“Me Too” June, July, August 2015 SUMMER QUARTER “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre” (Psalm 45:6). Cleveland, Ohio Summer 2015 Dear Boys and Girls, The warm days of summer are here, and you will probably play outside as often as possible. Whether you play by yourself, with your brothers or sisters, or with your friends, you will have to obey some rules. Dad and Mom make good rules to keep you safe. Long ago, God gave good rules to His people. You will learn about that in our Bible lessons. As you enjoy the summer months, you can choose to obey Dad and Mom’s good rules. Your obedience will please God and make you happy too! Your friend, Valerie Wilson “Me Too” SUMMER QUARTER Vol. XCI June, July, August 2015 Editor in Chief: Grace M. Todd Writer: Valerie Wilson No. 3 Edited and published quarterly by THE INCORPORATED TRUSTEES OF THE GOSPEL WORKER SOCIETY UNION GOSPEL PRESS DIVISION Rev. W. B. Musselman, Founder Price: $1.75 per quarter* $7.00 per year* *shipping and handling extra ISBN 978-1-59843-271-8 Lessons based on International Sunday School Lessons; the International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2011 by the Committee on the Uniform Series and used with permission. Edited and published quarterly by The Incorporated Trustees of the Gospel Worker Society, Union Gospel Press Division, 2000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44109-5812. Mailing address: P.O. Box 6059, Cleveland, Ohio 44101-1059. www.union gospelpress.com 2 I Will Obey The sunny days of summer come, And I can play and skip and run. I will obey when I’m at play And have a safe and happy day. “Me Too” 3 Rules! Rules! Rules! Five-year-old Matthew was playing a game with his older brother. “You have to play by the rules,” Bob said sternly, “or I am not going to play with you.” “I like to play the game my way,” answered Matthew. “Why should we play by your dumb rules?” “The rules are the game rules. They are right here in the box,” Bob said as he took a paper from the game box. “The people who thought up the game wrote down how the game should be played.” “Anyway,” he added, “we can’t play by your rules because we don’t even know what they are!” “How’s the game going?” Mom asked as she came outside. “Matthew wants to play by his own rules, not the game rules,” answered Bob. “If he doesn’t play right, we aren’t going to play.” “Oh, my!” said Mom. “You remind me of God’s people, the Israelites, Matthew. God gave them good rules to live by, but they decided they wanted to live by their own rules. They disobeyed God, and He had to punish them. “Rules are for our own good,” Mom continued. “You can’t make up the game rules as you go along, or your brother won’t know how to play with you. Rules are good things,” she explained. “It seems that we have rules for everything,” said Matthew. “Rules! Rules! Rules!” “I’ll play with you for a while,” said Mom. “Let’s see whether we can enjoy the game while we play by the rules. That should make it more enjoyable for all of us.” 4 “Me Too” 5 LESSON 1 JUNE 7, 2015 Judgment on Israel and Judah Lesson: Amos 2:4-8 Long, long ago—way back in the beginning of the first book of the Bible, Genesis—there lived a man named Abraham. Abraham loved and obeyed God. God told Abraham that He was going to give him a huge family! And that is just what happened. Abraham had a son, Isaac. Isaac had two sons. One of Isaac’s sons had twelve sons. On and on it went. Abraham’s family became the nation of Israel. God wanted His people to be special to Him and different from all the other nations around them. God promised to bless His people when they obeyed Him. But God also promised to punish disobedience. God was especially concerned that His people worship only Him. God warned, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, . . . Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them” (Exodus 20:3-5). Sometimes the nation’s leaders loved and served God. But many times they did not. They led the people to worship idols and do many things that displeased God. God sent men called “prophets” to warn His people. Prophets gave God’s messages to the people. One of God’s prophets was a man named “Amos.” Amos was a shepherd; he took care of sheep. But one day God gave Amos a message to give to His people. The words God gave to Amos are in our Bibles. 6