Today we are looking at “Going The Extra Mile.” What made Jesus take special interest in Zacchaeus? Out of all the people around him, how was he able to distinguish Zaccheus out?
The bible says there was a large crowd gathering to see Jesus. Jesus could have picked out anyone from the crowd and passed his message.
As a matter of fact, Zacchaeus was not the only tax collector in the region at that point in time.
So what really attracted him to the saviour?
Zacchaeus went an extra mile. Oh yes, he did.
Luke 19:4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
He looked beyond his height and refused to be discouraged. He climbed a tree, all in a bid to see the saviour.
Dear children, be like Zacchaeus. Go the extra mile. Don’t settle for less. Don’t be mediocre in your approach to life, your academic pursuit and everything you find yourself doing.
Strive to be the best and God will send for you, Amen.
Prayer: Lord, help me to make amends where necessary.
Action Point: Are there areas you need to make restitutions? List them out.
Declaration: I am living for Jesus so I do things right!
This morning, I want to bring out one more lesson, on how to make restitution appropriately, from the story of Mr. Zacchaeus the tax collector.
To have a better understanding of what I am about to share, let us go to the beginning of the travails of Mr. Zacchaeus the tax collector.
Luke 19:1-3 [BBE] And he went into Jericho, and when he was going through it, A man, named Zacchaeus, who was the chief tax-farmer, and a man of wealth, Made an attempt to get a view of Jesus, and was not able to do so, because of the people, for he was a small man.
My point this morning is in verse three. The bible says he made an attempt to see Jesus. That was the beginning of his redemption.
He did not just stay at one point, wishing Jesus would come for him. He made an attempt.
Dear children, make that attempt today. Give that dream a shot. Leave your comfort zone and make that push.
What dreams do you have in mind for years? What ideas do you have unattended to? Speak to your parents today and make that attempt towards realizing that dream.
We are still learning how to make restitution appropriately, and we are still on the story of Mr. Zacchaeus the tax collector.
This morning, let us examine one more thing that made making restitution easy for him.
Luke 19:8 [TLB] Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “Sir, from now on I will give half my wealth to the poor, and if I find I have overcharged anyone on his taxes, I will penalize myself by giving him back four times as much!”
One thing is evident here. He was sincere. He didn’t try defending what he had done. He wasn’t going to beat around the bush. He didn’t try to blame the system or the government, as some would have done.
Little children, God wants and expects you to be sincere. The moment you are at fault, admit it.
So I am posing this question to you this morning;
Have you wronged someone before?
Have you cheated on a friend?
Have you unjustly used someone before?
If you are still trying to justify why you did what you did, you haven’t gotten the drift yet.
Now is the time to make amends.
Walk up to that friend and do the needful. If you need to involve your parents or guardians, by all means, do.
May God strengthen you as you decide to do things right, Amen.
Prayer: Lord, help me to make amends where necessary.
Action Point: Are there areas you need to make restitution? List them out.
Declaration: I am living for Jesus so I do things right!
The dictionary defines restitution as the restoration of something lost or stolen to its proper owner. It can also mean recompense for injury or loss. Restitution can involve money being paid back in some cases.
Were there cases of restitution in the bible? Yes, and in the next few days, we will be looking at these cases one by one.
The first case we will be examining is the case of Mr. Zacchaeus
In the case of Zacchaeus, we see that his encounter with Jesus in Luke chapter 19 facilitated his restitution.
Luke 19:8 [TLB] Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “Sir, from now on I will give half my wealth to the poor, and if I find I have overcharged anyone on his taxes, I will penalize myself by giving him back four times as much!”
This means you cannot totally make restitutions without meeting with Jesus.
So my first assignment is to lead you to Jesus if you’ve not met him.
Say after me;
Lord Jesus, I believe you came to the earth and that you died for me. I confess and I acknowledge you as my Lord and personal savior. Come into my life today. Come and reign over my affairs. I surrender my all to you this day. Thank you because I am now yours, amen.
As simple as that, you are now one with Christ.
Now, your journey to making restitution begins. Amen
Congratulations!
Prayer: Lord, help me to make amends where necessary.
Action Point: Are there areas you need to make restitution? List them out.
This is one promise I want you to always remember as you grow older in life. The LORD has it all planned out. He has plans to take care of you till good old age.
