TEXT: GEN. 18:1-33 INTRODUCTION: There is a vast difference between knowing someone well and being a true friend. An important evidence of true friendship is loyalty, one to another (mutual). A true friend will continue to love irrespective of the circumstances and situations. From the time God called Abraham (Gen.12:1), their relationship continued to grow till it came to what could be called friendship. Abraham proved faithful to the point that God could visit, trust, confide in Him and grant his request. What a wonderful experience for a mortal man! Let us go through this lesson with the mindset to appropriate this knowledge in our lives, thereby improving our relationship with God, our true friend who gave His life a ransom for our souls. LESSON OBJECTIVES At the end of this lesson, we shall be able to: 1. Describe a true friend. 2. Identify the qualities of Abraham that made him to be called a friend of God. 3. Discuss how our friendship with God can grow and develop. BIBLE TRUTH: QUESTION 1) WHO IS A TRUE FRIEND? Prov.17:17; Gen. 18:17; Jn.15:15. A friend is someone that loves at all times (1 Cor.13:4-8); someone being available to help in times of distress or personal struggle. A friend does not...
Learn MoreCENTRAL THOUGHTIt is of great value to prayerfully start a Spiritual revival/reformation, receive grace to sustain it and finish strong. TEXT: 2 CHRONICLES 14:1-15, 15: 1-19 INTRODUCTION:Asa was the son and the successor of Abijah and King of Judah. He was the third King of Judah, one who restored true worship to Judah (1 Kings 15:8-15) and he reigned for 41 years. The Scriptures testify that King Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord, his God (2 Chronicles14:2). He was a pious man who instituted several reforms to remove foreign gods and foreign religious practices form the land. Part of his strategies to institute the reform was the removal of his idolatrous Mother from being Queen Mother (political power) in order to purge the land of idolatry. Although, the account of 1st Kings 15 tells us that Asa’s heart was loyal to the Lord all his days (1 Kings 15:14), Chronicles explains that in his later years, he departed from his total devotion to God (2 Chronicles 16:1-14). This gives credence to the scriptures that says, “let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he falls…”. There is the need therefore for believers to start the Christian race well, run it well,...
Learn MoreCENTRAL THOUGHTHumility and complete obedient is the pathway to divine blessings. TEXT: 2 KINGS 5:1-14 INTRODUCTION:The healing of Naaman demonstrates God’s saving power and grace upon all mankind irrespective of race and status. Naaman was a Syrian who was not supposed to enjoy the covenant blessings. But like the Syrophenician woman would argue “even dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the master’s table” (Matt 15:27). God shows mercy and does good to all. His overall purpose is for all men to be saved.Naaman was a hero but he was a leper, very powerful, but could not exchange skin with the basest Slave in Syria. No man’s greatness or honor can insulate him from the calamities of human life. It took Naaman’s obedience and humility to be healed by God. In this study, we shall examine the steps he took to get healed of his leprosy with a view to deriving some lessons. LESSON OBJECTIVES To know who Naaman was. To examine Naaman’s encounter with Prophet Elisha To appreciate the impact Naaman’s healing had on him and others. BIBLE TRUTH: QUESTION 1) WHO WAS NAAMAN AND HOW DID HE HEAR ABOUT ELISHA?2 Kings 5:1-6, 1 Chron. 8:4-7, Luke 4:27Naaman was from Syria and the commander of the Syrian...
Learn MoreCENTRAL THOUGHTThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. TEXT: 2 SAMUEL 12:24-25, 1 KINGS 3:1-15 INTRODUCTION:Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. His father was Kind David; he was the third king of Israel. God gave him an unsurpassable wisdom. His name, Solomon, means God’s peace, He was really loved by God from childhood, 2 Samuel 12:24-25. When God gave him opportunity to make a request of anything he needed at the beginning of his reign as king, he requested for Wisdom and a discerning heart. God was pleased with him and granted his request alongside great riches and power. He rose to fame with his first judgment in a dispute between two women who claimed to be mothers of one child, and the building of the first temple in Jerusalem.Solomon was renowned for his God given wisdom, writings and wealth. He maintained most peaceful relationships with his neighbors in his forty years reign as king of Israel. He was credited with writing Ecclesiastics, Proverbs, and the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon). His undoing was his lust for women and the pride of life. He married so many foreign women from pagan nations of whom the Lord had instructed the children of Israel not...
Learn MoreCENTRAL THOUGHTGratitude expressed from the heart produces joy and attracts more blessings. TEXT: LUKE 17:11-19, MARK 14:3-9 INTRODUCTION:Our Lord Jesus Christ commended the only man who came back to give thanks to Him for cleansing him of leprosy out of the ten that were healed of the same ailment. According to Matt. Henry’s commentary “The rest were made whole by the power of Christ, in compassion to their distress, and in answer to their prayer: but he was made whole by his faith, by which Christ saw him distinguished from the rest”.…Temporal mercies are then doubled and sweetened to us when they are ferried in by the prayers of faith and returned by the praise of faith”. We are living in a world where many humans are very selfish and self-centered. It is a part of the signs of the end time to fail to appreciate the good done to us for any reason. The fact remains that Christ as our example appreciated Peter for allowing Him the use of his boat to preach, by making him to catch “a great multitude of fishes” after an earlier fruitless effort. Part of the Lord’s reasons for this could be to teach the lesson of appreciation. A local adage has it...
Learn MoreCENTRAL THOUGHTChristians should not only build houses for God but be well built up as God’s temple. TEXT: EZRA 5:1-5, 6:13-22, 1 COR. 3:6-17, 6:19-20INTRODUCTION:God’s house is also referred to as a temple. It is a house where people worship God from time to time. It is usually different from other buildings because it serves as a sacred purpose. King David planned, and gathered some materials to build God a temple. God however, warned him not to do so through the prophet Nathan because he had shed much blood as a man of war. (2 Sam.7:4-5; 1 Kgs 8:17-19).Solomon his son thus built a very magnificent house for the Lord from 1012 BC to 1005 BC. He used a period of seven years to build it. It was sitted on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem and the Israelites worshipped gladly in it for many years.This beautiful temple was destroyed and the worshippers then, the Israelites, were carried away. LESSON OBJECTIVES To know what God’s temple is. To know what necessitates building houses for God. To know why the first temple was destroyed. To know believer’s responsibilities in building God’s house. To encourage believers to participate in building God’s house BIBLE TRUTH: QUESTION 1) WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY THE TERM...
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