February 19th - What We Learned

This Sunday, February 19th, your Reign Forest child (ages 2-5) learned that the second greatest commandment is to love others, and that the only way to love others is to allow Jesus to be in charge in your heart just like Saul in our story did.  (Matthew 22:34-40, Acts 9:1-30)  When God met up with Saul, who enjoyed being mean to people, Saul chose to let God be in charge of his heart, and he began loving people instead of being mean to them.  Another man named Ananias also had a choice to make: to love Saul even though Saul was mean to everyone.  When Ananias chose to love, God helped him teach Saul all about God and how to love others.

Our memory verse for this month is  
Matthew 22:37
Jesus replied,         (point to your mouth)
'Love                      (hug yourself)
the Lord your God (point upwards)
with all your heart (place your hand over your heart)
and with all your soul (form an "O" with your hand on your chest)
and with all your mind. (point to your head)

To help your child remember to love others at home, encourage her to start giving high fives to the people around her.  High fives are a way of saying things like "Way to go!"  "You're special!"  "Great job!"  "You're my friend!"  When she gives someone a high five, that person will know that she loves them, and she will be obeying God's command to love other people.


Your Land of Promise child (kindergarten through fifth grade) learned how important it is to honor those in authority through the story of Absalom's rebellion against his father King David (2 Samuel 15:1-16a, 18:5-7, 15, 31-33).  Absalom was one of King David's sons.  He was very handsome and had very long hair that he refused to cut.  He viewed his father as being a weak king, and he was sure that he could do a better job.  He began sitting at the gates of the city and intercepting people as they brought their grievances to King David for judgement.  Absalom would listen sympathetically to one side of the story, and tell the person privately that he was on their side.  "But unfortunately, I'm not the king, so..."  Then he would listen to the other side of the story and tell that person privately that he was on their side.  "But unfortunately, I'm not the king..."  Eventually, enough citizens wanted Absalom to be their king, so Absalom set up his castle in another city and declared himself king while his dad was still reigning.  King David realized he had to fight his own son to protect the people of Israel.  He gave orders to his men to stop Absalom but not to hurt him.

After one of the battles, Absalom galloped off into the forest to evade King David's soldiers, and his long hair got stuck in some branches.  His mule ran off, leaving him dangling in the tree.  The soldiers caught up with him and killed him in spite of their king's orders.  When King David heard the news he sobbed.  There is no happy ending for relationships lacking honor.

In class, the children were asked to think of someone over them who it was easy to honor and someone it is hard for them to honor.  They prayed together, asking God to help them show honor this week to the harder to honor person.

Our memory verse for the month is Romans 12:10 "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves."

During DRIVE TIME one day, brainstorm with your child ways that he can show honor to those in authority over him.  Some ideas could be

• Smiling at the person instead of rolling his eyes
• Saying "Yes Sir" or "Yes Ma'am" and obeying right away (or specifying when he will be able to obey) instead of ignoring the person speaking to him
• Offering to help the person in some way
• Apologizing for past dishonor shown and promising to begin honoring the way God instructs
• Writing a list of things that are valuable about that person
• Stopping himself from saying things about that person in a way that he would not want that person to overhear