By George Nielsen
This week we have continued the Winter session of extra Bible Curriculum lessons for 5th graders, "The Bible is God's Message for Me" (‘BGMM’). The major topic covered is The Kingdom of God. The ‘On the Right Path’ (‘OTRP’) diagram is also used for explaining some of our answers to students’ questions.
This week another copy of the class handout titled “The Gospel of the Kingdom” was distributed, for students who had been absent last week and to replace the ones left on the floor of KidZone last week after they were used as paper airplanes, after class.
We also distributed the Class Notes handout again this week, and reviewed these key points from the bottom of page one of the handout:
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
You recognize and submit to Jesus’ Lordship and Authority
The review included my remarks that many students (and adults) do not understand the concept of a Christian BEING a disciple of Jesus. They have assented to the teachings of Christianity (to the extent that they know them), and their view is “Christianity means that ‘I go to church on Sundays’.” In fifth grade, one of our goals is for the students to decide to be, and learn how to be, young disciples of Jesus. So the review included more discussion of that goal. Discipleship was emphasized, and also the phrase “I Serve JESUS” -- explaining that “Christianity is a Way of Life”.
The next BGMM handout, titled “The Kingdom and the Church”, was distributed. In the remainder of the class, we were able to cover part of page one of this 3-page paper. The main ideas that were covered included:
Jesus’ declaration “Upon this rock I will build My Church.”
God’s Kingdom -- the visible part, which is the Church, and the invisible part, which is the spiritual realm. This included presentation of the doctrine of the Trinity, angels and demons, and people as three-part beings (with body, soul, and spirit). Jesus’ statement to Pontius Pilate - “My kingdom is not of this world” - was also introduced.
Then we said our closing prayers, to conclude the class. BGMM Session 3 will be extended for one more class, on February 10th, during the first part of the class which is normally used for review. Page one of this handout will be reviewed and the additional material from page one will also be presented. (Completing the study of the rest of this handout [pages 2 - 3] will be deferred until Session 4, scheduled to begin in April.)
The Memory Verse assignments are the same as last week: Mark 1: 14-15 (NKJV), and the Emphasis verse from last month, John 3: 16 (NIV), is continued for one more week. For Achievement Points credit, we have agreed to allow full credit for reciting Mark 1: 14; if a student can also recite verse 15, they will get double-credit.
Students have been instructed to give the Class Handouts to their parents, so that they can be helped in reviewing them and with practice of the Memory Verses.
Materials used in today’s class can be viewed online:
“The Gospel of the Kingdom” (Click HERE to link to a copy of this Handout.)
“The Kingdom and The Church” -page 1- (Click HERE to link to a copy of this Handout.)
Note: Handout documents listed above are Copyright c. 2011, 2012. George Nielsen. All rights reserved. Documents may be viewed/used for student or parent study and review, for students enrolled in the 5th grade class.
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