For April 5, 2009

News

1. Attendance 3/29/09 -- We had 559 in Sunday School Sunday!! 286 at 8:30 and 273 at 9:45!

2. CARE Ministry -- Every Tuesday night -- supper at 5:30, outreach/in reach activities at 6:00 p.m.

3. Project Care: Mission Possible -- Volunteer sign ups continue! Event date is Saturday, April 25!

Introducing a New Unit of Study

For the next several weeks, we will have a series of lessons leading us to "Affirm Spiritual Certainties." We will conclude the study of Isaiah at the end of the unit. The lessons in this unit will provide messages of encouragement and hope and will show explicit details about the advent of the Messiah that would occur 700 years later. God has blessed us with many things that we can count on and has proven that He is trustworthy time and again. This unit study of the latter chapters of Isaiah will confirm this.

Lesson Supplement for April 5

Explore the Bible
"The Sacrifice is Sufficient"
Isaiah 53:2-12

Intro. -- This week's lesson celebrates the salvation that God has provided for all sinners. This is an excellent lesson for evangelistic emphasis. Encourage your class members to invite neighbors and friends who may be lost to come to Sunday School with them this week. As you teach, be mindful that there may be some present who need to accept God's provision of salvation. In this week's lesson we will affirm the spiritual certainty that Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient for salvation!

Isaiah 53:2-3 -- Jesus was an unrecognized sacrifice. In His day, people rejected Him as the Messiah because He did not fit their ideas about who the Messiah would be or what He would do. Many people in the world today also reject Him as Savior because they don't recognize their need for salvation or they do not believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. People continue to reject and despise Him. However, this does not negate the fact that He is the one and only Savior! Instead it emphasizes that He knows and understands our condition apart from God in this sinful world.

Isaiah 53:4-6-- Salvation costs greatly! Jesus took upon himself our sin sickness and its accompanying pain. In verses 3-4 the people did not value Him. People today do not value Him, but look at what a value He is in verses 4-5! He bore our sicknesses. He carried our pains. He was pierced because of our transgressions. He was crushed because of our iniquities. He was punished so that we might have peace with God. He was wounded so that we might be healed. Jesus did not deserve this as verse 6 indicates. We are the ones who turned our own way and went astray from God. We deserve all of the things that Jesus paid on our behalf. Yet the Lord punished Him for the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:7-9 -- Jesus volunteer His life as a sacrifice! In verse 6 we are all described as sheep that have gone astray. In verse 7, Jesus is described as a lamb led to the slaughter and a sheep silent before her shearers. Jesus, the lamb, did not go His own way. He humbly laid down His life and offered it as a voluntary sacrifice for all of us wandering sheep who have gone our own way, for all of us who despise and reject Him. Stop and consider the magnitude of His love to do this for our undeserved benefit. Spend time as a class giving thanks to God for what He has done through His Son, Jesus.

Isaiah 53:10-12-- Jesus' sacrifice was effective. The effectiveness of His sacrifice is proven by four things in these verses. First of all, His sacrifice was effective because there was no other way for us to be forgiven of our sins and for us to be able to have a relationship with God. It was the only sacrifice that "pleased" God. Secondly, His resurrection from the dead would and did validate the effectiveness of His sacrifice. Thirdly, further proof of the effectiveness of His sacrifice will occur at His second coming when God gives to Jesus "the many as a portion" and "the mighty as spoil." Finally, by bearing the sin of many, his intercession for the rebels was certainly effective (verse 12).

Conclusion -- Today, we affirm the spiritual certainty that Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient for salvation. In fact it is so sufficient and effective that there is no other way to be saved. Jesus identified with our condition apart from God. He was willing to pay the sin debt regardless of the cost. He did so voluntarily and effectively. We can be certain that in Christ, salvation is complete. Let us celebrate and give thanks for the confident hope this certainty provides!

Commitment -- Lead students to examine their view of Jesus as Savior. Have they acknowledged their need for Him as the only way to be saved? Have they given their lives to Him? If not, consider inviting them to pray the sinner's prayer and inform you of their decision. If they are Christians, challenge them to spend time this week expressing thanksgiving to God for the certainty of their salvation.

For Further Help with this Week's Lesson Visit http://www.lifeway.com/articleclick/?id=166474 and read Dan Kassis' weekly article

Comments Welcome -- Any ideas for illustrations, other scripture, or class activities to enhance the lesson?