Note: I am posting this a couple of weeks early because we are planning to attend the local conference campmeeting right after our school graduation is over. I will be monitoring things and possibly posting things from time to time, but I needed to get this done so the way is clear for these two appointments.

Memory Text: John 10:10 KJV “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.”

Sunday, June 3 Life, Abundantly
John 10:10 Amplified Bible “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).”
What do these texts offer to us now in this life?
1. Freedom - John 8:32 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””
2. Limit to temptations - 1 Corinthians 10:13 HCSB “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so that you are able to bear it.”
3. Grace as free gift - Ephesians 2:8 HCSB “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—”
4. Christ as center of life - 1 Peter 3:15 NLT “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.”
5. Complete joy - 1 John 1:4 NLT “We are writing these things so that our joy will be complete.”
1 John 1:4 COMMENTARY BY ALBERT BARNES The sense here is, that full and clear views of the Lord Jesus, and the fellowship with him and with each other, which would follow from that, would be a source of happiness. Their joy would be complete if they had that; for their real happiness was to be found in their Saviour.

Monday, June 4 Rejoice Before the Lord
Notice these promises God made to Israel if they were obedient:
Leviticus 23:40 Amplified Bible “And on the first day you shall take the fruit of pleasing trees and make booths of them, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick (leafy) trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.”
Deuteronomy 12:7,12,18 NRSV “7 And you shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households together, rejoicing in all the undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you together with your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who reside in your towns (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). 18 these you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God at the place that the LORD your God will choose, you together with your son and your daughter, your male and female slaves, and the Levites resident in your towns, rejoicing in the presence of the LORD your God in all your undertakings.”
Deuteronomy 16:11 Amplified Bible “And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and daughter, your manservant and maidservant, and the Levite who is within your towns, the stranger or temporary resident, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place in which the Lord your God chooses to make His Name and His Presence dwell.”
Note the principles in these texts that can make for happiness:
Exodus 20:3-17 KJ21 “3 "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 4 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, the LORD thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, 6 and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments. 7 "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. 8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. 12 ¶ "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13 "Thou shalt not kill. 14 "Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15 "Thou shalt not steal. 16 "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 17 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s."”
Proverbs 3:5 MKJV “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.”
Luke 21:36 MKJV “Watch therefore, praying in every season that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things which shall occur, and to stand before the Son of man.”
Philippines 2:3 MKJV “[Let] nothing [be done] through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.”
Philippines 2:3 COMMENTARY BY JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN Instead of fixing your eyes on those points in which you excel, fix them on those in which your neighbor excels you: this is true "humility."
Colossians 3:13 MKJV “forbearing one another and forgiving yourselves, if anyone has a complaint against any. As Christ forgave you, so also you [do].”
1 Peter 4:1-2 MKJV “1 ¶ Therefore, Christ having suffered for us in [the] flesh, also you arm yourselves [with] the same thought, that he suffering in [the] flesh has been made to rest from sin, 2 in order no longer to [live] in [the] lusts of men, but in [the] will of God the remaining time in [the] flesh.”
2 John 1:5 MKJV “And now I beseech you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we had from [the] beginning, that we love one another.”

Tuesday, June 5 The Family Foundation: Part 1
What principles for a strong family are found in these texts?
Romans 12:1 NIV “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God— this is your spiritual act of worship.”
Romans 14:7 God’s Word to the Nations “It’s clear that we don’t live to honor ourselves, and we don’t die to honor ourselves.”
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV “16 ¶ Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV “19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

Wednesday, June 6 The Family Foundation: Part 2
Exodus 20:3-17 (Ten Commandments) – see Monday’s lesson.

Thursday, June 7 Not As the World Giveth
How can we be happy amidst suffering and sorrow in this world?
Luke 10:20 HCSB “However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””
John 14:27 HCSB ““Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.”
John 14:27 COMMENTARY BY BARNES Not as the objects which men commonly pursue-- pleasure, fame, wealth. They leave care, anxiety, remorse. They do not meet the desires of the immortal mind, and they are incapable of affording that peace which the soul needs. Not as the men of the world give. They salute you with empty and flattering words, but their professed friendship is often feigned and has no sincerity. You cannot be sure that they are sincere, but I am. Not as systems of philosophy and false religion give. They profess to give peace, but it is not real. It does not still the voice of conscience; it does not take away sin; it does not reconcile the soul to God. My peace is such as meets all the wants of the soul, silences the alarms of conscience, is fixed and sure amid all external changes, and will abide in the hour of death and for ever…You have a Friend who will never leave you; a peace that shall always attend you.
Philippians 3:7-11 NRSV “7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 ¶ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Philippians 4:6-13 Weymouth “6 Do not be over-anxious about anything, but by prayer and earnest pleading, together with thanksgiving, let your request be unreservedly made known in the presence of God. 7 And then the peace of God, which transcends all our powers of thought, will be a garrison to guard your hearts and minds in union with Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever wins respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovable, whatever is of good repute—if there is any virtue or anything deemed worthy of praise—cherish the thought of these things. 9 The doctrines and the line of conduct which I taught you—both what you heard and what you saw in me— hold fast to them; and God who gives peace will be with you. 10 ¶ But I rejoice with a deep and holy joy that now at length you have revived your thoughtfulness for my welfare. Indeed you have always been thoughtful for me, although opportunity failed you. 11 I do not refer to this through fear of privation, for (for my part) I have learned, whatever be my outward experiences, to be content. 12 I know both how to live in humble circumstances and how to live amid abundance. I am fully initiated into all the mysteries both of fulness and of hunger, of abundance and of want. 13 I have strength for anything through Him who gives me power.”
1 Peter 4:12-14 NIV “12 ¶ Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”
1 Peter 4:14 COMMENTARY JOHN WESLEY NOTES while they are blaspheming Christ, you glorify him in the midst of your sufferings.