Good morning!
Last night the middle schoolers ate pizza, welcomed some new friends, and learned about how Jesus never gives up on us! After gathering for prayer Julie Amshey led us through our first lesson on the character of Jesus! We spent some time reading through psalm 32 in a few different translations to reflect on how Jesus never gives up on us! We jumped forward in the Bible to look at Jesus’ betrayal and Peter’s denial, and tried to emphasize the kind of hurt that Jesus must have felt. Jesus knew that Judas would betray him, and yet washed his feet. He knew that Peter would deny him, and still loved him till the end. Even upon Jesus’ return, he doesn't berate Peter, but encourages him 3 times to feed his sheep. As we broke out into small groups we spent some time talking about the ways that we might let God down, and how Jesus responds to us like He responded to Judas and Peter. We might not think that our shortcomings are quite as bad as what Judas did, but Jesus’ response is no different! Next week we will continue our series on the character of Jesus by talking about how Jesus understands our pain. These lessons are all focused on humanizing Jesus as we approach Easter, in an effort to help our students understand and empathize with the story of Easter! Thanks for checking in, and have a wonderful week!
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Happy March parents!
Last night in middle school we took advantage of the warm weather, ate some pizza and wrapped up our series on the Holy Spirit! After playing some basketball outside and some super smash bros inside, we gathered for prayer and tucked into our final lesson on the Holy Spirit. We started off in Galatians 5 and talked about the fruit of the spirit, and how we often struggle to live those things out. Our focus for the evening was that the Holy Spirit can help us to love others, even when we might think that they are hard to love. I took some time to share about a friendship in my life that ended rather suddenly without explanation. This hurt me badly, but I still love that person and hope someday reconciliation will be possible. I think that hope and persistent love is not something that naturally comes to me. It's way easier to just hold a grudge and blame that person for the hurt that they caused. I truly believe that the only reason I am able to love this person is because I know that Jesus loved me and I have his spirit. We broke into debrief groups and challenged the students to think of one small way that they could show love to someone in their life who might be hard to love. Next week we kick off our series on the person of Jesus Christ by talking about how Jesus never gives up on us! Thanks for stopping by! |
AuthorI'm Noah! I like Jesus. Archives
November 2023
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