Children—Michael Hapanowicz
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All right, well, I guess it's close enough to time that we can get started with the Sunday school. Does anyone have a song that they want us to sing this morning?
Yes.
Jesus loves me this I know. OK.
That's number 40 on the back of our sheet.
If someone could start the songs for us I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.
Umm, yeah.
She's done a lot with me.
Yeah, Jesus, God loves me.
Yeah, I love you.
Bye bye, don't be so.
He's not above me.
In real time.
Nsnoise.
Bridge on.
Just because I love me.
Yes, she must not be.
Happy.
That I won't help me so.
391313930.
9 every week and yell from his shining.
On high, he will watch me where I live. Yeah, she's unplugged me.
Yeah. Do you love me? Yeah, She's not like me.
I don't tell me so.
2000 plus community in Wellspan close to grace by me all the way.
MI shot and should I die he will Take Me Home on my.
Yahoo.
Yes, he's a must be.
Yeah, he's a lot of money.
The Bible tells me so.
I come from Cago Falls, and in the assembly that I go to when we sing the chorus of this song, yes, Jesus loves me. We like to do it along with American Sign Language. So that's what I was doing a minute ago. This means, yes, Jesus is pointing to the nails in his hands. That means Jesus loves me. And you know what's really cool about doing American Sign Language when you're going through that course? That means that you get to say twice as many times.
As someone who doesn't do the sign language, you can say twice as many times that Jesus loves me. And that's such an important thing for us to know and it's such an important thing for us to hear. But you know what?
I have a question because if this this is important for us to know, it's important for us to know how we know this. How do we know that Jesus loves us?
Just one of the kids can answer yes. What's the answer?
00:05:01
That is a perfect answer, but how do we know that he died on the cross for our sins?
Yes.
Because the Bible tells us so exactly. That was in the first verse of our song. We know that Jesus loves us. We know that he died for us, which is how he showed he loves us. We know that because the Bible tells us so. And so a little bit later, we're going to talk about the Bible and we're going to talk about the importance of going to the Bible for what we know to be true. This is the source that we go to so that we know what things are true. So thank you for those answers.
Does someone else have another song they'd like us to sing?
Out what?
45 OK.
Actually, what that says is it says it's not a song in this book.
Is do you? Do you know the name of the song you want to sing?
If not, maybe we'll have someone else pick a number, OK, I think, umm, over here we had a hand lifted up what was in the red dress and then we'll get you next, OK?
46 OK.
IDIATMITERINGOCODIJPITERT bump you have taken to me and because that he falls off to me and I are alpha.
And do you want all the mail I have to do?
I do I see him and have all this and how much the way Well, this is a selling song and there are a couple words to how to spell out how to spell out the word tidings the word bring the word Jesus, the word save the word girl, boys and trust.
And later in a little bit after we say our verse, we're going to talk about a little boy who loved to spell, but we're not there yet. So you had a song you wanted us to sing. What number is that? Hmm.
Number six, OK, I love this song. Thank you for giving it out.
Nsnoise.
00:10:29
The Lord will come again.
He do not verify that will bring.
Every time that lies alone, he thought, crying implore alone.
All the glory.
Of the Grand.
Shady and stranger praying.
How many prayers?
From afar.
Well, this little song has the story of the gospel in it, doesn't it? Because in the first verse it tells us how Jesus died, and he died for sinners. He had to die for our sins so that otherwise we'd have to die for them ourselves. But then it tells us something in verse two, it says Jesus died and he lives again.
So yesterday someone was telling us if you were you were paying attention. He said, you know, it's we talk about how Jesus died for us is so important that we know that he rose again from the dead because the tomb that Jesus was in is empty. I think that was Mr. So who said that I might be wrong. And then this verse, this, this song says, it actually talks about things that happened in the past, things that happened 2000 years ago. And then it tells us about something that hasn't happened yet.
It says Christ the Lord will come again. So this this song covers over 2000 years of history and it does it all in four verses. Isn't that incredible? OK, well, we have time for maybe just one more short one. And I think you had had your hand up before. So we'll, we'll do your song as the last 142.
