The bible passage for this week's lesson would be on John 1:35-2:25. you can break it down to 3 parts, John 1:35-51, John 2:1-12 and John 2:13-25. The things you should be focusing on should be the qualities of Jesus. Try to question and understand why He did what He did like turning water to wine even though it was not His time, driving people out of the temple and also the backgrounds of His disciples and how they came to be under Him.
I have already gotten the books for you. It would be 4bucks per person after subsidy. =]
Monday, September 15, 2008
2 Peter 1:5-9
Just wanna share my QT for today with you all:
2 Peter 1:5-9 (taken from http://www.biblegateway.com/):
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
Do you feel that you are stagnating in your growth as a Christian? Is the knowledge of the Word going to your head and not your heart? Do you just know or do you truly understand what God wants to say to you through His Word? Are you loving God and His people more as you study the Word? I really challenge you all to make the effort to love more as you study James with your students. =)
2 Peter 1:5-9 (taken from http://www.biblegateway.com/):
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
Do you feel that you are stagnating in your growth as a Christian? Is the knowledge of the Word going to your head and not your heart? Do you just know or do you truly understand what God wants to say to you through His Word? Are you loving God and His people more as you study the Word? I really challenge you all to make the effort to love more as you study James with your students. =)
Friday, September 12, 2008
The Living Word (14/9)
Key verses: vs 10-13
Focus of the lesson: To question ourselves on how much we really know Jesus and if He were to appear before us like He did with the Jews, without His splendor or glory of a king, would we recognise Him (vs 10-13). And as Christians, are we conducting ourselves as John the Baptist did? Are we showing people the way to Jesus like how John did before Jesus appeared? (this may be more for yourselves, are you leading the students to Jesus? Do you showing them the way to Him? How do we show them the way?)
Read John 1:1-34.
Break down the passage into vs1-6, 7-9, 10-13, 14-18, 19-28, 29-34.
You may want to summarise the harder passages for them and let them summarise the rest.
1. Who or what is the Word mentioned in the passage?
2. What was John's purpose for coming to this earth (vs7) and who send him (v6)?
3. What happened when Jesus came down to earth? (vs 10-11)?
4. According to vs 12, how does a person become a child of God?
5. What is happening in vs 19-28? What were the Pharisees asking John?
(you may want to spend more time on qn 3, the point of the question is to show them that the Jews were expecting the Messiah (Dan 9:25) and they knew that the time was near, in fact John even quoted Isaiah) So what happened when Jesus came? (When Jesus appeared to the Jews, He did not fit into their image of king, He didnt come with glory and splendor but came as a carpenter's son, and thus the Jews did not recieve or believe that He was the Messiah (vs10-11))
5. Who are we like? John the Baptist ( or the Jews? (this is a question for sharing, so do encourage them to share)
-If we are like the Jews, what is stopping us from believing and recieving Him?
=>link to qn 3 and 5: the Jews knew all about the coming of the Messiah, they know the scriptures so well that they even know that the herald, John, was referred to as Elijah and the Prophet in (Mal 4:5-6 & Deut 18:15-18) so there is a difference between knowing about God and believing in God. We also know all about God from the bible, from sunday school, from other Christians, so what makes us different from the Jews then, so are we just modern day Jews?
-If we are like John the Baptist, are we making a way for the Lord's second coming?
=> link to qn 2: If we are like John, are we fulfilling our purposed and showing people the way to Him? When was the last time you showed God's love to others or shared about Him or Him in your life?
Can we be neither John nor the Jew? Is there a in-between? Can we believe and not believe in the same thing? It's not possible so we are either one or the other, if we think that we can be in between, we are disillusioning ourselves.
