COGIC Power for Living | MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE – Adult Sunday School Lesson for 12/14/2014

COGIC Power for Living | MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE – Adult Sunday School Lesson for 12/14/2014

COGIC Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr. Declares December 14^th, 2014 “Black Lives Matter Sunday”

click here for a supplemental handout

This review is brought to you by the Kentucky First Jurisdiction Church of God in Christ Sunday School Department.  

LESSON AIM: By the end of the lesson, we will: discern that God is the Creator of the earth and the maker of humankind, and God is truly worthy of praise; experience the enthusiasm, power, and excitement that comes when believers praise God as their divine King; and shed inhibitions in worship and praise God exuberantly.

BIBLE TRUTH: God is the rock of our salvation and is worthy of praise and worship.

PSALM 95:1-7 | King James Version (KJV)

1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

The Sunday School review is very important. Each believer has a different level of understanding. Some can follow along with our lessons and breeze right through it! Others needs examples, parables, and the opportunity to ask their questions. No matter where you are in studying the Word of God, we’re glad you participate, because it is an important tool to develop your knowledge, understanding, and discipleship with Jesus Christ! Today’s lesson is in the Psalms. Psalms means “song of praise”. So, get ready to hear what song of praise David wrote, usually accompanied by some sort of stringed instrument, and sings into God’s hearing.

Verse 1 begins with the part of the song where the congregation as a whole can participate (come let us sing unto the Lord). Together, God’s people are invited to rejoice because God has saved them over and over again. He has provided provisions for the nation of Israel among countless times, so these people of God KNOW what they are singing about.

Remember, there were pagan rituals and gods who were being worshipped in idolatry. David makes the bold declaration that Yahweh is the King over all of the “little g” gods. Even with Greek mythology, it has been taught that there is a god of the water, a god who controls the weather and elements, and even here some people believed that there were gods who guarded certain caves and lived in the mountains. David was bold and sure as he proclaimed that our God is greater, our God is strong, and that our Lord was higher than all of any other gods.

While ending this lesson, David invites the congregation to kneel before God, our Maker. This echoes Psalms 100:3, which declares that “we didn’t make ourselves”.

SIDE NOTE: Years ago, Donald Lawrence wrote a song that said, “Don’t forget to remember where all your blessings come from; Don’t forget to give honor where honor is due; Don’t forget to remember the ONE who put you there…” If you’ve ever heard of the phrase, “self-made millionaire”? This is silly. No of us is ever “self-made”! It is God who makes us in every aspect. Naturally, He know us before we were even in our mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5) and He is the one to cause for increase and promotion (Psalms 75:6). It would be very unfortunate to ever forget that our Mighty God, has a sovereign element, and will always rule this world (and events in our lives) with the hand of providence.

David reminds us that, this whole world belongs to Him. The nation of Israel is a chosen people. We are grafted into the salvation plan of God, so this makes us sheep of his pasture too. So, as He feeds and leads. Our response should be to swallow and follow. This is truly and occasion to “Make a joyful Noise!” Need a few songs to help you get motivated about the awesome God we serve? Check these out!

Nobody Greater | One God | Our God | There’s No God Like Jevovah 1 | There’s No God Like Jevovah 2

   

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COGIC Power for Living | WORSHIP CHRIST'S MAJESTY – Adult Sunday School Lesson for 12/7/2014

COGIC Power for Living | WORSHIP CHRIST'S MAJESTY – Adult Sunday School Lesson for 12/7/2014

click here for a supplemental handout

This review is brought to you by the Kentucky First Jurisdiction Church of God in Christ Sunday School Department.  

LESSON AIM: By the end of the lesson, we will: consider why Jesus is worthy of adoration and worship; affirm that Jesus’ superiority and God's anointing of Him "with the oil of gladness" leads to our response of worship and lead adults to practice meaningful worship.

BIBLE TRUTH: Jesus Christ is the gift of salvation that God's people respond to with worship.

Hebrews 1:1-9 | King James Version (KJV)

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

We’re beginning a very beneficial and “juicy” book of study in Hebrews. We are not sure of who wrote Hebrews. Some people teach that Paul did it, but, again, there is not sure reference that it was Paul. Whoever the writer was, he was very popular with the original audience of this epistle. We’ll have to save that question during our first family reunion in Heaven.

Just to give you a sense of where we are in the full scope of the Bible…we’re jumping into text that is WELL after the Day of Pentecost (Read Act 2:4). After this, the church began to flourish with believers from all over the world. At this time, Nero was emperor. While he was away, a fire broke out in Rome and burned a large portion of the city. It took the citizens 6 days to get the fire under control. Of course, the Christians were blamed for the fire, due to the new widespread of converts to Christianity. So now, the Romans were persecuting the Christians, and making anyone who was “thinking” of converting think twice. The writer of Hebrews came along ot encourage them to “fight on and persevere”, and warns Gentiles not to return to their pagan ways, and for Jews to not abandon Christianity for their old ways of Judaism.

This book is largely focused around inheritance and reward. The writer also “reintroduces” us to our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. He points to the As we dig deeper, we’ll find that God is sharing much needed information to us, His people, in order for us to not suffer loss and to experience the FULLNESS of our salvation. Let’s jump in!

Verse 1 begins by establishing the deity of Jesus Christ. It brings into account all of the different ways that God has chosen to communicate with men throughout the ages. He spoke to Adam in the garden, He spoke through prophets, through dreams and visions. But now, He has spoken through His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is more than any of us could have ever hoped for or imagined! In the Old Testament, God spoke to man through other men and as we moved into the New Testament, He came to this world, in the flesh, face to face, up close and personal, because of His great love for humanity.

Many people were beginning to get it twisted, by equating Jesus with angels. Sure, both came from Heaven, but take a look at verse 4. Jesus was made higher and superior to all angels. He is Lord of all, because He after coming to this Earth, dying and rising from the grave, Jesus continued to be fully, the Son of God and fully man. 

So, now that the writer has level set with the mainly Jewish audience of this book, there is something more to discuss…the Mosaic Law and the New Covenant: by which one should we abide? This concept is known as progressive revelation. Thank God for the Jews. They are largely responsible for preserving the Bible that we study today with tender, loving, care. They were also really good about embedding the Mosaic Law and precepts into their generations. So, the writer of Hebrews had somewhat of a tough task sharing what he shared with them next. “Change your thinking!” Jesus Christ is the New Covenant. The Mosaic Law was revealed through their forefathers and the forerunners of Christ. Those who abided by that law ate the good of the land and were blessed to remain in the fellowship of God. But now, God came to us directly, in the human form of Jesus Christ. He walked and dwelt among us. He led by example, the life that God wanted for each of us to live. He never condemned the foundation of the Mosaic Covenant, He simply enhanced and built upon it with The New Covenant.

In today’s world, we would consider this a huge upgrade and a reason to rejoice in the joy of our salvation and this leads to “the oil of gladness”. Remember, in the days of the Bible, when there was an anointing, oil was poured onto the person, beginning at the top of their head. It was such a substantial amount, that it flowed down…like Aaron (Psalm 133:2). The significance of this flow has fruitful results. There is harmony, peace, and gladness. God’s anointed people permeate all of these traits. Some of the older saints said, they had the “glad glads!” Let’s praise Him!   

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