Course B Lesson 1
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WELCOME PAGE
Welcome to our Mailbox Bible Study Course. We are glad to be your
interest in them active. This particular Course has seven lessons, with
a beautiful certificate when completed.
We are sending all lessons in ascii dos format. Should you have
difficulty with this let us know by return email.
We suggest that you print these out and put them in a binder for
study and for future use.
Please do the test page and return that ONLY by email. We will then
correct it and send you your next lesson.
May God richly bless you as you proceed.
Your Instructor Phone 1-902-643-2199
Harold Smith
Note: This lesson has been scanned and could have errors. If they
are
pointed out to me I would appreciate it.
Copyright, 1982 The Mailbox Club Inc. All rights reserved. No
portion
of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written
permission
of the publisher
BEGINNER'S MAILBOX CLUB
COURSE B LESSON 1
"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ.... " II Peter 3:18
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I
give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand." John 10:27,28
JESUS WANTS ME TO KNOW THAT I BELONG TO HIM.
Dear Friend,
Did you ever start for home from across town and suddenly find that
you were on an unfamiliar street? You began to wonder if you were going
in the right direction, and a scary feeling made my heart beat faster.
Then you came to a building that you recognized and your fear was
gone. Why was your fear gone? It was gone because you knew for sure
that
you were on the right street and that you would soon be home.
Let me ask you a question . Do you know for sure that you belong
to the Lord Jesus and that some day you will go to live with Him in
Heaven?
In Course A, you learned how the Lord Jesus Christ died for your
sins on the cross. Perhaps while you were doing the lessons, you prayed
and asked Jesus to be your Saviour.
But now, time has gone by and you sometimes wonder if you really
do belong to Jesus. Perhaps at night before you go to sleep you think,
"If I died now, would I go to Heaven? How can I be SURE?"
In this lesson we are going to tell you three ways by which you
can know for sure that you belong to the Lord Jesus.
1. FIRST, let us look in the Bible and see what Jesus says. In John
10:27 and 28, He says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and
they
follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never
perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand."
Boys and girls, in these wonderful verses, Jesus tells us that He
knows all those who belong to Him. He calls us His sheep and He says
that
He gives us eternal life. This means that we will live with Him in
Heaven
forever and ever!
The Lord Jesus does, not want you to be troubled or afraid. Instead,
He wants you to receive Him as your Saviour and then BELIEVE Him when
He
tells you that you have everlasting life.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He cannot lie. Once you have
taken Him as your Saviour, He wants you to KNOW that you belong to Him
forever. That is why He has left us these beautiful words in I John
5:13:
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of
the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life.... "
2. ANOTHER way we can know that we belong to the Lord Jesus is that,
the moment we take Jesus as our Saviour, God's Holy Spirit comes to
live
in us. Every child of God has the Holy Spirit living in him. The Bible
says,
The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
the children of God." Romans 8:16
This means that the Holy Spirit helps us to know deep in our heart
that we are God's child.
The Holy Spirit hates sin and He teaches us to hate sin too. The
Holy Spirit also puts in our hearts the desire to read the Bible. And,
as we read the Bible the Holy Spirit teaches us to love the Lord Jesus
and to try to please Him.
3. The THIRD way we can know for sure that we are saved is that
there will be a difference in the way we act. Before we were saved, we
said bad things and did bad things and it didn't bother us. When we
were
saved, the Lord Jesus came to live in our heart. When Jesus lives in
our
heart, we do not want to act mean and unkind. Instead, we want to obey
the Lord Jesus and do what is right. The Bible says,
"And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His
commandments."
I John 2:3
"Does this mean that we will never do anything wrong again?"
No, it doesn't mean this. We still have our old sinful nature inside
of us, and it still tries to get us to do wrong. But when we sin, we
will
not enjoy it because we know that we are hurting the heart of our dear
Saviour who loves us so much .
"What should I do when I know that I have sinned? "
You should tell the Lord Jesus about it and ask Him to forgive you.
If you have done something wrong to someone, you need to ask them to
forgive
you also.
Remember that the Lord Jesus lives in your, and He has promised
He will never leave you. Ask Him to help you to do what is right each
day.
He will make you into a better boy or girl.
I hope that you have studied this lesson carefully, and that now
you KNOW FOR SURE that you belong to the Lord Jesus.
Here are your GOLDEN PROMISE verses. Be sure to memorize them well.
"My sheep hear my voice and know them and they follow Me: And I
give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand." John 10:27,28
Welcome to Course B! We hope that you will enjoy these lessons and
that you will learn more about our wonderful Saviour, the Lord Jesus.