End off with a prayer that we may not become modern day Jews and that people around us may see Him in us. If you have the time, do encourage them to share prayer requests and thanksgiving (be prepared to do the sharing as they may just say they dun have any requests and thanksgiving but I hope to kick start sharing of thanksgiving and prayer requests to make it a habit for them)
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A lil something for you all to think about with regards to this lesson (so you may want to do it in your groups or think about it in your own time):
When I was preparing this lesson, this thought stuck in my head and that is the last question. I'm assuming here we all have a personal relationship with God, if you don't then I would like to have dinner with you. LOL. Anyway, something to ask yourselves would be how much am I like John the Baptist? From the way I see things, as leaders, our purpose is very much showing the students the way to God. To do so, we ourselves first have to witness God in our lives (vs 6, vs 32-34) and be assured that God is real and alive in us, so if you are not assured of His presence in your lives, I urge you to pray for a special encounter for you to affirm His existence (if you yourselves are not sure, how are you going to testify that He is real?) And if you have already been assured, I encourage you to ask God to empower you and to reveal to you how you could show others the way to Him. =)
Focus of the lesson: To question ourselves on how much we really know Jesus and if He were to appear before us like He did with the Jews, without His splendor or glory of a king, would we recognise Him (vs 10-13). And as Christians, are we conducting ourselves as John the Baptist did? Are we showing people the way to Jesus like how John did before Jesus appeared? (this may be more for yourselves, are you leading the students to Jesus? Do you showing them the way to Him? How do we show them the way?)
Read John 1:1-34.
Break down the passage into vs1-6, 7-9, 10-13, 14-18, 19-28, 29-34.
You may want to summarise the harder passages for them and let them summarise the rest.
1. Who or what is the Word mentioned in the passage?
2. What was John's purpose for coming to this earth (vs7) and who send him (v6)?
3. What happened when Jesus came down to earth? (vs 10-11)?
4. According to vs 12, how does a person become a child of God?
5. What is happening in vs 19-28? What were the Pharisees asking John?
(you may want to spend more time on qn 3, the point of the question is to show them that the Jews were expecting the Messiah (Dan 9:25) and they knew that the time was near, in fact John even quoted Isaiah) So what happened when Jesus came? (When Jesus appeared to the Jews, He did not fit into their image of king, He didnt come with glory and splendor but came as a carpenter's son, and thus the Jews did not recieve or believe that He was the Messiah (vs10-11))
5. Who are we like? John the Baptist ( or the Jews? (this is a question for sharing, so do encourage them to share)
-If we are like the Jews, what is stopping us from believing and recieving Him?
=>link to qn 3 and 5: the Jews knew all about the coming of the Messiah, they know the scriptures so well that they even know that the herald, John, was referred to as Elijah and the Prophet in (Mal 4:5-6 & Deut 18:15-18) so there is a difference between knowing about God and believing in God. We also know all about God from the bible, from sunday school, from other Christians, so what makes us different from the Jews then, so are we just modern day Jews?
-If we are like John the Baptist, are we making a way for the Lord's second coming?
=> link to qn 2: If we are like John, are we fulfilling our purposed and showing people the way to Him? When was the last time you showed God's love to others or shared about Him or Him in your life?
Can we be neither John nor the Jew? Is there a in-between? Can we believe and not believe in the same thing? It's not possible so we are either one or the other, if we think that we can be in between, we are disillusioning ourselves.
End off with a prayer that we may not become modern day Jews and that people around us may see Him in us. If you have the time, do encourage them to share prayer requests and thanksgiving (be prepared to do the sharing as they may just say they dun have any requests and thanksgiving but I hope to kick start sharing of thanksgiving and prayer requests to make it a habit for them)
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A lil something for you all to think about with regards to this lesson (so you may want to do it in your groups or think about it in your own time):
When I was preparing this lesson, this thought stuck in my head and that is the last question. I'm assuming here we all have a personal relationship with God, if you don't then I would like to have dinner with you. LOL. Anyway, something to ask yourselves would be how much am I like John the Baptist? From the way I see things, as leaders, our purpose is very much showing the students the way to God. To do so, we ourselves first have to witness God in our lives (vs 6, vs 32-34) and be assured that God is real and alive in us, so if you are not assured of His presence in your lives, I urge you to pray for a special encounter for you to affirm His existence (if you yourselves are not sure, how are you going to testify that He is real?) And if you have already been assured, I encourage you to ask God to empower you and to reveal to you how you could show others the way to Him. =)
Friday, August 22, 2008
Lesson 15 God's Will - trust obey & honour Him (24/8)
Lesson 15: God's Will
This is more or less a summary of whatever we have done with them in the past half year. You will need the pink book again. Conduct the lesson is your respective groups.
