RCCG LOWER JUNIOR ZEAL FOR AGE 13-19 TEACHER’S MANUAL SUNDAY 7TH OF APRIL, 2024

* The teacher is to revise the previous lessons with the Teenagers

* The teacher is also to ask them questions to ensure lessons have been been well understood.

MEMORY VERSE: Psalm 149:3-4 “Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.”

INTRODUCTION: We continue our discussion on the fact that the Trinity (God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) delights in a grateful heart. To delight in someone or something simply means to be very happy with them. In particular, we want to consider today the truth that God the Holy Spirit delights continually in a grateful heart and what the benefits are for us. A thankful heart creates a good atmosphere for the move of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will move and work better in an atmosphere of thanksgiving. To remain grateful, we need the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the version of God that dwells in us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. God releases His Spirit to dwell in us and we are to engage regularly with the Holy Spirit in order to access and enjoy the benefits of His grace (John 15:5).

• Our needs will be met – Verse 10.

• We will have increase – Verse 10.

• Our harvest will be enlarged – Verse 10.

• We will be enriched – Verse 11.

• People will praise God for our lives – Verse 13, Matt 5:16.

• We will have more to give in all occasions – Verse 11.

• People will love and favour us – Verse 14.

• A grateful heart is a generous heart. Can ingratitude make somebody mean?

• From our text, we see that a grateful heart is a generous heart. What evidence do we have that God delights in our generosity?

LIFE APPLICATION: How can we know that the Holy Spirit is delighting in us? What are the signs to show that God is happy with us for appreciating His Spirit in us?

CONCLUSION: When the Holy Spirit delights in someone, He releases more power and more grace and such a person will continue to enjoy more victory.

What truth have you learnt in today’s lesson?

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Write down one way in which you are going to apply what you now know.

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MEMORY VERSE: 1 Corinthians 12:7- “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”

INTRODUCTION: When Jesus was leaving the earth, He made a promise that the Father would send His Holy Spirit to come and live in us. He would help us live the kind of life God wants for us. Although the Holy Spirit is for everyone on earth, it is only those who open their hearts to Him that He will fill. For us to qualify for the infilling of the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of spiritual blessings, we must have grateful hearts. Spiritual gifts are God’s ability distributed to each individual by the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at these spiritual blessings highlighted in our text.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for all young and old, male and female, white or black. Spiritual gifts flow into one another, they are interconnected. That is why one can have all the gifts in operation in one’s life.

There are nine gifts of the Holy Spirit as mentioned in our text and they have been divided into three groups: revelation, power and utterance gifts.

1. Spirit of wisdom: the ability to properly apply knowledge and to proffer solutions. Wisdom needs knowledge to be effective (1 Kings 4:29-34).

2. Spirit of knowledge: Knowledge is when we are able to know something that ordinarily we could never have known without the leading of the Spirit of God. It is supernatural insight (Daniel 1:17).

3. Discerning of Spirits: This is the ability to judge or understand spirits clearly, to differentiate between the Spirit of God and demonic sprits (Acts 16:17-19)

1. Gift of faith: This is the ability to believe God for the extraordinary without doubt or unbelief (Heb 11: 32-35)

2. Gift of healing: This is the supernatural ability given to believers by the Holy Spirit to minister healing to the sick and deliverance to the oppressed (Acts 5:15-161

3. Working of miracles: An occurrence is seen as a miracle when it defies the laws of nature (Man 14:25).

1. Prophecy.

2. Diverse kinds of tongues.

3. Interpretation of tongues

DISCUSS: What kind of heart receives Spiritual gifts? For each of the gifts above, cite examples from Matt 14:25, John 11:41-44, Acts 13:9-11 and discuss how gratitude can be a key to receiving them from God.

LIFE APPLICATION: We could see these gifts manifest in the lives of people, including children. Which of these gifts do you have? Which of these gifts have you manifested before? You can have any of them, if you really want to, as a child of God.

CONCLUSION. It is God’s prerogative how He distributes the gifts to His children. Yes, we can desire them, but if God sees that we are desiring them for our own glorification, He might not give us. You therefore need to be sincere and genuine in your asking.

BIBLE TEXT: 1 Corinthians 14:1-32

MEMORY VERSE: 1 Corinthians 12:7- “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”

LESSON AIM: To teach the teenagers the gifts of the Holy Spirit and for them to covet them.

CENTRAL TRUTH: You need these gifts as a child of God to operate.

Question: Mention the revelation and power gifts

INTRODUCTION: Last week we started discussing the blessing of Spiritual gifts in relation to gratitude. A thankful heart takes us into God’s presence where we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Ps 100:4). Today, we want to look closely at the last three which happen to be the utterance gifts. Paul the Apostle took time to explain the gifts of tongues and prophecy more to avoid any kind of confusion regarding their use. Key words: Prophecy, Tongues, Holy Spirit

There are two parts to speaking in tongues. The first is the sign that one has received the baptism of the Holy Ghost as promised by Jesus. The evidence of this is speaking in tongues (Jude 1:20). This utterance is given to us for personal edification. There is another type which is for the purpose of the kingdom, for the purpose of edifying the Church. This type requires interpretation. Paul discussed this more in 1 Cor 14. This tongue is a supernatural language; when the Holy Spirit gives this. He also gives the interpretation.

