Old Testament – Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Today’s lesson is when God appears to Abram and tells him that Abram will be a
father to countless nations and will have a multitude of descendants. God says
Abram will have so many descendants that they will as numerous as the stars.
We know that God never lies and always keeps His promises. But, Abram is
almost 100 years old at this time so we can understand how hard it must have
been for him to believe this. We know that God did keep His promise to Abram.
Abram did in fact become a father to many nations and had countless
descendants.
Old Testament – Psalm 22:23-31
This psalm foretells Christ’s suffering. This song starts with the words “My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?” These words are among the last words
Christ spoke on the cross. Later in this psalm, the words talk about pierced hands
and feet. This is what happened to Jesus when he was nailed to the cross. The
psalm speaks about being circled by evildoers and Jesus was surrounded by the
Pharisees and others who were making fun of His torture. The second part of the
psalm thanks and praises God for deliverance from troubles. Listen to Psalm 22
being sung below.
New Testament – Romans 4:13-25
In this lesson, Paul writes about God’s grace and our need to have faith in that we
are saved by God’s grace and faith.
New Testament – Mark 8:31-38
Today we see Jesus give Peter a stern scolding. Jesus tells Peter that he is thinking
about human interests, not God’s interests. Then Jesus calls His disciples and the
crowd to Him and tells them very hard things to hear. Jesus says if anyone wants
to follow Him they must give up everything, take up their cross and follow Him.
Jesus tells them who wants to keep their lives will lose it. Jesus tells everyone
listening to Him that those who give up everything will gain eternal life. These are
hard words for us to hear. We don’t want to give up anything and Jesus tells us
we must be willing to give up everything for Him and the gospel. How does this
make you feel? What would you give up for Jesus and the gospel? Watch the
entire lesson below.
The Children's Lesson:
Today Jesus tells us we must love Him above everything else in the world. This is
hard to do. Think about everything you love. We must love Jesus more than everything. But, remember Jesus loves us more than anyone can love us.