We want to encourage you to memorize the GOLDEN PROMISE verses given
in each lesson. Indicate on the answer page (in the I space provided)
when
you have learned the verses by heart.
We will be looking for your answer sheet SOON, so mail it to us
right away.
God bless you!
SURPRISE ! We have an exciting story for you beginning on the next
page !
RON COPELAND and his SECRET SWORD
Chapter l
THE TORN NEWSPAPER
Ron Copeland heaved a sigh of relief when at last he heard the
school
bell ring. Now he could find Chuck Carson and tell him all about
yesterday.
Pushing his way through the noisy crowd of school kids, Ron caught
Chuck's
arm and said, "Listen, Chuck, I've got something exciting to tell you.
Come over to my house, will you?"
"Okay," Chuck agreed. "Let's go."
In the back yard of Ron's home, Chuck rolled over on the grass and
grinned up at his friend.
"Now," he said. "What's so exciting, anyway?"
Ron's blue eyes were serious as he looked at Chuck. "Remember,
Chuck,
how often we've wondered about death and what really happens to a dead
person? And we wondered why the preacher in our church never speaks
about
it?"
"Yes," Chuck said, the grin fading from his round, freckled face.
"Guess it's just that nobody knows."
"I know now," Ron declared. "And it's great, really great!
Listen, on Saturday I went to stay with my cousin Ken who lives
way out on the edge of town. He took me to Sunday School with him
yesterday.
The teacher of our class showed us from the Bible that we are all
sinners
and that the punishment for sin is death."
"Aw, everybody knows we all have to die sometime," Chuck scoffed.
"So what's new about that?"
"Well, the teacher told us there are two kinds of death," Ron went
on. "The death of our body is one kind. Then there is eternal death
which
means being separated from God and lost forever in hell. But Jesus died
to take the punishment for our sins. And if we tell Him we are sorry
for
our sins and ask Him to come into our heart and be our Saviour, He will
do it. Then when our body dies, Jesus will take us to live with Him in
Heaven forever."
"So?" Chuck's voice wasn't encouraging. "So, I...I...stayed and
talked to the teacher after the class was out," Ron said. "And I asked
Jesus to forgive me and be my Saviour, and He did, Chuck. I know He did
'cause the teacher showed me from the Bible where Jesus said, ‘I give
unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish.' And another place where
Jesus said, '...him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.' I
want
you to have Jesus as your Saviour too, Chuck. I know you will be glad
just
like I am."
"No, Ron...I'll wait and see if it does you any good before I try
it. "
Chuck jerked himself to a sitting position. He was frowning. "No,
Ron," he said. "My sister Lois came home from a camp one time and said
she was saved. She acted real nice for awhile. But it didn't last. She
acts worse than ever now. So guess I'll wait and see if it does you any
good before I try it."
Deep disappointment swept over Ron as he watched Chuck take a flying
leap over the back fence and head for home. He had failed. But he
wouldn't
give up. He would prove to Chuck that being saved really does make a
difference
in a person's life.
The following days were not easy for Ron. The other kids soon
noticed
that he had stopped swearing and saying unkind things about the
teachers.
And when Ron refused to help them sneak candy bars from old Ben at the
corner store, they began to call him "Preacher Boy." Chuck didn't say
much
but he seemed to be watching Ron all the time. Worst of all, Chuck
began
hanging around with Ned Simons, the meanest boy in the class.
By Friday afternoon, Ron felt far from cheerful as he started out
on his paper route in a steady drizzle of rain. Even though his papers
were wrapped in plastic, he took special care to put them on the porch
out of the rain at each house.
At last he was finished and as he turned into his own street he
saw a boy, with a raincoat draped over his head, dash out of the
Bennett's
yard and race down the street. Ron's forehead wrinkled in a puzzled
frown
as he saw the boy turn into Chuck's yard. "That must be Chuck," Ron
muttered
to himself. "I wonder what he was doing in the Bennett's yard. He knows
they are on my route and I always leave their paper first because they
are so fussy about having a clean one."
Suddenly a thought struck Ron and he ran down the street and up
to the Bennett's porch. The neat paper he had left there was gone. In
its
place was a torn, muddy paper that had been hastily stuck into a
plastic
bag. Without stopping to think, Ron tore down the street to Chuck's
house.
Chuck was just starting to shut the garage door when Ron grabbed him.
"You
mean worm," Ron shouted furiously. "Where is the Bennett's clean paper?"
"Leave me alone!" Chuck yelled, trying to free himself. "I didn't
take it."
"Oh, yes, you did," Ron said, giving him a shake. "Give me that
paper or I '11--I'll--"
"Here's your paper, Ron."