All right, perfect. This is like the right length. Exactly. OK, can someone start that for us?
Nsnoise.
Did you know that because this song is true, that's why we're having a Sunday school this morning, because it's possible for little children to get saved. Then it's important for us to tell them about how to do that. Isn't that OK? Well, we're going to start with our verse, but I want to pray before we say our verses and then we can go around and see what you guys have memorized. OK, God and Father, we just thank you for this opportunity to to stop for a little bit and to think about the things that you have.
In your word, the Bible, we just pray that we would have ears to listen and hearts that are open to receive the truth, that we would obey it for your glory in Jesus name, Amen.
All right, well, the verse paper that we got in Cago Falls said that today's verse was going to be in John chapter 8, verse 32. So I'm just going to read that and maybe it will help some of you remember it a little bit better. It says, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
So if you got a different paper, you're memorizing a different verse than your Sunday school, that's OK. You can say the verse that you memorized, but umm, otherwise I think it will be John 832. So does anyone memorize the verse today? All right, over in the corner. Can you say it for us?
Perfect, now I have a big bag of candy. How many pieces do you think are in there?
00:15:04
A lot. There are 115 pieces in there. Can I count 12345678910 kids that are on the front rows? How many pieces do you think each kitchen get?
Just one. They shouldn't get 11.5.
I'm going to say that you can pick out two pieces.
All right, so anyone now you had your hand up, all right.
Very good. You can take out two pieces.
All right, does anyone else OK over here?
Truth and the truth shall make you free. John 832. Very good. Thank you for standing up.
All right. Does anyone else memorize the verse? Yes.
John.
Very good and you can have two pieces.
All right. Do you want to say the verse? OK.
John.
832.
Very good.
Alright, it looks like the watermelon suckers are popular. Does anyone else wanna say the verse Yes?
Very good.
No, OK. Did we have office alright.
Very good. You can have two pieces.
OK.
All right, is there anyone else who wants to say it?
Maybe over here?
I've got some candy.
All right.
Very good. You knew that perfectly.
Alright, anyone else?
OK, well maybe maybe when we're done then you can come say it to me and then you won't have to say it in front of everyone else. Now, I'm actually not going to talk about the verse that we memorized today because there's something different I want to talk about. But before we get into that, I'm going to tell you a lot of the little boy. Remember I said that there was someone who really liked to spell. And you see every week in Cago Falls, some of us will on Lord's Day evening will go into a big van and we'll drive into the heart of inner city Akron and we'll.
Pick up little kids to come hear the gospel, the good news that Jesus died for them. And we do that every single Sunday. And there is a little boy he started to come and his name was Jakari. And he was just about this tall, not very old. And he would love to spell. He would get into the car and he would he referred to me as Mr. Michael. And my sister was there and he would refer to her as Miss Megan. And he would say, Mr. Michael, give me a word to spell. I would say, OK, Takari, spell car. You say that's too easy.
Give me a harder word, say OK Jakari spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and he would say that's too hard. Give me a medium word and say OK, spell, spell milkshake to Curry and he would start he go MI. So that was what? And we would do that every single Sunday. But you know what? Eventually we got some sad news.
We got news. You see, Jakari lived in a home where his dad wasn't there and it was just his mom taking care of him and she didn't have very much money.
And so eventually, she decided she had to move to North Dakota to live with her grandmother. And so Jakari was going away. And we didn't know if we were ever going to see Jakari again. And so the last week that Jakari was there, he got in the van. And I asked him, Jakari, have you ever accepted?
Said, yes, I've done that. And he said it was a smile on his face. And you know what? And when the other people in the car heard that, that put a smile on our face too, because we were so glad to hear that Zakhari hadn't just been coming to the gospel meeting. He had accepted it for himself. And so one of the Sunday school teachers decided that they were going to write Zakary a letter. And they were. They might never see Jakari ever again. And so they wanted to remind Jakari of all the most important.
