Week 5 To The Depths

Main Point: was "I Will Listen and do What the Bible Says!

Read the Bible Passage from James 1:19-25.

Our Bible Story was from 2nd Kings chapters 22 and 23. When we hear God's Word, we need to do what is says.

This weeks memory verse is found in 2 Timothy 3:16. This verse tells us that Gods Word will tell us things to change in our lives.

This is an activity called Mirror, Mirror. You can do this at home to reinforce the topics in our lesson. After the children go to bed, cover up all the mirrors in the house. In the morning, wake everyone up and tell them they have to get dressed without using any mirrors. After they have struggled for a while let them uncover the mirrors and finish getting ready. Tell the family that Gods word is the mirror for our lives and it is just as important that we look into God's word each morning to correct our lives as it is for us to look onto a mirror in the morning to correct our appearance.

This activity is called "Rule Book". Buy a new board game that

your family is unfamiliar with. Get everyone to play the game, but don't read the rules first, just make them up. Keep changing the rules until everyone starts to get frustrated. Then pull out the rule book then read it and play it properly. Explain that the Bible is the rule book for our lives and that we should read it and do what it says.

Week 4 To The Depths

November 9th 2008
This Sunday our main point was "I Will Use My Words To Help Others"


The Bible Passage we used was from James 3:2-12.

Our Memory verse was found in Psalms 19:14 "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."

This week start out by reading the Bible Story to your children and try to explain some of the parts of the verse that they may not understand. Have your children stick out their tongue to show just how small it really is.

Sugar Cookies:

Make a batch of sugar cookies. When you are sprinkling the sugar on the cookies, cover some of the cookies with salt instead of sugar. Call the famioy together an let each one of them taste one of the cookies.
Read James 3:12 "Can a fig tree produce olives or a grapevine produce figs? Does fresh water come from a well full of salt water?" Remind everyone that our words should please God and help others. Using hurtful words can ruin things, like putting salt on cookies instead of sugar. We should use helpful words that sound good, like sugar on cookies tasts good.

Card Barrage:

Send a Barrage of cards to someone in your family knows to say helpful and encouraging words. Make the cards together as a family, or buy some cards from the store that do not have a pre-printed message on them. Each person in the family should take a card and write or draw a special, helpful,encouraging message on it.

To The Depths Week 3

I Will Do The Right Thing, Not Just talk About It!

Take some time this week to read the Bible passage to your children. We read
James 2: 14-20 and we also read Ruth chapters 1&2. These passages show us that saying the right thing is good, but doing the right thing is what counts.

This weeks main Bible verse was James 2:17, this verse tells us that what we do brings what we say to life.

Here is an activy that you can do with your family during your family devotional time. Give each family member a note card. Have each one write one thing they will do this week for the family or for someone else (you may have to help the younger members of the family come up with ideas). Then have write one thing that they know God wants them to do. Example: Pray Everyday, read me Bible, tell me friends about church. After everyone has written on the cards, put them in a place where everyone can see them, like the refrigerator, check each day to make sure everyone is following through.

Another activity you can use to make this point is to play a game of Simon Says, but add these minor changes in the rules. When you say "Simon Says..." the family only repeats what you say. But when you say "Simon..."(Example: "Simon jumps," "Simon claps his hands.") everyone will do it. Discuss the face that we need to do the right things and not just say them.

To The Depths Week 2

When Trouble Comes I Will Praise Him

Our Main Point this past Sunday was "When Trouble Comes I Will Praise God". Your Child learned that in difficult times they should praise God instead of "Grumbling".

Today's Bible story was biased on the James 1:24 and Acts 16: 16-40. You should try to read this with your child(ren) at the first of the week and then you can spend the week helping them understand the importance of praising God during trouble.

The memory verse we used was James 1:2.

Here is an idea to help your family understand this point, we'll call it the "Grumble Bucket". Set up two buckets in a predominate place in your house, like the kitchen. Label one bucket "Praises" and the other "Grumble". When someone "Grumbles" about something they have to put a small amount in the "Grumble" bucket. When a person praises God during a tough time the get a piece of candy out of the "Praise" bucket. At the end of the week, take the money out of the "Grumble" bucket and use it to replace the candy on the "Praise" bucket. Have fun teaching your children about the difference between "Grumbling" and "Praising" God during tough times.

