Friendship-Using your words and actions to show others you care
September 2020 • Week 4
Today's Bible story: eter's Denies his Friend (Jesus and Peter) • Luke 22:54-62
Monthly memory verse: "A friend loves at all times. They are there to help when trouble comes." Proverbs 17:17 (NIrV)
Memory Verse for 2's - Pre-K: "A friend loves at all times." Proverbs 17:17a NIrV
Life Application: Friendship-Using your words and actions to show others you care
Praise & Pray: Sing along with the provided worship videos and pray. Access songs here
What you might pray: "Forgiving someone when they do something to hurt me can be hard. Please help me today to open my heart and mind to what Jesus wants me to do when my friend makes a mistake."
Read God's Word together: Luke 22:54-62 (Need a kid-friendly Bible? Check out our suggestions.)
Family Devotional & Discussion
What you do: Watch the complementary video together as a family and discuss today's question.
What you discuss: "How do you react when a friend hurts you?" [Wait for responses.] "What does the word forgiveness mean?" [Forgiveness means to release the feelings of hurt or resentment toward someone who hurt you. Forgiveness means you move on and show that friend you trust them again, just like Jesus showed Peter that He trusted him again.]
Pray and bless your family
What you need: No supplies needed
What you do: Gather the family members in a circle on the floor.
- Guide family members to sit quietly and ask God to bring to mind anyone they might not have forgiven for something-anything they might be holding onto or might repeatedly get mad about.
- If they think of someone they need to forgive, have them pray silently and ask God to help them forgive that person.
- Then, guide family members to ask God to help them see if they need to ask anyone to forgive them.
- Give them a moment to pray silently on their own, asking God to give them the courage to go to that person and ask forgiveness. Close with prayer.
What you might pray: "Heavenly Father, Thank You for hearing our prayers and showing us who we need to forgive and who we need to ask forgiveness from. Please, help us extend the same kind of forgiveness that You offer to our friends because [Bottom Line] friends forgive one another. Help us also have the courage to ask for forgiveness. Amen."
Additional Activities
What You Need: "True or False" Activity Page (Download Here) , 2 targets (you could use paper labeled with a 'T' and 'F' or a bowl/bucket), colored paper
What You Do: Divide family members into two teams.
- Give each team a different color of paper and ask the kids to wad their paper into a tight ball. (Each kid should have one paper ball in their team's color.)
- Put out 2 targets, one target to represent 'True' statements and one target to represent 'False' statements.
- Instruct the teams to line up on opposing sides of the targets, with teams facing each other.
- Teams must be at least ten feet from the target.
- Let the teams know that you will ask true or false questions.
- If the team thinks the answer is true, they throw the paper ball into the "T" target.
- If they think they answer is false, they toss the paper ball into the "F" target.
- Whichever team lands the most paper balls in the correct target for each question gets a point for that round.
- Ask the teams to retrieve the paper balls between each round.
What You Say: "It bothered Peter that he was not a good friend to Jesus. When your friend does something to hurt you, you can't actually erase what they did from your mind, but if you truly forgive them, you free yourself from having to always think about it and be angry about it. Forgiveness means you move on and show that friend you trust them again, just like Jesus showed Peter that He trusted him again. [Make It Personal] (Talk about a time you restored trust with someone or someone trusted you again after you made a mistake.) [Bottom Line] Friends forgive one another."
NOTE: Forgiving friends is the right choice when someone says or does something unkind. But if a kid is being bullied or consistently hurt by someone who claims to be a friend, this is a completely different situation. Remind your kids to always tell a trusted adult when they need help. While we are called to love and forgive others, that doesn't mean we need to remain in a friendship with someone who hurts us. That goes back to what we learned week one about choosing your friends carefully.
What You Need: Red construction paper (or color of your choice), scissors, Band-Aids, markers, Bible
What You Do: Read together Luke 22:54-62.
- Fold the paper and cut out a heart shape.
- Now open the Bible to Proverbs 17:17 and write the Bible verse on your heart.
- Cut our heart in half.
What You Say: Peter's life had no shortage of mistakes and missteps. But Peter's greatest shame came when he disowned Christ, swearing to people that he did not know Jesus. Peter let his fear cause him to sin against Jesus. Even after Peter denied Jesus, Jesus forgive his friend Peter and trusted him to take care of his followers. Later Peter went on to become the leader of the early church. We all make mistakes and Jesus forgives us for those mistakes. We should be like Jesus and be willing to forgive our friends and family too for the mistakes they make.
- Finally, repair the heart with Band-Aids.
What You Need: Large plastic tote, water, socks - This game will be played outside.
What You Do: Fill the tote up with water about ½ way or to whatever amount is appropriate for your family.
- All family members need to be wearing socks. Lay down in a tight circle on their backs with their legs up in the air.
- One family member will place the plastic tote filled with water on the feet of the family members so the tote is balancing on all the family member's feet. Participants are not allowed to hold the tote with their hands, only their feet.
- Each family member will take turns trying to take off 1 sock. Take turns going around the circle trying not to spill the tote.
- The game ends when the tote spills or when everyone has successfully taken both socks off.
What You Say: "That was a frustrating game; especially because you couldn't use your hands. You might have figured out that the only way to win was for everyone to be in sync. You had to work together to adjust with your feet to help hold the tote up in the air. Sometimes people make mistakes. In this case, if someone made a mistake the tote would fall and everyone would be wet! It's important to remember that we all make mistakes and we need to be like Jesus and forgive our friends and family when mistakes happen. [Bottom Line] Friends forgive one another."