LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
ACTS 1: 6-8 2 CORINTHIANS 8:3-9
Key Verse
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich”.
2 Corinthians 8:9
INTRODUCTION
Jesus understands human nature. He was born and lived as a man and so He went through everything human beings go through. He did everything the law of God required. He made it clear He would fulfill all righteousness when John the Baptist refused to baptize Him. So John understood what Jesus’ position was and he baptized Jesus.
It is clear Jesus knew He should manager everything that God had set up for He wanted others to be good managers or stewards of the earth and everything in it.
In showing the example of how a good steward should do, Jesus then set the example of taking the word of God to all the peoples and tribes on the earth. He told His disciples to carry the Good News of the Gospel of salvation everywhere.
They would not be left to do this great task by themselves. He would be with them until the end of the age.
We all like to be given a promise of good things and so Jesus gave mankind what they were looking for. His promise to be with His disciples was a great promise. It meant they would be safe and would be successful in their tasks of life. He would come back to earth at a time God the Father chose and He would set everything right. All evil things would be cast out. Everyone would be blest.
But the disciples did not fully understand what the promise meant but they believed in Jesus and did what He asked them to do. They were faithful. They knew the Holy Spirit had been sent by God to help them, guide them, protect them, and lead them in the right way.
When people in the church in Jerusalem suffered from a great famine, and was persecuted for their faith, the brethren needed a lot of help. The Apostle Paul asked the churches in Asia to help and they collected a lot of money and goods for the Gentile churches considered the Jewish church in Jerusalem as part of the family. Paul had a problem getting the church in Corinth to help and he had to show them that once they experienced the new birth everyone in the family of God should like to help each other. They finally agreed to help the church in Corinth and the Apostle Paul congratulated them.
Remember then you are part of the family of God and people from every tribe and nation are in this family. You should love them just as God loved them. You should help them when they were in difficulty. Jesus loved that kind of behaviour and He promised that everyone who behaved with love in their hearts and showed it to others would receive a great reward. So keep up the good work. Love the children of God. You will have to spend eternity with them.