To the Depths Week 1

October 12 we began a new series called To The Depths.

Today the "Main Point" of our lesson was, God loves everyone and so should I. Your child will remember this because we repeated this several times and we also have motions to reinforce this point.



Bible Story James 2:8-9 & Luke 10:30-35 Read this to see what God says about favoritism.

Bible Verse Galatians 5:14: This weeks Bible verse helps us understand how to avoid favoritism.

On the Road: While you are driving around this week make a game of looking for different cars on the road. Try to guess where they live or what type of job they have. Especially look for cars with the logo of another school thet you may be rivals with.The point of thie game is help your children understand that we sometimes judge people based on thier appearance. Tell your children: We made a decision about these cares baised on thier appearance and sometime we do the same thing with people.Remind your children that we should show Gods love to everyone no matter how they look on the outside.

Who is a Samaritan?
Have your child list his/her favorite people at school and how your child treats them. Then have your child list his/her least favorite people and how your child treats them. Point out to your child that Jews and Samaritans did not get along with each other.Even though Jews and Samaritans did not like each other the Samaritan helped the Jewish travler in many ways.
Show your child how you show Gods love to those in your life like the Samaritan and how they can be Samaritans to other in thier life.

Be a "Good Samaritan" this week.
Barry Saunders

On the Trail Lesson 7

Promises are special to children. Whether they make a promise or someone makes one to them there is always a choice involved. You can choose to believe the promise or not. It is the same with God’s promises, we choose to believe or not to believe.
Our goal this week was to teach your children that God promises them eternal life and it is their choice whether or not to accept it and believe it.
Our Bible story today was the story of Moses sending the twelve spies to go scout out Canaan, the land God had promised to give the Israelites. The spies came back and gave their report. They all agreed that the land was great but ten of the spies said that the people who lived in the land are too big and war-like to defeat. Two of the spies said that they should go possess the land. The Israelites didn’t
listen to the two spies and instead started complaining and weeping. They chose not to believe God’s promise about giving them the land. They even talked about killing Moses and choosing a new leader. The Israelites chose not to believe God’s promise. God was very angry with the Israelites and punished them by making them wander for 40years.
In today’s skit Tex scouted ahead to the area where the cattle drive will end. He brought back a great report but it turns out to get to the end they will have to pass through the badlands. Tex didn’t believe they could make it through so he planned out a new, longer route. Cookie encouraged Tex to believe the trail boss’s promise about getting them to the end safely. Tex finally agreed. Just like Tex,
we have a choice. We can either believe God’s promises or not. That includes the promise of forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ.
Our Bible story, skit and every activity in our small group time was geared toward teaching your children about God’s promise of eternal life and the choice they have to believe it or not.

On The Trail Lesson 5

On The Trail: The Exodus of Israel Lesson 5

This Sunday your child learned about the God giving Moses the 10 commandments. This passage can be found in Exodus 20. We emphasised that the 10 commandments can be summed up in our main point, Love God & Love Others. In Bible Stories By the Campfire we showed how God spoke to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai and how it was a dramatic event.
In our skit we saw how Tex had a rope that he had stolen and he was thought it was so good that he was worshiping the rope. He also tried to accuse his father for taking the rope. This was to show how the 10 Commandments apply to our lives each day.

Read over the 10 Commandments with your child this week and point out how they apply to our lives practically each day. When we Love God & Love Others we are putting the 10 Commandments into practice each and every day.

