Sunday School

Back to Sunday School

Remember Sunday School, where the answer to EVERY question was either:  1. Jesus, 2. Read the Bible, 3.  Go to Church, and 4. Pray.

They'd share Bible verses with us, sometimes put to music, like John 3:16.  They became cliche...and as we matured we set those aside while seeking deeper truths.  And decades later as we further matured, we finally figure out those ARE the deepest truths.  Those darn Sunday School teachers tricked us.

I'm placing several of these verses here from the Amplified Bible, so I can re-learn them and see if I can re-apply the truth they contain.

Matthew 6:33.   But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.

My translation:  Always make it my first and top priority...to be a citizen of God's kingdom, to ask him to work through me in every instance and remind me of my identity in him so I will rest in his love and security.  And not only will he do that for me, he will also meet all of my needs.

1 Peter 5:6:  Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you,

⁷ Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

My translation:  Let me understand who I am and who God is and recognize the truth that he is so far above great and awesome and I am so tiny and helpless and needy.  Yet in his greatness, he calls upon me to take all of my concerns...every one one of them for all time...and celebrate his love for me by freely tossing my burdens onto himself because he doesn't want me to have to carry them.  He has a love for me beyond my understanding.  And at the right time, he will give me treasures here and also later well beyond what I could possibly hope for.

Proverbs 3:5-6:  Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths

Psalm 37

³ Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed.

⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.

⁶ And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.

⁷ Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.

⁸ Cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not yourself—it tends only to evildoing.

Romans 12:  I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.

Quiz Time

OK, it's been three years, so it's time for a quiz for both of you who've read through the blog.  Count yourselves as special (or really weird.)

 I've found the top 53 main points (maybe that's why you're the only 2 who've read it) and placed them in this little quiz.  They're from the little yellow highlighting.

Actually I've put them here, in one place, for me to come back to, and remind myself of what's really important since I so easily stray off.  I'll come back to this page to re-immerse, marinate, and meditate on the truths of God.

Fill in the blanks...

Quiz

1.       Help comes to us when we finally admit that we are los_____, and turn to the only win____ who can help us.

2.      When babies see their loving daddy’s face there’s a pow_____ that draws them to him, like ir___ to a mag____.

3.      We are wired from birth with needs such as accep____, par____ love, closen____, and nurt______.  While parents can fail in providing these, we can receive these from God.

4.      We will stumble and fall.  As we look to our Daddy, he absolutely will ca___ us every time.

5.      Our Daddy will always treat us with lo_____ and tende______.  He will never conde____ nor insu___ us, nor show impa____ or disgu_____ .

6.      He is always lo____, pati___, affir_____, desi____ us, etc.

7.      He’s always asking us to come to him.  He is always saying, “Fol_____ m_.”

8.      It’s crucial to know that God lo____ hanging out with us.  Always.

9.      Boiled down to one thing that God desires most of all from us is a close, living rela_______ with each one us...like the relationship a vine has with its branch.

10.  As we hang out with God, we will find ourselves doing good things, not because we’re “guilted” into them, but out of a respo___ of tha _____ to God’s love for us.

11.  The key word here is that love gives us amazing free_____.  Remember,  God came to se_ u_ fr__ from our sin, not to condemn us in it.

12.  This relationship with our heavenly daddy was made possible by J____, who decided to pay the price we could never pay by giv__ u_ h__ li__.

13.  When we are struggling at life, we must, We Must, WE MUST remember that G__ is the One Good Thing we have going for us.

14.  God says we are to be like chil_____ to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Children are depende___, helpl____, and vuln____.

15.  God declared when I accepted Jesus that I am a member of God’s fam_____.  Not a serv___ or sla____, but his true chi___ with all the rights and privileges of being his natural chi__. God takes this much more seri____ than I do. He is fully commi_____ to see me through to completion.

