CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH NIGERIA LESSON 15 JULY – DECEMBER, 2022. SUNDAY, 9TH OCTOBER, 2022.
TOPIC: HEARING AND DOING GOD’S WORD
BIBLE TEXT: James 1:19-27
MEMORY VERSE:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says, James 1:22 (NIV).
TARGET:
To help the child understand that God expects him or her to be a person that does what the Word of God says and not one that only hears the Word and, then, forgets about it.
OBJECTIVES:
During and after the lesson, each child will show that he or she understands the lesson by:
1. Praying that God will give him or her the grace to be slow to speak and slow to become angry and to put the Word of God into practise in his or her life.
2. Answering correctly questions that will be asked in the course of the lesson and after the lesson.
OUTLINE:
1. Listening and Accepting God’s Word – James 1:19-21
2. Doing God’s Word – James 1:22-25
3. True Religion – James 1:26-27
CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH NIGERIA LESSON 15 SUNDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2022
INTRODUCTION:
Do you know that many people go to church these days and claim to be born again. This is good. But do you also know that there is still a problem even though many people now go to church? What is the problem, you may ask? The problem is that many of the people who go to church and call themselves Christians deceive themselves. This is because they hear the Word of God but do not practise it. This simply means that what: is expected of a Christian is not found in them. The Bible calls such people ‘deceivers’ of their own selves. They are like the proverbial ostrich that hid its head in the sand and thought nobody saw it.
The lesson today aims at reminding us that God expects His children to practise what the Word of God teaches.
CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH NIGERIA LESSON 15 SUNDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2022
LESSON COMMENTARY:
1. LISTENING AND ACCEPTING GOD’S WORD – JAMES 1:19-21
The Bible says believers should be quick to hear, that is, they should listen quickly, but be slow to speak. This means that they should always choose the things that will help them grow spiritually and neglect the ones that will hinder spiritual growth. God ordained that His children be slow to speak. Their conversation should be the type that glorifies God.
Children of God should also be slow to get angry for the anger of man does not achieve God’s righteous purpose. The anger of man is not from the Lord. Christians should put away every sin and wickedness. They should submit their hearts to God and accept the Word that has been planted in their hearts. It is this Word that is able to save them.
2. DOING GOD’S WORD – JAMES 1:22-25
Believers should be people who do what the Word of God says. They should not be just hearers who only succeed in deceiving themselves. A person who only hears the Word of God and does not put it into practice in his life is likened to a man who looks at his face in the mirror, and as soon as he leaves the mirror he immediately forgets what he looks like and the kind of person.
God has given believers a mirror that is called the perfect law of liberty. It is a spiritual mirror and it is the Word of God. When a believer continues looking into it that is, listening to the Word, reading it, studying it, and doing what it says without forgetting, such a person will be blessed. And whatever he does will prosper.
3. TRUE RELIGION – JAMES 1:26-27
True religion is the religion that God accepts. It is pure and faultless and has to do, first, with someone controlling his tongue. James says that if a person says he is a Christian and is not able to control his tongue, that person’s religion is vain and useless. Such a person is also a deceiver of self even though he thinks he is deceiving other people. The reason the control of tongue is important is because tongues of Christians are for praising God, praying, and blessing people. It is not for gossiping. God hates gossip but He uses those who control their tongues.
Another aspect of the kind of religion that God accepts is to look after orphans and widows in their distress. Christians should take care of orphans and widows by praying for them, by visiting them and taking care of their physical and material needs. God helps as He sees willingness in the believer.
The third aspect of the kind of religion that God accepts is keeping oneself from being polluted by the world. Believers should not live like the people of the world but should live holy, godly, and righteous lives. They should influence the world, not the world influencing them.
APPLICATION:
CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH NIGERIA LESSON 15 SUNDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2022
There is a couple who claim to be Christians. They are ministers. They pray a lot. In fact, they know how to pray long and loud. And they pray all the time. They preach the Word to their children and to others. But they always quarrel and fight. Most often you will hear them praying and as soon as they say “Amen”, hell is let loose. If it is not the parents against each other, then it is the parents against their children or the children against their parents, or it is the children against one another. At times you will think there is a third World War going on. And yet they are Christians. One day, after one of them had preached in church, he came back and there was a fight. And a little girl around asked why the couple should say one thing and do something else. There are also other things they also do that one may call ‘unchristian’.
What does this teach us? It teaches us not to be people who say ‘follow what I say and not what I do’. Such people are self-deceivers and God hates them.
QUESTIONS:
CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH NIGERIA LESSON 15 SUNDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2022
1. According to this week’s lesson, believers should be quick to speak and quick to get angry? True/false.
2. What name is given to the Word of God as a spiritual mirror?
(A) the law of man
(B) the perfect law of God
(C) the law of grace
(D) the perfect law of liberty.
3. Controlling the tongue, looking after orphans and widows, and keeping oneself from being polluted by the world is the type of religion that God accepts. True/False.
4. What type of people do God use?
(A). Those who go to church,
(B). Those who call Him Father,
(C). Those who bring big money in the church,
(D). Those who control their tongues.
DAILY BIBLE DOSE:
CHILDREN’S SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL ASSEMBLIES OF GOD CHURCH NIGERIA LESSON 15 SUNDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2022
Mon: Be Quick to Listen – James 1:19
Tue: Get Rid of All Evil – James 1:21
Wed: Be Doers of the Word – James 1:22
Thu: Don’t Hear God’s Word and Not Do it – James 1:23-24
Fri: Be Not a Hearer that Forgets, But a Doer – James 1:25-26
Sat: Let Not the World Corrupt You – James 1:27