Psalm 119:105-112 (New International Version) 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. 106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. 107 I have suffered much; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your word. 108 Accept, O LORD, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws. 109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law. 110 The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. 111 Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. 112 My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end. Psalm 19 7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. 8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. 10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. 11 By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. 13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. 14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Introduction: Today, we celebrate our kids and their teachers. Lets give our kids a hand for attending Sunday School all year. Now lets give our teachers a hand for faithfully teaching all year. You can learn some interesting things in Sunday school can’t you? Down in Hazelton Mississippi, Little 4-year old Jeep, who names their son Jeep, Anyway, Jeep, came home from church one Sunday, excited about the Sunday school lesson. "My teacher taught us all about the whales," he announced. "You mean Jonah and the whale?" his mom asked. "No," he said, "Jacob and the whales." "I think it was Jonah," His mom corrected. "He was swallowed by a whale in the ocean." But Jeep knew his lesson. "No, it was Jacob. He moved out into the desert and when he got thirsty, he dug some whales." How many of you went to Sunday School when you were kids? Sunday school is a funny thing because just about everyone would agree that Sunday school is important. But obviously something went wrong somewhere. Someone once said that Sunday School is really just children doing penance for their parents guilty conscience. But something did go wrong because Sunday school is almost non-existent these days. I think things started to go south when we started thinking that spiritual education was second rate education. Somewhere along the way, Christian education was given a back seat to just about everything else. If you stop and think about it, what is more important than learning about God and Jesus Christ? What could be more important than learning that focuses on the state of our souls and our relationship to the eternal God? Sermon: Why do we call it Sunday School? I think that term is associated with children and if anything Sunday school is more important for adults. Sunday School has done so many good things for so many people, yet, it is falling out of favor. And I think the burden of that is on us grown up kids. We need more Sunday School as we get older, not less. The demands of life require that we be closer to God and that we know more about Him than ever. As we grow older, the distractions of the world around us demand that we spend more time in the spiritual practices of prayer, worship, and Bible study, not less. Too often, we assume that we know enough. That we don’t need to read the Word anymore, that we don’t need to go to church. You don’t believe me? As soon as a kid thinks they are grown up, what’s the first thing they stop doing? They stop going to church because Sunday school is for children. Sunday school needs to be developed as a life long habit. Kids will often question their parents about Sunday school. . .[whine] Why do we have Sunday School anyway? Do I really have to go?” And adults need to answer these questions. Now, to help you answer these questions, we’re gonna have some fun. This side against this side. {Start with quiz and rewards. } So, why Sunday School ? In a word, because your spiritual health is a lifelong pursuit. From the time you hear your first Bible story to the moment of your last breath, the moral quality of your life, the direction of your life, and the happiness and contentment of your life is dependent on your spiritual health. Psalm 119 is all about God’s Word. It is the longest chapter in the Bible and has 176 verses. Psalm 119 is broken up into stanzas. Each stanza or section corresponds to a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. This stanza corresponds to the fourteenth Hebrew letter, nun. This stanza begins and ends with verses that really concern us today. Why the continued study of God’s word is important for someone who wants to be a follower of Christ? Verse 105 says: Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. How can you know how to live? How can you learn to trust in God? How can you be assured of your future? Only by following God’s Word and how can you know God’s Word except to read it and study it. Without the knowledge, the spiritual kind of knowledge that God’s word gives us, we walk in darkness. Where we put our feet is unknown to us. It’s a guess at best. Without God’s word, we have no spiritual or moral compass. Without God’s Word, the assumption made by the writer of this Psalm, is that we walk without the light that God wants to give us. So if your knowledge of God’s word is like a spiritual flashlight, how many batteries are there in yours? Is yours a big flashlight like this, that lights your path and maybe somebody else’s? Or is it a little push button thing like this, that can barely show you where to take your next step? What kind of God’s Word do you have? Lots of light so following Jesus is easy and you don’t have to stumble around? Or Just enough. So that you stumble around a lot. Sometimes you even get lost on the wrong path. Sometimes the path is hard to find because that light is so feeble. What kind of light do you have to illuminate your way? The next verse to concern us today is verse 112. “My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.” Praying, worshiping, studying God’s word are all lifelong pursuits. Keeping God’s word is not something we do once and we’re done. Sunday school is not something we do for a few years and we’re finished. Learning and keeping God’s word is something we do one step after another to the very end. Do you expect to recognize God when you see Him? When this life reaches its conclusion, will your spiritual flashlight be lighting your way even as your sight dims? When the end comes and it always does, will the light of God that you finally see be the same light you have been following now? Sunday school is a lifelong pursuit.