This week we continued presenting the Winter session of extra Bible Curriculum materials for 5th graders, "The Bible is God's Message for Me" (‘BGMM’) covering the major topic of The Kingdom of God. We also used the ‘On the Right Path’ (‘OTRP’) diagram when explaining our answers to questions raised by students.
This class began with viewing the music video featuring The Newsboys performing the song “God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion)” again. A link to the video is provided at the end of this Blog post.
Because a number of the students attending class today had not attended last week, our review at the beginning of class was more detailed, going beyond just an overview. We began by explaining the basic objective of BGMM, which is to see that there is a unified message presented by the Holy Bible which can be seen and understood through studying five major topics: God, Man, Sin, Salvation - through Jesus our Savior, and the Kingdom of God. For each of the four topics already covered, we also gave a synopsis of the key ideas that had been taught.
Student questions and comments were also taken during the review, and these again dealt with the issues of Creation by God, not just a random events over a supposed multi-billion year time frame. Creation of mankind, as being formed by God and having the Life of God “breathed” into man was another issue covered. Creation of man as the highest order of being on earth, and man having been made in the image of God, were also mentioned. satan’s hatred of both God and mankind was mentioned, along with Eve’s deception by satan and the sin of Adam and Eve.
Student comments made, about sin and God hating sin, were addressed. A student commented on how God’s hatred of sin should carryover to hatred of us, the sinners. While noting that hatred of sinners does appear to be the logical conclusion from the truth that God hates sin, this logic is not descriptive of how God actually considers mankind. God loves mankind. God’s ways are higher than man’s ways, and they reflect God’s grace, mercy, and love. This was explained using Romans 5: 8 and John 3: 16 as Scripture references.
Then the class handout titled “The Gospel of the Kingdom” was distributed. (Click HERE to link to a copy of the Handout.) Mark 1: 14-15 is the key verse:
14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1: 14 – 15 (NKJV)
We discussed these verses using page one of the handout. The key points are (1) the time is now, (2) the first key to entering the Kingdom is Repent, and (3) the second key is to believe. More details were given, using the remainder of the handout, about repenting and believing.
The final teaching before the end of class was for students to read from part of another handout, which will also be covered next week. The information read was:
The Holy BIBLE Will Help You Learn About HIS KINGDOM
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
The first step in that plan is -- “Come to JESUS”
The next step is to BE His Disciple -- “I Serve JESUS”
You recognize and submit to His Lordship and Authority
GRACE is God showing His love to you even though you don't deserve it. You can't earn God's grace; you can receive it as a gift. You do not deserve to be saved from sin and to have eternal life. But God showed His grace by sending Jesus to be our Savior, redeeming us out of slavery to sin and the devil. Jesus was punished for us.
You can actually receive that grace when you Come to Jesus - this means that you are saved from sin's punishment when you trust in Jesus as your Savior.
The class was closed by my remarks that many students (and adults) do not understand the concept of a Christian Being a disciple of Jesus. Their view is “Christianity means that ‘I go to church on Sundays’.” Then the class recited, in unison, one of the main points that we use as a conclusion to discussion of the phrase “I Serve JESUS” -- that main point is “Christianity is a Way of Life”.
Then we said our closing prayer.
The Memory Verse assignments are the same as last week: Mark 1: 14-15 (NKJV), and the Emphasis verse for this month, John 3: 16 (NIV).
Click on the Video title to link to YouTube and view the video from today’s class:
“God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion)” --- The Newsboys
January 20th is the day prior to the national Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative holiday. There was insufficient time to make any remarks in class about Dr. King, racial discrimination, and the civil rights movement. As a result, there will be a separate Blog post published later this week to make the remarks that had been planned.for the 1/20/13 class.
No comments:
Post a Comment