents, for losing his brothers to jail or to the physical abuse of someone close to them. He loved guns and the power he derived from them...
Ask) Does this sound like a very nice person?
Ask) Would you want to be around someone like this?
Someone loved this young man enough to share the gospel with him…someone loved him enough to give him a Bible. One night while reading the Scriptures he came across John 8 (paraphrase the story found there). God used this passage to open his eyes and to melt his heart…and that night this young man became a Christian!
Ask) Isn’t that amazing!?!?
It took him many years before he began to grow spiritually…before he understood that to be a Christian meant wanting to be like Jesus and wanting to obey our Father. But now this person, who is no longer a young man, tries to live for Jesus every day of his life. He messes up A LOT!!!!! But he knows that he belongs to Christ and that he will one day be serving Him in heaven!
For those of you who have not guessed it yet…do you know who this young man was? This young man who you probably wouldn’t want to be around?
He’s talking to you right now!
Ask) Why do you think I have shared this with you?
Ask) What does it have to do with the last words of our Lord and Savior?
Read Romans 6:8-11
Read Romans 8:1
The reason that I live the life I do now…the reason that I could be saved from my terrible sin…is because Jesus FINISHED the work of salvation on the cross…once and forever!
Jesus’ words meant that a sinner like myself could be forgiven…because Jesus made sure the penalty for MY sin was PAID for in FULL!
Likewise…the words of Jesus mean that for those in this room who are not Christians…that you too can receive the gift of eternal life. That you do not have to suffer the penalty of your sin…that if you believe that Jesus died for your sins on the cross…you do not have to experience the judgment of God…only His mercy!
In Isaiah 45:22, the Lord says, “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Young people…look to Him and be saved!
Before ending, allow me to read to you once again that wonderful passage: “Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” John 19:29-30
[I have left the above lesson as I presented it for the children just because I wanted to maintain the feel in which I prepared it...normally we have about 15 minutes in which to present the lesson so I sort of condensed the message of the cross for them...and I pray that I managed to do this while staying true to the call to Believe...I feel I might have added more regarding the need for repentance but that was presented previously in the lesson regarding Nicodemus. :)
AWANA stands for Approved Workers Are Not Ashamed and comes from 2 Timothy 2:15 which says: "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
At any rate, I was privileged to be asked to teach during the council time for AWANA's at our church (council time is when they receive their Bible instrucion...in our church it comes right after they've spent time reciting the verses they've memorized throughout the week). The following is a summary of the lesson I brought to the young people.
Jesus completes His work!
On November 30th of 2005 I had the privilege of presentation a lesson that I titled “The birth of Christ in Scripture.” We looked at passages from Genesis to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Romans. We saw how Christ was promised, from the very beginning…a carefully planned gift from God the Father to a fallen humanity.
On February 1st of 2006 the lesson I brought to you was titled “Nicodemus and the new birth.” For this lesson we focused on John 3, and we looked at what it means to be born again…to experience the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Today, my lesson is titled “Jesus completes His work.” I hope and pray that it will serve to bring us to a complete understanding of the importance that Jesus the Christ (Messiah) should have in our lives…of the love, respect, devotion, and honor with which we should live our lives BECAUSE of our Lord.
Read John 19:1-11; 28-30
This last section is, and should be, a difficult passage for the people of God to read. What I want us to do this evening is focus on those beautiful words of Jesus, “It is finished!”
What did Jesus our Lord mean when He said those words?
Remember what we read in Genesis 3:15
Sin came into the world through the disobedience of Man…and because God loved us so much…there was a gift already in place for us…Jesus!
So when we read these words of Jesus, “It is finished” we must realize that He is referring to that whole will of God that had its roots partially in the prophecy of Genesis 3:15.
That whole will being:
1. That Jesus Christ should become incarnate (born as man, yet being God) Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 9:6
2. That He must be exposed to shame for our sake Psalm 22:6-8
3. That He must suffer physically Psalm 22:16-18
4. That He must die Psalm 22:14
This was the will of God for Jesus. This sounds horrible doesn’t it? Yet the Father wanted this because of His love for us…
And Jesus did it because of His love for us.
Read Luke 22:39-44
Jesus willingly went through shame, pain, and death…first: because He loved the Father so much that He wanted to do all that the Father wanted Him to do…secondly: because He loved you and I so much and knew that without His death we could never be saved from our sins! Only His death could wipe away the sin of every man, woman, and child!
So, then, through His death, Jesus accomplished the following: He fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law, His perfect and holy nature submitted to the penalty that sin demands, he obtained mercy and atonement for anyone who calls upon His name! See Romans 10:9-10
I want to tell you a story:
There was a young man who lost his parents when very young…he never knew his mother and barely knew his father before they died.
This young man’s brothers were gang members…drugs and violence were a normal part of his life. When he was a teenager, he himself became involved in gang activity. He stole, robbed, and fought constantly. Even though he was not a very good fighter…his misplaced pride demanded that he never walk away from a fight.
This young man knew that God existed…but He hated God…he blamed God for the deaths of his parents, for losing his brothers to jail or to the physical abuse of someone close to them. He loved guns and the power he derived from them...
Ask) Does this sound like a very nice person?
Ask) Would you want to be around someone like this?
Someone loved this young man enough to share the gospel with him…someone loved him enough to give him a Bible. One night while reading the Scriptures he came across John 8 (paraphrase the story found there). God used this passage to open his eyes and to melt his heart…and that night this young man became a Christian!
Ask) Isn’t that amazing!?!?
It took him many years before he began to grow spiritually…before he understood that to be a Christian meant wanting to be like Jesus and wanting to obey our Father. But now this person, who is no longer a young man, tries to live for Jesus every day of his life. He messes up A LOT!!!!! But he knows that he belongs to Christ and that he will one day be serving Him in heaven!
For those of you who have not guessed it yet…do you know who this young man was? This young man who you probably wouldn’t want to be around?
He’s talking to you right now!
Ask) Why do you think I have shared this with you?
Ask) What does it have to do with the last words of our Lord and Savior?
Read Romans 6:8-11
Read Romans 8:1
The reason that I live the life I do now…the reason that I could be saved from my terrible sin…is because Jesus FINISHED the work of salvation on the cross…once and forever!
Jesus’ words meant that a sinner like myself could be forgiven…because Jesus made sure the penalty for MY sin was PAID for in FULL!
Likewise…the words of Jesus mean that for those in this room who are not Christians…that you too can receive the gift of eternal life. That you do not have to suffer the penalty of your sin…that if you believe that Jesus died for your sins on the cross…you do not have to experience the judgment of God…only His mercy!
In Isaiah 45:22, the Lord says, “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Young people…look to Him and be saved!
Before ending, allow me to read to you once again that wonderful passage: “Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” John 19:29-30
[I have left the above lesson as I presented it for the children just because I wanted to maintain the feel in which I prepared it...normally we have about 15 minutes in which to present the lesson so I sort of condensed the message of the cross for them...and I pray that I managed to do this while staying true to the call to Believe...I feel I might have added more regarding the need for repentance but that was presented previously in the lesson regarding Nicodemus. :)
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