Church Age Lesson Four - Book of Psalms

MESSAGE FOR PEOPLE TODAY FROM THE BOOK OF PSALMS

Please watch the Video Before Reading the Lesson Plan

 Church: Ephesus                             9 of 39 lessons                                Theme: Grace

Background Information:

*We asked in the book of Judges, “How can the creation know how to accept God’s grace?"

*In 1 Chronicles, we were awakened to learn how the world will try to confuse the message of Jesus’ sacrifice with worldly prosperity that does not bear eternal fruit.

Statement of Faith to Say Amen to for the Book of Psalms:

I can bear an inner witness to the truth by listening to a psalmist and not the worldview.

Essential Question:

Can I be a witness who bears eternal fruit by singing about God’s grace?

Book of Psalms:

Have students read pages 20-23 in The Pattern of Sound Teaching.

After students read the information ask them, "What do you want to talk about?"

Remember the Issue:

Living a life of a psalmist bears witness to accepting God’s spiritual gift of grace. A psalmist sings with love and joy for God, and it is a burden to bear witness with love and joy to people who are working for prosperity and denying God’s grace. By putting on the armor of God, we can build an internal temple on the foundation of faith that the church of Laodicea formed on The Rock of Faith. We need to remember God’s armor to stay in control of our mind, and to bear an inner witness to the world about the spiritual gift of grace that God offers for faith:

(1)   Shield of Protection – Defense - The world will lie to us about God’s protection. “Many there will be which say of my soul, there is no help for him in God. Selah” (Psalms 3:2). A psalmist sings about how people in the Old Testament hid behind the shield of protection by obeying the law of Moses and being protected by God’s miracles. A psalmist never denies or questions the miracles in the Old Testament. A psalmist bears witness to people about God’s miracles.

(2)   Feet that Only Go Toward Peace - Defense – The world will lie to us about the intent that is in its heart. We should not listen to people who bless God with their mouths and curse God in their heart. “Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts” (Psalms 28:3). A wise man is aware when a “friend” deserts them because the intent of their heart, and when a person shares mischief in their heart, a wise person bears witness to people by not allowing their feet go to that person.

(3)   Helmet of Salvation - Defense – The world will lie to us and deny that anyone can be delivered from death. “Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him” (Psalms 71:11). A preacher preaches about how the helmet protects our head in a literal sense and our mind in a figurative way. We decide if we are going to accept God’s gift of salvation or not. Jesus beat death! He arose from the dead and showed everyone the road to salvation. The Lord is going to be praised. A preacher bears witness to people by asking, “If we stay in the dirt who will praise God?” The dirt in the ground will not praise God.

(4)   Belt of Truth - Defense -The world says, “These are our lips, and no one is going to tell us what to say.” As it is written in Psalm 12:4, “Who have said, with our tongue, we will prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” A man and woman are the two witnesses who bear witness to how the belt of truth keeps everything together. We have to have faith in the truth. God’s plan includes Him sending Jesus who brought truth and grace. A man and woman bear witness to a new covenant and new covenant blessings.

(5)   Breastplate of Righteousness - Defense – The world will lie to us and say that God’s commandments are outdated, and nobody obeys the commandments anymore because God is not even checking to see if people obey His commandments. “Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it” (Psalms 94:7). The Isaiah spirit bears witness about how the breastplate guards our hearts, and we choose whether or not we will obey God’s commandments to protect our hearts. People should be able to observe that God’s plan is to protect us with His commandments. We can be saved from hell when we bear witness to others by obeying the commandments because we realize that God loves us and only gave us the commandments to protect us.

(6)   Sword of the Spirit - Offense – Psalms 149:6 describes God's grace as a double-edged sword, "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand." A psalmist will sing about how the sword of the spirit is an offense. When we are exhausted from defending ourselves with the previous armor, we can get protection against people who are ignoring the word of God with genuine mourning. The Jeremiah spirit bears witness to us that revenge is the Lord's, and this is how doing nothing is an offense.

Each of the churches that follow will have a message from a witness (a spirit like a wise man, preacher, man and woman, Isaiah spirit, Jeremiah spirit) who will teach us how to put on the armor of God. Realizing that the word of God is a weapon that is used to advance the kingdom of God is important.

Remember the Truth Jesus Brought:

As it was written in Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” As it is written in Ephesians 6:18, we are to be praying always for His armor to provide protection. God has promised that Jesus will come back to judge the Earth and if we are in a relationship with Jesus, we will put on the whole armor of God. The way to accept God's grace is to look at the sacrifice that Christ made and to suit up with the armor of God. Does the world teach us about God’s promise to protect us from the enemy with His armor?

Remember the Rock God Established:

As it is written in Psalms 18:2, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” God is our rock and He has given us the armor of God, and these weapons are a way to fight back without empowering what we are fighting against.

Activity:

The activity directions are located in Appendix 3.

Students will play a game called Sin. They will also decorate a sugar cookie. The sugar cookie will be in the shape of a shield. They will be piping royal icing to decorate their shield of faith sugar cookie.

Conclusion:

What will happen when we put down our armor? The enemy will lead us astray.

Next Lesson:

In the next lesson, God's promise is how He gives us a way to escape what we cannot endure when we remember how the enemy will use fear and lies to tempt us to turn us against our first love, God, with a prosperity message. A righteous behavior that will bear eternal fruit is to accept God’s grace by mourning sin. Mourning sin is an offensive way to fight back without empowering what we are fighting against.

BLOG: Write (1) a statement of faith and (2) a testimony - to continue building an internal spiritual church of Ephesus.

The statement of faith will choose to be reborn again by God's spirit by hearing and remembering the witness of a psalmist to learn how to accept God's spiritual gift of grace for faith in Jesus, or to have faith in the world by hearing and remembering the witness of a spirit like Jezebel to learn how to deny God's spiritual gift of grace for faith in Jesus.

The testimony will identify what is given up in the name of love for a higher purpose. With your testimony, now you are building the internal temple of Ephesus with stones on the rock foundation you established. A testimony will have faith in Jesus or the world. A testimony will give up the world for Jesus, or it will give up Jesus for the world. We cannot be of the world and have Jesus in us.

Everyone's statement of faith and testimony will be different. Please see the prompt starters below to help begin writing. Using the prompt starters is optional.

Statement of faith prompt starter:

In making a statement of faith for the church of Ephesus, I will choose

Testimony prompt starter:

My testimony is defined as not what I take up, but what I give up that is valued as important, such as a spirit that fights with ______________ for the sake of ___________, as being regarded as more important. Trust is an essential part of my testimony because when I trust in ______________________, I will ____________________________. I will listen to the spirit of ________________________________, who will teach me _______________________________. My testimony is that

Because your faith and a personal testimony are important parts of salvation, please write a statement of faith and a personal testimony in the comments section below.

NOTE: With your testimony, now you are building the temple with stones on the rock foundation you established. The next 27 lesson plans will teach you how to align your stone with the chief cornerstone on the rock of faith. The stone will witness against those who choose to love like Jesus and then decide to be a lover of self with lukewarm faith.