Barry <><

On The Trail Lesson 4

Lesson 4 On the Trail
It’s very easy to worry and complain about the things we need. Our goal for today was for your child to learn that when they have a need, they shouldn’t worry or complain. Instead, they should thank God for what He’s already done for them and then ask him to meet their need.
On stage we told the story of God providing for the Israelites in the wilderness found in Exodus 15:22 – 17:7. On three separate occasions the Israelites have a need. Once they have a need for food and twice they have a need for water. However, instead of being thankful for everything God had done for them already, they complained and whined to Moses. They accused
him of bringing them out to the wilderness to die. Moses, however, didn’t whine and complain. He prayed to God about their needs and God provided for them every time. Moses demonstrated the proper way to present our needs to God.
During our large group skit, Tex had some trouble determining the difference between wants and needs. He was hungry but he didn’t want the beans that Cookie made, he wanted cookies. He didn’t want the water that Cookie gave him, he wanted soda. He whined and complained until Cookie explained to him the difference between wants and needs. Cookie also explained
the importance of being thankful that his needs are being met. Tex apologized and started being thankful. Just like Tex we need to be thankful to God for meeting our needs.
Every element of today’s lesson was geared toward teaching your children that when they have a need they should pray to God about it and they should be thankful for what God has already done for them.

On The Trail Lesson 3

On The Trail Lesson 3
Read Exodus 13: 17-14:31 ( pick some passages to read to your children).
Everyone faces problems sooner or later, even your children. Our goal for your children today was for them to learn that when they face a problem they can choose to either focus on the problem or focus on God. We should always focus on God because he is powerful, trustworthy and he cares for us.
In our Bible story, we learned the story about God parting the Red Sea, found in Exodus 13:17 – 14:31. In this story the Israelites find themselves trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army. The Israelites focused on the problem and begin to panic. Moses, on the other hand, focused on God and prayed to Him for help. God parted the waters
so the Israelites could escape. Moses showed us that when we face problems focusing on God, and His power, is better than focusing on the problem.
During our large group skit, Tex found a huge river blocking the path of the herd. Tex focused on the problem and then whined and complained. Cookie explained that this problem was no different than any other problem that God had helped them with. Cookie encouraged Tex to focus on God instead. Tex calmed down and prayed to God for help. God provided a way to get the cattle across the river. Just like Tex, we need to focus on God rather than our problems.
Our Bible story, skit and every activity in our small group time was used in order to teach your children that whenever they face problems, instead of worrying and complaining, they should focus on God.

You can help your child understand this concept be giving them examples of thiem this week when you had a problem and how you turned to God for for help. Ask your child if they had any problems this week they needed help with. Has how did the peson help them.

Barry <><

On The Trail Week 2

This past Sunday our focused upon obedience to God. Your children learned that it would’t make sense to tell God that we loved Him and then turn around and disobey his commandments.

Sunday we showed your children how the Bible teaches that in order to truly show God that we love him, we must obey.

On stage today we told the story of Moses and the ten plagues on Egypt found in Exodus 5-11. In this story Moses goes to Egypt and tells Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to let the Israelites go and be free from slavery. Pharaoh refuses and makes life harder for the Israelite people. Moses goes back to Pharaoh and tells him once again to let the Israelites go, but again Pharaoh refuses. God then sent a plague of frogs on the Egyptians. Moses continued to go back to Pharaoh and demand freedom for the Israelites but every single time he did Pharaoh refused. Each time Pharaoh refused God sent another plague. Even though it got harder each time, Moses
never stopped obeying God. In this way Moses showed love for God.

The Bible tells us in John 14:15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.” (NLT)

Just like Moses showed love by being obedient, we should be obedient as well.
During our large group skit, Tex got the assignment of being a scout. He had to repeatedly run on ahead of the group, look around and report back. After a couple of trips Tex was exhausted! He wanted to quit but Cookie encouraged him to keep obeying the trail boss. Cookie explained that we are being obedient to God when we are obedient to the authority figures that God has placed in our lives. In the same way, the children show love to God by being obedient to their parents and teachers, that’s one reason why obedience is so important.
All of the elements of today’s lesson were for the purpose of teaching your children that the best way to show our love is by being obedient to God and to those in authority over us.

This week you can help your children understand the concepts we discusses by Reading the Bible story in Exodus 5-11. You may want to read selected parts because this is a lengthy passage. Explain to your children that even as an adult there are people that you have to obey. Try to give them specific examples of times that you are obedient, like when you are driving down the road there are traffic laws and speed limits that you have to obey.

Read John 14: 15 and explain that love is a large part of obedience.

Throughout the week share with your children times you have to be obedient to God.

On the Trail: The Calling of Moses

Our goal this week was for your children to understand that trust and obedience go hand in hand, especially when it comes to obeying God. We show that we trust God by being obedient.
In Bible storise by the campfire, we told the story of the calling of Moses found in Exodus chapters 3 and 4.

