Sun. 20/9/2015
LESSON 3 20/9/2015
MOSES: HIS EDUCATION
Suggested Hymns: G.H.B. 260, 263
Devotional Reading: 2 Tim. 2:14-16
Topic For Adult: When Education Is Meaningful
Topic for youths: The Knowledge Of God Is The Real Power
Topic for intermediates: Seek Godly Knowledge.
Scripture Lesson: Acts 7:22
Memory Verse: “And Moses was learned in all wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22) NKJV
DAILY DEVOTIONAL READING
Sun. 20/9/2015
Moses’ Early Education
Exo. 2:9-10
Moses had his early years being nursed by his natural mother. His early childhood afforded him the opportunity to learn about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The parents would have taken the opportunity given them to nurse him to inculcate their spiritual belief and identity. He was taken to Pharaoh’s daughter when he had grown older. There in Pharaoh’s court, he had the best education that there was then. He must have learnt to read and write and gone ahead to graduate. It is little wonder then that the honor of writing the first five books of the Bible fell on him. Beyond learning to read and write, he would also have learnt the art of governance. Both spiritual and secular training must have been of immense use to him in leading the Israelites to the Promised Land.
Point of Emphasis: He who will be a leader must first learn what leadership entails.
Prayer Point: My God, fill me with the leadership qualities I need to fulfill my mission in life.
BACKGROUND
Education is meaningful when it does not only give values but adds virtues. ‘Abuse’, is a compound word gotten from two words, – “abnormal” and “usage”. The abnormal usage of anything is called an abuse. Education can be abused. As a matter of fact, the ingenuity of a product is in the process. The best education is one which does not only keep you informed but transformed. A lot of people are educated today but with no meaningful life. Moses as we study today was learned mightily and did not abandon God’s purpose for his life because of his education.
NOTES ON THE TEXT
PART 1: EDUCATION SHOULD MAKE AND NOT MAR YOU (ACTS 7:22)
Moses, by his adoption by the Princess of Pharaoh, had access to the best of exposure and education. History had it that the Princess was Pharaoh’s only daughter who had no child yet as at the time of recovering Moses from the river bank. This probably might have afforded Moses the best of treatment in the royal court as the Bible recorded that he was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. Moses by that training, exposure and education stood fair for the crown. He however learnt Egyptian way but did not forget the Israelites in bondage and the God of his father. So many theories of men are being taught in our higher institutions of learning today and some are drifted away, they are marred because of baseless arguments. No one gets lost on a straight road. Many people are educated today and then conclude that there is no God.
The education Moses had was an opportunity. Those whom God designs for great services He finds out ways to qualify and prepare them beforehand but alas so many get it twisted and abuse God’s grace for their education. Moses’ tuition at court, paid by his arch enemy, was a confirmation of the performance of God’s promise in Isaiah 49:23, “Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and queens thy nursing mothers”.
Education, as seen in our age, has been so much hyped as the quest for a meaningful life becomes heated up. Education gives values but not virtues, the reason you will see a Professor of medicine who is still deep seated in smoking and illicit sexual affairs even with young ladies in the age bracket of his grand- daughter! Someone is said to be educated but tied down by the act of smoking with the bogus inscription that “smokers are liable to die young”, the other person is educated but loves alcohol with the much publicized effect of alcohol on the well being of humans. Will you call that education? What education gives is literarily values, how to talk, how to walk, where and how to eat, where to urinate etc. Education is meaningful when it does not only give values but adds virtues. Education without godliness is like the king’s meat given to the Hebrew children in the bondage of Babylon; it does not make you fat, it only makes you fart and sends out a bad odour to your environment. The knowledge of God is the real power, not books which inform but do not transform.
PART 2: EDUCATION IS NOT YOUR PASS TO A WALK WITH GOD OR MINISTRY (ACTS 7:22)
While it is very good to be educated, it should be noted that it is not a criterion for a successful walk with God or a successful ministry. God has been in the process of calling the unqualified for very serious tasks and He qualifies them for the job. For a thriving ministry and a blossoming walk with God, God and not your level of education, is simply your qualification.
The story of the church and its sustenance till date is an attestation that while education can contribute to ministry, it is not the yardstick for God’s call. If anyone would think of a worldwide ministry like that of Jesus, he would have sought for the best brains and intellectuals around. Jesus selected for Himself twelve ordinary men, the dregs and downtrodden, stack illiterates whose only uniqueness is their ordinariness. And the only thing people could say about them having marveled at their unparalleled eloquence, wisdom, virtues, power and anointing was that they had been with Jesus. In other words, Jesus qualified them. Only Jesus can make you, not your educational attainment. He said, “follow Me and I will make you”. The challenge with our generation is the lack of patience and inability to follow in the footstep of our Maker. If you can follow (APPRENTICESHIP), you can be well-made.
PART 3: BE CAREFUL OF KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION (ACTS 7:22)
Be careful of what you read. Be careful and control your appetite for knowledge. That knowledge is abounding as Jesus earlier told us as signs of the perilous times, the suffix must follow in fulfilment, i.e., the love of many will wax cold. Knowledge is power, the real knowledge anyone can glory in is the knowledge of God and as such the real power will be the power of God gotten from the knowledge of God (Dan. 11:32).
So many people today, because of their passion for earthly knowledge have been introduced into occultism, some are lured into sin, some have lost their lives or their loved ones just because of their uncontrolled appetite for knowledge. Be careful and circumspect as Christians most especially bearing in mind the peculiarity of this end times.
The harm the internet is wrecking in the lives of the youths, children and even adults today is alarming and unimaginable. People have access to anything simply by a click on their handsets. In fact, one can get almost any information one wants on the internet. This is a serious warning to everyone. Seek godly knowledge, watch what you watch and invest in the knowledge of God which is the real power.
CONCLUSION
Do not let the things of this world distract you from fulfilling God’s mandate upon your life. You have no excuse. Be very careful of the quest for knowledge. It can make or mar you.
QUESTIONS
(1) Education is not a visa to walk with God. Explain.
(2) What do you need to have a successful ministry?
(3) Why did Jesus not select the best brains as His disciples?
(4) How can the internet have a negative effect on one’s life?
(5) What was education without godliness compared to in our lesson today?
French
DIMANCHE 20/09/2015
LES DEBUTS DE L’EDUCATION DE MOISE
EXODE 2 :9-10
Moïse était aux soins de sa mère naturelle (biologique) dans ses jeunes années. Sa petite enfance lui offrit l’occasion d’apprendre au sujet du Dieu d’Abraham, d’Isaac et de Jacob. Les parents auraient pu profiter de l’occasion qui leur avait été offerte de prendre soin de lui pour lui inculquer leur croyance et leur identité spirituelles. Quand il eut grandi, il fut amené à la fille de Pharaon. Là, dans les parvis de Pharaon, il eut la meilleure éducation disponible à l’époque. Il dut avoir appris à lire, à écrire et à poursuivre ses études pour devenir licencié. Il n’est guère étonnant que l’honneur d’écrire les cinq premiers livres de la Bible tombe sur lui. Au-delà d’apprendre à lire et à écrire, il aurait pu apprendre l’art de gouverner. La formation spirituelle et séculière aurait été à la fois pour lui d’une importance capitale à conduire les Israélites à la Terre Promise.
Point essentiel : Celui qui veut être leader doit d’abord apprendre ce que comporte le leadership.
Axe de prière : Mon Dieu, remplis-moi des qualités de leadership dont j’ai besoin pour accomplir ma mission dans la vie.