Here is one of the promises you should hold on to in life;
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:19 [ESV]
Children, God says through his word that he will supply every of your need. That means you should always cast your cares and burdens upon Him.
Why do you need to worry yourself over basic necessities of life? With the above promise, you do not have to worry about anything because you have a father in heaven who is always ready to attend to your need.
Let me show you another scripture;
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? – Matthew 6:25-27[NKJV]
Conclusively, God has us in his long-term plans. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and trust his timing
Prayer: Ask the Lord to supply all your needs. Amen
Action point: Are you worried about a thing? Cast your care on Jesus
Declaration: I refuse to worry because the Lord supplies all my needs.
Hello dear, trust you had a good night’s rest! Today, I will be sharing with you a very important topic. We’ll be talking about obedience!
What is obedience?
Obedience means to do whatever is asked of you out of respect and love for whoever gives the instruction.
It is always good to obey whatever you are told to do. Obedience isn’t doing part of what you are told to do, if you do that it’s counted as disobedience.
As God’s child, he wants you to be obedient at all times, and in all things.
Do you know that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and they were sent out of the garden of Eden? Disobedience always comes with bad consequences.
Not only do you have to be obedient to God, but you also have to obey your parents, teacher, and everyone above you.
When you disobey these people, just like Adam and Eve you will be punished for your wrong acts.
Why you should always be obedient?
1. God loves obedient children and he desires that you obey him at all times
2. Disobedience brings punishments. There is always a punishment for every act of this obedience
3. Your parents will always be proud of you. If you obey your parents they will always be happy with you and also proud of you.
4. God commands that you are obedient. It is God’s commandment that you are obedient at all times.
5. There is always a reward for obedience.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help me to be obedient at all times. Amen
Learning prayer by observation is one great way to learn how to pray. At home, listen to how your parents pray. Notice the following:
Their choice of words.
What they use to pray.
Where they pray.
Do they sit or stand always, often, or once in a while?
Do they hold hands?
Do they pray in the Holy Ghost? How often?
Do they shout or mutter to themselves? When do they raise their voices? What do they do then?
Do they pray at night? How often? What time at night?
Do they pray in the morning? How often? What time in the morning?
This list is just a way for you to see how prayer is done. What you notice might not be how you would want to do yours, but it would certainly help you to pray.
At church, watch how people pray. Sure, you will see tons of differences there. Again, you are not meant to follow everything you see. The Holy Spirit can give you your own way to pray. He will supply you with the words to use. That is how unique you are to God.
Watching and listening to fellow Christians praying is meant to point out to you where you need to improve, how to improve, what to stop doing, and what to continue. You learn, unlearn and relearn.
The bible says we should not abandon the gathering of brethren. I believe this is to help us grow spiritually. Part of spiritual growth in Christianity is praying. When in the presence of other brethren regularly, we grow our prayer muscles.
Iron sharpens iron as the bible says, so, if you want to learn how to pray, one sure way to do that is to watch and listen to other believers when they pray. Be a sponge and soak what you see. Also, as a sponge get ready to be squeezed – flushing out wrong perceptions about prayer, building your prayer muscles for more spiritual growth, and learning new ways and things about prayer.
You should learn to guide your thought pattern. Let’s take a look at a relay race. Have you ever watched a relay race before? Four people in a team will have to complete a set amount of distance, each covering a distance before passing the baton to the other person.
This continues till the last person takes the baton and finishes the race. The last person holds all the chances of the team either winning or losing the race.
Now, imagine your THOUGHTS, WORDS, and ACTIONS as members of a relay team. Who do you think will start the race? Who will be in the middle and who will end the race?
Be careful about what you think. Your thoughts run your life. Prov. 4:23 ICB
Your THOUGHTS will definitely start the race because they are what inspires or fires up the rest. Their speed is an advantage to the team. They birth the whole process and come from deep within you.
If you don’t teach them to run within the lines of the racetrack, they will run the race as they like and hamper the chances of the team winning the race.
Prayer: Lord, help my thoughts, words and actions start and finish their relay well in my mind, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Action point: Check your thoughts always, watch your words, don’t jump into acting instinctively. Pray about these three areas.
Have you ever heard the words patience is a virtue? Well, you might think it is a cliché, but it is not. Patience is indeed a virtue; be patient. Patience is something you need in life to move forward.