16.   In the S.L.O.P., we ask God to fill us with fai____...as much as we can have.

17.  Then we ask for a giant infilling of God’s H______ Sp______.

18.  Let’s look to hi__ fac_ and be drawn toward him.

19.  In any plan, if it’s legitimate, Go_ needs to receive ALL the glo___.

20.  God is completely, totally, all-in, pumped and exci____ to walk with us.

21.  As I spent time in a closer rela______ with God, I will find myself growing more and more li__ him.

22.  Every child has needs from their parents, including: lo__, merc_, kindn_____, accep____, affir______, affec_____, commit_____, nurt___, compas___, encou________, etc.  God provides all of these to us.

23.  We don’t need to be anx___ in Anything because God controls every____.

24.  God is for us whate___ we need him to be.

25.  When we enter into a relationship with God, he begins to hea_ us, give us a deep jo_ and pe___ and begins to empower us for good things he wishes us to do.

26.  Since it’s God’s pla_, God’s purpo__, and God’s pow__, he deserves ALL the cred__ and ALL the glo__.

27.  When we seek God first (Matthew 6:33), God will meet ALL of our nee__.  Once our needs are met, we will find ourselves overfl_____ like riv___.

28.  If we try to please ever____, we will end up pleasing n_ on_.  Let’s just work to please just G__ himself.  After all, people...including ourselves...are impos___ to please.   G__ is eas_ to please.

29.  When we spend our time relating to God, we can’_ hel_ but produce fruit, just like a well-tended apple tree.  So, our goal is never “fruit” but instead relat______ with God.

30.  Being joined with God through Jesus ultimately produces spiritual  and eternal li__.  Not being joined with Jesus produces spiritual and eternal dea__.

31.  Here’s the complete list of all that’s required for eternal spiritual life and grace and mercy from God:  Tru__ in Jesus and fai__ in Jesus.

32.  God is so amazing, overwhelming and awesome that in a relationship with him, you can’t help but be transfo___ by him.

33.  Christianity is not a relig____.  It’s a relatio_____.  It’s never based on works.  It’s based on your ident___ with Jesus the savi__.

34.  We cannot build a bridge to God, or a “stairway to heaven.”  It must be built fr__ God to us, not us to him.

35.  As Revelation 3:17 tells us, we come to God wret___, piti___, bli__, and nak__.  These are our contributions to the relationship.

36.  THE most important and valuable things we have on earth are relati_______.

37.  THE most valuable thing we can do with God is have a loving and caring relati_____ with him.

38.  When we decide to come to God, we must recognize we are helpl__ and hopel__.

39.  The enemy’s chief tool to rip you off is your Pri__.

40.  God says his yoke is easy and burden is light.  In fact, in our walk with him the Ho__ Spi__ will do the heavy lifting.

41.  Jesus is more concerned with Inwa__ righteousness than Outw___ righteousness.

42.  Heaven is NOT filled with people who led Go__ lives.  Heaven is filled with Sinf__ people who trusted in God to erase their sin through Jesus.

43.  Fruit in a Christian’s life is God’s indication of a health Relati_____ with him.

44.  Christians should never work for God’s acceptance because we Alre___ have it.

45.  We cannot ever fully please ourselves, but God is Ea__ to please.

46.  Our true measure of success in life is how Clo__ we have grown to God.

47.  Good works will come as a Resp___ to God’s love for us.  They should NEVER be done to Ear_ his love, because it won’t work.

48.  If we have God’s joy and peace, we won’t want or need Anyt____ El__.

49.  Though we are hard wired to put ourselves first, this only causes Gri__ and Pa__.

50.  What should I give to God?  Well, Ever______.

51.  Our flesh employs ungodly strategies to milk pleasures from this world.  Problem is, they lead me down paths which are Pointl___, Painf__, Vai_, and Depres___.

52.  This is why we need to look at God’s scoreboard instead of the Wor___ scoreboard to avoid being misled.

53.  Life is a fulfilling adventure if you’re living for something Big___ than yourself.