What is God's will? (note that it is not what you think God's Will is but what it is)
-it is whatever's in the bible, what we have gone through with them in the past half year, to love their enemies etc.
If they are unable to answer the previous question then you should ask them how come they don't know what God wants (in other words 'will') when it is all in the bible and we keep hearing about it from Christians?
- we do not know Him and therefore we do not know His will. Like if I'm not aware that you exist, I obviously would not know what you desire or want. However, it is not possible for us to not know Him or His Will because there is evidence that God exists (big bang theory etc) and we have the law written in our hearts (Rom 2:14-15). So the conclusion is we refuse to know or believe in Him, like how the Pharisees refuse to believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
If they are able to answer the God's will question then how come we are not doing His Will?
- we all know what God wants and we know what we should be doing but we avoid it consciously or subconciously. Eg. getting into a r/s with non-Christians or being so close that it is dubious. The excuses we give ourselves: we are not going out officially, we are just seeing if we are meant for each other, i'm just getting experience so that i know how to handle r/s next time. or eg. lying. Excuses we give ourselves: it is a habit, i can't change it. It is only a white lie, it's not going to hurt anymore.
At the end of the day, we DO know what God's will is, it is just whether we are willing to OBEY Him and DO His will.
What happens if we do not do God's will?
- Romans 2:12-16 (We face His judgement)
-Zoom in on verse 13, it is not knowing what to do that makes us righteous but ACTing upon what we know that makes us Christians (inferred from being righteous)
How do we do God's will?
- Go through page 40 of the pink book with them (Doing God's will by..., obeying Gods' command..., honouring and worshipping God..., and end of this section by doing the bible quiz.
Split into your small groups (1 leader to 2-3 students) and ask them whether they have changed in this past year or anything that have impacted them with regards to the past lessons, follow up last week's lesson also.
To end off, I want you to share of your experience leading this group so far, your gain and pain. your struggle and failure, and your success story. (if you do not have, I would need you to be honest, and share your struggle that you are still strugging). Finally, I want you to tell them what is your view of them, if you can, tell them individually of what you feel about him or her. Ask them to write in a small piece of paper (you may want to bring that) one thing they want to change that they find difficult to (may it be getting to knoww God personally, loving their enemy, giving etc. Put that in their bible, pray and close.
This is more or less a summary of whatever we have done with them in the past half year. You will need the pink book again. Conduct the lesson is your respective groups.
What is God's will? (note that it is not what you think God's Will is but what it is)
-it is whatever's in the bible, what we have gone through with them in the past half year, to love their enemies etc.
If they are unable to answer the previous question then you should ask them how come they don't know what God wants (in other words 'will') when it is all in the bible and we keep hearing about it from Christians?
- we do not know Him and therefore we do not know His will. Like if I'm not aware that you exist, I obviously would not know what you desire or want. However, it is not possible for us to not know Him or His Will because there is evidence that God exists (big bang theory etc) and we have the law written in our hearts (Rom 2:14-15). So the conclusion is we refuse to know or believe in Him, like how the Pharisees refuse to believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
If they are able to answer the God's will question then how come we are not doing His Will?
- we all know what God wants and we know what we should be doing but we avoid it consciously or subconciously. Eg. getting into a r/s with non-Christians or being so close that it is dubious. The excuses we give ourselves: we are not going out officially, we are just seeing if we are meant for each other, i'm just getting experience so that i know how to handle r/s next time. or eg. lying. Excuses we give ourselves: it is a habit, i can't change it. It is only a white lie, it's not going to hurt anymore.
