CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH WORLDWIDE.
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS.
MEGA THEME:
THE LIFE OF CHRIST(continued).
For the period; July through December, 2017.
Lesson Two; JESUS AND WORSHIP MATTERS.
For August 6th and August 13th, 2017.
Part 1 of Lesson 2
Jesus is man of power, with great passion for God's Word. Are you like Him?
MEMORY SCRIPTURE:
Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12).
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT.
You cannot be busier than Christ who worshipped God, both private and publicly.
INTRODUCTION
Textual Source: (Matthew 4:1,2; 14:22-23; 17:24-27; 27:5 Luke 2:22-42; 6:12; John 2:13-17; 7:1ff).
The previous lesson opened this Sunday School series, tagged, THE LIFE OF CHRIST (continued), with a very powerful topic, Jesus His Parents. This actually dug out facts about the true relations that exists between Christ and our Father in heaven, and with His humble parents. We must have learnt a lot from these levels of relationships, Jesus had. May the lessons so far learnt, remain blessings to us, all our lives. Amen.
Lesson 2 is a channelled towards unraveling how Jesus handled matters of worship, when He was here, physically, on earth. After all, He is our only flawless model.
In this lesson, we shall take time, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the great Teacher and Reminder, to see what private worship means to Jesus, and how He related with the temple, as God's House, and attitude to public worship, generally.
Various Scripture references have been employed to establish what God has in mind for us, in this rewarding lesson. As we study, let us be fully expectant of what God would do, in our lives, through, and in this lesson. May we not miss any. Amen.
LESSON OUTLINE
1. Jesus and Private Worship
• Jesus’ Prayer Life
• Jesus and The Scriptures
2. Jesus, Temple and Public Worship
• Relationship with The Temple
• Real Attitude To Public Worship
LESSON EXPOSITION
1. Jesus and Private Worship (Matthew 4:1; 14:22-23; Luke 6:12; John 7:15-19).
~>Jesus’ Prayer Life (Matthew 4:1; 14:22-23; Luke 6:12;)
Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12).
▶ Matthew 4:1,2: Wonderful! The Holy Spirit led our Lord to the wilderness for a 40-day, 40-night period of fasting and prayer. It takes real commitment and patience to wait on God for such a long time
▶ Luke 6:12: Here, we find the secret of Jesus’ miracle-performing power: being alone with God on the mountain to pray, regularly continuing all night in prayer to God. One who cultivates such prayerful life experiences God's endorsement regularly (cf. Acts 10:38).
▶ Jesus went in an all-night prayer section, before choosing His disciples (Luke 6:13-16). Who are we to go on any venture without having fully communed with the Omniscient God?
▶ Matthew 14:22-23: Jesus’ private prayer life was great (Mark 6:45-47; John 6:15). How is yours? Prayerlessness courts Prayerlessness.
▶ He also prayed intercessory prayers (Luke 22:31-32; John 17:1-26). What is your attitude to intercession?
▶ He taught His disciples how to pray (Luke 11:1-13). You can't give what you don't have.
▶ The impact of Jesus’ attitude to prayer is evident in that He continued to powerfully and positively touch people’s lives, through miracles (Luke 6:17-19), and life-changing messages (Matthew 5:1ff).
~>Jesus and The Scriptures (John 7:15-19)
And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” (John 7:15).
▶ Jesus is God's Word, Who gave the Word and became the Word incarnate (John 1:1-14). Some erroneously think that Jesus needed not to study Scriptures. Instead, He had an undeniably cordial relationship with the Scriptures.
▶ How did Jesus know the will of God that He came to do (John 6:38), being 100% human, other than that He learned it from the Scriptures? Was He then a Bible Student? What type of Bible did He use?
▶ Jesus devoted greatly to studying the Scriptures. Even as a boy, He stayed behind for 3 days in Jerusalem, sitting….., listening……… and asking …….. questions (Luke 2:46). He was a Bible student, despite having divine understanding of the Scripture (cf. Psalms 84:1ff).
▶ Where was Jesus between ages 12 (Luke 2:41ff) and 30 (Luke 3:21-23)? Obviously preparing for His earthly ministry, including in-depth study of the Scriptures. No wonder He grew well (Luke 2:46, 51-52).
▶ His mastery of the Word is silencing and defeating the devil, in Matthew 4:4,7,10,11, can only be found with one who is passionately committed to Studying God's Word.
▶ In John 7:15, the Jews marvelled on how He's us could have acquired such a remarkable understanding of the Holy Scriptures (cf. Matthew 7:29), having not attended any rabbinical school (cf. Acts 4:13). His knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures was acquired by regular, diligent and prayerful personal study (cf. vv. 16-19).
LESSON DERIVED
▶ A prayerful Christian is a powerful anointed Christian. Christ's experience proves this beyond reasonable doubt.
▶ If Jesus had so great a passion to study and learn the Scriptures, despite being God, who are we to do less?
WORK TO DO
Is there any level that a Christian can get to that he/she no longer needs to take in more of God in His Word and prayer?
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