The story begins with God speaking to Moses from within a burning bush. God gives Moses the task of returning to Egypt to free the Israelites from slavery. God gives Moses signs to show that He will help Moses in his task. Moses trusts God and obeys Him by going to Egypt.

During our large group skit, your children were introduced to the characters Cookie the cook and Tex the cowboy. Tex had just gotten a job on a cattle drive and was having a lot of doubts about himself and the task ahead. Cookie encouraged him to trust in the trail boss because he will give him the help he needs. He also encouraged Tex to obey the trail boss by coming along on the drive.

It is important for your children to understand how you are being obedient to God in the same way. It isn’t enough to simply say that your trust. You show that trust by actually obeying. Discuss with your children ways you are obedient to God each day.

Our Bible story, skit and every activity in our small group time was geared toward teaching your children that the way we show our trust in God is by being obedient to Him and to those in authority over us.

Starlight Satation: Lesson 5

Servant Leaders Work hard to Help Others:

Bible VerseEcclesiastes 9:10

Hard and Easy:parents, assign each child in your family a very specific task. It might something like picking up pillows and putting them back on the couch or folding the laundry. For the first few seconds tell them to work really hard at it and then tell them to slow down and do it very easy, almost in slow motion. Go back and forth between hard and easy as they are performing the task. After they have finally completed the task, ask them if it was better to do the task head or easy. Talk about how much faster they could have finished the project if they could have finished the project if they could have worked hard all the time. Just like in this project, God wants us to work hard to help others in everything we do.

Bible Story:Genesis 39:2-6, 39:21-23 and 41: 37-57

Helping Out:Talk about how important it is for us to work hard to help others. One way to live that out is to find a project at church that everyone could participate in. It may be helping to set up for an event, cleaning up after services one weekend, or simply picking up trash around the church campus. While you are doing the project discuss with your kids how you are obeying God by working hard to help other people.

Starlight Station Week 4

Main Point: Servant Leaders Use their Gifts to Help Others

Bible Verse: 1 Corinthians 12:7






What's my gift?


One day this week, have each person in the family take turns telling one another what gifts they see God has given them. Some examples would be the gift of serving people, gift of teaching someone, gift of generosity, or the gift of encouraging people. Ask each person why they think God gave them those specific gifts. Help each person come up with specific ways they can use those specific gifts to help others. have everyone write or make a list of reminder notes of things they could do to use their gifts like God would want them to.





Bible Story: Genesis 40:1-41:44





Matching Gifts & Needs:


God has given each person in your family unique gifts. To help make this point, wrap up a box like a present and have each member of your family write down specific gifts on a piece of paper then put it inside the box. Let each person do this several times. Each day during the week have one person pull out a "gift". Have each member of the family come up with a way they can use that gift this week. Pull out a new gift each day.





Pray that God would continue to develop the gifts that he has given your children.





Barry Saunders

Starlight Station Week 3

Week 3

Bible Story: Genesis 39:1-23

Main Point: Servant Leaders Protect Others

Bible Verse: Proverbs 12:26

Our verse this week tells us that if we are following God's ways we will give our friends good advice and try to keep them from making the wrong choice.

Protecting Others:

One day this week, play a game of keep away. Have one member of the family be the protector and another member be the person needing protecting. The rest of the family would be would try to get to the one needing protection while the other one does everything they can to protect them. Another way to play this game would be to have one person protecting and household item and the other person tries to get it. After playing the game talk about how you should be aware of situations where someone might be in trouble and need protection. Talk about some different situations. Some examples might be standing up to a bully for them, warning them about a situation, to helping them talk to a teacher if they did something wrong. Protection could also mean helping someone escape from certain situation. Protection means getting involved and putting yourself in front of the thing or person that you care about.

Look For Protection:

While in the car this week, spend some time talking and looking for some of the different laws that we have in our city and state. Talk about how these laws are set up by people that we have never met, and they are to protect us. They warn us about unsafe situations or keep us from getting into a dangerous spot. Some examples would be the speed limit, stopping at a red light, or crosswalks at school. Talk about haw all of these laws are there to protect us.

