Milo finds life frustrating. He feels like he has to do everything around the house, gets let down by his dad and then his mom tries to get him to eat broccoli! The way his mom sees it is no broccoli, no TV and so Milo is sent to his room. During an argument Milo’s mom says “Milo, my life would be so much better if I didn’t have to be a nagging mom.” Milo finally snaps. Looking at his mom he says “Well, my life would be so much better if I didn’t have a mom at all!” His mom doesn’t say a thing. She simply and very sadly walks out of his room. [This is a great clip to use too if you have the DVD.] Just as Milo is about to go and apologize, he finds that his mom has been abducted by martians! He tries to follow them and is wizzed off in their rocket to the planet Mars where he must try and rescue his mom from those that do want and need her.
In this scene Milo has finally reached his mom and they are trying to escape from the martians…
Applications:
Family:
Say: Milo and his mom found it tough to sort out their differences, until a difficult situation came along. When they both realized the other was in danger, they suddenly remembered what they loved about their little family. Each other! Being a part of a family means learning to understand each other and think about how the other person feels. We can’t have our own way all the time when we are in a family – we have to let other family members have their way and their say sometimes.
God loves it when we can love our families, even when we disagree. He created us as a part of our families. Perhaps you find it difficult because you don’t get to see your family, or maybe you never have. Yet God has put us in the most amazing family ever – the family of God! Each one of us becomes a part of God’s family when we follow Jesus, and our Father is God – so that means we have brothers and sisters in Christ! We are all brothers and sisters in Christ! It’s the biggest family in the world because there are people that follow Jesus all around the world! That means you have the most enormous family! The question is, how will you treat them? How will you love them? How will they know that you love them? As Milo and his mom found out, it’s best to make sure they know you love them now… don’t wait until later!
BIBLE VERSES ABOUT FAMILY:
Exodus 20:12. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
2 Corinthians 6:18. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.
Genesis 2:24. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Joshua 24:15. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Psalm 103:17. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.
Proverbs 1:8. Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Proverbs 15:20. A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
Romans 8:16-17. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Galatians 4:4-7. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out,“Abba,Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What is your family like?
2. What is your favorite family memory?
3. What is your favorite thing about your family?
4. What is your least favorite thing about your family? Why? (you may want to pray here if needed)
5. How do you help your family?
6. How do you show your family that you care?
7. Did you know that you had a family in God? How does that make you feel?
8. What can you do for your brothers and sisters in Christ?
Love:
Say: There are many types of love. Love between friends, love between a man and his wife, love between brothers and sisters and of course, love between parents and their children! The bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is patient and kind, it is not self seeking or puffed up and it does not keep a record of wrongs. It is the things that are done in love that will last. Milo and his mom definitely showed their love for one another in this clip. Neither of them wanted the other to die. Milo pushed his mom out of the way of the gun shot and his mom gave him her helmet to save his life.
What would this situation have looked like if they didn’t love each other? It would have been very sad because one – or both – of them would have died. The martians wouldn’t have cared or been interested to watch and nobody would be rescued or saved. When we love others it makes a massive difference to their lives – and to ours! That’s why God loves us so much – and why he calls us to love others too. Jesus was the best example of love. He loved everyone he met, even those that treated him badly – even those who got him killed! He loved them enough to cry out to his Father “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34. So, how much do you love others? We all need God’s help to love people more, let’s not be afraid to ask him to help us love like Jesus loves us!
BIBLE VERSES ABOUT LOVE:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Romans 8:35-39. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Peter 5:6-7. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
John 3:16. For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 5:8. but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Galatians 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
1 John 3:1. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Matthew 5:44. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:43-48. [the previous verse in context]
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What does loving someone look like?