00:20:27
Things that he should, that he should remember. And so they wrote this letter and my, I actually got a copy of the letter because my name was put on the end of it as being someone who sent it to him. But in the original letter, I didn't write a single word of it. But I've got a copy today. And this is a little bit shorter than the original. I'm just going to read this letter to you guys that we wrote to Jakari to remind him because we were never going to see him again of the most important things we wanted him to remember. And this is what it said.
Said dear Jakari.
First of all, I know this is a lot to read, but if you don't want to read it all now, you can save it and read it another day. Jakari, we're so glad we've gotten to know you. We love spending time with you, spelling with you, and learning about God with you. You care about God. You remember what you learned and you apply it. You are kind and funny, a great kid. But most importantly, if you have believed in Jesus.
That he came, died for your sins, and rose again.
Accepted Him as your Savior. Savior, then you are a beloved child of God. Never forget that you have great potential to lead and influence others. Always use it in a positive way, teaching others about Christ and helping them do the right thing. Never let others lead you to do something wrong. You know the importance of reading your Bible and praying every day. Keep doing that just like you promised. Learn what it says and compare what you hear to the Bible, knowing that the Bible is the word of God.
And it's true.
Sometimes people may try and tell you something about the Bible or about God and it may not be right.
Always compare what you hear to the word of God, the Bible, to see if they are true. Ask questions, it's great, but when you come in questions in this life, make sure you find the right answer. You can find it in the Bible. Don't forget that God is good and that he loves you. Sometimes bad things might happen and it might seem like God has forgotten about you, but he hasn't. Remember we know for those who love God, all things work together for good. Romans tells us that.
You might not see it in that moment, but you can trust God. He loves you so much He sent His Son.
To die for you so he cares about your life. Remember, it's the things that are most difficult that make us strong. They make us better, and they grow us if we trust God instead of giving up hope. It's like a block of wood that is turned into a beautiful carving. The wood probably doesn't like getting cut, but when it's over, there's something amazing. It's now different from every other block of wood and uniquely beautiful. Zakari, I don't know if you'll be back in a few months or if we'll never see you again, but no matter what happens, know that we are.
For you and thinking about you, we love and miss you. So that was a letter that was written for Zakari so that he could remember the most important things that he would learn. And you know what I want to read to you guys today from a different letter. And this letter was written by the Apostle Paul. And it was written under different circumstances, but it actually had a very similar motive for why he wrote this letter compared to the letter I just read to you that was from Jakari. You see, the Apostle Paul.
Letter in second Timothy.
He was or he was under arrest. This was the second time that Paul had been arrested. The first time that Paul was arrested, he had stayed in a house. He was guarded, but he was in a home and he addressed the people and they could come, they could send him letters and they would know where to visit him. But this time was different. This time when the Apostle Paul got arrested, they put him in the mamertime prison.
A dungeon so nasty that only the rats that had fallen on hard times were desperate enough.
To crawl beneath the streets of Rome and nibble on the toes of men condemned to die. So that was where Paul was. And so we're going to read this letter. And so, you know, no one stayed in that dungeon for very long. It wasn't the Roman way to keep people locked up for a long time. Instead, they would either say you're innocent, you can go free, or they would say you're guilty and we are going to separate your head from your body.
And so Paul knew that the time he had left.
Was very short and what did Paul want to do with that time that he had left?
The last thing he wanted to do before he died was to write a letter to a man named Timothy. Now why would Paul want to write a letter to Timothy?
00:25:00
He wanted to write a letter to Timothy because he cared about Timothy. He wanted to write a letter to Timothy to remind Timothy of the most important things that Timothy needed to remember. Because Paul cared about Timothy. Paul had poured his life into Timothy. He was a teacher to Timothy. When Timothy was sad, Paul would make him cheer up. When Timothy was afraid, Paul would Timothy when Timothy was going to stand by idly while people in Ephesus were going to teach wrong.