Servant Leaders Protect Others

Yucatan Mission Trip Day 5

Puppet show we put on each day for the Children.

This is thier reaction to the puppets. They loved it! We used the Spanish verson of the VBS music.

Another shot of the audience.

Here we are acting out the Good Samaritan. Steve is reading in english and cat is reading in Spanish.

This is a local christian band that was there the last day. They were great.

Cancun day 4

A classroom of children in the school.

Some scenery on the way to our work site.

A classroom we shared the gospel in. We used the salvation bracelet.

A church we saw on the wat to the school.

We are getting ready to go into the school. We were waiting to confirm that we had permission.

Cancun Day 3

This is a picture of the area where the church is located. It is a very poor area and in bad condition.

This is a picture of the area across the street from the church. The chairs are in the street.

Our fearless leader. Bro Al O'Quin.

This picture is looking down the street.

Mission Trip Cancun day 3

"Tall Man" aka Robert sharing his testimony. He did a good job. You would be proud Nelson.

Steve M. giving a greeting before the service.

Brandon B. sharing a Bible study.

I an trying to share the gospel using the good news glove.

The puppets in action.

These are the children that came to the VBS we put on.

Here we are trying to assemble the puppet stage. It didn't go together as easy as I thought.

More Pictures

Balloon animals were made by all

Catarino B. and Bro. Al sharing the gospel with our waitress.

A House on the way to the church where we are working.

Robert "trying" to play 4 square with some children

YUCATAN mISSION TRIP

Ola from Cancun Mexico...

Making balloon animals for hours.

Our team and Greg Wares and his family.

The church where we will be working.

Mission Trip/ Cancun

Day 1

We have travled from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale and are waiting at the airport for our connection. Everyone on our trip is excited about the possibilities that we will experience in Cancun. More to come...

Wednesday Night

This is a new series we started on Wednesday Night's during the Summer. These are devotions that you can use at home.
Barry Saunders

Driving Force Week 1 “Starting Your Car”

Memory Verse
Colossians 1:18 NCV
Grades 1 - 6
“So in all things Jesus has first place.”

Thursday
READ the Bible story together with your family. Look it up in the Bible!
Jesus journeyed to Galilee, telling people about the Kingdom of God. One day as Jesus was walking by the sea, He saw two brothers fishing, throwing their nets into the sea. Their names were Simon and Andrew. Jesus asked them to follow Him, saying He would make them fishers of people. They immediately put down their nets and followed Him. As Jesus continued His ministry, He saw brothers James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were with their father in a boat, fixing their nets. Jesus called to them, and they both immediately left their father and the boat to follow Jesus. (Source: Matthew 4:18-22)

Friday
REFLECT as a family on the lesson taught last weekend by referring to your child’s weekend service handout. Choose one of the ideas on the “To Do at Home” section and do it as a family or encourage your child to do it independently. If you did not receive a handout, here is an example of one of the ideas mentioned: Ask your mom or dad to tell you about a time that they were faithful to God. What did they do?

Saturday
REQUEST a time for your family to meet together for a family prayer. Give your children an opportunity to tell you some of their prayer requests. Take time for anyone who wants to pray silently or aloud. Here is a sample closing prayer:

Dear God, I pray that I can learn how to be faithful to You in this great race of life. Help me to put You first in all that I do. Show me how I can spend more time with You by reading my Bible and talking to You in prayer. Amen

Monday
REMEMBER the weekly Bible verse and take turns reciting it to each family member.
Please refer to page #2 for your verse of the week.

Tuesday
RESPOND to what you have learned as a family this week by taking an action step! Here is an example of something you can do as a family to reinforce the Bible theme for this week: Wash the family car together. Talk about who drives the car. Then talk about how Jesus can be the driver of our lives.

Lesson 1 Starlight Station

Servant Leaders are Careful About What they Say!

Bible Verse:




This weeks Bible verse tells us it is important to learn to control our tongue. Proverbs 13:3













Taboo:

If you have the game Taboo, play it together as a family. As you are playing the game talk about how in order to win this game, you have to be careful of what you say. Just like in this game, we should be careful of how we say things to others.