2. How does it feel to be loved?
3. What do you think would happen if nobody loved us? Have you ever felt this way?
4. God has shown us that he does love us! What does that make you want to do?
5. How have you shown someone that you love them?
6. Have you ever tried to love someone that was nasty to you? What happened?
Mothers:
Say: Milo really did love his mom, didn’t he?! Did you see how he pushed her out of the way when the gun shot so that she would not get hurt?! Even though she sometimes made his life tough, or he thought she did anyway, he realized that she did all that because she loved him! She just wanted the best for him. Milo’s mom loved him so much that she was prepared to die so that he might live! She gave him her own helmet knowing that she would not be able to survive without it.
Aren’t moms great?! They give us so much and do so much for us everyday and sometimes we don’t appreciate it. We complain or get angry when they ask us to do something. We pull faces or moan at the thought of helping them out, when all the time they are doing our washing, cleaning and making our meals. They often don’t get a thanks. When was the last time you said thank you or told your mom you loved her? Like Milo realized, we have to take the opportunity whilst we can!
Perhaps you are feeling a little sad when we talk about moms because you can’t see your mom, or you don’t feel like she has loved you like Milo’s mom loved him. Today you can remember that there is someone that loves you even more than a mom ever could. His name is Jesus and he didn’t just try and give his life for you, like Milo’s mom, but he actually did! He loves you so much that he gave his life so that you might live to know God. Not only that, but he wants to bring people around you that will love you like Milo’s mom loved him. Maybe you don’t know or see your own mom, but is there someone that has been like a mom to you that you can love and thank? Jesus said “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” (Luke 8:21) People that God brings around us that love him and act like him can be just like a mom to us… we just have to let them! God also wants to help you to forgive your mom if you need to, and to move forward knowing that you are loved.
BIBLE VERSES ABOUT MOTHERS:
Deuteronomy 5:16. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Proverbs 22:6. Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What is your mom like? [if a child doesn’t know or see their mom ask them if there is someone that acts like a mom towards them; a granny, stepmom or a foster carer, remember to be sensitive towards each child’s needs.]
2. Do you admire her? Why/why not?
3. How have you thanked and loved your mom [foster carer, stepmom, granny etc] in the past?
4. What more do you think you can do to show your mom [foster carer, stepmom, granny etc] that you love her?
5. When was the last time that you said ‘I love you’ to your mom [foster carer, stepmom, granny etc]?
6. How do you think Jesus treated his mom? What can we learn from him? (John 19:25-27, John 2:1-12)
Sacrifice:
Say: Milo’s mom didn’t think twice about giving her life so that he might live. As soon as she realized that he would die without his mask, she made sure to put her own on him. Wow! That is an amazing sacrifice! A sacrifice is when you give something up for the sake of someone else. You give something up so that someone else might have it. Milo’s mom’s sacrifice reminds me of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross! Jesus willingly gave his life for you and for me so that we might live with God forever! So that we might be forgive for our sin. His was the greatest sacrifice that has EVER been made! Why? Because he was the perfect sacrifice. Jesus lived a perfect life. He never did a thing wrong. Yet because we have all done wrong things those things spoiled our relationship with God. God can only be around things that are pure and perfect like him. By dying on the cross, dying a perfect death, Jesus paid the price for the wrong things we have done. What was the price? The bible says that the price for doing wrong things against God was death. (Romans 6:23) Jesus paid that price so that we can know God and live eternally with him. He did it in obedience to his Father. Now, that’s the perfect sacrifice!
BIBLE VERSES ABOUT SACRIFICE:
Hebrews 13:16. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
John 15:12-14. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Genesis 22:2. He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
Romans 12:1. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Psalm 51:17. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Hebrews 13:15. Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
1 Samuel 15:22. And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
Hebrews 10:11-14. [We only needed one sacrifice by Jesus for our sin.]
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What do you think Milo’s mom’s sacrifice showed Milo?
2. Have you ever sacrificed something for someone you love? What was it and why did you give it up?
3. What made Jesus’ sacrifice so perfect?
4. Apart from sacrificing our lives; what else can we sacrifice – or give – to others?
5. What can we sacrifice – give – to God?
