Sunday December 20, 2009


Key Verse:
Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."

Focus Statement:
Those who truly embrace the undeserved mercy of God will overflow with mercy toward others and so be blessed with more mercy.

Main ideas:
God is merciful, forgiving sin and restraining evil.
Jesus demonstrated the mercy of God.
Mercy includes forgiveness and compassion on those in misery.
Those who recognize that they are saved by grace will overflow in extending mercy to others.
Mercy is not just a feeling but an action as well.

More scriptures:
Psalm 145:8-9
John 8:3-11
Matthew 9:35-36
Luke 7:12-15
Ephesians 2:1-10
Matthew 5:3-10
John 8:12
James 2:13


One point we spent a little extra effort on was that mercy has a twofold definition:
1. Forgiveness; towards others and of our sin by God.
2. Compassion shown by alleviating the misery of others.



I also assigned homework in addition to the journal. I use the word homework loosely because we're not officially checking it but I will show up one day with something for those who have been diligent. The homework was to read Matthew 25:31-46 and answer the following 3 questions.

1. What are the acts of mercy being done?

2. Who are the acts mercy done to?

3. Who does the acts of mercy?

Tales of the dilatory JR High Blogger...

Beloved, How art thou? Sooo I won’t even mention how late this is. We all spill milk on the regular I’m guessing, and I think A lot of us are learning a thing or two about responsibility, faithfulness and diligence in this hectic season. I hope we can move forward from here. What we will do is briefly catch you up on where we have been thus far in our study with an overview, and (LORD WILLING) from here on out the Homework and teaching outline will be posted week to week for your benefit and enjoyment. Please note that a few of our weeks together in the class have been review on particular doctrines. So if the numbers don’t add up, it’s not your counting, it’s our erratic schedule of class indoctrination. So to catch all of you viewers up, this is what you have missed in JR HOPE class (Starting from the Sunday after our parent/teacher meeting)…

Lesson 7: Your life is hidden with Christ

Focus statement: Our fleeting lives have significance only when we die to self and live for GOD and His purposes.

Key Verse: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in GOD.” Colossians 3:3

Main Ideas:

• Mans existence is fleeting; God is eternal.
• God sovereignly orchestrates HIS plan for the universe
• We were born to live for God’s purposes and to glorify Him.
• The Christian is dead to his own plans, will, and agenda, and lives for Christ; the Christian’s life is “hid” in Christ

Lesson 8: Obedience: The mark of a surrendered heart

Focus statement: God demands and delights in hearts that respond to His Grace in obedient surrender to Him and His Will.

Key Verse: “…If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Main Ideas:

• Jesus is both Savior and King
• Jesus demands obedience and Jesus loves obedience
• Obedience is an evidence of a surrendered heart; a disciple has a surrendered obedient heart
• God’s grace inclines His children’s hearts in submission to Him
• God’s grace enables His children to fight their sin nature and sinful passions by denying themselves and taking up their crosses daily
• Blessing comes to those who seek Jesus and walk in His ways

Lesson 9: Jesus our example

Focus statement: Jesus is our perfect example of a heart surrendered to the Father and a will submitted to God’s purpose.

Key Verse: “ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me.” John 6:38

Main Ideas:

• Jesus understood and submitted to the Father’s authority
• Jesus had a loving, personal relationship with His Father
• Jesus embraced the will of the Father with His mind, heart, will
• Jesus’ perfect obedience is evidence of his surrendered heart and His submitted will
• God is a loving heavenly Father, who strengthens His children who desire to follow Him.

Lesson 10: Teach me Your way

Focus statement: Because the believer operates in God’s kingdom, he must submit his mind, heart, and will to learn the ways of God

Key Verse: “ Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.” Psalm 86:11

Main Ideas:

• God’s ways are not our ways; God’s ways are higher than man’s ways
• The Christian operates in God’s Kingdom
• Christ helps believers put off the old self and put on the new self
• We must learn the ways of God
• Teaching the soul involves an informed mind, a heart desire, and a surrendered will
• We should not be stubborn before the Lord, but teachable
• And here begins our trek through the Beatitudes…

Lesson 11: The poor in Spirit

Focus statement: God’s Kingdom belongs to the poor in Spirit because they humbly recognize that they are undeserving of and desperate for God’s mercy.

Key Verse: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

Main ideas:

• The Sermon on the Mount is a description of the character of the Christian.
• The Kingdom of heaven is both present and future
• The poor in spirit recognize their utter spiritual depravity; they are humble before GOD

Lesson 12: Those who mourn

Focus statement: God brings eternal comfort to the one who mourns over sin and repents.