Bible Story:

Read Genesis 37:1-11 to learn about the dreams that Joseph had. Notice that while he was telling the truth to his family he wasn't being careful how he said it.

Can You Guess It?

One day this week watch TV or listen to the radio as a family. Have everyone listen very carefully to find the certain emotions that are being used. Take turns guessing what that emotion is and talk about different ways you could say the exact same thing, but use a different emotion. Reinforce the point that how you say something is just as important as what you say.

What Did You Say?

Have the entire family sit around the table for this game. Write down several sentences on a piece of paper. Each family member gets to pick one phrase from the list and then say that phrase using a certain emotion. They could say it mad, happy, confused, sad, etc. The person across from them will guess what emotion they are using and say something back to them using the same emotion. Throughout this game discuss all the different ways we can learn how people are feeling by listening to what and how they say things. You can pick clues by hearing what words they emphasize or their tone of voice. It's important for us to be attentive to how and what other people are saying. We should also be aware of how we are saying things.

Celebration Sunday

Family Affection


Some people are more outwardly affectionate than others. God created each person unique and thus, everyone expresses affection differently. Affection is an outgrowth of love, but it is not based on feelings. Sometimes you may feel like giving hugs; sometimes you may not. Sometimes you may feel like doing things for others; sometimes you may not. Affection requires you to act on what you know is right even though you may not feel like doing it.
Affection is also based on learning what another person likes. “Touchyfeely” people like to hug others. But people who are not “touchy-feely” might not like affection expressed to them in that way. The things a person does to show love to others are usually indicators of the ways that person receives love. Children can learn to notice those signs in each other and respond accordingly. For example, Anne likes to give and receive hugs, but her brother Mike does not. Mike can learn to give and receive hugs from Anne because he knows hugs are important to her. Therefore, teach your child to show affection in ways that are both comfortable to him and
meaningful to others. Consider the following questions with regard to your child. What kind of affection is he likely to show?
1. Does your child give lots of hugs?
2. Does your child say “I love you” several times a day?
3. Does your child like to buy or make gifts for others?
4. Does your child like to do things for others?
The family dynamic is the ideal place to learn to show appropriate affection. It is sometimes difficult to show affection to family members because faults and annoyances seem more prevalent within the four walls of a house. When children learn to care for and respect their family members, it will become much easier to care for and respect those outside of the family.

Act On It!


Read Romans 12:10
together. Guide your family to talk about what the word honor means. Make a list of ideas on a sheet of paper. (Possible answers may include: show respect, not talk back, praise, reward, accept.)
Talk about the responses. Help your children understand that “to honor” means to show respect toward or to value. Place a spinner such as a plastic bottle in the middle of the table. Spin the bottle. When it stops and points to someone say: “Everyone think of one way to show honor
to (name person).” Continue playing until the spinner points to every family member.
Pray, asking God to remind your family to love and honor one another, even when it seems hard.
Listen and observe interaction between family members this week. Offer praise and encouragement as you see them honoring each other.
Genesis 42—46


Key Verse:
Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor. Romans 12:10

Our World

Here is something to consider about our world.

The worlds staggering population makes it difficult to comprehend how people live outside our own personal experience . However, if we compress the total of 100 people, then the statistics are much easier to comprehend. If our world had a population of 100 then:

Where we live-

21 Europeans

14 from the Americas, both North and South

8 Africans

57 Asians

Who we are -

52 female

48 male

70 people of color

30 white

90 non-christian

10 christian

What we have-

7 people possess 50% of the worlds wealth and all live in the Unites States

80 live in substandard housing

70 cannot read

60 suffer from malnutrition

1is near death

1 (yes only 1) has a college education

1 owns a computer

When we consider our worls from such a perspective the need to share the Good News becomes more pressing.

