January 8th - What We Learned

This Sunday, January 8th, your Reign Forest child learned that Jesus can control all the fish in the sea (Luke 5:1-11).  "One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee), the people were crowding around Him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, 'Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.'

Simon answered, 'Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.'

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, 'Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!'  For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, 'Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.'  So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him."

Our Bible memory verse for the month is
Matthew 19:26 (Cup your hands around your mouth as you practice the verse with your child)
And Jesus looked at them and said, (make binoculars with your fingers around your eyes)
"With man, this is impossible, (say this dejectedly and hang your head and arms down)
but with God, (point up)
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!" (raise your arms excitedly to the sky)

Your child will completely enjoy acting the Bible lesson out in the bathtub with all their bath toys.  Give them a wash cloth or a small hand towel to use as a net, and take all the toys out of the tub.  They can "fish" with their "net" in the empty tub for a long time and pretend to get tired of it.  Then you can be Jesus who tells them to try again.  When they dip their "net" into the "sea" again in obedience, dump as many bath toys as you can find into the tub all at once.  Their little "net" will not be able to catch the multitudes of "fish" that are suddenly swimming in the sea.  Then the two of you can shout the Bible memory verse together!

Your kindergarten through fifth grade children in Land of Promise learned they should be slow to anger as Proverbs 16:32 instructs us.  The lesson centered around a video game controller.  Every game controller comes with a pause button, and the kids learned that God has also given each person the ability to PAUSE and control their attitude and anger before they choose the wrong actions.  Bottom Line: Pause before you lose your temper.

To illustrate this lesson at home, at the start of your MEAL TIME, read Proverbs 16:32 "It is better to be patient than to fight. It is better to control your temper than to take a city" and also read your child's memory verse for the month - James 1:19 "My dear brothers and sisters, pay attention to what I say. Everyone should be quick to listen. But they should be slow to speak. They should be slow to get angry."  Then fill a cup mostly full of ice and pour a drink over the ice.  Let the cup sit in the middle of the table during the meal. 

Periodically check on the ice to see if it has melted yet.  If possible, leave the icy cup on the table until bed time, or take it home from the restaurant with you and continue checking on the progress of the melting ice.  Comment on how slowly the ice is melting.  Discuss with your child how "being slow to anger" as Proverbs 16:32 and James 1:19 instruct can be like how slowly the ice is melting.  Tell him that when he begins feeling ANGRY about something, that he should picture the s-l-o-w-l-y melting ice, and remember that God has given us the power to PAUSE, THINK, AND CONTROL OURSELVES.