Hi Reign Forest Friends,
For the month of November, we are learning all about GENEROSITY. Generosity is about making someone’s day by giving something away.
This past Sunday, we focused on an insight from James 1:17a: “Every good and perfect gift is from God.” (NIrV) Every good thing in our lives comes from God, starting with the gift of Jesus. When we take the time to reflect on all that God has given us, we can respond by being generous to others.
Bottom Line: God gives us good things. Some of the best gifts in life don’t come with wrapping paper. Sometimes the best gifts in life are free because they were thought out and made especially for us. We have all received good things because of God’s generosity. From the air we breathe to the things we enjoy in our everyday lives, everything good comes from God. 
Attached is this week's devotional.
There is no new memory verse this week. Please keep working on memorizing Psalm 23. Everyone is doing an awesome job! We will start to practice our Christmas play this Sunday.
Blessings,
The RF Team

​On Sunday in RF, we wrapped up the month of September in John 8:12 where Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world.  Anyone who follows me will never walk in darkness.  They will have that light.  They will have life."  Because of Jesus, we never have to go through life alone.  Jesus brings light to guide us and help us grow.  And, of course, the light of Jesus meets our greatest need.  When we turn away from our sins and choose to follow Jesus, it's as if He shines a bright light into our hearts and our lives.  


Bottom Line:  Jesus is the light of the world.  Sometimes it's hard to see past our current circumstances.  When darkness surrounds us, how do we move forward?  We take time to remember that Jesus came to be the light of the world.  Jesus' light shines so bright that darkness cannot overcome it.  When Jesus died on the cross, He showed the ultimate example of compassion towards us.  


Memory verse:  He renews my strength.  He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His name.  Psalm 23:3 NLT


Have a good week, friends!
The RF team

Caring enough to do something about someone else’s needs.
Today we  headed to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. Paul was writing a letter to the church in Corinth in which he shared about the troubles he and Timothy had faced. Yet in the midst of all their difficulties, Paul and Timothy were still able to praise God because of the comfort God offered them. In this passage, Paul encouraged the believers in Corinth to offer comfort to others who were in trouble because of the comfort they had experienced from God.
Bottom Line: Comfort others the way God comforts you. What brings you the most comfort? Maybe it’s a blanket, ice cream, or giving your pet a big squeeze. Maybe it’s talking with a friend or binge-watching your favorite show. As good as those choices may be, the best comfort of all comes from God. And because of God’s comfort towards us, we can be a comfort to others too.
 
Today we wrote letters to someone in our life that we wanted to comfort or just to let them know we care about them. 
We also practiced Psalm 23 verses 1 & 2 and learned motions to these 2 verses. 
 
Memory Verse: He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. Psalm 23:2 NLT
 
Have a great week!
~ The Reign Forest Leaders
​

​We finished up the month in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 and Exodus 12. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul talks about taking time to celebrate Communion or the Lord’s Supper. When we eat the bread and drink the cup, we celebrate how Jesus lived, died, and rose again to make us right with God. As we think about what Paul wrote, we’ll also take time to remember that this celebration is rooted in the Passover celebration, where God’s people remembered how God rescued them from being enslaved in Egypt.
 
Bottom Line: Make a habit of being grateful. People often focus on bad habits that they need to stop. However, the best way to stop a bad habit is to replace it with a good one. Replace those sweets with healthy choices. Replace TV with exercise. Replace complaining with gratitude. We pray that kids will start to see that gratitude is a choice that God can help them make— especially when they remember all that Jesus did for us on the cross.
 
Today, we spent time practicing our songs for the Christmas program on December 24th. There will be no new scripture memory verses given out until after our Christmas play is over. For now, kids can still say their verses if they need to catch up with our verses that were given so far this season. 
 
We hope you all will enjoy this beautiful Christmas Season filled with Hope because our Savior came to earth for us to save us because He loved us!
Blessings!
The Reign Forest Team

​Hi Reign Forest Friends,
This Sunday, we continue with our monthly theme of Gratitude.
 