The ability to prophesy is a remarkable manifestation of clear communication that has its roots in spontaneous revelation from God and is powered by the Holy Spirit. Prophecy is a prediction of what will happen in future. Prophecy can be positive or negative.

From 1 Cor 14, in the columns below, write out 5 characteristics of each of these gifts.

Gift of Prophecy

1 It speaks to men directly

2 It speaks to edify, exhort and comfort

3 It edifies the church

4 This is much better

5 A sign for the believers

Gift of Tongues

1 An unknown tongue

2 It speaks mysteries

3 It edifies the speaker

4 This is better with interpretation

5 A sign for unbelievers

LIFE APPLICATION: You are not too young to possess these gifts. God can use you. Ask God and He will bless you with these spiritual gifts.

CONCLUSION: The gift of speaking in tongues is one of the blessings we enjoy as children of God. If you are yet to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and you desire to be baptized, I want you to meditate upon today’s lesson with faith and pray for an infilling right now.

BIBLE TEXT: 1 Samuel 2:1-10

MEMORY VERSE: Romans 14:17- “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

LESSON AIM: For the teenagers to know why they need to experience joy unspeakable.

CENTRAL TRUTH: You need to be grateful for you to experience and enjoy unspeakable joy.

INTRODUCTION: As we continue to learn about the benefits of a grateful heart, today we want to look at unspeakable joy as one of the benefits of having a thankful heart. When something is unspeakable, it means it is beyond expression, it cannot be comprehended, it surpasses one’s understanding. Imagine you having joy that is unspeakable. You would just be bubbling everywhere you go with smiles. Our study today is about accessing this joy using the key of gratitude.

• Gratitude improves mental and emotional health, reduces depression.

• Gratitude can reduce anger, aggression and resentfulness.

• Gratitude improves our self-esteem and reduces comparison with others.

• Gratitude shifts our focus from our present trouble to the hope of eternity with God.

• Gratitude can open doors to more relationships.

• Gratitude improves our physical health.

• Grateful people sleep better.

The ten lepers – Luke 17:12-19

Hannah-1 Samuel 2:1-10

The woman with the Alabaster box – Luke 7:36-50

DISCUSS: What does it mean to have unspeakable joy and how does thankfulness lead to joy?

LIFE APPLICATION: This week, try to be grateful for everything that happens to you – good or bad and you will see that your joy will be full throughout.

CONCLUSION: Hannah had every reason to be upset with everyone and around her when she did not have a child, but she chose to talk to God. When God gave her Samuel, she did not say “only one?.” Rather she came back to Shiloh with songs of gratitude and the Bible says God gave her six more children. Hannah’s joy then became unspeakable.

INTRODUCTION: Last week we discussed how being grateful can improve our mental as well as emotional wellbeing and how this can lead to unspeakable joy. Today, we want to look at physical wholeness as a benefit we get from having a heart of gratitude. While Jesus was going to Jerusalem, 10 lepers met Him. I believe these lepers were together in one place, not that they met Jesus at different times, because the Bible says they stood at a distance and shouted “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on us.” Jesus asked them to go and show themselves to the priest and as they were going, they were healed. However, as soon as one of them saw that he was healed, he turned back while the others went their way.

WHAT IS PHYSICAL WHOLENESS? Physical wholeness is a state of being well in our body. The word of God makes us understand that gratitude improves our physical health while ingratitude makes the body sick.

LESSONS FROM THE STORY (LUKE 17:11-19) What did Jesus say when only one leper came back and gave thanks to Him? Jesus said in verse 19 – “Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole.”

What does that mean? It means that:

• Jesus appreciated his grateful heart.

• Faith is attached to a grateful heart.

• He was not only healed from the leprosy but also every other sickness and disease he had. This is wholeness.

• The grateful leper would be enjoying perfect health from that point onward.

CLASS ACTIVITY: Read these Scriptures below; compare and contrast them in the light of today’s lesson:

• Prov. 15:13 -A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance

• Prov. 17:22 -A merry heart doeth good like a medicine

• Neh. 8:10b -… For the joy of the Lord is your strength

• Prov. 15:15 – … a merry heart hath a continual feast

LIFE APPLICATION: When you are free from sickness and diseases, aches and pains in your body, it is a gift from God. There are some gifts that money cannot buy and wellness is one of them. Be grateful to God that you enjoy good health.

CONCLUSION: People who are grateful sleep better and have fewer aches and pains, which improves their immunity. Science and research have proven that, amongst the health benefits of gratitude are that it reduces heart rate, lowers blood pressure, speeds recovery time, improves cognition, boosts mood, improves sleep etc.