Things and do bad things. And Paul said no, you confront them. And when Timothy was sad and when Timothy cried, Paul felt his pain. And so the last thing he wanted to do before he died was to write this letter to Timothy. And he loved Timothy so much that when he thought about Timothy, it warmed his heart. The thought that Timothy might come to visit me gave him hope that he would have a day that was filled with joy.
And warm thoughts were all Paul had.
Because his body was cold, winter was coming, he had no coat, and the chill of fall could already be felt on the winds that blew through the stone of the prison. And so the old white haired Apostle Paul took a pen in his shivering, shackled hands and he started to write this letter to Timothy. I wish we could read the whole thing with you guys, that would be awesome.
But we don't have time for that, so I'm just going to read a couple of verses from it.
So this is in Two Timothy.
I'm going to turn there.
And we're going to read from Second Timothy, chapter one.
That's First Timothy.
So this is Second Timothy chapter one, and I'm going to start with verse 3 just so we can hear some of the verses. But the verse I want you to pay attention to is verse 5. This is what it says. I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience, that without remembrance of thee and my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see Thee, being mindful of my tears.
That I may be filled with joy when I called her remembrance. And this is the verse I want you guys to pay attention to.
When I call to remember same face that is in me, which dwell first, and my grandmother Lois, and my mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in me also. OK, so here's that verse when I called a remembrance, the unfeigned faith that is in me.
It's such a good verse, but you know the most important word in that verse, the keyword in that verse. It's kind of a hard word to understand. It's the word unseigned. So I want a show of hands from the kids on the front row here. How many of you have ever heard of the word unfeigned before and think you know what it means? Does anyone know what unfeigned means?
I don't see any hands. So I'll tell you what, I haven't heard the word I'm saying used very much in in my life. But there's a couple times I've heard the word fame used before the fame and usually I hear it used like this. He's feigning an injury.
So how? What, what that might? What's that? Does that mean? Well, it's kind of like this. Someone goes.
Oh, oh, oh, don't worry about me. I'm only in agony, but I'll probably survive.
Say, oh Michael, please you, you just stubbed your toe. It's not that bad. And so to feign an injury is to pretend that you got hurt really, really bad, but you didn't get hurt very bad. And so has the idea of something to fame is something that's fake. And you put the little 2 letters in front of it on and then it means the opposite. So it means you aren't faking it.
Now, that's kind of how we use it in the English, but did you know that when the Bible was written?
It wasn't originally written in English. It was written in a different language. And the language that Second Timothy was written in was written in Greek. And so that Greek word has a very specific meaning. And so, umm, I want to help us illustrate what that word means. So I need a volunteer. I need someone who is a good actor. We have a good actor here, all right, and raise.
And what's your name? Emma. OK, I should have remembered that. Emma.
I I want you to give us to pretend you're sad.
We need to see your face. Can we see a sad face?
You are a really good actor, but I think we can take this to the next level. Can you put this mask on?
00:30:05
Oh man, now she looks really sad. Now you can see the tears that are coming down her face. OK, you can take the mask off.
Thank you, Emma.
When Paul wrote this, you could go to a theater and there would be actors and actresses and instead of trying to make their face look sad, if they wanted to pretend to be someone who was sad, or instead of making their like face look happy, if they wanted to pretend to be someone who was happy, they instead they would put these masks on a mask kind of like this.
And it would have tears coming down it and they would say, oh, look at me, I'm an actor pretending to be sad. And so that word for putting a mask on to hide what's really happened.
That's the word that we have in the Greek that's translated, feigned. And so it's the idea of you're just acting, you're just pretending. And so when Paul says Timothy, your face is unseigned, he puts that little 2 letters in. In English, it's 2 letters. In Greek it's just one letter, the letter A. He puts that letter in front of it and he says your face is unseen. He's saying Timothy.
You aren't acting like you're you aren't pretending to be a Christian. It's not an act.
That you're a Christian. You aren't faking having faith, Timothy. Your faith is real. I want to tell you a story about a girl. I don't think she would mind if I told you this story. You see, she grew up for a long time in a Christian family, and she went to the gospel meeting in the Sunday school every single week. And so there are 52 weeks in a year, I think. And so by the time she was 10, she had gone to 520 gospel meetings.
