Easter Weekend

Easter weekend in children's ministry can be a very tricky thing.

It is so exciting to have so many new kids worship with us, but at the same time they typically have the background of the story of Jesus leading up to Easter weekend.  So the question becomes how do you fit it all in.

Well this year in KidQuest and FirstLook, we are going to review the ENTIRE Big God Story. That's right we are going to start with Adam and Eve and tell the kids the rest of the Biblical narrative through the return of Christ.

To me it sounds overwhelming.

However, if this is the only time many kids are at church, it is the best time to expose them to God's Big Story so they just don't hear one part.

The Big God Story is so compelling, so inspiring, and so packed full of God’s overwhelming love for the people He created. The more I read Scripture in the mind-set and context of the bigger story, the more I am floored by how succinctly and miraculously God has woven His redemptive story throughout history. He has taken such care and love in telling His story exactly the way He wanted to tell it. Throughout His story, we see Him as a patient, long-suffering, kind, generous, sovereign, and loving God. We see that God brought His Son to earth exactly at the perfect moment, to be the perfect Redeemer.

The Big God Story is compelling proof of His love for us. I am amazed that I get to be a part of it. Because of this, God gently urges me to look outside of myself toward others and so I have 3 "House Rules: 1 -- Love God; 2 -- Love People; 3 -- Love Sports.

Because of this outlook in life, God's Spirit encourages me to ask the question, “What needs to be done in the Wentzville area?”

The answer: Share the good news of The Big God Story, which we all are a part of.

March 6 in KidQuest

On March 6, we will begin our walk towards Easter. That walk begins with John the Baptist telling of the Messiah!

Reading through the Old Testament, following the history of God’s people and His relationship with them, we see that the account of John the Baptist and his message was bold. John told the Jewish leaders they could no longer claim to be children of God simply because Abraham was their forefather—John told these Jewish leaders that this heritage no longer applied. Finally, John said to them,

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near … He [the One coming] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” 

(Matthew 3:1,11)

John was proclaiming that Christ, the Judge, was coming, and He was bringing His kingdom. Ancient
family ties were no longer the criteria for salvation.

What a mind-blowing message! Imagine these religious leaders, thinking they were doing God’s will (or, maybe, consciously ignoring God’s will), suddenly hearing that God was unfolding a completely new plan. And because of that, God was now requiring them to repent—to turn from the reliance on law and tradition they had held as truth for thousands of years, and turn toward the new covenant God was bringing. However, John’s message was really only another step in the preparation for the new covenant that God had been preparing His people for throughout His story.

God had been promising the Redeemer, the Messiah, since the fall of mankind, and had been slowly and surely revealing what this Messiah would bring. He would not only bring political deliverance at the end of time, but a much more important personal deliverance from sin. He would also bring forgiveness, a transformed heart, and the power to live as God’s child because of a physical indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Messiah would be the answer to all of humanity’s deepest problems. Because of this, God demanded repentance—a heart turned away from sin and turned toward Him.

God prepared the people for the ultimate good news in a way that no one could have imagined. Even today, God invites us to receive this new covenant through a decision to turn from the old and turn toward the new. He desires our repentance to receive the good news of Christ by faith, in order to be grafted into His family
through grace.