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LEARN & GROW
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Week of April 5, 2009
KEY VERSE
"For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)
CENTRAL TRUTH
Since the Gospel message is simple and the way to eternal life is not complicated and open to all, let us proclaim it widely.
DEVOTION
Jim Duell stopped by the weather-beaten apartment house to pick up Bobby for Sunday School. Bobby burst out of the house with his usual great enthusiasm, then turned on his heels and ran back into the house as though he had forgotten something. When he came out of the door the second time, the paper he had been carrying was missing. Bobby had received the Lord as his Savior the previous week in Sunday School and was to be brought into the adult service today to make a public confession. He witnessed there that he had called on the name of the Lord and he knew he was saved. When Bobby returned home from church this fateful Sunday, the week after calling on the name of the Lord, he had lunch and went out to play. He was struck by a car and killed. His mother called me to the modest apartment to discuss his funeral. She told me that when Bobby had left for Sunday School that day, he ran back to give her a homemade card. On the card, decorated with little hearts, were these words: "Mommy I love you. Last week I asked Jesus into my heart. Now I know when I die I will go to heaven. I want you to go to heaven with me. Please ask Jesus into your heart too." As I shared this story at Bobby's funeral, hardened sinners wiped tears from their checks. In Romans 10:14 is this question: How are they to hear without someone preaching?" Bobby preached a powerful message at his own funeral. Like Abel, "through his faith, though he died, he still speaks." Romans 10:15 says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news." Bobby's eight-year-old feet will never run out to play ball again on this earth, but they were beautiful as he carried his message of salvation by faith. Will you show someone how to call on the name of the Lord and be saved?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What exactly is meant by the phrase "call on the name of the Lord"?
2. How can you help someone "call on the name of the Lord"?
3. At what age can children understand this concept sufficiently to be saved?
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