SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON The Life of Jesus

Transcription

1 THE MANIAC OF GADARA Elementary Lesson Year Two, Quarter Three, Lesson Eight SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON The Life of Jesus AIM: to use the story of the Maniac of Gadara to teach my class that Jesus can change anybody s life. OBJECTS TO HAVE: A picture of a caterpillar A picture of a cocoon A picture of a butterfly A picture of chains and a graveyard A picture of nice clothes and a house Your Bible POINT OF CONTACT: Have you ever seen a caterpillar before? Have you ever picked up a caterpillar? Have you ever sat and watched one crawl across a branch? Even though a caterpillar is an amazing little insect, it s not very pretty. Nobody looks at a caterpillar and says, Wow! That sure is beautiful! I d like to have one of those! No, most people look at a caterpillar and say, Ewe! Yuk! But a caterpillar does not stay a caterpillar its whole life. For a little while, a caterpillar is an ugly little insect. But then, an amazing thing happens. The caterpillar goes into a thing called a cocoon. Before long, out of the cocoon comes a beautiful butterfly. That is a beautiful change that God designed for the caterpillar. Now, I bet as a caterpillar is crawling slowly along a branch, a grasshopper may come hopping quickly by and say, Ha! Slowpoke! You ll never change! You ll always be caterpillar. Maybe an ant comes running by and says, That s as fast as you can go? You re so slow! You ll never change! Then a beetle comes flying past and says, You ll never be able to fly like me! You ll always be a slow, ugly, little caterpillar! Imagine how silly all those bugs feel when one day, out of the cocoon, that same little caterpillar flies away as a beautiful butterfly and says, Hey down there, grasshopper! Who s the slowpoke now? Hello, Mr. Ant. Is that as fast as you can go? Beetle! Look at the pretty wings that God gave me! You know, sometimes we are mean and cruel like the beetle and the ant and the grasshopper. We see somebody who is homeless on the street, and we think, He ll never change! We hear about somebody whose life is ruined by drugs, and we think, That wicked guy. He ll never change. We meet somebody that we think is mean and evil, and we think, They ll always be like that. They ll never change! But the truth is, just like Jesus changed the caterpillar into a butterfly, He can change a person s life from a life of sin and ruin to a life of joy and victory. Today we are going to hear about a man that everybody thought would never change, and we ll find out what a difference Jesus made in his life. STORY: Jesus had just gotten off of a boat on the Sea of Galilee. He stepped on the shore and began walking with His disciples towards a city called Gadara. Of course, there were many people around Jesus, as there were wherever He went. Suddenly, Jesus walked past a cemetery. A cemetery is the place where dead people are buried. Most of us think of a cemetery as a scary place. Even though there is nothing to be scared of, it is still a place where we don t enjoy spending time, because it makes us think about death and dying. As Jesus came walking near the cemetery, all of a sudden a man came running and screaming out of the cemetery. The people who lived nearby began to warn Jesus. Sir, we better go another way. That man is crazy. We call him The maniac of Gadara. That man never wears any clothes. His wife and his children are afraid of him. His friends run away from him. The police even try to lock him up in chains, but he always breaks loose. Usually when he comes out screaming like this we try to go another way, because we are scared of him. That man will never change. Everybody who knew the Maniac of Gadara said the same thing about him: He ll never change. His wife would cry as she talked about him. She would say, I don t know what happened to my husband. We used to be so happily married. Then all of a sudden, he began to turn into this awful, mean person. He would hit

2 my children and me. Our home was a scary place. So we moved out of the house and hid from him. I wish things could be like they used to be, but I m afraid he ll never change. His own children would say, I miss my daddy. But he s not the same man he used to be. He stopped coming home at night, and then when he would come home, he would beat mommy and hit us. I m not talking about giving us a spanking. I mean he would smack us and punch us for no reason. I wish daddy still loved us, but I m afraid he ll never change. Now kids, I don t know what turned this man into a maniac. The Bible does not say. It may have been that he started drinking beer. You know, drinking beer will change a person into someone he doesn t want to be. It will make you into someone mean and horrible. When you drink beer, you are telling the devil, Come on in and make my life miserable. Maybe this man had started messing around with drugs. Maybe he had decided to be hateful towards somebody who had done him wrong. Maybe he had decided to stop keeping rules because he was tired of everybody telling him what to do. All of those things are ways that people tell Satan, Come on in and make my life miserable. That s what this man had done to his life. He had let the devil come in and do whatever he wanted. And once the devil was in his life, he could not get him out. That is why you do not want to play around with sin. Sin allows the devil to ruin your life. But one thing everybody knew about this Maniac of Gadara was that he would never change. Oh, but wait there was one Person who did not believe that. There was one Person who knew that he could change. There was one Person who was willing to help him change. That Person was Jesus! Jesus did not take a different path away from the man. When that man came screaming out of the cemetery, Jesus went walking right up to him. Jesus commanded the devil s demons to come out of the man. The man fell down on his face before Jesus. But the demons spoke to Jesus and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. The demons knew who Jesus was, and they were begging Him to leave them alone. Jesus asked the demons their names. They told Him that their name was Legion. Then Jesus commanded the demons to enter into a herd of pigs nearby. They did, and the pigs ran down the hill and into the water. Even pigs know that we should not have anything to do with the devil. Everybody turned and looked at the Maniac man but he was not a maniac any more! The Bible says that this man s whole life was changed! Instead of screaming, he was worshipping Jesus. Instead of running around without any clothes on, he was dressed right. Instead of running around wildly, he was sitting at the feet of Jesus. This man had gotten saved, and let Jesus change his life!! The man asked if he could go with Jesus. But Jesus said, No, I have another job for you to do. Go back to your house, and tell your wife how to be saved also. Then tell your children how to be saved. After that, go to your friends and tell them how to be saved. After that, go to every one in the town, and tell them how to be saved. Imagine what that man s wife thought when she saw her husband coming home a different man. She said he d never change, but Jesus had changed his life completely. Imagine how happy that man s children were. They were afraid their daddy would never change, but Jesus had changed their daddy. Imagine how surprised all of his friends were to see him as a new man. They thought he would never change, but Jesus changed him. The Bible says that this man was able to tell the whole city about Jesus, because Jesus had changed their lives. Kids, there is nobody that Jesus cannot change. There is nobody who is hopeless. Nobody is so wicked, so messed up, that Jesus cannot change them. If there was hope for the Maniac of Gadara, there is hope for everybody that you know. What should you do for people who need Jesus to change them? 1. Pray for them by name every day. 2. Invite them to church. 3. Tell them about Jesus. 4. Keep living right, to show them what Jesus is doing for you. Let s learn our memory verse - 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

