Welcome:

Parents & kids welcome to the weekly BLOG of Kid Nation - LMCC. This site will be updated every week to sync with the previous Sundays information. Each week in Kid Nation we have a Bible story with a applicable theme; a memory verse and prayer for 1 particular nation / or country. The idea of this BLOG is for parents to keep in tune with what their kids are learning and to help them apply their learning in every day life throughout the week (i.e. = what the story was about; who did we pray for; memory verse). Also, it helps the kids stay tracking with us if for some reason they miss a week. Enjoy!

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

Prayer Focus: 

The Country of India on the Continent of Asia.  Bordered by Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and a small portion of China.  The capital of India is Delhi.

There are over 1 Billion people that live in the country of India!  

Prayer Points:

* Only 2.5 % of the 1 billion people are Christians

* India has more people groups with NO Christians, churches or missionaries than ANY country in the world.

*  Street Kids - some parents can not afford food, clothing, shelter, etc for their children and so they kick them out into the streets to take care of themselves

*Leprosy - 1.5 million people have this disease (63 % of all the people in the world who have leprosy, live in India)

Bible Story: (1 Samuel 18 - 20) - Focus: "The Value of Relationships"

We shed light on the idea that King Saul hated David.  He knew that God had anointed David king and  that some day in God's timing that David would replace him as king.  At different times he even tried to kill David!  But David always escaped....after killing Goliath, David had received a job at times of playing music for Saul to calm his soul.  Finally Saul conspired to kill David and it was made known to Saul's son Johnathan.  Now "John" loved David as much as he loved himself (he gave David his robe, sword, shield, etc).  When Johnathan found out about his dad's plot to kill David, he actually warned David and helped him escape.  The amazing side of this is that Johnathan by birth would have been the next king of Israel if not for David.  So David's death would have meant wealth, fame, and security of John.  But he laid down his interests for the love of his friend!

Review Questions:

Normally we have "small groups " with review questions and prayer.  However, because of practicing for the small Christmas presentation - we did not have small groups this past week.  However, feel free to create your own review questions!

Memory Verse:

John 15:13 - "...No greater love has this, than a man lay down his life for a friend..."

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

Prayer Focus:

Our country of focus this week was Ethiopia.  This country is located on the CONTINENT of Africa and is bordered by Sudan & Somali (along with a few other countries).  The capital of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa.  

Prayer Points: 

*  Leaders - wisdom to guide the country

*  Growth - that more people would follow Jesus

*  Missionaries - that there would be more people to go tell Ethiopians about Jesus.

Bible Story: (David & Goliath in - 1 Samuel 17:38-50)

• David was a shepherd for his father and took care of his father's sheep.
• At different times a lion & bear tried to kill sheep, but David killed the bear & lion instead
• When David wasn't shepherding he was writing song & singing songs to God
• One day, the Prophet Samuel anointed David as the new king 
• However, David didn't immediately become the king on the throne (until God was ready)
• The Israelite army was afraid of Goliath the Giant 
• David fought and killed Goliath the Giant

We focused on the idea that with God all things are possible.  We all face "giants" of different during the week and in every day life.  We stressed to the children that with God's help and entrusting  our lives to Him.  We can overcome all these things!

Review Questions:

• Why did King Saul lose his thrown? - he disobeyed God
• What was the name of the young boy who was a shepherd? - David
• What were the 2 animals that David killed to protect his sheep? - lion and bear
• What 2 things did David do when not protecting sheep?- sing songs & write songs to God
• Who poured oil on David and anointed him king? - Samuel the prophet
• Who was the Giant David  had to fight? - Goliath
• What did David use  to kill Goliath? - 5 stones and a sling

Memory Verse:

Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me..."

Sunday, October 26th, 2008

Prayer Focus:

This weeks prayer focus was Russia. It is the world's largest country in terms of land size. The capital is Moscow & we stressed that it is the former Soviet Union.

We praised God due to the fact that based on statistics 54% of the population "proclaim Christianity" while 31 % claim NO religion at all! - Prayer Points:

• Though the church and Christianity has expanded, the persecution of Christians is still rampant (see next)


• From 1920 - 1990 = it is estimated 200,000 Christians were killed for their faith in Jesus


• From 1920 - 1990 - it is estimated 500,000 Christians were put in prison for their faith


• 90 % of Russians have no meaningful link to a church


• Alcoholics = No country has such a severe alcohol abuse problem as Russia. Official estimates are that 40% of men and 7% of women are alcoholics.

Bible Story: (1 Samuel Chapter 8)

• We reviewed a few stories from the past weeks


• Last week about Samuel the Boy


• Moses - leading the children of Israel out of Egypt


• Joshua - leading the people into the Promised Land


• Judges - different leaders of God's people (the story of Sampson)


• NEW STORY - the children of Israel began to grow tired of having the leaders in their lives know as Judges; they wanted a king like the rest of the nations surrounding them. So instead of doing what God thought was best for them, they did what they thought was best for themselves - they demanded a king...they received King Saul as their king...we then discussed the reign of Saul and how in the end he chose to disobey God and God removed him from being king...(even worse, he partially obeyed him)!....

Focus - we left them with the idea that sometimes we may do this with parents, teachers, leaders, etc....We may disobey them becaue we THINK we know better than them! The idea that both the Children of Israel & King Saul did what they thought was best for themselves and not what God thought was best. That led to disobedience in their lives. We prayed with the Kids that they would walk in obedience to those in authority in their lives - this week!

Review Questions:

• Who led the people out of Egypt? - Moses
• Who led the people into the Promised Land? - Joshua
• What was the name of the first King of Israel? - Saul
• Why did God take away Saul from being King? - Saul disobeyed God

Memory Verse:

"...to OBEY is better than sacrifice..." - 1 Samuel 15:22

Sunday - October 19th, 2008

Prayer Focus: 

This week the country children spent time praying for as a group was "Sri Lanka."  As you can see it is located just off the coast of India in the Indian Ocean.

We prayed about the following 3 things:

*  Salvation -  7% of the country are Christians 

*  Missionaries - illegal to share about Jesus

*  Children - poor country; God please provide

Bible Story:  (I Samuel 2:18 & 19 / I Samuel 3:1-10)

This is a story of Hannah; a woman who couldn't have children.  She  then prayed to God and she become pregnant.  She had a  little boy name Samuel who she dedicated to the Lord to serve in the temple.  So Samuel lived at the Temple (church) and served Eli the priest (pastor). One night, when Samuel was a little boy, he heard someone  calling his name.  He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am for you called me."  Eli said, "Go back to be, I didn't call you."  This happened 3 times until Eli realized it may be God.  He told Samuel to answer the voice like this, "Speak Lord for your servant listens."  Samuel did this and it was God calling Him!  They talked about many things that God wanted Samuel to do and Samuel did them.

Focus - (1) we encouraged them that God  speaks & He wants to talk with them no matter how young they are (2) that God wants obedience (obey parents, teachers, leaders, etc)

Review Questions:

1.  Why did God give Hannah a baby boy? - because she prayed and asked God to

2.  What is the boy's name? - Samuel

3.  Why did he live with Eli? - he was helping to serve God in the temple (church)

4.  Who was calling Samuel's name? - God

5.  What was Samuel's response to what God told him? - obedience

Memory Verse:

"Speak God, [I am listening]..." - 1 Samuel 3:9