Amelia KidZone - Amelia Church of Christ

The last two weeks in the Parable of the Lost Son, we have focused on the lost son (Luke 15). We talked about how the father in the story extended grace to his son. His son had left and spent his inheritance partying it up. But then he came back and asked for forgiveness, and his father was so excited to see him that he threw a party for him!

So far in the story, we have focused on the lost son and the father, but this week we are focusing on the other son. The other son was obedient.  He was the son that worked hard, listened and stayed with his father. The obedient son didn’t go out and spend all his inheritance. And so when his lost brother returned, he didn’t feel like celebrating. He didn’t think it was very fair. He even refused to go to the party. Why would he want to celebrate? His father never threw him a party. So why was his brother’s bad behavior being praised?

That’s the thing about grace. It isn’t fair. It does pursue justice. It doesn’t wait for payment. Grace just doesn’t make sense. The father finally talks with the obedient son at the end of the story. He tells him, “My son, your brother was lost but now he is found. Your brother was dead but is now alive again.”

Thankfully God isn’t like the obedient brother, instead he’s our father. When we ask for forgiveness, he will run to us and embrace us!

See you Sunday!

This Sunday we are finishing the Parable of the Lost Son. Last week we talked about how the son had left his father and went out and spent all of his inheritance very quickly on partying. Then he was out of money, food and had an empty stomach, so he found a job feeding pigs. He was so hungry that he actually desired what the pigs were eating. He finally came to his senses and thought he would go back to his father and beg forgiveness – only he would not come back as a son, but as a servant.

This week the kids will learn the rest of the story. They will learn that the father wasn’t mad at his son at all. He was so glad to see him that he ran to him and embraced him. He even threw a party for his return.

The son did everything to hurt his father, and then the son did everything to ask his fathers forgiveness. But both times the father never loved his son any more or any less. His father loved him the same but extended his son grace. His son received something great that he didn’t deserve: love.

God’s love is the perfect example of grace. We can never do anything amazing to make God love us more, and we can never do anything so horrible to make him love us less. His love is unconditional. He just loves us.

Check out this story for yourself in Luke 15.

See you Sunday!

All month long we are focusing on grace: getting something great that you don’t deserve. God is the best example of showing grace. When Jesus came, He was the first to show grace to those who weren’t worthy of it. He ate with the tax collectors, hung out with prostitutes, and loved all the disciples – even though one would betray Him.

Many of those who surrounded Jesus lived selfishly, as many of us do today. Unlike us, Jesus was perfect. He could have easily given up hope due to our immense imperfection; lucky for us, he didn’t. He gave us a gift that we didn’t deserve. He gave us grace. He died in our place so we could spend eternity with Him. Check out our memory verse for the week:

“God’s grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn’t come from anything you do. It is God’s gift.” -Ephesians 2:8

God’s grace is an amazing gift that we definitely don’t deserve. Thankfully, he didn’t care about being fair. He rescued us from all of our sins, mistakes and stupidity. Let us always remind our kids that nothing we do can truly save us. Only through the grace of our Savior can we be rescued and set free.

See you Sunday!