3 THE MANIAC OF GADARA Adult Lesson Year Two, Quarter Three, Lesson Eight SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON The Life of Jesus Teacher, choose one of the following truths to expand upon in teaching this portion of Scripture to your teen/adult class. Teach and apply the truth that you choose using statements and illustrations that are most helpful and applicable to your students. I. WHEN YOU GIVE SATAN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE, YOUR LIFE TURNS TO CHAOS. 8:27, 29. This man s life was a complete mess, and it was the result of the satanic forces that he had allowed into his life. Satan can only work when someone opens the door for him, but when you do open the door for him the destruction that he brings will make you miserable. Satan caused this man to be homeless, naked, obsessed with death, lonely, and forsaken by society. Don t give Satan even the smallest room to work. II. THE POSSESSED MAN RECOGNIZED JESUS IMMEDIATELY. 8: When someone has been living in hopeless bondage and darkness, he immediately knows when he is seeing the Light. Every believer ought to desire and strive for his life to be so filled with the light that his life provides hope to those in desperate bondage. III. OUR FIRST REACTION TO PEOPLE IN BONDAGE OUGHT TO BE COMPASSION. 8:29a. As soon as Jesus saw the possessed man He responded by commanding the evil spirits to leave. This demonstrates Jesus great compassion for the man who was overcome by sin. We see many hurting people on a daily basis, even people whose hurts may cause them to act rudely and irrationally. We must look past their actions, and have compassion upon the person who is in bondage to the unclean spirits. IV. WE OUGHT TO KNOW HOW TO HELP PEOPLE IN BONDAGE. 8: Jesus knew exactly what to do for this man. Unfortunately, most believers have no idea how to help the people around them get the victory that they are so desperately seeking. God s people must educate themselves, and spend the time with God necessary to be a help to people who are in bondage to sin. V. WHEN GOD WORKS IN A PERSON S LIFE, THE DIFFERENCE HE MAKES IS OBVIOUS. 8:35. The difference in this man s life before and after meeting Jesus was amazing, so much so that it frightened the local people: they knew that they had seen something supernatural happen there. May we be so equipped and empowered to make a difference in people s lives that the work of God s hand is obvious to everyone who sees it.

4 The Maniac of Gadara Jesus Transforms A Man s Life I. LUKE 8:26-28 The Demon-Possessed Man Meets Jesus 26 Jesus arrives in Gadara 27 Jesus is immediately met by a man possessed with devils 28 The man bows down before Jesus II. LUKE 8:29-33 Jesus Casts the Devils out of the Man Jesus speaks directly to the devils The devils request to be cast into the swine 33 Jesus casts the devils out of the man and into the swine III. LUKE 8:34-37 The People of the City React 34 The keepers of the swine run and tell the people in the city The people of the city come out to see the man transformed 37 The people of the city ask Jesus to leave IV. LUKE 8:38-40 Jesus Returns to Galilee 38 The man asks Jesus if he can go with Him 39 Jesus instructs the man to stay and spread the word in his own town 40 Jesus returns to a great welcome in Galilee Adult Bible Class

5 THE MANIAC OF GADARA Jesus transformed a demon-possessed maniac into a brand new man, as completely as a caterpillar is changed into a butterfly. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

6 The Maniac of Gadara Match the answer from the right column that best fits the clue in the left column. Write the LETTER of the correct answer in the SPACE beside the matching clue. Jesus crossed this sea A PIGS The town that Jesus entered when He got off the boat A man came running towards Jesus out of this place B CHAINS C DEMONS This man broke free from these D FELL ON HIS FACE The people thought the man would never do this E A NEW MAN The man did this when he saw Jesus F GALILEE The man was possessed by these G CAST THEM OUT Jesus sent the demons into a herd of these H CHANGE Jesus did this to the demons I GADARA Jesus made the man into this J THE CEMETERY Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

7 The Maniac of Gadara The answers to this week s puzzle. F Jesus crossed this sea A PIGS I The town that Jesus entered when He got off the boat J A man came running towards Jesus out of this place B CHAINS C DEMONS B This man broke free from these D FELL ON HIS FACE H The people thought the man would never do this D The man did this when he saw Jesus E A NEW MAN F GALILEE C The man was possessed by these G CAST THEM OUT A Jesus sent the demons into a herd of these G Jesus did this to the demons H CHANGE I GADARA E Jesus made the man into this J THE CEMETERY