Ron whirled to see Ned step out of the garage and hand him the
paper.
"I told Chuck I could prove to him that your religion wouldn't last.
And
I did too, didn't I, Chuck?" Ned said. His grin was full of triumph.
"You sure did," Chuck answered. Then he looked at Ron's angry face.
"You get just as mad as you always did when a fellow plays a joke on
you.
The scorn in Chuck's voice made Ron's face burn. "A joke?" Ron said
miserably. "You both know how the Bennetts are about their paper. That
was no joke." Ron felt sick inside as he turned his back on the boys
and
walked away.
As Ron left the clean paper at the Bennetts, his Aunt Amy called
from, her home across the street. "Ron, come on over. Beth wants to see
you."
R
on groaned inwardly as he walked across the street. He felt too
hurt and unhappy to talk to anyone, but he couldn't refuse Beth
anything.
Perhaps it was because she had been crippled by polio and was so small
and thin. Ron and Beth hadn't really known each other until a few days
ago when Beth's family had moved to the house just across the street.
The
first time he had visited them, Ron had learned that Beth and her
parents
were fine Christians.
"Hi, Ron," Beth said as he walked into the living room where she
lay on the couch. A faint flush of excitement brought color to her pale
cheeks as she rushed on. "I saw that mean boy change the papers. I was
just going to wave to you when you took off after him. What happened?"
Ron was glad his aunt had returned to the kitchen. He slumped down
in his chair and heaved a sigh. "I lost my temper, Beth. I yelled at
him
and shook him and--well, I guess Chuck was right. Being saved didn't
last
after all!"
"Oh, Ron, of course it does," Beth's voice was earnest as she
continued.
"Daddy told me that being saved doesn't mean we won't ever sin again,
because
we still have our old sinful self in us. But he said we don't have to
sin
if we remember to ask Jesus to help us. But if we forget and do wrong,
Jesus will forgive us as soon as we tell Him we are sorry. You are
sorry
about losing your temper, aren't you?"
"I sure am," Ron said. "And thanks a lot for telling me all that,
Beth. It must be great to have Christian parents to explain things to
you."
Beth brushed back her brown hair from her face and smiled at Ron.
"Yes, it is great. And Ron, I'm going to pray for that black-haired boy
every day and ask Jesus to save him."
Ron stared at her. "Black-haired? But it was Chuck who took the
paper and he has blonde hair."
"No," Beth insisted. "When the boy was changing the papers his
raincoat
fell off and I saw his black hair."
Ron felt bewildered. He said goodbye to Beth and went home and up
to his room. So Chuck hadn't done it after all. He remembered now that
Chuck didn't have a raincoat on. Of course, Chuck had helped, but it
was
Ned's idea, and Ned had changed the papers. Suddenly Ron dropped on his
knees beside his bed. "Dear Lord Jesus," he prayed. "I'm so sorry I
lost
my temper, but I thank You so much that I still belong to You. Please
help
me to show Chuck, and Ned, too, that belonging to You does make a
difference
in my life. And please, please help them to be saved too. "
What will happen when Ron goes to apologize to Chuck and Ned?
What is Ron's secret Sword? Find out in the next chapter that will
come with your next lesson.
As a faithful member of the Mailbox Club, you should send your
answer
page back within a week if possible. If we don't hear from you we will
be very sad!
YOUR ANSWER PAGE SEND THIS PAGE ONLY COURSE B - Lesson 1
1. Jesus Christ is the_____________ of_______________and He
cannot________.
Once you have taken Him as your Saviour, He that you to__________
belong to Him forever.
2. Complete this verse: "These things have I written unto you that
__________ the name of the_____ ___ ______ that ye may________that ye
have____________
______." 1 John 5:13
3. Every child of God has the ______ _________. The Holy Spirit
helps us to know deep in our heart that we are__________ __________.
4. The Holy Spirit teaches us to hate the_______. He teaches us
to love the ________ ________.
5. When Jesus lives in our heart, we don't want to act_________and
___________. Instead, we want to _______the Lord Jesus and do what
is_________.
Did you memorize the Memory Verse for this lesson?_______
IMPORTANT NOTICE - If you lose a lesson or do not hear from us for
long time, write us and we will be glad to send your last lesson again.
Do you know for sure that you belong to the Lord Jesus?______
Name: ____________________________ Age;
Address____________________________
State:_____________________________
Zipcode____________________________Christiann: Yes or No_____
Send this page ONLY to: inchrist@ns.sympatico.ca
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Updated Sept. 25 2007 by Harold
Smith