MEMORY VERSE
“The Lord’s love never ends. His mercies never stop. It is new every morning. He is so very faithful.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Hey Kids! Did you know that every morning you wake up God gives you a new start? Yeah, it’s because He loves you soooooo much! His love for you never ends, like the Energizer Bunny! It keeps going and going and it never stops! God’s love for you is deeper than the deepest ocean, it is wider than the skies above, it is longer than a Nerd Rope that can stretch all the way around the world, and it is higher than the highest roller coaster!
Yup, God is so awesome! His mercies are new every morning, not only to your friend Marty, but to you too! What does that mean? Well, every morning when you wake up, He is ready to forgive you of any sin or bad things you have done. His mercies never end. No matter what you do wrong and how bad you think it is, His love and forgiveness never ends! It never runs out!! Wow, how cool is that?
Because His love and His mercies are so GREAT towards you, He will forgive you of all your sins. You just have to ask Him. And guess what, when you choose to ask God to forgive you of your sins, He will throw it in the sea of forgetfulness. It’s where God throws our sins and they are never remembered. Let’s do that right now! Say, this prayer, “Heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I have sinned and have done wrong. Forgive me and change me, Lord. Amen!”
You know what’s more amazing about God? He wants your friends and family to have a new start too! If someone has hurt you or has done a bad thing to you, God wants you to forgive them, just like He forgave you! I know you are saying, “Are you kidding me? I’m never gonna forgive that person for what they have done to me! I was hurt and embarrassed! Nope, I will not!”
Well, remember the monkey in our Kidz Life Live service? If you missed it, you can watch it right here! He saw the scrumpdillyumcious bananas in the box. The monkey loved bananas so much, so he stuck his hand in the box and grabbed the bananas. But he couldn’t get it out of the box! The hole on the top of the box was too small! Meanwhile, the monkey trapper was coming through the jungle. Oh, no!!! The monkey could hear the trapper coming closer and closer, step by step, inch by inch. The monkey trapper’s steps were getting louder and louder.
The monkey kept trying to get the bananas out. He wasn’t going to give up. He pulled and pulled but the banana was still stuck in the box. What do you think the monkey should do? Yell, it out! Let it go! Let it drop!! Let GO of the banana!
When you don’t want to forgive someone who has hurt you or done wrong to you, it’s called unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is a trap. The devil, the trapper wants you to hold on to unforgiveness. If you don’t let it go and drop it, you will be trapped with sadness, anger, grief, pain, and even sickness. You might think it’s better to hold on to unforgiveness but don’t let the devil trick and lie to you. It’s a trap! Just like the monkey, all he had to do was LET IT GO, LET IT DROP, LET GO THE BANANA!!!
When you forgive, the same love and mercy you needed will be given to someone else who needs a new beginning. Are you ready to let go of unforgiveness and let it drop?
Let’s pray this prayer: “Father God, I forgive ________ (say the person’s name) who hurt me. Just as You have forgiven me, I will not remember what _________ (say the person’s name) has done to me. Bless __________ (say the person’s name), every day. Thank You for giving me the strength to obey You and Your Word. I love you, Lord! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
PLEDGE OF HONOR
“I am made new because I belong to Christ Jesus! My old ways are gone. See, everything has become new! I forgive because I am forgiven and now, I have a new beginning.”
BIBLE READING
Genesis 8:1-20a (ERV)
But God did not forget about Noah. God remembered him and all the animals that were with him in the boat. God made a wind blow over the earth, and all the water began to disappear.
Rain stopped falling from the sky, and water stopped flowing from under the earth. The water that covered the earth began to go down. After 150 days the water was low enough that the boat touched land again. The boat stopped on one of the mountains of Ararat. This was the 17th day of the seventh month. The water continued to go down, and by the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains were above the water.
Forty days later Noah opened the window he had made in the boat. Then he sent out a raven. The raven flew from place to place until the ground was dry and the water was gone. Noah also sent out a dove. He wanted it to find dry ground. He wanted to know if water still covered the earth.
The dove could not find a place to rest because water still covered the earth, so the dove came back to the boat. Noah reached out his hand and caught the dove and brought it back into the boat.
After seven days Noah again sent out the dove. And that afternoon the dove came back to Noah. The dove had a fresh olive leaf in its mouth. This was a sign to show Noah that there was dry ground on the earth. Seven days later Noah sent the dove out again. But this time the dove didn’t come back.
After that Noah opened the door of the boat. He looked and saw that the ground was dry. This was the first day of the first month of the year. He was 601 years old. By the 27th day of the second month, the ground was completely dry.
Then God said to Noah, “Leave the boat. You, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives should go out now. Bring every living animal out of the boat with you—all the birds, animals, and everything that crawls on the earth. These animals will make many more animals, and they will fill the earth again.”
So Noah went out with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives. All the animals, everything that crawls, and every bird left the boat. All the animals came out of the boat in family groups.
Then Noah built an altar to honor the LORD.