At the end of the day, we DO know what God's will is, it is just whether we are willing to OBEY Him and DO His will.
What happens if we do not do God's will?
- Romans 2:12-16 (We face His judgement)
-Zoom in on verse 13, it is not knowing what to do that makes us righteous but ACTing upon what we know that makes us Christians (inferred from being righteous)
How do we do God's will?
- Go through page 40 of the pink book with them (Doing God's will by..., obeying Gods' command..., honouring and worshipping God..., and end of this section by doing the bible quiz.
Split into your small groups (1 leader to 2-3 students) and ask them whether they have changed in this past year or anything that have impacted them with regards to the past lessons, follow up last week's lesson also.
To end off, I want you to share of your experience leading this group so far, your gain and pain. your struggle and failure, and your success story. (if you do not have, I would need you to be honest, and share your struggle that you are still strugging). Finally, I want you to tell them what is your view of them, if you can, tell them individually of what you feel about him or her. Ask them to write in a small piece of paper (you may want to bring that) one thing they want to change that they find difficult to (may it be getting to knoww God personally, loving their enemy, giving etc. Put that in their bible, pray and close.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Be Wise, Fear God (17/8)
This week's lesson will be done in your own groups like I mentioned on Sun.
They will need their pink book this week.
Link between this lesson and the last lesson: Last lesson we talked about the treasures we should store up and one of which would be wisdom
1st off, Ask them what they think wisdom is, who do they think is wise and why they think these people are wise. Write it down somewhere and ask them to turn to James 3:13-18.
Ask them if they have any questions and ask them to summarise. If there are no questions, spilt them into 2 groups (it would be good if you have 3 people to handle the lesson, 1 person to lead and 2 to facilitate the discussion in the 2 groups. If it helps, you may want to have them sit in 2 groups at the start of the lesson instead of splitting them later.) 1 groups will be answering what Wisdom from above is and the other group will be answering what Wisdom not from above is. Come back to discuss the 2 and end of with the characteristics of the truly wise man are. (answers are found in the leader's guide)
Give them some egs of heavenly wisdom n earthly wisdom:
'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' vs 'if someone strikes you on the right cheeck, turn to him the other also'. (matt 5:39)
'There are no absolutes, only relativity'.
They will need their pink book this week.
Link between this lesson and the last lesson: Last lesson we talked about the treasures we should store up and one of which would be wisdom
1st off, Ask them what they think wisdom is, who do they think is wise and why they think these people are wise. Write it down somewhere and ask them to turn to James 3:13-18.
Ask them if they have any questions and ask them to summarise. If there are no questions, spilt them into 2 groups (it would be good if you have 3 people to handle the lesson, 1 person to lead and 2 to facilitate the discussion in the 2 groups. If it helps, you may want to have them sit in 2 groups at the start of the lesson instead of splitting them later.) 1 groups will be answering what Wisdom from above is and the other group will be answering what Wisdom not from above is. Come back to discuss the 2 and end of with the characteristics of the truly wise man are. (answers are found in the leader's guide)
Give them some egs of heavenly wisdom n earthly wisdom:
'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' vs 'if someone strikes you on the right cheeck, turn to him the other also'. (matt 5:39)
'There are no absolutes, only relativity'.
'Freedom is the absence of law'
The Theory of Evolution.
What happens if you follow or believe these earthly wisdom? (you can think of other sayings, cant really find those super obvious ones on the net)
Go through with them what wisdom is from Proverbs 9:10. And to summarise, the fear of God is also to realise the need to live according to God's Word.
Go back to what they first thought was wisdom and who they thought was wise. Do they still think that way now? Why?
Go through how are we to become wise? and who is a wise person? You may want to do verse 27.
