C.A.C SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON For January 24 & 31, 2021, Unit One : Topic – ALL SOULS BELONG TO GOD

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus

(Galatians 3:28).

God owns all souls, regardless of the status, age, colour, race, etc. All souls belong to Him. Have you aligned with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ?

There are many human, social cultural and financial standards that tend to show or over-emphasis distinctions, stratifications and classification in the world today. These include, race, sex, colours, education, religion, family background, etc. Of course, these classifications neither give us advantage nor disadvantage before God, the Creator, who has given each of us life by the release of His soul upon each of us.

Paul was an Apostle to the gentiles by God’s grace, and had been graciously empowered to plant the Church in Galatia. The gentiles enthusiastically got converted, got baptised in the Holy Ghost and became highly zealous through the gospel of grace without cultural, or traditional bodage (Galatians 4:15).

Not long after they became converted, some Jewish brethren came from Jerusalem, preached the gospel, but unduly emphasised the covenant of circumcision which was only for the Jewish Christians but not a condition for all other believers. No wonder, Paul called this, another gospel (Galatians 1:6).

This issue of another gospel had been humbly and rightly treated in Acts 15:13-21. Even today, we overempasis our peculiarities at the expense of the simple salvation message by which we are saved. Denominations and ministries do have what they call legacies, but at times, they do not form the basis for salvation. Let us limit those peculiarities to our members while the simple salvation massage is for all. Beware!

Grace through faith backed up with godliness, is greater than circumcision. What is circumcision in the real sense? (Gal. 5:6, Rom. 2:25,26, 1 Cor. 7:19,20). Beware. All souls belongs to God. Faith in God through Jesus Christ, places all believers on the same level before God. Praise God!

What are the classifications that have brought you down? Sex, race, education, finance. Do not be downcast. There do not affect your rating before God, your Creator. Have faith in God through Jesus Christ, be an obedient child who worships and serves God in truth and in Spirit. All souls belong to God who Created all equally.

Devotional Bible Reading For Week One

Mon. 18: God Remembers The Nineveh (Jon. 1:1,2)

Tue. 19: God Monitors The Unwilling Servant (Jon. 1:4-13)

Wed. 20: God Protects The Unwilling Servant (Jon. 1:14-17)

Thur. 21: God Hears The Unwilling Servant (Jon. 2:1,2,10)

Fri. 22: God Saves The Repentant Gentiles (Jon. 3:9,10)

Sat. 23: God Delivers The Ignorant (Jon. 4:9-11)

1. God is the Creator of ALL. He is impartial; He has ineffable love, yet intolerant of godlessness, despite His mercy.

2. There is only ONE Saviour, Jesus Christ. There is only one saving faith in God through Jesus Christ (Act 15:11), and there is only ONE standard: genuine repentance and conversion (Acts 15:20,21).

3. God has determined the TIME of judgment, the standard of judgment and the judge. He is fully in charge (Acts 17:31).

AIM: To show that God, the Creator, loves all He has created and our responses to His love and obedience to His instructions will determine what becomes of us NOW and LATER.

OBJECTIVES: At the end of this lesson, readers are expected to have:

i. Acknowledge the impartiality of God who created to and gave soul to each person;

ii. understood God who loves and gives each living soul the grace to freely respond to the love of God;

iii. seen God’s actions of punishing all offenders after unheeded warnings and mismanagement of Opportunities to repent; and

iv. become convinced that the God’s salvation programme covers all mankind without discrimination: The only conditions being: genuine repentance towards God and faith in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.

God had continued to be good to us (Ps. 136:1), as He did not allow us to experience the death of His timely and wonderful Word, through the Sunday school. He faithfully guided us through July to December, 2020 of the series of the Sunday School, when He took us on the subject: THE UNITY OF BRETHREN, which has continued to yield abundant fruits all over. We are forever grateful to our glorious and gracious God.

He (God) has also graciously brought us into the year 2021, which we believe and have the confidence that it will be a year of supernatural turn-around for good in our lives in Jesus’ name. Amen. And He has chosen to bless us throughout the next six months, January to June, with the continuation of the body of lessons on GOD IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF MAN (2), which was put on hold in July to December 2020 to pave way for the God-sent and timely theme: THE UNITY OF BRETHREN. May we continue to know and be reedy to do His will in Jesus’ name. Amen. We shall continue to see God as He rules in Man’s affair, because He is the Governor of all nations. This is the first lesson, which leaves a solid foundation for the discussions in the series.

The topic, ALL SOULS BELONGS TO GOD, is pregnant with relevant meanings. Why won’t all soul belongs to Him? Isn’t He the Creator, and as such, the Owner? Of course, not only man belongs to Him. Everything, everywhere belongs to Him and He has continually ensured the sustainability and continuity of the universe.

The fact that He owns and loves all indescribably, notwithstanding, He has no favorites that He cannot deal with when sin is involved. This is very clear in the way He handled the people of Noah’s days as well as those rebels at Babel. In all of these, we still see God coming up with His eternal agenda of redeeming humanity from Satan’s grip. What a loving God!

As we study God’s Word in this first lesson, may we be sufficiently loaded in preparation for every other blessings God has for us in all of the lessons in the series. Amen.

This lesson: All Souls Belong to God is in two major divisions and each is further subdivided into A and B respectively.

DIVISION I: HE HAS NO UNTOUCHABLE FAVOURRITES.

