By George Nielsen
This week we covered Lesson 7 from Bible Adventures, “Believe It” which is a lesson
teaching from Matthew 15: 21-28, about the incident where Jesus encountered a Canaanite woman from the Tyre/Sidon region, north of Galilee. Before beginning the lesson, comments were made about The Lord’s Prayer, and a survey form called Prayer Poll was completed by the students, concerning habits of prayer that they currently practice. Then, a music video was shown -- “Lord, I Need You” sung by Matt Maher, which emphasizes the idea of praying, and how it is a vital spiritual discipline.
Click Here to see the video presented in class. [Parents -- please remember that we have no control over advertising that may pop-up when you link to the YouTube site.]
We then began discussing the incident in our lesson by reading Matthew 15: 21-22. Jesus would not have spent much time in the Tyre/Sidon region (modern-day Lebanon), so when this woman heard that He was there, she seized the moment. She went directly to Him. She called out to Him acknowledging His Lordship and His destiny to rule as the Son of David (a Messianic title). Then we read from Bible Adventures, where the Scripture Spotlight was Matthew 15, continuing on from our earlier reading, and covering verses 23 through 28.
In this incident, Jesus at first ignores the Canaanite woman, and then, when she goes directly to Him, Jesus turns down her request. He says that she is a Gentile, and He will only minister to Jews. This is actually just a challenge to her, to give her opportunity to express her great faith. She persists, and Jesus commends her for her great faith. He also declares that her daughter is healed, given deliverance from demon-possession. His spoken word released the power of God, and the girl was delivered.
We closed the lesson by emphasizing the final two sentences of the Scripture Spotlight and the the very last two sentences from page three of Bible Adventures. The students were also told to underline these sentences:
Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
----------------------
We can pray with confidence in Jesus’ Name. God will hear us and bless us.
This was our transition point, to then turn to Mark 11: 24, and discuss this verse, along with verses 22-23. These verses teach that we need to have strong faith, then to speak out our requests confidently, without doubting since we are directing what we say either to the Almighty or to a situation, where we are invoking the authority of the Almighty. Then, verse 24 restates/summarizes all of this, declaring again that what you request will be yours. Verse 24 is this week’s Memory Verse. We closed the lesson with practice of this verse.
Our Lesson Focus is spiritual truth that we emphasize. The kids can take away this truth from class as the application of what was taught -- especially for them.
Today’s Lesson Focus is: God Answers Our Prayers.
Faith and confidence are key factors that were emphasized, along with the example of the Canaanite woman, who seized her moment and persisted because of her great need and her complete confidence in the power of God.
Last week’s written Homework Assignment was to complete the copy of page 4 of Bible Adventures, The Lord’s Prayer wheel diagram, which was handed-out on July 7th, and can also be printed by following the link below. Today the students were reminded that this assignment is about a very important subject; students who did not turn-in this assignment on July 14th can still turn it in late (for half-credit, 2 Achievement Points). It should be returned to class next week. This assignment was an exercise to paraphrase the Opening verse of praise to God, and the petitions, of the Lord’s Prayer. ( Click HERE to see a blank copy of the wheel diagram. )
The Memory Verse assigned this week is Mark 11: 24.
24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
--------------------
This week we also continued the assignment of the first Emphasis Memory Verse, Acts 10: 38 (NKJV). This verse can be recited for each class during the month of July.
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. --- Acts 10: 38 (NKJV)
You can read the class summaries and other information about our class by following our Class Blog at the address rcc5gr.blogspot.com -- Weekly Blog posts will be made.
No comments:
Post a Comment