End off with the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is knowing of facts and what is true or right while wisdom is knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action. Remind them that they already have heard the words of Jesus through us and in Sunday School. If they believe that the Word is the truth then they should build their lives upon it. However, if they are unsure and continue to live their lives in this manner, then if God is true, it will be too late for them when Judgement comes upon them and thus challenge them to decide and find out for themselves if God is real.
Break into your small groups and follow up with them. If they are unsure whether God is real, pray for them to get a personal touch from God and discernment to see through the lies of the world. If they are convinced that God exists, challenge them to live out one of the bible truths. (remember to do follow-up next week)
Friday, August 8, 2008
The Gospel of John
Just a little background infomation to aid your understanding of the gospel of John. Information here is taken from What the Bible is all about (KJV edition) by Dr. Henrietta C. Mears.
Jesus in the Four Gospels:
Matthew presents Jesus as King, is written primarily for the Jew and is concerned with the coming of a Promised Savior.
Mark depicts Jesus as Servant, is written to the Romans and is concerned with the life of a Powerful Savior.
Luke presents Jesus as the Perfect Man, is written to the Greeks and is concerned with the grace of a Perfect Savior.
John protrays Jesus as the Son of God, is written to all who will believe, with the purpose of leading people to Christ and is concerned with the possession of a Personal Saviour.
Unlike Matthew, Mark and Luke which narrates His miracles, parables and addresses to the multitudes, John tells of Christ's ministry in Judea and presents His deeper and more abstract discourses, His conversations and prayers. The three protray Christ in action while John protrays Him in meditation and communion.
John wrote to prove that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah (for the Jews), and the Son of God (for the Gentiles), and to lead believers into a life of divine friendship with Him. The keyword is "believe.", found 98 times in this book.
That's all for now, just keep this in mind as you read through the gospel and may God reveal His word to you. =)
Jesus in the Four Gospels:
Matthew presents Jesus as King, is written primarily for the Jew and is concerned with the coming of a Promised Savior.
Mark depicts Jesus as Servant, is written to the Romans and is concerned with the life of a Powerful Savior.
Luke presents Jesus as the Perfect Man, is written to the Greeks and is concerned with the grace of a Perfect Savior.
John protrays Jesus as the Son of God, is written to all who will believe, with the purpose of leading people to Christ and is concerned with the possession of a Personal Saviour.
Unlike Matthew, Mark and Luke which narrates His miracles, parables and addresses to the multitudes, John tells of Christ's ministry in Judea and presents His deeper and more abstract discourses, His conversations and prayers. The three protray Christ in action while John protrays Him in meditation and communion.
John wrote to prove that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah (for the Jews), and the Son of God (for the Gentiles), and to lead believers into a life of divine friendship with Him. The keyword is "believe.", found 98 times in this book.
That's all for now, just keep this in mind as you read through the gospel and may God reveal His word to you. =)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Lesson 13: Treasures (10/8)
Note: We would be doing lesson together this week in the same classroom (go to the one that Group 2 uses). Group 1 and 3 would be taking the front of the classroom and Group 2 will be at the back. Sit in your groups in circles. I would need you to get some of the students to help move the tables to one side, so whoever is in the 1st bus please help with the logistics. =)
There would be a lot of movement, its something new for the sec 1s, the lesson is REALLY LONG if we spend too much time to settle down and there would also be pair work so I really need a lot of your cooperation for this lesson. I dunno what the situation would be like so I need all the leaders who are not leading the lesson to sit in between some of the students to facilitate the lesson). As we would be breaking up into smaller groups (1 leader to a few students), all of you would need to read through the lesson plan and know what is doing on, it would be good if you could meet up once before the lesson to decide how you would be splitting your groups.