And another 520 Sunday schools. And you know what, everybody thought that she was a Christian and we were having an outreach. And I remember she was sitting down with another girl in a chair. They were beside each other and she was telling that other girl, this is how you can get saved. Well, a couple weeks later, I heard that this this girl I've been telling you about, the one that grew up in the Christian family, she said.
Guess what? I got saved, I thought.
You got saved. I thought you were already saved, She said no the whole time been pretending, but now I really got saved. She had even told other people how to get saved, but she herself wasn't. And so she had a faint face. She had a face that was just a mask, but the real thing she was had a ma, a Christian mask on, but underneath that Christian mask.
Was someone who wasn't a Christian and so but Paul is talking about here is he's talking to Timothy and he says Timothy.
You didn't have a mask on when you said you were a Christian. That was real. I am persuaded about it. And Timothy, your mother was a Christian and your grandmother was a Christian. And so we call that having a Christian heritage. But I'm going to tell you something, and this might sound a little funny, but there are no grandchildren in the family of God.
There are only children and so if your mother or father are a Christian and your grandmother or your grandfather are a Christian.
That doesn't make you a Christian. You don't have real faith if you haven't made it your own. And so you personally have to accept Jesus as your Savior, that he died and that he rose again for you. And then you can be like Timothy, who Paul says you have real faith. OK, now we're going to go through two more verses. And so the one is in, the next one is in Second Timothy, and we're just going to go through this one really quickly.
And this is verse 19 and this is Second Timothy 2, verse 19. It says, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And let everyone that nameeth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. If you're someone who, like Timothy, has a real faith in Jesus Christ and you're not pretending to be a Christian, that means that you've taken Christ's name. If you're called a Christian, you've taken the name of Christ.
And so Paul says in this verse to Timothy, he says, Timothy, I want you to remember this, this is important. If you've taken the name of Christ, you need to depart from iniquity. And what he's saying is, Timothy, there were things that you used to do before you were saved and that needs to stop now. There are ways that you used to treat your brother and sister. Those need to stop. There are ways you might have answered back to your mom and dad that needs to stop.
There are thoughts that you might have had, Timothy. Those thoughts need to stop because it's not right for a Christian.
To do those things or to think those things. And so Paul tells Timothy, remember this, if you've taken Christ's name, if you say you're a Christian, there are certain things that you should not do. Well, that's the verse that he says in in Second Timothy 2. But so he tells Timothy to stop doing something. But in the next chapter he tells Timothy, keep doing something. And so we're going to read that in Second Timothy chapter 3.
00:35:24
It says.
Umm, in verse 14 it says, But continue thou and the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. So in the second chapter he tells Timothy, there are things that you need to stop doing because you're a Christian. But now in the third chapter he says, Timothy, there are things that you need to keep on doing.
It says continue. That's what it means is keep on doing this, but continue in the things that you have learned. So Timothy had a mother and Timothy had a grandmother who taught him things about the Bible. And Paul is telling to Timothy, you need to keep on doing that. Now I'm going to tell you something about Timothy. I think that it might help us understand a little bit about what he went through. You see, Timothy's father was a Greek.
And his mother was Jewish, and we don't know exactly what Timothy's father believed.
But never in the Bible do we read of anywhere where Timothy's father was a positive influence on his Christian faith. But we know that his mother was a positive influence on his Christian faith. And so I wonder if Timothy's father, who is a Greek, believes all the things that the Greeks believed. And so maybe this happened to Timothy when he was young. His father would come up to him and his father would say, Timothy, I want to tell you about all the Greek gods and goddesses. There are many gods in this world. They've got names like.
Zeus.
And Neptune. And epaphrodites.