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; and here there is no conflict with Jewish laws. – Gal 5:22-23 [TLB]
Patience is one of the fruits that we see when we are recreated in Christ.
It is patience that will not allow you to hit back your classmate when he/she hits you.
It is patience that will make you overlook talking back to your brother because he said some harsh words to you.
Children, let the Holy Spirit control your life. Let him direct you.
Let us see another translation of our anchor scripture as I conclude this morning.
God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. – Gal 5:22-23 [CEV]
It is God’s spirit that makes us patient. If we don’t have the spirit of God in us, we won’t be able to exhibit this all-important fruit.
I hope you have been learning from this topic.
We will continue tomorrow.
Prayer: Ask the Lord to help you to be patient. Amen
Action point: Are you patient with those around you? If not, start learning it now.
Declaration: I am a patient being because my God is patient.
The next fruit of the Spirit we will be considering is peace. Not just peace, but the peace of God.
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; and here there is no conflict with Jewish laws. – Gal 5:22-23 [TLB]
There is a story in the bible that explains the concept of peace perfectly. Let me try to summarize it.
A certain man was travelling in a boat with his friends one faithful day. The journey was smooth until all of a sudden, a mighty storm arose.
The friends of this man began to tremble and fear, wondering if it would be the end of their lives.
Out of trepidation, they woke him up and asked him to come salvage the situation.
Listen to what he did;
And He got up and [sternly] rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still (muzzled)!” And the wind died down [as if it had grown weary] and there was [at once] a great calm [a perfect peacefulness]. – Mark 4:39 [AMP]
Wow! A superman isn’t he? Well, it happened exactly how he said. The wind ceased and the seas stopped.
What do you do when you feel there is absence of peace? Don’t just embrace it as a norm, rebuke it, just like that man did.
May God help you to embrace the peace of God. Amen
Prayer: Pray that God will help you embrace his peace.
The second fruit listed in our text as a fruit of the spirit is Joy. Therefore today, we would be seeking to understand the force of joy.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23
Joy is a force. Joy is a spirit. Joy is that which comes from within.
There is a huge difference between happiness and joy. While the former is as a result of external happenstances, joy is something you engage in from your inner man.
That was why Apostle Paul said:
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Joy is not dependent on what’s going in or around you.
Joy is not interested on your mid-term report sheet.
Joy can be expressed in shouts, jumps, laughter, and dance.
So my dear children, do all you can to make sure the joy of the Lord is evident in you.
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; and here there is no conflict with Jewish laws. – Gal 5:22-23 [TLB]
What is love?
As Christians, we are guided by what the bible says. So let’s find out what the bible says about love.
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love — so you can’t know him if you don’t love. – 1 John 4:7-8
The scripture above tells us that love comes from God. Love doesn’t come from the movies, from friends, from family members, but from God.
Does that mean my family members cannot show me love? The answer is right there.
The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love — so you can’t know him if you don’t love. – 1 John 4:8
Before you can show love to anybody, you have to have a relationship with Love Himself. You have to know God and who He is.
So when you see someone acting in an awkward manner, or does not display attributes of a believer, rather than write him or her off, extend an arm of fellowship to such a person. Tell him or her about love. Invite such a person to Christ and see the wonders that will become of him/her in the nearest future.
I pray God will help you to show love everywhere you find yourself, Amen.
Prayer: Lord, teach me how to be a love being.
Action point: Show love to all around you
Declaration: I am a person of love, just like my God
In the next few days, we will be taking a series on the fruit of the Spirit. This is very important to us as children that it dictates and gives direction to our lives.
There are nine fruits of the spirit as recorded in the fifth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatian church
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; and here there is no conflict with Jewish laws. – Gal 5:22-23 [TLB]
Here, Paul, the Apostle is telling us what will become of our lives when we allow the Holy Spirit control our lives.
My question to you this morning is this;
Is your life controlled by the Holy Spirit? Do you live according to the dictates of the flesh? Are you spirit-led all the time?
Do not think this topic is for adults alone. The earlier you start yielding to and being controlled by the Holy Spirit, even from a tender age, the better.
Gal 5:22-24 [GNT] But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.
From tomorrow, we will take these fruits one after the other and see how we can get the best from them.
Responsibility is a great virtue. A responsible child at home will not only bring joy to the hearts of her parents but also society. There are things you do at home that speak a lot about how responsible or irresponsible you are. Irresponsibility is the opposite of responsibility.
