To: sam shen
Cc: Catherine
Sent: Tue, April 6, 2010 8:03:51 PM
Subject: 4/4/2010 - Wk5 - PCAC G4/5 Sunday School Summary
Dear Parents,
Last Sunday was a glorious Resurrection Sunday indeed. It was a whirlwind for me, but I took one step at a time with God's strength, we got it all done. ;)
It was a pleasure leading your kids again.
Next week will be my 3rd and last time before Uncle Sam returns and resume teaching.
Our Bible passage was on John 20:1-18 where the resurrected Jesus 1st appeared to Mary Magdalene. The key verse was Romans 10:9, "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
I started by telling the kids that this is one of the very important verses in the Bible on salvation, how one is saved. I told them about an event that happened during Good Friday Children Fellowship, that during the message time, Jonathan raised up his hand and asked, "What does someone need to do to get saved?" We were on John 3:14-21 passage at the time, and specifically on 3:14-15, comparing Moses lifting up the snake in the dessert, and Jesus being lifted on the Cross that whoever was bitten by poisonous snakes, if they would just look at the snake on the staff, they would be cured. They would live and not die. Do you believe that? The Bible says, "that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life." So I said to Jonathan what you must do is look to the Cross of Jesus and believe in Him.
And so what does believing in Jesus mean? We spend a good 15 mins learning, memorizing this verse, and had a boys vs girls compitition as well to see who could recite it by memory. I helped them memorize it through understanding the verse. Too many times kids can memorize it, but lack understanding, so as soon as the class is finished, they have forgotten it. (
We broke down the verse to it's key components. "Confess with mouth" and "believe in heart" = "saved." We went into details of what/how we confess, and what/why we believe. some girl asked is it so easy? What about doing good? Then we took some time on "good works." I asked them, "What does the Bible say?" Confess and believe = saved. Besides, no works is good enough and no one is perfect; we looked at Rom. 3:23. So yes! It is that simple. However it is not that easy.... I shared with them that most everyone want to be saved from hell/sin, and go to heaven, but they do not want "Jesus is Lord" of their lives. So there is confessing of sins and turning away from it by trying not to do it again (and God is willing and able to forgive us). So confession and repentance is remembering to not do it again. Don't be what the Bible said about a man who looked into the mirror and saw his face, but as soon as he walked away, he forgot what he looked like. But the primary aspect of the "confess with your mouth" is "Jesus is Lord" of everything in our lives.....
Eventually we got to our passage of the resurrected Jesus appearing to Mary (Peter, and the other disciple, John). 2 children read in 2 large segments. angela read 1st and Andrew read 2nd. I interupted about 2-3 verses at a time to explain and question the kids.
I'll share 5 significant events during this reading.
1) John 20:8-9. v.8 says "he believed," but v.9 says "they still did not understand.... that Jesus had to rise from the dead." So one of the kids had the question, "So what did they believe?" This was a great question, and it opened up a teaching point of reading the text careful. He, John, is the "disciple whom Jesus loved," and probably the closest to Jesus since he's the one who rested on the chest of Jesus. He believed all that Jesus had said, yet without fully understood. And they just didn't understand it (as we do) from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. The Scripture which they have was the Old Testament. We can undertand clearly because we now have God's complete revelation with the New Testament.
2) v.10-11. Peter and John left and went home, but Mary stayed ans she was still weeping. Why? I asked the kids. The disciples lived and walked with Jesus and His teachings for 3 years, but Mary only got to spend very little time, and did not get the inside teachings so she was not able to "believe" as they did. She probably didn't know that Jesus will rise from the dead.
3) v.11-12. These verses I wanted to show the credulity/reliability of the Bible because Jesus 1st appears to Mary, a woman. Women take some very prominant places in the Bible which is not the case in ancient writings. In God's eye, males and females are equally valuable. In most of human history except the last 50-70 years, men dominated society and women were considered "2nd class." A girl said, "Some places they still are....." And this event is utmost important; that Jesus is alive 3 days after the crucifixion as He said! As important as this event, if the Bible is fraugulent, surely Jesus would not have appeared to a woman 1st but a man! And because these are eyewitness accounts, they are true and the Bible is reliable and trustworthy.
4) v.13-18. I'll just make 1 quick point. Mary was talking with 2 "angels" and 1 of the angel was Jesus, but (v.14) she did not know he was Jesus until Jesus called her name, "Mary" (v.16). The significant truth I wanted to get through to the kids is, like Mary, we can be looking for Jesus, but will never find Him until Jesus calls our name..... Amy; Kelly; Angela; Grace; Andrew; Ki-tong; etc. (sorry, I don't remember all the kids names). It is God who calls us to Himself; it is God who takes away our hard hearts of stone and gives us a new tender heart to be able to believe. We don't choose God; God chooses us! Have you ever heard Jesus called your name? Of course, it's unlikely you'll hear Him as I'm talking to you now. A girl said, "It's like a feeling you get inside...." I said, yes, possible that you might have an emotional experience, but mostly God calls you through His Word, the Bible.....
5) I'll end with this. (I think this was the question. Maria, can you reply to me and verify this?). A girl asked, "How come Mary saw Jesus, but didn't know that it was Jesus? (v.14). Well, I think my mind wasn't clicking correctly at the time, and I didn't have an answer to her question. So I told her I don't know, but I'll study it and give her the answer next week. I also ask them to study it and find the answer themselves. Another girl said, "I'm going to ask my mom!" (Did she, I wonder??!). After reading it again, I think I know. Please take this good opportunity to work this one out with your child...!
Looking forward to next class!
The passage is Acts 5:12-42. Apostles defend their faith.
Key verse is James 1:2-3.
God bless you parents!
+ + +
John M. Chen, Pastor to Children. o.972.867.2990 x106
Plano Chinese Alliance Church. 5025 Custer Rd, Plano, TX, 75023. http://www.pcactexas.org
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