Adventurers with Jesus: January- March 2023

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corp.

Adventurers with Jesus (Ages 9-11) is an age-appropriate Christian quarterly lesson guide. Lesson presentations are easily taught and understood and show students how to find salvation through Jesus Christ. It follows the International Uniform Sunday School Lesson Outline from the National Council of Churches.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Dec 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9798886350487

Book preview

Lesson #1

January 1, 2023

Keeping a Special Promise

Lesson Passage:

2 Chronicles 7:12–22

NRSV

THEN the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house so that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.

17 As for you, if you walk before me, as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances,

18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I made covenant with your father David saying, ‘You shall never lack a successor to rule over Israel.’

19 "But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

20 then I will pluck you up from the land that I have given you; and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

21 And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished, and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’

22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them.’"

Today’s Lesson Story

Our story begins one special night when God appears to Solomon (probably in a dream or vision) to tell Solomon that He is very pleased with the temple he has built for Him. Remember that it was the greatest desire of King Solomon (and his father, King David) to construct a permanent building for God because before this time, the Israelites were a traveling band of people, who had to carry the Ark of the Covenant along with them, everywhere they went. That night, God also told Solomon that He had chosen his temple as His very own dwelling place and home. Today, we know that God is omnipresent—He lives everywhere, in every place, at all times—but the Israelites believed that God physically lived inside the Ark, so, there is no doubt that they now believed that God would physically live inside Solomon’s temple.

However, all was not well because God’s people, the Israelites, were not always loyal to Yahweh (their God). God reminded Solomon of His all–powerful authority over the universe. If the people disobeyed Him, Yahweh had the power to shut up the heavens so there would be no more rain. He could send upon them locusts (large, strong bugs, like destructive grasshoppers that fly in swarms). God could also send pestilence, which can be anything that is destructive or harmful but in biblical terms, usually represents widespread disease.

On the other hand, if the Israelites obeyed God, He certainly had the power to bless them! If there had been no rain or water to drink—if the locusts had destroyed all their crops in the field—even if all the people were sick from a terrible disease, God could reverse the curse! Then again, God’s healing could come only if His people were (first) right with Him. To receive the blessings of God, the people had to (1) humble themselves by following God’s commandments, (2) pray to God for their deliverance from trouble, (3) seek God’s face by changing their desires to match His, and (4) turn from their wicked ways, repenting of their sins.

At the present time, God’s eyes and ears were open to the prayers made in Solomon’s temple. This meant that God had blessed the temple for Israel’s worship, and the people still had time to repent of their sins. God promised the Israelites that if they would walk with Him and obey Him—just as King David had—He would establish and bless Solomon’s royal throne forever! Yet, if God’s people continued to disobey, they would experience God’s wrath or anger! Many times, the Israelites refused to follow the laws God had set before them, but worse than that, they often worshiped other gods, which was unacceptable to Yahweh. After all, it was Yahweh (God) who had loved and protected them in trouble. It was Yahweh who had rescued them from the hands of their enemies and also, ordained the building of Solomon’s glorious temple. If God’s people continued to defy Him, He would pluck them up out of the land He had given them making them a laughingstock or mockery (a fool)!

If the Israelites (because of their foolishness) were thrown out of the temple, everyone who passed by would be utterly shocked! The Israelites would be laughed at and ridiculed—and even Yahweh God (who had been so good to them) would be made a fool among the other nations. The passersby would have no reason to believe in the God of Israel because it would look as if He had forsaken His own people. Likewise, why would the Israelites have abandoned such a powerful God? Everyone knew that He had brought their ancestors out of Egyptian slavery, but they worshiped other gods. It wouldn’t make any sense at