One of such is helping around the house.
Do you know what your chores are at home? Do you have to be told before you do them? How often are you asked to carry out tasks or chores around the house before you do?
Do you frown and drag your feet sluggishly? Do you give excuses as to why you shouldn’t or couldn’t your chores?
How you answer the questions above tells a lot about you.
When you learn how to not avoid your responsibilities at a young age, you become a responsible adult. And a responsible adult is of great benefit to society and the world.
Hello dear one, I would like to share something really special with you today. It is about how you can understand the love of God.
There is this special song I would like to teach you, it goes thus;
Jesus loves the little children All the children of the world Red and yellow, black and white They are precious in His sight Jesus loves the little children of the world
The Bible says in
But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 19:14
Jesus always wanted little children around him.
Jesus made a profound statement, he said “such is the kingdom of heaven”
Jesus likened you to the Kingdom of heaven! Do you know what that means? It means you are very special and dear not only to Jesus, but also to everyone around you.
I want you to know that you are special, so never feel bad about yourself
You are very valued. Anything that can be compared to heaven is beautiful, special, and a joyful thing, and that is exactly what is said about you.
God loves you, your parents love you, your uncles and aunties love you, everyone around you loves you. You are an answered prayer and a dream come through. Never think little of yourself.
Prayer point: Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for loving and showing me love. Amen
Action Plan: Go ahead and confess the love of Christ throughout today
Sin is the barrier that disrupts you from accessing God’s throne and His presence as you should. It is that one thing that blocks you from being with your heavenly Father.
In the old testament, the bible records that the temple had a place called the Holy of Holies where there was a veil covering it.
“…The veil shall separate for you the Holy place and the Holy of Holies” – Exo. 26:33
But only the high priest could enter after he had undergone some cleansing rituals.
“But only the high priest could go into the second room, and he did that only once a year. He could never enter the inner room without taking blood with him. He offered that blood to God for himself and for the people’s sins…” ICB. – Heb.9:7
The God we serve hates sins totally and needs us to be pure before we can come before Him.
After sinning, the enemy suggests to a person that God can never forgive, thereby encouraging them to run away from God. This is where shame comes in.
If you allow the enemy to tell you that your shortcomings are so huge or terrible and that God can never forgive you, then you don’t know your God.
Your God is more than able to forgive your sins.
He wants nothing more than to forgive you so that the two of you can be in a loving relationship constantly.
Your heavenly father wants to forgive you so that He can bless you.
He will always forgive you but asks that you don’t allow yourself to become a slave to sin.
Never allow the enemy or anyone to tell you that God can’t ever forgive you. He gave Jesus for you. Jesus that was sinless to die for your sins that you may be called His son or daughter.
Prayer point: Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for granting me access to the Holy of Holies. I am glad that God will always forgive my sins. Sin will not overcome me. I will not hide in shame. Amen.
Action Plan: Stay away from all forms of sin
Declaration: God will forgive me of my sins. I will not hide in shame.
Little children, since we know we are created in God’s image, let’s ensure we keep clean always. Your body is God’s temple!
Your outer body is what people see, and the condition of your skin, hair, or face tells them a lot of how clean or dirty you are.
Endeavour to take your baths in the mornings before you leave the house, when you get back from school or after any activity that leaves you sweaty like when you finish playing football or running with your friends.
Allowing sweat to stay long on your skin, forms bacteria that could lead to some skin conditions like eczema and rashes.
Also, when bathing, use a sponge and soap and scrub your skin very well, but not too harshly.
Brush your teeth in the morning, and at night before you sleep.
Don’t forget to comb or brush your hair before you leave the house. Cut it also when due. For girls, pack your hair neatly with a hairband or visit a hairdresser to make it for you. Keep hair well oiled and neat.
All these and many more helps you to be holy before God.
Looking and smelling good attracts people to you. When they admire you, they are indirectly praising God over you. That is how God is worshipped!
Looking and smelling nice could also make people listen to you when you tell them about Jesus. And when they finally accept Christ into their lives, you have won a soul into God’s kingdom by your appearance.
1 Thess. 5:23, ICB We pray that God himself, the God of peace, will make you pure, belonging only to him. We pray that your whole self–spirit, soul, and body–will be kept safe and be without wrong when our Lord Jesus Christ comes.