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FYI:
Definition of treasure (from dictionary):
1. Wealth, rich materials, or valuable things.
2. Any thing or person greatly valued or highly prized.
Materials used:
Taking it with you questionnaire (do not do question 2 and I will be photocopying it for you all)
The pink book (message them to bring their books, if not you can photocopy a few for them)
Hook
Birthday List
Pass out the questionnaire and do question 1 and ask the group to write down what they’d like for their birthdays (or Christmas) if it is not in the questionnaire. Allow 5 minutes to complete the list; then have them decide on 5 things that they most like to have in common as a group (leaders may have to help to facilitate).
Next have the group make a list of the blessings (write behind the questionnaire), fruit of the Spirit, or spiritual gifts given them by God. Again, allow 5-10 minutes, and then have them decide on 5 of the most important items from the list.
Choose 1 person to present on the items and 1 person to present on the blessings.
In your groups, read Matt 6:19-21
Lesson tip: Ask them if they have any problems with the passage. If they all keep quiet or say that they have no problems then ask one of them what some of the verses mean. I dunno the effects of doing that to your group but in my previous group the students became more attentive (coz they dunno the answer) so try that out especially on the noisy ones and the distracted ones. This should work more effectively when we do John. =)
(Why should we store up treasures in heaven?)
1. What do you think are the treasures on earth (vs19)?
-Whatever they have on their list (money, 24-carat diamond, gold)
2. What do you think are the treasure in heaven (vs20)?
- Whatever is on their second list: the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23), or spiritual gifts given them by God and whatever could be found in the pink book under here are some treasures that will never corrupt.
3. What is the passage asking us to store up on? Why?
- Treasures in heaven are eternal (vs19-21)
- What you treasure is what you become. (vs21)
4. What happens when we store up on the treasures on earth?
- Ask them how people who love money are like. Miserly, greedy (money is never enough), selfish…
- Break them up into pairs and ask each pair to look up 1-2 verses from love of money corrupts our hearts by making us and bible truths in action then share their findings.
5. After going through all the verses, does it mean that we should donate all our money to the poor, tithe more than 10% and fast for the rest of our lives? (This is extreme, I’m just trying to link back what we did for the past few lessons =P)
- The answer is of course not! The word that is used is STORE, meaning to accumulate or take in for future use. That does not mean that we do not save up for times of trouble but we should not be saving GREAT quantities for ourselves. This is what I got from a commentary (it is for your understanding; please do not read out the entire chunk to your students):
Money is not intrinsically evil. The wise person works hard and makes financial provision for lean times (Prov. 6:6-8). Believers have a responsibility to provide for their needy relatives (1 Tim. 5:8). We can enjoy what God has given us (1 Tim. 4:3-4; 6:17). What Jesus forbade here was selfishness. Misers hoard more than they need (James 5:2-3). Materialists always want more. It is the love of money that is a root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim. 6:10). "What Jesus precludes here is the accumulation of massive amounts of treasure as a life goal."356 It is foolish to accumulate great quantities of goods because they are perishable.
(How then should we use our treasures, both earthly and heavenly?)
Go to your pink book or your notes and go to the table on example of people using money well and fill up the table.
Group 1 will do Person 1, Group 2 person 2, Group 3 person 3. After you have finish discussion, have 1 person come up to the board to write and 1 person to read the passage and 1 person to present.
Break into smaller groups (1 leader to 2-3 students, divide amongst yourselves equally) If there is no space you may use the other classrooms and remember not to put people who talk to one another a lot together), summarize the 3 examples and go back to the hook.
6. Was it easier to compile the birthday list of the blessings/gifts list?
7. What benefits will you derive from the items on the birthday list?
8. What benefits will you derive from the items on the blessing list?
9. Compare the benefits derived from the 2 lists. Do you think we spend too much time wishing for material benefits? Do we spend enough time seeking God for appropriate blessings?
10. What are some ways to fulfill our responsibility to use our material gifts and God’s blessings wisely? Go through taking it with you question 4 and agree on 1 thing to do with the treasures you have during the week and close with prayer (you need not take something from the questionnaire if you can come up with something on your own and this exercise includes you leaders). (Remember your small groups as we will do follow up in these small groups in the following weeks to come)
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