The Seven Pillars of Truth

Children’s Lesson #1 What Is Man?

Bible Verse: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Children, today we are going to learn the beginning of what we call, The Seven Pillars of Truth. This is our foundation in the finished work of Christ, and can be found through the writings of the Apostle Paul.

Who remembers the story of how Paul became a Christian?

What do you remember about Paul?

Paul was once a persecutor of Christians. He was known as Saul and all the Christians feared him. One day, Saul was traveling and a bright light shone down from heaven. Saul lost his sight and couldn’t see. Jesus had chosen Saul to receive spiritual vision. After three days of being blind, Saul’s eyes were opened and he could see. Saul was later called Paul.

Paul received great revelation into the Work of Jesus on the cross, and God used him to write much of our New Testament. Today, as we read these Scriptures, God opens our eyes to see too.

The very first pillar of Truth is found in our Bible Scripture. Let’s read it together. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Now when we ask the question, ‘what is man?’, the answer is found right here. Man is a spirit, he has a soul and he lives in a body.

The most important thing we need to know, is that we are a spirit. Who can tell me when a person’s spirit is born? Answer: When a person gives their heart to Jesus.

What does this make them? Answer: A new creation.

At the moment we give our heart to Jesus, we begin a whole new life. We begin our Life in Christ, and that makes us newborn babies in Christ. Did you know you get to be a baby twice? Allow the children to have fun with this thought.

And just like when we are born from our mothers, we start eating and we start growing. Our spirits feed on what? Answer: The Scriptures and the word that comes through our pastors and teachers.

So as a child of God, first we are a spirit. It is through our spirit man that we have relationship with Father God. Romans 1:9 says, ‘I serve God with my spirit’. So everything we do in Christ, comes out of our spirit. Remember in the puppet skit when Jenny May was praying for a lady in the hospital, and Grandpa told her it came from her spirit to pray for the lady? Your spirit man is how Jesus comes through you.

Next, we have a soul. Our soul is our mind, will and emotions. Our soul is what needs renewing. We’ve talked a lot about renewing our minds, and setting our minds on things above. Everything that we do, first enters through our soul realm. If we think it, we then believe what we are thinking is right and then we take action on that.

That is how we can get into situations that get us into trouble. How many know what its like to be at school and another kid calls you a name? It may hurt your feelings, or it may make you mad. Or you could not let it bother you, because you know Jesus didn’t make you that.

We have the choice to give in to our feelings and thoughts, or we can turn our thoughts toward Jesus and realize it is what He says about us that is important. 1 Peter 1:9 says ‘receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls’.

We are saved in Christ Jesus, but our souls are being saved as we grow in Christ. Because in our souls, we tend to rely on our feelings, but we need to rely on Jesus. It becomes easy to rely on Jesus when we allow our will, our mind and our emotions to come from Him and not from the situations around us.

When things are happening around us that we cannot seem to control, we sometimes want to defend ourselves. But you know what? We do not have to defend ourselves. Jesus is our defense. The Bible says a tree is known by the fruit it bears. That means the Christ inside of us is bigger than what is happening on the outside of us.

Now, who can tell me what your soul is? Answer: Your mind, will and emotions.

Children’s Discussion: What is your mind? What does your mind do? What is your will? What does your will do? What are your emotions? What do your emotions do?

And if your mind, will and emotions are influenced by Jesus, you will bear good fruit.

How many can tell me what we are learning about today? Answer: The Seven Pillars of Truth- What is man?

What have we learned so far? Answer: Man is a spirit and he has a soul.

What is the soul? Answer: Our mind will and emotions.

Now we are going to learn the last part of ‘What is Man’. Man lives in a body. Does anyone remember what your body is? Answer: It is a tent or covering for your spirit man.

Let’s turn our Bibles to Hebrews 3:6. Have a child read.

What does this Scripture say? It says we are the house of Christ. Did you know you were a house? What happens in a house? Do people live in houses? So, if you are a house, who lives in you? Jesus!

Now let’s turn to 1 Peter 2:5 Have a child read.

Wow! This Scripture says you are a spiritual house! What else does this Scripture say? Answer: that we are being built up. That means that we are growing up into Christ.

Let us read one more Scripture. Turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 6:19 Have a child read.

What does this verse say? Answer: That our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. What else does it say? Answer: That we are not our own. Can someone tell me what that means? Small discussion

So now we see that our bodies are temples. A temple is a church house. Our bodies are also called houses. In the Old Testament someone’s house could be a tent. But what is so important about our body being a house? Answer: That inside is where Jesus lives.

Remember in the Seated With Christ lesson, we learned we are the throne of the Lord? This is the same thing. Jesus lives inside of us. When we read our Bibles, and a Scripture talks about the body of Christ, who is this talking about? Answer: Us! Jesus made us a part of Him through His death, burial and resurrection. Jesus comes in and through His body, who we are.

Now who can tell me What is Man? Answer: We are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body.

Very good children! You just learned the first pillar of Truth!