We feel this pressure to make sure everyone is happy and feels happy all the time and tend to measure how good life is by how happy we are. A lot of times this causes us to suppress our feelings and emotions or even suppress other people’s. But when we are angry or sad or fearful, the best thing someone can do is not to fix us, but connect with us. Because the best moments in life don’t come when you are feeling happy, but feeling loved. Jesus knows this and doesn’t obsess over trying to fix us, but simply loves us where we are.
John 11:35 Jesus wept.
True friends will stick with each other despite mistakes. Marty decides that he wants to go to the wild. When he leaves, his friends follow him. Unfortunately, this leads them to get stranded on an island in Madagascar. Despite the whole journey, the friends stick together and battle everything.
Colossians 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
Ecclesiastes 4:10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
Proverbs 18:24 One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Never judge a book by its cover because Jesus wouldn’t want us to do that. We should really focus on a person’s character instead. He wants us to love other people (like our friends) the way He loved us.
John 13:34 – Love one another, as I have loved you.
Matthew 7:1-2 – Don’t judge other people, and you will not be judged. You will be judged in the same way that you judge others. And the forgiveness you give to others will be given to you (ICB).
Nemo disobeys his dad by swimming out to the boat. As a result of his defiance, he is taken away by a diver. Despite the fact that Nemo messed up, Marlin (his dad), continues to love him. In fact, he loves Nemo so deeply that he searches the entire ocean for him. In the same way, God loves us so much that he will ALWAYS seek us out, no matter how far away we have drifted.
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:
4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Throughout the movie, Master Shifu is so focused on achieving inner peace on his own that he completely ignores Master Oogway’s teachings to him. However, as he begins to remember his teachings while training Po, Shifu realizes that peace isn’t something that we can obtain on our own. We cannot find true peace by our own efforts. That is why Jesus says that he is giving us His peace – a peace that can’t be found anywhere else – because His peace is so much better than anything we can try and find on our own.
In the movie Emperors New Groove, Kuzco is a ruthless ruler who was spoiled his whole life. He wanted to build a new home on a plot of land already owned by a man named Pacha, creating immense conflict. Kuzco ends up turning into a llama and is stuck with Pacha. They end up becoming friends despite their differences. Kuzco, who was a terrible person initially, chooses Pacha over the ability to turn back to a human. This story parallels that of Saul. Saul was someone who persecuted and killed Christians. When he was walking in the desert, God talked to him and changed his life. He became one of the biggest figures in the bible! This shows that no matter how much someone has wronged you or done terrible things, they can always be forgiven and God loves them throughout everything.
You are special.
Throughout the movie, Po struggles with feeling like he’s a good enough Kung Fu Master. He compares his capabilities to the 5 and always feels like he’s falling behind. Then he gets the dragon warrior scroll and thinks it will give him special powers to make him a better warrior. But instead, there’s nothing!
Later, he learns the true meaning is that he has all the special skills he needs within himself, and because of who he is and his unique abilities, he is enough.
“Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.”
Romans 12:4-5 NLT
Diego is a bad guy at first, but then Manny saves him and he becomes a good guy. Similarly, we are born sinners but Jesus redeems us and makes us Children of God.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
“If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it.” Luke 17:33
Sometimes new things and people are scary. Particularly when people look different than us and think different than us. However, God made everyone in his image, and with unique gifts and talents. Often, when we get to know people, and see them how God sees them, we realize how amazing and awesome they are. Woody learns this lesson about Buzz and Sid’s toys in making his way back to Andy.
Much like how Lilo sees the good in Stitch, adopting him into her family even when he is not perfect, God sees the good in us and adopts us into His family. Our relationship with God does not end in a fleeting moment of being chosen by him. We continue to become more like Jesus throughout our relationship with Him in a process called sanctification. In the same way, Stitch becomes more and more like Lilo (the one who adopted him) throughout the movie. In the end of the film, we see Stitch finally understanding what it means to love others and be in a family, which is a huge part of what it means to follow Jesus.
3 It is the same with us. When we were children, we were slaves to the basic spiritual powers of the world. 4 But then the chosen time came. God sent his Son. A woman gave birth to him. He was born under the authority of the law. 5 He came to set free those who were under the authority of the law. He wanted us to be adopted as children with all the rights children have. 6 Because you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. He is the Holy Spirit. By his power we call God Abba. Abba means Father. 7 So you aren’t a slave any longer. You are God’s child. Because you are his child, God gives you the rights of those who are his children.
23 God is the God who gives peace. May he make you holy through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept free from blame. May you be without blame from now until our Lord Jesus Christ comes. 24 The God who has chosen you is faithful. He will do all these things.
We often tend to think that there are good people and bad people, and they just kind of stay that way. But the truth is, Jesus is in the business of changing hearts and leading people to him. Take Gru, for instance. He begins as a villain, but some kids change his outlook on life, and turn him into a softie. In the same way Jesus met Saul (a bad guy), and turned him into Paul (an immensely good guy). There is hope for all of us, no matter where we have come from and where we are going.
Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust control Riley’s emotions. Joy tries to keep Riley as happy as possible, but this becomes very difficult when they move to a new city. The other emotions, especially Sadness, start interfering even more with Riley’s happiness. Even though it is good to be positive, Riley suffers a lot of disappointment and tough circumstances that cannot be fixed by pretending to be happy. She learns that it’s ok to be sad and express those emotions to her parents. In our lives, we cannot depend on our own strength to be joyful all the time. It’s ok to be upset when things go wrong. And it’s ok to tell God about it. God would sooooo much rather us be open and honest to him about our feelings than shut down and turn away from him. Jesus experienced and expressed his emotions to God, even anger and sadness. Instead of running from our emotions, we should embrace them and share them with God, even when they might be about Him. We can find true peace and joy even in the hardest of circumstances, not by our own strength, but from the strength of God.
God created us to be in community with each other. |
In the beginning of Monsters Inc, we are greeted with a society whose norm was to send monsters into childrens’ rooms daily to scare them. We see that Sully and the other monsters believed that the children themselves are harmful and scary. The introduction of a child named Boo helped Sully to realize their backwards way of thinking. Instead of scaring kids, the monsters could make them laugh. This story shows us that children are greatly important and have the power to make monumental change. Jesus even emphasizes the power of having faith like a child – that even adults could learn from the way that children see the world.
In Hiccup’s town, it was the norm to be afraid of dragons and to fight them. Afterall, people and dragons are natural-born enemies. Or are they? Hiccup pushes back on this idea by treating the dragons with kindness and even befriending one of the scariest dragons of all. When he decides to love his enemies, things change for the better.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemies.’ But I tell you, love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you. If you do this, then you will be true sons of your Father in heaven. Your Father causes the sun to rise on good people and on bad people. Your Father sends rain to those who do good and to those who do wrong. If you love only the people who love you, then you will get no reward. Even the tax collectors do that. And if you are nice only to your friends, then you are no better than other people. Even people without God are nice to their friends.”
Matthew 5:43-47 ICB
Who has it been hard to love recently?
What can we do to love people better?
Throughout this movie and in these two clips especially, Mulan wanted to bring honor to her Father. She knew that he was getting older and not doing super well, so she decided to take his place in the Chinese army. We can honor our parents and even God in a similar way. Do we need to dress up and get ready for battle? No! However, we can be kind and show love and be a light to the world and the people around us.
Revelation 4:11 – Our Lord and God! You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power. You made all things. Everything existed and was made because you wanted it. (ICB)
Exodus 20:12 – Honor your father and your mother. Then you will live a long time in the land. The Lord your God is going to give you this land. (ICB)
God can show up in our lives in ways that we don’t expect. He knows what is best for us. As a result, when we ask Him for things, He may not show up exactly as we would want or imagine. Rather, He shows up and answers prayers as we NEED. In the movie, Carl is seen living a lonely life until he gets bothered by wilderness explorer Russell. Russell ends up taking him on an adventure that changes both of their lives for the better. Similarly, if we trust God to fulfill our prayers, He will answer them in a way that is often better than we could imagine.
Remi is so focused on his new life cooking for people with Linguini that he starts to see the world in a new way. When he reunites with his family, his Dad tries to show him all the ways that humans are out to get them because they are rats; however, Remi knows that there are some humans that have good in them, even to the point of standing up to protect them from danger. When we follow Jesus, it changes a lot of the ways that we live our lives and see other people, leading us to care for people that we would never notice before. While things may get hard and people disagree with us sometimes, God is right there helping us when we are struggling. Even when we can’t see it, God is always working in us and the people that we interact with.
You are enough because Jesus is enough. Mirabel feels inadequate because she doesn’t have a gift like the rest of her family members. What she doesn’t understand is that she has been made exactly how she should be to save her family. Much in the same way, we may not always have the gifts or talents that we would like to have, but God has formed us in the perfect way, in order to care for others and point them towards Jesus.
You are special enough for God’s love.
In Kids Ministry, we believe God extends grace—even in places we least expect it. This semester, we are watching clips from popular movies and relating them to Jesus! We believe that God is all around us, so we are dedicated to looking for Him in movies with the hope of seeing Him elsewhere because of this practice.
God created us in his image, to be very good, and even when we aren’t our best, God still loves us.
In Kids Ministry, we believe God extends grace—even in places we least expect it. This semester, we are watching clips from popular movies and relating them to Jesus! We believe that God is all around us, so we are dedicated to looking for Him in movies with the hope of seeing Him elsewhere because of this practice.
Mulan is focused on bringing honor to her father, much like how we should be focused on bringing honor to our Father (God). In the beginning, she tries to do so by changing who she is and being who she felt she was supposed to be to impress the matchmaker. However, her trying to change herself didn’t work. God does not want us to pretend to be someone we’re not. He wants the real us because he created us as we are WITH A PURPOSE. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t supposed to change. We are supposed to become more like Him.