Week 6: Lesson from Corinth

Corinth was a bustling seaport city situated on the Gulf of Corinth. It was known as the "city of shopkeepers" and had a wide variety of businesses and shops. Corinth was a wealthy city and most of the Corinthians were merchants or businessmen. The temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, overlooked the city from the foothill of Acrocorinth.

We are starting on a new memory verse this week and it was the basis for the discussion from our travel in Corinth. "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." 2 Corinthians 9:6 We discussed the concept of sowing and reaping with sunflower seeds. Throwing out 1 sunflower seed will only produce 1 flower. Planting a whole jar of sunflower seeds would produce a bunch of flowers! We then looked at the scripture to see how Paul used this illustration to teach the Corinthians about how to use their money.

We read from 2 Corinthians 8 & 9 as Paul described the efforts of the Macedonian church to assist the Jerusalem church that was suffering and needed food and money. Paul tells the Corinthians that even though the Macedonians were poor, they wanted to help provide an offering for the Christians in Jerusalem. We were reminded that Jesus gave us the example of how to give when he gave up being with God to come to earth and be a human and die on the cross for our sins.

We talked about our own possessions and how we can give, even when we are young. We agreed that it is O.K. to have nice things (like Nintendo Wiis!) but we emphasized that our possessions cannot become the most important things in our lives. We talked about how it is good to think about what is important and remind each other that loving and serving God should come first (even before video games and ipods!). Paul reminds the Corinthians that God wants us to have the right attitude when we give... he wants us to do it with joy and not be selfish or resentful!

We decorated a plastic tub that the kids can use over the next 6 weeks to collect some money that we can share with the children in Ukraine. Miss Sonya will be traveling to Ukraine in August and we will send our gift to the children in the church in Zhitomir. We will continue to remind the children to be collecting their money and asking for opportunities to earn some money to put in their bank. Please encourage them to participate and look for opportunities to reinforce the right attitude for giving.

Congratulations to all the kids who mastered last month's Memory Verse! From the youngest (Alex Marker!) to the oldest (Luke Ricke) it was shown that it can be done....

Now that school is out, help your children meditate on the word by remembering the verse for the next month! There are 2 verses... start with the first one and once they have that down - add in the second verse! Now is the time to write the words of the Lord on their hearts!

Memory Verse: "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. " 2 Corinthians 9:6

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:7,9