Key Verse: “ Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

Main Ideas:

• Those who mourn over their sin are blessed
• Godly grief produces repentance
• Mourning over sin drives a person to repentance, which results in comfort and forgiveness from God.
• Those who are Christian’s will mourn over personal sin and over the sins of others

Lesson 13: The Meek

Focus statement: The meek humbly submit their wills to Jesus and trust God’s rule, which results in the inheritance of all things.

Key Verse: “ Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5

Main Ideas:

• The meek are those who are submitting their wills to Jesus
• The meek are marked by gentleness, humility, determination to follow Jesus, and self control/God control
• The meek see their sinfulness, mourn over it, and have no expectation of mercy; the meek recognize that they do not deserve mercy.
• The meek trust God
• The meek are soft on the outside and strong on the inside
• The meek will not only reign in the Kingdom to come, but also “posses everything” in the present; the meek are satisfied and content

Lesson 14: Those who hunger and thirst after Righteousness

Focus statement: Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are those who desire that their lives and the lives of others reflect God’s Righteousness.

God will satisfy those who desire that their lives and the lives of others reflect God’s Righteousness.

Key Verse: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6

Main Ideas:

• An appetite for God and spiritual things is a gift
• Hungering and thirsting for Righteousness, an inner righteousness that conforms to the Will of God and obeys the ways of God is the mark of a believer.
• Those who know Christ have an intense desire, a hungering and thirsting, for both personal righteousness and the righteousness of others.
• Underneath a desire for inner righteousness is a desire for God.
• God continually satisfies the ongoing hunger and thirst for righteousness
• For the believer, the Sermon on the Mount is a celebration of the identity of the Kingdom; for the unbeliever it is an invitation to surrender to Christ and become part of His Kingdom.

That should catch us up for now Beloved. Lets Press on until Glory!!

P.S.

Delay to last minute..

I am so sorry for prolonging this gang. Our team has been pressed and pulled these past few weeks, and so again, we apologize for the delay.

Our parent meeting will be held this upcoming sunday, October 25th, in the Jr High class room at 1:0'clock pm. We are really looking forward to seeing all of you there.

Our intent is to introduce you (parents) personally to our curriculum. Once we are all on the same page as far as homework and at home discipleship is concerned, I believe we can begin to see radical transformation in lives of these young

guys & gals.

So we hope to see you all there this sunday.

"A child of God should be a visible beatitude, for joy and happiness, and a living doxology, for gratitude and adoration." -CHS

Homework + Parent Meeting!

Greetings Jr Hopers! I am glad to see that you found the blog just fine, and I hope these updates will encourage you as: students/parents/members, to keep up with the curriculum.

So, The Homework this past week is a repeat homework assignment, due to the poor number of students that actually did the assignment from the previous week.

HW: Read James 2:19 with your parents. Both discuss and write a half page response to the question; "Why is it dangerous to grow up in a christian home in light of this verse?"

This Homework assignemnt was born out of the Study lesson titled; "Follow Jesus" (Obedience is the result AND evidence of genuine faith and repentance.)

This lesson stemmed from John 6:37 "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."

This lesson covered a number of topics such as:

> Commitment to live under GOD's rule is a necessary response of trusting in Jesus

>Faith must be accompanied by repentance; Repentance is forsaking sin and committing to obey Jesus

>Jesus will not turn away any repentant sinners

It is our aim to assign the students homework that leads them directly under the discipleship of their parents at home. It is wonderful to hear their perspectives on life in the classroom, along with their answers to questions. But the cheif idea here is to engrain them with enough knowledge of the TRUTH in one hour as apossible, then to have the parents re-enforce these teachings at home.

This leads us to the big event! PARENT/TEACHER MEETING! Yay!

If it is at all possible, we are planning on having our first parent/teacher meeting at 12:25pm on sunday September 27th. Please let me know if you will be able to attend or not be able to attend. We will be going over the curriculum, a few needs in the classroom, and feilding any questions or concerns you may have.

We look forward to seeing you all there! Grace &peas

-JRHope.

March ye forward!

Welcome Church family

Welcome to the JR Hope blogsite.

I hope this resource will prove useful to you as students/parents/members, in keeping you informed and plugged in with all things JR High.

As we are coming up on the middle of our 3rd month of class We are so very happy to inform you of how blessed we have been to teach these young teens The Word of GOD. It is rare to have a group that volunteers to read, share and be somewhat vulnrable with their teachers and peers. I would just like to encourage you parents to continue on in the discipling of your children in The way of Righteousness.

Be sure that this will serve as a continual update on the teaching/homework/projects and soon coming outings.

I pray we will continue to grow together brothers and sisters in this ministry of discipling our future GOD fearing, informed, (Lord willing) Soul winning whippersnappers :)

Grace &peas..