The Rooster Crowed!

In the book of Luke chapter 22: 54-62 we read the account of when Peter denied Jesus, repeatedly. Peter spent a ton of time with Jesus, travelling with him, learning from him, eating with him and now he has just witness him be arrested right in front of him. Peter was scared, upset, mad, and frustrated. He didn't know what was going to happen to his friend, he didn't know what was going to happen to himself, and that led him to make a great mistake. Peter's fear drove him to a place where he lied, he denied ever being acquainted with Jesus. He denied his friend, his brother, his Lord, his Savior! The one who loved him unconditionally and would die for him in a moment, the one who did die for him. Not a moment too soon and the rooster crowed! Just like Jesus told Peter it was going to happen, the rooster crowed right after he denied Jesus for the third time. As soon as the rooster crowed Peter was made aware of what he had done. He was overthrown with shame, disappointment, and regret.

This is what we talked about in Jr. Church on Sunday. We mess up all of the time, and sometimes in the moment we don't realize it, but at some point we always do. There is always a rooster that crows that makes us aware of our mistakes. But thankfully we serve a gracious, forgiving Lord. Peter didn't let his mistake stop him, but instead it pushed him forward. He was able to see the mistake he had made, asked Jesus for forgiveness and then pushed forward with his life where he became the rock on which the church was built. He became one of the greatest preachers/teachers of all time. He was an eye witness to Jesus' ministry, to his death, to his resurrection, to his unfailing and unconditional forgiveness. Peter became a better man after his mistake. Our mistakes don't define us, Jesus does. In Jr. Church we talked about different scenarios and how to make them better if we do something wrong, or how to make the right choice when want to do something wrong. We talked about how the more we know about Jesus, and the more we know Jesus, the more we can be like Jesus. We talked about how because Peter followed Jesus and spent all of his time with him he was able to become like him, and that we could do the same by reading our bibles, praying, going to church, spending time with other people who love Jesus, etc.

I find that every week as I prepare lessons for your children, I am also learning new things, or relearning old things that I have forgotten or chosen to ignore and from this week I am noticing the importance of the rooster's crow. It wasn't before that moment that Peter truly realized what he was doing and I think we find ourselves far too often in that same position. We find ourselves falling into sin without noticing until it's very obvious, until the rooster crows and then we have a choice to make. Do we choose to listen to the warning cry of the rooster and turn from our bad ways or do we continue down a path of destruction ignoring the rooster altogether? I think the more we ignore the rooster's crow the quieter it gets, and the easier it is to ignore the warning signs altogether. Don't quiet your rooster's crow, instead listen to his loud crow and act! Listen to the warning signs and turn to Jesus who will forgive you. That's what I took away from my preparation last week and thought I would share with you.

The memory verses that your kids worked on this week were the same as last week,
Younger kids:
"Come and follow me." Jesus said,
"I will send you out to fish for people."
Mark 1:17

Older kids:

“Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right,
because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you
ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done
to you.  

John 13:12-15

Please take some time to work on these verses with your kids this week, make it a challenge and see

if you can memorize them too. Spend some time worshiping with your kids too, whether it's through

prayer, singing, dancing, reading scripture, serving, etc. spend some intentional time with your children

focusing on God. If you want some music to dance and sing too you can find the worship playlist that

we use in Jr. Church here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW1XM9341lIbwDUQYbJvUVp6n1BUSNNhI

Have a great week!

-Megan

The Big Denial

As we continue to Dive In! to the life of Peter and what it means to follow Jesus we have learned that we aren't always going to get it right. This past Sunday we took a look at the story of when Peter denied Jesus, not once, not twice, but THREE times the night that Jesus was arrested. We talked about how Peter would have felt after doing this, as well as how Jesus would have felt. We discussed how even though Peter messed up it didn't change the way that Jesus saw him. Jesus gave showed Peter grace and forgave him, and that same grace and forgiveness is offered to us every time we mess up.

The kids seem to be doing quite well with their memory work. The little kids have almost all got their verse down pat! But as a reminder and so they can work on it at home this is the verse:

"Come and follow me." Jesus said,
"I will send you out to fish for people."
Mark 1:17

And the older kids' verse is:

“Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right,
because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you
ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done
to you.  

John 13:12-15

Just like last week, I want to encourage you to memorize these verses with your children. It is

important to instill in them now the spiritual disciplines that we want them to carry through life

and having God's word on their minds is one of those disciplines (it will also be good for you).

Your children have come to love the song "My Lighthouse" by Rend Collective. It is a great

worship song and we found a video with actions so that your kids can dance to it. If you would

like to see that video or any of the other worship videos that we share with your children you

can search on youtube: "cornwall church kids" and a playlist called "worship songs with actions"

will come up (I will attach the link at the end of this blog). Teaching your kids to worship and

letting them see you worship is another great experience to share with your kids and singing and

dancing is a fun way to do that.

Check out our playlist here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW1XM9341lIbwDUQYbJvUVp6n1BUSNNhI

Turn up the music and have some fun singing praises and dancing for God with your children

this week :)

- Megan

Stinky Feet and BARF

It seems as though I skipped a week, sorry about that! But a lot happened this week. I was away over the weekend teaching at Snowball Camp out at Canoe Cove so I wasn't here to teach your kids on Sunday morning, I do however know exactly what they learned about. On Sunday morning your kids continued on with their Dive In! series diving deeper into the life of Peter. This week they talked about the last supper, and when Jesus washed the disciples dirty, stinky feet. They learned that they are free to follow Jesus and that they can do that by serving others.

The memory verse for the younger kids is the same one for the whole series which is:

“Come and follow me,” (motion hands toward self)

Jesus said. (both hands point up)

“I will send you out (walk in place)

to fish for people.” (cup hands around mouth to make a fish face)

Mark 1:17

And the older kids got a new memory verse this week:

After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked,
“Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right,
because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you
ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done
to you.  

John 13:12-15

We want to encourage your children to memorize scripture so that they think of God's word
often and so when they find themselves in difficult situations, or just want some
encouragement they can have these verses to turn to. Memorizing God's word is
something all of us should be doing so that more of our focus is on Him, so I would
encourage you to memorize these verses with your children.

If your children were at Snowball camp this past weekend, then they had the great privilege
of learning about BARF! BARF was a series of lessons that I created based on the life of
Peter (Peter was on my mind already from preparing for Jr. Church each week). BARF
stands for Believe, Accept, Repent, and Follow. We talked about when Peter first believed
in Jesus, when he accepted Jesus as the Son of God, when he repented of his sins and
how Peter followed Jesus. If your kids have been in Jr. Church and attended Snowball
camp then there would have been a bit of overlap with the stories, but the camp lessons
went deeper and took a bit of a different direction. The kids at camp also heard some of my
BARF story as I shared with them when I first believed in Jesus, accepted Jesus, repented
of my sins and how I follow Jesus. We talked about how following Jesus is doing what he
said as well as what he did and how everyday we need to consciously make the decisions
to BARF, to believe, accept, repent and follow, that isn't a one time thing but that everyday
we need to give our lives to Jesus. I told the children that everyone who follows Jesus has
a BARF story, so if you get asked about BARF this week or in the future, that is totally my
fault and I'm not sorry. I hope that you will share your story with your kids and help them to
write their own as God guides them through life.

I hope you have a great week this week and that your kids who were at camp get well
rested (I know I'm tired from those late nights and copious amounts of sugar!).
See you next week!

- Megan