1 Sheep, the faithful
Object: A picture of a dog.
Lesson: To be faithful in everything that comes to us.
Did you ever hear about Sheep, the faithful dog of Fort Benton, Montana? Sheep a big, shaggy, crossbred collie belonged to a shepherd. He dearly loved his master, but one day his beloved master died. They took his body in a coffin to the station and put it on a train. Sheep made as if to follow, but the station agent said, "Sorry, old fellow, this is one time you can't go with him."
Sheep did not realize he would never see his beloved master again, and he refused to leave the station.
For five and a half years Sheep made his home at the depot. He met each of the four trains that came in daily and looked carefully at each passenger, hoping that one would be his master. But his master never came back. For five and a half years Sheep kept up his vigil. People came from far to see the dog whose faithfulness had become a legend.
As the years went by, Sheep got older, his movements got slower, and one day he was unable to jump to safety in time, and a train hit him. He was given an honorable burial, and money poured in from all over the country for a memorial to his faithfulness. A Sheep fund was started in his memory, and the children in the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind, in Great Falls, Montana, have received many wonderful benefits as a result of the far-spreading fame of Sheep's faithfulness.
Sheep was only a dog, but he showed more faithfulness to his master than most human beings do to their heavenly Master.
Faithfulness keeping on when circumstances are discouraging, keeping courage up, being reliable is a trait we need to have if we are to see Jesus.
Let us resolve to be faithful today in our schoolwork, our home duties, in everything that comes to us.
Suggestion: Read Christ's words about being faithful, in Matthew 24:42-46.
2 Heirs with Jesus
Lesson: All who believe in Jesus are adopted as His heirs.
Outline
1. Some people inherit a fortune.
2. Who wouldn't be happy to be heir to a big sum of money?
3. However, we can be heirs to something much better than a fortune. We can be heirs of God's kingdom.
Little two-year-old Johanna lived with her father and mother in London. When the war broke out, her parents sent her away to the United States so that she would not be in danger from the air raids that went on for years in that great city. A woman in New Jersey took Johanna into her home, and her cunning ways and her bright mind soon won the woman's heart. She dreaded the thought of parting with her when the war should end.
But before the war ended, Johanna's father, an infantry officer, was killed, and later her mother married again and went to make a new home in South Africa. Johanna's foster mother adopted her for good, gave her a good home, sent her to good schools, and finally to college.
When she was in her senior year at college, Johanna learned to her sorrow one day that her foster mother had died, and a few weeks later Johanna was told by the family lawyers that she had inherited all her foster mother's fortune more than one million dollars.
Johanna was heir to a fortune. No doubt she was very happy to have so much money all of a sudden. Who wouldn't be happy to be heir to a big sum of money or a vast estate? Few of us have that good fortune.
However, Galatians 3:29 tells us that we can be heirs heirs to something much better than a fortune or an estate on earth. We can be heirs of God's kingdom. We can have the prospect of living without troubles, without wants, and without sorrow in a much more beautiful and better world that Jesus is preparing for us now. Yes, every one of us can be an heir we can all inherit the kingdom of heaven if we choose.
Let us pray that we may live so that we can inherit the kingdom Christ has gone to prepare for us.
Suggestion: Read what Jesus said about being heirs, in Matthew 5:3, 5.
