Mother's Day: Jesus is Smiling at Me – TNCC

12th September 2012

Today is Mother’s Day. Who wants to thank God for their mother? (get 1-2 kids to share what they are thankful for)
Who do you go to … When you are sick? When you are hungry? When you need help? When you are sad? When you did something wrong? When you have good news? When you are happy? (try to lead the kids to answer their mother or father)
What would mummy and daddy do when you go to them? (hug, kiss, sayang etc)
How many of you have fierce/strict parents? Even if you have the fiercest and strictest parents, do you think they still love you with all their hearts? Do you think that if you are in trouble, they will help you?
How we view our parents will determine how we respond to them. If we see our mother and father as loving and kind, we will run to them no matter how we are feeling or what we have done because we know they will always have their arms open wide. But if we see our parents as always angry and mean, the minute we do something wrong, we will try to hide from them because we fear punishment.

In the same way, how you picture God is how you will live your Christian life.
Angry God = fear and dread
Smiling God = happy, confident and blessed
So it’s important to see the right “face”/picture of God.
The Good News today is that God is NOT angry with us. He knows us through and through. He knows every bad thought we’ve had, every little lie we’ve told and every wrong thing we’ve done … and yet, He loves us more than anything.
How is that possible for a holy God? That’s because all our sin has been put on the cross and paid for by Jesus! That’s how we can go from sinner to child of God. When God looks at us, He sees His perfect son, Jesus, and He smiles at us with so much love and joy.
How do we remind ourselves of how much God loves us? We can look at the sky.

Sun

The Bible tells us that Jesus’ face is like the shining sun (Rev 1:16)
Malachi 4:2 describes a “Sun of Righteousness” with “healing in his wings”
Every time we see the sun in the sky, it reminds us of our righteousness in Christ. We do not focus on ourselves — what we’ve done or said or didn’t do — but we focus on what Jesus has done for us. He is righteous, and on that cross, He took all our sin and exchanged it with His righteousness!
God smiles at us today because we are His righteousness in Christ Jesus! (2 Cor 5:21)

Moon

What does the moon remind us?
The moon comes out at night.
It has no light of its own. When you see the moon glowing, it’s reflecting the light of the sun.
The moon reminds us that even at night, even when we don’t see the sun, the sun is still shining as brightly as ever.
Even when we do wrong and sin, even when we don’t think or feel we’re righteous, we still have Jesus’ righteousness in us all the time.

Rainbow

God first put the rainbow in the sky after the great flood during Noah’s time, where He promised never to flood the whole earth again (Gen 9:12-16).
What does that mean for us?
In Isaiah 54:9-10, God said that the rainbow covenant was a promise that He will not “be angry” or “rebuke” us again. His love is unfailing and His peace is with us forever.
When a warrior returns from war, he hangs up his bow (same shape as the rainbow). The hung-up bow tells us that the war is over!
It reminds us that Jesus has won the victory — that all the arrows of God’s judgment fell on Christ on the cross. God is not against us; He fights for us!

Lighting and Thunder

If we have a good picture of God, if we know how much He loves us, then we know that even in the most challenging/difficult times, He is always there for us. We can look to Him and smile.
Story: Little girl in the storm

Do you see Jesus smiling at you?
Jesus’ face is not an angry, mean face. When His face shines on you, it is one of grace, favour and peace. So look up and see Jesus smiling at you today!
Numbers 6:24-26: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’