And umm, Kronos, these are the Greek gods. And then Timothy's mother would come up to Timothy. And Timothy's mother would say, Timothy, I want to tell you about the one true God. There's only one God, and his name is Elohim, Jehovah, the one who delivered the children of Israel from ******* in Egypt. And then Timothy's father would come up to Timothy. And Timothy's father would say, Timothy, I want to tell you about Helen of Troy. Her face was so beautiful. It launched 1000.
Filled with men who were ready to die, to win her back. And then Timothy's mother would come to Timothy. And Timothy's mother would say.
Timothy, I want to tell you about Esther. She had a beautiful face, too. She won a beauty contest and so she became queen. But she has the courage to lay her life down for her people. And then Timothy's father would come and he would say, Timothy, I want to tell you about, sorry, just a minute. I want to tell you about Hercules. He was 50% God and 50% man. And so he did big things of strength. And then Timothy's mother would come to him and say, I want to tell you about Samson.
Who, by the power of God, delivered the children of Israel? And so they would go back and forth.
And his his father would say one thing, and his mother would say another.
What was Timothy going to believe?
Who could he trust?
He could trust the Bible and so Paul says you learn these things from your mother and your grandmother. But I'm going to tell you about some place that you can go that has even more authority than your mother. And when you don't know what to believe, when you don't know what to believe your mother or your father, you can believe the Bible. And so he says in verse umm 15 that from a child that has known the holy Scriptures which are able to make the wise unto salvation. And so you might come from a Christian family where your mother.
Your father are saying the same thing.
But you eventually are gonna go into a world where in school or in work, you're gonna hear all kinds of different ideas. And you might say one some someone's telling me this thing about what's true, and another person's telling me this thing about what's true. What do I believe? You can always go to the Bible as the source of truth, because it's the very word of God.
Well, we have one last verse I wanted to read and this isn't really a lesson to Timothy, but it's something that the set of Paul and then it's in chapter 4.
See if I can find the verse. This is what it says in verse six. For now I am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand.
Well I'm not sure if it's the verse I I was thinking of, but.
Paul there is. He says that he's ready for his life to be poured out like water from a glass.
00:40:00
As an act of worship.
To the gods that loved him and it's OK. The executioner can come and he can sever the head of of Paul. That's fine because he's ready. He's lived his life for Jesus. He's he's just got a few more sentences left in the book to write Timothy, the book that tells Timothy the most important things he wants him to remember. And Paul says, I'm ready to go.
And so I just want you to remember.
The slow context of the book.
Of how it was written, where Paul was, when he wrote it, and why he wrote it. He was he had been forsaken by a whole lot of people. It says in the first chapter there was someone who wanted to find the apostle Paul and he went to Rome and none of the local Roman Christians could even tell him where Paul was. Paul had written a letter to the Romans that gave him a clear understanding of the gospel, and now they have that truth because of Paul and now they didn't even care about him.
But Timothy cared, and so this letter was written to him to remind him of those things he wanted to know because Paul wasn't going to be around anymore to tell him. And all of us today benefited from this letter that Paul wrote to Timothy.
The last thing he did before he died reminding him of the important things he needed to know. So just to help us remember what those things were, it was the importance of having faith that is real.
Of if you are a Christian, there are sins that you need to stop doing, and there, if you are a Christian, there are any things you need to keep doing. And that is to keep doing the things that Christian parents have taught you that the word of God has taught you. So those are the important lessons that Paul gave to Timothy. Well, we've gone a long time and we have. Does someone want to give out a final song before we close?
I wonder if there's a boy on the front row who has a song because I think we've had only girls give out a song.
Is there any voice? Yes.
Hmm. Behold, I stand at the door and knock or what? Behold.
OK, someone who know that song can start it. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
You did. That's perfect. Then you both get the song you want, OK?
Nsnoise.
Alright, well that's a good song for us to end with because we've been talking about someone who is a Christian, someone who has real faith. But maybe you've never come to that point where you open the door to Jesus who's knocking and he wants to. He says, I want you to be like a Timothy, I want you to have real faith. I want you to take my name and to be a Christian. And if you haven't done that, I hope that you do it this morning.
So let's just close in prayer.