God has no untouchable favorites. God creates, instructs, corrects and warns all He has created, using different approaches. No one is so loved (by Him) that He will not discipline, if there is an error, and none is so big, or sacred that will escape His correction where necessary. One of the ways to know God’s ratings for one is when He disciplines and corrects (Heb. 12:5-11). We are equal before Him.

God has a predetermined agenda for the entire WORLD, even before the creation. This, He progressively reveals to the world, even as “people” are invited and encouraged to be part of the kingdom. He started with Abram, from whom nations and kingdoms would be born — Jews first and later, the gentiles. It was a question of TIME as the Creator had planned to bless the whole world through His Son, Jesus Christ: No discrimination.

24th, Jan. 2021.

I. HE HAS NO UNTOUCHABLE FAVOURITES (Genesis 6:5-22; 7:20-22; 8:8-17)

Everything is equal before God; Everything has a soul (equal before God), but He honours only those who honour Him. No one is so sacred that cannot be disciplined where necessary, and again, none is so insignificant that cannot be noticed when he responds to God’s love follows God in/with obedience.

And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (6:13).

i. After Adam and Eve had sinned, they were disciplined in love — driven out of the garden of Eden (For their own good), they were clothed with what was better than they did for themselves (Gen. 3:21-24).

ii. God took the above steps to practically demonstrate His ineffable love, His inexhaustible provisions and intolerance for disobedience, even from the closest of favourites. Again, His original purpose which is non-negotiable must be defended (Isa. 45:18).

iii. Therefore, He continued to permit growth, increase and multiplication according to His Word (Gen. 1:20-31). Have you ever thought, about the population of the world, especially with the consideration of how it started? No knowledge, discovery or science has successfully faulted the humble beginning of creation story.

iv. Man continued to grow in every aspect of life (4:16-26), except in godliness, holiness and relationship with God, the Owner. Are we different today?

v. God, the Owner, was disappointed with whom and what He had created (Gen. 6:1-6). He observed, saw and resolved on what to do (Gen. 6:7-13,17). God has no untouchable favourites. But Noah found/grace in the eyes of the Lord (v.8).

vi. God visited the earth, to purge, purify and to punish the godless inhabitants (Gen. 7:17-24).

vii. Why did they not protect? Why could they not prevent it? Why could they not overrule His announcements and actions?

viii. He entered into covenants with Noah and consequently, with the world (8:20,21; 9:11-17).

ix. The present generation would not be wiped off by water according to God’s Word but by fire (II Peter 3:6-10).

x. God is good and severe (Rom. 11:22). By our faith, lifestyle and actions, He expects us to choose His kindness and not His sternness.

And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them (vv. 6).

i. Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen. 9:18; 10:1). With these ones, the earth was populated. All these were granted existence by God’s grace. Do we always learn from history?

ii. As the rightful Owner, Creator and Governor of the Heavens and the Earth, He was watching and monitoring what was going on (Gen. 11:1-3) Growth without God’s knowledge and going against the Word of God have never paid anyone. No rebellion against God will survive.

iii. The Owner (God) came down and gave what a rebel deserved — confusion (v. 7). Why not death, perhaps with fire? His overall plan would have been defeated (Isa. 45:18; Psa. 22:29).

iv. Why could they not mobilise one another to stop Him, seize power from Him, or sever relationship with God? Ordinary clay in the hands of the Maker!

v. So, He came (without any official invitation), He gave them what they deserved, so that His overall plans and purposes would not be scuttled. This generation is also being watched (II Peter 3:1-10). The Owner loves all but has no rebel as His friend.

vi. So, how long will man continue to operate without God?

vii. God is impartial and cannot be querried for His actions. He prevented a gentile king from self-destruction and later blessed him (Gen. 20:1-8). God did not use His sovereign power to prevent David’s inflicting of permanent injury on his family (2 Sam. 12:1-14). Be careful (Rom. 11:22)!

1. For God to achieve His overall purpose for the creation of the heaven and the earth, he has zero tolerance for disobedience and rebellion against His Word.

2. God’s administrative measures can be corrective, punitive, even and destructive so that Heavens and the Earth would be governed according to His purpose.

WORK TO DO

Compare and contrast God’s approaches to discipline of Adam and Eve, the generation of Noah and the tower of Babel.

God can neither be faulted nor corrected. He is perfect, impartial just and fair, in all His ways. He is guided by His unexplainable love and incomparable sincerity. He is God. He approaches every situation with firmness, impartiality and love. Consider these:

1. He blamed Zachariah for doubting His divine pronouncements (Luk. 1:18-20). He did not query Abraham for laughing but the wife was questioned for the same offence (Gen. 17:17; 18:9-16).

2. God easily reconsidered His judgment on Ahab after God had seen his contrite mind (1 Kg. 21:2a) yet, He released His judgment on Eli, perhaps because of his indifference to divine pronouncement (1 Sam. 3:17-21)

3. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. He came down and pronounced judgment on them. He gave clothes of skin as against what they had, sent them out of the garden (for their good) but did not kill them physically. They had opportunity for repentance and reinstatement.

4. In the days of Naoh, God gave them opportunities for repentance, they lost this and got death sentence through the flood. They wasted God’s grace and got physical death.

5. In the events of Babel, they got wasted efforts, fruitless endeavours, distractions and dislocation but did not have immediate physical death — meaning they had time to see and recognise the intervention of the Creator, Owner and God.

Conclusion: God is not slack in His promises. He is coming to judge the world. How?

– A day is already set

– The standard is already set

– The RIGHTEOUS Judge is already determined (Acts 17:30, 31 Jhn. 3:14-17). Be warned.