Whether it’s to stop yourself from saying something stupid, or see where you’ll be in 10 years, or experience your favorite moment in history firsthand, we all wish we had a time machine sometimes, right?
While time machines might not actually exist, the Bible can sometimes feel a little bit like a time machine.
It’s the story of the God who exists outside of time and had a plan to save the world before time even existed.
God’s plan was fulfilled through Jesus 2,000 years ago, but prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos left us hints about God’s plan hundreds of years before that.
So what was that plan?
In this 4-week series, we’ll discover that Jesus’ mission was to set people free and rebuild what has been destroyed — and we can join Him on that mission, in part, by doing justice and remembering all God has done.
(Remember that we release our teaching videos and other content on our YouTube channel. So even if your 5th-8th grader can’t be here in person, he/she can still stay connected. You can even subscribe or turn on alerts so you know when each video comes out! Check it out: YouTube.com/mpcc5678 )
Here’s how that breaks down over the next few weeks:
October 23/24 – Week 1 – Jesus’ mission was to set people free.
We’ll connect Jesus’ announcement of His earthly ministry to the prophet Isaiah, who predicted His arrival as we study Luke 4:14-21; Isaiah 61:1-2; and John 1:1.
Parent Cue: We’ll be challenging students to learn more about one of the wrongs or injustices in the world that they can join in Jesus’ mission to help set people free. Help your preteen or middle schooler find out more information and how he/she or your whole family can get involved in the mission.
October 30/31 – Worship Together Weekend to Celebrate Pastor Chris’ 20th Anniversary at MPCC
November 6*-7** – Worship Together Weekend (Middle School Ministry Fall Retreat!)
*Daylight Savings Time Ends – Remember to set your clocks back!
**New Sunday morning services times for MPCC – 9am and 10:45am
November 14*** – Week 2 – Jesus can rebuild what has been destroyed.
We’ll connect the moment Jesus called Himself a temple that would be rebuilt to the words of Jeremiah, who said God had a plan to rebuild and restore Israel as we study John 2:12-21; Jeremiah 31:1-4; Psalm 147:1-3; and 1 John 2:6.
Parent Cue: We’ll be challenging students to ask Jesus to “rebuild” something in their lives this week and/or to commit to helping Jesus rebuild something. The four categories they can choose from are: my life, my relationships, my community, and the world. This would be a good week to ask them about their “rebuild card” and how you can be praying for them related to that this week.
***This weekend starts our new schedule of only offering Middle School Ministry services during the 9am service time on Sundays.
November 21 – Week 3 – Jesus calls us to do justice.
We’ll connect Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees with the words of the prophet Amos, who called for justice instead of dead religion as we study Luke 11:37-46; Amos 5:1-24; and Acts 2:42.
Parent Cue: We’ll be challenging students to identify a place in their lives where they can learn to be a better doer of justice for others. In our service, we will have a time grieve how we have contributed to injustice. Then we’ll send everyone out with the challenge to 1) do something and 2) say something this week to do the work of justice. Talk with your child about what they grieved and what they are doing and saying for justice this week.
November 28 – Week 4 – Jesus calls us to remember.
We’ll connect Jesus’ instructions on fasting and prayer with Isaiah’s condemnation of Israel’s unjust fasting practices as we study Matthew 6:1-5, 16-18; Isaiah 58:3-9; and Acts 2:42-44.
Parent Cue: We’ll finish this series by reminding students that we have been invited to join God on a big mission – to help set captives free, rebuild what was destroyed, and make wrong things right. We’ll teach them that the only way we can stay focused on our mission is to stay focused on the One at the center: Jesus. Our closing challenge will be for students to remember: 1) who Jesus is to them, 2) what Jesus has done in their life, and/or 3) what we’ve talked about the last few weeks. What we do will flow naturally out of what we take the time to remember. Ask your child what they remembered and want to keep remembering. Think about how you can help them with this.
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