In week three, we head to Luke 17:11-19 and discover a significant moment when 10 men with a serious skin condition asked Jesus to heal them. As their skin cleared up, the men were so thrilled about the miracle that most of them ran off and never returned to thank Jesus. Only one man, a Samaritan, turned around and showed his gratitude. Jesus made a point to commend this man’s faith.
 
Bottom Line: Take time to say thank you. This is a simple idea, but it’s often so hard to put into practice. People offer their help with kindness and love, yet we often take those people for granted. We pray that through this moment in Jesus’ life, kids will understand the importance of remembering to show gratitude when others are kind to them.
 
The children spent some time going through their lines in the play. Then we passed out leaves and each child wrote something they were thankful for. On the take home papers, some children took home a color by number picture. Other children brought a "fill-in-the-blank" I'm grateful for... They were challenged to think of someone, write a response and give it to that person as a way to "live out" the monthly theme of Gratitude. Which we explained is letting others know you see how they’ve helped you.
 
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving day!
The Reign Forest Team 

​Hi Reign Forest Friends,
Our theme for November is gratitude. Throughout this month, we hope kids will learn to be grateful for everything God has done: for the world God made, for the promises God has kept, and for the new life God offers the world through Jesus. When we remember all of these things, we can always be thankful.
 
This week, we started off this series with something Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:18: "Give thanks no matter what happens. God wants you to thank him because you believe in Christ Jesus." It's pretty clear. Giving thanks is something God wants us to do. No matter what happens, we can be thankful for Jesus and God's gift of salvation.
 
Bottom Line: You always have something to be grateful for. When life is hard, or even if life is normal, it can be difficult to find why you should be thankful—especially for kids. We pray that as kids think about this bottom line, they'll remember that they can always be thankful to God for sending Jesus to be our Savior.
 
This week, we also started our Christmas play. With this, there will be no new memory verses until after Christmas. This is a great time for your child(ren) to get caught up with either Reign Forest verses or school verses if they need to. The children can say up to seven verses at this point. Kids saying school verses can't get ahead of the number of Reign Forest verses that were given.
 
Blessings,
The Reign Forest Team

Dear Reign Forest Friends,
On the fifth Sunday in October, we finished up the month with Philippians 4:8, where Paul writes: “Finally, my brothers and sisters, always think about what is true. Think about what is noble, right and pure. Think about what is lovely and worthy of respect. If anything is excellent or worthy of praise, think about those kinds of things.” If we want to have integrity with our entire lives, we have to fill our minds with good things in the first place.

Bottom Line: Focus on what’s true. Being a person of integrity takes work. We hope that this week, kids will discover how they can fill their minds with what is true and good and worth thinking about. If we fill our minds with what’s true, that will help us live our lives with honesty and integrity.

Memory Verse #7: Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8, NLT)

Today, we read through this year’s new Christmas Play.  We are all excited for the Christmas Season! Rejoice!  A Savior has been given to us!
~The Reign Forest Team

Dear friends,
In the fourth week of October, we continued the story with Daniel’s friends in Daniel 3. No one would have thought differently about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego if they had bowed down to Nebuchadnezzar’s statue to escape the fiery furnace. But they decided to obey God, even though it might have cost them. God came through and rescued them from the furnace. Because of the integrity these men showed, others were able to see God’s power, too.
 
Bottom Line: When you do what’s right, others can see God. Almost every single day, kids will face a moment when they’ll need to think about making some sort of wise choice—from how much effort to give a project at school, to the way they play at soccer practice, to the way they treat peers they may not always get along with. And as easy as some of these choices might seem to us, kids are thinking about lots of variables, like friends and how people might respond to them. We pray that as kids learn about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they’ll realize the importance of doing the right thing, and that if they do what’s right, they can even help others see what God is like.
 
Memory Verse #6:  See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people (1 Thessalonians 5:15, NLT).
 
God Bless,
~The Reign Forest Team