Sunday Scool - 19 April 2020
Dear Parents,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord, We kindly request you to assist your child / children with the Lessons. And we thank you for your support at all times. God bless you!
Dear Children,
During this time of Country-wide Lockdown, we trust you have enjoyed learning the provided list of Bible Verses. A Bible verse daily means that you have now learnt 21 verses. We have confidence in you that you will complete the full List by the end of Lockdown. An additional list will be issued later.
The Pastor & Sunday School Teachers
Lesson 1:
A Valuable Possession
Let us now learn about the Parables of Jesus, which were many. Parables are stories with a meaning to teach a lesson or Hidden Truth and that would allow the hearers to make an important decision in their life, to either reject a truth or accept it. Jesus spoke in Parables;
- Jesus wanted to make known who He was and what His Mission was.
- Jesus went around inviting people to follow Him.
- And we know that Jesus announced that God would come and rule the earth as king.
- Now, the Israelites because they were under Roman rule at that time, thought that The Kingdom of God would come about by fighting and conquering the Romans. But Jesus came the opposite way. It was contrary to what their expectations were. He would give His Life so that they could live eternally.
- And when the disciples asked Jesus why he always spoke in parables to the crowds of people that followed Him, He answered that – it was given to them (the disciples) to know The mysteries of The Kingdom, but not to them (the masses of people).
- The Parables would be made known to them (The followers of Jesus). So His Message would be clear to them but not to the crowds). It would be hidden from them who wouldn’t understand them.
- Now keep in mind that: Things that are valuable are precious. They are worth a lot. They are priceless. They are treasures.
Class let us think of:
Precious things; things worth a lot of money, these things may mean a lot to you. A Precious thing is something you would always want to have or to keep…
Name a few now…
Name anything at home that you love and would always want to have. …
Or someone that is very precious or dear to you:
Often somethings that other people have and you do not have, would be something you would love to have… would be valuable or precious to you.
Gold or riches or a big house, great possessions…
Story 1.
The Pearl of Great Price:
MATTHEW 13:44
The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
MATTHEW 13:45
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
MATTHEW 13:46
Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
There was of a certain man that was a buyer of pearls. He was a merchant… A buyer of pearls. When he sold one pearl and got the money for it, he would then be able to buy 2 pearls for that money and so increase his business etc., and even make a collection of costly pearls. Beautiful pearls are found in shells. They are very costly (they cost a lot)…
He waited on the shore where other merchants brought pearls from all over the world. When one day he was shown this most beautiful Pearl… the Pearl of great price, he offered to buy it. He presented 3 bags of gold for it. But the merchant/seller of the Pearl of great price did not want to give it to him. He said it was worth much, much more. He could not sell it… the Pearl of Great Price for so little. Even 3 bags of gold were too little, and he closed the box wherein the Pearl of Great price was in. The man was so disappointed and went away very sad. But the more he thought about it… he admitted to himself that he wanted the Pearl of Great price for himself. Nothing would/could satisfy him. He left and then sold all that he had… all his houses, his property, everything… Even his collection of pearls from all over the world… And Bought the Pearl of Great Price.
As Jesus so graciously taught us in the man buying pearls, and he found the One of great price and he sold all his others to get to it.
All the truths and everything that he had, thought they were good pearls, he–he… this One meant all to him.
And when you find God’s Ultimate, His Word, a promise upon a certain thing, you must know first that it is God’s Word, that the thing that you’re seeing being done is God. There–there’s no–there’s no “maybe so, it could be, it looks like it might be.” “It is God!” Then when you get to that spot, then that’s the Pearl of great price.
(Quote of WMB)
We should be willing to leave our worldly ways, seek his forgiveness… for he wants to save us and give Himself to us and take us to heaven with Him. These are Examples of bad or worldly ways such as lying or stealing, being rude, being disobedient, and being proud and uncaring.
Jesus is our Pearl of Great Price.
He, Our Lord should be more valuable to us than our very life… Sell what is important to us, and not pleasing to God. Say, “Lord take my/our selfish ways, our not respecting others and not respecting and obeying our parents; our ways of not being kind”… so that we can take the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts and live for Him. Let go of our naughty and selfish ways. Accept him into our lives.
Story 2
The Hidden Treasure:
The Bible tells us of a man who was walking in a field and he found a treasure. He did not know how it got there or who had left it there. But what a wonderful find it was. Lets’ say it was a box of valuable stones, precious jewels or gold or money.
He quickly hid it. He didn’t want anyone else to find it. He recognized it was very valuable. And so decided that in order to get the box with the treasure, he would have to buy the field and so be the owner of the treasure. He thus sold all that he had. Perhaps he did have money or gold but he may not have had enough.
He then decided to sell all his lands, all that he had so that he could buy that particular field. If he bought any other field, he still would not have had the hidden treasure… Is that right, children? That Treasure was important for him to have…
We must have the treasure of Jesus in our lives. We must leave everything of our own ways and let go of everything to find that Hidden Treasure, and follow Christ.
Questions:
Read: Matthew 13:44, 45,46, 47… again.
What is a kingdom? …Land/a country like a farmer, or land-owner that has a large estate and he has people who works on the farm and lives somewhere there as well.
Who is in this kingdom?…What does it have? It has a king as the head of the country or land. There are also people in this kingdom/land.
What do the people do that is under the king?… They obey him.
How?… They hear His Voice and obey him. His Word is Law.
Now we see we have 2 men here… The one was a buyer of pearls.
And what did he do?… He sold all he had to get the Pearl of Great price.
And the man in the field. What did he do?… He hid the treasure and sold all that he had to buy the hidden treasure.
What are you to do today?
Will you follow him?…
I seen there was nothing on earth that meant very much to me anymore. There I sold out everything I had; I bought the Pearl of great price. I accepted Jesus as my Saviour. I now raise my hands, Lord God, be merciful to me, for I want to look past the curtain of time.'”… (WMB)
58-0406S I.KNOW.MY.REDEEMER.LIVETH
And when Christ reveals Himself to you as the resurrected Son of God, there’s an exceeding abundance of great joy in your heart. You found a treasure; you found a Pearl that you’ll sell everything you’ve got to possess it. It is true.
58-0112A HIS.WONDERS.TO.PERFORM
So Jesus was preparing His disciples or followers not for a Kingdom that comes by violence but through His self-giving Love in His death for us. He was prepared to surrender His Life, to lose His Life, so we could gain His Life.
How do we get that Priceless Possession? Accept him as Saviour and Lord of our Life.
The Kingdom of Heaven would be for those that would forsake everything to gain the Kingdom of Heaven. Earthly possessions and acclaim would be nothing to finding Him the Pearl of Great Price.
He is The Pearl of Great Price.
The END