Week 2 Wrenche's Family Garage

Genesis 27:1—28:5; 28:10—29:20; 32:1—33:4; 35:9-15
Family Do Over At:

At some point, everyone has wished to take back something that was said or done and start all over. One of the most plaguing consequences of sin is being unable to forget what was done. It is often hard to forgive, much less to forget about it and move on. Fortunately, that is not the case with God. His love and mercy are all-encompassing. He wants to forgive you when you sin and give you a chance to begin afresh and anew. God’s forgiveness is evident throughout the pages of Scripture.
Parents have the privilege of representing God to their children in tangible ways. Are you providing an accurate portrayal when it comes to forgiveness? Remember these key points:
• God’s forgiveness is for everyone. Because you have been forgiven
of much, you must also forgive.
• God’s forgiving nature does not give you the freedom to sin, but the freedom from sin. God will convict and forgive you of your sin, restore you, help you accept the consequences of sin, and help you choose to do the things that are pleasing to Him.
Model God’s forgiveness as you …
• Forgive your children. This does not mean remove all consequences.

• Ask your children to forgive you when you are wrong. This requires humility, honesty, and spiritual sensitivity.
• Forgive others. Co-workers, politicians, a rude cashier, or the driver who cuts you off on the road may do wrong by you or make you angry. How you choose to respond reveals your willingness to forgive.

Act On It!

On a sunny day, take paint brushes and cups of water outside with your children. Allow them to
paint the sidewalk, walls, and other outdoor things with the water. As they paint, encourage them to watch what happens as the water dries. Call for your children to join you on the sidewalk or patio. Using a small amount of water on the paint brush, paint the word “sin” on the ground. Observe as the word disappears.
Say: “When you ask God to forgive you, your sin is gone forever. The Bible says God doesn’t even remember your sin again once you ask Him to forgive you.” Explain that God wants them to be willing to forgive others when they ask for forgiveness.
Pray aloud as the children water paint. Thank God for His forgiveness and ask Him to help your family be willing to forgive others.

Key Verse:
Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go … for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Genesis 28:15

Week 1 Wrenches Family Garage

A Promise Is A Promise
Genesis 15:1-5; 18:1-15; 21:1-3; 22:1-9; 24

Promises Made and Kept:
How many times have you discovered that something you
bought was not as great as you expected? Perhaps the box
said, ”easy assembly,” but when you emptied the contents
an “easy assembly” became days of grueling work. Adults
are not the only ones to encounter disappointment or
disillusionment. Broken or unfulfilled promises are frustrating
for children, too. Misleading advertising and the promise of
instant gratification is so prevalent in society, children may
grow to believe that promises are not meant to be kept.
However, God keeps His promises written in His Word and
expects Christians to honor their commitments and promises
to each other. Here are some suggestions for helping
children deal with promises and disappointments.
• Discern the truth. Guide your child to look at things
realistically. Help her evaluate the truth in promises
made in commercials, advertisements, and so forth
to minimize the disappointment of misleading media
promises. Help her see the goal or motivation behind
the message (to sell merchandise and make money).
• Deal with disappointments. Stress the fact that while
people or things may disappoint, God will never leave
or fail you.
• Guide your child to use her words carefully. Help her
understand the importance of speaking the truth and
following through on her promises.
• Honor your promises. If you say you will do something,
do it! You will teach your child that you mean what you
say when you consistently follow up on your words.
Remember this promise: “The LORD is good, a stronghold
in a day of distress; He cares for those who take refuge in
Him.” Nahum 1:7. God will guide you as you try to be an
example to your children and in the world.

Act On It!

Lead your family to think of promises
God has made. Remind everyone that
God’s promises are His Words from the
Bible. On a sheet of paper, make a list of
every promise you can recall. Here are a
few examples to jump start your list: God
promises to never leave us. He promises
to love us. God promises to guide us.
Post the list in a prominent location, like
the refrigerator, so family members can
add to it throughout the week.
Praise God for His promises. Begin a
prayer of praise. Each person may join in
the prayer, praising God for one or two
of His promises. Continue praising Him
throughout the week as something enters
your mind. This may occur in the car,
around the table, at the park, and so forth.
Remind family members of the
importance of keeping their promises,
too. Assign different colored stickers to
each family member. Encourage family
members to write a description of promises
kept this week on the same list with God’s
promises. They may then add a sticker to
represent the person who kept his promise.
For example, if Molly promises to pick up
her toys and does, place one of Molly’s
colored stickers on the list and write
“picked up toys” next to it.
A Promise Is A Promise

The word of the LORD is right, and all His work is trustworthy.
Psalm 33:4