O Be Careful Little Minds What You Think… Phil. 4:8 Sunday School Lesson (week 4)
Whatsoever things are…Pure Phil. 4:8a
This week marks our fourth week studying in the book of Philippians chapter 4 verse 8. I hope you guys are having as much fun as I am learning about all the different people in the bible who had their minds fixed on the Lord. Remember last week when we talked about Queen Esther and how when we have “just thoughts” we are good and right and fair?? Well this week we are going to build an even firmer foundation when we talk about what it means to have pure thoughts and I am so excited to share with you guys about Stephen. He was a great man who loved the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. First let’s talk about what it means to keep our minds on those things that are pure.
Can anyone tell me what they think Pure means? I know the first thing that came to my mind was that it might mean “clean” and sure enough that is one of the descriptions the dictionary gave me; but it also means something else: “not harmful in any way” and so you know guys, when I read and see that the Lord wants us to keep our minds on whatsoever things are pure, I thought about when I get upset and I am angry or hurt, God doesn’t want me to sit a dwell upon those things, He wants me to stay focused on Him, the clean thoughts of love and goodness, to not let our thoughts be overcome with negative words and feelings. I know it is hard sometimes to concentrate on all the good, when so much bad happens around us, so that is why I want to share Stephen’s story with you today. So listen close and we will learn all learn how pure thoughts help us see Jesus…
In Acts chapter 6-7 we read about a man named Stephen, a man the bible says was “full of faith and power” and “did great wonders and miracles among the people “. He had wisdom from the Lord that people could not deny when he spoke to them about Jesus. Many rulers didn’t like that Stephen spoke the truth and eventually those men told lies on Stephen, saying he was speaking bad things about the temple of God. When he began to retell all that the Lord had done for the children of Israel, reminding them of Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses and David, the people were saddened in their hearts because they knew they had forgotten all the goodness of the Lord. They had NOT been thinking upon the pure things of God. They had allowed the nastiness of the world and its sin to harden their own hearts. When Stephen told them the truth about this though they didn’t repent, nope, they grew angry! Do you think they were trying to focus on what God wanted them to…True, Honest, Just and Pure thoughts?? They sure weren’t, they had harmful thoughts, which is the opposite of pure. Do you remember one of our definitions for Pure was “not harmful in any way”? Well, kids, they set out to destroy Stephen, the people bit at him and drug him into the street to stone him. Yet, Stephen, well, he was thinking pure thoughts…when he was facing death do you know what the bible says he saw and did?? In verse 56 of chapter 7 in Acts it say he saw Jesus standing with God. His mind was so fixed on the truth of God’s word to never leave him nor forsake him and the honesty of the work the Lord had called him to do, which was to tell about God’s goodness that when there was so much hatred around him, he was able to not be filled with anything but the light of Christ…his thoughts weren’t mixed with anger or hurt, they were clean, they were pure… he even said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” He wanted God to forgive the very people that were stoning him… now kids, that is definitely NOT a harmful thing… it was an awesome example of a keeping your mind on Pure things.
You see, we live in a world full of bad things just like Stephen did. People can hurt our feelings, and sometimes bad things happen, but, when we are careful with the thoughts we let stay in our mind and we fix them on whatsoever things are what?? TRUE, HONEST, JUST and PURE, we can serve the Lord with all our hearts our souls our strength and our minds just like Stephen!!
Activity/ Craft: Ollie Oyster and the Pure Pearls
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